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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1914-7-16, Page 6THE ANIAZING ARGENi1'E DESCRIPTION OF THE WON.. DERK'I, REPUBLIC. Millions of Cattle anti Sheep niid Room for Millions More, Every now and then we oome across accounts of the wonderful Wealth and resources of the South American republics, Sometimes, too, we read of revolutions and • bloedsahad, so that in the minds of many of us there still lingers the idea that the man who goes adven- turing in Latin. America takes his life in his hands, says Loudon An- •swers. Even the Argentine frequently ed chilled and frozen beef has risen comes under this head, but, that this from £1,500,000 to over £8,000,000 a year." 'Very Much Up -to -Date. These are big figures, but it should be remembered that, so far, the great plains of the Argentine have been but scratched—she has room for thousands upon thousands of men and cattle still, "South America," writes Mr. Fraser., "is not the land of the fu- ture. It is the land of to -day." but a collection of blankets and sheepskin called a ricado---is also his bed when travelling over the pampas. He it is who looks after those thonsa nds of heads of stork that provide so many European families With their meals. "Within the last ten years," writes Mr. Foster Fraser, "the ex 4ort value of livestock products has increased Irene £23,000,000 to £36,-. 000,000, and agricultural ;products from £21,000,000 to,. £53,009,000, Since 1896 the area under cultiva- tion has grown from 13 million acres to nearly 59 million acres There are 30 million cattle in the republic and 80 million sheep. The breeding of sheep is not what it was, because the Argentine finds he can get a better return from cattle and cereals. So, whilst the value of exported muttcu remains very much what it was ten years ago—about £1,250,000 --the value of the export - is an injustice to one ot, the most wonderful countries in the world may be realized by all who read "The amazing Argentine," by John Foster Fraser. To 'British Enterprise. For every year, principally from Spain and Italy, but also from Rus- sia, Syria, France, Germany, and England, over three ,hundred thou- sand' fresh arrivals land in the Ar- gentine. Of these, many thousands came from Italy for the harvest only, returning when the harvest is over to their native land for the rest of the year. But even allowing for this ebb and flow, • the annual increase in the population of the Argentine is somethoing like two hundred and fifty thousand, and there are no as- sisted passages, nor does the Gov- ernment make any grants of free land. The fact that there is no po- verty, as we know it, is a tribute to the prosperity of this amazing country. To the railways, whose existence -s due principally to British enter- prise, the Argentine owes its won- derful development. Twenty thou- sand miles of railroad winds its way through the richest parts of the re- public, bringing down to the busy ports millions of tons of produce every year, much of which finds its way into the poorest homes of Eu- rope. Argentina is a queer mixture of old-world customs and modern lux- ury, a fact which is typified by the railways. This fast struck Mr. Fraser forcibly, for be writes: The Light and Shade. "I recall one night, when at a forgotten siding the engine drew out to get water, taking a saunter along the train side. It was bril- liantly ]it with electricity, and the restaurant car, with the usual little redshaped lamps on the tables, was busy; crowds of passengers were dining, and the usual waiters were scurrying, and there was the usual Continental fare, and champagne and Moselle wines, and the usual mineral waters you get on the Nord express. That gleaming train in central South America was the symbol of what railway enterprise has done in Argentina." The difference between Iife in Burnes Ayres and life only a few hundred miles up -country is, prob- ably. far greater than the difference between Buenos Ayres and London. In "B.A.," as it is called, you will find luxury on an exaggerated scale—expensive. shops. costly mo- tor ears, well-bred horses, magnifi- cent restaurants, and all the other accompaniments of a golden civili- zation. But a few miles out you come upon the gaucho, who prac- tically lives on his horse, and whose one idea of comfort is a "blow out" on meat roasted in the open air. Mr. Fraser has many interesting things to say of the gauchos, though here some who have lived amongst them will not agree with all that he says. He describes the gaucho thus : Concerning the Gauchos. "He still wears his old, pictur- esque costume, the broad sombrero, the shirt, and wide Turkish trou- sers, which may be any color in the spcotrum, tucked into his boots. In cold 'weather he wears over his shoulders the poncho—a blanket which has as many varieties of hue as bis trousers, His saddle is orna- mented with silver, and he has fanny stirrups and jingling spurs. End; the chief part of his equipment is the big knife --often a foot long, and usually of fancy pattern—stock in his belt. This is used £reele for defensive purposes or to -avenge some rota er imaginary insult, it also serves when eating his lunch," ' NI'r, Fraser might have added that the knife is also used for skinning dead animals, chopping firewood, cutting up raw hide when making lassosor harness, and also for the purlrpse usmally confined to a tooth- pick. The. "wide Turkish trousers" are called bombaehos. ' In the account of an up -country horse -race, Me, Fraser has not mentioned one of the most curious foots. That is, that when waiting foe the signal to start the compet- ing ootlple`stand with their horses' Made facing away from the nipg.:post. When the signal is given the ;3liar$es,rear, up, wheel round on their hind -legs, and race off. This is the guacho's way of avoiding faI se start. His saddls*whiel is 1.14asaddle away,' ANCIENT ARITRM:ETIC. Some Examples Tliat May Have Puzzled the Ancients. In a papyrus roll that was dis- covered in Egypt, and that bears, the title, "Directions how to attain the knowledge of all dark things," there are equations and arithmeti- cal examples that may have puzzled the Egyptian schoolboys of 1700 B,C. "There are seven men," one of them reads. "Each one has seven cats; each cat has eaten seven mice; each mouse has eaten seven grains of barley ; each grain of bar- ley would have yielded seven meas- ures of barley. How much barley has been lost?" This would scarcely seem out of. place in a modern arithmetic. Odd- ly enough, the examples given in the first arithmetic published often read much more quaintly. Exam- ples number thirteen and fourteen both belong tea day and a mode of life long gone by. "13. A gay Young Fellow soon got the better of 2-7 of his fortune; he then gave £1,500 for a Commis- sion, and his Profusion continued till he had but £450 left, which he found to be just 6-16 of his money, after he had purchased his Commis- sion; ommission; what was his fortune at first?" Answer 23,780. "14. A Merchant begins the world with £1,500 and finds that by his Distillery he clears £1,500 in seven years; by his Navigation £1,500 in nine years, and that he spends in Gaming £1,500 in 3% years. How long will his Estate last i" Answer, 31aei years. Here is a question of dowry: "A Gentleman making his ad- dresses in a Lady's family, who had five daughters, she told him that their father had made a will, which imported that the first four of the Girls' Fortunes were, together, to make £50,000; the last four £68,- 000, the three last with the first £60,000, the three first with the last £56,000, and the two first with the two last £64,000: which, if he would unravel, and make it ap- pear what each was to have, as he appeared to have a partiality for Harriet, her third daughter, he should be welcome to :her. Pray, what was Miss Harriet's fortune?" Since the fortunate Harriet was heiress to £10,000, the aspiring suit- or may well have thought the mat- ter worth unraveling, WHEAT IN STACK 40 YEARS. Free From Bats, But Spiders Were Numerous. An English paper gives an in- stance of a stack of wheat that had remained unthreshed for 40 years. The wheat was grown in 1855 and belonged to two brothers, farmere at Harrogate. In March, 1854, the Crimean war broke out and the price of wheat rose by leaps and bounds to 97 shillings per quarter. One brother sold his share, but the other deter- mined to wait for a price of £o. Next year the price fell, but tibe owner of the stack was obstinate and refused to sell. In 1895 his brother took over the farm ,and threshed the stack, During this recordperiod of 40 rears, it had enjoyed perfect im- munity from rats, but was infested by spiders. It yielded eighteen quarters suitable for chicken feed, The Other Woman, "I don't see how that woman can gad about the way the does and neglect her little children." "How do you know that she gads about?" "We get the' aamegirl to,take care of our babies when we re away from home, and she's kept busy over there fully half the time. It provokes me so to have to be put off so often when I want to got Latest Royal Victims of the Assassin's Bullet. The Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria and his morganatic wife, formerly the Countess Sophie Chobek, who were assassinated on Sun- day, June 28, at Saravejo, by a Servian fanatic. THE PRINCESS OF EUROPE. Leidy Hester L'ney Stanhope .Was Very Eccentric. In an old book published in Paris under the title of "Le Journal d'un Voyage au Levant," there .is • an amusing account of the way in which Lady Hester Lucy Stanhope, the eccentric English traveler, took possession of the house at Djoun, where eventually she made her per- manent home. She was pleased with the house. and its surrounding gardens, and accepted an invitation to dinner. At she sat after dinner, with the owner, a Christian merchant, he said to her that if she liked the place, he should be glad if she would stay the night. When she said that she liked it so much that - she would stay there the resb of her days, he took it as a polite figure of speech ; but a fortnight later, as she still prolonged her visit, he sug- gested that Europe might be ex- pecting her return. "I do not intend to reburn," she replied, carelessly. "Ah, then you intend to build a palace in the neighborhood?" said he. "No, this house suits me very well." "But I cannot let it or sell it, milady." "I do not wish to hire it or buy it, but I intend to keep it," was the startling reply. In this dilemma the merchant dis- patched a messenger posthaste to Emir Beshyr, who sent word to Lady Hester that she must give up the house. Lady Hester, however, wrote to Constantinople, whence a courier came to the Emir, bearing the order, "Obey the princess of Europe in everything." So the disgusted merchant fled, leaving her ladyship in posseasion: There for twenty -ears she lived the life of a recluse, growing more and more withdrawn from the world, and more accustomed to dwell in a mental and spiritual realm of her own creation, until she died, and was buried in the gar- den of the house that she had usurped. 4, CAPTAINS NOT B:IGIILY PAID. Average Salary of - Commander of Liner Is $4,000. Shipbuilders are endeavoring to construct vessels for the passenger carrying trade in the Atlantic that are as near as unsinkable as human skill can devise, and it is suggested by eaptains of experience that the steamship- companies should endea- vor to get the highest grade of young men obtainable to 'train as officers, and eventually to be com- manders of those vessels, which re- quire brains to navigate 'them in time of need. The various compan- ies have realized this recently and. raised the pay of their officers all round and given them between quarters in the new ships. kit the present time the average pay., of the captain of an Atlantic liner isnot over $4,000 a year, and there is only one commander who, draws$6,000. Certain companies give their own - 'menders $1,000 a year for what ie called conditional money. Half of this amount goes into the pension fund and the remaining $500 is given to the captain in cash, That is, unless he meets with any .slight accident, snob as knocking a email hole in an iron shed and doing about $100 worth of damage, touching, the mud, even without in- juring the ship's hull, or getting two or three ventilators washed overboard by a big sea. In this event the captain really loses his bonus for two years, as the whole amount the following year is swal- lowed up by the pension fund. This is what the directors of the com- panies call disciplining their com- manders, who, in turn, describe the action as treating them like naughty children, instead of men who hold, when they are afloat, one of the most responsible positions in the world. • ONE MORE DUTY FOR POLICE. Another Queen About to Take Up Residence in England. Scotland Yard, London, has heard with concern that the Dowager Queen Emma of Holland contemplates going to England to make her home with her sister, the Duchess of Albany, at Claremont. Every additional royalty in the country means an extra burden for the police responsible for their safety. The two sisters have been much together of recent years, and Queen Emma has lately ended a long visit in England. Claremont is one of the finest of the royal country places in Great Britain. It is too large for the Duchess of Al- bany lbany to occupy alone, as she has done since her daughter married Queen Mary's younger brother, Prince Alex- ander, ten years ago. The mansion, within easy distance of London and Windsor, was built by Lord Clive, one of the founders of the Indian Empire, at a cost of $500,000, which would re- present to -day considerably more than that sum. The English Government bought it for young Princess Charlotte, daughter of George IV., then the heir- ess to the Crown, but who died in giv- ing birth to her first child. Clare- mont was occupied for many years by her husband, afterward the first King of the Belgians. In 1848 it was lent to the exiled King Louis Philippe of Prance, and he died there. Perhaps the English police would view the permanent residence of an- other foreign royalty in England with more unconcern if they Were not hav- ing their annual summer grievance with the presence in England of the Dowager Czarina of Russia. She is in England to stay until the end of July at least. Plots and counter -plots: against the Dowager. Czarina's fife by the Russian nihilists, several thousand of whom are domiciled in England, come to the knowledge of Scotland Yard every summer. An extra force has to be put on to guard against anything so disastrous as the assassination of the Czarina upon English soil. Weeks be- fore she arrives the police have to search the London slums and watch the incoming steamers to keep track of nihilists, and every moment of her stay is full of anxiety to the guardians of safety. England as a home for exiled or retired royalty becomes increasingly popular, and although none causes as much anxiety as the Dowager Czarina, each one brings a heavy responsibil- ity esponsibility upon Scotland Yard. A special force of detectives Ms to look after ex -Queen Amelia of . Por- tugal and ex -King Manuel. Empress I;ingenie; -in :spite of .her long . rest. dance in England, is .still Under spe- cial police guard. The Czar'e ami- able brother, Grand Duke Michael, who despises the pomp of kings and courts, is under constant surveilianee. The nihilists have more than once at- tempted to kill hint for revenge upon the Russian Imperial. • family. The Czar's exiled uncle,. Grand Dulce Mi- chael Aiexandrovitch,` who.. is pract- ically a British citizen, so long has he lived, In England, is none the less a factor in the plots of the nihilists, and has to be guarded also. ,1 Seventeen pry Years Promised. Abbe Moreeux, director of the observatory at Bourges, France, predicbs a dry cyclo of 17 years from 1918 to 1935. "Seventeen years of drynees," he gays, "followed by as many years of humidity, such is the consequence of our being directly dependent on the aun. The last great maximum was to occur, ac - eel -ding tomy calculations, toward 1008 to 1907. It was this which ena- bled Ane, in 1902, to prediet the rainy : period which has persisted over almost the whole surface of the globe, and which brought us the great floods of 1910. The Standard Lue of Canada. i as mang Inaltatio as but no equal NEWS OF IRE ADDLE EST BETWEEN ONTARIO AND 13111. TISfI COLUMBIA. • Items From Provinces Where Hanna Ontario Boys and Girls Are . "Making Good." G.T.R. steel entered Weyburn, Sask., on June 21. Calgary Poultry Show had 200 more entries this year than last. In the Province of Alberta, this year, 3,119,830 acres are under crop. The Calgary Light Department has 2,046 more customers this year than it had last. Building permits in Winnipeg, for the first six months of 1914, totalled over $10,000,000. Regina will have a company of the Army Serviee Corps, 109 strong, with Major Laird in command. Work has been started on a new wing of the Provincial Hospital for the Insane at Battleford, Sask. For stealing from cars in the C.N.R. yards at Winnipeg, a for- eigner was sent to jail for three months. John 0. Ponsford has been ap- pointed the new warden of Alberta Penitentiary, vice Matthew McCnl logih, retired. A petition for clemency for Kraf- chenko, •i:ondenined murderer, was sent from Winnipeg to Ottawa with 20,000 signatures. Edmonton police are determined to put down opium smoking in that city, and lately offenders have been fined $50 and costs. The body of W. B .Crawford, a well-known citizen of Wainwright, Alberta, was found in a well, and foul play is .suspected, In a $40,000 fire at Carbon, Al- berta, seven whole blocks were de- stroyed and ' the town practically wiped out. The means to fight fire were almost wholly lacking. President Wlieddon, of Brandon College, said the West was not pro- ducing the number of theologians it should. There has been a notioe- able decrease in the last year. In Regina a daring thief entered a• suite occupied by the wife of a newspaper team, picked a Yale lock and got away, with $24.80 in Dash and two purses without being dis- covered. There was considerable exelte- meat on an Edmonton -street car when a baby was born there. The baby was 10 pounds in weight, and has been christened Moses Dudnuk. Fred R. Borden, a Winnipeg commercial traveller, was drowned in four feet of water at the beach while swimming. He was seized with cramps, and hundreds of peo- ple saw ]1101 drown. At Prince Albert, Sask., te by-law to grant $3,000 to the Young Wo- man's Christian Association was carried by 157 majority. At the same time a daylight saving bill was defeated. At Damphinl Man,, social service orators occupied church pulpits to talk about political conditions. The congregations resented it, and the churches bad less than half their usual oongregatione. Baptists of Alberta, in conven- tion, condemned the present meth- ods of assessment in that Province, as; in their Opinions it discourages the use of the land for production, and encourages the holding of it for speculation. " A farm hand near Rockwood, Man., sued a farmer for wages. The farmer said the man had left work without notice. The fai:in' hand then said' he hand quit because he was asked to eat eggs which' had been three days. in an inoarbator. and failed to show signs of bringing forth chickens. Magistrate Sanders, of Calgary, before whom store? cepors were Charged with selling ioe,oream bn Sunday, said': "I will not fine one single person unless .hotels and others; are dealt with alike. T can- not see why the C.P.R. or any oilier hotels can sell cigars on Sunday and these people cannot." Miss Florence M. Hudson, a clerk un the department; of natural re- sources of the C.P.R. at Calgary, bought an oil lease a year ago for $165. . Tho other day ,the solea it for $54,000 in cash, and a suitcase' full of stook, on which -she expects to realize' ltandsomely.ssonio day,. She means to .keep her situation in the C.P.R. offices. FROM ERI 'S GREE; ISLE NEWS lir MAIL FRO 31 IRE. LAND'S SIIORES. Rappenings in the Emerald Isle of Interest to Irish- men. A. serious epidermic of scarlatina has recently broken oat in Lurgan, and is creating considerable alarm. Mr. John Mooney, Swateragh, County Derry, has been appointed a magistrate and adjudicate at Maghera and Kilrea. The death has occurred at Car- rick-on-Suir of Robin Connors, who for forty-five years was emaployed at the local butter market. Complete harmony has been re- stored between masters and men in the recent Derry shipyard strike. A young man named John Cos- grove, of Clonfed, was fatally in- jured in a bicycle accident near Ballinlough. A large portion of an Orange hall, which is in 'the course of erec- tion in Irvinestown, has collapsed. Fortunately no one was injured. A large flax soutahing mill owned by Mr. C. Patterson, midway be- tween Omagh and Fintona, has been completely' destroyed by fire. Damage estimated at about $1,000 was caused by a fire at the granary of Mr. James Bates, Garrison Hill, Kellygorden, County Donegal. Dr. Michael Kenna, coroner for South Kildare, while driving to at- tend a patient, met with a severe accident, two of his ribs being bro- ken. Lismore R.D. Council have pass- ed a resolution denying the Duke of Devonshire's statement that foot and. mouth -disease has be -en preva- lent in Cork and Waterford for a long time. A woman of the farming class named Julia Melvin, has just died ab her residence, Boherholla, near Foxford, at the remarlcaule age of 113 years. The Tipperary Urban Connell, which has. built 59 houses for the working classes, and let contracts for 47 others,' has decided to start another scheme. While a party of five were return- ing from Cashel they were fired at by ambushed moonlighters. Fortu- nately no one was hurt, but the moonlighters escaped. A remarkable incident is report- ed from DerrY, where a Unionist workman was field up by several Nationalist volunteers, who drew revolvers end searched hint. . A young lady named Bridget Leavy, Cuarabeg, Ardee, suet with a serious accident when her cycle got out of control at a steep hill at Dundalk, and sustained a fractured skull. The death has occurred at Lough- rey of Mr. Patrick Mitchell at an advanced age. Deceased was one of the oldest residents in the town; where he .was engaged in business for many years. Brigadier -General Count Glei- chen commander of the 15111 Infan- try Brigade, has stated- that the military authorities intend to move the two batiallions 'stationed at Holywood to the .County 'Antrim side of Belfast Lough. •A serious accident occurred at the famous "Bloody Bridge," neat•: Newcastle, County Doane, when a motor car driven by Mr. R. Red- mond, of -Newry, collided with a van. The driver, McManus, was severely injured: The Portadown Town Council have decided on an experiment to adopt a scheme of domestic -scaven- ging whereby residents will be charged 8 cents and 10 cents, ac- cording to the street, for each ocea sion their ashpits are cleaned. ']Had Experience. "I want a pair of button shoes for my wife.' "This way, sir. What kind do ,you wish, mei "Doesn't matter, just so they 'don't button in the back." A Prophetess Disappointed. The Seeress --You will soon marry -a man with loads of money who wi11 give you it princely allowance, ,Two dollars, please. The Customer --I'll pay you out of the allowance, Good-bye i FROM EON IE SCOT1AN3 NOTES OF,INTEII11ST 30031 IIBlt I1.1NIis AND IilAE$. {shat Is (Going on In the Highlands and Lowlands of Auld taeotia The tramway revenue in Green- ock for the past 3045 is about 9250, 000. Aberdeen Lunacy Board have ide- cided to extend Kingseat Asylum, Buildings al a coat o£ over $60,000. The operative builders and hew- ers of Dunfermline •are continuing their agitation for an advance of wages. As compared with April last year, Glasgow, of the four large Scottish ,towns, shows the greatest decrease in oxime. About 30 dyers ancl 20 female finishers, in the employ of A. Bell & Sons, dyers, Paisley, have struck work. Holytown Gas Light Company 'have decided to renew and increase their plant in view of the abnormal demand. The new post office which has been erected in Bathgate ab a cast of about $20,000 has now been for- mally opened. In Dundee there are about 40 pic- ture theatres whose prices of admis pion range from 24 cents to an emp- ty jam jar. A man named James Smith, who was employed as night watchman, was run down and instantly killed by an • engine outside Gorebridge Station, A tramp who had evidently lain down :to rest at Oxwelimains limo kilns, near Dunbar, was found suf- focated by the fumes with a portion of his back charred. An unusual accident occurred at a cricket match being played ab Allow, when two players running for a catch collided with each other, and both fell unconscious. The Carnegie United Kingdom Fund Trustees at Dunfermline stated that they are embarrassed with the number of applications for grants, including $1,350 for organs. A sarcophagus containing human remains has been found in a field on -the £arm of Mill of Collsbon, the tenant of which is Mr. George Bis- sett. A genuine- wild cab has been caught in Ardnamurohau deer• for- est, Argyllshire. It had it tigerish appearance and was 45 inches in length. The directors of the Falkirk and District Tramway Company have decided to institute a motor omni- bus service between Falkirk and Grangemouth. Mrs, Hugh Gardner, wife of Hugh Gardner, Douglas, was instantly killed when -she was thrown from her cycle on the road between Dou- glas and Crawford. Several whales have been seen scene miles north of the May Island, and the appearance of the herring shoal is supposed to have attracted them to the mouth of the Firth of Forth. Mr. Weir of Kildonan in, his will has direcbed his trustees to divide a sum of $50,000, free of duty, among such charitable and benevo- lent institutions in Glasgow as they think proper. Scotts Shipbuilding and Engi- neering Company, Greenock, have launched successfully the Transyl- vania for the Anchor Line. She is the largest passenger ebeamer in ex- istence propelled •by geared tnr- bine•s•. With a view to erecting new gas works, the Port Glasgow Town Council has agroed to purchase ground from the Caledonian Rail- way Company about a anile east of the ,present works at a cost of $150,- 000. '1 FAMINES PREVENTABLE. American Enginee- rs Seek to Avoid Recurrence of Floods. In China there are regions which have suffered from flood8 and fam- ines for more than " 2,500 years, During thesethousands., of years, while millions upon millions in pro- visions and necessities of life have been contributed directly and in- directly by the Chinese Govern- ment and people, and in recent years by foreign nations, never had a single attempt.,been in been avoid the constantly recurring caabastro-- phes by the aid of engineering ton.' struction, It remained for .en Aneer.ieen en grocer, : Charles . D. Jameson, to point out the preliminary Mea- sures, and now the_ final stepse about !to be deoi�cled upon and the actual conebruction work began .13•Y a commission of three American engineers,' 4` The Bright Side. • '"Both my husband and I Thad to. go to a •hospital on the day we were married and submit to operations for appendicitis," "What an unfortunate experi- ence." "011' it might have been worse. We would probably baVe nspent,the money on a honeymoon trip, any.