Rensselaer Republican, Volume 25, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 August 1893 — PEOPLE. [ARTICLE]

PEOPLE.

England has been experiencing a period of extraordinary drought. Dp to July 14 the drought had lasted 102 days, being forty-four days longer than any like period of dry weather in the past twenty-eight years. In London the people have enjoyed what they term a "spell of glorious weather,'’ but the agricultural districts have suffered greatly. It is worthy of note, and all who miss the treat may well count themselves among the unlucky ones of earth. Twenty thousand watermelons are to be sent to Chicago from the State of Washington by special fast train, and they will be cut up into 1,000,000 pieces on the day of the dedication pf the Washington State building in September, and the world is invited to the most gigantic free lunch ever spread for mortal m<jn, not excepting, the one where the\muititude once upon a time feasted on a very scanty supply of loaves and fishes. The extra session of Congress which will convene Aug. 7, will be the twelfth meeting of that branch of the governmet by proclamation of the President. President John Adams called the first extra session and it convened May 15,1797. Subsequent extra sessions were convened Oct. 17, 1803; Oct. 26, 1807: Nov. .4, 1811; Sept.. 19,‘ 1814; Sept. 4, 1837; May 31, 1841; July 4, 1861; Oct. 15. 1877; and March 1879. The precedents established by these extra sessions indicate that the repeal of the Sherman law will be accomplished, as past meetings of this character have uniformly performed the duties for which they were called. It is-a fact not generally known that enlisted men in our regular army may buy an honorable. discharge from the service if they so desire. Recently marines have been admitted to the benefits of this rule, provision for this purpose having been made by the Fifty-second Congress at its final session. There are some variations in the rules governing the matter. In the army and marine corps the enlisted man must have served a year before he can be discharged, while regular sailors in the navy only need to serve three months, and a naval apprentice can buy his release at any time after enlistment. There is a great diversity of rates governing these purchased discharges, ranging from $l2O in the first month of the second year for a regular army soldier to SIOO for an enlisted man in the marine corps at the same period, and a gradually decreasing schedule according to the length of service. The new rules were adopted with a view to stop desertion and have proved to a certain extent effective, the per centage of desertion having preceptihly decreased. Philadelphia, the “City of Brotherly Love,” has always been noted for its philanthropic citizens —men of large fortunes and larger hearts—who realized the duty that the accumulation of vast wealth imposes on all successful business men. Girard, miserly in his own habits, was one of the earliest of these princely givers, and the institution that bears his name has for years and years been a monument to his memory and a fountain of intelligence Jhat has yielded great returns to the world at large, Conspicuous among the men of this character in later years have been George W. Childs and the late-A. J. Drexel, but recently passed away. George W. Childs is probably the most indefatigable giver of any age or country, and he was ably seconded by Mr. Drexel in many of his benevolent projects. Mr. Drexel’s will also seeks to continue the good work that Occupied so large a portion of his thoughts duriug his life time,and forms a fitting finish to a well-spent life. The institutions which he cherished during his life have not been forgotten. One million dollars are left to the German hospital in Philadelphia, and $1,000,000 are vested in trustees, who are to apply the income toward the erection and maintenance of an art gallery, museum or other public institution in the neighborhood of the Drexel Institute of Arts and Sciences, established by the deceased banker, some years since. Siic-h men are, indeed, an honor to any city, race or country, and their example may welVbe emulated by the rising generation and those who have attained grea^iwp#** elL Who shall say that the spirits of the founders oL pliun

Benjamin Franklin, who in later years cast such a halo of benignant kindness about the old-fa6hioned square where his remains rest today, do mot yet linger and influence the actions of the leaders of the business world in the arena that they formed and filled in the past with such distinction and love for their fellow men. The elaim of the Clan-na-Gael that Irish. Nationalists enlisted as English sailors on board the war ship Victoria were responsible for the loss of that vessel, and that they sacrificed their own lives in order to -deal a deadly btew- to the Eaglisbnavy, will be received by the world at large with incredulity. The further claim that the English army and navy is honey-combed with Irishmen *who have enlisted in the service of their traditional enemy in order to betray it at every opportunity is even less entitled to credence or belief: The ’YflysterjHrofg; rounding the sinking of the Victoria has not been very satisfactorily explained unless we accept implicitly the testimony of officers who are personally interested in having all blame attach to those who went down with the ship, but the “cock and bull” story that Irish treachery is responsible for the catastrophe seems pure invention and baseless fiction. English officials have never been considered imbeciles, whatever their faults may be in other directions, and the claim that they have enlisted sworn adherents of a secret organization, or even Irishmen whose wrongs have from time immemorial been a source of bitterness between the two countries, in sufficient numbers to be in any contingency dangerous, is the most attenuated tale of the season’s sensations. Some Kansas farmers appear to have lost faith in artificial means for producing rain. More properly speaking, it is probable that they never placed confidence in the success of the various experiments that have from time to time been conducted in the West looking to an established control of the floodgates of the skies. A convention of leading agriculturists is to be held August 7, at Great Bend, Kan., for the purpose of devising means to carry forward a general irrigation scheme that is to be supplied from artesian wells. Lakes and reservoirs are to be constructed for the purpose of storing water that it is claimed can be procured at a depth of 75 to 100 feet in unlimited quantities. The scheme is probably feasible if sufficient capital can be secured, but recent experiments of a similar character in other been atteiided with disastrous results, the artesian well in one place discharging such a powerful stream that the piping was washed away and an uncontrollable torrent issued from a constantly widening crevasse that wrecked property of great value. The arid plains of Kansas, however, afford a fine field for experiments of this kind. The continued efforts of the unfortunate farmers of the West in this direction should make every Indiana farmer more than ever content with the lot in which Providence has placed him. Irrigation schemes are not necessary for his prosperity, although drainage to carry off the superfluous moisture, lacking in so lamentable a degree in the West, has in the past engaged his attention and absorbed a considerable percentage of his profits. Each year, however, sees this drawback growing smaller, and the day is close at hand when swamps and swales will be a curiosity in the great Hoosier State.

The state attire of the King of Siam is worth over $1,000,000. He has 300 wives and 87 children and a good deal more than a peck of troujj ble. He is 40 years of age and was a father at 12. Bishop Julius, when he went up to lay the last stone of the spire of Christ Church Cathedral, New Zealand, was accompanied aloft by a workman in a bucket. Three-fourths the way up the hoisting machinery stopped and started again. An amateur photograph fiend had tipped the man at the gear to stop hoisting. For the first time in the history of English university matches one of the contestants this year was a colored man. He was K. S. Ranjitsinhji, a young Sikh prince, who has proved himself one of the finest bats and most brilliant Severs of the Cambridge eleven. Among his fellow students he is exceedingly pop- • ular, but his name was voted too elaborate for daily use, and he is addressed by his intimates as ‘‘Smith.” Whistler is making etchings of Paris over which his friends rave. The American artist who has become anything but American, and whom we forget at times to claim for fear of the sharp reply Jte might make, talked of coming over to the World’s Fair, but nothing has been heard of i$ lately. In the meantime he has a studio in- -the southern part of Paris, up under the roofs,and is considered by hjff friends ."bout the •©■wrtwaihc