Morning journal and courier., 1884-11-01
NEW HAVIEN,1 CONN. SATURDAY. MORNING. NC


 births are very unevenly distributed. Tn proportion to the population is highest il Venice and some of the wealthier towns o Lom bardy; it is very low in the Abruzzi ana the poorest districts. It's cause is therefor, probably to be sought in temporary rise O the standard of comfort among the bour geoisie, which makes the people, with theil multiplying wants and luxuries, afraid of tht responsibilities of marriage, more than tc any decay ofsthe national morality.
 Certain. ingenious Frenchmen are experi. menting with an apparatus for utilizing solar heat and using it in lieu of coal To effect this the suns rays are concentrated by re- Hector, which so moves as to keep the rays focused on vertical boiler, which is thus heated, producing steam enough to run a press. In recent experiment. the sun-made steam sdrove large press which struck of several thousand copies of a specimen news paper. Parties interested in thus obtaining the cheapest attainable heat profess them selves as well satisfied with the first test, and are in high hopes of soon being able to gen. crate steam without coal or any other mum dane fuel
 Fears are expressed by the Illinois State entomologist, Professor s. A. Forbes. in an elaborate report which he has just issued up on the fall army worm, that this pest will soon renew its ravages upon wheat at period too late to allow of replanting. It appears that it is only lately that winter wheat has been attacked by this insect, and though the hundreds of acres destroyed have been re- sown the impending assaults from new brood of the caterpillars threaten to be muck more serious. Professor Forbes traces the first damage done by the worm to it's appear ance in Georgia in 1845. It did not appear as an injurious insect in Illinois till 1868 and 1870, and then it's ravages were much more limited than they have been during the pres ent year.
 The Scott law decision will make good deal of trouble in Ohio. Under the law there was last year collected from the saloons some thing like S4, ,00O, ,OOO, which went mostly to counties and cities and was applied in paying pauper and police expenses. Aided by this the municipalities paid their debts, and this year the rate of taxation was greatly reduced Now the extraordinary income is stopped, and it seems that some saloon taxes already paid will have to be refunded. Comparative ly few of the beer sellers had paid for this year, but it remains to be seen whether all they paid last season cannot be recovered. And even if it cannot be the local govern ments have altogether-with the failure of this years tax and the reduced ordinary as- sessments-a deficit of about $5, ,000, 900 star ing them in the face, and that after the years levy is made so that there is only bor- rowing left.
 > The official returns of England's railroad traffic during the past half year show how largely indebted are the several companies in all parts Of the kingdom for their revenue and dividendsto to third-elass passengers, who form by far the largest portion of the travel ing public. The returns for the six months ending on the Both of June last show that during that period there were 15,234, ,1s7 first class passengers, 24, ,O17 ;o40 second class passengers, while the number of those tray cling third class amounted to 235, ,234 ,525, or more than 600 per cent in excess of first and second class passengers combined. The re- ceipts during the same period were For first class passengers, a, ,609, ,666; second class, e1 ,33T ,O35, and for tffifd class, 126, ,497, the latter thus producing upward of 140 per cent. more than the aggregate receipts from first and second class passengers. These re- suits apply in more less proportion to the whole of the lines at present open for traffic.
 A tax is proposed on bachelors in the next French budget. The preamble reads, 'sCon- sidering the growing decrease in the popu- lation in France, it has become necessary to impose tax on all single persons over = years of age of the male sex" Some of the causes of this decrease are that no French man under twenty-five can marry without the consent of his parents. This consent is invariably withheld if the girl is portion1ess. On the other hand, if the girl be well pro vided for, her kinfolk will not only not let her marry unless the mans marriage portion be in proportion to hers, but they will eff fectually prevent all possibility of her mak ing the acquaintance of poor man. In France an invitation to a private dinner ball is generally preceded by an inquiry into the financial position of the recipient of such an invitation, which, for thoroughness, will beat anything and everything detectives in London or Paris could accomplish
 At the Boston Methodist ministers meet ing the other day Rev. Dr. Mark Traitor, re- plying to Rev. Mr. Hamilton on the pre-emi- hence of the prohibitory issue, reminded his hearers that he was "the grandfather of the Maine law" and having been an original prehibitionist his faithfulness to the cause could hardly be questioned at this day. He said that MT. Hamilton's parallel between the free. soil and prohibition parties was falla- cious one. There was no parallel. At the time of the rise of the free soil party both the main parties were thoroughly pro slavery. Some young minister questioned this and Dr. Traitor replied: ftYou2 Why, you were not born then. What did you know about it? like the idea of young men who were noth- ing at that time but undeveloped protoplasms telling me what happened!" He said there was no hope against slavery in either the Democratic or Whig party and hence the ne- cessity of the new free soil party. But to- day the hope for prohibitory legislation comes wholly from the Republican party. This is the truth, and those prohibitionists who are going to help the Democratic party by voting for St. John are about as foolish as they can be.
 TALES.
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