Rensselaer Republican, Volume 14, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 September 1882 — Page 7

JEWS IN THE UNITED STATES.

••MetUiif About Tbelr AfpcfKte Nwbm, Tbelr , IMsttribn tIM, nod Tbelr Occupation. It will surprise a good many people to l>e told that there are not more than 250,000 Jews in this country, or one to every 20 of the population. The oommqp error in regard to their numbers is ptdbabiy due to the fact that most Jews ere engaged in active business, in merchandising or banking, and are established in the principal streets in our great cities, where they are constantly under the public eye. The recent exodus from Russia has also con - tributed to give exaggerated notions of their multitude. According to the oen - sus of 1880 there are 230,984 Jews In the United States. The emigration from Russia has added some 17,000 to the number, so that the Jewish population of the country may be estimated as above, at about 250,000. The Russian Jews are strictly orthodox, close observers to the rites and ceremonies of their ancient religion, while the great majority of the Jews in this country have little attachment to the religion of their ancestors, and are Hebrews only in race. Of the 60,000 Jews in the city of New York not more than 5 per cent belong V> the synagogues, so that in the matter of religion the Russian Jews are further removed from their relatives who came to this country from Germany and Austria than the latter are from'Ohristians. Of the total’number of Jews in the United States New York has 80,518; Pennsylvania, 20,000; Illinois, 12,625; California, 18,580, and Ohio, 12,581 — these five States containing more than half the Jews of the entire country. There are are 10,337 Jews in Maryland, 8,500 in Massachusetts, 7,538 in Louisiiana, 7,380 in Missouri, 5,593 in New Jersey, and the rest are scattered over the country, busily plying trade, from Maine to Oregon. More than two-thirds of all the Jews of the country are congregated in the principal cities. New York contains 60,000; San Francisco, 16,000; Brooklyn, 14,009; Philadelphia, 13,000; Chicago, 12,000; Baltimore, 10,000: Cincinnati, 8,000 ; Boston, 7,000; St. Louis, 6,500; New Orleans, 5,000; Cleveland, 8,500; Newark, 8,500, and •o on £own the list. The attachment of the Jews to trade and banking, which necessarily attracts them to large oities, is a remarkable instance of the perpetuation of traits when foreAd in a'certain direction. The ancient dwellers in Palestine were shepherds and farmers, and their attachment to pastoral and agricultural life is abundantly attested in their poetry. But Christian persecution left them in Europe no pursuits but merchandising, banking and moneylending. Until comparatively modern times Jews were r.ot permitted ,to own zeal estate in Christian countries. They could enter neither of the learned professions nor be apprenticed in Any of the guilds of mechanics because of the Christian prejudices against their race. Of necessity, therefore, their pursuits were narrowed to me i chan dising and money-lending until they have become by the law of evolution the bankers of the world. The hostility to the Jews that has recently manifested itself in Germany, to say nothing of the persecutions to which they have been snbjeoted by the semibarbarian Russians, is due in about equal degree to their superior skill in business and to the liberality of their politics. In former times Christian Kings applied the thumb-screw and the rack to extort from the Jew banker a revelation of the hiding-place of his treasure, and thus obtain a forced loan. But we have changed all that now. Nowadays the Tolers of nations go 4b tVe Jewish capitalists of London and Paris and ask them to put a loan on the market, and wars are made and oities are bombarded by Christian fleets to enforce payment. It was not surprising when it was announced some time ago from London : 4 ‘ Little doing on ’Change to-day, as it is a Jewish holiday.” Christian persecutions have made, in a long prooess of time, the descendants of the shepherds and peasant farmers of Jndea the money-lenders of the world. Nothing else was left for them. After awhile, under the operation of the perfect dbcial and political freedom of the United States, and the constant prooess of assimilation, the pursuits of the Jews will take as wide a range as those of the rest of their fellow-countrymen.—Phila-delphia Record.

Rufus Hatch’s Story.

At a dinner party given by some of the members of the Produce Exchange, the folly of a man pretending to know more than his brother speculator was yery well exemplified. One of the more «go*tistical of the knowledge dispensers was making a speech, and he drifted into enlarging on materialism. Among other things, he said that he did not believe in anything that could not be seen and realized, and on this point he got into pretty deep water, when a practical brother interrupted him by asking : " Did you ever see and realize Constantinople and Alexandria?” The answer was, "No, but my uncle lias been there, beside they are on the map, and, therefore, I believe them to be in existence.” The dialogue continued for some min* ntes, when the interrogator demonstrated the logic of his position by demanding : “Do you believe you have got any brains ?” “ Yes, of course.” “ Did you ever see them ?” The answer came rather faintly, though quite naturally, “ No.” “ Did any one else ever see them ?” At this stage of the proceedings, the dinner party came to a somewhat sudden termination.— The Hour. ■T The New York Clipper mourns be- ' .cause Eve didn’t tell the serpent "not this Eve, some other Eve.”

EXPLOITS OF OUR NAVY.

Hew Officers Have Het Emerfeaciea. [From the Philadelphia Press.] Without mentioning those instances where our navy gained great distinction and renown in foreign waters, while acting under direct authority of Congress, in the bombardment of Algiers and Tripoli, daring the conquest of California, the war with Mexico, and the two wars with England, our small but ever gallant and alert naval forces have earned and sustained a reputation for prompt and efficient action in the protection of American interests abroad which has been the pride and boast of all true and patriotic Americans. During the year 1823, the Porto Rioo (Spanish) privateers having upon several occasions interrupted our commerce, Commodore Porter sent a communication oh the subject to the authorities of tho island. Lieut. W. H. Cooke, in command of the brig Fox, in attempting to enter the port of St. Johns, in order to receive a reply to the Commodore’s official communication, was fired upon and killed. Commodore Porter threatened to bombard the town, and was dissuaded from doing so only by the prompt apology of the authorities of the island. Again in October, 1823, Lient. Platt, commanding the United States brig Beagle, learning that one of our merchants doing business at St. Thomas had been plundered by Spanish pirates, and his goods taken to Foxado, a small port on the island of Porto Rioo, proceeded thither to recover his property. On making known the object of their visit, Lieuts. Platt and Ritchie were arrested and detained under guard for a day. Commodore Porter,, with his characteristic promptness, proceeded to Foxado to demand explanation and redress. Finding that the authorities, upon his arrival there, intended to open fire upon his vessel, ne landed a force of sailors and marines, took their batteries, and compelled from the offenders the fullest apologies. In February, 1832, Commodore Downes, in the frigate Potomac, ascertained that the Malays had captured the American ship Friendship, of Salem, Mass. An expedition was fitted out from the Potomac, officered by Lieuts. Shubriok, Hoff, lugersoll and Totten, of the navy, and Lieut. Edson, of the marines. TI9 Malays made a determined resistance, but were finally overcome and several of their forts captured and destroyed. For this action the officers of the expedition received the thanks of the department. While Commander Kelly was at Shanghai, in 1854, in the aloop-of-war Plymouth, a combined attack of the English and American forces was made upon the encampment of the Imperialists in retaliation for aggressions committed by them upon British residents. In tbis action the Chinese were severely punished. This voluntary aot of Commander Kelly received the approval of the President and the department. In the latter part of June, 1853, while Commander Ingraham, in the sloop-of-war St. Louis, was at Smyrna, Turkey, he reoeived information that a Hungarian named Martin Koszta, with an American passport and papers, had been arrested by some Austrian officials (09 the charge of being a deserter from the Austrian army), and was held prisoner on board an Austrian brig-of-war, which vessel was supported by an Austrian steam gunboat. Commander Ingraham immediately made a demand for Koszta’s release, at the same time running out his guns and preparing his ship for action. Koszta was promptly released, and the spirited action of Commodore Ingraham reoeived the highest commendation frost the Government, and a gold medal was awarded him by Congress. In Jannary, 1854, Lient. Strain, of the navy, was engaged in exploring a route across the Isthmus. During the progress of the work the natives committed various outrages upon the persons and DroDertv of American citizens employed fn of connected with the Burvev. In retaliation, Capt. Hollins, in the sloop-of-war Cayne, bombarded and destroyed the town of San Juan de Nicaragua. In April, 1858, Lieut. Almy, in the Fulton, compelled the release of six American vessels that had been seized and detained by the authorities at Tampico, Mexico. On this occasion the Mexican Government desired to refer the matter of the seizure of these vessels to the official action of the respective Governments. “You will release the vessels first,” said Almy; “then the Government can indulge in all the ‘palaver’ they want to.” In August, 1858, Capt Kelly, in the Saranac, compelled by a display of force at San Juan de Sur, in Nicaragua, the release of twd American citizens who had been unjustly imprisoned. In August, 1858, Commander Sinclair visited Waga, one of the Feejees, and inflicted summary punishment upon the natives for the murder of two American citizens. He destroyed their town and laid waste the country for miles.

Rude Fashionable Women.

By incidents like the one related below, Oscar Wilde justifies his assertion that American society is rude even to boorishness: “In Saratoga last week I stopped at the States and Congress Hall—two of the best hotels, which one would suppose would be patronized by cultured people. While talking with Judge Brady there a great crowd came around us, mostly women, and, finding it a bore to be thus stared at, T moved on into the office. There they came flocking in after us. I went to the billiard-room, but found no refuge there. The women rushed there—ladies in silks and crapes and laces, with diamonds in their ears, bringing their daughters with them. To balk the pursuit utterly, I fled to the bar-room.

Will you believe me that they came there—in ten minutes fifty to one hundred .of them—filling up the place almost? It seemed to me a most painful and dreadful thing—the bold-fiaced staring and half-audible commenjr It seemed much worse than the conduct of abandoned women. Why didn't I say,‘What’ll you have ladies?’* Oh, it wouldn’t have done any good, and aU the country would have said I had insulted the ladies at Saratoga.”

History Class, Attention!

Name some of the most important events that have happened in American history: 1620. Landing made on Plymouth Rook. 1621. First Thanksgiving kept. No turkey. 1622. First meeting-house built. 1640. First printing press. 1648. Witches first hung. 1649. Men are commanded to wear short hair. n *. 1662. More witches hung in Salem. 1702. Yale College founded in New Haven. 1704. First newspaper printed at Boston. 1705. Coffee is tasted. 1710. Tea is tried, but taxation makes it costly. 1711. Postoffice started. 1721. Potatoes planted as a curiosity. Singing by note in the meetinghouses, which caused a great deal of trouble. 1740. Tinware manufactured. 1755. An organ built, but not allowed to be played m the meetinghouse. 1756. Benjamin Franklin invents the lightning rod. 1760. First attempt at fashion. Collars are worn on shirts and chaises appear. 1765. Liberty talked of. No more* using of stamped paper. 1770. Wooden clocks made. 1773. Troable begins about tea; chests of it thrown into Boston harbor. 1774. The streets of Boston are lighted with oil-lamps. 1780. Umbrellas used by a few rich people, and laughed at. 1792. Silk worms raised, and in few houses silk carpets are seen. 1795-1800. Pantaloons take the plaoe of breeches for ordinary wear, and plates are used at breakfast and tea. 1807. A steamboat on the Hudson. 1817. Stoves first appear in meetinghouses, although some think they showed more fire than religion. 1818. A steamboat on Long Island Sound. 1819. A steamer goes across the Atlantic. ' 1823. Gas in Bbston. Coal. Steel pens take the, plaoe of quills. 1823. Ruffles disappeared from shirk fronts. 1828. Love apples are tasted hesitatingly, but are found novel and palatable, and are called tomatoes and used as a vegetable. 1832. A railroad built. 1833. Matches used instead of the tinder-box. 1837. First paper money used, called shin-plasters. 1838. Envelopes first used. 1839. Daguerreotypes are taken. 1844. First electric message sent. 1847. Sewing machines invented/ 1858. Ocean cable laid. Only one message sent for about ten years. 1361. Quarrel between North and South breaks out. Monitors built, lots of paper money used and years spent in fighting. 1865. Abraham Lincoln assassinated. 1871. Chicago burned. 1876. Party in Philadelphia called the ‘ ‘ Centennial. ” 1877. Silver coming into use again. 1881. Garfield assassinated.

Be Studious.

Whitefield -was poor and in “service,” but he managed to get an education; and both England and America have felt his power for good. William Harvey did not find out the circulation of the blood by a lucky accident. He was a hard student at home and abroad, and taught the doctrine to his classes for ten years before he published it to the world. Young men ought to remember that there are still splendid services to be rendered. All the discoveries have pot yet been made. The field is now the world, as it never was before. Education of the highest kind in physiology, mental philosophy, engineering, chemistry, is accessible as it never was before. An empire without the emperor has grown up on this continent, and much of the soil is yet without occupant and master. Other empires are open to educated ability, and will become more so every year! There is a legitimate sphere for splendid ambition. Let our boys forego the cost of tobacco and catch inspiration from the best books. Let them turn their backs on the tempting glass, and spend their money in stimulating the mind. Even fashion “parties" and pleasure may be put in the background, that the time and thought required for them may be e'ven to getting that mental habit and rniture that will make its possessor a helper to his race, and a capable servant of that Creator—the “Father of Lights,” —who has given us brain and heart, with capabilities, that we may be lights, benefactors and conquerors, on fields where no life is lost, and even the vanquished are gainers.

A Hard Hit.

Those people who always write poetry when they are sad, were well and deservedly hit Curran, who said of Byron: "Here is a man who first weeps over his wife and then wipes his eyes with the public.”

HUMOR.

A shoddy mill—A bogus prize-fight. It is to cheat an Arab in a horse trade; in other words you oau’t gum Arabio that way. A Stath Commissioner of life-insur-ance laid “ ‘Receivership’ but half covers the case. We need a new word, that shall signify both to rooeive and devour.” “ How do you keep off the canker worms ?” said the visitorj: “they destroy everything that grows.* “Oh, very easily,” said Mr. Emerson, in his mild way; “we kill them as we do politicians —with printer’s ink.”— Washington Poet, A voting would-be wit in Lewis tom Me., who attempted to ohaff a half-in-toxicated lumberman, was greeted with: “I mind my own business. I know what you are. We make No. 2 clothespins out of such stock as you up our way. You git 1 ” “ Hn is the happiest man,” sayfl Henry Ward Beecher, “who can carry the golden threads of boyish enjoyment farthest along through the web of life.” What are the golden threads, Henry, without the silver dimes and quarters ? —New York Neufa.

“ You love ? ” echoed the fair creature, as her pretty, head oiled the oollar of his summer suit. “ Yes,” he said' tenderly, “you are my own and only ” “Hush,” she interrupted, “don’t say that —be original. That sounds too much like a circus show-bill." “Mbn’s night-gowns are made with pockets in them.” Thus in case the wife of a man’s bosom oalls Jor a new bonnet in the middle of tiie night he can immediately pull out his pocket-book and furnish her with the funds. A great saving of sleep to the husbands of the land. —New Haven Register.

Osoab Wilds says that the Swiss boys do some carving on the front porch of their houses, and wonders why American boys are not as ingenious, ii Oscar had ever witnessed the larrruping of an American boy for carving his desk at school he wouldn’t wonder why they didn't go right home and carve the porch. —Steuben Republican. When the young man stepped up to the soda-fountain engineer with his country ooosin, he said he would take the usual thing, giving the engineer a peculiar wink. You cau bet the engineer was dazed when the country girl said: “ Well, that’s good enough for me ; I’ll take the same, and gave him the same kind of a wink. —Syracuse Sunday Times. The worthy dootor, like so many in his profession, believed firmly that each olimacteric period of a man’s life is fraught with peouliar danger. They happened to be talking of a man who had just been guillotined. “What age was he, eh?” broke in the dootor. “ Thirty-five.” “ I knew it I told you so. Every seventh year is a dangerous year.” —From the French. Dubing a wild and raging storm at sea the Chaplain nervously asked one of the crew if he thought there was any serious danger to be apprehended. “Inhere is and no mistake,” replied the sailor. “If it keeps on blowing as hard as it does now I reckon we all shall, be in paradise at 12 o’clock to-higtit.” The Chaplain, terrified at the answer, cried out: “Shall we? Heaven forbid.” Wb dislike to intimate that it is possible for an editor to lie, but the statement in a Texas paper that a catfish that weighed 170 pounds was caught in the Brazos justifies the apprehension that if the editor is not careful he may unknowingly learn to exaggerate, and then he will drift into poli ios or the pulpit It is very difficult for a catfish to weigh 170 pounds. The catfish has no scales. —Texas Siftings.

How Much Tobacco De We Grow?

The last census figures report 473,107,573 pounds, or nearly 9} pounds for every inhabitant, young and old. But it is not all consumed here, for a largo amount is exported. Probably most people would name Virginia as the largest grower of tobacco, hut Kentucky much more than doubles her, as follows: round* •per Statu, Pound*. Acre*. Acre. Kentucky 171,121,134 22*1,127 756 Virginia 86,099,838 139,423 758 Pennsylvania 30,947,772 27,507 1,340 Ohio 34,725,402 34.679 1,001 Tennessee 29,305,052 41,532 707 North Carolina 25,980,448 57,215 471 Maryland 20,082,149 88,174 083 Connecticut 14,044,652 8,000 1,620 Missouri 11,904,1.77 ASJUW 773 Wisconsin 10,878,484 8,801 1,234 Indiana 8,372,842 11,956 742 New York 6,553,351 4,948 1,327 Massachusetts 6,09,4 6 3.5.8 1,593 IlliDOi" 8,930,70*1 5,0 >5 099 West Virginia 2,296.146 4,071 561 Totals.. 469,283,463 627,641 748 Kentucky grows over one-third (36 per cent.) of the entire tobacco crop of the country, and the above fifteen States supply 99 pounds out of every 100 grown. Twenty-two other States and Territories report a small amount—together only 1 per cent. The yield varies all the way from 471 pounds per acre in North Carolina to 1,920 pounds per acre in Connecticut, in which State fertilizers are largely nsed.

Punched and Filled Coins.

One of the most common methods of debasing coin is to punch out pieces of silver and fill the hole with tin foil. When the filling is neatly done it is not difficult to pass such mutilated pieces on the unwary. Judge Lowell, of the United States Circuit Court, in a Boston case has held the punching and filling to l>e an act of counterfeiting, and an attempt to pass a coin thus punched and filled to be an attempt to pass counterfeit money. The great mass of mutilated silver has been driven out of circulation by the refusal of ’the people to touch the stuff. It will surprise most

people to learn that they render themselves liable to severe penalties “shoving” this specific kind of “queer,” and, asßradstreefs justly puts it, “Judge Lowell’s decision should, through wide publication, be a timely warning.' 4 v

The Dangers Of Ignorance.

One oanaot judge from the brief aooounts given what are the precise causes of suoh disasters, but there is reason to belive that ignorance is prolific; that many persona liave only a vauge knowledge of the qualities of nitro-glycerine, cannot reoognize it when they see it, and are not acquainted with the various forms in which it is compounded, or with the peculiar dangers of handling it carelessly. Nitro-glycerine itself is a dense, yellowish liquid, but in order to diminish. the danger attending its use, fine earth, ground mica, sawdust, or some similar powder, is saturated with it, and thus the various blasting powders known as dynamite, mica powder, dualin, rendrock, etc., are formed. These compounds can be transported with comparative safety. But the nitro-glyoerine easily drains off from the powder and oozes from any crevice in tne vessel in whioh the compound is kept. Drops of it thus bedewing the edges of a box may easily be mistaken for oil escaping, and if workmen ignorantly endeavor to nail the box tighter or to open it for examination there will be a disastrous explosion. Several have occurred in past years in this way. The viotims knew, no doubt, that nitro-glyoerine (or the compounds) may bp exploded by a blow (contaot with fire is not needfyl), but they did not suspect that the wnooent-looking oil •was nitro-glyoerine. Why should not youth be taught in the schools somewhat of the practical dangers of these subetanoes whioh are coming into suoh common use? They would pursue the study with interest, especially if there were judicious experiments. A Missouri story is that a teacher confiscated a small metal box whioh a pupil was playing with in school hours, and, thinking it contained ohewing gum, tried to break it open with a hammer. It was a dynamite torpedo of the kind used on the railroaa track as a danger signal, and large bits of it had to be out out of the lady's cheek. Would it not have been well if she had known somewhat of the aspect of torpedoes? Was it not more important to the journeyman plumber who threw the lighted match into the can of oamphene, mistaking it for water, by whioh the great printing establishment of Franklin Square was burned some twenty-eight years ago, to know c&mpheno by sight than to have memorized many of the matters prominent in a pnblio school course? Surely workmen, especially “raw hands” in establishments where these things are used, should be systematically instructed in advance, and the courts ore now enforcing this prim oiple.

A Georgia Catfish.

In the early days of Borne, about forty years ago, a poor widow, a Mrs. Parks, oooupied a rude habitation abont sixteen feet square, constructed of rough polos, on the site where Dr. Gregory's residence now stands. This poor woman had two children—the elder a stout, robust girl about 18 years of age, Martha by name. The other was a boy of 7. One day Martha, who took in washing to help support the family, went to the spring near the house, on the banks of the Etowah river, to do some washing; her brother was with her. On arriving at the spring, whioh is only a few feet from the river, she noticed an enormous catfish lying in the cool branch of the spring in water nearly deep enough to float the fish. A batteau was fastened to a tree near by % and stepping to the boat she seized a paddle, and, quick as thoueht, dealt the monster ii«h a blow on the head which stunned it, and the little boy, Scruggs Parks, jumped into the stream and seized the fish, but in his excitement and attempts to secure the prize he thrust both hands into the gills of the fish. The frills closed on them with a vise-like grip, and the fish in floundering about with the boy at length struck water deep enough to support him, and, with head to the river, with a mighty effort shot into the stream with the speed of an arrow, the boy on his back. A moment of terrible anguish and suspense to the poor sister, who was a helpless observer of all that was passing, and the catfish landed high ana dry on an island some sixty or seventy feet from the shore, with the boy in a fainting, frightened and half-drowned condition. The cries of the sister soon brought men on the scene, who took the boat and iu a few minutes landed fish and boy on the shore of the river. The fish weighed sixty-five pounds. The editor ©f the Bulletin says : We vouch for the truthfulness of this story, getting the facts, as we do, from an old citizen, who was an eye witness to the rescue of the boy from the clamp of the gills. There are a few other citizens still living in Borne who will remember the incident, which created some excitement at the time of its occurrence.— Rome (da.) Bulletin.

Quits.

Bernal Osborne, the English M. P., recently deceased, was as quick at retaliation as in retort. Some years ago he went down to Oxford with the Persignys and the Marquis d’Azeglio to spend the day with Norman MoDonald at one of the colleges. On the return journey the Countess and Bernal Osborno discussed a topic so warmly that the lady seized the latter’s'hat and threw it out the window! Thereupon Bernal Osborne giabbed tho lady’s muff and sent it after his chapeau, saying, "Now we are quits!” w

As ant man may be compelled to eat his words, he should never indulge in bitter speeches.