Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-04-28

tinent query, how can the prohibition
question be sneered out of existence,
while the retail traffic for intoxicating
beverage costs the people Of this coun-
try a larger sum per annum than the
total expense of running the machine
ry of the government, national, state
and county. and including the general
and local debts and the entire outlay
for public schools and the cause of pop
ular education. In %veritication of this
seemingly incredible fact. the follow
ing figures are given: Allowing $40
glasses of beer to the barrel and five
cents a glass for each, a barrel retails
for about 1872. The consumption OF
ale and beer last year was 100000
barrels aggregating a cost to the con-
sumner of $:4S0,OOO,NO. At IN average
of sever cents a drink for distilled Ii
quors-which is not too high-the 90
100000 gallons consumed last year, es-
timating half a gill to- the drink, costs
the drinkers the enormous sum Of
$S313,O0O,00o. Adding to these the am
cunt OF wine consumed and, we have
the startling sum Of over $8OO,OOO,UO
expended for drinks in n year; while
the statistics from the official bureau
place the grand aggregate raised by
taxation including for the national
government down to the municipal and
school district did not exceed $7OQ,OO0,-
600.
A striking Il s of wheels within
wheels is furnished by the Central Pa
cific Railroad. More than half the
miles of road operated by 1t are leased,
and it is a well known fact that these
lines are all owned absolutely by the
same set Of men who manage and con-
troll the main line. The same parties
are lessor and lessee and the former
have every inducement 10 exact the
highest possible rents which it is also
to the interest of the lessee to pay SO
as to cheat the Government 10y dimin-
ishing their apparent profits. The re-
suit has been to increase the operating
expenses of the line from less than 10
per cent. in 1874 to nearly so per cent.
in 1882.
One of the laws passed at the last
session of the Legislature may be very
efficient in its action, but it strikes us
as being hardly American in the way
it begins operations-it being possible
for a minority to control the majority
Of the people in a county, and that, too,
in a case where there is no chance for
redress. The law provides: "That up
on petition of one=third of the legal
voters Of at1y county, the county COM
missioners, probate Judge and county
clerk form a commission to appoint
two new county commissioners and
erect two new districts to be numbered
four and five. In the counties of Min
nehaha, Yankton, Cass, BonHomme,
Pembina, Trail, and Walsh no petition
is necessary"
West Indians have a curious test for
telling whether "a person has negro
blood in his veins. 1t is called the
nose test. The negro has no division
in the gristle or cartilagenous portion
Of his nose, such as all of pure white
blood can feel at its tip with the end Of
the finger. This is the last thing to
yield to the white accession. Any ne
gro blood is marked with a nose the
gristle of which is undivided, and the
object of putting this paragraph in is
to prove that no person will read it
through without touching the finger to
the nose.
A Kentucky judge has declared his
determination not to exclude men from
the jury-box simply because they had
read in the newspapers an account of
the circumstances leading to the trial.
All he wants to know is whether or
not a man can, under his oath, go into
the jury-box and render a fair and inn
partial verdict. Probably after a while
a man will not be required to avow any
more Ignorance in order to be retained
on a jury, than he would in any other
matter requiring intelligent considera-
ton.
At the last session Of the Legislature
a new school law was enacted to take
the place of the old one. The changes
made are very marked, especially in
the organization of new districts; the
school year is made to close on the 3Oth
OF June of each year. The full text of
the law will be distributed as soon as
it a be printed. In the meantime
it would hardly be worth while to or
ganize under the old law.
They have an artesian well at Nit !
chell hundreds Of feet deep, that cost
large sums Of money, that throws wa
ter about IS feet above the top of the
ground and the people there think thev
have got a "bir thinrh Won +hn,