Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-01-25
GLEANINGs AND GOSSIP.

tlacted from dogs.
The tax on playing-cards brought III
over $11, 900 more during last November
than during the same month in l5oS.
A New York man now claims 10
have seen Halley'S comet without the
aid of q telescope. And so soon AFTER
January l. too.
A former baseball umpire has APP
piled for the job of executioner in one
OF the western states. He's evidently
trying to get his revenge.
England appears to be much sur
prised over the number OF spinsters
revealed in her last census. 1t was to
be expected. Half the poor English
men marry rich American girls.
1t is almost time for the baseball
news to be creeping into the sporting
page The teams will soon head South
| fer the spring practice and then IA lot
of men will have something to talk
about.
A boy in Cleveland swallowed a
needle recently and then coughed it
| up Just as the surgeons were getting
ready to operate on him. 1t was TAX
| ing d rather unfair advantage of the
profession.
When the japanese go to the tele-
phone they DO not call Hello but
"Moshi moshi." 1t is much more SEN
siblt than the way the French try to
copy the American expression by say
| ing 'Elllo. clio"
| One OF the great silk dyeing firms at
| Lyons, France, has just brought big
| factory at Paterson, n. j., for several
| million dollars, and will make there a
high grade of silk that has heretofore
been imported. There seems to be
some fear in France that other manu-
| facturers will follow this lead and sc
| take skilled workmen out of France.
The poorer people in Holland never
wear rubberS as their wooden shoes
are an excellent substitute. The. mid
| die class never do either, Dreferring tC
| slop along through the mud IN their
| ordinary shoes and get their feet wet
Only The richer people use overshoes sc
| the Dutch market for rubbers is re-
stricted.
The new ST. Louis bridge will be the
first important bridge to be built en-
| tirely of nicllc steel. Two plans We're
| Dll uJpll. oIt tdliiliS III o-,Vp',ovo
pounds of ordinary steel and the other
| for 100000 pounds of nickel steel.
| The successful bidder gave the same
| figure for either form of construction
| or S1o3 a tor or 2HO0 pounds
The bank of England is considered
| to have one of the most nearly impreg
nabie vaults of any bank in the world.
| 1t is 66 feet below the street level. and
above it is 90 feet OF concrete holding
seven feet of water. and below is the
same sort of barrier. Tunneling into
! it is impossible, and a soldier stands
guard over it's doors every second Of
| the day and night
Queen Margherita has a weakness
| for the books of American and English
novelSts. She also reads English and
American magazines and it is her opin-
| ion that the American school of short
story writer's at present is the best in
the world. The queen gives over sew
eral hours every day 10 fiction She
reads extensively in Italian, of course,
but her especial fondness is for books
of English. She talks and writes Eng
fish huently and in all literature likes
nothing so much as tales of western
life, whether of the mining camp or
the ranch. She has read almost every
thing that has been written about the
cowboy.
Statistics furnished by the mint show
that the worlds production of gold in
1903 exceeded that of 1907 in value by
$31, 376.OoO The total yield was 2l,37S,-
$50 fine ounces, which We're worth SAIL,
fol vic in, ba u-nrll' c
silver in 1908 was 2O3 1S6.370 fine ounces.
an increase over the output in 1907 of
Is 999, 800 fine ounces. Africa led all
other countries in gold production in
$685. While Australia was the heaviest
loser Mexico was first in silver pro-
duction with an increase of 12,511.0 600
fine ounces. and Canada was second
with gain of 1926. 400 fine ounces. The
United states lost in silver, in compar
ison with 1907 4,O74.0OO fine ounces.
The commercial value of Latin AM
erica is measured by its imports is now
about 81 900 .000.0 900 year. That figure
was reached in 1907. The Worldwide
commercial depression reduced the
total to 5000, 900 900 in 1908. The pres
ent century opened with imports of
about $500, 100000 On d basis of the av-
erage imports for the years 1870 and
1908 and Latin-American increase
alone since 1899 is about S. per cent Of
the total imports of China. Japan,
Hong. Korea and Manchuria. In total
value the imports of Latin America
are nearly double those of the COM
bired imports of the countries of the
Asiatic coast north CT the goth parallel
of latitude.-New York Sun.
The Importance of paper in interna-
tional commerce is evinced by the fact
that upward of 80 countries give it sep
arate enumeration in their official
statements of imports and exports. OF
the $135, 100000 worth of paper and pa
per manufactures exported annually
by various nations. practically all is
shipped from dozen countries. but is
distributed to practically every corner
of the world. In the expectation of
paper and paper manufactures Ger
many stands easily at the head, being
credited with total export of $35,OOO,-
600 compared with S22, 100000 from
Netherlands. $13,3333333S3 from Austria
Hungary, 11,500,0O0 from the United