American Review_ for April, 1882, declares that instead of there
being any surplus in the State Treasury at the close of 1879, the
Readjusters found, on their accession to power, Jan. 1, 1880, “a
great mass of the proposed McCulloch tax-receivable certificates
ready for issue. They were forced to borrow money to run the
government. Half a million of money, due by defaulting treasurers,
was uncollected and unsued for. Over $1,500,000 had been diverted
from the schools. The charitable institutions of the State were on
the verge of bankruptcy.” Nevertheless, the boast of the Virginia
press, that the mining, manufacturing, and agricultural resources
of the State are developing more rapidly than before the war, is
generally believed to be true; the crops of the six principal cereals
and potatoes, tobacco, and hay in 1881 amounted to $44,280,690,
and the live stock to $33,538,877; the taxable value of property,
real and personal, even at the low assessment prevailing, is
given at $308,455,135: facts which lead the world to believe that
Virginia is perfectly able to pay her debt. Taking the total debt
under the McCulloch bill at what Senator Mahone placed it at the
time of the passage of the bill, the annual interest would have
amounted to not quite $990,000, which, added to $565,000 for
public schools and arrearages, and $765,000 for current expenses
of the State Government, would make but $2,320,000. That same year
the net revenue, if faithfully collected, would have amounted to
$2,606,425.36, so that there would have been a remainder of $286,500
to apply as a sinking fund. Since then the Riddleberger bill has
become a law, and the debt has been scaled down to about $20,000,000,
instead of about $33,000,000, which is nearly what it would be had
the McCulloch law been carried out. As there is no provision for
the payment of the $15,239,370 set over to West Virginia, and which
the latter repudiates on the ground that she has offsets to all her
proportion of the original debt, it appears that the total loss to
the State’s creditors, adding the accrued interest on the latter
amount, is over $36,000,000, or fully 80 per cent of the amount
conceded by the act of 1871 to be the total sum then due them.
POINTS OF A GOOD SHOT-GUN.
FOURCHE, D. T.
What are the essentials of a good shot-gun? Name several prime
quality guns.
H. M. EASTMAN.
_Answer._—The following, in the opinion of skilled manufacturers and
practiced sportsmen of this city, are essentials of a first-class
shot-gun. The barrel should be of laminated or Damascus steel or
stub-twist (the former being generally preferred), and full choke or
modified choke bore. A taper bore is also highly esteemed. Length of
barrel, 28 to 32 inches; bore, 10 to 12 gauge. The gun should be a
breech-loader, with rebounding lock and extension rib. Pistol grip,
patent fore-end are points insisted on by some, although they are
hardly to be classed as essentials. The front action or bar lock is a
feature of many of the best guns. Among English guns the Greener and
Scott stand very high; among Belgian, Charles Daly; among American,
Parker, Colt, Remington, Nichols & Lefevre, and Baker; and in the
Northwest, the Abby gun, manufactured in this city, is a favorite.
Good English guns range from $350 to $400. Good American guns with
English barrels may be had at prices ranging from $200 to $300.
WEALTH OF THE UNITED STATES PER CAPITA.
WOODLAWN, Mo.
Please give the wealth of each State, together with the wealth per
capita.
READER.
_Answer._—The following statistics represent the amount of taxable
property, real and personal in each State and Territory, and also the
amount per capita.
Total. Per capita.
Maine $235,978,716 362.09
New Hampshire 164,755,181 474.81
Vermont 86,806,755 261.24
Massachusetts 1,584,756,802 888.77
Rhode Island 252,536,673 913.23
Connecticut 327,177,385 525.41
New York 2,651,940,000 521.74
New Jersey 572,518,361 506.06
Pennsylvania 1,683,459,016 393.08
Delaware 59,951,643 408.92
Maryland 497,307,675 533.07
District of Columbia 99,401,787 845.08
Virginia 308,455,135 203.92
West Virginia 139,622,705 225.75
North Carolina 156,100,202 111.52
South Carolina 153,560,135 154.24
Georgia 239,472,599 155.82
Florida 30,938,309 114.80
Alabama 122,867,228 97.32
Mississippi 110,628,129 97.76
Louisiana 160,162,439 170.39
Texas 320,364,515 201.26
Arkansas 86,409,364 176.71
Kentucky 350,563,971 212.63
Tennessee 211,778,538 137.30
Ohio 1,534,360,508 479.77
Indiana 727,815,131 367.89
Illinois 786,616,394 255.24
Michigan 517,666,359 316.23
Wisconsin 438,971,751 333.69
Iowa 398,671,251 245.39
Minnesota 258,028,687 330.48
Missouri 532,795,801 245.72
Kansas 160,891,689 161.52
Nebraska 90,585,782 200.23
Colorado 74,471,693 383.22
Nevada 29,291,459 470.40
Oregon 52,522,084 300.52
California 584,578,036 676.05
Arizona 9,270,214 229.23
Dakota 20,321,530 150.33
Idaho 6,440,876 197.51
Montana 18,609,802 475.23
New Mexico 11,363,406 95.04
Utah 24,775,279 172.09
Washington 23,810,603 316.98
Wyoming 13,621,829 655.24
——————————————— ——————
Total $16,902,993,543 337.00
THE OLDEST HISTORIANS.
FOURCHE, D. T.
Were there historians before Berosus, Manetho, and Herodotus, whose
works have come down to us in Greek, Latin, or other European
languages?
H. M. EASTMAN.
_Answer._—Herodotus is the oldest of the Greek historians. He was
born 484 B. C. He is generally recognized as the father of history.
Berosus was an educated priest of Babylon, who lived about 260 B.
C., and wrote in Greek three books of Babylonian-Chaldean history,
the materials for which he declares he found in the ancient archives
of Babylon. Manetho was an Egyptian historian, of the priestly
order, who lived in the reign of Ptolemy Soter, in the beginning
of the third century B. C. He, too, obtained the materials for
his works from the temple records at his command, from which he
wrote two works, one on the religion and the other on the history
of Egypt. Only fragments of the writings of Berosus and Manetho
remain—preserved in the works of Josephus, Eusebius, and other later
writers. There are historical records on the ancient monuments of
Egypt, Babylon, and Assyria which date back to earlier days, but
except the historical books of the Old Testament, beginning with
those of Moses (who was born 1738 B. C.), and some of the writings of
Confucius (born 551 B. C.), there is nothing antedating the writings
of Herodotus that is regarded as history.
FORMS OF LEAD CRYSTALS.
BURLINGAME, Kan.
Why is east and west lead ore always in cubes, while it is not
always so with lead found in north and south lodes?
C. A. DAMON.
_Answer._—The primitive form of galena, or sulphate of lead, crystals
is the cube. Whenever left free to crystallize, subject to no
extraneous force or pressure, this ore takes that form. At cross
veins it takes modified forms, the angles and edges of the cubes
being replaced by faces, so as in many cases to form octahedral
crystals. Now just why lead seems to have been more free to take its
simple primitive form when crystallizing in east and west veins or
lodes than in veins running in other directions is still largely a
matter of theory or conjecture. Some theorists think that the north
and south magnetic currents, to which the polarity of the magnetic
needle is attributed, have something to do with this phenomenon, but
a great many other wise people think nobody knows.
NATIONS OF THE GLOBE.
SILVER LAKE, Ind.
How many nations are there on the globe? Has each of them a flag?
J. F. CLYMER.
_Answer._—The following is a full list of the nations of the world,
each of which has its own distinctive national colors or flag: The
United States of America, Mexico, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, San
Salvador, Costa Rica, the United States of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru,
Bolivia, Chili, Argentine Confederation, Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil,
Venezuela, Hayti, and San Domingo, which are all the independent
nationalities of North and South America and the West India Islands;
Great Britain and her dependencies in both hemispheres, France
and her dependencies in Asia, Africa, and Oceanica, the German
Empire, Austro-Hungary, Russia, Italy, Spain and her dependencies
in both hemispheres; Portugal and her dependencies in Asia and
Africa, Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands and her dependencies in
both hemispheres, Denmark and her colonial possessions, Sweden and
Norway, Greece, Roumania, Servia, Montenegro, Turkey or the Ottoman
Empire, Andorra, San Marino, and Monaco; the only independent
States of Africa (except those wholly savage), Liberia, Orange River
Free State, Transvaal Republic, Morocco, and Abyssinia; the only
independent nationalities of all Asia—Persia, Burmah, Afghanistan,
Beloochistan, Siam, China, and Japan; finally the Sandwich Islands.
This makes a total of fifty-seven nations universally recognized
and diplomatically treated as such, although several of them, like
Afghanistan and Burmah, are little more than nominally independent,
and two of them—Monaco, with an area of only 5¾ square miles, or
less than a Congressional township in this country, and a population
less than 6,000, and San Marino, with an area of barely 23-8/10
square miles and less than 8,000 inhabitants—are so insignificant
in comparison with their great neighbors that it seems a mockery of
the name to call them nations. Indian tribes, Esquimaux, tribes of
Africa, Asia, and Australia, although taken into treaty relations as
independent or quasi independent peoples, are never correctly spoken
of as nations in the sense in which the term is used in international
law.
ENTERING LAND IN DAKOTA.
HUSTON, D. T.
Nine-tenths of the persons who have inquired of me about Dakota land
entries since my brief note in THE INTER OCEAN did not inclose stamps
or postal cards for replies. I have answered all that did observe
this plain business rule. I am no land agent, nor have I land to
sell, so I ask you to publish the following notes, which will answer
nearly all the questions asked me. [A person should not invite a
general correspondence through a paper like THE INTER OCEAN, “whose
parish is the world,” unless he is prepared to employ one or two
stenographic correspondence clerks. In almost every instance that we
have published contributors’ invitations to Farm and Home readers to
write to them, these rash friends have sent us word that they were
deluged with correspondence.—ED]. Of course, in the beginning all
the government land in Douglas County, D. T., was subject to entry
under the pre-emption and homestead or timber-culture acts. But at
present there are not more than three hundred vacant quarters in the
county, and, since the timber-culture act only allows one such claim
in each section, these unentered quarters can be taken only under the
homestead and pre-emption acts. A timber-culture claimant is required
to plant ten acres of trees and protect and cultivate them for eight
years. As no settlement is required, these claims are in good demand,
the relinquishments selling for from $200 to $400, owing to location.
Under the pre-emption law the settler pays $2 to file his claim.
After he has lived upon the land six months final proof can be made
by paying $1.25 per acre. Under this entry the claimant is allowed
thirty-three months in which to prove up, at the end of which time,
if he has not complied with this requirement, the land is again open
for settlement. Under the homestead law the settler pays $14 to
enter. He has then six months in which to begin his residence on the
land, after which time, if he has not complied with the law, it can
be contested on the ground of abandonment. Where a settler is unable
to begin his residence and settlement within the time allowed by
law, he can dispose of the claim by relinquishing to the government
and allowing some one else to enter. Nearly all the land throughout
the central part of the county has been taken; and what government
land there is remaining is mostly in the western part and around the
borders of the county. Relinquishments range in price from $50 to
$300, owing to location and quality of the land.
H. S. BROWN.
RECORDS OF THE BRITISH CELTS.
DUNLAP, Iowa.
Had the Celts, at the time of the invasion by Julius Cæsar of what
is now England and Wales, any records by which their origin could
be traced?
J. H. G. ROGERS.
_Answer._—That they had any written records there is great reason
to doubt, although there are inscriptions on certain rude stone
monuments in parts of Wales, as in the southeastern counties of
Munster, Ireland, consisting of long and short lines, known as Ogamic
characters, the antiquity of which is not well determined. As far as
deciphered, these inscriptions throw no direct light upon the origin
of the Celtic race. Their spoken language, reduced to writing after
the introduction of Christianity, is the only key of any importance
to their origin. This language plainly marks them as an early
offshoot of the Aryan family, the common Asiatic stock from which
all the ruling races of Europe have descended. The descriptions left
by the Romans of the aborigines of Britain at the time of the Roman
conquest represent them as fierce, cruel barbarians. Neither Cæsar’s
Commentaries nor the writings of Tacitus and other historians of the
period of the Roman domination convey evidence that the Britons had
any knowledge of letters until the Roman and Greek characters were
taught them. Neither do these historians preserve any oral traditions
of the British bards or druids calculated to shed much light upon the
early history of the Celtic race.
REPUDIATING STATES.
BEMENT, Ill.
Name the States which have repudiated their debts, in whole or in
part, and tell what party was responsible for the act in every case.
J. C. MILLER.
_Answer._—Virginia, W. Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina,
Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana,
Tennessee, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Minnesota have each of
them, at one time or another, repudiated a part of their State debts.
Illinois repented almost immediately in sackcloth and ashes, and
settled with her creditors. Indiana has settled everything but about
twenty old internal-improvement bonds, which will no doubt soon be
liquidated. Minnesota has recently determined to settle with her
creditors, although the railroads, in aid of which the repudiated
bonds were issued, were not constructed in conformity with the law,
and the bonds are badly tainted with fraud. In every case but that
of Minnesota and South Carolina repudiation came in under Democratic
regimes.
THE CAPITAL OF LOUISIANA.
ALDEN, Iowa.
What is the present capital of Louisiana? Some geographies say New
Orleans, and others Baton Rouge. Please explain this discrepancy.
TEACHER.
_Answer._—The capital of the first colonial government of Louisiana
was fixed at Biloxi, in 1699. It was transferred to New Orleans
in 1723. New Orleans was the capital of the Territory of Orleans,
organized in 1804 out of a part of the vast Louisiana purchase.
In 1812 the State of Louisiana was formed with New Orleans as
the capital. In 1847 Baton Rouge was made the seat of the State
government, and it remained so until after it came into possession
of the Union army during the late war. A provisional government was
established at New Orleans in 1864, and the State constitution of
1868 made that city the capital; but by the new constitution of Dec.
2, 1879, the honor of being the seat of the State government was
restored to Baton Rouge, where it was established in 1880.
ANGORA AND CASHMERE FLEECES.
SEDAN, Kan.
What are the distinctive differences between the “staples” of
Angora and Cashmere goats? Which staple is the more valuable? What
are the present prices of the same in the markets of this country?
Give a few chief facts as to these two breeds of goats.
T. S. R.
_Answer._—The Angora goat takes its name from the Turkish city and
village of Angora, in the interior, mountainous region of Asia
Minor (about 220 miles E. S. E. of Constantinople), which exports
2,000,000 lbs of mohair annually. The animals are highly prized, and
command from $250 to $1,250 for the finest males and $200 to $900
for females, there being several varieties. The Cashmere goat is
named from Cashmere, a province between India proper and Thibet. The
animals are most numerous in Thibet, but most of the wool—or mohair,
as it is technically termed—is manufactured in Cashmere, the 16,000
or more looms of which turn out about 30,000 shawls every year, worth
in London from £100 to £450. There are marked differences in the
“staples” of these two species of goats. They both have two coats.
In the case of the Angoras there is a coarse, short hair close to
the skin, and a long, curly, outer covering of the nature of wool,
very soft and silky and, in good varieties, from seven to nine inches
long. This is the more bulky and valuable part of the fleece. The
Cashmere goat, on the contrary, has a coarse, outer coat of different
shades from gray to black and a fine undergrowth of beautifully soft,
silky texture, almost downy. It is perfectly straight, of a uniformly
grayish color and glossy luster, and is fully double the length of
the Angora staple, the best grades measuring eighteen inches. This
is combed out of the animal’s coat in the spring, when it begins
to be shed, and the product is so light that it has been said that
the average yield is but three ounces per goat, which would require
the product of ten goats for the manufacture of a shawl a yard and
a half square. It is certain, however, that the yield of the finer
animals ranges from seven to nine ounces. The value of this mohair in
Cashmere is from 30 to 40 cents a pound. It is not exported to this
country to such a degree as to establish a market quotation. There
is some of the Angora mohair imported for manufacture in our Eastern
States, at prices ranging, according to quality, from 60 cents to $1
a pound. The Angora goat has been successfully introduced into the
British colonies of South Africa. Cape Colony alone exported in 1878
the sum of 1,300,585 pounds, valued at £105,313, or about 32 cents
a pound. It is believed that it can be raised with profit in the
mountainous parts of Georgia and Alabama, and still farther north;
and in the mountainous districts of California and Oregon.
AN EARLY CALIFORNIAN COIN.
CHICAGO, Ill.
Please give the origin of the $20 gold piece of 1853, marked on one
side, “San Francisco;” on the other, “Moffat & Co.” Is it worth
anything above its face value?
J. A. BLOSS.
_Answer._—It being impossible to find any quotation of the value of
the coin referred to, Messrs. Stevens & Co., well-known numismatists
of this city, were asked to answer the above questions. The following
is their reply: “The $20 gold piece here designated gives a good
deal of trouble to curiosity hunters and coin collectors in general;
very much as is the case with the silver dollar of 1878 with eight
feathers in the eagle’s tail. There is no premium on either of
them. There is no certain history of the Moffat & Co. pieces. They
were a private coinage and issued under miner’s law; and all ’49
Californians know the potency or persuasive powers of that law.
The quality or fineness of the pieces is below standard and their
value much below our current $20 piece. The San Francisco mint was
established in July, 1852, and very soon after that all private
coinages ceased. Most of these pieces find their way into the
brokers’ offices and are sold only at bullion prices.”
MOCHA COFFEE.
MAYVILLE, D. T.
Where does Mocha coffee come from, and what makes it so much higher
priced than other coffee?
EDWARD PALMER.
_Answer._—The genuine Mocha coffee is produced in the province of
Yemen, South Arabia. It takes its name from Mokha, the chief port of
exportation, on the Red Sea. Very little of it, and that of inferior
quality, is ever seen west of Constantinople. Mr. W. G. Palgrave,
the Arabian traveler, says: “Arabia itself, Syria, and Egypt consume
fully two-thirds of the annual crop, and the remainder is almost
exclusively absorbed by Turkish and Armenian esophagi. Nor do these
last get for their share the best or the purest. Before reaching the
harbors of Alexandria, Jaffa, Beyrout, etc., for exportation beyond
there, the northern bales have been sifted and resifted, grain by
grain, and whatever they may have contained of the hard, rounded,
half transparent, greenish-brown berry, the only one really worth
roasting and pounding, has been carefully picked out by experienced
fingers, and it is the less generous residue of flattened, opaque,
and whitish grains which almost alone goes on the shipping. So
constant is this selecting process that a gradation regular as
the degrees in a map may be observed in the quality of Mokha,
that is Yemen, coffee, even within the limits of Arabia itself in
proportion as one approaches to or recedes from, Wadi Nejran and the
neighborhood of Mecca, the first stages of the radiating mart.” About
10,000 pounds of this coffee are exported annually through the port
of Mokha, says another authority; but this seems to be consumed, as
Mr. Palgrave says, mainly in Africa and Turkey.
The Mocha sold in the markets of Western Europe and America is from
the East Indies. Some of it even never crossed the Atlantic, being
produced in the West Indies or Central or South America. The really
exquisite flavor of this choice, small berried coffee, together with
the almost fanatical prejudice of the Turks for it, because it is
raised in Arabia, and the limited production, sufficiently account
for the high price it commands.
INDEX OF PERIODICAL LITERATURE.
CHICAGO, Ill.
A party of ladies studying Shakespeare are deeply interested in
the Baconian theory. We find very little concerning it in books.
Can you tell us if there are any valuable magazine articles on
this subject, and where they may be found? What guide is there to
periodical literature?
MRS. M. B. W.
_Answer._—Happily we do now know where to direct not only this
correspondent but other inquirers where to find a complete index of
all periodical literature in the English language of any importance,
whether upon the above-named subject or any other. It is in “An
Index to Periodical Literature,” by William Frederick Poole, LL.
D., Librarian of the Chicago Public Library: published by James R.
Osgood & Co., Boston. This is the only work of the kind, except Dr.
Poole’s first and second indexes, published the one in 1848, and
the other in 1853, both of which are out of print and were mere
pamphlets in comparison with this noble volume, a royal octavo of
1,442 pages. Fresh from the press, it is brought down to a very
recent date. The answers to the above questions and another, from
two correspondents who wish to read up on the protective tariff and
free trade controversy, may serve to illustrate the advantages of
this invaluable index. Under William Shakespeare there are eight and
a half columns of references by title to articles in American and
English reviews and magazines on Shakespeare and his works, all of
which are alphabetically arranged. Running along the “A” column we
come to “Authorship of” (Shakespeare), “and Lord Bacon. (Delia Bacon)
Putnam, 7:1.—Frazer, 90:164. Same art, Liv. Age, 123:131.—Chamb,
J., 18:87—Nat. R. 5:72—Canad. Mo. 16:76—(A. Morgan) Appleton,
21:112, 481. 23:481. 24:14—(M. B. Benton) Appleton 21:336.-Blackw,
80:616.—(C. C. Shackford) No. Am. 85:493.—(A. G. Sedgwick) No. Am.
104:276.—(N. Hawthorne) Astan. 11:43.—(E. O. Vaile) Scrib. 9:743.—(J.
F. Clarke) No. Am. 132:163.—(W. H. Smith) Liv. Age, 51:481.—Harper,
34:263.—Nation, 2:402.—Scrib., 9:392.” This answers Mrs. M. B. W.’s
question as to where she and her Shakspearean Club are to look for
periodical literature on the Baconian theory of the authorship of
Shakespeare.
Now turn to “Tariff,” and there are nearly two columns of titles of
articles on this subject and where to find them; among them being the
following, arranged under the head of “Protective Tariff.”
“Protective, (J. C. Pray) Hunt, 2:119.—(H. J. Burton) Hunt,
11:254.—(M. D. L. Rodet) Hunt, 11:299.—(E. Everett) No. Am.,
19:223.—(A. H. Everett) No. Am., 03:160; 32:127.—No. Am., 35:265.—(F.
Bowen) No. Am., 73:90.—(H. Greeley) Am. Whig R. 2:111; 4:215; 5:201;
14:81. Ed. R., 72:321. Dem. R., 7:341; 9:329; 10:357; 14:291, 447;
19:163.—Am. Q., 10:444; 11:345.—So. R., 2:582; 6:206; 8:213.—Niles
R., 17:87; 19:331; 20:306, 354; 21:121, 147; 22:2, 292; 23:40, 118;
24:99, 116.—So. Lit. Mess., 8:421.”