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Items of Interest.
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4
The beard of the average man grows six inches
year.
Norway hanks hold more specie in their safes '
than they issue.
Sugar can be made from the sap of nearly 200
different kinds of trees.
Great Britain derives $40,000,000 yearly revenue
from the Chinese opium trade.
Americans excel all other nations in electrical
engineering and photography.
The Baroness Burdett-Couts has recently cele
brated her eighty-eighth birthday.
Cremation has been placed under the ban by
the Roman Catholic archbishop of Montreal.
The only surviving pensioner of the war of
1812 is Hiram Cronk of Herkimer county, New
York.
The Romans knew how to build good roads.
. Many roads built by them are yet in good con
dition. The Wisconsin legislature refused to. enact a
law prohibiting mamage between whites and
negroes.
Iceland has no millionaires. The people are
. all poor, but there are no almshouses and no de
pendents. The earliest mention of shoes is found in an
Egyptian papyrus, written nearly 2,200 years be
" fore Christ.
Chicago Hebrews have established a theatre
for the presentation of dramas that appeal to the
Jewish taste.
Richwood, N. J., is suffering from a plague of
cats. The cats were turned loose on the town by
practical jokers.
The United States produces 775,000,000 pqundg
- of tobacco yearly. One-half this amount is con-
sumed at home.
In 1832 Buffalo had only 8,000 inhabitants.
Now it has 852,000 and is now the second city in
New York state.
The British Museum library has thirty-one
miles of shelves. The French Imperial library
has but eighteen.
Silk worms thrive best on a diet of mulberry
leaves. Ten pounds of mulberry leaves yield one
ounce of raw silk.
The gold of Australia and California could be
made into a mass twenty feet square at each end
and forty feet long.
The fir timber of the North Pacific coast ha
wonderful strength and t ridge builders are using it
more and more every year.
A university exclusively for women Is nearing
completion in Tokio, Japan. TJireerich Japanese
merchants furnished the funds.
Gustavus Adolphus originated the idea of
'"running the gauntlet." He used it to punish
thieves in the ranks of his armies.
There are" now 175,000 children of school age
in Cuba. Of this number 132,000 are in the public
schools. One thousand school houses are in daily
use.
-, Black walnut is becoming more valuable than
mahogany. Fifty years ago it was plentiful in
.Ohio, but extravagant waBte has denuded the
forests.
At one month a boy baby has an equal chance
of living forty-four years. Five, years later he ha
' an equal chance of living fifty-one years and six
months. ,
r
There were 162 complete engines on the bat
tleship Maine. It is believed that most of these
engines were uninjured by the explosion that
wrecked the ship and brought on tho war between
the United States and Spain.
The Commoner.
Honolulu, Juno 7. Via San Francisco, Juno 13.
' Dr. Sen Vet Son, tho Chinese reformer, left on
tho American Maru June 5 for China for the pur
pose of starting a revolution. His intention is to
overthrow tho empress dowager and tho man
darins. His idea is to have China ruled by a presi
dent on lines after the government of America. He
says that there will be a strong force at his back,
and ho has the support of many prominent white
men of China, as well as thousands of natives.
This is the third revolution which ho has at
tempted in China, and ho is confident that this at
tempt will prove successful. Dr. Sen would not
state where he intended to land in China, or give
the details of his plans. There will be bloodshed
very soon, he declared.
Philadelphia, Pa., Juno 13.- Mayor Ashbridgo
late tonight signed tho ordinances passed by tho
city council yesterday granting franchises for city
railways, surface, elevated and underground. Ex
Postmaster General John Wannamaker sent a let
ter to Mayor Ashbridge today offering to pay tho
city $2,600,000 for these franchises.
, The ordinances give to a number of capitalists
who are friendly to the dominant faction In the
republican party in the state, tho right to con
struct underground and elevated railways on
streets now occupied by surface railways and to
build surface roads on the streets not so occupied.
Mr. Wannamaker urged the mayor to veto tho
ordinance.? before him in order that new ordi
nances might be drafted conferring the franchise
In Question only upon the payment of a sum of
money lu to the public treasury commensurate to
the value of the grant. Mayor Ashbridge refused
to talk about Mr. Wannamaker's protest against
his signing the bills.
Scientific American: Document No. 384 of sec
ond session of the Fifty-sixth congress, dealing
with the damage to property at Pomeroy, Ohio,
The secretary pf , war states that ho has the honor
to transmit a letter from the chief of engineers,
U. S. A., submitting certain facts relative to the
claim of Mrs. B. N. Reuter, amounting to $1, for
damages to a window and curtain in her residence,
caused by a fragment of rock thrown by a blast
by government employes while removing rock
from the river bed and banks of the Ohio river,
at Pomeroy, O. The chief engineer considers that
damages Inflicted by tho torts of the government
officers or agents are in the nature of unliquidated
damages which no executive officer has authority
to settle. He therefore recommended that con
gress be asked to insert the following amount in
the next general deficiency bill:
Pomeroy, Ohio, Nov. 5, 1900.
U. S. Government, to krs. B. N. Reuter, Dr.
To one 14x32 double-strength glass $ .50
Glazing same .25
One curtain damaged 25
Total $1.00
St. Paul Pioneer-Press Special Service. Wash
ington, June 11. William E. Chandler today in
closed to Senator Lodge his check for $100, the re
ward offered by him to the person who placed in
the financial plank of the republican platform of
1896 after the reference to International bimetal
lism the words: "Which we pledge ourselves to
promote." The delay since 1896 has been occa
sioned by the claims of various persons that they
conceived and wrote the words, and in this con
nection have been mentioned the names of Frank
S. Streeter of Concord, N. H., United States Sena
tor Hansbrough and Former Representative D. K.
Watson of Columbus, O. It has taken Mr. Chand
ler all this time to settle the conflict of claims.
.Very lately Senator Foraker found the final draft
of the platform, and it appears from this that tho
words, "which we pledge ourselves to promote"
wero interlined in pencil above typewritten mat
ter, and that the written words are in the hand
writing of Senator Lodge. The correspondence be
tween Mr. Chandler andenator Foraker, Mr. Wat
son and Senator Lodge is voluminous and interest-
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lng. Mr. Chandler closes his letter to Senator
Lodgo as follows: "By reason of tho premises you
should without hesitancy accept tho $100 as right
fully your money. All wise men know that Mc
Kinley and Hobart would not have been elected
if tho platform had not, whilo declaring opposi
tion to tho frco coinage of silver except as the re
sult of an international agreement, also declared
that tho republican party favored such an Inter
national agreement, if it could be secured. If Mc
Kiuley and Hobart had not been elected in 1890,
Mr. McKinley would not havo been re-elected In
1900. Therefore, those six words were of priceless
value, and I trust that when all the facts arc
known ray humble offering of $100 will be supple
mented by such generous donations, not only from
many members of the republican party, but as well
from democrats who have so much trembled at ov
ery prospect of tho election of Mr. Bryan as to
adequately recognize tho sagacity and courage
which led you not merely to conceive, but to act
ually Insert Into tho platform of 1896 concerning
bimetallism the words, 'which we pledge oursolves
to promote.' That immortal declaration twice
made Mr. McKinley president, and the fidelity with
which tho pledge has been fulfilled the world
knows."
Special Cablegram to tho Globe-Democrat Ma
nila, Juno 11. There was a seneation yesterday
in tho court-martial of Capt. Michael Spellman,
Lieut. Delbert R. Jones and Surgeon Dudley Welch,
of the 43d volunteer infantry, in Southern Leyte,
on the charge of trading in permits to ship hemp
from closed ports. Surgeon Dudley Welch turned
state's evidence and gave testimony incriminating
Captain Spellman and Lieutenant Jones, who will
probably receive termB of imprisonment, Welch,
who appears to have been a tool of the others, has
returned $1,000, his share of the spoils, to tho gov
ernment. The evidence1 disclosed that the value of
the hemp cleared from Maasln was about five hun
dred thousand dollars in the last sfx months. The
officers indicated levied half a peso on each plcul
of rice entering insurgent territory, while steam
ships, schooners and bancas trading with closed
ports in Malitbog Bay paid from 30 pesos to 500
pesos, according to their tonnage. The presidento
of Maasin and a go-between who is connected with
a Spanish firm, have also been arrested. Spellman
was formerly a major in tho 69th New York regi
ment The 43d infantry was stationed in the Island
of Leyte, and the accused oUcers were detailed for
duty in the port of Massin. Tho trial began about
the middle of last month, and evidence was
brought out showing that hemp steamships calling
at Maasin had paid as much as $500 for the priv
ilege of going in and coming out Captain Spell
man was well known as a national guard officer.
He enlisted as a private in company G, 22d regi
ment, national guard of the state of New York,
on January 17, 1888. He was promoted to be a ser
geant in 1891, and two years later he left the 22d
to be a first lieutenant of company I, 69th regi
ment. In July, 1895, he was elected captain of
company G, and was chosen second senior major
of the regiment on July 23, 1896. He served with
that rank while his regiment was in the service of
the United States during the Spanish-American
war. Later Major -Spellman applied for a com
mission in one of the volunteer regiments then re
cruiting, and was successful, obtaining a commis
sion as captain, through the influence, it was said,
of Lieut-Col. Putnam B. Strong, then of the 69th.
While in the 69th regiment Captain Spellman was
a stanch partisan of Colonel Duffy, a loyalty
which gained for Spellman quite as many enemies
as friends. He is unmarried and Is about 35 years
old. He has a father and two sisters living In New
York city. Surgeon Welch was an appointee at
large in the volunteer army., Lieutenant Jones was
.appointed from Connecticut, having served in the
Spanish war as first lieutenant of the 1st Connec
ticut infantry.
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