Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 April 1893 — NOTES AND COMMENTS. [ARTICLE]

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Prof. W. F. Willcox, the eminent political economist, has contributed an interesting paper on marriage and divorce statistics to the Political Science Quarterly. His investigations have been thorough, and, from figures covering a period of twenty years, from 1866 to 1886, he has been able to sift out averages which indicate the rather startling circumstance that marriage in the United States is becoming a failure. That is, it is steadily falling off. especially in the cities. And not only this, but divorce is gaining as rapidly in popular favor as marriage is decreasing, Professor Willcox points out that, with the exception of Japan, which has more divorces per fear than any other nationality, the United States is far ahead of other countries in this respect, and that of the Christian countries we are in the lead by considerable majority. It is also shown that the age when young men and women marry is gradually but surely advancing. The average young man of to-day, who lives in a community where there is no especial pressure to become married (in some sections of the far West a man will get married at almost any age if he can find a wife), waits until he is twentyseven years and about two months old before he ventures into the field of matrimony. This is an advance of just one year over the average of 1871, and to him who can appreciate the value of statistics this will appear as a remarkable difference, and one for which some distinct, cause may be found. The experiment of a telephone newspaper, so to speak, is being tried in the city of Buda-Pesth in Hungary. A central exchange for the collection of news on all topics usually treated by an ordinary journal has been established, and from this point items of news, together with editorial comments, are hourly sent to regular subscribers over a telephone wire connecting with houses, stores, offices, factories and hotels, as may be desired. Stationary receiving tubes are mounted so as to be on a level with the ear and each telephone instrument is supplied with a wooden tablet upon which subscribers may jot down such notes as they wish to make. The news exchange is divided into two departments. In the editorial rooms the matter for transmission over the wires is collected by a oorps of reporters and writers much as in an ordinary newspaper office. Then the copy is sent to the distributing office, where men with distinct and resonant voices send it to the various subscribers over the "telephone wire. The news is given in either German or Hungarian tongue. The charge for the service is seventy-five cents per month. From receiving new 9 over the telephone to listening at home to an inaugural ad'dress or Congressional debate or sermon, operas and lectures in distant cities would seem only a short step. ■

The process of reclaiming the Arizona deserts goes on apace. During recent years many irrigation projects have been put on a working basis, and districts varying from a few thousands to hundreds of thusands of acres are being rapidly brought into agricultural and horticultural use. The greatest project of this character yet undertaken was practically begun a few days ago, and plans for one still greater are announced. For the first, contracts have been placed involving an expenditure of more than $2,000,000, for the construction of reservoirs and canals to utilize water from the Gila River in reclaiming 300,000 acres of land, which will be first-class fruit and vine land. The dam will be one of the largest in the country, and seventy-two miles of canals are to be constructed. The second project contemplates the reclamation of 400,000 acres of now arid land, with water taken from the Rio Verde, stored in three immense reservoirs, and distributed in 150 miles of canals. The land and the canal routes have been surveyed, and the $2,500,000 necessary to undertake the work subscribed. Much of the land will make good orange growing land. Josiaii Quincy, the new Assistant Secretary of State, is the fifth member of his family to bear the honorable name of Josiah. So great is the filial respect in which this baptismal name is held that it used to be averied by the people of Quincy, Mass., where reverence for the town’s namesake family has become a cult, that the present Mr. Quincy was originally christened Josiah-Joeiah. The old historic home of the family at Quincy has long been one of the finest estates in New England, embracing as it does a beautiful piece of woodland lying on the margin of the sea. That particular part of the New England coast is most attractive to the eye, for while sufficiently stern and rock-bound in winter, in summer it smiles like an isle of Greece. Almost adjoining the Quincy estate, and perched on an elevation at the very brink of the ocean, is the modern house of John Quincy Adams, who also i 9 one of the tutelar divinities of the towD.

A NCMBEft of years ago horse thieves were so troublesome in western New Jersey that an association of farmers and oitizens was formed to run them down, and several arrests were made. The organization proved to be so effective that it is maintained to this day, although so quietly that even the thieves seldom know of it until they are nabbed. An active committee of men called “seekers” goes out on the trail whenever a robbery has been committed, and information relative to the crime is spread with surprising quickness. Occasionally the thief, finding himself in danger, will abandon the horse, and sometimes—for a thief is usually contemptible—will drive it into a quagmire to become hopelessly bogged, or tie it to a tree in the woods to starve. Vegetarianism in the United States does not discard the use of a meat diet merely because it is unnecessary or harmful, but also because 'of the cruelty inflicted on animals by their wholesale slaughter in the catering to the meateating habit. This principle is followed logically to its end, and shoes made entirely of felt are largely coming into use among vegetarians. Not only they claim does the use of leather necessitate the killing of animals, but it is injurious as a covering for any part of the body, while woolen or felt is a natural and beneficial projection. Sats Captain Cameron in “Great Thoughts”: “Africa has a bigger future than America. Australia or India. It is the richest of all, but, of course, everything depends on management. Take South America, for instance. It is very like Australia. The Europeans could bring up their children well there. The natives are very teachable. Even the hitherto wild tribes are already drilled into good police, engineers, riveters, etc. Take my word for it, Africa is the hope of the future, and will be the salvation of an overcrowded world.” A story is going the rounds of a wonderful electric loom which will weave the coarsest carpet or the finest linen. It makes no noise in operating, os each shuttle and moving port works indc-

pendcntly. The present power looms run 140 to 180 picks per minute, but this contrivance easily picks 250 to 300 a minute. Altogether it is very wonderful, but no details of its construction or data of practical tests of it; workings have yet been made public. London, according to report, is a pretty bad place. More than one-third of all the crime of the country is said to be committed within its limit, 25,000 of its inhabitants are annually arrested as drunk and disorderly, and it has on the average 75,000 people annually taken into custody by the police. Its common lodging-houses shelter about 27,000 persons. In connection with the recent bill before Congress providing for automatic couplers for freight cars it is interesting to note that over 3,000 patents for such devices have been granted and that alarge number of applications are on file in the Patent Office awaiting the decision of the examiner.