The tri-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1866-1868, 1867-12-05

! CoAL. IN ALAsKA-One of the late writers
upon the topography and geology of Alaska,
who Gains to be Il scientific man, represents
that the prospects of obtaining coal III the ter
ritory are very small. He has examined the
portions of it near the coast and only found
one small seam which contains coal OF good
quality, but very little of it. This gentle
man was attached to the scientific corps of
the telegraph expedition meant to carry the
telegraph through the country to Behring's
Straits, and so to Europe. He was several
months in Alaska, and represents that he ex-
amined the geological characteristics of the
country faithfully, and for an extent of thir
teen hundred miles. His report is not very
| encouraging when we consider that the eli
mate Of Alaska is cold and damp, and that
coal for fuel is an article of the first necessl
ty. 1t is true that for the present there are
sufficient supplies OF wood to furnish the
territory with means of obtaining warmth
and comfort, but in time the destruction of
forests will make timber scarce, and what
will Alaska do then Most probably it will
do well enough, for there is divinity that
shapes our ends and it is Il fact in the his
tory of mankind that there never was a want
which was not supplied from natural sour
ces. and that the hand of Providence has
placed within the reach of man those SUBJ
stances, vegetable and mineral, best suited
tor his wants, according to the climate and
temperature OF the various portions OF the
globe. Ii 1t is true that but little coal is to
! be found in Alaska, where it would seem to
be needed, ether substitutes will be discov-
cred before the wood, which is now plenty
shall have disappeared. We know not what
the future will bring forth as science adyan-
ces. In the matter of fuel the world has
seen two periods-that of wood, the earliest,
and that of coal, which succeeded. We are
about entering upon 4 third, the petroleum
age, and after that science will be ready with
something else equally IA simple, manageable
and ecomical.
FEMALE LABoR.-With each decade the
census report of the United States has been
improved, until 1t has nearly reached perfec-
tion.> The last one Ghat of 1860 is one of
the nest able asst the most important docu-
ments issued from any of the departments of
the government. Bnt there is one omission
in the social statistics which we hope to see
remedied in the next report: the proportion
of female to male laborers in each haanch
of industry. Every year females are taking
more active and extended part in industri-
al enterprises, and the number, condition
| and wages of those at present employed in
each branch OF labor would at once deeply
lultitSL anu dStOuiSu our LII IulS
city alone there are many thousands of wo-
men who support themselves by laboring at
all sorts of trades. There are thirty-eight
thousand more females than males in New
York, and thrice or four times that number
are dependent on their own labor. 1t has
been lately stated that not less than three
thousand of these are engaged in the manu-
tacture of hoop skirts alone. Of the one
hundred and fifty thousand school teachers
in the United States, over one hundred
thousand are females. Many of the New
York establishments, like Stewards and
Others, each employ eight hundred and one
thousand females in manufacturing all
sorts of articles of female dress. The census
report cannot of course, furnish the figures
of wages paid, but these can be reached APP
proximately ii the numbers are given; and
we suggest that the idea is worth the atten-
ton of the Superintendent of the Census Bu-
reau.-M Y Times.