The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1880-02-05
TIMELY TOPICS.

An Ohio mining company has dis
charged forty employees because they
are single men. The alleged objection
to the unmarried is that they do not re-
turn as much money to the corporation
store as married men. Whether this is
an argument in favor of getting married
does not appear, as the married en-
ployees of the company struck on ac-
count of the discharge of the bachelors.
Glass sleepers for street railways are
now under trial They are made by the
Sieman's glass toughening process,
which differs somewhat from the we'll
known La Bastie process. Under care
full experiment they have been found to
have very considerable strength, or, at
least, sufficient for light railways. So
far they have been made of rather
small pattern for longitudinal sleepers,
but there seems to be no reason why
they may not be made of the usual size
for heavy railway ties. The glass is of
the cheapest quality. They may even
be made from furnace Stag, as cheap
bottles are already manufactured, and
once in the road-bed they would last
for centuries, as far as mere decay is
concerned.
The CITY of Toxic, capital of Japan
has been burned down for the third
! time in seven years, though, considering
| that it is constructed of the lightest and
| f1imsiest material, it might just as well
been the seventh time in three years.
| Although $1,000 houses were destroyed
the loss is not so severe as these numbers
would indicate, for they are cheaply and
quickly built up again. In Japan fire
is checked by pulling houses to pieces,
and the fremen instead of pumping
water on the burning building, keep
soaking the men who are demolishing
the houses. Evidently, however, when
80, 900 people are made homeless and 100
perish in the flames the blaze has got as
much beyond their control as the fa-
nous one in Chicago.
The year 1880 will be memorable in
naval and commercial annals for the
promulgation of new code of sea sig
nails and road rules. Great Britain
France, Germany, Russia, Austria, Italy,
the Netherlands. Sweden, Denmark,
Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Chill
and the United States have agreed to
these rules, which include, besides sig
mailing with colored lights, a set of blasts
from the steam whistle or fog-horn,
whose numbers and length of duration
talk plainly. For example, a steamer
sighting any vessel gives one short blast
to denote that she is keeping to star
board. two If she is keeping to port. and
three if she is going astern. Other
blasts have fixed meanings. The new
rules should help to diminish the num-
Der Of disastrous collisions which have
been steadily increasing with the in
crease OF shipping.
company has been formed in Glas-
gov, Scotland, says an exchange, to
operate in the forest lands of Oregon,
and Washington Territory, for the pur-
pose of utilizing II process of clearing
forests by steam, introduced into Scot
land a few years since. A traction en-
CINE of twelve-horse power is stationed
some distance from the wood, and a
wire chain is fastened to q tree. Steam
is then put on, and the tree is pulled
forcibiy out by the roots. Upward OF
800 trees per day of ten hours can be
pulled out by this process. The COM
pany will begin operations with fifty
engines, which are now being manufac
tured for them, to be located and worked
in different sections of the country,
and it is calculated that in the course OF
a few years the whole northwest OF the
United States will be cleared and opened
up for settlement.
An amusing application OF the won
ders of the telephone rs an assistant de-
tective of crime reaches the San Diego
(California) Union, from Julian. Several
horses were stolen in that neighborhOod
and suspicion fell upon certain Indian
as the thief. Some one having intro
duccd a telephone there, il occurred tc
the owner of the stolen horses to get the
Indian to step in and hear the Great
Spirit" " talk. Tue Indian took one Of
the cups and was thrilled with astonish.
ment at being apparently SO near the
Great Keeper of the happy hunting
ground. After some little time spent in
wonderment, the Indian was solemnly
commanded by the Great Spirit tc
"give up the stolen horses!" Dropping
the cup as if he had been shot, the
Indian Immediately confessed to having
stolen the horses, and tremblingly prom.
icaJ &c hic II 20 1ua opara6 RI roc tora I n 4