ORDERS FOR large quantities of aluminum have been received within the
last few weeks by the Pittsburg Reduction Company from the principal
foreign nations for the equipment of their armies. The contracts
aggregate about fifty tons a month, Russia being the largest consumer.
ACCORDING TO the return published by the Minister of Agriculture, the
consumption of horseflesh in Paris has decreased slightly in the last
year, being only 4,472 tons, as against 4,664 tons for 1895-96. This
was the meat derived from 20,878 horses, 53 mules and 232 donkeys
slaughtered during the twelve months; but a very strict supervision is
exercised, and 575 of these animals were condemned as unfit for human
food. The flesh of the remainder was sold at 190 stalls or shops, and,
although the fillet and undercut made as much as 9d. a pound, the
inferior parts sold for 2d. or less, and most of the meat was used for
making sausages.
ACCORDING TO La Propriété Industrielle, 5,372 Austrian patents were
granted in 1896 (5,215 in 1895). Of these, residents of the
Austro-Hungarian monarchy received 2,070 (2,031 in 1895), Austrians
coming first with 1,813 (1,683 in 1895), Hungarians second with 254
(347 in 1895), while residents of Bosnia and Herzegovina secured 3
patents (1 in 1895). Among foreigners the following show an increase
over 1895: United States, 394 (335); Great Britain, 355 (313); France,
244 (243); Switzerland, 94 (79); Belgium, 66 (48); Sweden and Norway,
60 (40); Italy, 50 (45); Russia, 47 (40); Australia, 32 (10); and
Netherlands, 26 (18). A decrease is shown by Germany, 1,887 (1,950);
Denmark, 10 (17); Canada, 7 (14); and Spain, 6 (10). The total number
of Austrian patents granted to foreigners in 1896 was 3,302, as
against 3,184 in 1895.
ENGLISH AND FRENCH LIGHTHOUSES.--An English engineer named Purves has
just made a comparison in regard to the intensity of light of the
lighthouses on the English coasts and those which illuminate the
shores of France. The comparison shows results which are altogether
favorable to France. The average illumination intensity of eighty-six
English lighthouses of the first class is 20,680 candle power, while
thirty-six first class French lighthouses give an average of 34,166
candle power. The difference is more striking if the lighthouses
constructed within the last ten years be considered. Since 1886 France
has built eleven lighthouses, whose average intensity of light is
8,200,000 candle power; the new lighthouse of Eckmühl gives
40,000,000. According to Mr. Purves, the superior intensity of light
of the French lighthouse lies in the use of the flashing rays, which
have not yet found favor in England.
IN AN address by Thomas Morris, before the Staffordshire, England,
iron and steel works managers on the remarkable achievements that have
been reached in the manufacture of fine wire, the interesting fact was
mentioned that the lecturer had been presented by Warrington, the wire
manufacturer, with specimens for which some $4.32 per pound were paid,
or more than $8,600 per ton--drawn wire, largely used in the
construction of piano and other musical and mechanical instruments.
Among these specimens also was pinion wire, at a market price of
$21.60 per pound, or $43,200 per ton. It took 754 hairsprings to weigh
an ounce of 437½ grains; 27,000,000 of these were required to make a
ton, and, taking one to be worth 1½ cents, the value of a ton of these
cheap little things ran up to over $400,000. The barbed instruments
used by dentists for extracting nerves from teeth were even more
expensive, representing some $2,150,000 per ton.
AT A fête in the Elysée Palace the other day one of the features
prepared for the entertainment of the guests was a cinematograph,
which contained views taken during President Faure's visit to St.
Petersburg. One of the pictures settled for the President a question
which had been troubling him considerably. Several months ago a German
paper printed an interview with Bismarck, in which the ex-chancellor
commented on M. Faure's visit to St. Petersburg, saying that the
Frenchman had conducted himself according to etiquette except on one
occasion, when, on his arrival in the Russian capital he had been
saluted by the Cossack guard of honor, he had returned the salute with
the hand, not with the hat. M. Faure being a civilian, this was a
serious breach of etiquette, Bismarck said. The interview was
reprinted in the French papers and caught the President's eye. He was
much concerned about the matter and asked several friends who had been
present if he had actually committed the breach. No one could
remember. Then came the cinematograph show. As the small audience
gazed upon the screen they saw the President's image advance with
slow, dignified step before the Cossacks, then all at once raise his
hand to his hat, which he lifted with the quick motion so familiar to
Parisians. The guests burst into applause and the President smiled.
Bismarck was mistaken.
"WE HEAR a great deal regarding the decline of our shipping interests,
and so far as our shipping in the foreign trade is concerned it is
unfortunately true," says The Boston Commercial Bulletin. "But few
people realize the immensity of our coastwise commerce. The Custom
House figures on the shipping of the port of New York for 1897 show
that there were 4,614 arrivals of vessels from foreign ports, 7,095
from Eastern domestic ports, and 3,798 from Southern domestic ports.
Of the foreign, 2,313 were British, of which 1,667 were steamships;
952 were American, of which 323 were steamships, and 517 were German
of which 444 were steamships. This statement shows that the arrivals
from American ports were nearly three times those from foreign
countries, though of course this proportion is not borne out in
tonnage, vessels on the deep sea trade averaging larger. But it will
be doubtless a surprise that of the shipping from foreign ports more
than one-fifth were American. At other Atlantic and Gulf ports this
proportion undoubtedly does not hold true, but these figures show a
less doleful condition of the American marine than some people have
been led to expect. When it is remembered that the coastwise fleet
numbers many steamers of 2,000 to 3,000 tons and many sailing craft of
1,000 tons and upward, it will be seen that we are yet a sea power of
the first class, in fact exceeded only by England."
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