Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1891-11-19
NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Union and Washington ut Seattle, hnve @
completed the maps and estimates; ny nc
scheme, if carried out, will make Seat,le
one of the finest harbors in the worlo' nao
The improvement would cost W 3'ooo'ooo'
The Astor family have million SLIT nh
ling invested in English securities. me ne
founder of the family left an inlunolion
in his will that the family should always
continue the investments in the Ehgiish
funds and in English securities tna' ne
had himself commenced. The sons ana
grandsons have always respected this
command.
A FOURTEEN per cent. tax on prohts is
new discourager of enterprise IN Italy.
The boast of having two OF the most
powerful ironclads in the world is scarcely
worth what it costs the Italians-terrible
poverty among the poor and struggle
for life even among the middle classes,
owing to oppressive taxes.
The Fourth International Railroad
Congress, which had originally been set
down for September of this year, will, it
is now announced, be held in June, 1892,
at St. Petersburg. The first congress
was held at Brussels in 1885; the second
at Milan in 1887, and the third at Paris
in 1889. Vienna has already been
chosen as the place for the fifth congress,
to be held in either 1894 or 1895.
" is said that the German public is
heartily disgusted with the outcome SO
far of the expensive colonization schemes
that the Government has been operating
in Africa. People say that colonization
costs too much in blood and treasure and
yields too little in return, and frequent
use is made of Bismarck s famous declar-
alton, am not one of your colonial
enthusiasts" On the other hand, it is
reported that the Emperor is welded to
his colonial ventures, in which he desires
to surpass England, and has several
times refused to sell to English offerers
trade concessions with his African prov
inces, that have so far paid Germany
nothing of value.
The homely and comforting corncob
pipe, which may not inaptly be termed
the representative American pipe, is
made in three factories only in the
United States, and they are at st. Louis,
Greenwood, Neb., and somewhere in
Kansas. The cobs, which are obtained
from the Collier variety of corn, come
woody" The stems used are of Ar
kansas swamp cane or reed. The cobs
are cut the right size by circular saw,
and then pass on to the boring machine,
which hollows out the bowl with light
ming movement. A twisted drill makes
the hole for the stem, and the bowl is
sandpapered and vanished. About 10,-
600 of the pipes are made every day.
CAPTAIN REBEN, Commander of the
has written to the German Marine Obser-
vatory at Bremen, describing q most sim
gular occurrence. When off Sakota, one
night, the sea suddenly became milk
white with glow that seemed to flame
up from the depths like the increased
luminosity of an electric lamp when the
current becomes too strong. When
soundings were taken no bottom was
found. At ten o'clock the sharp edge
between the bright and dark was reached,
but twenty minutes later the glow
again appeared. 1t slowly disappeared
after eleven o'clock. The next night the
phenomenon was visible in still greater
intensity, but it was not again observed.
Captain Reben insists that there was
nothing phosphorescent in the character
of the display.
, HUMAN, the Chinese province which is
held chiefly responsible for the recent
lutrages upon foreigners, is said to be as
Jar behind the rest of China in all modern
ideas as China is behind Europe. The
inhabitants of it are fanatically hostile
to any kind of change or foreign in
fuence. Only few weeks ago ten thou
sand of them assembled on their frontier
to oppose the Government workmen who
were erecting telegraph wires between
Pekin and Tonquin, and stopped the fur
ther progress of the work in spite of the
edict of the Emperor. Human contains
$4,000 square miles, and is exceedingly
billy and mountainous. The towns and
villages, therefore, are isolated, and
intercommunication is difficult. This is
why new ideas circulate so slowly. The
Hunanese are reported to be honest, in
dustrious, and brave, and are accounted
among the most valuable recruits for the
imperial army.
The people of Afghanistan, groaning
under the heavy taxes their ruler i'm
poses, are skipping over the border at a
lively rate. The last census shows that
the population of the Candahar district
has decreased 10000 us compared with
the census taken in the time of Shere
Ali. Many Afghans have sold their
possessions and gone to British India and
Beloochistan. In the northern part of
the country the exodus has been still
greater, the people emigrating to the
Russian possessions. In Tashkurgan,
for instance, where, when the present
Ameer ascended the throne, there were
10000 occupied houses, there are now
only 5000 houses with tenants. The
Ameers country used to be called the
land of men and stones, but an Indian
journal suggests that if the present fight
continues it will be only land of stones.
THE absence of the American flag in
foreign ports has long been matter OF
comment. Any discussion of the causes
of and the remedies for this humiliating
state of things, must attract wide atten-
tion. Mr.. Charles H. Cramp, the presi-
dent of the great Philadelphia company
that is building so many of our war
ships, treats the matter in the Forum
and, after an historical review of the
subject, comes to the conclusion that the
different attitudes of the British Gov
ernment and our own toward shipbuild.
ers is largely responsible for the state OF
our merchant marine. This country, he
thinks, will never have a fleet of mer
chant vessels so long as the United