Morning journal and courier., 1885-02-05
ING. FEBRUARY 5, 1885.
EDITORIAL NOTES.

There is trouble in the office of the New
Bedford Standard. The editor attempted to
say that the Friends are noted for the sim
plicity of their garb and diction, but the in
telligent compositor end the argus eyed
| proofreader made it ''grub and doctrine
An examination of 3, 726 prescriptions in a
Boston drug store showed that 5O4 drugs
were called for by the doctors. Quinine took
the lead by appearing in 292 prescriptions,
morphine appeared in 172, bromide of potas-
| sium in III, iodide of potassium in 155 and
| muriate of iron in 1874
The Hartford Courant wants the New Ha-
ven Savings bank to punish the depositors
who got frightened recently by refusing to
| receive their money if they want to put it
| back into the care of the bank, and the Hart
ford Telegram doesn't want the bank to do
anything Of the kind. 1t is quite probable
that the gentlemen who control the affairs of
the bank will know what to do about the
matter and that they will do what will best
| LAY the bank.
In the reports from convict prisons in En-
gland which have just been issued there is
confirmation of the fact, stated by all releas-
ed convicts, that hunger is the worst evil suf-
fered by the inmates. The 1862 prisoners
released from Portland during the year ended
last March had lost during their incarceration
between them 1,S70 pounds, giving an aver
age of more than 5 pounds. 1t is true that
out of the whole number 102 had put On
hesh but only to the extent of 1.3 pounds
per man, while the 260 who had diminished
in size had lost on an average ~ pounds.
The statement has been made by Professor
Tyndall, before the Royal Institution, that
the purest water he able to find was
obtained by melting block of pure ice; but
that even this required extreme caution to
insure success. The water of the chalk dis
tricts of England he pronounces remarkably
pure, and but for its hardness, or the amount
of carbonate of lime held in solution, would
be unexcelled. In some places, the water
is subjected to a special preparation that
causes deposit of the lime, namely, by add
ing clear prepared lime water to the chalk
water, thus causing precipitate of carbon
ate of lime to the bottom of the reservoir;
this reduces the salt percentage from II to
3, leaving water of extraordinary beauty
and purity.
The decision bearing upon the rights of
colored psople in public conveyances which
has just been rendered by the United States
District court at Baltimore is an important
one. Last August party of negroes bought
frst-class tickets on Chesapeake Bay steam
er, but, when they went aboard, were refused
admission to the after cabin, in which there
were number of white persons The Off
GERS of the boat told them that the forward
cabin equally pleasant, but they claimed
that it was dirty and refused to use it. They
then brought suits against the steamers
owners, and the court allowed them 500
damages apiece, the evidence showing clearly
that the accommodations were not as good in
the one cabin as in the other. The judge de-
clares that frst-class colored passenger lnust
have good treatment as a frst-class white
passenger, and unless the separate quarters
furnished him are as good as those furnished
the white man, no separation can be allowed.
Colonel Carroll D. Wright, the new nation
al commissioner of labor statistics, is in
his new bureau. The appropriation for the
work of the bureau for the present fiscal
year is twenty thousand dollars, and Mr..
Wright says it will be necessary to spend
half Of that in equipping and organizing the
Office Thereafter, he thinks, fifty thousand
dollars year will be necessary. He expects
to employ competent agent in each State to
collect material, under his direction. If
Congress will make the appropriations neces-
sary to carry on the work of the bureau eff
GENTLY he will remain; otherwise he will
returns to Massachusetts,. It is said
that he is assured on high Demo-
cratic authority that the incoming admins
tration will not interfere with his tenure of
Office. Colonel Wright thinks he can see a
great revival of trade in all directions, and
believes that three months hence the percent
age of unemployed men will be much
smaller than at present.
Property owners in Pittsburg are naturally
somewhat disturbed by the recent gas explo-
sions there. A test suit concerning the use
of the fuel has just been decided by the
State Supreme court at Philadelphia. The
L GILL luol gas ColAPdIiy c1diIleu tIie eACluSlfe
right to distribute the natural gas, and
lower courtesustained their position; but now
the higher tribunal destroys the monopoly
and let's other competing Pittsburg companies
in on equal footing and with the same priv
ileges. 'FThe result of the decision" says
gas engineer of that city, ''is that anybody
can blow us up now unless greater care is
taken" Meantime the Penn fuel company
are taking late precautions for the protection
of the public. They have voted to run their
high pressure pipes along the river, and to
use the present lines through the thickly set
tied portions of the city for low pressure.
For the present, alongside the main pipe
second 21ss-inch pipe is being laid to catch all
gas escaping from leaking joints. Around
these pipes coke is laid and rammed, SO that
when gas is escaping it will travel through
the porous coke or the pipe, until it
reaches an opening made for the purpose of
receiving it. At all such openings, which
will be about every 200 yards, street lamp
will be erected, up which tube will run.
This will allow the exhaust of all gas accu-
mulating in the opening below. Thus the
company hope to avoid further leakage of
their product into sewers and cellars and pre-