The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-09-17
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

are Dy no means product OF the
nineteenth century, as is generally be-
lieved, says the New York Commercial
Advertiser. They flourished in the days
of sal volatile, hoops, patches and
snuff, in the days when George II was
King. Ladies OF the court took part in
races arranged for them at the regu-
lar meetings, so that there were lady
Jockeys as we'll as gentlemen jockeys,
and once a series of foot races for
ladies in Hyde Park was organized.
The first one was run amid great en-
thusiasm of the populace, and the bet
ting was high. Then stepped in some
cross grained old fellow who persuade
ed the government that such races
were unseemly, and they came to a
sudden end, much to the regret of the
people of London.
The lover of historical analogies
who is also a Boer sympathizer will
recall with interest the attitude of the
sainted John Wesley towards the rebel
lious American colonies, says the New
York Post. Boer tyranny and Kruger
ism are painted in no blacker colors
than those the great evangelist reserv-
ed for the colonial governments. The
few advocates of the colonies, the Lit
tie Englanders" of that day, were call
ed designing men" and "Achitophels."
The Americans were told, in "A Calm
Address to the American Colonies"
that they had no rights, but that the
King and Parliament had "the power
of disposing without their consent of
both their lives, liberties, and proper
ties" But even more closely parallel
with the arguments of those who rep
resent England as a liberator from
Boer oppression is Wesley's train of
fHA,Y IL, CoI~ 20 hn
People of England" In this he affirmed
that the new American Confederation
was comparable to the despotism of
''the Emperor of Morocco" and said
that liberty of the press, religious lib
erty; and civil liberty had come to an
end. Imperialist clergymen of to-day
might find cause for reflection in the
example of Wesley.
The railroads of the United States
spent for fuel for their locomotives last
year $50, 100000, or about 10 per cent
of the whole cost of railroad operat-
ing in the country, says the New York
Sun. In addition to the coal purchas-
ed for the use of locomotives, there is
the expense of its transportation, for
several of the railroads are so far re-
moved from coal supplies that they are
compelled to carry coal for long dis
tances. One of the most important
railroads of the country in respect to
the territory it serves Ohe Southern
Pacific) has not on it's route a coal
field, from New Orleans to San Fran
cisco, and has had to import its coal
from Alabama, New Mexico and Colo
RADIO This has been one of it's heavi
est items of expense, but since the
utilization of oil as a railroad fuel
it is so no longer. Oil in great abund-
ance has been used recently as a fuel
| by all the railroads running through
Texas, and on some Southwestern di-
visions of the trunk lines of that Sec
ton 1t is being used almost exclusive
ly for passenger locomotives. Original
| ly, American railroads used wood only
as fuel. AT present coal. soft or an
thracite, is most generally used, the
average train requiring about two tons
of anthracite for each 100 miles run
and about a ton and a half of soft coal
for the same run. Soft coal, more
available for the railroads of the West
and South, costs about so per cent. per
ton less than anthracite, but oil as
fuel has ben found to be very much
cheaper than either, and as it comes
into more general use is superceding
coal as coal superseded wood.
AS far as the Russian iceboat Err
max is concerned. the north pole is
just as much a puzzle as it was before
the attempt was made to force the ice
breaker through the barrier which
surrounds the mystery of mysteries.
In future such vessels will be used
strictly for the purpose for which
they were built-keeping the harbors
free from ice during the winter months
and polar expeditions will be left to
the enthusiasts. AS ice-breakers, such
boats as the Ermak have been quite a
success, but the expense of their main
tenance has been very great, and dur
ing a certain period of the year they
have been practically useless. 1t is
now proposed to widen their scope, by
! making them do duty as fireboats. A
boat constructed on this dual principle
has recently been subjected to a series
of trials at st. Petersburg, and is to
be sent to Astrakhan. The disastrous
fires which occur among the crowded
shipping at the Volga stations every
year have caused enormous losses. 1t
is hopeless to attempt any rescue of
property from the shore. The new boat
is capable of forcing it's way in among
burning fleet of river boats, and can,
with It's ram, sink such as are hope
lessly on fire, or are danger to their
neiShbors. AS an ice-breaker, it is
practically built on former patterns,
but instead of producing the neces-
sary changes in equilibrium by pump
ing water into the various compart-
ments, it uses for this purpose the
naphtha refuse, which is employed as
fuel for the engines. The same pumps,
which are necessarily very powerful
on an ce-breaker, are used for water
when the boat is employed as a fire.
boat.
Prof. w. NJ. Flinders Petrie, the en-
inent Psychologist, delivered a lecture
on Monday night at Scarborough in
connection with the Society of Friends
Summer Settlement, on 1.-THE Antiqui-
ty of Man." says the London Tele-
graph. J. r. Ellis, M. p, presided.
The lecturer fixed the exodus of the
lsraelites at about 1900 3. c., but said
that was the period of the nineteenth
Egyptian dynasty, and research had
established in all twenty-five dynas-
ties. In the early men of Egypt they
had to deal with a European race more
or less mixed with the negro. AS to the
long progress of civilization, the pot
terry was striking proof, passing from
the simplest to the most elaborate
forms. SO was it with other works of
art. In one of the tombs was the
mumified arm of a princess, which
bore set of bracelets of great value
and antiquity, composed principally of
gold and turquoise, and wrapped in a
cloth Weaved as finely as a cambric
han0lxarnhinf M