The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1885-02-06
Things in General.

Journalists have been excused from
serving on juries in India, the Judge,
in SO deciding, following the precedent
laid down by another Judge in Natal.
He went SO far as to say that all repor-
ters should be excused from serving on
a jury because, through their presence
at preliminary examinations and in
quiries, for the purpose of publishing
the same as news, they might be in pos
session of facts which might come out
in evidence, and probably they would
have preJudged the case.
Tho theatrical business, so all the pa.
pers declare, has been very disastrous.
This year companies have gone to peices
on all sides, and actors are walking
back to New York from every direction.
The theatres of the metropolis are do.
ing badly enough, but outside of the
city the business is even worse.
A deaf family in New Hampshire has
been traced back to the Fourteenth CEN
fury in England, and in all that time
has regularly shown a succession Of
deaf mutes. In Maine there is a family
in which there are nlnety-tive deaf mutes
all of which are connected by blood or
marriage.
The greatest depth so far discovered
in the ocean is 29,S50 feet, five miles,
or about Q 200 feet less then the height
of the worlds loftiest mountain peak,
Mount Everest, one of the Himalaya
chain, which is found to be not less,
and apparently a little more, than 20,
900 feet above the sea level.
Rosewood trees are found in South
America and in the East Indies and
neighboring islands. There are half q
dozen kinds. The name is not taken
from the color of the wood as is general
ly supposed, but by reason of q roselike
fragrance which it possesses when first
cut. Some of the trees grow SO large
that planks four feet broad and ten feet
in length can be cut from them. The
broad planks are principally used to
make tops for pianofortes. The rose
wood tree is remarkable for its beauty.
Such is its value IN manufactures as an
ornamental wood hat some of the
forests where it once grew abundantly
have now scarcely a single specimen.
New plantations have been set out, so
that the supply will not be exhausted.
Birthdays in Germany are never neg
lected. From the first one, when the
infant receives the present. from the
god-parents, instead OF at the time of
thebaptism, the thing goes on from year
to year, and people Of all ages and ranks
consider themselves sighted if aver an
acquaintance does not duly appear with
the usual congratulatory offering of
flowers, etc. The custom is really a tax
to many, for all members of a house,
hold consider themselves entitled to
valuable gifts on their birthdays. Even
servants expect to be substantially re-
membered, and, as on their entrance
into the establishment they are legally
obliged to render a full account of the
time and place of their birth. there is
no blending ignorance as an excuse for
neglecting to notice the day.
In a passage of his annual report TO
which the president has directed special
attention, Secretary McCulloch argues
that there is no prospect whatever
that the United States will ever share
to n considerable extent in the foreign
carrying trade without government aid"
Secretary Chandler agrees with the
secretary OF the treasury that the only
way to have great lines of ocean steam
ships, carrying IL flag to the most dis
tant lands, and saving to our people the
vast profits of the carrying trade" is
through direct encouragement given by
the government, either in the form Of
bounties upon construction or of pay
ment for carrying the mails. That
something is needed is admitted on
both sides, but there is little prospect
Of agreement as to specific remedies.
The tonnage of American vessels en-
tered from foreign countries at seaports
Of the United States was less during
the last fiscal year than it was twenty
years ago, while in that period the
amount of foreign tonnage SO entered
has increased eight-fold. Or to put
The figures in a different way, 71.56 per
cent. of the tonnage employed in the
foreign trade of the United States in
1856 was American, while but Is. A per
cent. was foreign In 1884 the proper
;lon was reversed, being %. "a Ameri-
can, and 76. &c per cent. foreign. Tho
d sparity between the amounts of mer-
chandise carried is even more striking.
In 1856, 1852 per cent. of our total i'm
ports and exports was carried in Ameri-
can vessels; in the last fiscal year they
carried but 17.5 per cent.
- @