Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1893-08-07
NOTES AND COMMENTS.


THE adaptability of American women
to any position in society is referred to
in admiring phrases by a writer in the
Popular Science Monthly. He says:
wherever we meet the American woman
and we met her everywhere, in the
ranks of the English pecrage and of the
highest European aristocracy, as we'll as
in more modest conditiOns-we are
struck with that marvellous adaptability
in which wise men see the sign of the
superiority of a race or Of a species. 1t
is revealed notably by that good humor
with which she accepts the numerous
petty annoyances that every change of
medium implies aud which put the best
characters on trial. She submits to them
without effort, and criticises them with.
out bitterness; she is, further, prepared
for them by her education, and
does not expect to find every
thing easy. Then the necessity
Of manual labor does not seem to her
like degrading condition; at most only
one or two generations separate her from
the time when her grandmother kneaded
the family bread in the primitive settle
ments. These stories are familiar to her,
and the lessons deduccd from them are
not discouraging or humiliating She is
the daughter of race of emigrants who
have become great people through
work. energy. and determination. She
has in this at her command whole treas
ury OF traditions from which she draws,
not without pride. We might say, in
listening to these stories, that we are
hearing one of those grandes danes
OF the past century, emigrants and
poor, telling with pride in their
memoiSs how, to supply their wants,
they worked in London or in Germany,
utilizing their accomplishments and their
correct taste, and making trimmings and
embroidering robes with their own
aristocratic hands,"
AN investigation of the cost of produc-
ing wheat in Kansas, recently undertaken
by the Kansas State Board of Agriculture,
shows that the labor involved in prepar-
ing the ground, sowing, harvesting and
threshing the wheat, costs, on the aver
sge, %. 81 per acre as against $5.O7 on
the non.irrigable lands OF the Gangetic
plains. In other words, the value of the
labor involved in the production of q,
bushel Of wheat in India is So cents as
against 80 cents in Minnesota, the DakO.
tas, or Kansas, while the Indian, with
his crude mode of sowing, plants half
more seed than the American with his
drill. To this labor-cost must be added
the value of the seed, either the land-tax
of India or the interest on the invest
ment in America, and the cost of haul
ing to the market, this last being greater
in America than in India. Valuing the
Indian ryot's labor at five cents day.
the cost of merely cutting an acre of
wheat is 60 cents, while it is done by
contract throughout the West for SO
cents. So little does the ryot cut in
day that he usually carries the pro-
duct of his labor home on his head.
One of the richest cities in the United
States is Tacoma, which is at the head of
navigation on Puget Sound, and which
promises to be one of the greatest cities
of the country. The town is only about
six years old, but it has population of
about 80, 900 and is assessed at $43, OnO.-
600. Its banks have capital of S., OOO,-
600 and its car shops pay out in wages
$40, 900 every month. 1t has fifty miles
va SiSotiiS Sai AiuCS Uuu ~ Is
more. 1t is the terminus of the North
ern Pacific Railroad and it has now a line
of steamships to China and Japan. 1t is |
one of the great lumber centers as we'll
as one of the great shipping ports OF the
northwest. And it sent out last year
more than 5000, 900 bushels of wheat to
foreign markets. 1t has monthly pay
roll of nearly S300.O00. 1t has a large |
Of elevators and factories Ia
coma is one of the prettiest cities of the |
northwest. 1t has more millionaires to
the block than any other town in the
and its rich men have come to |
stay. They have built big houses, and
it il city of homes.
WHEN q man who has grasped for
tunes hand in business pursuits attempts |
late in life to shine as an orator the result |
is not always happy. This has been the
experience Of NJ. Gervais, known all over
France for his fine cheeses NJ. Gervais,
who is entirely ''self made" man. had |
an ambition to shine in politics, aud at |
the last election of members of the |
Chamber Of Deputies lie made the can
vass in Norman town. In order to i'm
press his constituency with his eloquence
he hired a journalist to dictate con-
vincing speech and learned the discourse |
by heart. When he mounted the ros-
strum and began: ''As a candidate for |
the Chamber comma knowing your needs |
comma | beg to solicit your SURFACES full |
stop" there was such roar of laughter
at his proof-reader like diction that |
he came to full stop in fact.
THE most serious menace to church.
going in England is said to be cycling.
A few churches have tried to induce the |
wheemen to come in for morning ser
vice, but the bicycles of a few who have
done so have been stolen by local church
and the wheelmen now say that
they will not 60 to church unless the
church insures their machines. Many of
the clergymen have become enthusiastic
wheelmcn. and it is said that one coun-
try minister who was recently called on
to officiate at funeral wanted to ride to
the cemetery on wheel, wearing his
surplice.
A BAvARIAN aeronaut named Koch has