Rensselaer Republican, Volume 15, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 April 1883 — THE PUBLIC PRESS. [ARTICLE]

THE PUBLIC PRESS.

A preacher down in Arkansas, whose church was flooded, preached from the roof of the sanctuary to a congregation in skiffs. Members of a new Western temperance society, instituted by an eloquent Boman Catholic priest of Milwaukee and called the League of the Cross, do not commit themselves to total abstinence, but swear not to enter any place where alcoholic drinks are sold for consumption on the premises. The French Government is making most laudable efforts to improve the breed of horses in the country. It has just voted a law that no stallion will be allowed to cover mares which is not provided with a certificate, and to be renewed every year, setting forth the absence of certain diseases. An infringement ot this law entails a fine of 50 to 500 francs, on the owner of the stallion, the man in charge,' or the farmer who allows his mares to be covered.

We clip the following from the Indianapolis Journal, it being exceptionally appropos just now: There is a movement among Boston educators to introduce a morality department, into the public schools, Emerson s “Conduct of. Life” is euggested'as a text-book for beginners. From “Behaviar” the child can go on to “Culture,” then to “Power, ’ then “Beauty,” which will be a winter’s work. This, says the Advertiser solemnly, ought to strengthen the power of thought,increase the extent of use—whatever that may mean—the grace of manners,and “lighten the faces with the true beauty of expression.” Just so. If a Western barbarian can be allowed a suggestion on so exalted a theme, it might be well, in view of Tewksbury and other developments of Massachusetts culture, to give a preliminary course of the ten commandments and the golden rule. Tobacco is precious on the Island of Eteetlan. The men there smoke, the women chew. The latter carry a little bag in which they save quids until absolutely tasteless. “The same system of economy induces the men to mix finely chopped shavings of wood and bark with their Emoking tobacco, and their pipes are the smallest known. Even then they fill the bowl with reindeer hair before putting in the tobacco, and when lighted they continue to inhale the smoke without breathing until the tobacco is exhausted. In the meantime the face and neck swell, the veins are distended, the eyes shed tears, and when human nature can stand it no longer they burst into a violent fit of coughing and spitting which lasts for several minutes. It is of no use speaking to a man from the moment the light is applied to the tobacco until the coughing spell is over.”

Jules Ferry,Prime Minister of France, has been led into a discussion of the American idea of a republic and the possibility of its application to France. M. Ferry expressed the opinion that a President and Ministers responsible to him alone, as in the United States, would lead in France to a dictatorship. He went further than this, and said it would be better to return to the imperial constitution of 1852 than to adopt the American idea, as the former would be more in accordance with French traditions of centralization than institutions borrowed from the United States. And yet M. Ferry admitted in the same speech that a strong government 'Was one of the net essities of the hour in France. The French Bepublicans tried the constitution of 1852, and where did it land them? They have tried the plan of what they call a parliamentary republic and are not satisfied with it As the Constitution of the United States forms about the only model for a strong republican government, which has stood the test of time and the wars of factions, France might do worse than adopt such a model

P»or. R A. Pbootob found At Reno, Nevada, a man who claims to be the strongest man in the world. His name is Angela Cardella. He is an Italian, aged thirty-eight, and stands five feet ten inches in height, weighing 138 pounds. His strength was born with him, for he has had no athletic training. He differs from others chiefly in osseous structure. Although not of unusual size his spinal column is double the ordinary width and Lis bones and joints are made on a similar large and generous scale. He can lift a man of 200 pounds with the middle finger of his right hand. The man stood with one foot on the flo6r, his arms outstretched and his hands grasped by two persons to balance his body. Cardella then stooped down and placed the third finger of his right hand under the man’s foot, and, with scarcely any perceptible effort, raised him to the height of four

feet and deposited him on a fable near at hand. Once two powerful Irishmen waylaid Cardella with intent to thrash him, but he seized one in each hand and hammered them together till the life was nearly hammeied out of them. He is of a quiet and peaceful disposition, and his strength is inherited, for he states that his father was more powerful than himself. • It is jemarkable that there should hav existed in the United States for nearly a half century a little independent State or community about which practically nothing has been known until within a few days. A recent exploration of the mysterious island of St Malo, situated at the mouth of a small bayou running into Lake Borgue, in Louisiana, resulted in revelations that read like a story from the Aleutian Islands or the Spanish Main. The population of St Malo is 150. They are natives of Manila,one of .the Phillipine Islands, north of Java. They have an automony of their own, hold allegienoe to no power or potentate, and, though within the geographical boundary of Louisiana, are beyond the reach of its laws —at least, they have never yet been disturbed. A peculiarity of this Malay colony is that the female sex is not represented. The community has yi ordinance, rigidly enforced, excluding women from St Malo. The inhabitants are described as a mixture of Chinese and Japanese, with the ugliness of both and the better features of neither. The cheek bones are high, the jaws broad and the chin pointed. The nose is short, the nostrils large, and the thick upper lip is rendered more unsightly by short, bristly tufts of wiry' moustaches. They are chiefly deserters from Manila—men who left that island* to avoid taxes and forced enlistment. The only industry of the colony is catching fish, which are sold at New Orleans. Spanish is the language commonly spoken. The form of government is extremely simple. There is no regularly selected chief, but all the colony regard an old Malay named Hilario as the virtual head. Arbitrators settle disputes concerning property. All the houses in St. Malo are built on the same model, which is not unlike the huts in the Phillipine Islands. They are square with low roofs running up with a concave curve to the top, and are built on piles, some nine feet from the water. Furniture is entirely unknown. Bough benches take the place of chairs. Boards on trestles serve as tables, and wooden bunks, built one above the other, are the bedsteads. There is only one chimney in the place, and that.runs only from the rafters of a hut through the roo being about eight feet in length, and is never used, but is pointed out with considerable pride by the Manila men as an evidence of their advanced civilization. The average Manila man swears like a trooper in English—which he probably regards as another evidence of his advanced civilization. St. Malo is undoubtedly the most unique community in America.

Excerpts from the Newspapers ob the Various Topics of Interest. BATHER FAMILIAR. ) Gath’s New York Special. Tom Hendricks is in town. FAIR PLAY FOR IRELAND. New York Times. The American people believe in fair play. This is what they demand for Ireland. But no people not wholly depraved ever looks upon secret assassination as fail play, AFTER THE IRON WORKS, WHAT? Philadelphia Times. Since the star-route trial began the Bible has had a long rest from attack. When Mr. Ingersoll gets through assaulting the government the turn of the Bible will come again. It can stand it. STANDARD DOLLARS. New York Times. The mints go on coining standard silver dollars under the law which Congress failed to repeal or modify, but the coins roll back into the government vaults. The people will not have them.’ RUNNING DRY. National Republican. The Ohio river is a beaut ifnl stream that rises near the Pittsburg Commercial Gazette,, runs past the Cincinr ati Commercial Gazette, and goes on to Louisville where the Commercial is waiting for a gazette. EXTERMINATION ADVOCATE*. Danville, 111 . Commercial. No Apache has ever been known to be possessed of any civility, decency or regard for the rights or life of others until he was dead, and the Apache tribe will never become civilized until it has been exterminated. Just why this band of murderers and thieves should be borne with longer it is difficult to conceive. WOMEN TO THE FRONT. Cleveland Leader. The civil service law opens the' government clerkships to competition, and welleducateu women should not be backward in presenting themselves for examination

whenever apd wherever they-have an opportunity. They have the law in their favot, and it will be their own fault if they do not take advantage of it NO SENSATION. Washington Republican. p A nice, polite old man, who came into court to see and hear the star-route trial yesterday, took his right shoj off and put it down by his hat There was no sensation as was the case once m a Kentucky court when the judge ordered a suspension of the argument until the Sheriff could open a window, remarking, “Some one has drew a boot”, , IMPORTING PAUPERS. Chicago Tribune. , The action of the British government in imDoriinp its paupers tn become a charge upon the people of this country is a wanton outrage. It would be so if our la ws were silent on the subject, but done in the face of our express declarations that it shall not be done, it is an affront and an injury that the whole country will bitterly resent EXTRAVAGANT EXPENDITURES. Union City Eagle. The greater the rate of taxation, the greater will be the burden upon the pioduotive interests of a community, and whenever the burden wipes out profits the business must be abandoned,and each branch of business thus abandoned only increases the burden upon the remainder, until all are destroyed, and bankruptcy will then reign supreme. It is time to call a halt in all useless* and extravagant expenses. AN INDUSTRIOUS PUBLIC SERVANT. Louisville Commercial. The sparrow is an industrious and useful public servant. If he makes himself a bit of a nuisance occasionally,which we doubt, he does no more than some of the featherless public servants do, and yet we must have public servants. We hold that the maligners of the sparrow are ill-in-formed and mischievous citizens, with a sneaking partiality for caterpillars or in wicked alliance with the small boy. WILL (PROBABLY) GET THERE ELI. Washington Critic. It is pretty safe to. say that Indiana will draw two of the Presidential candidates in 1884 if she figures at all in Presidential timber. It will be an absolute necesity. If the party nominating its candidate first selects a head from Indiana the other party will follow suit for self-protection. Ohio, it is believed by many of the leading statesmen, will not get anything from either party. Nev/ York and Indiana, holding the balance of power, will name the men. THE lOWA AMENDMENT. St. Louis Globe-Democrat. It is understood in lowa that the Supreme Court will stick to its decision that the prohibitory amendment is invalid, on account of informalities in its submission.* In that event the letter will be allowed to kill again, though the spirit makes alive. The people adopted the amendment knowing just what it signified, and its final overthrow on a mere technicality will be the result of that kind of legal vision which discerns a fly on a barn-door, but does not see the door.

AGITATORS. "Richmond Palladium. The question of how far a government is permitted to protect political refugees in its borders, who are plottifig against the peace of another and friendly government, is being examined with much care by the lawyers of this country and Great Britain. It is with the view of ascertaining the duty of the American government in regard to the dynamite conspirators who are supposed to be sending agents and money to England to destroy the lives and property of the people of that country. It is not a new question,though it is one not yet settled. Some years ago Dr. Woolsey said,in speaking of the rights of political refugees: “They may not, consistently with £he obligations of friendship between States, be allowed to plot against the person or the sovereign, or against the institutions of their natiye country. Buch aette are crimes, for the punishment of which the laws of the land ought to provide, but do not require that the accused be remanded for’trial to his native country.”