Rensselaer Republican, Volume 14, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 August 1882 — ITEMS OF INTEREST. [ARTICLE]

ITEMS OF INTEREST.

A bang<ip al£iir—A railroad collision. Germany added 1,102 miles of road .to its railway system last year, and of * these the government built 793 miles. It is intended to expend $300,0004n hotels by next Season on Oak Island * and Jones’ Beachy Long Island. Two Georgia farmers grew five hundred bushels of Irish potatoes on one acre of land, and sold them for S4OO. In the Southern States the price of labor ranges from $12.25 to $7.32 per month. The average cost of subsisting a laborer in 1880 is $7,17 a month, against $7.14 in 1876. ftnce the opening of the Washington headquarters atvalley Forge, they have been visited daily by touristsand now the register contains page after page of names. Poker-playing is one of the recreations of Americans on the ocean steamers, and the captains not infrequently take a hand. Sometimes the play is for very high stakes. J The gratuitous distribution of claret on the steamers of one of the lines costs $5,000 a year. A citizen of New Orleans hasexhibited fine specimens of fibre from the banana plant. He estimates that an acre will yield 10,340 pounds of fibre, worth $7.50; this, added to the fruit, will make the cult!ration of this plant v%ry valuable. The monument to Robert Burns, which is to be placed in Central Park, New York,jvill represent Burns standing upon the trunk of a fallen tree, looking up in a contemplative attitude. He is supposed to be composing the beautiful ode, 4, T0 Mary in Heaven.” . Prof. Robert Peter presente 1 to the Kentucky State Historical Society a plaster cast of the skull of Daniel Boone and the original mold in which it was formed. The cast was obtained by Prof. Peter in 1845, when the remains of Boone were interred in the Frankfort cemetery. There are five men to one woman in Leadville, Colorado. At Silver Cliff ; the ratio is seven to one; at Pitkin Seventeen to one. The older cities in Colorado, such as Denver, Colorado Springs, Pueblo,Georgetown, Boulder, Central and Golden, show a fair proportion of women. The four largest boot manufactories in Milford, Mass., are employing 1,500 hands, and are making about 1,800 cases of boots weekly. Two fine-shoe manufacturers are making about 500 pairs a week. With the exception of two factories, all of the shoe manufacturers have all the business they can attend to. The tax rate on banking capital in New York is nearly double that of Boston. Ther capital of the associated banks of New York show a decline of $23,735,000 in the last four years and $23,945,000 since 1872, while bank capital in Boston has increased about sl,500,000 during the same term. A youth, just launching out in trade. Unto a wealthy merchant said: •'Pray tell me, str, what you profess 1 To call the secret of success?" The nabob's eyes with.pleasure shone, Ab he replied in earnest tone: "The secret simple Is, I think, You’ll find it, sir, in printer’s ink." - The Nature reports a very curious telephonic experiment made in Switzerland on the occasion of the federal fete of singers. A telephone had been placed in the Zurich Festhalle, and two conductors connected with the Bale telegraphic office, where a large audience had congregated. The distance from Bale to Zurich is about 80 kilometres. The Bale audience enjoyed the singing about as well as if they had been placed in the upper circle of an ordinary opera house. At the end of the performance they proved their satisfaction by-clapping hands, which the telegraphic wires transmitted with perfect fidelity to the Zurich performers.