The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1880-08-11
TIMELY TOPICS.

The highest pei centage of municipal
growth shown by the census is that OF
Denver, Co.., which has increased dur
lug the last ten years, at the rate of $50
per cent. Minneapolis ranks second
with a rate of 400 per cent, and Oak
land, Cal. third with rate of z33 per
cent. St. Paul aid Camden, N. J share
tle fourth place with rate of lO7 per
cent. Grand Rapids, Mich, is credited
with SO per cent. St. Joseph, Mo-, with
81 per cent; Fall River, Mass, with 80
per cent; Omaha, Neb., with 10 per
cent, and Atlanta, Ca, with 70 per
cent.
An inspection has been made OF all
the factories in Chicago where men,
women and girls are employed, to re-
port their condition, and bring suit in
case they were found unhealthy. The
work is now about completed. The
inspectors found over $4,000 persons,
eighty per cent. of them men employed
in the Chicago factories; most of these
were found to he badly lighted, filed
with vitiated air through defective or
non-ventilation, and sadly lacking in
sewerage and closets. By pointing out
the fault in some cases, and threatening
suits in some others, a reform, radical
in extent, has been effected.
The correspondent OF the London
Guardian, referring to the enjoyment of
summer life in Paris among the WORKING
classes, says: The best and most dis
tinctive characteristic of all the popular
assemblages in France is still, one is
glad to say. the absence Of coarseness,
and, above all, of drunkenness. Thou.
sands and tens of thousands of people
poured out of Paris yesterday to Yer
sai!les, whittier Grandes Faux by day
and illumina,ions of the fountains by
night attracted them. But rudeness and
riot are unknown, and mainly because
sobriety is still the rule. Acre, on the
other hand, scarcely week passes with
out the record of some brutal row on an
excursion boat.
At the last sitting of the international,
congress of the societies for the protec-
ton of animals the following resolutions
with regard to vivisection were adopted:
That it Is desirable to have the employ
ment of vivisection regulated by law;
that the rights of science should be re-
spected, while abuses should be pne-
vented; that vivisection be allowed
only for purposes for which dead ami
mails cannot be used; that an@sthesis be
obligatory in all cases where it is posi-
BILE; that the animal, after having
served for the experiments, be killed
Immediately; and that it be forbidden
to repeat experiments, of which the re-
suit is definitely acquired, for the pur-
poses of science.
A letter from Shanghai narrates an
incident of Chinese fatalism. A man
fell overboard from boat and was car
ried away by the current and drowned,
but neither his three companions nor
the occupants of numerous other boats
n the vicinity made the least effort to
save him. His comrades screamed and
tore their hair, as if in great distress,
and when asked why they made no ex-
ertions to rescue their companion re-
piled that q man who saved another
from drowning was responsible for his
debts! Also that the drowned man
could not have been saved by any posi-
bility, as he must have offended
Typhoon Joss (the god of water), and,
as natural consequence, when Joss
says man must drown that is the end
OF it.
The Electrician says that the life Of
submarine telegraph cable is from ten
to twelve years. If cable breaks in
deep water after it is ten years old, it
cannot be lifted for repairs, as it will
break of its own weight, and cable COM
panies are compelled to put aside a large
reserve fund in order that they may be
prepared to replace their cables every
ten years. The action of the sea eats
the iron away completely. and it crum-
bles to dust, while the core of the cable
may be perfect. The breakages Of cables
are very costly, and it is a very difficult
matter to repair them in comparison
with q land line. A ship has to be char
tered at $500 q day for two or three
weeks in fixing the locality and in avoid
ing rough weather, as cables can only be
repaired in calm weather. One break in
the direct cable cost 100000.
A Chicago man, who claims to be a
diamond expert, gives to the Tribune
of that city the following information,
which owners of gems may be inter-
ested in: There are great many So
called solitaires sold as single stones
which, when put under the blow.pipe,
will come apart in single pieces, put to-
gether for the American market. There
IS not one diamond in ten sold in our
market but is the refuse of the London
market. They are sold at a fictitious
value, so that not halt the selling price
can be got when put on the market.
Nearly all are off-color,. speckled or
feathered. Very few "'old mine dia-
monds rare on the market. Those are
the real valuable stones that are mark
etable all over the world. People that
are investing in these jewels will be sur
prised, / expect, at these statements
and yet they are true.
The Hannibal (Mo.) Herald has an
elaborate article on the losses by the
break in the levee ON the illinois
tide of the Mississippi river. After
stating that the levee is itty-two miles
song, extending from point nine miles
south of Quincy to Hamburg bay, nine
miles south of Charlesville, and that it
redeems lOl, ,2s9 acres of land, it makes
an estimate of losses by multiplying the
number of acres in wheat and corn.
which were overaowed, by the average
yield per acre. which, at present prices,
would show q loss of wheat OF 5000, 900,
and about the same amount on corn.
Other losses, as to fences, lbarns, dwell
ings, farming utensils, ETC., will reach
fully SlOO,O 900, making the total loss half
a million dollars. Not more than one
third of either the wheat or corn crop
is lost. The overflow from the break
was nearly seventy hours travelling
twenty-four miles, which gave many
farmers time to save much OF their
property outside the growing crops.
Several correspondents have asked
the New York Graphic to state what is
the law governing promotions in the
United States army, and whether, in
case of General Hancock resigning, the
vacancy would be filled by seniority or
selection. The Graphic replies that
"there is no law nor custom governing
promotions to tie higher grades Of the
army. 1t is n matter Of selection on the
part of the President or through a
special act of Congress. General Crook,
for instance, was made brigadier-geu-
eral by Executive selection from the
rank of lieutenant-colonel, being pro-
NOTED over all the colonels in the army.
General Sheridan was promoted so
rapidly over senior officers that in u few
months from captain to a major-gen-
pral Officers. esDeciaily in times of