Grand Rapids Herald-Review Newspaper, July 22, 1899, Page 3

Ten Times Around the World in a Second. This is the fastest-rate of transmis- sion in the world, being the rate of dis- charge of a Leyden jar through copper wire of 1 1-16 inch in diameter. The correct figure is 278,100 miles a second. In striking contrast comes the pace of the snail—one-quarter of an inch. Here, in order, is a list of things ani- mate and inanimate, that follow the snail: A man, walking, 4 feet in a sec- on a fast.runner, 23 feet; a fly, 24 feet; a fast skater, 38 feet; ocean waves, 70 feet; a homing pigeon, 87 feet; swallows, 220 feet; the worst cy- clone known, 380 feet. The rate of sound in the air is 1,095 feet a second; the electric current on telegraph wires, 7,000 mil induction current, 11,040 miles; electric current in copper wire armatures, 21,000 miles; light, 180,000 miles. PATENTS. List of Patents Issued Last Week to Northwestern Inventors. Walter C. Cunningham, St. Paul, Minn., tobacco pipe; Edward Groven, Bagley, Minn., straw stacker; Robert Hearns, St. Paul, Minn., detachable car fender; Peter O. Lutnes, Wahpe- ton, N. D., windmill; Oscar E. New- quist. Carlton, Minn., fence post; Ad- am Reis, Georgetown, Minn., weed seed destroyer; August Schuch, Hec- tor, Minn., vehicle wheel; Bugene Stough, Sioux Falls, S. D., mold for composition rollers; Warren S. Wilde, Scoville, N. D., body for buggies oF carriages. Merwin, Lothrop & Johnson , Patent At- torneys, 910 Pioneer Press Bldg., St. Paul. What Does He Ever Dot Fudc¢ You speak about Twigger’s friencS, Why, he hasn’t a friend in the world. \ += Duddy ! but isn’t that awful? Whom doey he get to borrow money from him ?~oston Transcript. Mr. W. H.-ljams, who has recently been re-elect®¢, Treasurer of the Balti- more and Ohio Rail Road, has been in the employ of the company for 46 yea and has been Treasarer since May, 1866. When a small boy in Bal- timore he saw théugreat parade that Baltimoreans arran¢cd to celebrate the laying of the cornerasvone of the Balti- more and Ohio Rail oad on July 4th, 1828. Then You Do Know. Mrs. Younghusband—You never real- ly know a man until you are married to him. Mrs. Muchwed—ou don’t then; you never really know a man until you are divorced from him, and your friends come around and tell you lots of things you never even suspected.—Leslie’s Weekly. Rend the Advertisements. You will enjoy this publication much better if you will get into the habit of reading the advertisements; they will afford a most amusing study, and will put you in the way of getting some excellent bargains. Our advertisers eliable; they send what they ad- How th Other Half Lives. Mrs. Wheeler—I've been v: ng the poor. I never believed there could be such destitution in this rich city. Mrs. Walker—Indeed? Wheeler—Why, I found one of ten that had only one. Sicy- id that was a ’96 mode’ Journal. Do Your Fect Ache and Kurnt Shake into your shoes, Allen’ Foot- Ease, a powder for the feet. It makes tight and New Shoes feel Easy. Cures Corns, Bunions, Swollen, Hot and Sweating Feet t all Druggists and Shoe Stores, 25c. Sample sent FREE. Address Allen S. Olmsted, LeRoy, N, Y. How easy it is for some people to make a lot of money, and how hard for others to make a little. In order to mount the ladder of fame an orator must win round after round of applause. Perfect System Cleaners. Keep clean “inside as ¥ outside and "ll be nearer arets Candy y your body in- 50c. hartic clea sied. Al! drug: Some men evidently think that “cake walk steps” are the correct thing on Chestnut street. Is there a more absolutely helpless feeling t n to be without a timepiece of any sort? FITS Permanently Cured. No fits ornervousness after first day’s use of Dr. Kiine’s Great Nerve Kestorer. ‘or FREE 82.00 trial bottle and treatise. De. R. H. Kiine, Ltd., 91 Arch St., } niladelphia, Pa. All men are born ignorant and lots of them never succeed in outgrowing it. The bunco man may not be able to handle the rudder, but he’s an expert at working the tiller—of the soil. Hall's Catarrh Curo Is a constitutional cure. Price, 75c. The time when a woman needs a man’s help most is generally when it is utterly impossible for her to have 1. Mrs. Winstow’s soothing Syrup. For children teething, sotteus the gums, reduces in- flammation,allays pain, cures wild colic. 25¢ a bottle, Have you ever noticed how much easier it is to tell a lie than to listen to one? Two bottles of Piso’s Cure for Consump- tion cured me of a bad lung trouble.—Mrs, J. Nichols, Princeton, Ind., Mar. 26, 1895. It is not always as easy to recognize a lie as it is to tell one. The breakfast association—coffee and rolls. Couldn’t Down Him. “Professor Beetson he done lay out Professor Pullem on de whale miracle by declaning dat de whale’s throat wasn’t more’n big enough to swaller a baby.” « “What did Professor Pullem do?” “He got right up an’ declahed dat Jonah was jest a runt of a feller, not more’n two feet high an’ weighin’ only twenty pounds.’—Cleveland Plain Dealer. A well known spring song—The Old Oaken Bucket.” DISHONEST DOLLARS. GOLD ALWAYS ROBS AMERICAN PRODUCT. THE (hat the Change from Bimetallism to Monometallism Has Done to Aid Foreigners Has Never Been Success- ‘ully Refated—Weights and Measures. Absurd is the contention that the gold dollar is an honest one because the gold which it contains is just as valuable before coinage as afterward. This is, in fact, another phase of the same thought. The equality referred to is produced by law. If a man have a lump of gold of proper fineness, the law provides that he may take it to the mint and have it coined into money without expense and without delay. Hence they are practically the same thing. Exactly the same result would follow in the case of any other sub- stance similarly treated. Suppose the government stood ready to grind into flour, with no charge or loss of time, all the wheat that might be offered for the purpose. Manifestly a bushel of wheat would be worth just as much as the flour that it would take the flour, bake it into bread and hand back the bread to the owner of the flour with no charge whatever, then this result would follow: The bushel of wheat would be worth all the flour it would make; the flour would be worth all the bread it would make, and consequently the wheat, the flour and the bread would all be of equal value, But it would be the law, and nothing else, that would make them so. The price of gold stated in dollars and cents is merely the price fixed by law, or the mint rate. Properly speaking, it is not a “price” at all. It signifies nothing more than that a certain weight of the metal will be manufactured into a cer- tain amount of coin. That is to say, the government will take 232.2 grains of gold, mix 25.8 of alloy with it, fash- fon it into a piece of certain shape, stamp emblems or designs upon it, and call it an “eagle,” or ten dollars. Orig- inally the eagle contained 247% grains of pure gold. Now it contains 232.2 grains. When the former weight pre- vailed a dollar’s worth of gold was 24% grains. Now it is 23.22 grains. What has happened to the gold? Noth- ing. The law has been changed. That is all. : “Closed Down.” {n the town of Fairmount, near Cin- cinnati, the people are now experienc- ing a taste of the good things which the great system of trusts has in store for the people everywhere. At Fair- mount there has been in steady opera- tion for 20 years a barbed wire fence factory employing some 500 men. This factory having now fallen under the control of one of the steel trusts that concern now closes down. The trust acquired the factory for that very pur- pose. The shut-down was not occa- sioned by an over-supply of barbed wire fencing; it was ordered with the intention of creating an under-supply. Of course the 500 employes have been thrown out of work, and some of them who voted, either wil- lingly or under coercion, for the “advance agent of prosperity” two years and a half ago, are doubt- less wondering whether closing the mints really has any virtues in the direction of opening the mills. The disemployment of these 500 men at Fairmount is chiefly notable because it happens to be concentrated in its ef- fects. There is nothing else peculiar about it. In a more scattered way that same thing is going on all over the country, Under the trust regime not only mechanics, but salesmen, clerks bookkeepers and small business men are being crowded into the growing army of the disemployed. Yet we are told that times are prosperous. [For whom?—the public, Chicago? The Gold Standard Farmer. We clip the following letter, which was recently addressed to the editor of the Democrat and Journal of St. Louis: I cannot but pity many of our fellow-men who find it difficult to obtain even the bare necessities of life, crying for their oppressors. Why, how much—or, rather, how little—sense it takes to realize that something is wrong when we find millionaires able to pile up other millions from year to year, while upon the other hand the man with a few thousands invested in real estate can, by constant effort, only make a living. Yet too many of them are like the farmer (he is a McHanna- ite), who said to me: “Times are all right, money is plenty, but somehow I cannot pay my debts.” Poor fellow, he was much like another farmer, who said, “I cannot read and don’t know much about politics, but Mr. S—— says the gold standard is best, and he ought to know.” Mr. S—— was a banker, and held mortgages against the farmer for probably all that he was worth. It is passing strange that these same men, when they go to a merchant in their own town, will not believe him, but think he is laying for them, and is making large profits upon every- thing he sells, when in reality it takes careful financiering to keep afloat. Now, what kind of an animal is the gold standard farmer? His genealogy is beyond my ken, and I have frequent- ly tried to discover the source of his perversity. Hate seemingly has per- meated his very soul; he so detesis anything not having the brand “Re-*! publican” upon it that he refuses to even view it. Like one whom I once saw knock a paper out of the hands of a person and kick it after it was upon the ground. Such people will always vote the ticket according to its label: they need masters, and for my part 1 SCIENTIFIC TOPICS would have no objections, if I and mine were not included in the serfdom and have to suffer as well, There is hope dawning. I now find some, whom we regarded as hopeless, are inquiring after the truth, and may the people unite and in 1900 sweep over this fair land with such force as to presage the utter destruction of the golden calf worshipers. Let Ameri- cans rule in America. No treacherous Briton need give us advice. DR. K—. Beardstown, Il. Mark Hanna on Spies. From the Chicago Chronicle: “We commend the president for the judi- cious modifications of the civil service rules recently promulgated,” says Mark Hanna in his Ohio platform. In an interview for publication Mr. Hanna stands by the platform and the order. He attempts to justify the latter by saying that when President Cleveland was about to go out he issued an order which had the effect to give permanent jobs to a lot of Democrats in positions where they could act as “spies” upon the Republican administration. He says that the present Republican ad- ministration is responsible to the peo- ple for its conduct of public affairs, and it cannot justly be held responsi- ble if it is surrounded by “Democratic spies.” ‘fherefore the president is to be commended for his “judicious” or- der. Of course Mr, Hanna does not expect any intelligent man to accept this statement as a sufficient justifi- cation for turning over 10,000 places in tne public service to spoilsmen. An administration has no business to have secrets in any branches of the service affected by this order. If there is any use for the services of spies then it is because something is wrong which ought to be exposed. If anything is wrong the presence of men in the ser- vice who will expose it is for the pub- lic good. Mr. Hanna’s talk about spies implies that things are done which ought not to be done. It implies that there are things which the party bosses wish to keep secret when there should be no secrets and everything should be open to the public. It implies a purpose on the part of the Republican bosses to convert the public service into a party machine—to pervert and degrade it to the accomplishment of merely party ends. Spying which will tend to prevent such degradations of the public service is a very desirable thing. But Mr. Hanna and his fel- low-bosses are not worried about spies. We hear nothing about spies in the British civil service, where the merit system is more extended and more rig- orously applied than it ever has been here. The simple truth is that the spoilsmen want the spoils, and their talk about spies is the best excuse they ean think of for seizing what they want. Nose and Face Retaliation. From the New York World: The executive department at Washington seriously proposes to fine the Amerigan people $18,000,000 a year for an offense committed by the Brazilian govern- ment. This is the way of it. We con- sume 600,000,000 pounds of coffee a year. More than ten-elevenths of it— or practically all—comes from Brazil. But Brazil-imposes import duties—not nearly so heavy, it is true, as our own average—upon many articles which we sell to that country. Our government complains of this_and has asked Bra- zil to quit it, in order that our people may sell more of their products to Brazilians, Brazil needs reyenue and nesitates to yield to this demand. Our government therefore threatens—under a provision of law which permits the president to legislate in such cases— to levy a retaliatory duty of three cents a pound on all the Brazilian coffee we use. That is to say, it proposes to make everybody in the United States pay 3 cents a pound more than now for every pound of coffee used. With our enormous Dingley tariff duties in force, why should we complain that Brazil imposes much lower import dues’ for the sake of revenue? And why should the American people be required to suf- fer for Brazil's offense? Trusts in England and Germany. From the Loutsville Courier-Jour- nal: In reply to a declaration of Mr. Havemeyer that’ the protective tariff is the mother of all trusts, it is alleged that trusts are equally bad in other countries. it is avowed trusts are very numerous. There are combinations in England, to be sure, but there are no tariff laws to protect them. Wherever foreign com- petition can destroy them they do not exist. Even where they exist the ex- tent of their power is limited by com- petition from other countries, so far as that is practicable, and the statis- tics of English trade show that it is so in a large degree. When we come to Germany, however, we find a country like our own, with a high protective tariff. It is here that the trusts flour- ish. Of all European countries, says an authority upon the subject, it is in Germany that the trusts have spread most extensively and been most suc- cessful. There is no reason why they should not be, for there the legislation is calculated to protect them from as- sault and to cause them to multiply. : Truth Working Eastward. Cleveland Leader: Governor Roose- velt told the people out west the other day that ultimately the destinies of the country would be decided by the dweil- ers between the Alleghenies and the Pacific. It is pleasant to note that one eastern man is willing to admit that there is something to this country be- | youd ‘the shores of Manhattan Islan. Even in free-trade England ; CURRENT NOTES OF DiSCOVERY AND INVENTION. The First Typewriter—It Was Made in 1876 and Is Preserved in the United States Patent Office—Noses Measured for Glasses. The First Typewriter. Hidden away in a dark corner of the model-room in the patent office at Washington, with the dust of years giving its brown surface a coat of gray, is an apparently worthless block of wood cut in the shape of a staircase, with small blocks of wood mounted on wires on each of the stairs. When I happened to see this object while look- ing through the four hundred thousand models the other day I thought it must be some sort of child’s plaything. On closer examination my curiosity was aroused, so that I induced one of the busy attendants to look up the matter for me. It was discovered to be the first typewriter ever made in the United States—perhaps in the world. If placed by the side of one of our 1899 model typewriter the first typewriter could not fail to provoke a smile from the spectator. Instead of dainty black and nickel letter keys, with an open frame-work showing the easy -work- ings of the intricate machinery of the inside, as & usual in the typewriters of today, the first typewriter consists of a closed wooden box with blocks of wood half an inch square for its letter keys. The paper-carriage of the first typewriter is also of wood, and instead of the operator turning the paper-car- riage by a mere touch on an exten: rod, as is done with all typewriter: now in use, when one line was finished on the first typewriter the operator had to use both hands to turn tke pa- per-carriage—one hand to lift a catch from the cogwheel and the other hand to push the paper around as far as de- sired. However, much as the first typewriter differs from its grandchil- dren, close examination shows that it has all the essentials of typewriters as we know them today. The inventor of the typewriter was R. T. P. Allen, of Farmdale, Ky., who secured his pat- ent in 1876. There were other socalied typewriters invented before this date, but the Allen invention is the first ma- chine that bore fruit, and it is tha: machine which may be looked upon as the parent of the five million or more typewriters in use in the United States today.—The Atlanta Constitution. An Improved Locomotive Headlight. When rounding a curve,’ the or- dinary locomotive headlight points off into the surrounding country, and is useless. A mechanical engineer of a western railway, says the Scientific American, has devised an attachment by means of which the light is main- tained in line with the track. The light is mounted on a turntable which is rotated through the proper angle a cable passing around pulleys 3n. leading to the two piston rods of + small double-acting air cylinder. The motion of the piston is regulated by ¢ valve in the cab, the air pressure he- ing taken from the air »rake system. The headlight turns on inclines so ar- ranged that when the headlight trav-. els up the incline it will have bearings on the two quarters on which it trav- els. The object of this is to return the headlight to its normal position auto- matically when the air is released. Protect the Horse. An exceedingly unobtrusive storm or sun shade for horses has been designed by an inventor of Bladensburg, Ohio. It is a cup of a general fiat shape and designed to fit closely to the head of the animal. Inside of this a damp sponge may be placed in warm weather, and in cold weather it acts alone as a protection from the wet and cold. One of the features of this pat- ent is the arrangement of slotted feet on'the bottom, which permits of its in- stant adjustment to any harness with- out straps or buckles. The Gas Engine. Discussing the advantage of the gas engine over steam, a writer in the En- gineering Magazine says: So far as operative economy is concerned, the gas engine, when operated with fuel gas, shows a decided commercial ad- vantage over steam at all powers, al- though the gain is less at the higher power than for the smaller sizes. This, however, is not because the gas en- gine is less economical at large power than at.small, but because the waste- ful performance of small steam en- gines is proportionately greater. The principal hindrance to the general in- troduction of the gas engine as a sub- stitute for steam power lies in the fact ' that, as yet, but little experience has DEFECTIVE PAGE been had with the larger sizes. That the large gas engine is an assured cer- tainty, however, is the opinion of the best-informed experts in this line of work. A little more than a week ago Dugald ‘k said: “There can be lit- tle doubt that in ten years gas engines of 1,000 horse-power will be as commou as engines of 100 horse-power are now.” In view of the fact that a suc- cessful Westinghouse gas engine of 750 horse-power has already been con- structed, it appears that the capacity given by Mr. Clark may be reached in a shorter period than ten years, and in any case the large gas engine will un- doubtedly make its appearance on a commercial scale so soon as a strong enough demand shall have been creat- ed for it. This demand, according to Herr Korting, may appear at first, not in the form of a requirement for great- er economy, but from the enforcement of legislation against smoke, and when it is realized that the highest known economy includes with it absolute free- dom from the production of smoke, the importance of the internal combustion motor will be doubly emphasized. Noses Measured for Glasses. The proper adjustment of eye-glasses to the nose is as important a feature of the optician’s business as the grinding cf the lenses, and heretofore this has been done in a somewhat hit or miss way by,twisting and bending the frames until they appeared to be right to the observation of the optician. This operation has, however, been re- duced to one of mathematical accuracy by the invention of a gauge for the purpose by Levi A. Stevenson of Gay- lord, Mich., which consists of a pair of hinged caliper legs, having their ends offset to a different plane from the body portions and provided with nose- clamps. Above the pivotal center of the implement are the gauge bars, one fastened to each arm and working to- gether telescopically. By means of this tool it is possible to accurately measure the angles of the nose so that the glasses may be made to fit com- fortably before they are tried on, Washington Monument’s Lightning Rods. The Washington monument, the lof- tiest stone structure in the world, has. according to the description given by Mr. N. M. Hopkins, in the Scientific American Supplement, an ideal instal- lation of correct lightning conductors. The apex of the monument is an alu- minum pyramid, from which eight half-inch copper rods extend down tc the base of the stone pyramid forming the top of the structure. At that point they bend inward through the masonry «nd pass down the interior of the shaft. ‘Lhe eight conductors are all connecte¢ on the outside of the pyramid by 2 heavy rod, and they are-all gold-plated. Two hundred platinum-tipped points connected with the conductors and all pointing skyward, cover the pyramid. The eonductors connect directly witk the tops of four iron columns which support the stairway and “levator. Ai the base of the monument the iron col- umns are connected by copper con- ductors with the bottom of a_ well twenty feet below the foundation of the shaft, the well containing severa) feet of water and fifteen feet of sand Severe electrical storms do not affec! the monument, The Fitzgerald Machine Gun. The latest new weapon of war is the Fitzgerald machine battery gun. It can fire at the rate of eight shots per second, under any test, however severe and prolonged, of rapid, continuous fire, and abrogating the fierce heat which is generated usually by sus- tained rapid fire. The Admiralty and Horse Guards’ Gazette pronounces it a success and declares that at the end of over 800 rounds the barrels were quite cool. However rapid the action of the mechanism of the gun, one tier of barrels is always loaded. The gun pos- sesses two tiers of barrels (Lee-Met- ford), four in each tier. The weight is 150 pounds. The gun is so mounted on its stand that it can be immediately elevated or depressed to any angle. Trinidad’s Wonderful Lake. Recent descriptions of the great lake of liquid asphaltum or bitumen, in the island of Trinidad, show that notwith- standing the enormous quantity of the substance removed every year, the sup- ply is undiminished. The lake covers about ten acres and is higher in the middle than at the edges. Near the center the black patch is sémi-liquid, but toward the sides a crust, intersect- ed with fissures, covers the surface, ard on this crust a man can walk, al- though when he stands for a time the crust gradually sinks around him,form- ing a kind of basin some yards across. Between 80,000 and 90,000 tons of as- phaltum are removed from the lake annually. Self-Precluded from Disparagement. The attorney for the plaintiff in an action. for killing a dog said: “Gen- tlemen of the jury, he was a good dog, a fine-appearing dog, a valuable dog, and it does not lie in the mouth of the defendant to say he was a worthless. cur, because it is !n evidence before you that on one occasion he offered $5 for one of his pups.”—Case and Com- ment. And is it not due to nervous exhaustionP Things always look so much brighter when we are in good health. How can have. courage when suffer- ing with headache, nervous prostration and great physical weakness P Would you not like to be rid of this depression of spirits? the How? By rersoving cause. By taking ao : It gives activity to all parts that carry away useless and poisonous materials from your body. » It removes the cause of your suffering, because it re- moves ell impurities from your blood. Send for our book on Nervousness. To keep in good health you must have perfect action of the bowels. Ayer’s Pills cure con- stipation and biliousness, » Weite to our Doctors. Perhaps you would like to consult some emivent physicians about your condition. Then write reely all the particulars in your case, You will re- Ceive a prompt reply, without cost. Address, DR. J. 0. AYER, Lowell. Mass. —_—— Not What She Desired. “The idea!’ exclaimed the sensation- al actress, as she beat an angry tattoo on the floor with her slipper. “What's the trouble? Can’t you get over your divore “Yes; but that lawyer has secure it without publici ington Star. Diplomacy in the Home. Jepson—How did your wife fancy your new suit? Harve: She disliked it so much that I had to tell her I got it at a bar- gain sale.—Brooklyn Life. Are Yoa Using Allen’s Foot-Ease? It is the only cure for Swollen, 5 ing, Burning, Sweating Feet. Corns and Bunions. Ask for Allen's Foot-Ease, a powder to be shaken into At all Druggisis and Shoe Store Sample sent FREE: Ad- dress, Allen S. Olmsted, LeItoy. N. Y. Prebably the happiest day in the ay- rage farme life is when his best pig a $3 pri the county fair, After a whole day down town, it wonder if a woman loozs soz shopworn, A man ought not to take his watcly out anywhere until he is sure its face- and hands are clean. RY, SLD An Excellent Combination. The pleasant method and beneficial effects of the well known remedy, Syrup or Fies, manufactured by the Catirornia Fy@ Syrup Co., illustrate the value of obtaining the liquid laxa- tive principles of plants known to be medicinally laxative and presenting them in the form most refreshing tothe taste and acceptable to the system. It is the one perfect strengthening laxa- tive, cleansing the system effectually, dispelling colds, headaches and fevers gently yet promptly and enabling one to overcome habitual constipation per- manently. Its perfect freedom from every objectionable quality and sub- stance, and its acting on the kidneys, liver and bowels, without reaping or irritating them, make it the ide: laxative. are used, as th taste, but the m of manufacturing figs are pleasant to the licinal qualities of the -Temedy are obtained from senna and other aromatic plants, by a method known to the CALIFoRNIA Fie Syrup Co. only. In order to get its beneficial effects and to avoid imitations, please remember the fuil name of the Company printed on the front of every package. CALIFORNIA FIG SYRUP CO. SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. LOUISVILLE, KY. NEW YORK, WN. Y. For sale by all Druggists.—Price 5c. per bottle, NWNU +. 29.— 1899. When Answering Advertisements Kindly Mention This Paper. ranhsiindiresannnastnie i i i :