Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 159, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 July 1910 — Topies of the Times [ARTICLE]

Topies of the Times

Old manila rope is much used in this country for paper stock. The United States army, Including the military academy, costs $103,727,000, and the navy $136,000,000. Ostrich feathers to the value or $8,690,000 have been exported from the Cape of Good Hope in one year. The flsh catch in the Arctic ocean, along the Siberian coast amounts each year to about, forty million pounds, worth about $1,800,000. In proportion to population, there are in the United States more than three times as many deaths from tuberculosis as in England and Wales. It Is expected that the new coal mine near Melbourne, which now yields five hundred tons a day, will be able next year to supply all the requirements of the Victorian state railways. Within less than a year and a half It is hoped that through Pullman cars from the United States and Mexico will enter Guatemala City via the PanAmerican and Guatemala Northern railroads. Twenty-nine persons lost their lives last year In gathering Alpine flowers, and seventeen through winter sports. No fewer than seventy-six deaths were occasioned by' attempting rash and foolhardy feats. On the battleship Mississippi the men print and publish a little monthly magazine, chronicling news of naval affairs and life aboard ship. The title chosen for the periodical Is the Mississippi Bubble. The cotton cloth needed to clothe the inhabitants of ChinA Is about eight billion yards. This amount would carpet a pathway sixty feet wide from the earth to the moon, or cover one more than twemty miles wide from New York to Chicago. To prevent operators of small machines driven by electric motors forgetxlng to turn off the current when they leave them, a mat containing a switch has appeared in the market. When an operator steps from the mat the circuit is broken.

To permit a motorist to explore dark corners of his car with a light and yet leave Els hands free there has been invented an incandescent lamp and reflector to fasten to the forehead ap4 take current frojn the car’s batteries Ihrougfi a cord.

At one of the busiest points in Broadway there stood, recently, for a long time a middle-aged man holding before him a hat of English make, into which many passersby dropped small coins. Fastened to his coat was a placard on which was written In pfkin letters: “Work wanted —anything. Out of work because of sickness. Near starvation; wife and six children.” The man’s head was bowed low and he nodded whenever a coin was dropped into the hat. —New York Tribune.

A new Taft story: When Mr. Taft goes to a ball game he always buys two seats for the accommodation of his avoirdupois ponderosity. One day he arrived at the game late and purchased two tickets. The usher knew the distinguished visitor and, taking the two tickets, started up an aisle to find the seats. Directly he stopped with a puzzzled expression on his face. “I don’t see how I can seat you,” he said. “Why,” Taft replied, “I have two tickets.” "Yes,” said the usher, “but they are on opposite sides of the aisle.”

The oldest old maid in the country is believed to be a resident of Duluth. Miss Victoria Kaschura, who lives with her niece, Mrs. C. Marschall, 31 West Ninth street, is 104 years old. She has made her home there for the last thirty years. She is now a helpless invalid, unable to recognize any of those who attend to her except her grandniece, Miss Gertrude Marschall. Miss Kaschcura Is a native of Germany. Her relatives of this generation remember little of what has been told them of the spinster’s past life. Her mind is clouded by her century of years and she awaits death complacently.—Duluth News-Tribune.

Almost a million women in ihe United States are either farmers or farm laborers. Thanks to the popularity of the homestead In the west and to a belated appreciation of agriculture as a field for women’s industry, this number is rapidly increasing The United States, however, has not gone so far in this respect as England. There, in the dairy sections, women have entire control of the herds, not only the butter making, but the milking and feeding.. In France nearly 3,000,000 women are engaged in farm work, while in most of the countries of continental Europe the finer breeds of cattle are mainly the result of womans’ efforts. —New Idea Woman’s Magazine.