The Savannah morning news., 1901-11-30
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

have been selected to officiate as arbi-
TRAITOR in the boundary controversy be-
tween Great Britain and Brazil may
be looked upon as a tribute to the fact
that in the year and half which has
elapsed since he assembled the throne
he has managed to achieve the reputa-
tion of being one of the most enlight-
ened, progressive, intellectual and lev
ell headed monarchs of the Old World
1t is the first time that an Italian
ruler has ever been invited to act as
arbitrator IN an international contro-
versy, although the late King Hum
bert was on one occasion requested 10
nominate the third arbitrator in the
commission for the settlement of the
Behring Sea fisheries dispute. 1t may
be remembered that he selected for
the purpose the Marquis Visconti We
nosta.
The Bordentown IN. j. Trolley
Company is suing one Michaelis
Quentesky, Bohemian truck farmer
at New Egypt, for the larceny of its
electric current. The circumstances of
the theft are so peculiar and interest
ing, and seem to point to results so
important, as to raise it from a
petty crime into great discovery
provided, of course, the facts are as
SIdlCu. measurements DIT Inc power
house of the trolley company showed
that there was d loss of current some
where along the line which could not
be accounted for. This loss had con-
tinued for some time. Experts were
set to work. and after much search
discovered that a. farmer had ingeni-
ously tapped the wire conveying the
current from the power house and was
utilizing 1t to stimulate the growth of
vegetables. There was a network of
wires on his truck patch, 300 by 200
feet, on which his radish crop was
grown. He had by this means cleo
trified the ground in some way, and
claims that since stringing his wires
he finds that radishes which previous
iy needed six weeks to come to ma
turity could be brought to the market
able condition in fourteen days. This,
If true, means that by causing cleo
tricity to circulate through the ground
three crops may be raised and gather
ed in the time hitherto required to ma
ture one crop. This is of first impor-
lance, and if established by investi-
cation it is a discovery which should
increase the value of land and reduce
the cost of food vegetables. AS a dis
covery, it would be worth many fold
the value of all the current of the Bor-
dentown Trolley Company
Constantine, Mich, is one of the
queerest towns in the country. 1t has
a population of 5000, says the New
York Sun. A rented house is so rare
as to be conspicuous. Nearly every
body owns his home. At noon the mer-
chants lock their doors and go to din
ner. The men folks on their way to
business in the morning stop at the
mo flvn A
for the noon meal. They do not say
how much, for the butcher has come to
know the amount each customer wants.
The order is simply for meat. The
butcher seldom has more than one kind
at time. Thus it happens that on
some days the whole town eats ham;
on others mutton or steak. Few can
ned goods are sold in the town, and
everybody has a garden. Several years
ago, when a factory was established
there, 1t put in an electric plant. The
Town Board arranged for lighting the
streets from this power, and there is
one incandescent light in the middle of
each block. This is the only public inn
provement the town has had for years.
The people have money and are con-
tented lot. When they want anything
extra for their table they send to De-
troit for it, or go there and stay a
few days. Sometimes they go to Chi
cage. The people as a whole are in
telligent and hospitable. When d
travelling man goes to Constantine for
orders he is usually the guest of a
merchant. One of this class was there
for a week not long ago, and it is
from him that the foregoing informa-
ton is obtained. All things considered
he prefers Constantine to some of the
larger towns on his route, and he is
authority for the statement that there
isn't another town in the country like
Constantine.
Richard Hinton, who is visiting
London, says the New York Tribune
was asked the other day how the city
compared with the period of the fif-
ties when it was his home. Il find" he
replied, "a new type of Englishmar
which / have difficulty in recognizing
see very few of the light haired Eng
lishmen of my youth-men with mas
sive, quiet faces and broad. well bal
anced frames. On the other hand, the
dark haired Celtic type seems almost
universal-people with short noses
habby cheeks and heavy jaw, a face
which is entirely strange to me. Then
| am amazed at the large prevalence
of slight physical deformities. espe-
CIdlly LllS Cdi y lllS VI OIlG 0UOQlQSl
higher than the other. l assure you
that l have stood in your streets and
carefully counted the crowds as they
passed, and the majority-say, six
hundred out of eight hundred-were
imperfectly formed. This predominant
type of yours seems brainy and ner-
vous, but it's physical basis is not o.
bust. | note, too, with sadness the
drinking habits of the women, which
are unknown in the states. On the
other hand, ! rejoice at the vast inn
proyement in outer London-the splen-
did parks and open spaces, the wider
streets, the partial clearing of the
slums. London is at once your strength
and your weakness. and / am con-
WINGED that its wellbeing depends on
the support you give to the great nlu-
nicipal movement represented by the
County Council-a movement which
have closely studied and which can
not too warmly admire
There is a remarkable story cur
rent among the Chinese with regard
to Lii Hung Changes ancestry. saws
"A Mohawk Indian" in the London
Chronicle. According to this legend
it was during the days of sailing COM
munication between America and the
Celestial Kingdom that a Chinaman
landed in Western America. He was
known as All Lii and claimed lineal
descent from a celebrated Chinese
writer who flourished about / 900 years
before Christ, named Lii Ling. All Ii
got amongst an unknown tribe of lii
dams in the West He became a mem