Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 February 1910 — Topic the Times [ARTICLE]

Topic the Times

Drug clerks In Norway get from |375 to |536 a year. An International botanical congress wUI be held at Brussels In May. The German army is using paper kettles, which are said to be of Japanese invention. Duluth, at the head of Lake Superior, has the greatest mineral tonnage of any port In the world. The first—national Thanksgiving proclamations were issued by Congress during the Revolutionary War. It Is estimated that 75 per cent of the products advertised in street cars of Canada are of American manufacture. The New England Thanksgiving dates from 1633, when the Massachusetts Bay colony set apart a day for thanksgiving. More than 90 per cent of the cities of this country with a population of 10,000 or more are equipped with electric fire alarms. Twenty-four electric locomotives to be used In the New York tunnel extension of the Pennsylvania Railroad are now being built. Each weighs 330,000 pounds, and will develop 4,000horse power, which is about three times as much as a giant steam locomotive. —Popular Mechanics. Valuable manuscripts transferred to the library of congress this year from various departments of the government Include all the “applications for office” during Washington’s administration, the original vouchers and accounts of Washington’s expenses during the revolution, and historical documents regarding revolutionary pension claims. Business transactions between Chinese merchants and foreign firms are usually In taels. The tael is not a coin, but a Chinese ounce of silver. It varies In different places both as to weight and "touch" or (fineness), and the exchange between the tael and the dollar, or between the former and the copper Coinage is constantly fluctuating. , The only coin in use In China until recently was the copper cash (of which there are about 1,200 to the Mexican dollar, or 2,850 to the American dollar, but these are fast disappearing except in the more or less remote interior. A new coin or “ten-cash piece” has been yiade at the provincial mints, and It Is rapidly displacing the old copper cash. The relative value between these and sil'ver dollars or taels is fluctuating. The railway across the isthmus of Tehuantepec is 190 miles long. It was constructed chiefly with British capital and is controlled In part at least by the Mexican government. It was built especially for the purpose of handling, freight between; the Atlantic and Pacific, and, although opened at the beginning of 1907, has already carried about $100,000,000 worth of merchandise passing chiefly between the ’Atlantic and Pacific ports of the United States. The living conditions of the workers In the larger mines of Mexico are extremely humble. The average man and bls family live In a one-rqom shack, mud house, stone hut, or dugout along some bank. Their food consists of dried meat, fried flour cakes, beans and rank coffee. Stoves are found only In the better homes, the laborer’s meal being cooked over a little fire between stones. At meal times the family gather around- the fire and they sleep on blankets on the floor.

The .gold dollar in the United States has practically gone out of circulation afid now it is rumored that the silver do|lar is likely to follow it, at least to some extent, Into its innocuous desuetude. The reason for this seems to be simply that the government has ceased its practice of paying the expressage on shipments of silver dollars. Banks, therefore, prefer the currency, which is so much lighter, and in many sections of the country in greater demand at their windows. Most of the New York savings institutions have decided to make the rate of the semi-annual interest allowed their depositors on Jan. 1 next the same as the last half-yearly figures; in other words, to continue such payments on a 4 per cent annual basis. Certain of them, and these rank among the largest, have, however, taken the ground that 3y 2 per cent is all that could be allowed with a due regard for conservatism and have adopted action In accordance therewith. Massachusetts has taken up the idea of a poor man’s credit bank. This is an institution where men of little means can get loans with no security except their personal character. The bank accepts deposits and pays a small rate of interest on them. It Is organized in the form of a company, every member of which can get small loans on the indorsement of other members. As the society is very careful in admitting members, there is little likelihood of loss. The scheme has worked well In Germany.