personal opinion. Among political orators Patrick Henry, James Otis,
Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, Thomas Pike, Sergeant Smith Prentiss,
John C. Calhoun stand among the most illustrious. As to pulpit
orators, it would be invidious to name one without designating at
least fifty who are evidently of the same rank. Our great poets have
not been many. First among them have been and still are, as regards
fame, William Cullen Bryant, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, George
Denison Prentice, and Nathaniel P. Willis. Whittier, T. Buchanan
Read, Holmes. Lowell, Miller, Holland, Saxe, Morris, Mrs. Sigourney,
are poets not soon to be forgotten. Irving, Sparks, Prescott,
Bancroft, are among our most eminent historians. Fulton, inventor
of the steamboat; Morse, inventor of the first practical electric
telegraph; Whitney, inventor of the cotton-gin, and Howe, inventor
of the first successful sewing machine, are among the first of the
ten thousand American inventors who have done the world noteworthy
service. Edison and several hundred other inventors, who have
improved upon the inventions of their predecessors until they have
doubled, trebled, and in some instances quadrupled their value to the
world, are quite as worthy to be remembered.
RAILROAD LAND GRANTS.
OSHKOSH, Wis.
Give us the total amount of public lands granted by the United
States to aid in the construction of railways, and oblige a
subscriber.
W. L. FROST.
_Answer._—The table below shows the total land grants made by the
United States down to 1880, as given in “The West in 1880.”
States and Acres Acres
Corporations. Granted. Certified.
Illinois 2,595,053 2,595,053
Missouri 2,985,160 1,828,005
Iowa 6,795,527 3,940,270
Michigan 4,712,480 3,328,987
Wisconsin 4,808,486 2,672,803
Minnesota 9,992,041 6,925,351
Kansas 9,370,000 3,851,536
Pacific Railroad 159,486,766 8,831,687
——————————— ——————————
Total 215,203,807 42,847,403
These grants, amounting in the aggregate to 215,203,807 acres, or
over 355,000 square miles, are only about 6,000 miles less in area
than all the original thirteen States of the Union taken together,
and is more than 60 per cent greater than the total area of the
German Empire. Fortunately for the country, a number of these grants
have been forfeited; yet, as above shown, 42,847,403 acres, or more
than the total area of England and Wales together, had been actually
certified to the States and roads named before June 30, 1879; and
many acres have been certified since that time. The exact amount
down to date is not yet published. To avoid taxation, the railroads
entitled to public lands delay taking their certificates until the
settlement of the country and opportunity for selling make it to
their interest to do so. A large amount of the land covered by the
above grants will be certified to the grantees on demand.
POPULATION OF THE GLOBE.
UNIONVILLE, Iowa.
Please state in Our Curiosity Shop the estimated present population
of the world. Also, the population of the United States according
to the revised census of 1880.
A. J. R.
_Answer._—The population of the entire globe is still far from being
definitely determined. Hardly two original investigators agree. In
this country the estimates of Drs. Behm and Wagner are generally
accepted as the most reliable, yet their latest figures differ from
those of two years before by upward of 22,000,000. Then they stated
the population of the entire globe at 1,455,923,500, whereas now they
state it at 1,433,887,500, distributed as follows:
Europe 327,743,400
Asia 795,591,000
Africa 205,823,200
America 100,415,400
Australia and Polynesia 4,232,000
Polar regions 82,500
One might infer from this that instead of increasing, as would
be naturally expected, the human race is dying out: but closer
inspection shows that the estimate of the population of China has
been reduced about 55,000,000. Accepting this and all the other
estimates, there seems to be an increase in other countries of about
33,000,000; part of which is due to the fact that the geographers had
the benefit of the census takers in different countries in 1880 and
1881, showing the growth of five to ten years. The total population
of the United States in 1880, according to the revised census, is
50,155,783.
DRINKING FROM SKULLS.
BURLINGTON, Iowa.
What is the origin of the expression “A soldier’s drinking cup,” as
applied to a human skull?
WM. A. T.
_Answer._—Thomas Middleton was a dramatic writer who flourished in
the early part of the seventeenth century. In “The Witch,” one of his
most celebrated plays, when “the Duke” takes a bowl and is told that
it is a skull, he exclaims:
“Call it a soldier’s cup;
Our Duchess, I know, will pledge us, tho’ the cup
Was once her father’s head, which, as a trophy,
We’ll keep till death.”
The barbarous custom of converting the skulls of enemies into
drinking cups was a common one in ancient times among the fierce
tribes of Northern Europe; and was not unknown to the more civilized
regions of the South. The Italian poet, Marino, makes a conclave of
friends in Pandemonium quaff wine from the skull of Minerva. In his
“Wonder of a Kingdom,” Torrent makes Dakker say:
“Would I had ten thousand soldiers’ heads,
Their skulls set all in silver, to drink healths
To his confusion who first invented war.”
The old Scandinavian sagas represent as among the delights of the
immortals the felicity of feasting and drinking to drunkenness from
the skulls of the foes they had vanquished on earth. Mandeville goes
further, and represents the Guebres as exposing the dead bodies of
their parents to the fowls of the air until nothing but the skeletons
remained, and preserving the skulls to be used in a spirit of
devotion as drinking cups.
GENERAL WILLIAM W. AVERELL.
ETNA, Mo.
Give a short sketch of General Averell.
M. M. SHANES.
_Answer._—General William W. Averell was born in the State of New
York in 1830. At the age of 25 he graduated at West Point, and
began his military career as Lieutenant of mounted riflemen on the
Western frontier. In the rebellion he took an active part in the
battles of Bull Run, Yorktown, Williamsburg, Fair Oaks, Malvern Hill,
Fredericksburg, Kelly’s Ford, Opequan, Fisher’s Hill, and various
other engagements in West Virginia, Tennessee, and the Shenandoah
Valley, at the same time being successively brevetted Major,
Lieutenant Colonel, Colonel, Brigadier General, and Major General, U.
S. A. In 1865 he resigned, and in the following year represented the
United States as Consul General in Canada. Afterward he retired to
accept the Presidency of a manufacturing company in New York.
PRINCE GORTSCHAKOFF AND THE UNION.
CHICAGO, Ill.
What was the action of the late Prince Gortschakoff during our
civil war that is alluded to in the recent obituary notices of that
diplomat as a reason for the gratitude of Americans?
O. N. ADAMS.
_Answer._—Prince Alexander M. Gortschakoff, who was at that time the
Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, when invited, at a critical
time in the history of our civil war, to associate Russia with
England and France in their unfriendly attitude toward the United
States, involving, among other things, a proposition to recognize the
independence of the Southern Confederacy, positively declined. The
following extract from one of his state papers at that juncture shows
his disposition toward this country, which he quickly emphasized by
dispatching a Russian fleet to New York as a proof of his friendship
and sincerity; an act which greatly alarmed and disconcerted both
England and France, since many of their politicians jumped to the
inference that there was a secret treaty of alliance between the two
countries, and that in case of a rupture Russia would openly take
sides with the United States. These are the words of the dispatch
alluded to, and Americans should not soon forget them:
“The North American Republic not only presents itself to us as an
indispensable element of the international balance of power, but,
besides that, it is a Nation toward which our most august Emperor
and the whole of Russia have always had a most friendly disposition,
because both countries are in the ascendant period of their
development, and seemed called to a natural unity of interests and
sympathies, proofs of which have already been given on both sides.”
WOOD USED AS FUEL.
MOLINE, Ill.
How does the amount of wood used as fuel in Illinois compare with
the quantity used in Pennsylvania, New York State, Iowa, and
Kansas? State the average for each inhabitant, and tell the average
price of such fuel in each of these States, so far as the market
prices can be ascertained.
D. MORGAN.
_Answer._—The extent to which wood is used as fuel in the United
States, and the estimated value of the same, are among the subjects
investigated by the present Census Bureau. The special agent in
charge of this investigation estimates that there were 32,375,000
persons in the United States in 1880 using wood as fuel for domestic
purposes, consuming 140,537,439 cords, valued at $306,950,040.
Besides this, there were about five and a quarter million cords
consumed for other purposes, making a total of nearly three hundred
and twenty-two million cords, as follows:
Uses. Cords. Value.
Domestic use 140,537,439 $306,950,040
Railroads 1,971,813 5,126,714
Steamboats 787,862 1,872,083
In mining and amalgamating
precious metal 358,074 2,874,593
Other mining operations 266,771 673,692
Manufacture of brick and tile 1,157,522 3,978,331
Manufacture of salt 540,448 421,681
Manufacture of wool 158,208 425,239
——————————— ————————————
Grand total 145,778,137 $321,962,273
The amount of wood used for domestic purposes is given by States as
follows:
States. Cords. Value.
Alabama 6,076,754 $8,727,377
Arizona 170,017 724,572
Arkansas 3,922,400 5,095,821
California 1,748,062 7,693,731
Colorado 426,719 1,638,783
Connecticut 525,639 2,371,532
Dakota 422,948 2,028,300
Delaware 177,306 751,311
District of Columbia 26,902 80,706
Florida 609,046 1,230,412
Georgia 5,910,045 8,279,245
Idaho 09,910 383,689
Illinois 5,200,104 14,136,662
Indiana 7,059,874 13,334,729
Iowa 4,090,649 14,611,280
Kansas 2,095,438 7,328,723
Kentucky 7,994,813 13,313,220
Louisiana 1,944,858 4,607,415
Maine 1,215,881 4,078,137
Maryland 1,152,910 3,170,941
Massachusetts 890,041 4,613,263
Michigan 7,838,904 13,197,240
Minnesota 1,669,568 5,873,421
Mississippi 5,090,758 7,145,116
Missouri 4,016,373 8,633,465
Montana 119,947 460,638
Nebraska 908,188 3,859,843
Nevada 155,276 972,712
New Hampshire 567,719 1,964,669
New Jersey 642,598 2,787,216
New Mexico 169,946 1,063,360
New York 11,290,975 37,599,364
North Carolina 7,434,690 9,019,569
Ohio 8,191,543 16,492,574
Oregon 482,254 1,254,511
Pennsylvania 7,361,962 15,067,651
Rhode Island 154,953 706,011
South Carolina 3,670,959 11,505,997
Tennessee 8,084,611 10,674,722
Texas 4,883,852 10,177,311
Utah 171,923 418,289
Vermont 782,338 2,509,189
Virginia 5,416,112 10,404,134
Washington 184,226 499,904
West Virginia 2,241,069 3,374,701
Wisconsin 7,206,126 11,863,739
Wyoming 40,218 224,848
From the above data we have prepared the following table showing the
average number of cords consumed for domestic purposes only (stated
in cords and hundredths of a cord), the average price per cord, and
total consumption for each man, woman, and child in each of the
States named in the above question:
Cords Value Cost
per per per
States. capita. cord. capita.
In Pennsylvania 1.72 $2.05 $3.52
In New York 2.22 3.32 7.37
In Illinois 1.70 2.27 4.90
In Iowa 2.45 3.57 8.75
In Kansas 2.14 3.50 7.49
According to this exhibit the effect of the marvelous coal fields
of Pennsylvania and Illinois on the consumption and price of wood is
very apparent and significant. The above does not include the wood
converted into charcoal, of which there were 74,008,972 bushels,
valued at $5,276,736, consumed in the production of iron and the
precious metals in the twenty largest cities of the Union; which does
not cover probably half the entire amount used in this country.
LARGEST AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVES.
KEOKUK, Iowa.
What is the weight of the largest locomotive engine; and what is
the number of its drive wheels?
READER.
_Answer._—This question was referred to Messrs. Burnham, Parry,
Williams & Co., of the Baldwin Locomotive Works, and their reply in
full is subjoined:
“Replying to your favor of the 8th inst., we may say that there
has been considerable activity of late in the construction of very
large locomotives, the most approved railroad practice having
changed materially within the past few years with respect to the
weight of the engines employed. We have recently built some very
heavy locomotives for the Northern Pacific Railroad, which weigh,
in working order, exclusive of the tender, about 115,000 pounds.
The tenders with coal and water weigh about 65,000 pounds each,
additional, making the total weight of engine and tender some ninety
net tons. These engines have cylinders 20x24 inches.
The Central Pacific Railroad Company have recently built in their
Sacramento shops some very heavy locomotives with four pairs of
driving wheels coupled and a leading four-wheeled truck, which weigh
in working order, exclusive of the tender, about 123,000 pounds.
The weight of the tender, with coal and water, is about 65,000
pounds, making the total net weight of the engine and tender some
ninety-three net tons. These engines have cylinders nineteen inches
in diameter and thirty inches stroke, and are probably at this time
the heaviest engines in use in this country.”
BUTTER PRODUCT OF A GOOD COW.
PEORIA, Ill.
1. What may be fairly regarded as the average annual butter product
of a good class of dairy cows? 2. Is not $50 an exorbitant price to
pay for an average cow?
YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER.
_Answer._—Of course the butter product depends on the kind of stock,
the pasturage and winter feed, the care of the cattle, and the skill
and industry of the butter-maker. The following statement of Mr.
Wm. Guinter, of Twin Grove, Wis., shows the average annual product
of butter realized by him from six cows, together with the average
value of this product: “I have kept a strict account for one year
of the income from six cows. I have sold 1,185 pounds of butter,
and counting four pounds a week of cream and butter for family use
of four persons, increases the total product to 1,393 pounds. The
highest price received per pound was 38 cents, and the lowest was
16 cents, making an average of 26 cents. The whole amount realized,
then, was $362.18, or $60.36 a cow. I have my cows come in fresh
in the fall on account of making a better quality of butter and
getting a better price. I keep them in good condition all winter:
feed chopped corn and oats and all the clover hay they want. Feed
about three quarts of chop twice a day to each cow. My cows are only
the common grade. I have clover pastures, but never turn cattle in
till the first or middle of May, so as to let it get a good start,
and then the pasture will be good all summer. Some of my neighbors
ask: ‘Do you think it pays?’ I do it whether it pays or not: but I
think it does. You can’t expect a great yield of milk from straw
and dry cornstalks. What stock you keep, keep well. It will pay.”
2. Obviously the value of a good milch cow depends somewhat on the
locality. A cow is worth more in the immediate neighborhood of a
good market than in a region remote from such a market. With the
above average product of a good cow, in pounds, to guide one, every
intelligent person can form a judgment as to whether it will be
profitable for him, taking the price of butter and feed in his own
market, to pay $50, or more or less, for a good cow.
VACCINATING IMMIGRANTS.
WASHINGTON, Ill.
Is it true that there are government physicians who examine all
immigrants from Europe and compel them to submit to revaccination
before they allow them to pass certain stations? If so, by what
authority is this done?
A DOUBTER.
_Answer._—The best answer to these questions is contained in the
reports of the supervising inspectors of the National Board of
Health, under whose authority, conferred by an act of Congress, the
examination, or inspection, of immigrants entering the United States
and traveling therein is conducted. The report of the Supervising
Inspector of the Western District, Dr. John H. Rauch, Springfield,
Ill., dated Nov. 10, 1882, shows that in this district there were
94,839 immigrants inspected between June 1 and Oct. 31, 1882, of whom
17,195, with or without their consent, were vaccinated, as the case
seemed in the judgment of the assistant inspectors to call for:
Number Number
Stations. inspected. vaccinated.
Pitts. Ft. W. & Chi. R. R. 17,347 2,539
Lake S. & M. S. R. R. 14,011 2,285
Mich. C. R. R. 22,330 6,145
Grand Trunk R. R. 9,356 1,875
Balt. & Ohio R. R. 10,688 2,348
Indianapolis 13,746 1,635
St. Louis 7,361 368
—————— ——————
Total 94,839 17,195
Cases of small-pox found on the trains by the inspectors are removed
to small-pox hospitals. There were seven such cases in October, 1882,
in the Western District.
BRIDGES AND RHYTHMIC VIBRATION.
ST. PAUL., Minn.
Does music weaken metallic or other bridges? If so, please explain
why.
A. M. G.
_Answer._—Measured vibrations are more trying to any kind of
bridges, and particularly to suspension bridges, than irregular
agitation. Music alone would not strain a bridge enough to injure
it materially; but a regiment of troops keeping step to music when
crossing a suspension bridge would subject it to a very severe
strain. Consequently it is customary to stop the music before troops
reach the bridge, and let the men break step, and march more or less
irregularly. The reason of all this is obvious. The structure will
naturally suffer least strain when at rest. When in uniform motion
the bridge acquires a momentum equal to its entire suspended weight
multiplied by the velocity of the motion. It is manifest that, in the
case of a heavy structure, a uniform downward vibration, be it ever
so small, would develop a momentum of many tons in the direction of a
breaking strain. The same disturbing forces acting irregularly, so as
to counteract one another, would be far less trying to the structure.
THE FRANCO-GERMAN WAR.
VANDALIA, Ill.
Please give us the principal dates in the Franco-Prussian War.
T. M. K.
_Answer._—The Franco-Prussian war was formally declared, on the
part of France, July 19, 1870. The South German States, since
then incorporated with Prussia and the other North German States
in what is now called the German Empire, soon took sides and
the Franco-Prussian war became the Franco-German war. On Sept.
1 the Emperor Napoleon surrendered his sword at Sedan. The war
was protracted through the winter by the obstinate resistance of
Paris, but the German army entered the city on Feb. 28, 1871, and
ratifications of the preliminary treaty of peace were exchanged March
3. The severest fighting was over, and France was virtually at the
mercy of Germany at the end of the first four months.
NATIONAL DEBTS OF FRANCE AND GREAT BRITAIN.
CHICAGO, Ill.
Which is the greater, the present national debt of France or that
of Great Britain?
J. C. C.
_Answer._—The present national debt of France is considerably larger
than the national debt of Great Britain. On Jan. 1, 1879, the former
was £794,481,439, and it has increased since then. On March 31, 1881,
the latter was £768,703,692.
THE LEANING TOWER OF PISA.
CHICAGO, Ill.
In what city is the great belfry spoken of as “the leaning tower?”
When was it built; and was it purposely constructed to lean as it
does?
S. L.
_Answer._—You probably refer to what is known as “the leaning tower
of Pisa,” in one of the oldest and most famous cities of Italy.
It is a campanile, or bell tower, commenced in 1174, by Bonannus
of Pisa, and William of Innsbruck. It is cylindrical in shape, 50
feet in diameter, 179 feet high, and leans about 13 feet out of
perpendicular. It is divided into eight stories, each having an
exterior colonnade, or gallery. The top is reached by 330 steps. It
was not purposely built to lean. The foundation settled more on one
side than on the other until it reached the present inclination,
which it has maintained with scarcely any perceptible increase for
hundreds of years. The defect in the foundation was discovered before
its completion, and the upper part of the structure was built in a
manner to counteract in part the inclination; and the grand chime of
bells, seven in number, of which the largest alone weighs 12,000
pounds, is mounted with reference to counteract this fault still
further. This magnificent tower is justly regarded as one of the
wonders of the world.
VIRGINIA STATE DEBT.
OXFORD, Iowa.
What proportion of the State debt of Virginia do the “Readjusters”
intend to repudiate? What part of it was created during the late
civil war? Is the State really unable to pay its creditors? Give a
few of the chief features of this Virginia debt controversy.
F. G. A.
_Answer._—The whole of the Virginia State debt was contracted before
the war, for railroads, canals, turnpikes, and public buildings,
including penal and charitable institutions. Of course any debts
made in aid of the rebellion were wiped out by section 4 of the
fourteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States. On
Jan. 1, 1861, the State owed $33,248,141.63. On Jan. 1, 1870, owing
to non-payment of interest during the intervening ten years, the
debt had accumulated to $45,660,348. The constitutions of Virginia
and West Virginia (the latter of which had been constructed out of
Virginia during the war) both provided for an equitable apportionment
of this joint indebtedness; but the two States have never agreed on a
division. In March, 1871, the State of Virginia passed an act to set
aside one-third of the debt to West Virginia, which contained about
one-fifth of the population and one-third of the territory of the
original State and a trifling proportion of the public improvements
for which the debt was created, and to give the bondholders new bonds
payable in thirty-four years with 6 per cent interest annually, and
certificates promising that the payment of the remaining one-third
would be provided for in accordance with such settlement as should
thereafter be made with West Virginia. This left as the debt of the
present State of Virginia $29,614,793 (report of Second Auditor,
1881). The State’s creditors hastened to exchange old evidences of
indebtedness for the new bonds, which went forward rapidly until
about two-thirds of the whole were refunded, when, a majority of
Readjusters having been elected to the Legislature, the process of
refunding was stopped. The old bonds left outstanding by this sudden
change of policy constitute what is known as the “Peeler debt.” The
interest coupons on the new bonds were “receivable for taxes and
all dues and demands against the State,” and have been honored, but
the interest on the Peeler debt has been paid only in part. In 1879
the creditors proposed the exchange of the bonds then outstanding
for new bonds bearing 3 per cent interest for ten years, 4 per cent
for twenty years, and 5 per cent for ten years, making an average
of 4 per cent. The total principal of the debt at this time was
$29,367,958.06. Accordingly the “McCulloch bill” was passed, binding
the State to this settlement: and bonds to the amount of $8,000,000
were issued under this law. Senator Johnston, in an article in the
_North American Review_ setting forth the above facts, claims that,
had the law been faithfully executed, the surplus revenue of 1879,
after paying interest on all the State’s indebtedness and all State
expenses of the government and the public schools, would have been
more than $400,000, which would have gone to pay off so much of the
principal.