Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 104, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 September 1899 — WASHINGTON GOSSIP [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WASHINGTON GOSSIP

Inquiry at the patent office reveals the fact that inventive activity is greatest just now in processes for the manufacture of acetylene and other illuminating gases, the motive being to discover methods of producing light cheaper than under any of the existing processes. There is also great activity in the field of automotive devices. The great strides which have been made lately in autovehicles of all descriptions seem to have wonderfully stimulated inventive genius in that field. In electricity the applications for patents are mainly for the perfection of machinery already In use and for the application of principles that are already well known to mechanical uses within somewhat restricted limitations. Little interest appears to be taken in storage batteries or in chemical electricity at this time. Compressed air is not, as many suppose, a new thing, and there is little new to report in that field. Inventors tried for a while to perfect safe processes for compressing acetylene, but they have abandoned that idea on account of the prejudice against it. An interesting story comes-from Indian Territory regarding a United States court there, judge, attorney, clerk, sheriff and marshal, with all necessary assistants and paraphernalia, which travels from place to place over the territory, holding forth as occasion demands. This novel institution is in the northern section of the territory, where the towns are few and far apart, and where it is cheaper for the court to go to the people than for the people to go to the court. Much money is saved the people each year by the movable outfit. There is a small house on wheels, resembling a mover’s wagon, in which the court travels, and In which the court records are kept. Here, also, in towns where there are no better accommodations, court is held and justice dispensed. With the court is a complete cooking outfit, presided over by a firstclass culinary artist, who sees to it that the court does not want for food even if it does want for some of the other things which are common in civilized communities. The Masonic ceremonies which ard to take place at Alexandria and Mount Vernon on the one hundredth anniversary of the death of George Washington haye practically been agreed upon. The affair will open with the assembling of the grand lodge of Virginia in Alexandria on the evening of Dec. 13. Early the next morning the grand lodge, accompanied by various local lodges, including the one to which Washington belonged, No. 4, at Fredericksburg, will proceed to Mount Vernon, where the funeral services of Dec. 18, 1799, will be duplicated as nearly as possible. Invitations to prominent Masons in all parts of the world are to be sent out, and it is believed that the event will be the most important the Masons in this country have been connected with for a number of years. The Department of Agriculture has estimated the flood losses in Texas at seven and a half million dollars, and says that 8,100 farms were "submerged, with a total acreage of 1,380,000. About half of this area was under cultivation at the time of the floods, 339,000 acres in cotton, 125,000 in corn, 11,000 acres in sugar corn, and the rest in smaller crops. About 90 per cent of the loss came through the destruction of crops, but damage to farm stock, etc., aggregated about $850,000. The loss to the land by washing and gulleying is estimated at $350,000, but part of this is offset by the increased future productiveness resulting from alluvial deposits. The loss represents about 74 per capita in the flood district, which has a population of 100,000, mostly negroes. Postmaster Gordon of Chicago will have to go into his private purse to pay for the handsome furniture he purchased for use in his office and that of his assistant. Mr. Gordon purchased, among other things, a desk for which he paid SIBO and a chair which cost S4O. In addition to this some furniture for the assistant postmaster was purchased at a rather high rate. When the account was sent here for approval the officials held that the prices were entirely too high. The account was disallowed and Mr. Gordon will either have to pay for the furniture out of his own pocket or send it back to the manufacturers. After the recent improvements on North Capitol street had been made It was discovered that some of the workmen had thoughtlessly made away with the historic corner stone set in place' by George Washington at the time of the original surveys to mark the northern boundary of the city. The stone cannot be found, but a committee of citizens ha* been appointed to prepare a suitable pillar or tablet to mark the spot where the stone stood for so many years. A new-style domestic money ordet has been issued by the Postoffice Department. The new form is somewhat smaller than the one previously in use. Its dimension* are about those of the ordinary bank draft. The color of the order is blue, with a ground of very light blue. The tints and the intricate lathe-work, it i* said, will render counterfeiting very difficult, but as an additional safeguard a horizontal watermark, composed of the initials U. S. M. 0., in broad capital letters is wrought into the paper on which the new forms are printed. -:—:- State Department officials decline in ge mos^ £^*rhat , I * j.. j