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' Items of Interest.
- Twelve thousand blue-bloodea law-breakers
are confined In Russian prisons.
Prof. Henry A. Rowland of Johns Hopkins
university died on April 16 at Baltimore.
Statisticians assert that $2,000,000,000 in gold
has been taken from the ground in Australia.
England holds first place among the nations '
of the world in ho building of commercial ships.
Botanists are convinced that Indian corn is a
native of Peru. It has been found growing there
in a wild state.
Five hundred thousand women over 18 years
of age are employed in the factories and work
. shops of Great Britain.
Shoes were worn in Egypt 2,200 years before
Christ. Mention of them has been found in an
Egyptian papyrus that old.
The opal is the lightest of the precious stones.
It 1$. only twice as heavy as water. The zircon
is the heaviest, weighing four times as much as
water.
During the week ending April 6 building per
mits to the amount of $15,820,000 were taken out
In New York City. This is the largest list on
record.
The orange is a native of Africa. It was in
troduced into Europe in the Sixteenth century. It
was vastly inferior to the cultivated orange of
today.
A new system of sewers is being constructed.
In the City of Mexico. When the sewers are com
pleted the principal streets will be paved with
asphalt. -
A .congressman once franked ,to .his home. a
flre-proof safe weighing 6,000 pounds.. He bought
it at a public sale after it had been condemned by
the government.
An Illinois court has decided that motormen
must use their utmost endeavor to avoid running
over dogs. The motorman must not depend upon
the dog's agility.
It is estimated that "Uncle Tom's Cabin" has
been presented on the stage oftener than any other
dozen plays ever constructed, not excepting the
Shakespeare dramas.
Night schools are being opened throughout
Maryland for the purpose of instructing illiterate
colored voters. The Maryland ballot law dis
franchises illiterates.
The brick-making machine has superceded the
old hand method. An expert brick-maker could
make about 6,000 brick per day by hand. The
machine makes 30,000.
A New York law is to the effect that funeral
expenses must be paid from an estate before any
other bills are paid. It was secured by the under
takers after a hard fight.,
Connecticut has always held first place in the
manufacture of clocks. The iirst clocks manu
factured in this country were made in Connecticut
by Eli Terry of Plymouth.
JDuring the first three months of 1901 the "to
tal loss by fire in the United States reached the
appalling sum of $49,9G9,200. This is at the rate of
nearly $200,000,000 a year.
Englishmen are the greatest conc.mers of
jam in the world. Twenty-seven tons of apricot
pulp were shipped recently from California to Lon
don to be manufactured into jam.
Milo Hughes, aged eight years, saved a Monon
freight train from a wreck at I rankfort, Ky. Tno
boy lives near the railroad four miles from that
place and while trudging along the creek bank dis
covered the bridge in flames. He knew the south-
The Commoner.
bound local freight was about due, and running up
the track he met it and by waving, his hat no suc
ceeded in flagging the train. The freight was run
ning at a high rate of speed to keep ahead of the
passenger train, and had the boy- not acted as
promptly as ho did there would undoubtedly havo
been several lives lost.
Bengal, India, with, a territory . of 203,473
square miles, has a population equal to the total
population of the United States, ft is one-quarter
less in size than the state of Texas.
The members of the Ancient Order of United
Workmen of the state of West Virginia are con
sidering the proposition of erecting a home for old,
infirm and disabled members of tho order.
Mr. Justice Taylor of Wilmington, O., was
ninety-two years old last month. He is probably
the oldest man in active business. He has voted
the democratic ticket for seventy-one years.
The government finds It difficult to enlist good
carpenters in th enavy. The pay ranges from $1,
200 to $1,800 a year. There are plenty of appli
cants, but only a few can pass the examination.
Georgia contains several colleges maintained
by subscriptions from the north. They are for tho
education of the negro, and d ing the last quar
ter of a century a great many have been grad
uated from them.
Mohammedans have grown tired of the primi
tive method of travelling to Mecca. They are now
constructing a railroad, having subscribed $108,
000 for the purpose. The work is being done un
der the direction of the sultan.
For centuries botanists have endeavored to
grow black roses, but no one has ever yet accom
plibhea the feat. The nearest approach to a black
rose was grown by a Frenchman, who grafted a
dark red rose upon an oak sapling.
A quarter of a century ago Russia was de
pendent upon other countries for her warships.
Now Russia has ten ship-yards on the Baltic and
Black seas and in them ten -warships ranging from
6,000 to 13,500 tons each are being constructed.
. You cannot keep a Kansas man down. A
Kansas man out of a job and without a penny
dropped into Olatho one day a few weeks ago
and sold a lot of bits of broken glass at 10 cents
each, saying they were souvenirs of one of Mrs.
Nation's raids.
The Chicago orchestra is maintained by pri
vate subscriptions. Five years ago the annual
deficit was $50,000. This year it is less than $20,
000, although the expense has been vastly in
creased. This is taken as an indication that Chi
cago is growing as a musical center.
Tho Tuskegee, Ala., Normal and Industrial
institute was founded in 1881. It started in .a
rented building with one instructor and thirty
students. The average attendance Is now 1,050
students and the instructors number eighty-six.
The institute has graduated 3,000 students.
Wm. T. Totten, secretary of the Yankee
Christmas club, 1100 Green street, Philadelphia, is
interesting himself in what are known as the "Shut
Ins" persons who, because of sickness, are kept in
the house. He asks for contributions in the way
of magazines and other literature. The most help
less of the Shut-ins is Mr. Chas. H. Conrad, No.
1218 Cabot street.. For more than ten years he has
been unable to move a muscle and yet he does not
murmur.
.Dr. Glrdner, the author of an extraordinary
book, with the extraordinary name "Newyorkitis,"
has had a remarkable career. Before his gradua
tion as a surgeon from the university .of the city of
New York his list of honors and prizes constituted
an unusual record and tho record star is today.
To perfect himself for his professional career ho
spent several years in the principal medical insti
tutions of Europe. Upon his return to New York
e was offered a partnership by Dr. Frank Hamil-
?
ton, the first surgeon of his day in this country
and, with him, participated in tho consultations
hold at the bedside of President Garfield. It was
his knowledge of this case which prompted the in
vention of tho Glrdner Telephone Bullet Finder,
which was givon to the world by him. If it had
been in existence, whon Mr. Garfield was shot, his
life could havo been saved.
An ordinance has boon Introduced In the city
council of Chicago which is intended for tho
protection of pedestrians from the results of care- .
less drivers. The important section in this ordi
nance is as follows: "The drivers of delivery and
express wagons and of all other kinds of vehicles
shall not be less than 10 years of age. All proprie
tors of wagons shall make it their duty to place
their vehicles in charge of drivers above tho ago
of 15 years and will be held responsible for the en
forcement of tho ordinance. Any person or per
sons violating this ordinance shall be fined not less
than $1 nor more than $10 or committed to prison
foi not more than ten days.'
Paul Rovero's First Churc bell, whose 'peals
of praise were heard in Boston more than a cen
tury ago, will be heard again, it having b(jen pur
chased by St. James' Episcopal church of North
Cambridge. The bell now occupies a place in tho
vestry of tho church, but it is hoped to have it,
mounted in the belfry by April 19, Patriots' day.
The bell was first used in the First Church of tho
Old North End and held its place in the respective
towers of the three different edifices afterwards
used by the First Church. When the society moved
into a building on Temple street there was no
room for the bell, and it lay idle for some time.
No provision was made for tho relic and recently
it was voted to sell it for $500.
A rernarkable religious revival record is cited
by Presiding Elder Crow of the Methodist Church
in the Carbondale, 111., district. This shows that
during the past five months there have been within
this district 882 conversions. This relates only to
the Methodist church. During this same period six
other denominations were conducting revivals, and
it is estimated that in this neighborly ' in the
aggregate 3,500 conversions were effected. This
does not include the colored population, which re
ceived a largo increase owing to the presence of
Bishop Grant an increase estimated at 1.500. Thus
in this limited district it is estimated tl at there
were 5,000 conversions during the past five .months.
Reverend W. S. Ament, who was charged by
Mark Twain with questionable methods in the col
lection of indemnities at Pekin, has written to the
American board of missionaries a defense in which
ho says: "Nothing has been done except after
consultation with colleagues and the full approval
of the United States minister. I will secure a cer
tificate from Mr. Conger to that effect. As to leav
ing 'an unpleasant memory if collected by mis
sionaries in person, I am more than convinced that
this was the best way for all concerned. Always
ve had the full support and approval of tho local
officials, who acted with the knowledge of LI Hung
Chang and Chang Yen Lao, Li's right hand man,
who settled ds to amounts and methods of collect
ing. In fact by doing it in person the missionary
saved the guilty villages from any amount of
squeezing from underlings and unauthor
ized bullies who havo been doing a vast
amount of injury. I have been -first
in the field, had the largest field of any one man;
have unfortunately had more contact (being be
tween Pekin and Paoting-Fu) with the military,
and hence have been made the scapegoat for all the
mistakes and rascalities that have happened In
regions that I have never entered. I welcome the
closest investigation. No correspondent who has
called upon us has taken views adverse to our
methods. Wo havo left no disgruntled people be
hind us -and there is no Christian even dissatisfied
with tho arrangements. I found myself most
happy in the conclusion of matters in this way."
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