Kansas City journal., 1898-04-18
OF CURRENT INTEREST.

For the mere pittance of s. SIS year the
London commissioners Of inland reyenus
have licensed the Omnibus and Trau1car
Cigarette Automatic Supply Company.
capital $1,000, in 10000 shares at - each.
to supply the public with cigarettes from
boxes placed on the vehicles of the General
Omnibus Company, the Road Car Com
pany, the North Metropolitan Tramway
Company. and Messrs- Tilling & Co., and
by and by on the cars OF the Central Elec-
trio railway. over lJJ.d-,0,o passengers are
carried annually by the General Omnibus
Company alone. Four thousand machines
in all will be used. the cost OF the cigarettes
for the same being sl1i."" and the esti-
| mated sales. at the lowest possible calcula-
tion-1 penny per trip-s2oo.Go Deductins
the expenses the net profits will be over
40 per cent per annum- A similar institu-
ton. the Automatic Sweetmeat Supply
Company, with capital of 81. so GO. pays
20 per cent. its IS shares being quoted in
the market at so.
In statements regarding the common in
terests existing between Great Britain and
the United States it is sometimes said that
three months blockade OF American ports
would reduce the United Kingdom to a
condition of starvation The current reports
of the board of trade and the board of
agriculture of Great Britain furnish some
interesting statistics bearing on the sub
ject- 1t appears from these reports that
during the year 1887 ony 80 per cent of the
wheat and wheat flour used In the United
Kingdom was grown in Great Britain And
Of the imported supplies. il is noteworthy
that only 6.3 per cent was grown in Brit
ish colonies and possessions AS to the
remaining 81 per cent, or more than two
thirds of what is required. the United
States furnished 1873 per cent, Russia, 135
per cent. and other countries. g.. per cent
One Of the smartest mendicants in New
York is called the bread thrower." He
is a professional. and his confederate Is
a smart dog. and his properties are bits
OF mody bread Here's his game: He
slouches along chosen street. and the
first thing the passerby knows of his pres
ence is when they see him jump toward
the gutter with wolfish cry. and the
next moment he will be fighting with
NANCY dog for piece of dirty bread the
latter has found on the sidewalk. This
spectacle brings the quarters every time
He turned the trick on a crowded street
one pleasant afternoon last week and made
more money in ten minutes than some OF
the brokers in Wall street did between
gavel and gong.
One of the stories that the late James
Payn liked most to tell was about what he
called an American duel. wherein two duel
lists, with one second. met within doors
and drew lots to decide which should shoot
himself. A was the unluCky man. and with
out a word he retired into the next apart
ment to carry out the purpose of self-de-
struction. 3 and the second, both very
much moved by the tragedy of the stu-
alton, remained In listening attitudes. At
last the pistol was heard; they shuddered
in rushed the supposed dead man. trium-
phantly exclaiming, missed, by heaven"
The unproftableness OF a political career
is illustrated by the case Of John \. BinG-
ham, of Ohio who served sixteen years in
congress and was appointed judge advo-
cate with the rank OF major by President
Lincoln, who also appointed him United
States solicitor for the court Of claims. He
likewise served twelve years as a minister
to Japan. This is unusually successful
political career. and yet now MIR. Bingham
at the age of So. nearly helpless. physically
and mentally is in such straitened circum-
stances that he is glad to accept the relief
of a private pension bill granting him IS
month.
The decision against the constitutionality
OF the butterine Law of Illinois is rather
sweeping. 1t allows that the legislature
may pass laws for the protection of
the public health, good order. good morals
and the safety of society. and may pass any
reasonable regulations for the manufacture
and sale of both butter and butterIne, but it
has not the right or power to pass unrea-
sonabl or unjust regulations or prohibitive
laws as to either. 1t cannot prohibit the
manufacture or sale of wholesome and nu-
tritious articles of food either directly or
under the guise of regulatory acts.
woman in Paris has conferred a boon
on humanity in the discovery of a new
science called "LinguistoIogIe.' This is
nothing more than the delineation Of char
acter from the shape of the tongue. A big
tongue indicates frankness. long tongue.
generous feelings; a short one, dissimula-
ton; a narrow tongue. concentration Of
ideas. Long and broad tongues Indicate
fCndness for talk; short and broad ones,
equal capacity to talk but not to speak
the truth: while those that are short and
narrow show an unmistakabie tendency to
Machiaveilian lying.
One woman was among the representa-
tives OF the fifty leading knitting mills OF
the country who met at the Gilsey house in
New York last week and formed a combi-
nation which will be capitalized at $50, co.,
co. The most important movement in tho
knit goods trade in many years, ii Is the
first trust in the formation of which a
woman is known to have taken any part.
She is Mrs. Henry II. Pawling. and shs
owns and operates a big mill Up state