Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1874-07-15
Another Runaway Reservoir.

of Wo.tfald River, aud the bursting Of
reservoir including hundred acres, at
I MiddIciold. After the scare caused by the
Mill River disaster it is not improbable
that the FIRST accounts Of the occurrence
are exaggerated The reports allego the
destruction Of many bridges on the Boston
q Albany railroad, and the loss Of con-
siderable amount Of property, by sweeping
away buildings, factories, etc, although
the flood vas happily uuaccompanied by
much sacrifice Of human life. Existence
in the billy regions Of Massachusetts,
upon valleys snugIy nestled between sur.
rounding elevations, has peculiar and
remarkable risks at the present time
/ Prosperous manufacturing neighborhoods --
where around a thriving establishment, il
lustrating New England energy, enter.
prise and thrift, beautiful village is rap
idly growing into more pretentious proper.
tions-are environcd, as the condition off
their busy activity, by dangers only par.
TALLY guarded against The fountain from
whence is derived the power that moves
the myraii-hanicd industry, so successful
in It's material development, prove an over.
whelming agency Of devastation and death.
involving happy and comfortable commuui-
ties in common wreck Uudcr such circum
stances, anything but ceasele.s vigilance is
criminal negligence, aud failure to use
ayishly all the resources Of engineering
skill to provide for the safety Of popula-
tons so dangerously situated is an offence
admitting of not the slightest palliation
-ln November last, says the New York |
Times, the prospect Of balancing the ma.
tional accounts for The financial year S73-4 |
without the imposition Of new taxes seemed
very doubtful indeed and the falling OF in
Customs receipts during the following two
months rendered the outlook still more
gloomy a deficit of twelve millions off
dollars was confidently predicted should
Congress fail to provide new sources Of rev.
enuc. For once the waiting policy has
proved to be the wise one. Congress
trusted to luck and the elasticity Of ma.
tional resources to pull the treasury through
its difficulties and now that the fiscal year
has closed, this reliance has, fortunately, |
turned out to have been well placed In.
stead Of a dciait toe balance sheet for the
year shows an excess OF receipts over the
expenditures Of s4,370,0oO The debt has
therefore been decreased by that amount,
and another striking example has been fur
nished Of the rapidly rocupcra,iyc power of
our country's trade.
On the first Of this month the new
railroad law of Iowa, upon which the man
ayers Of several Of the prominent railroads
that pass through that State met to con-
slider the other day, went into effect 1t re.
sembles the Illinois law in many respects,
except perhaps that it is little more
stringent in relation to railroad fares. As
Iowa is one of the States that lies on the
through line between the far west and the
seaboard, it remains to be seen what effect
this attempt to impose artificial restraints
on transportation will have on the move
mont Of crops
The locusts,' to whose rayages in
portion Of Minnesota, Governor Davis al |
ludes in his appeal for help for the suffer
ing inhabitants, are common grasshoppers.
The Winona (Minn) Republican says that
the grasshoppors rise about the middle Of
the day, and fly for about four hours, going
always before the wind, when they drop to
the ground, and commence feeding. These
destroying pests are giraffe in their move
ments' certain townships being entirely
eaten up BY them, while other portions Of
the same county escape with little or no
damage.
The TriJune, referring to the number
of fires, personal injuries and deaths conso.
quent upon the celebration Of the Fourth,
in New York and Brooklyn, remarks that,
could the statistics for the nation be col.
ected, they would doubtless be curious, and
certainly they would prove alarming. All
these painful facts might be used it says
as a serious argument for the abolition of
the absurd manner in which we celebrate
Independence Day, if we were a people ac.
customed to stop after disaster and count
the cost.
The Washington correspondence of
the Tribune speaks of one member of the
Appropriations Committee, who was most
conspicuous in cutting down the clerks in
the departments, that has man on the rolls
of the post-oiiiee of the House at eighteen
hundred dollars year, and that the man
never goes near the office except to sign his
name and draw his pay. The man is
very good shorthand writer and makes a
capital secretary to the member. We
should like to have the name of this member
June is charged with being an cxcep.
tional month for terrible earthquakes
On June 7, 1902, three thousand persons
were destroyed by an earthquake in ia.
maica on the same day of the same month,
in 1850, forty thousand persons persisted in
Persia by an earthquake again, on juno 7,
1873, Santiago, with its inhabitants was
swallowed up. Several other instances of
bad June earthquakes might be mentioned,
one even so late as June 10, 1867, in Java, c
when four hundred we're destroyed.
by simmering down a column of off.
cial statistics and information we find that
Republican rule in Alabama has reduced =
the expenditures one. fourth less than the n