The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-03-17

CONSULAR CURIOSITIES.
Odd Facts Concerning Engiand's
Foreign Commerce.
Suls wesebted With Flour, and Wines
worth Moe Cents . Bottle Sold for
Oao Dollar-Clever Tricks
Of Trade.

0ae Dollar-Clever Tricks
OF Trade.
''The prompt issue Of consular reports
On British trade is an achievement for
which merchants and shippers should
be grateful to our foreign Office, says
Casselrs Saturday Journal. Some of
them are. if we accept the cynical def
milton that gratitude is lively sense OF
favors to come; for in the latest batch
of reports several cnnsuls complain
that enterprising tradesmen have sent
them patterns of cloth goods. etc, with
prices for prompt cash. and asked
then, to obtain orders. But these an
abroad are of interest and value to
others besides those engaged in trade.
They contain lot of out-of-the-way
facts on imports and exports, the social
condition of various peoples, the curi-
gus industries Of the world and thou
sand other subjects. Last year, it APP
pears, there was a decrease in the i'm
po-tatsou Of ssndalpvood into Hankoyv,
China. The product is used in incense.
sui remarks that 'here'-and, surely,
elsewhere too-'ane OF the natural
economies of the working classes is q
reduction of tho religious expenses of
the family
Similarly, the statistics Of imports
and exports bring to light many facts
about adul1eratio1. Ladies being great
->-,on esIlr x,oxw vr,s1l Ia far-
ested to know that that material is
weighted with a size made from bean
flour, and that, when a bale of inferior
pongee is opened, the starch in it raises
dust which fills the room On opium
we learn that it is not only faxed in
various ways, but largely smuggled
into Tainan, China, by being squeezed
into large bamboo pipes. In Morocco
it is customary to adalterate beeswax
quantities of which are imported for
this special purpose We seem to do
little in this line ourselves. or how is it
that in Madagascar they can tell Lam
cashire from American calico from the
smell?
From La Rochelle comes startling
fact about wine, of which no fewer
than 25.5s4 tons We're imported seaward
hest year from Spain, Italy and Africa.
This enormous quantity, after being
mixed and blended with natural or arti-
fetal French wine. is consumed in this
country (France), or exported as French
wines to other countries Thus does art
pssist nature Which is the better
natural or artificial grape juice?' It
seems hard to tell. Our consul at Cadiz
relates that he and friend visited one
of the native sherry cellars, and tested
two samples which appeared to be of
the Same wine. They were so much
alike that it was with difficulty they de-
cided which they preferred. One of the
partners in the firm then told them that
one wine was sold at ESQ butt and the
other manufactured for one of the
largest mail steamship companies in
the world at the rate Of 41sd per bottle.
and retailed to their passengers at As a
bottle
Among the suggestions made for
opening cur trade is one from Dantzig
with regard to Newfoundland fish.
great deal of which, our consul thinks,
might be sold in the inland towns. He
thoughtfully adds, however, that trav-
elers would have TO be furnished with
printed directions in two languages
German and Polish), showing how the
fish should be dressed for table or the
people would eat it raw, as they do her.
rings, and then they might not like it,
a hint is thrown out, too, that some
English houses might do business with
the ivory carvers of Dieppe, where the
handicraft of carving, esta bfished two
centuries ago, still fourishes. The
work is said to be far superior to that
Of the Japanese, Chinese and Indians.
Ten or twelve workmen do nothing all
the year round but carve crzlcifXes,
some Of which are worth $50 or 94o.
quite new industry is that of Jap
anese floor mating, as made at Pogo
and Osaka. The body of the fabric is a
kind of native grass interviewer with
fine thread, sometimes $50 to she yard.
and the result of this com bination is
said to be as soft and pliable as cloth.
Prices for roll forty yards long by one
-
tonishing fact, considering that the
trade is in its infancy, is that one firm
has sent away more than 1000 patterns.
Firesrn making. carried on at Liege, in
Belgium. is another industry touched
on. Forty thousand men are employed
in this trade. Like the English nail
and chain makers. these work at home
at their domestic FORCES The various
pieces are put together ut the factories.
The output of the town in guns, etc,
may family be imagined from the fact
that from 100000 to 1900. ZOO car
tridges and forty tons of powder are
consumed annually in testing them.
BY the way. there are only five houses
for this purpose in Europe-Liege
(where there is the largest in the
world, birmingham, London. St,
Etienne, in France. and Eellah, in
Austria, are the places which possess
them"
Made Him Feel Small.
"f6u are not dwarf" said the mo-