The Savannah morning news., 1902-12-01
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

pleLe suit Oh woven wire SduLe WHICH
the wire man dons when he goes to
work. Commenting on this idea, the
Electrical Review of New York, says:
1T is good. theoretically, but it can
hardly have much practical value. A
pair of rubber gloves can be put on
more easily, while the usual method of
not providing any protection whatever
is even less troublesome. Moreover,
the life of this armor would not be
long, and there are few wire men who
will tolerate the irritation produced on
the cuticle by but one or two broken
ends of wire. Why not make this
armor of spun glass cloth?" .r.
Ali through the Arctic Region the
inhabitants are fast. disappearing. The
Alaskan Eskimos have been greatly re-
duced in numbers. When explorers first
went among them their number was
believed to be from 2,000 to 5000. Now
it is thought that hardly more than 500
people can be counted from Point Bar
row to the Aleutian Islands. The lot
of these unfortunate natives has been
made harder to bear by reason of the
destruction of sea life by the whalers
who harried the Alaskan coast. The
determination of the seal, walrus and
polar, bear has likewise done its share
to embitter the. cup of the Northern
races. In Southwest Greenland a SIM
liar condition of affairs exists. The
10000 natives are barely holding their
own, although largely aided by the
Danes. Labrador natives are like
wise decreasing. Twenty years ago
they numbered 10000; now they num-
Der barely. $1,000 souls. Two decades
ago the entire population of the north
was estimated at 10000. 1t is probable
to-day that the number has been al
most cut in two.
-One Of the new articles of war. re-
Gently promulgated by the German
Emperor deals with the treatment of
privates by officers and. non-commis-
stoned officers, and says that who
ever treats his subordinates in a man.
ner contrary to the regulations, who
ever insults or maltreats them, and
whoever abuses his official power so
as to obtain advantages for himself
at the expense of his subordinates will
be severely punished" Complaints are
to be made through the proper chan
nels. but anything like common action
on the collection of signatures for COM
plants is forbidden under penalties.
The articles are to be published In
Lithuanian, Polish, Danish and French,
as we'll as in German, so that all re-
Special stress is laid upon the privi-
leges as we'll as the duties of the SOL
dier, and the rewards of the highest
military rank are declared to be open
to ability and merit. 1t is notorious,
however, that there are few If any
instances in the modern Prussian army
of private soldiers rising to high rank,
while as for the Jews, they have no
chance at all even of getting a COM
mission.
During the year 1901 the press of
this country and of Europe teemed
with reports of the dreadful famine
conditions ruling in certain parts of
Russia. At the time the Russian gov
ernment seemed prone to look at the
matter through colored spectacles, or,
at least, while it did not actually deny
the truthfulness of the reports, 1t did
its best to prove that the situation was
much exaggerated. The official report
of the Minister of the Interior, which
has just meen published, however,
shows that the press reports were, If
anything. too lightly drawn; in fact,
he goes so far as to say that the fam
inc was a ''national calamity" affect.
sing ,as it did, no less than seventeen
governments and two territories, with
a population of twenty-four millions.
The work of relief was under the SUI
preme direction of a special commit
tee, including members of the Minis
tries of Finance, Ways of Communica-
ton and of Agriculture, as well as a
representative of the Board of Impe-
rial Control. The work of local organi-
zation was in the main intrusted to the
district marshals of nobility, who were
endowed with extensive powers. Some
thirty million pools of grain were
distributed, of which thirteen millions
were used as food and the rest as seed.
The money spent on this and on other
measures for providing the people with
nourishment amounted to 33, 500, 900 rou-
bles. Attempts were made to provide
work for the unemployed peasantry.
The Ministry of Ways of Communica-
ton found occupation for $4,000 men,
and 1000 men were taken from the
famine districts to work on the north
ern railway and other lines. Accord
ing to the report, there was little
famine scurvy except in the govern
ment of Ufa, where $4,000 people were
affected, and one of the districts of
the province of Saratoff, where the
disease prevailed throughout the whole
year, though with less intensity. At
the conclusion of his report the minis
ter suggests that permanent measures
should be taken. to provide work for
the ldIllUe-StFlCkeIl, ana LndL reserves
of grain should be stored in places
which are too remote for ready access.
There is a curious thing about
baseball playing and one that suggests
a rather singular problem" said a man
who has spent some time on the dia-
mond. according to the New Orleans
Times-Democrat, "and that is the
question as to just when the eyes of
the player leave the ball. In but very
few instances do the eyes of the play
er remain on the ball until the ball is
cupped by the hands. Mind you, 1 am
hot saying this to belittle the part the
eyes play in the game. Good eyes, ac-
curate eyes, are essential to good play
ing. No man can become a good pitch
er, good catcher, a good fielder or a
good man at any other part in the
great American game unless he has
good eyes. i have an idea, based to
some extent on experience, and partly
on observation, that the man who does
field work stands more in need of &C.
curate eyes than almost any other raan
in the game. At any rate, he needs an
accurate eye. The catcher needs a
quick eye. The pitcher by a general
survey, can meet all the usual reQuire-
ments Of the game. The accuracy and
deception displayed in throwing the
ball are the main things With him.
But the man who is doing field work
frequently has the most delicate kind
of discriminating TO do wien the ball
is batted out TO him. ThB brings me
to the point I had in mild. The man
who catches ball, no mttter what his
position as player. nevf sees the ball