Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 December 1891 — NOTES AND COMMENTS. [ARTICLE]

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

The surveyors of the projected chip Sanai to connect Puget Sound with Union and Washington at Seattle, have oonipletod the maps and estimates. The scheme, if carried out, will make Seattle uno of the finest harbors in the world. The improvement would cost $3,000,000. The Astor family have a million sterling invested in English securities. The founder of tin? family left an injunction in his will that the family should always continue the investments in the English funds and in English securities that ho bad himself commenced. The sons and grandsons have always respected this sotnuiand. A fourteen percent, tax on profits is a new discourager of enterprise in Italy. The boast of having two of the most powerful ironclads in the world is scarcely worth what it costs the Italians —terrible poverty among the poor and a struggle for life even among the middle classes, owing to oppressive taxes. The Fourth International Railroad Congress, which had originally been set down for September of this year, will, it is now announced, be held in June, 181)2, at St. Petersburg. The first congress was held nt Brussels in 1885; the second at Milan in 1887. and the third at Paris in 1881). Vienna has already been chosen as the place for the fifth congress, to be held in either 1894 or 1895. It is said that the German public is heartily disgusted with the outcome so far of the expensive colonization schemes that the Government has been operating in Africa. People say that colonization costs too much in blood and treasure and yields too little in return, and frequent use is made of Bismarck's famous declaration, “ I am not one of your colonial enthusiasts.” On the other hand, it is reported that the Emperor is wedded to his colonial ventures, in which ho desires to surpass England, and has several times refused to sell to English offerors trade concessions with his African provinces, that have so far paid Germany nothing of value.

The homely and comforting ocrncob pipe, which may not inaptly be termed the representative American pipe, is made in three factories only in the United States, and they are nt St. Louis, Greenwood, Neb., and somewhere in Kansas. The cobs, which are obtained from the Collier variety of corn, come from Missouri, and uro heavy, hard and “woody.” The stems used are of Arkansas swamp cuno or reed. The cobs are cut the right size by a circular saw, and then pass on to the boring-machine, which hollows out the bowl with a lightning movement. A twisted drill makes the holo for the stem, and the bowl is sandpapered ami varnished. About 10,000 of the pipes are made every day.

Captain Rehen, Commander of the North German Lloyd steamer Nockur, has written to the German Marine Observatory- at Bremen,describing a most singular occurrence. When off Sakota, ono night, the sea suddenly became milkwhite with a glow that seemed to flame up from the depths like the increased luminosity of an electric lamp when the current becomes too strong. When soundings were taken no bottom was found. At ten o'clock the sharp edge between the bright and dark was reached, but twenty-five minutes later the glow again appeared. It slowly disappeared after eleven o'clock. The next night the phenomenon was visible in still greater intensity, but it was not again observed. Captain Reben insists that there was nothing phosphorescent in the character of the display. Hunan, the Chinese province which is held chiefly responsible for the recent outrages upon foreigners, is said to be us fur behind the rest-of China in all modern ideas us China is behind Europe. The inhabitants of it are fanatically hostile to any kind ot change or foreign influence. Only a few weeks ago ten thousand of them assembled on their frontier to oppose the Government workmen who wore erecting telegraph wires between Pekin and Tonquin, and stopped the further progress of the work in spite of the edict of the Emperor. Hunan contains 84,(XX) square miles, and is exceedingly billy and mountainous. The towns and villages, therefore, are isolated, and intercommunication is difficult. This is why new ideas circulate so slowly. TheHunanese are reported to bo honest, industrious, and brave, and are accounted among the most valuable recruits for the imperial army. ,

The people of Afghanistan, groaning under the heavy taxes their ruler imposes, are skipping over the border at a lit ely rate. The hist census shows that the population of the Caudahur district has decreased 10,000 us compared with the census taken in the time of Shore Ali. Many Afghans have sold their possessions und gone to British India and Beloochistan. In the northern part of the country the exodus has boon still greater, the people emigrating to the Russian possessions. In Tashkurgun, for instance, where, when the present Ameer ascended the throne, there were 16,(XX) occupied houses, there are nowonly 6,(XX) houses with tenants. The Ameer's country used to be called the land of men and stones, but an Indian journal suggests that.if the present fight continues it will be only a land of stouts. The absence of the American flag in foreign ports has long been a matter of comment. Any discussion of the causes of und the remedies for this humiliating state of things, must attract wide attention. Mr. Charles H. Cramp, the president of the great Philadelphia company that is building so many of our warships, treats the mutter in the Forum, and, after an historical review of the subject, comes to the conclusion that the different attitudes of the British Government and our own toward shipbuilders is largely responsible for the state of our merchant marine. This country, he thinks, will never have a fleet of merchant vessels so long os the United States Government pursues its present policy. Two decades of a liberal treatment of shipbuilders, ho thinks, would place us far in advance of England on the seus.

It will surprise many readers to be told that a large and strikingly marked duck, which within fifty years was moderately common upon the Northern Atlantic coast, is believed now to have become extinct. A lad shot ‘one in New York on the Chemung River December 12, 1878, and none have been seen since. The last one known to have been seen before that time was killed at Grand Menan in April, 1871. The one killed in 1878 was eaten before any naturalist beard of its capture —a costly meal, ns. according to Doctor Coues, two hundred dollars has been vainly offered tor a pair of skins. The head and a portion of the neck were preserved. The history of the duck in question, the Labrador Duck or the Pied Duck, is made the subject sf an article by Mr. William Dutcher iu a recent number of the Auk. Only thirtyeight specimens are known to be extant

in all the museums of the world—twen-ty-seven in America and eleven in Europe. Yet it is only a short time since ipecimens might have been secured with comparative ease. , No World's Fair scheme is too daring and colossal for the Chicago imagination to entertain. Here is one gravely presented by Mr. L. C. Dillman, ono of the now millionaires of the new State of Washington, and as gravely laid before the public for consideration. “In order to promote the study of ichthyology,” said Mr. Dillman, “and at the same time add a feature to the Exposition that would bo thoroughly unique, a railroad tunnel might be run out n few miles under the lake. At the end of the railroad might be built the finest aquarium the world has over seen, and this aquarium might be stocked with every species of fresh water fish known to natural history. The idea of standing in an enclosure beneath the waters of the lake and watching thousands of the vari-hued inhabitants of the waters swimming around in a groat glass room is something that would appeal strongly to the imaginations of many. Then, if there is to bo a great tower for the Fair, the foundation could bo built over the aquarium, and visitors could ascend in elevators from deep beneath the waters to a platform a thousand feet in the air.”