Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 August 1893 — OLD SOL’S WARM RAYS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

OLD SOL’S WARM RAYS

THEY FALL ON PEOPLE IN VARI. OUS LOCALITIES. High Temperature Causes Great Discomfort in Chicago and at the Fair—Electrical Storing and Cyclones Reported— Crop# Are Greatly Damaged. Scorching Weather.

J HURSDAY morning Old Imi Sol got U P and made immediate preparations * to cook the earth and all those who could not afford to wear seersucker coats and straw hats. He had played a hot game the previous day, but he didn’t like the appearance of the silvery column in the thermometer. It was not enough to suit his taste, and he set out Thursday to pour such sweltering rays downward that poor humanity gasped and fainted from the effects of the heat. In Chicago the mercury climbed to 92 degrees up in the Auditorium tower, but that was the coolest spot in the city. Down on tho streets the thermometer showed 97 degrees in the shade, and no one dared to calculate what the heat was where there was no shade. The sun beat down upbn the shining pavements and radiated heat from the hot stones. Plate glass windows and white walls reflected the glare upon tho heads of the hurrying crowds. Men with cork helmets and men with high hats sufferod alike, and the summer girl with mulle sleeves complained as much as the apple woman with a heavy shawl. There was a breeze. It was sandladen and hot. At every street corner the wind swept the dirt from the pavements and hurled it into the eyes of wayfarers, begriming moist faces and blinding the vision of sight-seers. Strangers in the city suffered the most. Men stopped in the middle of the street to clean the grit out of their eyes, regardless of cable trains and noonday traffic. Street etiquette was forgotten. Stylish men were seen coatloss, hatless and breathless. Several people dropped exhausted by the intense heat, and tho patrol and ambulance wagons were in frequent demand. Popular report made it the hottest day in six years, though the statistics wore against that idea. Tho sun wont down, but the heat remained, and not until near midnight did relief ccmo. A seYere thunderstorm then reduced the temperature several degrees. During the day visitors to Jackson Park carried parasols and palmleaf fans. They needed them, too, for the thermometer touched the highest point yet reached in World’s Pair weather. Five cases of prostration from heat were treated at the emergency hospital. Hot Everywhere. From telegraphic reports the extremely warm weather seems to be pretty general throughout the country. Severe electrical storms are refiorted in many places. At Kalamazoo ightning struck in ten places, including the First Prosbyterian Church. Wheat, which is being harvested in Michigan, was laid low in many fields by hail and cornfields riddled, and fruit is also badly damaged. Cyclones visited Waterloo, lowa, Elmwoo4, Neb., and other points, and groat destruction to crops is the result. The mercury at Milwaukee reached 95 in the shade. Three’ cases of sunstroke are. reported there, one of which was fatal. The thermometer registered 94 degrees at Des Moines, 98 at Indianapolis, and 102 at Knoxville, Tenn.

CONDITION OF CROPS. Reports on Spring Wheat, Corn, Oats, Potatoes and Pastures. In its crop report this week tho Farmer’s Review says that very little Bpring wheat is being raised in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska. The few counties where it is raised in the above States give a very indifferent report. Of these Nebraska sends in the greater number of re-i ports. There the greater number report the condition as poor. In some localities the crop was seen to be doing so badly that it was plowed up and the ground planted to corn. Some counties report a complete failure. In lowa spring wheat is doing well, two-thirds of tho correspondents reporting good, and the rest fair. In Wisconsin the crop averages about fair, whioh means less than a full crop. It is making rapid growth' and in some counties is ready to head outDrv weather is the cause of the low average. In Minnesota the condition is poor on acoount of drouth. In Dakota half report condition bad; the rest of the reports are equally divided between fair and good. Cobn.—Com Is generally good in all the States covered by the report. In some places the crop is estimated at 80 or 90 per cent, of average, while in other counties the yield is’ expected to belabove a fnll average. In Kansas and Nebraska rain is needed. Oats.—Oats are in condition about the same as com in the States of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, lowa, and Wisconsin. In Kansas most of the oats have been out. In about half the counties the yield is good. In the rest the yield is poor, the crop avlng been cut short by rust in the milk stage of the oats. In Nebraska the condition is generally poor, and some fields have been plowed up. Potatoes.—Potatoes are promising well in niinois, Indiana, OMo, Michigan, Kentucky, Missouri, lowa, Wisconsin and Dakota. fu Kansas mo-t of the reports are favorable, but some give fair and pour. In Nebraska the reports are about evenly divided between good, fair, poor. Rain is needed for the development of the crop. Potato bugs are doing some damage. PAstubes —Pastures are good in most of the States. In Nebraska they only average fair i n account of drouth. In -Minueseta the Sass is so dry in many townships that the rmers are fearful of i e*tractive fires being accidentally starred. In nearly all of the States a few counties report pastures dried up. The general condition Is, however, good. Overflow of News. A. L. Jones & C!o., grocers at Syracuse, N. Y., have failed for SBO,OOO. THESwiss Government has suspended the coinage of £, 1, and 2 franc* silver pieces. There have been 704 deaths from cholera in the south part of France since May. The death sentence of Wm. Hartley, of Shelby County, Tenn., who was convicted of murder, has been commuted to life imprisonment. In response to the demands of England the Sultan of Turkey has ordered the liberation of all the persons convicted at Angora of sedition. An inch of rain fell in an hour at Aberdeen, S. D., and the storm covered a wide extent of territory. The rainmakers get credit for thej’ain.

SUNDAY CLOSING OF THE FAIR. The Action of the Directory Wu Practically Unanimous. The World’s Fair will be closed Sundays during the remainder of the Fair g>riod. Such is the decision of the oard of Directors, declared by the emphatic vote of 24 to 4. When it became apparent by actual admissions that the general public did not care for Sunday opening, that it required the attendance of fiver 10,000 employes to wait upon the pleasure of about 40,000 visitors, the question was considered purely from a business point of yiew and it was decided that “the interests of the public are not promoted by keeping the Exposition open on each and every day of the week,” and that the gates should be closed. The sole reason for closing the Fair Sundays is a financial one, as Director Hutchinson stated. The directors found that the people did not want it open and would not attend Sundays, and so they closed. The closing resolution tells the whole story and sweeps with it the promise to repay the United States the amounts received from the souvenir coin appropriation. The resolution reads as follows: Whereas, The Board of Directors heretofore, to wit. on May Id, ls»3, adopted certain resolutions providing lor the opening of the Exposition on Sundays in response to urgent appeals from persons and organizations representing a large majority of the public as well as stockholders of this corporation, and also In accordance with a resolution adopted by the City Counoil of the city of Chicago, representing the financial interests of said city in said Exposition to the amount of ?3,000,000; and. Whereas, Said action of the Board has been sustained by the United States Circuit Court of Appeals, and the right and power of the Board of Directors to control the physical administration of the Exposition Sunday as well as other days of the week has been upheld by the final decree of said court; and, Whereas, It now appears from the actual admissions that the general public do not manifest a desire that said Exposition should be kept open to the public each day of the week, and it further appearing tlia if the Exposition Is kept open Sunday it will require the attendance of more than IC,OOO laboring men and women, the employes of the Exposition, and others, including tbo curators and clerks of the exhibitors, and while the Exposition authorities can give its own employes one day of rest each week it seems impracticable for the exhibitors and others to provide such day of rest for their own cleiks and employes : ans, Whereas, It further appears that the number of laboring men and women whose services will be necessarily required to keep the Exposition open Sunday is disproportionate to the number of visitors on said days, and therefore the interests of the public are not promoted by keeping the Exposition open on each and every day of the week; now, therefore, be it Resolved, That all the said resolution so adopted the icth day of May, 18M, and the amendments to the rule relative thereto adopted said day, save and except the prices of admissions, be and the same are hereby rescinded, to take effect after the ICth inst.

ARMY BILL PASSED. The Measure Forced Through the Keichstag Aniid Exciting Scenes. According to cable advices the army bill was forced through the German Reichstag amid scones unparalleled. The speeches were rancorous; the opposition bitter and unyielding; the excitement intense. The Emperor himself was in the parliament house and was fuming with unbridled rage because his royal pleasure was not acceded to with more celerity. The Government had hoped that the final passage of the Emperor’s pet measure would be merely formal, and that the Reichstag would close in time to enable the swaggering war lord and his ministers to congratulate each other at their luncheon over their great triumph. But they were mistaken. The enemies of the bill fought to the very last and exhausted every means to harry the Emperor and his advisers. The passage of the bill is an event of much importance. Aside from the dramatic interest which attaches to the Emperor’s victory, and the humiliating concessions made to the foreign and church elements in order to muster a majority, the now law has other aspects of interest. The demand for its passage was based upon earnest and seemingly sincere representations that German security demanded it. Without this law, which gives more men for.the army, it was claimed that Germany would not remain first in her military resources. It was broadly asserted that without it she would slip backward, outstripped in the race, and become second in importance as a European power. If the Government view is correct Germany will now step to the front with renewed strength and greater- resources. At the same time watchful rivals, guarding their own interests, will measure the new strength of the German army and take measures to outdo it. Thus the race will continue as it has been going on until, financially exhausted, overtaxed, burdened with military service, the people will become impatient and will inaugurate —perhaps in blood—a new order of things. Or, perhaps, the dream of peaceable disarmament of the great powers may h 9 realized.

young Baptists Cheer. The convention of Baptist Young People, in session at Indianapolis, went wild when,the announcement was made that the World’s Fair gates were to be closed on Sunday. They were engaged in prayer meeting at the time, find shouted and cheered until they were hoarse. The morning session was entirely occupied with the discussion of missionary topics, and the afternoon was devoted to a symposium upon the lesser federation of the union. At 4 o’clock thirty State and provincial rallies were held in.various parts of the city, where matters pertaining to the State federations were discussed. The board of managers announced that Toronto had been chosen as the place for next year's convention. How the World Wags. Tom King, an Oklahoma horse thief, has been captured and turns out to be a woman. The embarkation of Lord Derby is considered to mean the end of Canadian Tory government. Thomas Seaton, of Bolivar, Pa., was bitten by a copperhead snake, and physicians despair of his life. Trustees of the De Pauw University in Indiana fear that bequests may fall $1,C00,000 short of calculations. Engineers who have surveyed the Pan-American railroad route declare the proposed enterprise is feasible. While attempting to save his drowning son John Vick, of Detroit, was dragged down and both men perished. Anti-Semite mobs in Yalta, Russia, beat and killed many Jews and plundered their homes of everything of value. A branch of Schweinfurth’s “heaven” has been established at Lexington, Ky., and the citizens are very indignant. s Striking coal miners in Kansas are becoming desperate, and have assaulted men who are working. Bloodshed is feared. J. J. Bush, cashier of the defunct Elmira National Bank, has been arrested on the charge of falsifying the books. Mrs. Mahamuel, of French Lake, Minn., was found dead in the road. It is thought she was killed by a party of revelers. Lightning set fire to Lee’s planingmill at Wilkesbarre, causing its total destruction. The loss will amount to $30,000.