Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1898-03-31
NOTES AND COMMENTS.

A special dispatch. from New York
says that the latest fad In the exclu-
sive circles of Gotham society IL get
ting up family trees and tracing an
cestry back as far as possible" But
in the opinion of the editorial punster
of the Chicago Times Herald, some OF
those exclusive Gothamites probably
will prefer to keep their family trees
shady.
An Englishman named Batemau,
who has been collecting statistics OF
the drink bill of various countries, re-
ports the reassuring fact that the
Americans are growing more temper
ate than any of the European nations.
| A writer In the Ladies' Home Jour-
nal says that one may meet as we'll
dressed women in Siberia as are to be
found in any European city. The 10
cial forms that exist in the large cities
of Russia are observed in Siberia, and
the fashionable people of that vast
province enjoy life to the full.
| Thomas A. Edison confirms the
statement, recently printed, that he
| has discovered q new process for ex-
| tracing gold from the mines in the
Orbiz land grant in New Mexico. lie
| said the mines are believed to be the
| richest in Mexico, but the ore could
| not be successfully worked hitherto
because of the absence of water. Some
| time ago the owners Of the mines
| asked If he could not suggest some
be worked. He began experimenting,
and finally hit upon way of work.
| ing the ore without using drop Of
water. Mr. Edison says that the agree
ment regarding his new methods will
be closed in a few days, and that he
is to receive 81, 100000 If the system
proves a success.
Says the Rochester IN. W Herald:
Truth in the ancestral business is be-
ing sadly overdone. Nearly every one
has had more or less ancestors, and a
mathematically inclined genealogist
has figured that even fellow who
couldn't join anything but church,
has had during the past % generations
no less than 45.476,So2 ancestors, of
whom 22,T3S,432 were living at the
same time % generations back, and of
the latter it is reasonable certaint,,
that at least one participated in the
battle of Senlac either under Duke
William or King Harold. Why not
organize at once the Society OF the
Sons of Senlac, to whom all people
shall be eligible upon proof of their
being alive, and do away with these
mushroom combinations Of iders that
only go back a couple of hundred
years?
Speaking Of the visitors to the
League Island Navy Yard, the Phila-
delphia Record says: LAS rule they
are so impressed with the great size
and imposing appearance of the Min
neapolis and the Columbia that they
invariably rate the cruisers above the
monitor Miantonomoh in fighting ca
pacity, whereas the cruisers would be
easy prey for the heavily protected
monitor il they came within range OF
her big guns. Most of the visitors are
awed by the ugly looks of the old ID
inch smooth-bore guns and old-time
mortars that have been stored at the
navy yard ever since the war. They
are very incredulous when told that
even the small 4-inch modern rifles
which the vessels carry in their sec
ondary batteries than in the most for
midable looking of the obsolete
smooth which frown so threat
eningly along the bank of the river"
Sam Stone Bush estimates in the
March American Monthly Review of
Reviews that 100000 people are ex-
pected to rush for the Klondike this
spring. He is a prospector who has
travelled and studied up the situation.
Writing of what this exodus will mean
to the business world Mr.. Stone says:
II have figured it out on the basis of
cost and proportion as ascertained, and
it is this: That each man of them
would average first and last an ex-
penditure of 5000, making a grand to-
tai of $G0,000,O00. The United States
railways would get S5,000,000 of this
Seattle merchants and hotel keepers,
for outfits and transient guests, $25,-
000,0O0 the prospector's home town
and towns en- route 20 Seattle and 9TH /
er Pacific coast points, $1,000 900; ship
companies for transportation to Alas
ka, S10,000,0 00 and for the transporta- |
ton of freight over passes and in
Alaska S1J,000,000. This would rep
resent only the actual needs of this !
many prospectors, and would cause
large increase in other businesses di-
rectly connected with it. 1t means
that in 1898 S6O,OOO,0OO will be spent
in search of gold in the yellow creek, !
and in the same year not more than
one-fourth Of that amount will be pro-
duced. But the output is likely to
come nearer the expense as each year
goes by, and in few years to exceed |
it,"
A plan Is afoot in New York to
build one or more hotels for exclu-
sive use of self-supporting women,
Harper's Weekly says. The PROPOSE
ton is to organize corporation to be