Morning journal and courier., 1885-05-26
EDITORIAL NOTES.

The white color of Arctic animals has hith-
 erto been ascribed to protective resemblance, | the adaptation to snow-covered country l being attributed to the preservation of ir- l dividuals, which, by assimilating their sur roundings in color, either escaped detection | by their foes or were enabled to secure their prey more advantageously. A writer in
 Nature, however, scoffs at this explanation, and points out that white, the worst ab-
 sorber, is also the worst radiator of all forms
 of radiant energy, so that warm-blooded crea- lures thus clad better able to withstand
 the severity of an Arctic climate
 l A resident of Germantown, Pennsy 1vania,
 has discovered that the peppery little Eng fish sparrows cannot stand red pepper, and | his experience may be useful to some who are pestered by the unpleasant little birds. He was greatly annoyed by colony of spar
 rows that had taken up their quarters in
 mass of ivy covering side of his house. l One day he purchased half pound of red
 pepper and going up to the third story opened
 the windows and sifted the pepper down
 through the ivy. The alarm of the spar
 rows was evinced by the haste with which they left their hiding places. Every bird
 took it's departure and his premises are now ] clear of them.
 In 1866 the average for white labor in this
 country was $ss per month, without board, | and $1550 with board, this difference being caused by the high prices for food and other expenses of living An estimate of thirty years before made $9 per month, with board, | the average cost for farm labor. An advance of 70 per cent. was thus indicated, much the | larger part of it bel tween 1861 and 1866. In | 1869 the rate for labor paid fully in cash was l $25.13, reduction having occurred in the West, some decline in the East, while in the South an advance had resulted from increas- | ing efficiency in labor. In 1875 further de- l cline had occurred, the reduction in six
 years being from $320s to $29.96 in the I East, from $25.02 to $26.02 in the Middle States, and from $27.01 to $23.6 in the West.
 It will astonish and grieve the kind-heart- ed Englishmen who have done so much for India to find that that ungrateful country is
 infested by people who do not believe in free trade. But there are indications that they
 will have to be astonished and grisved Ao- cording to the Civil and Military Gazette, of Lahore, free trade is impoverishing the coun- | try and the only reasonable inference is that
 the native wealth is being poured into the
 coffers of England without return in any
 form of permanent value. The Gazette does
 not hesitate to add Were India an independ-
 ent and self-governing colony she certainly
 would have put to the test of experience the
 question whether she could produce from her
 own raw material the goods she now buys from England. But there is little hope that
 she will ever escape from the condition of
 having her commercial policy regulated in
 the interest of manufacturing England
 Not long ago the nobility of Russia cele-
 brated the centenary of their rights and priv l ileges as granted by Catherine II. They had l a great celebration, though their rights and privileges not what they were. In the
 days of serfdom the noble, though bound to 1 serve the State in some capacity, was free