The Louisiana populist., 1896-12-25
NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Any one who has occasion to pass
along New York streets cannot but be
impressed with the improvement in the
looks of the personnel Of the police
force. Many new faces Of younger
and apparently more intelligent mer
are to be noticed ON the force.
Children cannot be dealt with on the
principle that their nominal age ne
cessarily registers n real maturity of
power. Some children are wiser at six
than others are at sixteen. The discreet
mother will ask how much rather than
how long her child has lived, and ad-
just her educational efforts accordingly
Scarcely has the horseless age shown
itself in the distance, than signs Of a
wheelless age appear Oh the horizon OF
the industrial world. An inventor al
Olneyville, r. l., is engaged in devel.
oping a wheelless carriage. 1t is to be
run by electricity on runners which
operate on eccentrics, causing them
to act as 'creepers.'
Cuba is rapidly becoming 4 desert.
The production of sugar and tobacco
for export has practically ceased. Its
trade has gone, the production Of rev.
enue has ceased, and in the list of bor-
rowing nations Spain stands at the
foot of all, in the lowest class. 1t is a
terrible price that Spain is paying for
her pride Of possession.
According to Engineering, the pneu-
matte rubber tire was born in 1876,
when man Of the name of ThOmp-
son patented an air tube. The original
tire had an inner tube of soft rubber
and an outer covering of leather. in
1S49 the leather was replaced by rub
Der, which was thickened in the tread,
thus producing q tire similar to some
of those on the market to-day.
A Swedish colony is soon to be estab-
liShed near Bristol, Va. An agent Of
the Swedish government has purchased
a tract of land containing 5000 acres.
This tract is to be divided into $50
farms of twenty acres each. A family
of Swedes will settle on each of these
small farms, and thus a colony of
about 1,500 population will be estab-
own churches, school houses and mer-
camille establishments. 1t is under
stood that n large percentage of the
colonists will establish vineyards.
The Savannah News reports that the
severe storms have nearly destroyed
the rice crop in Georgia. '"The plant
ers," it says, "are having pretty hard
time of it. The Louisiana crop, which
was short one last year, is this year
80 to 60 per cent short of what it was
then. Besides that the crop was widely
damaged by long and severe drouth,
and for these reasons the planters
good thing Of it. After all the bills
are paid, however, it is doubtful there
will be much of anything left"
In some things the japanese point of
view is very different from that of
other countries. The track of the Ka-
ma-Kura Railway is not fenced in, and
crossings rarely have gates. A boy
carrying n child on his back, straying
on the line, was recently knocked down
by an engine, and both boy and child
We're killed. Thereupon the railway
company prosecuted the father for al
lowing his children to trespass, and he
was fined ten yen. Some time ago at
Osaka a COW was run over, and the
owner was fined 200 yen besides losing
his cow.
Reports from India convey the alarm
ing intelligence that vast region Of
that country, containing an area of
100000 square miles and a population
Of 100,000.000 persons, is threatened
with all the terrors of famine. The
crops are total failure, provisions are
beyond the reach Of the poorer
and there is increasing danger
Of starvation for thousands OF victims.
the crops of America, ad
ded to our large surplus of wheat and
corn from last years harvest, will en-
able this country to supply much Of
the shortage in the East, and it is en-
tirely certain that for a twelvemonth
at least there will be an enormous
of grain from our Pacific
ports to the Orient.
Germany" says the st. James Ga
zette, "has had five sovereigns since
Queen Victoria began to reign. She
herself will in future be recognized as
the ancestress Of one Of the most pow
erful rulers. Her grandson wears the
iron crown Of Germany. Her grand
daughter is empress of Russia. An
other granddaughter is crown prln-
cess of Roumania. Her second son
rules over the principality Of Saxe-Co-
burg. The hereditary princess of Sake
Meiningen is her granddaughter The
heir to the throne of Greece is her de-
scendant; the grand duke Of Hesse her
grandson. She has no fewer than six
ty-one descendants VINO one day be-
tween them promise to be at the head
Of more than half of Europe"
According to. Harpers Weekly, the