Chapter XVIII: TECHNOLOGY.--Artificial India Rubber.--This article (2)

The railroad is bound to take the place of the Indian trail; the miners' cabin must supplant the Indian wigwam. Great cities will rise near where ancient villages stood, but the savage fails to appreciate the thought or the character of the people who have supplanted him. The wigwam amid the mountains is a symbol of what he is, but the locomotive at its side is an emblem of progress and of promise to those who will use their opportunities. The mountains are in the background--they suggest the possibilities which are before the settler. They interpose barriers, but the barriers themselves are fraught with good influences. Freedom has always dwelt among the mountains. Reverence for the Almighty has also prevailed. The leveling process must cease and man become more elevated in his thoughts as he rises to the altitude of these great heights.--The American Antiquarian.

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A NOVEL WAY OF RIDING A BICYCLE.

"Artists" of the variety stage and the circus are always trying to find something new, for the same old trapeze performances, trials of strength, performances of rope dancers, etc., have been presented so many times that anyone who invents an entirely new trick is sure of making a large amount of money out of it; the more wild and dangerous it is, the better. Anything that naturally stands on its feet but can be made to stand on its head will be well received in the latter attitude by the public. Some such thought as this must have been in the mind of the man who conceived the idea of riding a bicycle on the ceiling instead of on the floor. The "trick" originated with the Swiss acrobat Di Batta, who, being too old to undertake such a performance himself, trained two of his pupils to do it, and they appeared with their wheel in Busch Circus in Berlin. The wheel, of course, ran on a track from which it was suspended in such a way that it could not fall, and the man who operated it used the handle bar as he would the cross bar of the trapeze. One would think that the position of the rider was sufficiently dangerous to satisfy any public, but the inventor of the trick sought to make it appear more wonderful by having the rider carry between his teeth a little trapeze from the crosspiece of which another man hung.

Different colored lights were thrown on the performers as they rode around the ceiling, and at the end of the performance first one and then the other dropped into the safety net which had been placed about sixty feet below them. We are indebted to the Illustrirte Zeitung for the cut and article.

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REQUIREMENTS OF PALESTINE EXPLORER.

Lieut.-Col. Conder says that the requirements for exploration demand a knowledge not only of Syrian antiquities, but of those of neighboring nations. It is necessary to understand the scripts and languages in use, and to study the original records as well as the art and architecture of various ages and countries. Much of our information is derived from Egyptian and Assyrian records of conquest, as well as from the monuments of Palestine itself. As regards scripts, the earliest alphabetical texts date only from about 900 B. C., but previous to this period we have to deal with the cuneiform, the Egyptian, the Hittite and the Cypriote characters.

The explorer must know the history of the cuneiform from 2700 B. C. down to the Greek and Roman age, and the changes which occurred in the forms of some 550 characters originally hieroglyphics, but finally reduced to a rude alphabet by the Persians, and used not only in Babylonia and Assyria, but also as early as 1500 B. C. in Asia Minor, Syria, Armenia, Palestine and even by special scribes in Egypt. He should also be able to read the various Egyptian scripts--the 400 hieroglyphics of the monuments, the hieratic, or running hand of the papyri, and the later demotic.

The Hittite characters are quite distinct, and number at least 130 characters, used in Syria and Asia Minor from 1500 B. C. or earlier down to about 700 B. C. The study of these characters is in its infancy. The syllabary of Cyprus was a character derived from these Hittite hieroglyphics, and used by the Greeks about 300 B. C. It includes some fifty characters, and was probably the original system whence the Phenician alphabet was derived. As regards alphabets, the explorer must study the early Phenician and the Hebrew, Samaritan and Moabite, with the later Aramean branch of this alphabet, whence square Hebrew is derived. He must also know the Ionian alphabet, whence Greek and Roman characters arose, and the early Arab scripts--Palmyrene, Nabathean and Sabean, whence are derived the Syriac, Cufic, Arabic and Himyaritic alphabets.

As regards languages, the scholars of the last century had to deal only with Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, Coptic and Greek, but as the result of exploration we now deal with the ancient Egyptian whence Coptic is derived, and with various languages in cuneiform script, including the Akkadian (resembling pure Turkish) and the allied dialects of Susa, Media, Armenia and of the Hittites; the Assyrian, the earliest and most elaborate of Semitic languages; and Aryan tongues, such as the Persian, the Vannic and the Lycian.

The art and architecture of Western Asia also furnish much information as to religious ideas, customs, dress and history, including inscribed seals and amulets, early coins and gems. The explorer must also study the remains of Greek, Roman, Arab and Crusader periods, in order to distinguish these from the earlier remains of the Canaanites, Phenicians, Hebrews, Egyptians and Assyrians, as well as the art of the Jews and Gnostics about the Christian era, and the later pagan structures down to the fourth century A.D.--Nature.

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THE NEUTRAL USE OF CABLES.

Eleven submarine cables traverse the Atlantic between 60 and 40 degrees north latitude. Nine of these connect the Canadian provinces and the United States with the territory of Great Britain; two (one American, the other Anglo-American) connect France. Of these, seven are largely owned, operated or controlled by American capital, while all the others are under English control and management. There is but one direct submarine cable connecting the territory of the United States with the continent of Europe, and that is the cable owned and operated by the Compagnie Francais Cables Telegraphiques, whose termini are Brest, France, and Cape Cod, on the coast of Massachusetts.

All these cables between 60 and 40 degrees north latitude, which unite the United States with Europe, except the French cable, are under American or English control, and have their termini in the territory of Great Britain or the United States. In the event of war between these countries, unless restrained by conventional act, all these cables might be cut or subjected to exclusive censorship on the part of each of the belligerent states. Across the South Atlantic there are three cables, one American and two English, whose termini are Pernambuco, Brazil, and St. Louis, Africa, and near Lisbon, Portugal, with connecting English lines to England, one directly traversing the high seas between Lisbon and English territory and one touching at Vigo, Spain, at which point a German cable company has recently made a connection. The multiplication under English control of submarine cables has been the consistent policy of Great Britain, and to-day her cable communications connect the home government with all her colonies and with every strategic point, thus giving her exceptional advantages for commercial as well as for political purposes.

The schedule blanks of rates of the English companies contain the following provisions: "The dispatches of the imperial government shall have priority when demanded. The cable must not, at any station, employ foreigners, and the lines must not pass through any office or be subject to the control of any foreign government. In the event of war, the government (of Great Britain) may occupy all the stations on English territory or under the protection of Great Britain, and it may use the cable by means of its own employes."

It is not a pleasing reflection that in the actual situation the United States is at a great and embarrassing disadvantage. Meanwhile it would seem to be the policy of the United States to overcome this disadvantage by the multiplication of submarine cables under American or other than English competing foreign ownership and control.

Although somewhat indeterminate, the policy of the United States in respect to the landing of foreign submarine cables, so far, at least, as the executive branch of the government is concerned, appears to be based chiefly upon considerations that shall guard against consolidation or amalgamation with other cable lines, while insisting upon reciprocal accommodations for American corporations and companies in foreign territory. The authority of the executive branch of the government to grant permission is exercised only in the absence of legislation by Congress regulating the subject, and concessions of the privileges heretofore have been subject to such further action by Congress in the matter as it may at any time take. Several bills are now pending in Congress relating to the landing of foreign submarine telegraph cables within the United States, and regulating the establishment of submarine telegraphic cable lines or systems in the United States. As this article is going to press, it is reported that the President has refused permission to a foreign cable company to renew a cable terminus within the territory of the United States, and that the question raised as to the power of the federal government to deny admission to the cable will be referred to the Attorney-General for an opinion. Meanwhile, the executive branch of the government holds to the doctrine that, in the absence of legislation by Congress, control of the landing and operation of foreign cables rests with the President. The question of the landing of foreign cables received some consideration from the late Attorney-General, in connection with an injunction suit brought by the United States against certain corporations engaged in placing on the coast of New York a cable having foreign connection. And he suggested for the consideration of Congress whether it would not be wise to give authority to some executive officer to grant or withhold consent to the entry of such foreign enterprises into this country on such terms and conditions as may be fixed by law.

The principal and most important submarine cables traversing or connecting the great oceans are owned and operated by private corporations or companies. They are in number 310, and their length in nautical miles is 139,754. The length of cables owned or operated by state governments is, in nautical miles, 18,132.

The policies of states, the movements of fleets and armies, and the regulation of the markets of the commercial world, depend upon devices, communications and orders that are habitually transmitted through the agency of submarine cables. In this view, the first aim is to safeguard from wanton destruction the delicate and expensive mechanism of these cables; the second is to restrain within the narrowest limits practicable interruptions in the operation of cables, even in the midst of hostilities; and the third is to encourage the establishment and extension of submarine cables owned and operated by American capital. All these ends may be advanced by the agreement of the powers to neutralize absolutely the submarine cable systems of the world. To do this will be a step in the direction of extending international jurisdiction, which is to be a controlling feature of the new periodical about to be established at Berlin, and to be printed in German, French and English, under the name of "Kosmodike." --Alexander Porter Morse in The Albany Law Journal.

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PARK MAKING.

Those who make public parks are apt to attempt too much and to injure not only the beauty, but the practical value of their creations by loading them with unnecessary and costly details. From the time when landscape gardening was first practiced as a fine art to the present day, park makers have been ambitious to change the face of nature--to dig lakes where lakes did not exist and to fill up lakes where they did exist, to cut down natural hills and to raise artificial ones, to plant in one place and to clear in another, and generally to spend money in construction entirely out of proportion to the value of the results obtained.

The best art is simple in its expression, and the highest form of art in gardening is perhaps that which, taking advantage of such natural conditions as it finds, makes the best of them with the smallest expenditure of labor and money. Simplicity of design means not only economy of construction, but, what is of even more importance, economy of maintenance. The importance of making it possible to keep a great park in good condition without excessive annual expenditures for maintenance is a simple business proposition which would not seem to require much demonstration. Yet park makers, with their unnecessary walks and drives; with their expensive buildings which are always getting out of repair; their ponds, in which there is rarely water enough to keep them fresh; their brooks, which are frequently dry; their elaborate planting schemes, often ill suited to the positions where they are wanted, make parks expensive to construct and impossible to maintain in good condition, especially in this country, where the cost of labor is heavy and there is difficulty in obtaining under existing municipal methods skilled and faithful gardeners to keep anything like an elaborate garden in good condition. The most superficial examination of any of our large urban parks will show that wherever elaborate construction and planting have been attempted they have failed from subsequent neglect to produce the effects expected from them, and that broad, quiet, pastoral and sylvan features are the only permanent and really valuable ones we can hope to attain in our great city parks.

It is needless, perhaps, to repeat what has been said so often in the columns of this journal, that in our judgment the greatest value and only justification of great urban parks exist in the fact that they can bring the country into the city and give to people who are obliged to pass their lives in cities the opportunity to enjoy the refreshment of mind and body which can only be found in communion with nature and the contemplation of beautiful natural objects harmoniously arranged. Parks have other and very important uses, but this is their highest claim to recognition. If it is the highest duty of the park maker to bring the country into the city, every road and every walk not absolutely needed to make the points of greatest interest and beauty easily accessible is an injury to his scheme, and every building and unnecessary construction of every kind reduces the value of his creation, as do trees and shrubs and other flowering plants which are out of harmony with their surroundings. Such things injure the artistic value of a park; they unnecessarily increase its cost and make the burden of annual maintenance more difficult to bear. Simplicity of design often means a saving of unnecessary expenditure, but it should not mean cheapness of construction. The most expensive parks to maintain are those which have been the most cheaply constructed, for cheap construction means expensive maintenance. Roads and walks should not be made where they are not needed, and they should not be made unnecessarily wide to accommodate possible crowds of another century, but those that are built should be constructed in the most thorough and durable manner possible, in order to reduce the cost of future care. When lawns are made, the work should be done thoroughly; and no tree or shrub should be planted in any manner but the best and in the most carefully prepared soil. Only as little work as possible should be done, but it should be done in the most permanent manner. The best investment a park maker can make is in good soil, for without an abundance of good soil it is impossible to produce large and permanent trees and good grass, and the chief value of any park is in its trees and grass; and if the money which has been spent in disfiguring American parks with unnecessary buildings and miscellaneous architectural terrors had been used in buying loam, they would not now present the dreary ranks of starved and stunted trees and the great patches of wornout turf which too often disfigure them. Only the hardiest trees and shrubs should be used in park planting; for there is no economy in planting trees or shrubs which are liable to be killed any year, partially, if not entirely, by frost or heat or drought, which annually ruin many exotic garden plants, nor is it wise to use in public parks plants which, unless carefully watched, are disfigured every year by insects. It costs a great deal of money to cut out dead and dying branches from trees and shrubs, to remove dead trees and fight insects, but work of this sort must be done, unless the selection of plants used to decorate our parks is made with the greatest care. Fortunately, the trees and shrubs which need the least attention, and are therefore the most economical ones to plant, are the best from an artistic point of view; and to produce large effects and such scenery as painters like to transfer to canvas, no great variety of material is needed. The most restful park scenery, and, therefore, the best, can be obtained by using judiciously a small number of varieties of the hardiest trees and shrubs, and the wise park maker will confine his choice to those species which Nature helps him to select, and which, therefore, stand the best chance of permanent success. No park can be beautiful unless the trees which adorn it are healthy, and no tree is healthy which suffers from uncongenial climatic conditions and insufficient nourishment. Even if they are not inharmonious in a natural combination, the trees and shrubs which need constant pruning to keep them from looking shabby are too expensive for park use and should, therefore, be rejected when broad, natural effects in construction and economy of maintenance are aimed for by the park maker.

The sum of the matter of park construction is to make rural city parks less pretentious and artificial in design and to so construct them that the cost of maintenance will be reduced to the minimum. This will save money and lessen the danger of exhibitions of bad taste and encourage that simplicity which should be the controlling motive of sincere art.--Garden and Forest.

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INFLUENCE OF OCEAN CURRENTS ON CLIMATE.

Few people realize that a very large part of inhabited Europe lies to the north of the latitude which in this country is considered the limit of habitation, says Prof. Ralph S. Tarr, in The Independent. London is situated in the same latitude as southern Labrador, where the inhabitants are scattered in small villages and are mainly summer residents who come there from the more southern lands to engage in fishing. During the winter their ports are closed by ice and navigation is stopped, while toward the British Isles steamers are constantly plying from all directions. The great city of St. Petersburg, which in winter is inaccessible to ships, but in summer enjoys a moderate climate, lies in the same latitude as the northern part of Labrador, where snow falls in every month of the year and where floating ice frequently retards navigation even in midsummer. As a result of the severity of climate the only people who find northern Labrador a place fit for existence are the Eskimo tribes, who win their living under great difficulties almost entirely from the sea. No white men live there, with the exception of some missionaries and the occasional traders.

Everyone knows full well the reason for this difference in the climates of the two lands; the European coasts receive constant supplies of water that has been warmed in southern latitudes and carried northward in the great oceanic circulation and particularly in the Gulf Stream. The west winds, blowing toward the European coast, carry from this warm ocean belt air with higher temperature than that which exists over the land. On the eastern side of the Atlantic in place of a warm ocean current there is the cold Labrador current, which blows from the north and chills the water of the northwestern Atlantic. Therefore, the winds that come from the ocean blow over water that has been cooled, and the prevailing winds, which are from the west, come over the land, which is cool in winter and warm in summer.

One may see these differences in climate and the causes for them even more strikingly exhibited within the Arctic belt than in this case which has been mentioned. The great land area of Greenland, with an area of six or seven hundred thousand square miles, is a highland capped over the greater part of its area with a snow field which completely buries all the land excepting that near the margins. The tongues from this ice field, whose area is some 500,000 square miles, reach into the sea and furnish innumerable icebergs that float away, chilling the waters. Notwithstanding the immense area of ice, the summer climate of the Greenland coast is remarkably moderate, even as far north as Melville Bay. The reason for this is the same as that mentioned for the climatic peculiarities of Europe. A current from the south, probably an eddy from the Gulf Stream, carries water northward along the Greenland coast, thus raising the temperature so that the ice which forms in the sea water and the bergs which float upon its surface are made to disappear during the warm part of the year.

Sailing from the coast of Greenland at about the middle point, near Disco Island, in the early part of September, one leaves a land with a delightfully pleasant climate and warmth almost like that of the early autumn of temperate latitudes, and proceeding south-westward across Davis Straits to Baffin Land, two or three hundred miles southward, there finds himself in the midst of the conditions of early winter. The Greenland coast is not snow covered, plants are still in blossom and the hum of insects is heard; but in this more southern latitude, on the American side, the summer insects have entirely disappeared, only a few belated flowers are seen in protected places and a thin coat of snow covers all the land. Light snow may fall here during any time of the summer; but in spite of these differences Baffin Land is not ice covered, while Greenland is. The ice cap of the interior of Greenland is present less because of the severity of the climate at sea level than from the fact that the air which reaches this land has become humid in crossing the water areas, and further in the fact that the interior is a highland. On the Baffin Land side the interior is less elevated and there is less water to the westward in the direction from which the prevailing winds blow.

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CAUSES OF POVERTY.[1]

[Footnote 1: Report of Richmond Mayo Smith, Franklin H. Giddings,
and Fred. W. Holls, Committee on Statistics of the New York
Charity Organization Society.--Condensed for Public Opinion.]

The most interesting, and at the same time the most difficult, problem connected with an analysis of cases is to determine the real cause of destitution. It requires great experience and intelligence on the part of workers in charity to give even approximately the fundamental reason why a certain family has come to destitution. To classify cases from records without personal knowledge of each case, and then simply to count the cases, is a very inadequate method of arriving at the truth. The primary difficulty, of course, is to reach a classification. The one adopted by Mr. Warner in his book on American charities is: 1. Causes indicating misconduct; 2. Causes indicating misfortune. Under the first head come drink, immorality, laziness, shiftlessness and inefficiency, crime and dishonesty, a roving disposition. Under the second head come lack of normal support, matters of employment, matters of personal capacity, such as sickness or death in family, etc. The trouble with such a classification is that one cause may lie behind another, as drink is often the cause of lack of employment, of sickness or accident. On the other hand, lack of employment may lead to drink, immorality or laziness.

With the limited number of cases that have been analyzed in this investigation, it would be impossible to expect any very conclusive results. We have endeavored, however, to make up for the small amount of the material by a careful and intelligent analysis, and by approaching the subject from three different points. We have first taken the alleged cause of distress--that is, the reason assigned by the person applying for relief. This, of course, will present the most favorable side, and the one most calculated to excite sympathy. We have, secondly, tabulated the real cause of distress, as gathered by the tabulator from the whole record. This, of course, is the judgment of an outside party, and the emphasis will be laid upon misfortune or misconduct according to the disposition of the investigator. We have, thirdly, the character of the man and woman as gathered from the record. This is supplementary evidence as to the real cause of distress. We go on now to present these three points of view. Loss of employment, 313; sickness or accident, 226; intemperance, 25; insufficient earnings, 52; physical defect or old age, 45; death of wage earner, 40; desertion, 40; other causes and uncertain, 103; total, 844. An attempt was made to follow the example of Mr. Booth and introduce supplementary causes as well as principal causes. About the only result, however, is that sickness often accompanies loss of employment, and that loss of employment often accompanies sickness or accident. It is clearly seen in this whole table how disposed applicants for relief are to attribute their distress to circumstances beyond their control.

In the following table we have an attempt to analyze the real cause of distress, according to the judgment of the tabulator as gathered from the full record. In chronic cases the same cause is apt to appear in the successive applications. It was thought that this might lead to undue accumulation of particular causes. A separate tabulation, therefore, was made for the 500 first applications, and then for the total--832 applications. The table is as follows:

THE REAL CAUSE OF DISTRESS.

First Applications. Total Applications.
Number. Percent. Number. Per cent.

Lack of employment. 115 25.0 184 22.1 Sickness or accident. 102 20.4 164 19.7 Physical defects or old age. 27 5.4 42 5.0 Death of wage earner. 18 3.6 30 3.6 Desertion 15 3.0 24 2.9 Intemperance 87 17.4 166 19.9 Shiftlessness 50 10.0 101 12.2 No need 86 17.2 121 14.6

Total 500 100.0 832 100.0

In this table it will be seen that emphasis is laid on misconduct rather than on misfortune. The difference between the two sets of returns is obvious. Where lack of employment and sickness have been alleged as accounting for 62-6/10 per cent. of the total, they are believed by the tabulator to really account for only 41-8/10 per cent. On the other hand, intemperance comes in as the real cause in 19-9/10 per cent.; shiftlessness in 12-2/10 per cent. of the applications, and in 14-6/10 per cent. of the applications it was judged that there was no real need. It is very probable that these judgments are severe, but the result shows how frequently, at least, the personal character is a contributory cause of poverty.

An attempt was made when reading the records to determine the general character of the man and woman--that is, the adult members of the family. Such classification is at the best very rough, and does not give us much information. It may be said that the character was put down as good unless something distinctly to the contrary appeared. The results are given in the following table:

PERSONAL CHARACTER OF MAN AND WOMAN.

Male. Female. Total. Percentage.
Good 122 231 353 45
Criminal 15 1 16 2
Insane .. 1 1 ..
Intemperate 81 56 137 17
Shiftless 56 52 108 14
Suspicious 13 30 43 6
Untruthful 5 15 20 3
Uncertain 38 65 103 13

Total 330 451 781 100

"Shiftless" includes Male. Female. Total.
Professional beggers 5 5 10
Loss of independence 1 3 4
Lack of push 2 1 3
Laziness 1 .. 1
Extravagance .. 2 2
"Worthless" 7 5 12
Prostitute .. 1 1

Total 16 17 33
Shiftless indefinite 40 35 75

Total 56 52 108

It would seem from this table that the judgment of the investigators was lenient. In nearly one-half of the cases the character of the men and women was said to be good.

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Fire tests of cast iron columns, made by order of the city authorities of Hamburg, are described in recent issues of the Deutsche Bauzeitung. The columns were 10 feet 8 inches long, 10.5 inches in diameter and of 1/13 inch or 0.5 inch metal. They were loaded centrally and eccentrically, and some were cased with a fireproof covering. A hydraulic press was placed below the column and its crosshead above it, and then a hinged oven containing twelve large gas burners was clamped about the column. The oven was furnished with apparatus for measuring heat, with peep holes and with a water jet. On an average a load of 3.2 tons per square inch, with a heat of 1,400° F., produced deformation in thirty-five minutes in a centrally loaded column without casing. This showed itself by bulging all round in the middle of the heated part, especially where the metal happened to be thinner; fracture occurred finally in the middle of the thickest point of the bulge. If the load was less, this occurred at a higher temperature. Jets of water had no effect until deformation heat was reached. The casings had the effect of increasing the time before deformation began from half an hour to four or five hours.

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ENGINEERING NOTES.

THE MASSILON (Ohio) Bridge Company has received an order for the construction of a cantilever bridge 562 feet long and 18 feet wide, which is to be built by the New York Dredging Company at Honda, on the Magdalena River, in Colombia, South America.

NAVIGATION ON the Amoo-Darya is to be extended considerably, so that Russian steamers will proceed upward on that river to Feisabad-Kalch, which is only about 200 miles from the scene of the recent Indian frontier troubles.--Uhland's Wochenschrift.

A NEW process of manufacturing artificial stone has been patented in England. The stone is formed in steel moulds, which can be adjusted to any size, shape or design for which the finished stone may be required, and solid blocks weighing several hundred pounds have been easily produced.