The Savannah morning news., 1902-12-20
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

by the time another half century has
rolled round, says Leroy Beaulieu, the
French economist. Interest rates are
steadily decreasing, owing to the in
crease of ready money in the world
and it will not be long, he says, before
capitalists will be glad to take l per
| cent. 1t was not long ago that 10 per
cent. was usual. This means that in
the future persons of leisure will need
to have much larger fortunes in order
to live on their income.
The subject of ginseng growing
has attracted much attention during
the past few years, and now the news
comes of the forma ton of a ginseng
trust in Japan. The total yearly pro-
duction of this root is not over 10000
pounds, of which Korea contributes
$4,000, Japan 10000 and America 10000
pounds. The Korean government, by
uniformly maintaining a state monop-
oily and carefully controlling produc-
ton, has managed to keep the price
of Korean ginseng at s14.94 per pound,
while competition in Japan has kept
the price there down to 80 cents. Now
two enterprising Japs have conceived
the idea of forming a trust to raise the
price, and, 1t is said, will have the CO.
operation of the Korean bureau in
charge of the product there. If this
trust proves successful it may have
the effect of increasing the trade in the
American product, with greater profit
to producers as the outcome.
M. Inaudi, the French lighting cal
culator, has been puzzling Chicago
scientists by his wonderful mathemat-
ical ability. In from thirty to sixty
seconds he is able to solve any four
problems in arithmetic given him
Subtraction of numbers of twenty-one
places, finding the tenth power of a
number of three places, extracting the
square root of numbers up in the bill
lions, etc, are accomplished simulta-
neously in the time mentioned. While
solving these problems he permits his
audience to ask him questions as to
the number of seconds in any given
number of days, weeks or years, and
will answer several such questions
while mentally performing such prob
lens as those indicated. Some physi-
clans who have examined him think
he must possess two brains, working
Independently of each other. Lightning
calculators usually depend on the help
of confederates or on trick problems
to enable them to do featS which ap-
pear to be impossible.
Squared thereto by the losses sus-
tanned through smuggling, says the
London Mail. the Italian government
has determined to erect along the
SwisS-Italian frontier many miles of
metallic netting covered with bells.
The object is to prevent contradandists
sending over the frontier dogs
and other animals loaded with
dutiable goods-a device which,
has proved very profitable to
smugglers in the past, as it was car
ried out mainly at night, when the
guards could not see, the dogs. of
course, being trained to carry their
load to the smugglers' accomplices in
the next country. The netting has not
as yet been carried the entire length
of the frontier, but it will be extended
shortly. No one can climb over it,
nor can parcels of any kind be thrown
over, as it is too high, and when it is
touched the numerous bells start
changing and attract the attention of
the customs officers. Experiments
have proved that the cost of the de-
vice will be fully covered by the extra
duties obtained from persons who
would otherwise. escape, and in the
course of time a profit will be realized
for the government.
"A prize of ESQ was offered at the
Grocers' Exhibition at the Agricultural
Hall in London recently for a safe
lamp for burning kerosene. The lamp
was not to cost more than Is. Sd. at
wholesale. The kind of lamp which is
looked upon in London as a. safety
lamp" is interestingly set forth in the
following abstract from the Petroleum
Industrial and Technical Review:
ri1.n Nf he -
produce a cheap lamp, which could be
sold even in the poorest districts, and
which could be used with the maxi
mum of safety, and one which re-
quired the minimum of technical
knowledge in handling. They did not
require a lamp which needed the in
ventor sold with ii in order to enable
it to act; they wanted to find a lamp
that would be safe when a man came
home drunk at night. One of the most
serious problems of London was as to
how they could protect those diseased
with drunkenness against themselves.
Therefore, they wanted to find lamp
which, if thrown by drunken man at
his wife, or children, would automati-
cally put itself out, so that the man.
if he unfortunately inflicted any in
jury on his wife, should not, at the
same time, burn down his house and
-Fanciful minds may find an omi-
nous significance in the name of the
Venezuelan port where the British and
Germany guns have first been aimed
at things ashore, says the New York
Times. "Cabello," in Spanish, means
hair" and Puerto Cabello" was in
vented in the sailing ship days to ex-
press the fact that the harbor. be-
cause of its narrow entrance and pro-
tecting hills, was a particularly safe
one-so safe that there vessels could
be anchored with a hair. That, at
any rate, is the legend current along
what used to be called the Spanish
Main, and, though the student OF
names or of etymology who relies on
legends for his theories is extremely
apt to go astray, perhaps this one is
true. And even if no ship ever was or
could have been anchored by a hair In
Puerto Cabello, that doesn't prove the
name to be now incongruous BY Civ
ing free rein to timidity, one can cas-
lily come to feel that several things
vastly more important than ships
among those things the peace of ma
tons and the friendship of peoples
are hanging by hair right where the
galleons did or didn't do it in the days
gone by. Such an idea is moderately
nonsensical, to be sure, but the old
yarn of the sailor men does in a way
suggest and justify it.
Nearly all great men have had sp-
perstitions of some sort or other. Ma
poleon with his star, Bismarck with