Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1891-10-16
rorxs AND CONTENTS.

rurpr are 10000 oil wells in the
United States, representing . capital o.
400 f0O. 600. with an output of $50, 600
barrels per day. The refining caPecl.s
of the country is lao, 900 barrels per Gay,
while $4,000 barrels are consumed as
fuel A surplus stock is held in tanks
of more than 50. 900. 900 barrels.
The census preliminary returns show
An aggregate Of As, 233 convicts in peni-
tentiaries. Of this number 1891 are fe-
males. There are 80, $40 white and H.
es7 colorcd convicts. Among the latter
are 237 Chinese, 3 japanese and l9o In
dians. The ratio Of convicts to the pop
ulation increased from 7OY in 1880 to 722
in 1890, an increase equal to l3 per
million.
THERE are now in working order ten
ocean electric cables from America to
Europe. One cable reaches each i'm
nortant island of the Antilles and the
Caribbean sea, and to the coast OF Brazil.
Another cable connects with several other
South American points, and the whole
coast of South America ls gird'ed by
telegraphic lines reaching ocean cable
stations.
AT Brussels, the German government
supports nine hundred lace schools for
making the lace to which the city gives
name. Children begin to learn the art
when very young, sometimes not over
five years. Owing to some peculiarly
of the soil or climate. Brussels has so far
proved to be the only city in which the
precious lace can be made successfully.
Both cotton and linen threads are used
in the manufacture, the former being
spun by hand in dark, damp cellars with
only single ray OF light falling on the
hand of the spinner. The best of Bra
bant flax is used, and fine, soft cotton
furnishes the filling for flowers and
leaves.
A LONG time ago the distinguished
French astronomer, Flammarlon, eX-
pressed the belief that communication
would be established one day between
the earth and the plaret Mars. Tho idea
seems to have appealed very strongly to
the fancy of an old lady at Pau, who died
the other day after bcqneathing legacy
af 100, 900 francs as u reward to the first
scientist who may devise u scheme tor
successfully accomplishing the feat. The
money is to be held IN trust by the Frcnc
Institute. 1t is not likely, however, that
messages will be sent to Mars just yet, as
the legacy is only to be payable for ten
years, limit too brief for the most
sanguine cxperimenter.
AT recent meeting of the General
Practitioners Alliance in Exeter Hall,
London, mass of testimony was pro-
duced to show that a great many well-to-
do persons, in no sense proper recipients
of charity, were getting free treatment
at the hospitals, to the injury of the real
poor and the loss of the medical profess
sion. In one case man who had re-
ceived free treatment for long time
proved to be worth $3.50, 900 when he
died, and another free out-patiene at the
Middiesex hospital used to be driven to
the institution in her own carriage,
which she left "around tho corner" to
avert suspicion. 1t was alleged also that
certain hospital doctors had accepted
"tips" from prosperous patients, giving
them in return prompter and better at
tendance than was vouchsafed to more
INDECENT sufferers. Other serious abuses
were limited at,' and resolutions We're
adopted asking for an investigation by
the Committee of the House Of Lords on
Metropolitan Medical Charities.
PEOPLE in the South, particularly in
Louisiana, are much disguised with the
settler who seeks the ard lands of the
West and then calls on the Federal Gov
eminent for money to make them pro-
ductive by irrigation. Their contention
is that he would exhibit better claim
to common sense if he would select lands
that did not need irrigation to produce
more abundantly than any territory in
the West. The New Orleans New Delta
tells him that in the Opclousas, the At
takapss, and Calcasieu country lying
west of the Teche beyond the Atchafa-
laya bottoms, and extending from the
Gulf nearly to the Red River, he can find
a farming district that is superior to any
in the United States. 1t can be bought
for less money than much Western land,
and yields four staple crops a year, an
agricultural feat that cannot be per
AOAuACA uOllA VI NdSOu dIu DlAOu lluc.
The lands are gently rolling, mainly
prairie, and easily drained. Instead of
clamoring for Federal assistance, the
Northern people that are beginning to
settle on them are converting them into
garden spots, and adding to gratifying
degree to their bank accounts.
The decorator at work on the White
House will, he says, finish the vestibule
in 1.-The style of the American Renais.
sance." The coloring will be mingline
of soft browns and terra Gotta. The
walls will be done in kind of panelled
effect. Over the mantel, where there
are portraits of Washington and Lincoln,
there will be medallions of these dis
tingulshed men modelled in bold and
striking relief. The framework around
the heads and the shield and pair OF
flags over each medallion will also be
in relief. The only decided tints will
be the bright red and blue of the flags.
The ceiling will be in soft shades, and
the graceful turns and curves will con
verge towards the chandelier in the
centre. Small gold stars also will be q
feature of the ceiling. The style of the
Green Room will be rocco, and the tin,
that gives the room its name will be &C
centuated by the mink IF tho paocb