The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1883-08-31

10 .~s..... 400. '~..vu..ss.. ..v os4v.s
likely to arise from similarity In color. The
Andrew jackson. The distribution to
postmasters of the 2 cents begins Sept. i,
and Ii Is believed everything will be In
readiness for the change In letter postage
Oct. !.
A vacancy having occurred among the
lady clerks of the national bank redemption
agency at Washington, the local civil-ser-
vice examiners were requested to furnish a
list of those eligible to the place. The
names of the four who stood highest In the
recent examination were submitted to the
acting secretary of the treasury, who Sc
lected Miss Minnie 1. Hoyt Of Connecticut,
a graduate of Vassar college, whose aver
age at the examination was $500. She for
merly received 81, 200 per annum in the CEN
sus office, but only requested to be exam
ined for $500 position.
TRADEMARKS.
The Commissioner of Patents has render
ed decision on the subject of trademarks.
He holds that word merely descriptive of
an article Of trade, of It's quality, ingre-
dients or characteristics cannot become q
lawful trademark by virtue of change in
its photography to that of q foreign language
in which it possesses the same meaning.
1t is the duty of the Commissioner of Pa
marks which, under the decisions of the
courts, are clearly not valid. The office
has no right, by accepting and registering
words or symbols which are clearly not
valid trademarks, to mislead applicants Of
the public.
AMERICAN PUBLIC DOMAIN.
Some guesses have been made regarding
the amount of public lands disposed of last
year, but they have only been guesses.
Their worthlessness may be seen from the
fact that the last of the. reports were only
entered up Monday, and the land Office has
not yet got any farther than the tabulation
of the statistics by offices. Herewith how
ever, Is presented an unofficial summary
of the returns. When the figures come to
be proved some small changes may be
made but as these summaries are made up
from the complete returns of all land Off
ces there can not be much room for correc-
ton. Exclusive of Indian lands the amount
of public domain disposed of last year was
49, O35, 6S3 acres, against less than Ia, OOO, 600
the previous year, and little over 10, 000,-
posed of last year exceeds the aggregate for
the four years 1856. OF the amount dis
posed of last year 8, III, 794 acres were taken
under the homestead act, against 6,345, 045
the previous year, and ., l01, 333 acres were
taken under the timber culture act, against
2, 566, CSC acres in 1881. The rest was dis
posed of by cash sales, public auction, pre-
emption entry, under desert land act, min
eral land act, etc. AS compared with the
previous year there is an increase of lands
ulSpOocu VI III hIlLOld. athdlStS, tulllOI-
mia, Dakota, Florida, Idaho, Kansas Min
neasota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska.
Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Wash
ingtOn Territory, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
Until this past year Kansas had been de-
Ginning. In Nebraska the area disposed of
was few acres larger than in 1880, and
much in excess of the amounts disposed of
In the two intermediate years. In Dakota
for three years the area disposed of has al
most doubled annually. California shows
very large increase for the year, and Wis
consin shows gain of ninety-eight thous-
and acres. While there Is a decrease in
several southern states there Is a very large
increase In Mississippi. In Montana there
Is gain of two and one half fold, in Ar-
zonia the same, and in Wyoming three-fOld.
In Colorado the area increased rapidly for
some years, but the past year shows fall
ing off of 10000 acres compared with pre-
viOus years. Idaho shows gain of $500
acres. New Mexico shows n gain of more
than 100 per cent. The following table
shows the amount of public land disposed
of last year in several of the states and ter
ritOrieS