Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 September 1894 — NOTES AND COMMENTS. [ARTICLE]

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

For the first time in onr history corn is quoted higher than wheat. The railroads of the United States a year 60u,000,000 passengers anih. transport 800,000,000 tons of freight^ The Metnhdist Episcopal Church has 2,500,0001 members, owns over 24,000 churehep and 10,000 parsonages, worth iif the aggregate $125,000,000. Herr Lowe’s invention of the “tailor-made” armor is followed by that of _a_Hungarian, who says he can make from wood pulp a fabric suitable for clothing. Some notion may bo formed of the enormous volume of corporation law from the fact that federal courts are operating 152 railway systems, representing a capitalization of $2,500,000,000. And on all the litigation that those figures represent lawyers are collecting fat fees. The statistics of illiteracy in the United States shows that of a total population over 10 years of ago of 47,418,559, there are 6,824,702 illiterates, or over 18 per cent. The percentage of illiterates in the white population is over seven and a half, and in the colored population nearly 57. The statistics of houses used wholly or chiefly for dwellings-are vague and unsatisfactory, but it is a fact pretty well known that there aro 9,500,000 houses in the United States, against 9,000,000 in France and Russia, 6,500,000 in England, and 6,000,000 in Germany. The price of corn in Russia has shrunk so low, in consequence of the splendid prospect of tho harvest, that many farmers aro sending their cattle into tho fields, as tho cost of harvesting would exceed the price of the corn. In the Caucasus barley and wheat are cut green and given to the cattle. Forty-five pounds of corn are worth a cent and a half. A man whose business it is to solicit subscribers for soveral medical periodicals complains that doctors are feeling the hard times. Many decline to subscribe, and moro who subscribe dolay payment. I'he fact is that many sick folks aro making shift to get along without the doctor, while some are seeking advice at the hands of less expensive men than they have usually employed. There are not a few newspapers which speak of “little Korea.’’ It is true that size is relative, and ns compared with either Japan or China, it is relatively small. At the same time “little Korea” Ims an area of 90,000 squaro miles, and is consequently equal in territory to England, Scotland and Wales combined. The population of the last census was reported as 10,518,987. Its capital city is inclosed by a wall twenty feet high and contains a population of over 200,000. The increase in tho consumption of absinthe in France is one of the worst features of recent statistics of the republic. In 1885 tho reports shew that 57,000 hectoliters of absinthe were sold at retail. In 1892 theso sales had swelled to 126,000 hectoliters, and there was a corresponding increase in tho sale of all other alcoholic drinks. Whether this growth of the absinthe lmbit had anything to do directly with crime is uncertain, but it is a fact that the number of persons condemned by the courts advanced from 86,000 in 1865 to 127,000 in 1885. During tho lost fiscal year ended Juno 80, 1894, 590,662 letters from foreign hinds drifted into the dead letter office, Washington. The individuals addressed being not discovered, nearly all of theso missives had to bo sent back to tho countries whence they came. Yet the United States post office is vastly more clover at finding people than aro tho authorities abroad. Only a few days ago a letter dispatched from New York with the superscription, “Levi F. Morton, Paris, France,” was returned marked “Inconnu”—i. e., “unknown.” Nevertheless, the ex-Vice-President was in tho French capital at the time at one of tho great hotels. It is reported from Oklahoma that tho melon planters of that Territory have found an unexpected enomy in the coyotes that abound there. On account of the drouth the springs and smaller streams have gono dry; but the coyotes have found that they can quench thoir thirst on melons. When one gets thirsty he hunts a melon patch, jumps on a melon till he breaks it, and then, thrusting his sharp nose into the interior of the fruit, regales himself with tho contents. Then he usually reports to his thirsty comrades,and brings them in great numbers to relievo their wants. A pack of the creatures will make havoc of a melon patch in one night. A Washington sea captain complains of the tramp nuisance at sea. There is a large and increasing number of men who make a practice of beating their way from place to place on vessels, and tho coasting craft are their favorite prey. They manage to slip aboard a vessel just as she is ready for sea, and hide themselves until she is fairly out on the salt water, when they make their presence known. Sometimes a gang of nve or six will get on p the same vessel. Of course, they have to be fed, as the captain is more or less responsible for their being there, but as no account of them has been taken in laying in supplies, they sometimes force the crew on rather short rations. Most captains put the fellows to work as far as possible, but there is little work on the sort of vessels that thoy usually select that a landlubbor can do. “Duelling in France,” said a man recently returned from the gay capital, “is in a large majority of cases farcical. Old-fashioned, muzzle-load-ing duelling pistols are used, and the quantity of powder used is graduated according to the gravity of the insult. The contestants stand thirty pacos apart, facing away from each other. At the signal they turn and lire. Owing to the small charge of powder, the bullets usually drop to the earth before reaching either man. If the lead did carry tho required distance, tho force of tho projectile would not

be sufficient to break the skin of the duellists. Having satisfied wounded honor by shooting of> the revolvers, the contestants depart in a cheerful frame of mind. The duels do not always end so pleasantly. When a quarrel is of a very serious nature the principals sometimes insist on enough powder to do actual damage. I was called on to act as second for a 'man who shattered his opponent's shoulder with a bullet. Americans have proven to be awkward customers for tho shoot-but-don’t-hurt duelists. In several instances whore Americans were challenged, and had the choice of weapons, they have selected Colt's revolvers. The invariable result was that the challengers found it inconvenient to fight.”