Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1893-10-24
NOTES AND COMMENTS.

THERE 10 a man in Shepherdstown, w.
Va. who could be veritable Brutus, If
the occasion ever arose. He ia the Mayor
of the town, and the other day he fined
himself for allowing his cow to run at
large, in violation OF the towns ordin-
ance.
Or every / 900 clergymen between the
ages of As and IS it is found that only
1898 die annually. But of every 1000
doctors between the ages of As andes no
fewer than %. OF die every year. That
is to say, tho mortality of medical men is
almost double that of clergymcn. and
tho rate is increasing.
A BILL before the English Parliament
aims, by a somewhat singular method, to
prevent drunkenness. According to its
provisions, any party convicted of drunk
enness twice within a year shall not be
allowed on the premises on which liquor
10 licensed to be sold. A licensed ven
dor who breaks the restriction imposed
in such case shall he liable to pen
atty. The bill in question is not to
apply to centers of population with
more than 10000 inhabitants.
RAvENsTEIN, the noted statistician,
has just published the result Of series
of interesting calculations, which IRE
that the earth cannot nourish more than
6, 600, OOO.OO people. At present the
population of the earth is estimated to
be l ,467, 900, 900 souls. and according to
Ravenstein's ingenious combinations the
q, 900, 600, 600 mark will be reached in
$50 years, so that the day is not very far
off when the earth can no longer main
tain her children, unless by that time
beefsteak and potatoes can he chemically
made from air, earth and water.
Or cities with more than 10000
population England has thirty, Germany
twenty four, France and Russia each
twelve, Italy ten, Austria Hungry six,
Spain five, Belgium, the Scandinavian
States, Roumania and the Balkan Islands
each four, the Netherlands three, Por
tugal two; the total in Europe being
1l6 great cities. Asia has 105, China
having fifty-three and British India
thirty. In Africa there are sevon, in
America forty, of which the United
States have twenty-six; South America
nine. Australia has only two large
| cities
"FEw persons" says o railroad man,
shave any idea of the enormous cost of
rolling stock. The price Of single car
ranges from S15, 900 down to $3.50. The
former is the price of first-class Pull
man car, while the latter is that of what
is known as fiat car, such as are used
to haul gravel and dirt. A common
fat bottomed coal car costs $500. while
a car with double hopper-bottom is
quoted at hundred more. A refriger-
ator car costs $500 A combined bag
gage and mail car costs So, $780, and a
first coach is valued at SIS, 500."
PERHAPS the quaintest and quietest
little settlements within hundred miles
of New York are those built at the foot
of the Palisades. The fishermen who
live there appear to be as far from the
madding crowd as though they were
alone on the prairie. The tall cliffs and
jagged rocks about them cut them of
from the rest of the world, and they
havs few visitors. There is not horse
or wagon among them and no road te
drive on. Springs of good water arc
found within a rod of the salt Hudson
but beer and groceries are long way
of, unless one takes boat and crosses
the river to the metropolis that swirl,
aud roars ON the other bank.
JOHN ROBINSON, who now lives at Gin.
oinnati, is probably the oldest survivor
of the oldtime circus. He is over eighty
two .years of age, and was actively en-
gagged in the business from his boyhood
up to just before the war. He says that
in those days the regular charges in the
South were twenty-five cents for whites
and thirty seven and one-half cents for
slaves. Spanish coins were plentiful,
and dollar could be split up in nearly
any way desired. The slaves were
charged the higher price in order to, in
a certain measure, restrict their patron.
age. 1t was nearly as easy to get thirty
seven and one-half cents as it would
have been to get twenty five cents. The
slaves came in droves generally, ac-
companied by some member of their
owners family or in charge of trusted
slave. In the North twenty-five cents
was the usual price, but business was moi
so good as in Dixie.
A QUEER story comes from Ashland,
Kan In common with the rest of the
country. the people of this town have
been feeling the pinch of hard times
They therefore determined to economze
The town is not very large. but it has
seven settled ministers, and it was de-
termined that one would suffice unit
better times came. So a vote was taker
on the question which of the sever
should be retained. The poll showed ;
plurality of votes for the Methodist
minister, and therefore the other 81,
were discharged. 1t is proposed tha
other towns in Kansas, especially thos'
suffering from drought, shall adopt thu
same plan, and that the money thu
saved shall be given to the needy. Thi
is practical movement in the direction
of Christian unity that will hardly b,
pleasing to the discharged clergymen
however strong may be their Theoretical
belief in Christian unity.
In many ways the United States hav'
educated the world in politics, and ], 70
one, do not hesitate to say that thei
| scheme of government is the best tina