Rensselaer Republican, Volume 23, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 July 1891 — THE NEWS OF THE WEEK. [ARTICLE]

THE NEWS OF THE WEEK.

Labor is a drug in the market at 8 cents a day in the Madagascar gold mines. - - - A Colorado man has recovered the snug sum of SIOO,OOO for the alienation of the affections of his wife. This large amount of money is a comfortable and pleasant thing to have; It will buy ease, comfort and all but happiness, but it would not weigh in the balance of a sensible man’s mind an ounce against the affection of a good woman. There is no price too high to place upon this, but is it ever so almated as- to lead to wrong?.

Charles Todd, the engineer on the fated train on the Chicago, Mil. waukee & St. Paul railroad, when he sighted the destruction which he knew would cause his death if he did his utmost to save his train, stood to his post, reversed the engine, applied the air-brakes and opened the sand valve. Through these efforts the train kept the rails, but the engine was thrown into the river. When he was pulled out of the wreck in a dying condition hig first words ware inquiries for the safety of the passengers, after which he expired. There was nothing picturesque about Todd, nothing; romantic or poetic as he rau his engine, but when he died, as he did, to save the lives of others, he became a hero of the noblest type. The ranks-of the paople are full of such heroes, who come to the front in* such emergencies to prove the falsity of the assertion that the heroic does not exist in these prosaic times.

It is a curious inconsistency in the new law regulating capital punishment in this State that while it was avowedly designed in the causo of humanity it made mental torture certain by providing that the condemned be kept uncertain as to the hour and even the day of their death. The series of appeals which have caused such delays that any execution seemed for a time improbable was, of course, not contemplated bt the law; but what sentiment but malevolence is gratified by keeping the doomed wretches themselves in un agony of suspense ? In time of peace, too, and in a civilized land, what justification is there for forming a line about the prison that no one can cross on penalty of death? Is not this more suggestive of Russia than of America? And if the guards had shot and killed an overcurious reporter, would the Warden been held guiltless of rourdei t The business of taking human life is at best barbarous and infamous, but might it not be made less so than by these strange methods at Sing Sing? —New York Sun,

R. 6 Dun & Co. report the total number of failures in the United States for the first six montbsof 1891 to be 6,074, with liabilities aggregating $92,416,267, against 5,385 failures, with $65,319,384 of liabilities for the first six months of 1890, and 5,603 failures, with liabilities amounting to $65;828,853 for the first six months of 1888. There has been a large increase both in number of failures and in the amount of liabilities, but it has not, been general throughout the country. Aside from Massachusetts. Pennsylvania. New Jerse\ and the South, there was as a rule a marked falling off. In Michigan the number of failures for the first six months of 1891 was 99, with liabilities of $1,174,107, against 121 failures, with liabilities $1,960,058 in 189$. and 117 failures, with liabilities of $1,927,394 in 1889. In New York City, compared with the first six months of 1890. there was a reduction of over $3,000,000 in the amount of liabilities caused by the failures, and in Chicago there was a reduction exceeding $1,000,000; fu Philadelphia there was an increase of over $6,000,000: in Pennsylvania, aside from Philadelphia, of $1,000,000; in Missouri, $8,000,000; in Massachusetts, $2,200,000; in Boston. $1,800,000; in Georgia, $2,700,000; in Kentucky, $2,500,000; in New Jersey, $2,300,000; in Tennessee, $2,900,000; and in Texas $2,500,000. The increase in the State# and cities named is several millions greater than the net increase in the country at large. Dun & Co. present reports from a large number of cities showing the conditions which prevail in trade,, and, judging by what has occurred thus far, say the outlook for the future and the prospeet are xti etiie ly gratifying

An electric wagon is coining. Aster’s daily income is £3,000. The tomato trust Is the latest. Chicago has six thousand saloons. Terrible forest fires are raging In upper Michigan Stores at Toledo that do not close early are bovcot tort. At Dallas. Texas. Crc destroyed S2SCL--000 worth of property, , New York has a fully developed case of leprocy In a Chinese laundry man. Four men were killed on the Denver &, Rio Grande, near Carlise, Col., on the 24th. . ' CaL Dudley, it is said, will resign as treasurer of the Republican National Committee. l)r. lJrendon, of New York, announces that experience teaches him that leprosy is not contagious. The proposed Alliance wheat corner in Minnesota is made impossible by a consti-.liU-ional amendment- _ „ _ It is said that harvest hands jn Minnesota. Dakota and Montana are being paid $2.50 to 24.50 per day and board. New York framers \¥on eight hours seven on Saturday.4s cents an hour and double pay for over-time and Sunday work. ~ The Fitzsimmons-Hail prize fight at St. Paul, on the 2?d. was declared ofT owing to the determiued opposition of tho legal authorities. The United States World's Fair Commissioners to Europe met with a very courteous reception by the English nobility, and were brilliantly entertained. The Kiinbail-Champ investment company, of Council Bitijjs, witli a capital stock of LKW.OOO, assigned to ex-Mayor M. F. Rohrer for the-benefit of creditors. Ocean Grove authorities have undertaken to suppress an undue display of form by bathers. Not even children are permitted Urenter the bathing paviliion unless (Mr limbs are covered. Ex-President Cleveland was given a reception and banquet by his Cape Cod neighbors at Sandwich, Mass. Speeches were delivered by Mr.Cleveland.Governor Russell, of Massachusetts, and others. The strike of skilled laborers in Vicksburg is evidently about over, though not yet formally declared off. The strike was maintained for eight weeks on slender resources. and the men now find themselves compelled to resume work on such terms as the bosses may dictate. The prisoners confined in the,Camden county (Pad jail wont on strike and refused U dean the jail any longer. They were all locked up in solitary confinement and given bread and water for thirty-six hours. Thev then surrendered. The jail will, be cleaned hereafter as usual. Editor 11. C. Brown, of the Southern Alliance Farmer, has been arrested by tho postotlice authorities, charged with violating the postal laws by republishing ah editorial from a San Francisco paper which lias aptx'ared in a number of papers. It is charged this is a lottery advertisement.