Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1908-12-24
SOMETHING FOR EVERYBODY


dad. has Il foreign trade of nearly
S25.000,0OO a year
British Honduras is short of labor
Tor Its increasing fruit growing and is
trying to get coolies from India.
Central Park In New York city is
assessed at the valuation of S215,000,
600, not for the purpose of taxation,
but so as TO show the amount of real
estate value that is exempt from
taxes.
There is an agreement among the
keepers of first-class restaurants in
New York city that the business would
not pay, on the scale now followed, if
1t were not for the sale Of alcoholic
beverages.
st. Louis and other Western cities
expect TO be able soon to feast on Mex
lean oranges every year from the mid
die of October on, these oranges being
ripe month or 50 earlier than the
California fruit.
Palestine's ancient wells, famous in
history for centuries, are giving way
to pumping by modern engines and out
fits, particularly for watering gardens
and orchards. There is a large de-
mand for and import of pumps.
The new docks at Rio de Janeiro.
Brazil, are to be further enlarged at
cost Of 65,000000 milreis (S195OO,-
OOO), In addition to the extensive dock
work now going on. The docks are
owned by the Brazilian Federal gov
eminent
Chinese are discarding the old oiled
paper umbrellas, in use for centuries,
in favor of the kind of umbrellas used
In Europe and America. Germany and
Japan are fighting for the trade. Last
year China imported 1,102.333 umbrel
las and the year before 1,3s0,111.
Introduction of motor boats into the
fishing industry is held to be RESPONSE.
BILE for the steady increase in that in
dustry In Norway. These boats make
it possible for the fishermen to make
much larger catch and also furnish
better protection in rough weather and
are safer than the old boats driven by
sails.
Women employed as ordinary day la
borers in the construction of buildings,
mixing the mortar, sitting sand and
carrying bricks and for unloading coal.
are the unusual conditions described
as existing in Prague and elsewhere in
Bohemia. The women are paid from
80 to 40 cents a day. The working day
for these women is from 6 a. m. to 6
p. m, with an hour for dinner.
Japan's second largest steamship
company, the Alaska Shosen Kaisha,
is starting semi-monthly service to
the United States with six vessels,
using Tacoma and Seattle as starting
points and Hongkong as the terminus.
An agreement to this effect has been
made with the Chicago, Milwaukee and
st. Paul Railway Company, to begin
in August, 1909 The six vessels are
now being built at Kobe and Maya
saki.
Here is a possible explanation of the
strong prediction j. Pierpont Morgan
has for cigars. According to the Unit
ed States Tobacco Journal, the Chester
School, of Waterbury, which the finan-
cier once attended, has sued a man in
Hamden, Conn, for years board and
tuition for his son. The defendant
makes the answer for his refusal to
pay that the school officials and teach
ers used tobacco in the presence of the
pupils, thereby encouraging them to
contract the habit.
Charles Francis Barker, of Boston,
has held the title of American cham
pion at checkers for about thirty
years, and has just shown that his
grip on it Is firm by defeating Joseph
Drouillard, of Kansas City, in a match
of fifty games. Barker won ten games
in the match, while Drouillard cap
tured only two, the remaining games
resulting in draws. Incidentally, it
cost Drouillard and his friends $1,000
to test Barker's mettle. The match
was played in Kansas City.
After the performance of the "Goet-
erdaemmerung' in Paris recently, &C
cording to Figaro, complaint was en-
tered by Wagner enthusiasts because
the opera had not been performed in
it's entirety. The directors, Massager
and Broussau, made reply in an open
letter to the effect that to render the
complete work several times in one
week would overtax the performers,
and "inasmuch as we give four hours
and twenty minutes of music, we
should not be blamed for emitting
parts which could be rendered in sew
enteen minutes"
An English inventor has devised a
process by which it Is possible to puri-
fy rock salt direct, and on a basis
which is not commercially prohibitive,
declares Popular Mechanics. Hitherto,
in preparing white table salt from rock
it has been necessary to depend upon
the evaporation of brine. The new
process consists of melting the rock
salt and then driving compressed air
through the molten mass Impurities
are separated and deposited, and the
salt is left white and pure. The puri-
fed salt is found to be exceptionally
fine. and, being anrydrous, does not
cake after the fashion Of brine salt.
On the Hedjaz railway in Arabia
there is to be operated a carriage fitted
I'D as a mosque, where pilgrims will
be able to perform their devotions dur
ing the journey to the sacred cities.
Externally the praying carriage is only
distinguishable from the Others car
riages by a minaret six feet high. The
interior is luxuriously fitted. The floor
is covered with the richest Of Persian
carpets, while around the sides are
verses from the Koran appropriate to
the pilgrimage and in letters Of gold.
A ;,rS7;no roc tho direction nF Moo