Morning journal and courier., 1894-06-16
RDlT0RIAL NOTES,

|
 New York.
 RDIToRIAL NOTES.
 It has been decided that the deaconesses of the Methodist church shall wear black
 gowns, with gathered or plaited skirts,
 bishop sleeves, round waists, turn-down
 collars and white cuffs. They may "friz'
 their hair If they desire to do 80.
 Woman isgrowing more and more valu-
 able. A Boston life insurance company
 has recently issued $10O, 900 policy upon
 the life of Mrs. O. E. Longley of Provi-
 dence, which is thought to be the first
 time policy for 80 large an amount has
 ever been issued upon the life of a woman.
 The zone system of railroad fares, which
 has been in use on the government rail-
 roads in HupgaIy, and which has been
 much discussed in this country, has been
 abandoned on the only railroad in Great
 Britain on which 1t has been tried-the
 Cork and Blsckrock line. Passengers
 travelling over the whole route liked the
 plan, but the short distance passengers objected to paying the same ss was charged those who travelled much farther. l Experiments to determine the influence of electricity upon the growth of plants have shown remarkable results. An ap- | paratus consisting of poles connected by wires for condensing atmospheric electric. l ity over an inclosed area was arranged. The ordinary grain crops grown within the inclosure showed an increase of from 29 to 56 per cent. All other crops were increased | in proportion. The scientiet who con- ducted the experiments also tried the effect of electrifyiDg seeds before planting and found that when they were subjected to the current for only two minutes the rapidity of their growth was nearly doubled.
 Captain Moore, of the sailing ship Mary Gibbs, tslls a sugge tive story of his last voyage. It was from Boston to the gold coast of Africa, and his cargo consisted of New England rum. Oddly enough, he also took out as passengers two women missionaries, who had been sent out to exert clvilizlng and Christian'z! z!ng intiu- ence on these benighted people. The brig antine stopped at thirteen ports to unload the cargo of rum, which was received with wild enthusiasm by the natives, while mo- body seemed to want the missionaries. The latter seemed discouraged, but never theless went stoutly to work to countersct the effects of the rum. Before he could tell what success they were having the Gibbs sailed for home.
 Drunkards are not petted much in Switz- erland. The laws vary in detail in the twenty-two cantons, but in their essential principles they are very similar and pro- vide for the punishment not only of those persons who indulge in strong drink to ex- cess, but also for the people who supply the liquor in question. Drunkards are visited with penalties amounting to 8 msximum of a years imprisonment with hard labor and three years interdiction from exercising the franchise and from the purchase of any alcoholic drink, while the dealers and innkeepsrs who permit their customers to become intoxicated or who furnish liquor to "interdicted" persons are likewise sentenced to the payment of heavy fines, imprisonment and forfeiture of license. Altogether, Switzerland can scarcely be considered as drunksrds' paradise.
 It is believed that electric currents can 1 be made to carry messages for long dis tsnoes through water without wire, except at the shores. Prof. Lucien I. Blake of the University of Kansas has tried tele- phoning from an instrument iu a boat to l coast station that had wires extended into the water with satisfactory results | He has demonstrated the practicability of this system, and the coming summer he proposes to establish communication be- l tween some of the lightboats along the At lantic coast and the shore. One advantage of this, he claims, will be the announce ment of the approach of ships to New York twenty four hours earlier than now. By this arrangement, too, vessels can carry telephones, and instead of the old-fssh- toned way of signalling, can speak each other and exchange news by telephone as business is now being done by telephone on shore
 A single barge on a canal, brought up to
 modern requirements will carry as much cargo as train consisting of forty cars.
 The dead weight of the load to be moved,
 that is of the barge or truck, is very con-
 siderably in favor of the barge; the same
 amount of power applied in traction will
 move five times the load on waterway
 that it will on railway; the original cost
 of construction and maintenance of canal
 is considerably less than that of the rail-
 way. On the great lakes traffic is conveyed
 at cost of .015 cent per ton mile; by rail
 the. expense of conveyance, inclusive of
 charges due to maintenance of way, is ten
 times as great ss on the lake steamboats.
 The average cost of moving a ton of freight
 a mile on the railroads of the United
 States is .522 cent. The average freight
 by water on the Erie canal and Hudson
 liver, where the towing is principally done
 by horses in boats of 8 small capacity, is