The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-06-09
COMMENTS CULLED FROM
 PAPERS HERE AND THERE

Uncle Sam gives employment to a great army of men and as a rule pays them very we'll but few people would be willing to work for him at s1 per year The Savannah News tells of government employe whose annual stipend does not exceed that amount.
 The smallest salary paid by the gov ernment of the United States to any pub lie servant is received by Charles Henry Gibbs of Nantucket R. l., keeper of the Bug Light" This lighthouse has been put out of commission because the shift ing sands outside of Nantucket harbor have made it useless, but the government allows MT. Gibbs. an ancient mariner. to live in the place. to protect the prop erty, and it pays him $1 a year
 In the death of Paul du chaillu the literary world lost one of It's most enter taining writers. His books for children describing adventures in the dark con tinent have delighted thousands of young people in addition to furnishing them with much entertaining scientific lore. The animals and fora of Africa were an open book to the distinguished French man. The following character sketch of Chailu written by J. M. Barvil in 1887, will prove of interest to all who have read his works.
 Many Londoners must this summer have encountered on the tops of omni- buses. where he revels a small wiry look ing man, with strange brown eyes, re- markable animal spirits. and very little hair on his head. His talk is singularly fresh. You gather from his conversation that he Is American, and that he is either setting out for Norway or has Just re- turned from Copenhagen. Looking Into his face, which can be stern, determined rugged, even while gleam of humor turks in the eyes, you would take him for a man of 50 with the experience of a hundred. Watch him clambering from the bus and disappearing round corner and you conclude that he is school boy. This Is Paul du Chaillu."
 The Boston Herald has again called at- tention to the much better record made by British railroads in the matter of ac- cidents than Is shown by statistics for American lines. Small accidents on the numerous railroads of the United States are of almost daily occurrence and fre- quently fast express trains smash to- gether with an appalling loss of lie.
 The Cleveland Plain Dealer makes an interesting comparison of the accident records on American railroads and the British lines which casts discredit on the former, to say the least.
 It is well known that British lines carry more passengers than do the American, and taking both countries over, run fas- ter trains. Poor's Railroad Manual for 1902 shows that last year 800, 4S5.79O pas sengers were carried by American roads, while the total for the United Kingdom was 11Ss, 56S,O OOO These latter figures are from the report of the British board of trade for last year. They show that British lines carry almost twice as many passengers as the American.
 This showing is a strong one for the British lines, and one in which Ameri- cans will find little satisfaction. The Herald points out that there are, how ever, no statistics relating to passenger mileage. which would be the most satis- factory basis of comparison, since the passengers risk is influenced by the dis tance travelled no less than by the num- Der of trains travelled on.
 Figures from continental countries, published from time to time, have been only less significant than those collected in Great Britain. It is a demonstrated and admitted fact that such accidents as have become familiar to Americans occur abroad only at the rarest inter- vas. It Is a truth not creditabe to American construction or administrative genius.