Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 January 1885 — GENERAL. [ARTICLE]

GENERAL.

Civil war has broken out in the United States of Colombia. A battle was fonght at Tunja, tho result being the defeat of the federal forces and the killing of their commander, Gen. Montisfar. Outbreaks of a desperate character l have- oecnrred in Santander and Boyaw. The revolutionists seek to overturn thje liberal state governments as a preliminary to an effort to displace President Nunez. In its last weekly review of the state of trade BradstrceCs says: "The general commercial situation throughout the country, 'as reported by special telegrams from leading trade centers, corroborates the view expressed last week, that while there ,is a feeling abroad of greater confidence respecting the outlook for business there is little apparent basis theiefor, beyond the advanced price of wheat, which in turn is of course the approximate cause of the gain in Indian eorn, oats, flour, and particularly so for the movement in hog product. As previously indicated, an improvement dne to the spring demand was not unlikely to take place in the staples, and mainly in food products nnd.dry goods... .There were 445 failures in tho United States reported during the\ week, against 448 in the preceding week, ana 321, 317, and 310 in the corresponding weeks of 1884, 1883, and 1882, respectively. About 84 per cent, were those of small traders whose capital was less than $5,000. In the principal trades the failures were as follows: General stores, 76; grocers, 72; clothing and cloth, 25; hardware and. agricultural implements, 24; manufacturers, 22; liquors, 19; shoes, 18; dry goods, 18; jewelry, 18; drugs, 15; books, stationery . and printsing, 14; furniture, 12; lumber and material, 11; tobacco and cigars, 11; bakers and confectioners, 10; millinery, 9; produce and provisions, 8; hotels and restaurants, 1; fancy goods, 6; grain and millers, 5; hats, 5; harness, 5; markets. 4; carpenters and builders, 4; banks and bankers, 3; coal and wood, 3; crockery, 3; men’s furnishing goods, 3. Bishop Alfred Lee, of Delaware, has written a letter to Assistant Bishop Potter, of New York, expressing grief and astonishment at the action of Bishop Potter in admitting a Mr. Huntington to the Order of the Holy Gross. An aspirant to membership in the order is required to take monastic vows. Bishop Lpe was shocked at Bishop sympathy with “Romish abominations. Bishop Potter has replied that inasmuch as the sisterhood had the sanction of the church he did not see why there should not be,a brotherhood also. Nathaniel McKay, formerly one of the leading shipbuilders of the country, has recently visited Panama. He reports that the Panama Canal is progressing amazingly, and that in five years it will be completed. Laborers are being imported in large numbers from the West Indies, and a quantity of machinery is being brought from Scotland to assist in diggipg the canal after it has reached water level. The deepest cut is between 200 and 300 feet. The earth excavated has to be carried miles away. It will probably cost $200,000,000 to complete the canal. Mr. McKay thinks that the De Lesseps people will have to take charge of the cities along the line.... According to the annual report of the Department of Agriculture at Washington, the corn production of the country last year was 1,795,000,000 bushels. Of wheat th»re was 513,000,000 bushels, aDd of oats 583.000,000 bushels. These are the largest aggregates ever recorded. According to the annual report of the Secretary of the American Colonization Society eighty-one persons were sent to Liberia from the United States the past year, and the total number sent from the United States in the sixty-four years in which the eolony has been established is 15,776.... All the oatmeal mills in the United States except four on the Pacific Coast have signed an agreement consenting to enter a pool to raise the price of the article.