New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-02-23

trees, 10 Jhe same Volcanic SfCie 40 80, Hhcn
Herculaneum was engulfed; to the same Earth
quake Cycle as 1755, when Lisbon was largely
swallowed up and 10 the same Storm Cycle as
] 65s, when Oliver Cromwell died in the midst
OF one of the greatest storms ever known. The
periodicity of natural phenomena adds he, de
termines the influence which causes same' II
these things be true-and doubtless II
looks sd about now to good many
Democratic ofiice-holders-this is o pretty
good tirne to take to the woods. But
as there is O bare possibility that the prophet
doesn't know, or knowing lies about it, we advise
our readers not to get scared just yet. Things
may look brighter after March 4.
According to I" The World,o Governor Hil's
two watchwords are agitAte' and educate"
Yes the Governor is anxious 10 have his Presi-
Dental boom kept in constant state Of agi-
tation, and to have the Democracy educated TO
believe that all rival party hooms Of the sort are
counterfeit
Recent disputes in this country as to the accu-
racy Of the Governmental weather predictions sug-
gest comparison with the services of other
countries. In Great Britain the work of the
Meteorological Office appears TO be on the whole
successful During the last year, in every hum
dred forecasts, ffty-three have been exactly full
filed and thirty-one others have proved more than
half right so nearly right, ut any rate, as to be
of practical value. OF the remaining sixteen ten
were less than half right, and six were altogether
wrong OF the storm warnings issued, IS 1-2 per
cent were justified 26 per cent were partially
| right, and 1e 1-2 per cent were false alarms. OF
the hay harvest forecasts SO per cent entire
| ly successful and only per cent wholly wrong
| These results show high state Of efiicien cy In
| this service especially when il is remembered that
4 the difficulties Of the weather prophet are in some
| important respects far greater in Great Britain
! than they are here.
How the ice-men of New-York must envy their
brethren Of th3 city of Denver In that enter
prisng town ice is to be made by machine that
| weighs more than 100000 pounds cost $4,000
| and required thirteen TO transport it, 1t is
| easy TO imagine from this what ton of ice Will
| cost in Denver, and a reasonably safe guess may
be made at the weekly charge for such cakes OF
ice as are habituay distributed in the refrgerators
of the people Ice made with n machine costing
$4,000 will come high, but they must have it.
-
Some one suggests that the new decennial
edition Of Webster's Unabridged contain few
pages in the shape OF q Medical Dictionary
Doubtless such department would be useful,
but it would set bad precedent On the same
principle a legal supplement, and various scien-
tifo, mechanical and art supplements might he
demanded: and at last the dictionary would
become so big as TO be unwiedy. The better
plan would seem TO be 20 keep our dictionaries
proper for words IN general use. and publish
another dictionary containing all the principal
words used in the arts. sciences and professions.
That there is need of some such technical
dictionary. moderate in price, and adapted 70
electricity alone has coined great multitude of
words which ore occasionally used in the papers
but the meanings of which are unknown to many
readers
The President calmly says that his has been an
Administration without scandals. Haven't dis
lnfectants been needed in the Department OF JUS
tice ever since the telephone spectators obtained
control thereP And hasn't that sturdy Demo
crat, Mr. Randall, described the Department. with
a scornful gesture, the Sink Of Injustice?
No one had anything TO say against it is the
closing sentence OF dispatch concerning the
Ballot-Refo bill in the Rhode Island House of
Representatives. This betokens healthy state
Of political opinion in that State. Would that
the same could be said when the Saxton bill comes
up for action in our own Legislaturel Assuredly
no one ought TO have anything 20 say against
it, unless II be 70 point out any weaknesses that
may disclose themselves, and to strengthen and
fortify the measure as whole.
A large cold wave overspread the country yes
terday. reaching from the Rocky Mountains nearly
10 the Atlantic Coast In the Northwest. the
temperatures were quite as low, on the whole. as
anything yet recorded this winter; and skaters
and ice-haryesters in the East are likely TO have
some occasion for rejoicing before the new week
Is well begun. February is trying hard to offset
the January weather record and she is doing WELL
even II she does not fully balance the score.
Time appears 70 have brought little aid TO the
sufferers from the Yellow River floods in China,
and their plight is now pitiable in the extreme
More than million hitherto Industrious and pros
perous people are in the last state Of restitution,
and unless relief comes to them from outside, the
majority Of them will die of starvation before next
summer. The floods utterly destroyed what prom
ised TO be an uncommonly abundant harvest Of |
wheat, milet, sorghum and cotton, not even spar
ing enough for seed for the next seasons planting.
Two-thirds of the houses in the villages were swept
away. and the remainder badly damaged. The |
people are now living chiefly on the seeds and |
leaves OF wild grasses and weeds. They are in /
nrae M need both of present food and lodging and
OF seed and implements with which TO restore their
former independence and prosperity. With them |
all depends upon the products of the land, and |
they seem 20 have learned how TO secure from the
land the largest possible product In May or June |
they plant their rice. 1t is reaped in November, |
and Immediately the same field is planted with |
wheat In May that crop is harvested, and forth
with Is succee ded by rice and so the rotation is
kept up ceaselessly. SO a teeming population is |
maintained in comfort But a food or other |
catastrophe that ruins even single crop causes |
much distress, while one that, Ike the outburst
Of the Yellow River, destroys one harvest and with
IL the means of producing another, brings whole
sale famine and death 1t is in such deplorable |
nnakas nnncnl |