Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 April 1895 — NOTES AND COMMENTS. [ARTICLE]

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

If the revolution in Cuba is the trivial affair that the Madrid government would have the world believe, the action of Spain in sending large bodies of additional troops to the island would seem to require considerable explaining. It is difficult to believe that she is sending 8,000 soldiers to Cuba merely for the benefit they may derive from the sea voyage. The Japanese army is modeled upon the conscript systems of Germany and France. Its navy is wholly English in type, though for a number of years only Japanese officers have been actively employed. The Chinese system is in this respect quite different. In proportion to the limited wealth of the nation, its expenditures upon the navy have been enormous and prove now fully justified.

Two new enterprises have just been originated bj’ Miss Frances E. Willard, one the raising of a fund to extend the work of the Woman’s Christian Temperance union among colored women, which she desires to be a memorial ‘to Mrs. Mary T. Lathrop, the other a free literature fund, to be named for Mrs. Mary A. Woodbridge. The funds are to be raised by means of a phonograph at the V\ omans’ temple, Chicago, which, tor the sum of 10 cents, will reproduce the two-miniute addresses of leading speakers’. The agricultural department at Cornell, Ithaca, N. Y., claims to have made an important discovery, which will prove of great economic value to farmers. It is found that butter fat can be extracted from whey by running it through a separator. The department now has in press a bulletin explaining the process. It is estimated that general adoption of the process would save the agricultural interests of New York State nearly $1,000,000 every year, or, to put it in another way, that the entire expense of making cheese would be paid by the saving of what has heretofore been & waste product. The Sunday laws in Connecticut have dwindled from a> mass of enactments in force 100 years ago to less than half a dozen statutes embodied in the revision of 1887. The present legislature has abolished the last of the provisions* the bill repealing the old legislation being now in the hands of the governor for approval. The law that has been repealed by the general assembly provides that when any justice of the peace shall have personal knowledge that a person was guilty of drunkenness, profane swearing, cursing, or Sabbath breaking, that knowledge shall be sufficient evidence for the justice to render judgment against the offender without previous complaint and warrant. A correspondent of the Boston Transcript, now in Japan, writes: “There are many individual Chinamen who would, if they could, bring their country into the fraternity of nations. A nephew of the famed Li Hung Chang. Lord Hi, lately minister from China to Japan, once said to me : '* My poor country ! it is barbarian.’ In a recent visit I made to Canton I met a wealthy merchant who would, had he the power, open the empire to the science and humanities of the West. But there is the mighty officialdom overlying the whole empire, fastened upon the people by the force of sanctified tradition, battening upon its hundreds of millions of victims who are too fearful and ignorant to cast it off and destroy it. That incubus is the country’s curse. There is no hope for China until it is thrown off. The Chinese themselves evidently are helpless. Japan seems to be the agent by which the empire shall be set free. That civilized power which would stay Japan’s hand now is neither wise for the world's welfare nor obedient to its own duties. I say this, recognizing all Japan’s limitations.”

The retirement of Wilson Shannon Bissell from the office of postmaster general recalls the fact that the only Presidentof the United States whose cabinet remained intact from the beginning until the close of his term was Franklin Pierce. He made his appointments on taking office March 4, 1853, and all his legal advisers remained with him. until Buchanan became President, on March 4, 1857. Wm. L. Marcy, of New York, was Mr. Pierce’s secretary of state; James Guthrie, of Kentucky, afterward United States senator, was secretary of the treasury; Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, afterward president of the Southern confederacy, was secretary of war; James Campbell, of Pennsylvania, was postmaster general, and Caleb Cushing, of Massachusetts, was attorney general. Andrew Jackson made many changes in his cabinet. He bad four secretaries of state, five secretaries of the treasury, four secretaries of war, three secretaries of the navy, two postmaster generals, and three attorney generals during his two terms.

As if the cotton planter, of the South had not enough to contend with in natural forces the science of chemistry has been invoked to enter into competition against the great staple. United States Consul Morris, at Ghent, Belgium, in a special report to the state department describes a new precess of making artificial cotton which has been remarkably successful, the product being much cheaper than the natural cotton and possessing most of its qualities. The basis is'wood pulp, which, by a course of treatment ully de - scribed by the consul, is changed into pure celulose and spun into thread and then woven into cloth. It resembles ordinary cotton, but has a slight defect, which, however, it will be easy to remedy. That is, it is not as strong as the natural product. It weaves and w’orks well and can be dyed as well as cottom By coating it with paraffine and passing it over glass a beautiful brilliahcy may be given to it. Much greater strength can be imparted oy parchmentizing when it acquires a semi transparency. The cloth wears well, has a good appearance and is strong, and it cannot be regarded as a coarse counterfeit, though it will be a boon to persons in straitened circumstances, as they may clothe themselves at reduced expense.

Probst* hag an inemne tax wbicßlast year yielded $29,048,084, and some facta regarding its operations as reported to the state department by United; States Consul Morris at Ghent, Belgium, are of interest to people in the United States. The startling fact in this report is the remarkable number of persons who escaped the tax altogether, although in Prussia every citizen must pay who has anything above the smalt income of $214, which would include the great body of American workmen. According to the rolls prepared in view of the tax, the number of individuals was 30,887,831, and of this number 21,238,024 persons are exempted because their income was less than 1 $214, or because they were foreigners. So the- tax was paid by 2,520,930 taxpayers (legal persons), of whom 1,922 were societies or corporations, the latter paying $1,845,272. In the cities- each taxpayer paid for 3.18 persons* while in the country he represented 4.26 individuals. The average income in Prussia of persons above the minimum of $214 was $684.06 in* cities and $422.57 in the country, the general average being $746.56. Of the total tax the cities paid $2/,196,811 and the coun* try $7,102,097. The amount of tax of each taxpayer averaged 2.15 per cent, in the cities and- 1(61 in the country.

The trouble between* the- United States and Germany over the latter’s exclusion of American eattle, says a Washington dispatch, lias assumed a more pacific aspect of late, and officials are hopeful that the subject may be adjusted .without further friction. The German* authorities have urged, with apparent sincerity, that they had no purpose to retaliate against the United States-because of the tariff differential duty placed on German sugars. It has been pointed out. that Germany took similar action against her near neighbor Austria when it was suspected* that hogs coming from Austria were contaminated. And as Austria and Germany are members of the triple alliance, it is urged that her course is shown to be inspired entirely by sanitary precaution and not through political retaliation. The German authorities also take the position that they will at once end the exclusion of American cattle when it is established that they are entirely free from disease. In their investigations on the subject they have become satisfied that the methods of government inspection in this country are very rigid and effective, and they do not doubt that they will lead to such perfect healthfulness among the cattle shipped abroad that the cause for the exclusion will disappear at no distant day. Assurances are given that when this occurs the embargo will be at once suspended.