The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1880-02-20
GOSSIP OF THE DAY.

GOSSIP OF THE DAY.
railroad companies arr liable for the full pfics
of hlooded catt Killed ~ them The lower
courts have heretofore hell that only the prie,
OF common catts can b recovered
THE project Of pohcc of Paris commands an
umy of nearly $1,000 men and disposes OF ar
annual budget Of 2o,o0O,ooo francs. He Is as-
sisted by tlo chief q Ia municipal olice and q
force Of nearly 5000, including IS peace officers
IS inspec ors, loo brissdiers, 100 sub-brigadiers
aud 1000 olicemen, and to them must he ad.
ded IN Unknown number If detectives The
bulge; Of the municipal police amounts TO IL.
OVO,OOo francs; that Of the central admmistra.
ton TO l, 5OO,Oco francs, and that Of the Paris
conlnissariat 10 i,S0O, 900 francs.
PROMINENT banking firm IN Philadelphia,
with al extensive railroad connection, states,
upon careful estimates, that no less than 1900
miles Of railroad are under contract 10 be built
in the United States in 1850. This il l,G0O
miles more than IN 1871, the most active year IL,
the history Of railroad building in this country
This construction, estimated at an average Of
$4,000 per mule, would represent an outlay OF
SisO.OO0,oO0. This viii prove . most important
factor in the stimulus at preseut being given ~
trate at large. II viii act as an expanding ele-
nent upon trade and prices generally.
Ink German minister at Washington has n
GENTLY inquired, on behalf Of his government,
for exact information as TO the process by which
the 81 nal service bureau So promptly collects at
the war department the meteorological reports
from all parts of the United States-an extent
of territory greater than Europe-and so rapidly
drafts and publishes them upon the printed
daily weather map. This is o high compliment
20 Old Probabilities and his stan. II is under
stood that Germany proposes 10 take 8 step
forward in meteorological observation; and all
the assistance at the command Of the war de-
paTtment has been cheerfully given.
Tux number Of assertions nom the British
army during the year Just ended, although larse
Ia comparison With any other European army,
shows very large dInnnution rs compared with
1873. Daring 1879 the total number Of deser-
tons Is stated 10 have been $50. During 1878,
when q war was Apprehended with Russia, the
total number Of dcsertions advertised was 8, $50.
In the gigantic armies of France and Germany
500 deeertlons IN the year Is an outside figure.
Il Is not considered creditable that, in an army
enlisted by voluntary enrolment, the number Of
desertiOEs should exceed So vastly the number
If cOnscnpts who shake OF the rksome yoke Of
military service.
ACCORDING 10 the Montana Herald compara-
lively few budalocs have ranged the past sum-
mer north OF the international boundary. Forts
Walsh aud Macleod have for some years past
been important centers for the collection OF buf-
falo robes, the market value OF which 70 the In
dian hunter may BE- estimated at - each. In
1877 some $4,000 robes were gathered at Fort
McleOd aud large number at Fort Walsh. In
1875 tie number was IL, 1871 at the former and
To- s7 At the latter place, while this year only
), 76i have come in at Fort Mcleod and s,277 at
Fort Walsh. This steady decrease in the num-
her Of buffalo slain by the Indians and half
breeds Of the Northwest affords a ready expla-
nation u the suffering among them.
THE courts have Just rendered decision Of
,aeat Importance 10 all who Use water power. II
seems that two mills were built Oh the same
stream the lower one being paper mill. The
upper one only worked in the day time, during
which II sent down the water to the lower one,
but at night the upper one, in seasons Of
drought, stored al the water Of the stream in
dams or ponds 10 serve its purposes through
the next day. Thus the paper mill got no water
al night, and complained that its business could
only be carried on probably by running day and
night. The decision was that proprietors on the
AIDE Of streams, had right to use the water to
any extent they choose, and, IL the lower mill
suffered by the upper one exercising it, right,
there was 10 redress for il.
Ink last se'nsauon u the report that the New
York society for the prevention Of vice has
through the employment of detectives got the
names of many Of the men in the metropolis
who frequent dsreputable places. This vast
collection Of scsndalous information constitutes
a part Of the sOciety's archives. Prominent
members VI the association have threatened 10
use the information publicly, but 50 far they
have not had the heart TO do it. They have,
however, employed their knowledge in closing
mp certain notorious resorts and in frightening
certain respectable citizens back 10 decency.
The society's records will never, II is said, be
made available for divorce suits: but the ex-
celent gentlemen who have gathered such
dangerous magazine cannot tell 10 what U.s. the
weapon may be put.
TIE statement that the late writer, Irwin Rus
sell, died in poverty and among strangers" is
contradicte1 by the Southern ReueiLk That
journal describes him a. a proud, sensitive and
kindly man. who, when giving way, ike Poe, to
his unconquerable appetite for stimulant,
Stunned his friends and avoided the public
thoroughfares where they would be apt to meet
him He was too proud to let his Necessities be
known-he was too much mortified to show
himself during his irregularities to those who
could have helped him. The Reueih adds:
1" His parents have expended Thousands Of dol
lars in enabling him to travel and in giving him
repeated starts in life, and in New York or New
Orleans the doors Of the press were opened to
him. He could get employment when he asked
for il, and all around him he Ind legions Of
friends who would have helped him--haye often
helped him."
Oh. WILLARD PARKER, an eminent physician
and surgeon OF New York, regards our present
system of caring for the insane as radically
wrong. The institutions are too large. Too
much care aud responsibility are placed upon
one man. II is physical hnpossibthty for him
70 consult the peculiarities Of each OF several
hundred patients whose cases differ entirely
from one another. Each case should BE- dis
nnctly studied. He has, besides, TO superintend
and manage the institutitution and the grounds,
10 be farmer, treasurer, etc. "As well expect
the captain Of one Of our large steamers 10 act
also as stoker and cook" The buildings are too
magnificent. They should be- inexpensive, 70
that when the wards become saturated with dis
Ease they may be destroyed and others erected.
Some occupation should be provided adapted to
the patients conditions. Dir. Parker maintains
that insanity is not diminishing in this country,
~ under proper treatment it ought to be.
CAREFUL observations near Edinburgh, made
during the years 1878 and 1879, indicate the TEN
pcrature has marked effect upon the growth Of
trees. The daily records Of temperature made
At the Edinburgh station of the Scottish Mete-
geological society show that the summer Of 1879
vas considerably colder in that part Of Scotland
than the summer Of 1873, the mean difference
beinS about ten degrees. During those two
wears Sir Robert Christison carefully meaaured
che girths Of a large number Of wcll-known
trees in Edinburg and its neighborhood. The
measurements we're all made by himself per-
sonally with the same measuring line, and the
circumference 10 BE- measured were secured by
marking them AT the time OF first measuieIhera
With paint. The results were that OF II secid-
uors trees, exclusive Of oakr, which we're mea-
nued by him, it was found that the growth was
II per cent. less in the latter year than in the
former; of 10 evergTeens OF the pine tree, the