m
pWP"'jWj,'1 V ',T-wrtrvfTO-.. r -w-
SEPTEMBER 4, 1903.
euro oil, which Is practically shut out of Iho
market As a consequence, the manufacturers of
the emulsions and other products into which cod
liver oil enters have heen compelled to advance
their wholesale prices on an average of 33 1-3 per
cent The unprecedented advance in the price of
the oil is due to natural causes, and to the fact
that New York speculators have cornered the ex
tremely limited supply. In comparison with 16,
O00 harrels of oil produced in Norway in 1902,
this year the total output will not exceed 1,600
barrels. Of this amount not over 60 per cent is
shipped to this country. Intense suffering and
many deaths will be the probablo result of the
shortage of the oil, as in many pulmonary trou
bles physicians say there is no substitute for it."
THE FIRST ROAD IN THE WORLD CON
structed especially for automobile freight
traffic is nearing completion in the heart of Afri
ca, according to a writer in the St Louis Post
Dispatch. This writer tells the story in these
words: "It will run over mountain and plain for
310 miles, from Longolodo, on tho Congo rail
road, to Popokabada, on the Kuango. The British
government is building the road, and the work
is being done by hundreds of natives, under the
direction of seven army officers. The road is in
tended as a feeder to the railroad. Automobiles
are to do the hauling, and a special lot of these
liave been ordered by the government Each au
tocar is expected to carry a load of two tons, and
to make about the same rate that wagon trains
.would make. Where tho road runs over plains it
is being constructed 27 feet wide, but in the moun
tains it will be put 16 feet wide, or only just
enough for two vehicles to pass."
tr &
RECENTLY WILLIAM N. AMORY SOLD
his residence property in New York city
and this sale revived a curious bit of history In
connection with the wall paper which decorates
one of the rooms of this residence. The paper is
made up of the bonds of a coal and iron company
in' jventucky and' were originally Intended to sell
for several millions of dollars. Although Mr.
'Amory was at one tUmo offered $200,000 cash as a
'bribe in a suit in which these bonds played a
prppainent part,; thpy were practically worthless
and as a unique souvenir were -converted by their
owner into wall paper.
THE MEXICAN VOLCANO POPOCATEPETL
is for sale, its owner offering to sell it for
$5,000,000. The value of this volcano lies in the
immense deposits of sulphur it contains and the
mountain was originally 'given by the government
as a gift to General Gasper Sanchez Och'oa in rec
ognition of certain services rendered by him. Re
ferring to the value of this volcano as a sulphur
mine, Page's Magazine says: "Two parties are
decfared to be bidding for it, one backed by John
. Rockefeller and the other by John P. and
Samuel Green, of Pittsburg. There are two schemes
by which it is proposed to work the sulphur mine.
One is to tunnel into the volcano at about 600
yards below the crater, and to remove the sul
' phur by a cable conveyor carrying buckets 100
feet apart. These will dip into the red hot molten
sulphur and bring it out, the buckets traveling 200
feet per minute. The estimated cost of this equip
ment is about $500,000. The other scheme pro
poses to send a cogwheeled railway over the lip
of the crater down into the sulphur lake, but it is
questionable if sufficient foundation is available to
sustain the heavy support that would be neces
sary. For many generations this sulphur has
been mined in a crude fashion, and it is believed
to be inexhaustible. Its market price at present
is $40 per ton. Volcanic sulphur from Sicily has
in the past furnished the principal supply."
A LARGE INCOME IN ROSES IS ATTAINED
by the octogenarian dean of Rochester in
England, who spends his spare moments in the
cultivation of this beautiful flower. A London
dispatch to the Philadelphia Public Ledger says,
in referring to the venerab'le dean: "Combining
deep learning with a large fund of bright wit and
broad humor, ho can spare ime from his heavy
ecclesiastical duties to add $5,000 a year to his in
come by growing roses in the musty oil town so
well known to the' lovers of Dickens. Fcfr sixty
years the dean has been studying the national
flower, and during that time as many as 300 va
rieties have passed through his hands. He is his
own gardener, even at his present advanced age,
and it is only the more laborious part of the work
that ho intrusts to other hands. As early as 7
o'clock in the morning the dean may be seen in his
ardp looking after his pets. His method of dls-
The Commoner,
posing of his roses is through a London wholesale
florist, who cuts them at Rochester under the crKt
cal eye of tho dean and removes them to Covent
Garden market, where they are sold at prodigious
rates to west end clubs and restaurants. Many of
the varieties are so rare that it Is no uncommon
thing for a single rose to fetch as much as $2."
AN INTERESTING COMPARISON OF THE
salaries of the various rulers of Europe is
made by a German statistician as follows: "As
suming that they work six hours a day, the em
peror of Russia receives $80 a minute, the em
peror of Austria $35, the king of Italy $21, tho
emperor of Germany $17, the king of England $15,
tho king of Spain $15, tho king of Belgium and the
king of Denmark between $3 and $4 and the king
of Servia between $1 and $2. President Loubet
o France receives about 5 cents a minute more
than tho king of Servia."
INVESTIGATIONS HAVE RECENTLY BEEN
made in thiB country as to which of the
many large cities may be classed as most typical
of America and, according to Harper's Weekly,
this honor falls to the city of Philadelphia. Har
per's Weekly says: "In 1790, when tho first cen
sus was taken, and for at least two decades after
ward Philadelphia contained more inhabitants
than any other American town. As early as 1810
the population of Philadelphia was 111,210. Ac
cording to the census of 1900 Philadelphia con
tained 1,293,697, of whom 998,357 were native and
295,340 foreign born. In not a single ward of tho
city are there more foreigners than natives. Of
those inhabitants both of whose parents woro
born in the same foreign country, 221,596 claim
Ireland as the birthplace of their parents; 159,
238, Germany; 63,029, England; 44,320, Russia,
and 27,660, Italy. Of the native born population
of Philadelphia (998,357), S44.548 were born in
Pennsylvania, 30,978 in New Jersey, 23,184 in
Maryland, 21,893 in New York, 20,688 in Vir
ginia and 16,555 in Delaware. Comparatively few
residents of Philadelphia were born in New Eng
land or the western states. That is to say, Phil
adelphia does not exerciso upon those sections of
our country the magnetic attraction exerted by
New York. Of foreign born residents in Phila
delphia only 65,384 are naturalized. It follows
that tho political influence of the so-called 'for
eign vote' is insignificant."
THE RECENT. NEGOTIATIONS AS TO THE
Panama canal has brought into light much
interesting information as to canals and not tho
least interesting is the story of how England ac
quired her great Interests in the Suez canal. Tho
story is told in Pearson's Weekly In this wise:
"The only man who, single-handed and without
any official standing or even legislative position,
has persuaded the British government to the tak
ing of a great step of European importance, Is Mr.
Frederick Greenwood, the great journalist This
was, the purchase of the Suez canal shares. In
1875" Mr. Greenwood was editor of the Pall Mall
Gazette, a post he held from the first issue in 1867
of the paper till 1880, and in that capacity learned
that the khedlve of Egypt was allowing his shares
in the Suez canal to be sold to a French syndicate.
Instead of publishing the important news, he
patriotically took it to the secretary of state for
foreign affairs, the Earl of Derby, and advised
him to purchase the shares on behalf of the gov
ernment Lord Derby doubted the news, as tho
British consul at Cairo knew nothing of it Mr.
Greenwood Insisted it was true, none the less.
Eventually a telegram was sent to the British
consul; the prime minister, then Mr. Disraeli,
was seen, and soon negotiations were opened and
the purchase completed. Roughly, Britain paid
something over four millions sterling for tho
shares which now bring in upwards of 800,000 a
year, besides giving her enormous power politi
cally." j
THERE SEEMS TO EXIST IN SOME PARTS
of Russia a firm belief that a great deal of
treasure is sn"1- - tho river Volga, near the vil
lage of Kotoff, and this belief has inspired a
wealthy Don Cossack named Zimniakoff to fit out
a large expedition to recover this treasure, which
is valued at no less than $15,000,000. A cablegram
to the Chicago Record-Herald, under date of Mos
cow, August 22, says: 'Zimniakoff discovered in
an ancient cupboard some documents dating from
the seventeenth century in which it is recorded
that the Cossack leader and bandit Stenkoi Nazy
nim gathered all tho wealth of the country to
gether and sank it in the Volga when he and his
horde were hard pressed by the Russian, Colonel
Mlchelsohn. Stcnko! was Joined by five CossacK
Atamans in burying this treasure which consist
not only of enormous quantities of gold and silver
coin, but of hugo cases full of valuable church
vessels, of silver and gold studded with Jewels.
Zimniakoff firmly belicvon tho treasure exists and
has already begun operations to discover it"
IT IS NOT OFTEN THAT A PRISONER WISHES
to remain in prison aftor his terra is over
and ho Is at liberty, but tho London Daily Nowa
tells of ono such case and says: "Tho Prussian
prison authorities are perplexed what to do with a
man named Michael Keller, whoso sentence to
death, passed upon him in 1853, was commuted
to penal servitude for life. Tho prlaonor Is now
an old man of 80, and, although he haa been of
fered his liberty on more than ono occasion, re
fuses to leave tho prison. He declares that, after
being In Jail all these years for a crime of which
he is innocent, he does not wish to bo released
in his old ago to bo miserable. The man's rela
tives have been traced, and are willing to look
after him, but ho will have notning to do with
them."
AN EXPERIMENT IS TO BE TRIED IN
Cleveland, O., during the coming fall elec
tion that will bo watched with interest through
out tho state as well as by many others outsldo
who aro interested In tho device. Thg Ohio leg
islature several years ago gavo Ohio municipalities
authority to buy voting machines, and this au
thority was taken advantage of by tho city of
Cleveland recently, when 205 voting machines
wcro purchased at a cost of $66,625. These ma
chines aro to bo used, ono at each polling placo in
tho city on tho Tuesday following the first Mon
day of next November. Tho friends of the voting,
machine system claim that by the use of the ma
chine absolute secrecy is secured and tho work of
the Judges of election will be greatly simplified.
ONE OF THE HINTS OF THE ADVANTAGES
of municipal or government ownership may
bG obtained in tLe fact that tho Australian com
monwealth's telegraph service, which ic operated
entfrely by tho government n.s part of tho postal
system, Is tho cheapest in tho world. A writer
in tho Review of Reviews In discussing this sub
ject says: "For city messages, which Include a
suburban area of a radius of ten miles beyond the
city limits, tho rate is 12 cents for messages of ton
words and the address; for messages of tho samo
length to any point within the same state and
tho states are generally very much larger than
any American statethe charge Is 18 cents, while
for similar messages to any station within the
commonwealth and from Rockhampton, in
Queensland, to Perth, in West Australia, tho dis
tance by wire is more than 4,500 miles the uni
form charge Is 24 cents. It Is emulated, on the
basis of past experience, that these rates will re
turn a revenue sufficient to pay operating ex
penses of every kind, including the cost of main
tenance, and in addition pay Interest on the orig
inal expense of construction, amounting to fully
$18,000,000. Australians send more than twice as
many messages over tho lines at the lower rates
as Americans do at the present charges."
IT V?
A STRANGE SEARCH IS BEING MADE BY
tho leading astronomers of England and
France for a missing sixteenth of a second. The
New York World says: "A sixteenth of a second
is missing, and despite the work of scores of
learned scientists no one can tell whero it has
gone. A search for this minute fraction of time
that is costing hundreds of thousands of dollars
13 under way, and It will be continued till the lost
is found, for its recovery is of world-wide im
portance. If one grain of sand on the shore of
the ocean were lost and scientists were to spend
years In trying to find it, their search would seem
to be little more hopeless and unimportant than
this task, upon which the leading astronomers of
England and France are now worMng. The six
teenth of a second is missing between the sun's
time as recorded at Greenwich- and as understood
In Paris. The failure to discover the discrep
ancy in observations may change the nationality
of thousands of people. Longitude is calculated on
the basis of Greenwich time. The boundaries of
countries are determined by the calculations at
this famous observatory. If the Paris calcula
tions and not the Greenwich observations are
found correct, boundaries may be moved miles.
No expense is being spared to trace the missing
fraction. A special building has boen erected at
Paris, costly instruments installed, a corps of
skilled mathematicians engaged and a process that
may take years to complete has been commenced-
I
!:
1
1 ti
i&4&z,km'"-" --...