The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-06-08
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

Nfarls),' the working day is from ten
to twelve hours. Wages are very low.
Stone-breakers earn III cents day;
rope-makers, 10 cents, with board and
lodging; brass-workers, A cents; shoe
makers, IA cents, with board and lodg-
ing; printers, % cents, with eating
only; mechanics, $3.50 a week. In the
cotton factories, even the larger ones,
it is rare that one can find workmen
whose wages exceed 10 cents for men
and cents for children. The workers
in the transportation service are even
more poorly paid. The vehicles are
even carried on the shoulders of the
men or drawn by them In Hong Kong
the earnings of a coolie engaged IN
street transportation amounts to IL
cents per day.
Senior Antonio de Campos Junior,
a Portuguese writer, contributes to La
Revue an historical sketch of The
First Europeans in Japan"-the Portu-
guese. He points out how, in 154l, the
Mikado's empire (the Jihpun, as the
Portuguese learned from the Chinese)
was visited by three Portuguese mer-
chants, who sailed from one of the
small towns of Cochin China, along
the Chinese coast, and were wrecked
during storm on the shores of Kago-
shima, the capital of the Daimo OF
SdISuIlld, III southern JAPAN light
years afterward, the Spanish jesuit,
Francis Xavier, under the protection
of the Portuguese, landed at Kago-
shima and began the work of Chris
tianization in Japan. This writer traces
the history of the relations between
Europe and Japan up to 1909, when the
Portuguese were expelled through the
intrigues, he declares, of the Dutch
merchants.
1t is a dreary picture of the min
er's life in Siberia presented by A.
Kolytscheff in the Russkaye Bogtstwo
Est. Petersburg). In speaking of the
education of. these miners, this writer
refers to the mines in the vicinity of
Tomsk, where more than 10000 work
men are employed, most of whom have
their families with them. They work
from six to seven months year tthe
other five months the winter is too Sc
we're to permit work., at from twelve
to fifteen hours day. and lodge in the
most miserable of barracks, on planks
or in little cabins, damp, cold ana
dirty They are forced to buy the ne
cessities Of life from company stores,
at an exorbitant price; and if they are
SICK they are attended by some few
ignorant infrmary employees, with no
books or libraries, and no schools for
grows up in ignorance, and the fathers
try to forget their miseries in drink.
"A patient cleaner of curious fields
in Missouri has been studying the
names of his state, and thinks they
throw some light on the habits and
moods Of the settlers, says an ex-
change. There is a place named Jolli-
fication; another, Bragtown; there is
an Economy, where 1t was, no doubt,
practiced of necessity in the early
days; a Bible Grove, reminiscent of
camp meeting times a Brandy Hill,
and, on the other hand, a Reform, a
Muscleville, once Inhabited by some
bellicose persons, and a Quick City,
which owes it's name to boomers who
wanted to reap a fortune from town
lots. Other places which were named
by the hopeful are JOY, Liberty, indie
pendence, Prosperity Progress, Sue
cess, while religious feeling is seen in
Zion, Paradise, Eden and Zealot. Other
places, like Blear Eye. Postum Hol-
low, Rum Dumb, Never Say Die, seem
to have been killed by their names.
"A dispatch from Galveston says: A
lad possessing gold affinities" has, by
developing his subtle powers, made
himself worth 100000. For ten years
Henry Zachary, a young man of Lock-
hart, to-day entered into a contract
with large mine owners. The miners
will Immediately take him to Alaska,
where he will locate veins. His pow
ers were first discovered about a year
ago, and to demonstrate his efficiency
he was taken to the gold fields of
California and Colorado, where he un-
erringly located veins of gold. In per-
forming his marvellous deeds he carries
xrvtfN III IL. 1T.
end of which is placed a piece of the
precious metal. AS he passes over a
vein this apparently connects the cur
rents through his hands, which percep-
tibly culver. His powers also extend
to silver and coal. A mining company
which has recently had him with them
in Hays county is sinking a shaft
where he told them gold would be
found in quantity.
Are we receiving less heat from
the sun? Returns have lately been
made to the Paris Academy of Sciences
by NJ, Dufour and NJ. Ladislas Cor
czynsR which seems to show that such
is the case, says the London Telegraph.
NJ. Dufour dates a marked diminution,
beginning in December, 1902 and M.
Gorczynsk reports that it began at
Warsaw in May of that year. Some
ODSeTNeTS are Inclined 10 aScflDe the
decrease of solar radiation to the dust
elected from Mont Pelee, others to the
/ increase of sun spots. It is improbable
that solar radiation varies sensibly
from year to year; but the quantity of
moisture in the air differs from day
to day. The year 1879 was cold in Eng
land, not because solar radiation was
less, but because the sky was nearly
always cloudy. We observe solar heat
and light at the bottom of an ocean of
air. the changes in which must have
far more to do with our records than
alterations on the suns surface. stu
pendous as these. are. Several countries
experienced a hot year in 1879, though
it was wet and cold one with us.
Since the earthquake IN Palestine
last April, says the London Graphic,
some one circulated the story that the
mouth of the river Jordan had been so
affected by the shock that the level of
the river had been altered to such an
extent that at the place where the his
toric river goes into the Dead Sea. there
was now waterfall of considerable
depth and strength. This IS altogether
false, and no change whatever has
taken place at or near the mouth of
the Jordan. The writer has Just spent
some days there and made II his spe-
;lal business to investigate this mat
ter. Much has also appeared in peri
odicals about steamboats, navigating
the Dead Sea. This, too, is a fabrica-
ton. The only boat on the Dead Sea
is a small sailing boat, about twenty
Mt