Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1903-07-24
NOTES OF READING
And Bits Of Fact. Gathered Here, There and
Everywhere.

CouueCteu ny WlIeleSS teleSrapny.
Nearly all the safety matches which
are safe against friction on sandpaper,
stone, wood, or brick ignite readily
from quick rub on glass.
The life OF a dime is only four or
five years, because it changes hands
ten times while half dollar is moved
once from one PERSONS pocket into the
till of another.
OF Alaska's shipments to the United
States but 80 per cent. in value is gold.
The value Of canned salmon alone is
IS. 400, 900 or 81 100000 more than Mr..
Seward as Secretary OF State paid for
the country.
Ten years ago cents were little used
in California and the South, and were
practically unknown in Nevada, Wy
oming and Arizona, but to-day they
circulate everywhere for the benefit of
the slot machines.
In Germany, whose educational ad.
vantages are better than those of any
other European country, the number
of university students to each 10000
inhabitants is 7.S7, while in the United
States it is 1916. In Great Britain it
is but 5.
Pelican island, in Indian river, on
the coast of Florida, has been acquired
by the Department OF Agriculture as a
government reservation. The step
was taken to prevent the entire ex-
tinction of the brown pelicans which
breed there.
The number of claims for pensions
filed for injuries in our 100 day war
with Spain is now 10000, and at the
present rate there will soon be half as
many claims as there were men in the
war, although but 10000 went to Cuba
and but two or three regiments to
Porto Rico.
A razor is a saw, not a knife, and il
works like a saw, not like a knife.
Under the microscope its edge is seen
to have innumerable and fine saw
teeth. When these teeth get clogged
with dirt honing and stropping will dc
no good. Dipping it in hot water dis.
solves out the debris from between the
teeth.
A government secret service man
calls attention to the fact that gov.
ernment dollars, being stamped cold
from silver in sheets, have clean cut
lines, while nodded coin have not, and
are detected at once. For counter
feiters TO operate plant as expensive
or as noisy as is necessary to stamp
out dollars is impossible.
With China opened to commerce,
her crowded, unsanitary cities-nOne
of them have either sewers or water
works-will become q menace to the
health of the world. Smallpox is al
ways prevalent in them, cholera is
often epidemic, and plague can be
found in every large town. These
may constitute the real "yellow peril
Prof. Lindsay, Commissioner of
Schools in Porto Rico, is putting two
teachers in each rural school, one to
teach in the house and the other out
of doors, the children being divided
into two classes, one.halt working in
the house and one-half in the garden
each child spends half his time work.
ing with books aud the other half
with tools.
Not more than 400 of the "cedars
of Lebanon" are standing to-day.
They do not, though their age is meas
ured in years by thousands, rival in
dimensions the cedars of the western
world, the largest, so slow is their
growth, being but twelve feet in diam.
eter. No tree gives so great an ex-
panse of shade as the cedar, and it
never dies except from lightning stroke
or the woodman's Ak.
The United States army has driven
out the plague from the Philippines
as effectively as it cleared Cuba of yell
low fever. The tireless vigilance of
the uninterrupted war on rats and
filth for seven months brought vic.
tory. A bounty was paid for rats
alive or dead. each being tagged with
its address, so that if microscopic ex.
animation of it showed plague the
house from which it came could be
disinfected or burned. Of the 10000
rats caught 40,666 were examined and
242 were found to be suffering from
the plague.
The uses to which the army is put
have increased in both number and
Importance since the Spanish war. In
Porto Rico it distributed food after the
hurricane and provided for fair elec-
tions; in the Philippines before war
ceased the army established schools.
with soldier teachers, stopped small
pox by enforcing vaccination, and i'm.
proved sanitation, which excluded
other contagious diseases. 4 stable
government and healthy cities were
given Cuba by the army, so that coun-
try no longer menaces our southern
! cities with epidemics.