The Savannah morning news., 1902-11-11
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

A veteran of the Spanish war re-
Gently appealed to the Secretary of the
Interior a case in which he claimed
pension on account of corns that he
had contracted by wearing army
shoes. The department, after an ex-
hautive course of reasoning, comes to
the conclusion that corns are not
pensionable disability. The decision
saws: "Corns are inconvenient, but
are seldom incapacitating, and when
they are, the remedy is simple and
within the reach of anyone. The SOL
dier's patriotism ought not to termi-
nate with his military service. 1t
should prompt him to go to a chiropo-
dist rather than to the pension bu-
reau."
"A New England sea captain named
Cleveland has created a sensation by
bringing home a few hides of the sea
elephant, a giant seal thus far hunted
for oil alone The hides are said to
be more flexible and tougher than those
of cattle, and a process has been in
vented which produces from them
grade of leather superior to anything
hitherto known. The elephants have
increased rapidly in numbers during
the last score of years on account of
their comparative immunity from
slaughter. Capt. Cleveland's ship is
the first vessel to sail after sea ele-
plant hides, and at present she is the
only vessel after the seals for any rea-
son whatever.
Probably not less than 100000 arti-
fetal teeth are manufactured in this
country each year, and still the output
goes on increasing, says an exchange.
Never before was such great care
manifested for teeth as has been ex-
hibited during the past five years. In
this respect Americans lead the world,
not even the fastidious French excell-
ing the people of the United States in
their solicitude for the preservation of
natural teeth and in their application
of the arts of dental science when sub
stitutes have to be provided for ma
lures molarS. Englishmen are noto-
riously careless about their teeth, al
though in late years great progress has
been made in this matter. A prominent
dentist of New York declares that near
ly every patient with a mouthful of
decayed teeth is a foreigner. "They let
things drift he says, land come only
when pain drives them here. Ameri-
cans, and especially Southerners, hasten
to their dentist Immediately they de-
tect even the slightest signs of coming
trouble, and the result is that there
are by far more saved teeth in this
country than in any other. English
men and Irishmen are remarkably
apathetic about their molars, and win
go about for years with hopelessly de-
cayed teeth"
The French courts are wrestling
with the question, us a frog a fish?'
The average man would think that
there could be no doubt about the mat
ter, and that frog is not a fish, says
the New York Tribune. But in law
things are not always what they seem,
and several judges and a number of
barristers and solicitors have been ex-
ercising their ingenuity and learnedly
discussing the matter. The facts of
the case were as follows: In June last
two men were surprised by private
keepers fishing for frogs in private wa
ters at O'Clock in the morning, and
they were subsequently summoned for
poaching. In their defense the men
argued that frog were not fish, that
consequently they We're not fishing, and
could not in any way be convicted ac-
cording to the fishing laws. The police
court adopted this view of the case
and dismissed the summons. The
owners of the private waters appeal
ed, and the case was heard yesterday,
an inspector of rivers and forests ar
guing that, although frogs were not
fish, strictly speaking, they were
placed in the same category by law
The Appeal Court declined to accept
this view, and confirmed the decision
of the Police Court. but it appears that
| the prosecution was not satisfied with
this judgment and will ask the Court
of Cessation to declare that a frog is
a fish.
Perhaps no country presents a
more interesting phase to the student
of social problems than little Belgium,
where workingmen accept a minimum
wage Of from to cents an hour.
The minimum wage established bv
some of the cities for their contracts
is as follows: Cabinetmakers. IA
cents an hour; carpenters, the same
| bricklayers and masons, cents an
hour; bricklayers' laborers, 5 cents
plasterers, S-5 cents; plasterers' la
borers, So cents: PAYERS, Sh cents
| PAYERS, laborers, 61s cents; navyies,
612 cents; skaters, cents; skaters la
| borers, cents: stone cutters, 3-5
| cents; GLACIERS, ~ cents; house paint
| ers, 612 cents; plumbers, cents; IRON
| workers, cents; compoSitors, s cents
| printing machine tenders, 8 cents
dredgers, 91a cents; dredgers' laborers,
o12 cents Inc Antwerp dock labOrerS
| get 10 cents an hour The men on
| gagged in the building trades have a
| particularly hard time of it, The ma
| jority live in villages from ten to thir-
| ty miles from their work in the capi-
tai, and to reach their work they are
Obliged to get up as early as or 4
O'Clock in the morning, and to return
| to their homes as late as or 10
| O'Clock in the evening This drudgery
ends in the general breakup of the
health. One sees in the majority of
them tired, white faces, deformed
bodies and the unmistakable signs of
misery. Their MONDAY meal consists
Of slices of bread and oleonargarine,
washed down with black coffee, minus
milk or sugar, or, what is worse, the
cheapest and worst quality of gin,
their proverbial "schnick" Meat is a
luxury INDUCED in on Sundays only.
The collecting of what is called rain
bow wood is comparatively new in
dustry in Maine, says the New York
Sun. Though the jewellers along the
seaboard have known for years that
driftwood picked up from salt water
gave out iridescent tints when burned
in open CRATES they attached no value
to the coloring of the flames until the
rich summer visitors came down East
and changed the picking of driftwood
from an occupation akin unto idleness