Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-02-13
The Glacial Period.


The entire country within the last few
days has been suffering from the effects of
remarkable storm, which has brought
discomfort and disturbed business to the
rich and misery and suffering to the poor.
Following long season of cold came
several heavy falls of snow, and then
mixture of snow and rain and hail and
sleet, the result of which has been the en-
crustatiOn of all things tangible out of
doors with fringes and armOrs of ice. The
air above has been fall with heavy
moisture, while near the surface of the
earth the temperature has been
lower, and cold enough to freeze
The phenomenon, if it may be so
called, has not been so marked
in Chicago as in the country around us,
and localities east Of us appear to have
suffered a great deal more from the ice,
while those west of us have suffered more
from snow. Here in the city the pave
ments have been coated with ice, and
hard crust has formed on the surface of
the snow, but in Cleveland and Buffalo it
is said that everything bears an armOr of
ice, that the telegraph wires have caught
the moisture until they have become as
large as a mans arm, and that feeble
roofs are falling under the immense weight
the clouds and frosts have furnished. In
the West the snow has drifted and frozen,
lidhill- Sth tllAlOSl iii pttoodbIG DdIIltl
Travel has been disarranged in all di-
rectiOns, and i'll many parts of the West
has been suspended altogether. the steam
snOW-plOWs not being able to force pas
sage through the frozen snow. The tele-
graph wires have gone down under the
immense weight of ice clinging to them,
and the companies have been compelled
to decline business to an extent that has
not been known for years before. Never
in fhp of that -p11OfnI OraRln
the oldest inhabitant, has there been
such a general suspension of business
caused by the forces of Nature as
within the last few days. 1t is
often the case that for a few hours, or for
a day at most, the markets are affected
ana transportation facilities interrupted,
but seldom, if ever, has so long blockade
been known. Communication by tele-
graph is cut off, the transportation of
freight is abandoned, the passenger trains
are irregular, some times ten hours late
and at other times twenty, the mails are,
Of course, equally uncertain, and a gen.
eral confusion at the centres of trade is
the result.
The condition of the atmosphere at this
writing and the observations of the
weather service promise another cold
snap like that of two weeks ago. For
several days up in that corner Ofthe world
where cold waves are supposed to have
their origin and acquire the impetus
which carries them over the continent,
the thermometer has been hanging around
thirty degrees below zero, and we
have had reason to expect it down
this way. The avant courier is
here, and the cold wave may be on
hand by the time the reader opens this
page. This Will make the snow and ice
blockade more difficult to raise, and the
longer it continues the more aggravated
the condition of affairs is likely to be.
The coal dealers and plumbers are the
only ones who can find any comfort in it,
for Othel branches of business will suffer,
and the effect to railroads and to the
ranchmen on the plains will be serious.
IF Dom Pedro were to die, there might
be anarchy in Brazil" writes an Ameri-
can civil engineer and statistician, who
has lived there. ''The EmperOrs heir. a
daughter, is complete devotee, crawling
on her knees, and knowing nothing of the
State, while the Imperial powers are even
now insignificant, and the population of
Brazil is grossly over estimated, probably
not being 5000, 900 of all kinds, and of in
formation about the country there is next
to none. Rio has not over 100000 people,
though put down at twice as much. There
is no free trade nor yet manufactures, the
land proprietOrs throwing upon the for
eign trade the expenses of the revenue,
and lumber is brought from North Ameri-
ca, Notwithstanding the timber jungles Of
| the Amazon valley, the inhabited parts of
Brazil being very shrubbily wooded. The
| two great peoples OF South America are
| the La Plata COnfederacies and the Chill
| ians, who will some day probably portion
South America between Them