Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1880-08-19
TIMELY TOPICS,


The rate OF increase in population of
seventy-two cities in the United States
during the decade Is 34.SO rer cent.
Denver shows the maximum rate-6I4
per cent. The gain in San Francisco is
nearly half rs much as that OF Brook
| lyn, and that OF New York is 6,9IO
more than the whole population OF San
Francisco. The following Ii table
showing absolute gains in population /:
New York, 234, ,269; Philadelphia, l87,-
07S; Brooklyn, l59, ,594; Chicago. l76.-
023; st. Louis. GA, 1856; Boston, IOl. .474 |;
Baltimore, 62,644; Cincinnati, 29,9l4;
San Francisco. n, SIT; Pittsburg, 81, ,939.
Total, l,l66,e5l.
The Electrician says that the life of n
submarine telegraph cable is from ten
TO twelve years. If cable breaks in
deep water after it is ten years old, 1t
cannot be lifted for repairs, as IL will
break of its own weight, and cable CON-
panies are compelled TO put aside 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 beperfect. The breakages of cables
are very costly, and it is very difficult
matter To repair them in compaison
with a land line. A ship has to be
chartered at $500 day for two or three
avoiding rough weather. One break in
the direct cable cost 100000.
IAN Heiress Sent to Prison is the
head line of paragraph in an English
journal, which tells how, mt Durham,
England, Alice Purvis Buddie, aged
nineteen years, pleaded guilty to obtain
ing three gold Albert chains by false
pretenses; how her counsel, in de-
fense, informed the court that the pris-
oner was well connected, and on COM
ing of age would be heiress 10 a consid-
erable amount OF property; how he
urged in mitigation of sentence that she
had been seized with sudden fit OF
kleptomania. and how the court could
not overlook the fact that the fraud had
been carried out, and Notwithstanding
the prisoners position, ordered her i'm
prisonment for three months with hard
labor.
The terrible explosion in South Wales,
by which Mt least lis lives were lost,
adds another to that long line of disas-
ters which the inventive genius of Davy
and Stephenson has been powerless to
avert. In horror this colliery accident
approaches nearly TO that of Lundhill,
where, in 1857, $50 miners perished, or
to the calamity at Hartley, when 202
men were buried alive by the destruc-
tion of the SHAFT. The responsibility in
this instance may never be known, but
there is a certain timeliness in the news
| that Nhn nKffiah nj a.1 r~nxE
people have come to terms in regard 10
the bill TO determine the degree of lia-
bility in the event of accidents. In ac-
cordance with this agreement a system
of insurance may be established by em-
ployers which will prove of mutual ad-
vantage 10 them and the laborers
Agricultural statistics show that
in the last fifteen years the production
of wheat and barley In the United States
has doubled; that of corn, cotton and
tobacco more than doubled; potatoes
nearly doubled; hay increased more
than one-third and oats about li0, ,0O0.-
600 bushels. The vast increase In
cereals Is mainly due 10 the rapid devel-
opment of the Western and Eorthwes-
tern States. During the present gener-
alton the corn-center has been transfer
red from the South to the West. and
the wheat-center from the Middle States
TO the far West. From 1870 TO 1878 the
production of tobacco increased 100. COO
600 pounds, mainly in the South; while
Texas and Arkansas have been the CHIEF
contributors to the increase of two and
n quarter million pounds of cotton in
the same time. In the former l57 ,OOO,-
600 were raised in 1870. and SOC, 600. .OOC
in 1878; in the latter IL. .0O0, 900 pounds
in 20, and BIS, 900, 900 in rs.
A fruit-picker Is the lates. invention.
II Is simply a ring or collar of sheet
metal tour or five inches high and the
same in diameter, with the upper por-
tion formed into half dozen points
like a crown, each point being covered
with an india rubber disk or shield 10 pre-.
vent the fruit from injury by contact
A socket In the side receives n light
pole of any required length, and from
the bottom of the ring or crown extends
light hose of cotton drilling, or other
light material, TO convey the fruit down
to the hand of the operator, or into a
basket, wagon, or wherever desired.
Standing on the ground the operator
reaches for the fruit, the points Of the
CTOWu pacSlHk On edCu slue OF the stem,
and light upward shove easily de.
taches the fruit and It drops down
through the crown and hose. The
operator can hold the pole in one hand
and the hose in the other. or the hose
can be hooked to a small, movable
bracket placed on the pole for that pur-
pose, thus allowing Of handling the pole
with both hands. or an assistant car
manage the hose.
Ever since the mutiny of 1857 the peo-
pie of British India have been disarmed
though generally In villages bordering
upon n forest one or two inhabitants are
licensed to carry n matchbox, which
although useful In driving off hogs, Is oI
small value in tiger Staying. This,
therefore, becomes especially the bust.
ness Of the magistrate of the district.
Consequently, when tiger appears in
the neighborhood, one or two officials
pitch their camp In his neighborhood,