The bee., 1883-04-07
TIMELY TOPICS.

TIMELY TOPICS.
The Chinsse-Americ1n, the new
Chinese paper, puts the number Of
Chinese in New York at 5000. Two
years ago, when the census was taken,
the number was 900. and the increase
is now more rapid than it has ever
been before. Several hundred of these
New York Cinnamon are members of
churches, principally of the Baptist
order. A large number have married
Irish or German women, and quite a
number have become naturalized
citizens.
Postmaster-Ge General Howe has under
consideration plan for the issuing of
an entirely new system of stamps of
different colors from those now in
use. Assistant Postmaster General
Hatton has the matter in charge
and viii report at an early date upon
the new d signs which have been sub
mitted for his approval. The new
series will probably be issued before
October ], when the reduction in the
rate of postage goes into eff 9ct accord
ing to the laws passed at the last ses-
sion Of Congress.
Ephriam Scroggs, of Fallstown,
Tenn, boasts that he has now burning
on his hearth the same fire which he
startl when he went to hou sekeeping
fifty years ago. From the day that
fire was started to this it has never
been permitted to gn cut. Summer
and winter Of these fifty years it has
been replenished as occasion requires.
From roaring heap it has dropped
| many time to a bed of smolderIng
Goals, but it has never been permitted
to turn ilt) ashes The tax on
matches ha never troubled Scroggs.
Terrible stories are told by CORE
spondent of the San Francisco Chron,i-
Gle Of the spread of leprosy in the
Hawaiian Islands. There is almost a
panic on these islands, and so malig-
nant is the disease that a healthy per-
son Will contract it from clothes
washed by person afflicted. There is
no cure for leprosy. 1t is a living
death tortured by innumerable sores.
The Chronicls goes the length of hint
ing that the d sease may even be car
riad in sugar packages, and calls for
interference on the part Of the Unitel
States authorit es.
The coffee blight seems to be ira
versing the globe. 1t has spread from
Ceylon and the Fl j islands to Brazil,
where the lGss is already so serious
that the minister of agriculture is
making every effort to discover
means Cf stopping it. The product of
one of the lTgest plantations, which
IN the past has regularly be n more
than 200 tons annually, has fallen TO
an Insignificant amount. One theory
attributes the blight to minute para
sites at the root Of the plant; another
to exhaustion of the soil through
neglect.
something concerning the nature OF
the safeguards thrown aroun1 children
who are employed in the industries of
France may be gathered from notices
printed in LeJourna1 0ffciel. They
may not be employed in any face
where large quantities of dust or in
furious vapor are produced. nor on any
work on the roofs of houses or where
there would he risk of injury from
falls. Boys IN Ter sixteen years Of age
and girls unler eighteen are not al
lowed to be employed in rag-picking
and sorting, except in well-ventilated
apartments. There are restrictions
as to the weight Of leads that children
may wheel in trucks through streets or
factory yards.
Taking a range of comparison as
long us fourteen years, or from 1868 TO
1S82, the progress in industrial arts
made by the Indians makes very fair
showing In 1868 th re were but 54,207
acres of lanl cultivated by the nations
wards, and in 1852 there w re 569,9S2
acr s, OF an increase o. ab ut 906 per
cent. In the quantiti S of wheat, corn,
oats, barley, vegetables and hay laised
there is liBtw e a corresponding in
crease. The number of horses and
mules owned has in reased from 49,
$50 to 244, ,629, and of cattle from 42,-
S74 to 549,932. But the greatest in
crease has beeD in sheep, of which in
1868 there were but 1857, against |
1,.04, 30 in 1852.
Near Macon, Mis-, is a remarkable |
pigeon roost. 1t embraces an area of |
forty acres, in vaAey surrounded by |
pre- ipitous hills. 4 creek spreads |
over It, covering most of the surface
with water from one to five feet deep. |
There is all over it thick growth of |
cane, vines, bushes and sapiings, which, |
with the quicksands, muck and water,
constitute it an ABSOLUTELY impenetra-
ble moraSs. 1t is wonderful instinct |
that prompted the lirds to select this,
the most secure and safest of all plae5s S /
in the whole region, for their lodging
house. Between sunset and dark |
pigeons come in from all quarters in i
immense numbers, darkening the
heavens and producing a roaring noise
that can be heard two or three miles. |
Comptroller Knox says that the pass
age of the act to redu e internal reve-
nue. taxation relieves the national and |
state banks and the private bankers |