Jasper County Democrat, Volume 11, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 October 1908 — FACTS IN FEW LINES [ARTICLE]

FACTS IN FEW LINES

Native trees are used as telegraph poles in parts of Java. New' Caledonia owns one solitarj mile of submarine cable. Navigation in the Suez canal is often interrupted by 'sand storms. An Indian stream, the river Kistnah, 600 feet wide, has the longest span of telegraph wire in the world. In St. Petersburg Is the largest bronze statue in existence, that of Teter, the Great, which weighs 1,000 tons. Outside of Europe the fargest six cities in the world are New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Calcutta, Pekin and Shanghai. An electric railroad is being built up the Zugspltze, the highest peak of the Bavarian Alps. A hotel is to be built on the 7,000 foot level. Furniture is as yet a luxury In Brazil. Consul General Anderson says. Outside the cities the tables, etc., in use are homemade and very primitive. Eugene E. Safford of Canterbury, Conn., has a cow with peculiar tastes. On a recent Sunday the animal made way with part of her master’s coat and later ate Safford’s hat with evident relish. No wonder that so many shops in New York city sell shoes and that so many shops sell nothing but shoes, for it is estimated that the pedestrians of the city wear out 28,800 pairs of shoes each day. > The nut trees of the world could, it is calculated, provide food all the year round for the population of the globe.Brazil nuts grow in such profusion that thousands of tons of them are wasted every year.

The cuttings in Uncle Sam’s wood lot during 1007 were the most severe on record. They were 7 per cent more than the cut reported in 1900 and amounted to considerably over 40.000,000,000 board feet. A woman of Wahrlng, Bohemia, and her two slaughters attempted to commit suicide because the local newspaper had hinted not only that they were extravagant in dress, but that they dressed with bad taste. Records of the treasury department show that the port of New York during the fiscal year 1907-8 has a larger balance of trade in Its favor than ever before. For the entire United States the balance is $666,457,103, which exceeds by $2,000,000 the largest year before, which was 1900-1.

It is an unwritten law in Japan that on the empress’ birthday all the schoolgirls shall listen to the reading of the Imperial rescript on education and sing the national hymn. These observations were omitted at a Presbyterian school in Nagoya this year, and in consequence the head master, a Christian Japanese, has been dismissed. Modern brick buildings of ten and twelve stories are being taken down and replaced by steel frame structures of greater height on Broadway, New York. While the foundations of the original skyscrapers are strong enough to sustain additions above, there is enough saving of Space in the new plan of thinner walls to make the change profitable. The island of Yezo, or Hokkaido, is the richest in variety of undeveloped resources of any part of the possession of Japan. Its area is more than 30.000 square miles and its coast 1,600 miles, exclusive of the various dependent islands, which have an area of 6,200 square miles. Hokkaido is the second largest island in Japan. Its population in 1903 was 1,192,394. An extraordinary commission has been created in Paris to investigate the affairs of the order of the Legion of Honor, created by Napoleon as a signal mark of merit for distinguished service rendered to the state. This original purpose of its founder has been gradually subverted, and the cross has been bestowed for rather ordinary causes, frequently political. An annual profit of $l5O per acre can be cleared In Mexico by the cultivation of the zapupe plant, the fiber of which is used for many purposes. From it is manufactured, among other things, the finest cordage and rope, which will neither mold nor kink and which is unaffected by climatic conditions of any kind. As animals do not touch this plant, fencing in the crops, an ex pensive thing In Mexico, is unnecessary.

German educators are now introducing picture post cards into the schools. Within the last few months cards have been put on the market illustrating natural history, political history and even giving instructions in the German language. These cards have been approved by professors and teachers of reputation, and at a recent meeting of the German Geographical society it was proposed for the first time to use them in the schools.

While in Afherlca societies are being formed for the suppression of street noises, Paris has added another to the terror of the streets. It is a new form of bicycle alarm. The bell and the horn hjive had their day, and now the favorite “avertisseur” consists of a sort of miniature tambourine, which is struck by a small wooden hammer operated by contact with the spokes of the front wheel. It is certainly effective, but the noise is said to be enough to revivify a cadaver. Professor Paul Haupt, who provoked a storm of discussion at the international historical congress in London by his address on “The History of Galilee,” in which he stated that Jesus was born 'at Nazareth rather than Bethelehem and probably was not a descendant of David, has been professor of Semitic languages and director of the Oriental seminary in Johns Hopkins university since 1883He was born at Goerlltz. Germany, In 1858 and was educated at Leipsic and Berlin universities.