Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 February 1910 — Topics of the Times [ARTICLE]

Topics of the Times

Ozone ventilating machines are now common in many large buildings. Six hundred workmen were killed at their labors in Chicago last year. The source of the world’s clove supply is Zanzibar and the neighboring island of Pemba. J. H. Hale, of Georgia, the “Peach King,” has 350,000 trees in his southern orchards alone. The world’s consumption of gold in the arts and industries in 1907 amounted to 1135,000,000.

The caribou of Alaska travel north every year in large herds. Some say that these droves number one thousand. The electrification of the street railwayg of -Rip development of the hydro-electric power system of that city is progressing rapidly. The coining value of silver produced from the mines of the world since 1492 is practically equal to that of the gold produced in that period—--113,000,000,000. The forest service has turned three hundred Angora goats, loose on mountain slopes in Western States, as an experiment to keep the weeds from the fire breaks.

To sum up in percentage the six leading cereals show a yield of 7.6 per cent, greater than last year, and only 4 per cent below the sum of the record years in each.

Mining has always been the traditional Industry of Mexico because of the rapidity with which fortunes were made. The recent depressions in this industry have brought agriculture to the fore.

Public one of the first newspapers ever published in America, never got beyond its initial issue. It appeared in Boston, Sept.' 25, 1690. It contained a promise to publish in its next issue the names of all the liars in Boston, and the authorities, taking cognizance of the threat,, wisely forbade the publication. The megaphone has been used at some western army posts for the purpose of amplifying the volume of the bugle, where it is desired that the calls shall be heard at a distance greater than the sound will carry under ordinary circumstances. The notes of the horn may be distinguished easily at almost incredible reaches in this manner.

Apparently it pays not to be cruel to horses in Chicago. A teamster who admitted abandoning his horses for six hours on a recent stormy day was fined ?50 by a magistrate. The humane society prosecuted the case vigorously and promised to report the matter to the driver’s employers. Presumably he will lose his job, as he was unable to pay the fine and will have to serve a jail term.

Su Teh-fa, a faithful old colporteur in Manchuria, died recently after more than twenty years’ splendid service in the employment of the British and Foreign Bible Society. Altogether he must have sold fully 100,000 copies of the Scriptures, and has perhaps done more than any other individual Chinese for the evangelization of his coqntry. Originally he had been a devotee of the goddess of mercy.

A system of forced ventilation is to be tried on the street cars of Chicago. Several fresh air intakes are cut through the floor under the seats and at other convenient points, and before entering the car it passes over electric heaters, so that it is tempered or heated as desired. The vehicle is fitted with a double ceiling and the lower one has a number of outlets for the vitiated air, but all openings are arranged so that there is no possibility of experiencing a draft in any part of the cars.

The police “third degree,” so frequently used by New York’s detective force in cases where prisoners do not know their rights, has fallen under the ban of the highest court of the State of Washington. That tribunal has bet aside a conviction in a felony case where it was proved that a material witness, under a threat of a prosecuting officer, testified as he suggested. The court holds that “it is tar better that criminals should escape punishment than that the courts should condone such proceedings.”