Chapter L: O. Harmon

_Answer._—Giordano Bruno, the leader of the modern school of pantheistic philosophy, was born at Nola, Naples, about the middle of the sixteenth century. He joined the order of the Dominican Monks, but becoming dissatisfied with some of their doctrines, was expelled. He fled first to Geneva, thence to Paris, and finally to England, meeting with opposition and persecution. In 1585 he returned to Paris, and in the next year went to Germany, where he studied and taught. Becoming dissatisfied there, he settled in Padua, Italy, but was soon after arrested in Venice by officers of the Inquisition, and burned at Rome in 1600. 2. A sketch of Socrates has rarely been given. 3. The Credit Mobilier is also fully explained in the bound volume of “The Curiosity Shop” for 1880.

CITIZENS’ LEAGUE—TEMPERANCE ARGUMENTS.

MOUNT MORRIS, Ill.

Favor us with a statement of the precise objects and scope of the
Citizens’ League of Illinois, and the chief provisions of its
constitution and by-laws: as we may conclude to form a branch
organization here.

W. P. J.

_Answer._—The organization is called “The Citizens’ League of the State of Illinois.” Its objects are the suppression of the sale of liquors to minors and drunkards, and the enforcement of the liquor laws. These objects it aims to effect (1) by enforcing all existing laws and ordinances, prohibiting the selling or giving of intoxicating liquors to minors or drunkards, and prohibiting minors from playing games in places where liquors are sold, (2) by adopting from time to time such other means as may be deemed necessary, or as may in experience be found advisable for the accomplishment of the general purposes of the organization, which is the saving of our youth from habits of dissipation and vice, and, (3) by organizing and fostering, especially in every county seat in Illinois, local leagues, having the same object in view.

Any local league in Illinois, the name of which contains the words “The Citizens’ League” in addition to words of distinction, and the constitution of which is in harmony with the object of the above association, as expressed in section 2 of article 1 of its constitution, may become a constitutional branch of this league on the payment of $10 per annum, with power to send three delegates to each league meeting.

This organization was founded Nov. 25, 1877, immediately after the riots that were so prevalent throughout the country, commencing with the terrible outbreak at Pittsburg, Pa., in July of that year. Prominent citizens of Chicago observed that nearly all the actors in the gangs of rowdies and loafers that entered manufactories and other business places, commanding employes to stop work, were youths under 20 years of age. An investigation of the causes of juvenile depravity was instituted. They learned that of the 28,035 persons arrested for crime in Chicago in the year 1877 no less than 6,818 were under 20 years of age, and that 1,782 of these were committed to the Bridewell. They also learned that in that year the arrests of minors had increased 720, and the commitments of minors to the Bridewell had increased 200 over the number in the preceding year. With a view of verifying these figures and learning the causes of this wholesale demoralization of the young, they made extensive tours of observation through the city by day and by night, and they soon satisfied themselves that it was the liquor and beer saloons that were transforming the youth of Chicago into vagrants and desperadoes. They found scarcely a saloon in which there were no juvenile customers, while in one of them they found 78, in another 93, and in another 147 children, patronizing the bar like adults. Subsequently detectives were posted at the doors of six prominent concert saloons on the same evening, with instructions to count all the people who entered them between 7 p. m. and midnight. At one door there were counted 1,680 males, 290 females, total, 1,979; at another, 1,423 males, 58 females, total, 1,741; at another, 2,609 males, 254 females, total, 2,863; at another, 2,658 males, 148 females, total, 2,806; at another, 1,657 males, 163 females, total, 1,820, and at another, 1,591 males, 94 females, total, 1,685. It was found impracticable to make a separate count of the minors who entered these places on that evening, but it was plainly seen that of these 11,618 male and 1,007 female customers an astonishingly large proportion were boys and girls. And as there were at that time about 3,000 saloons in the city, it was estimated that not less than 30,000 of the children of Chicago were their regular patrons. The police confirmed this estimate and asserted that, in face of State laws and city ordinances positively prohibiting the sale of beer and liquor to minors, which were regarded as dead-letter laws, there were saloon keepers who made a practice of tempting children into saloons and making them drunk. The first overt act of the league was the arrest of one of these monsters named Baker Born, who had been guilty of enticing into his saloon nine little boys, who were on their way home from Sunday school, and making them drunk. He was arraigned before Justice Daniel Scully and promptly fined $25 and costs. The league drew great inspiration from the public indignation which Born’s crime excited, and from the promptness with which he was punished; and from that time to the present it has gone steadily forward, increasing every year in activity, influence and popularity. The following table contains a succinct statement of its operations (prosecutions and outlay) for the first four years of its existence;

—————————————————+——————+——————+——————+——————+——————
| 1878.| 1879.| 1880.| 1881.|Total.
—————————————————+——————+——————+——————+——————+——————
Saloon-keepers | 241| 166| 96| 233| 736
To Grand Jury | 81| 90| 50| 60| 281
Fined by Justice | 83| 85| 13| 83| 264
Annual Outlay |$1,400|$1,600|$1,240|$1,542|$5,781
—————————————————+——————+——————+——————+——————+——————

During the first five months of 1882, 500 saloon-keepers were prosecuted. Of this number, 40 were sent to the Grand Jury, 294 were fined by justices, and 35 held for trial.

The effect of the operations of the league on the morals of the youth of Chicago was instantaneous and permanent. In 1876 the arrests of minors increased 960, and in 1877 they increased 720; but in 1878, the first year of the league’s existence, they decreased 1,418, and in 1879 they decreased 139. And although they have increased slightly in the last two years, the increase is amply accounted for by the policy of the city government and the increase of the population, which increased 204,208 in the last decade, against 188,004 in the previous decade. But notwithstanding both of these adverse influences, there have never been as many minors arrested in Chicago in any year since 1877 as there were in that year. The reduction in the commitments of minors to the Bridewell was even more marked. In 1876 these commitments increased 192, and in 1877 they increased 255. But ever since the league was organized they have constantly decreased. They decreased 211 in 1878; 324 in 1879; 23 in 1880; and 17 in 1881.

For a pamphlet containing an address detailing the origin, operations, and successes of this league, and a copy of its constitution and by-law, address the Citizens’ League of Illinois, 127 LaSalle street, Chicago.

HOW TO SECURE A COPYRIGHT.

CHICAGO, Ill.

I desire to copyright a play. How shall I proceed? What length
of time will it require, and what will it cost? State any other
particulars that are important.

U. R. AKERSTROM.

_Answer._—Every applicant for a copyright must state distinctly the name and residence of the claimant, and whether right is claimed as author, designer, or proprietor. A printed copy of the title of the book, map, chart, dramatic or musical composition, engraving, cut, print, or photograph, or a description of the painting, drawing, chromo, statue, statuary, or model or design for work of the fine arts, for which copyright is desired, must be sent by mail or otherwise, prepaid, addressed, “Librarian of Congress, Washington, D. C.” This must be done before publication of the book or other article. Publication in this connection means the giving to the public or vending of the article. A fee of 50 cents for recording the title of the book, dramatic composition, or other article must be inclosed with the title and application, and 50 cents in addition for each certificate of copyright under seal of the Librarian of Congress, which will be transmitted by early mail. One certificate being all that is usually needed, $1 is the total necessary inclosure. Within ten days after publication of the book or other article, two complete copies must be sent prepaid to the Librarian of Congress, to perfect the copyright. Without the deposit of these copies, not only is the copyright void, but a penalty of $25 is incurred. No copyright is valid unless notice is given by inserting in every copy published the following words: “Entered according to act of Congress in the year 18—, by ——, in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington;” or else the words: “Copyright, 18—, by ——.” The law imposes a penalty of $100 upon any person who inserts the above words or others of the same import, in or upon any book or other article before he has obtained copyright. Each copyright secures the exclusive right of publishing the book or article for twenty-eight years. Six months before the end of that time, the author or designer, or his widow or children, may secure a renewal for the further term of fourteen years.

NIHILISM.

ATHENS, Tenn.

What is the true meaning of Nihilism?

S. C. BRUNER.

_Answer._—There is no authoritative definition of Nihilism. Certain of their leaders define it very differently from others. All of them seem to be pretty well agreed that society as now constituted is utterly wrong from foundation to turret, and most of them are in favor of overturning existing governments, casting to the winds the prevailing conceptions of individual, family, and social rights, and returning to a state of anarchy, if need be, to begin the work of reconstruction anew. _Nihil_ is a Latin word signifying _nothing_, and the name Nihilists is applied to these radical revolutionists by the world at large as indicative of the tendency of their doctrines and political operations, including as they do the assassination of rulers, the springing of mines, and the firing of palaces, government offices, and even towns and cities, in the effort to annihilate all existing doctrines and systems of government. Communism and Socialism were defined in these columns but a week or two ago.

CLYDESDALES AND NORMANS.

OSKALOOSA, Iowa.

State the origin of the Clydesdale and Norman breeds of horses, and
whether it is proper to call them thoroughbreds?

T. J. CASTO.

_Answer._—The Norman horses are named from Normandy, France, and, although distinguished by different names, are probably all of one blood, the names only being of local origin. James M. Hiatt, in the “National Register of Norman Horses,” maintains that the Percherons are derived from the Boulonnais and the Breton horses, the former of Bourbourg, France, and the latter of Bretagne. The Clydesdale horse takes its name from a district on the Clyde, in Scotland, where it was introduced by one of the dukes of Hamilton, who crossed the native Lanark mares with fine heavy Flemish stallions. It is proper to speak of “thoroughbred Norman horses,” or “thoroughbred Clydesdales,” but when the term thoroughbred is used without any qualifying word it is understood to refer to horses bred for speed, with undisputed pedigree in the Stud-book.

DESERT LAND ACT.

RAPID CITY, D. T.

Is there a “Desert Land Act” under which our government disposes of
public lands? If so, please explain it.

A. F. COFFEY.

_Answer._—Desert lands are such as will not produce crops without artificial irrigation. The act of March 3, 1877, provides that persons may make entry of such lands in the States of California, Oregon, and Nevada, and the Territories. The applicant for such land must file a declaration that he is a citizen, that he intends within three years to reclaim the said tract of desert land by conducting water thereon. It must be shown by two witnesses, in writing, that the tract comes within the statutory description of desert lands. At the end of three years, on proof that the land has been reclaimed by irrigation, a patent will issue for it on payment of 25 cents an acre.

REDUCTION OF THE NATIONAL DEBT.

VALLEY CENTER, Kan.

At the present rate of reduction how long will it take to
extinguish the public debt?

W. W. TURNER.

_Answer._—There never has been any uniform rate of reduction of the National debt. It varies with the changes in the revenue laws, the business of the country, and appropriations from the Treasury for other purposes. The pension arrears act has already retarded the payment of the debt by over $100,000,000, and will continue to be a heavy drain for years to come. The recent reduction of the tariff and internal revenue taxes will reduce the National income greatly. The total debt at the highest point, Aug. 31, 1865, was $2,844,649,626; on Aug. 31, 1880, fifteen years later, it was $2,105,386,267. This shows an average reduction of nearly $50,000,000 a year. For the two years ending June 30, 1882, the reduction was $202,103,376, or over $101,000,000 per annum. With the recent reductions of the tariff and internal revenue and the heavy drafts for pensions it is not likely that this rate of debt reduction will be maintained, a rate which would extinguish the whole debt by the year 1900. It is proper to add that, deducting cash in the Treasury August 31, 1865, amounting to $88,218,055, the net debt at the highest point was $2,756,431,571.

ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHING.

KANKAKEE, Ill.

When, where, and by whom was the first electric telegraphing done?

A. B. DALE.

_Answer._—Professor Morse sent the first message by the electric telegraph, from Washington to Baltimore, May 27, 1844. The printing telegraph was suggested in 1837 by Alfred Vail, and a model was made by Wheatstone four years later, but this process of telegraphy has never gone into general use.

NORDENSKJOLD, THE DISCOVERER.

HOLLAND CITY, Mich.

Please give a short sketch of Professor Nordenskjold, giving date
of his discoveries in the Arctic regions.

SUBSCRIBER.

_Answer._—Adolph Eric Nordenskjold (born 1832), was educated at the University of Borgo, and afterward studied at Helsingfors, an important naval station on the Baltic. After teaching mathematics for two years, he was cashiered for his political opinions in 1855, but returned in the following year only to be again driven from the country. In 1858, however, he was appointed State Mineralogist at Stockholm, and in 1867 he married Countess Anna Mannerheim, a Finnish lady—an event that led him to seek an appointment to the chair of Mineralogy and Geology at Helsingfors, but the government again refused for political reasons. Nordenskjold now obtained naturalization papers as a Swedish citizen, and entered Swedish politics. He sailed in the Vega, to find a northeast passage, July 4, 1878, and reached Yokohama, via the discovered passage, in September, 1879.

COMMUNISM AND SOCIALISM.

ATHENS, Tenn.

What is the meaning of communism and socialism as used in the
newspapers?

A READER.

_Answer._.—Communism is the doctrine that society should be reorganized on the basis of abolishing individual ownership of property and control of wages, and most of the now generally admitted rights of individuals in their private and domestic relations, and substituting therefor community ownership and control of every person and everything. Socialism is a sort of limited communism. It would not entirely abolish individual rights of property and personal self-control, but seeks to force a more equitable distribution of property, and level the present extreme distinctions between men of various classes. To effect their purpose radical socialists have rendered themselves obnoxious to many who would accept most of the principles laid down by their great leader, Saint Simon, by advocating resort to revolutionary methods of the most reprehensible kinds, including in some places the use of dynamite and the assassin’s dagger.

BISHOP FALLOWS.

EARLVILLE, Ill.

Please give a brief outline of the life of Bishop Fallows.

S. C. HILTON.

_Answer._—Samuel Fallows, D. D., born in England in 1835, was in 1859 ordained to the ministry of the M. E. Church. During the civil war he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General. He was for seven years Regent of Wisconsin University; later President of Illinois Wesleyan University, and, while editor of the _Appeal_, was chosen Bishop of the Reformed Episcopal Church, July 1, 1876, of which he is now recognized as one of the ablest prelates and most eloquent orators.

MUSHROOM AND TOADSTOOL.

RAVANNA, Mo.

What is a mushroom, and what is the difference between it and a
frogstool? Give a description of each.

A READER.

_Answer._—A mushroom is a genus of fungi, including many species, edible and poisonous. It grows in marshy places during the warm months. Often the name is restricted to the species used as food, which is regularly convex, fleshy, dry, and white, with a tinge of brown or yellow. It is smooth or scaly on the upper surface, never warty; on the under side the gills are pink when young, and later turn brown. Toward the top of the fleshy stem is a white, membraneous ring. The plant is best for food when young, being then in the form of a ball, covered with a thin membrane. The toadstool (“frogstool”) resembles the mushroom, but the top is shiny, white, or dark red, and the gills are perpendicular. This species is poisonous.

STATE SECURITY FOR UNITED STATES LOANS.

MOULTRIE, Ohio.

Was there a time in the history of our General Government when its
credit was so low that it was necessary for one or more States to
go security for a loan made by it?

S. R. ROOSE.

_Answer._—There has been no such time since the adoption of the present Constitution. The nearest the Federal Government ever came to such a humiliation was in 1860, when, through the cutting down of the tariff in 1857 and the outrageous expenditures during President Buchanan’s administration, the National debt had swelled to over $64,000,000, and money could not be raised on United States Treasury notes at less than 10, 11, and finally 12 per cent interest. Then John A. Dix, who succeeded Cobb as Secretary of the Treasury, about the close of 1860, found the public credit so low that, in desperation, he recommended to the Committee of Ways and Means that the States be asked to secure the repayment of money which the government should borrow, by pledging the repayment for this purpose of the public deposits received by them in the distribution of the surplus in the United States Treasury in 1836. However, Congress did not adopt this recommendation.

During the revolutionary times, before and under the old Articles of Confederation, Congress had no authority to levy and collect taxes and customs dues, as it has now. Various plans for raising money were discussed, all dependent on the sanction of the several colonial or State Legislatures. The first plan resorted to for using the credit of the General Government was to issue paper money. Three modes of doing this were considered: First, “That every colony should strike for itself the sum apportioned by the Continental Congress; secondly, that the Continental Congress should strike the whole sum necessary, and each colony become bound to sink its proportionable part; thirdly, that the Continental Congress should strike the whole sum, and apportion the several shares to the different Colonies,” every Colony becoming bound to discharge its own particular part, and all the Colonies to discharge the portion which any particular Colony should be unable to pay. The views of the delegates were widely divergent, but Congress decided, June 22, 1775—more than a year before the Declaration of Independence—to issue bills of credit, not exceeding 2,000,000 Spanish milled dollars, pledging the faith of the twelve Confederate Colonies for their redemption. The sum was subsequently increased to $3,000,000, and apportioned, on the basis of population, among the Colonies that had joined the confederation—not then including Georgia—as follows:

Colonies. Amount.

New Hampshire $124,069.50
Massachusetts Bay 434,244.00
Rhode Island 71,959.50
Connecticut 48,139.00
New York 245,139.00
New Jersey 161,290.50
Pennsylvania 372,208.50
Delaware 37,219.50
Maryland 310,174.50
Virginia 496,278.00
North Carolina 248,139.00
South Carolina 248,139.00

Each Colony was to pay its respective quota in four equal annual installments, commencing on the last day of November, 1779; and for this purpose each was to levy and collect taxes. But, though from first to last the States insisted upon retaining the power to tax, and Congress was obliged to trust wholly to them for funds raised in this manner, they did not tax themselves, as they were in duty bound to do, and neither contributed as they should have done to sustain the National Government, nor raised much to sustain their own organizations, civil and military. “Throughout the entire period from 1774 to 1789,” says Bolles, “only very small sums flowed into the general treasury from the State treasuries.”

In the spring of 1780 Congress resolved, after a great many whereases, “to receive silver and gold in payment of the quotas assigned to the States, at the rate of one Spanish milled dollar in lieu of $40 of the bills then in circulation.” Subsequent loans were made, and the debt apportioned among the several States; but the latter paid but a trifling part of their assessments, as shown by the following table, giving the assessment on each State on account of the requisition of Congress for $8,000,000 in November, 1781, and the amount actually paid to the end of 1783, as given in “Bolles’ Financial History of the United States,” vol. I.:

State. Assessment. Am’t paid.

New Hampshire $373,598 $3,000.00
Massachusetts 1,307,596 247,676.66
Rhode Island 216,684 67,847.95
Connecticut 747,196 131,577.83
New York 373,598 39,064.01
New Jersey 485,679 102,004.95
Pennsylvania 1,120,794 346,632.98
Delaware 112,085 .........
Maryland 993,996 89,302.11
Virginia 1,307,594 116,103.53
North Carolina 622,677 .........
South Carolina 373,598 344,301.57
Georgia 24,905 .........
—————————— —————————————
$8,000,000 $1,486,154.71

On the other hand, in justice to the “Fathers,” it should be stated that the several States expended large sums on their individual accounts, for sustaining the common cause against Great Britain, aggregating, it was estimated, about $25,000,000; $18,271,786,47 of which Congress assumed in 1790, after the States had surrendered to the Federal Government the right to levy and collect all tariffs on foreign imports. The indebtedness incurred by the States for the Revolutionary cause and thus assumed by the United States is shown in the following table:

New Hampshire $282,595.51
Rhode Island 200,000.00
Massachusetts 3,981,733.05
Connecticut 1,600,000.00
New York 1,183,716.69
New Jersey 695,202.70
Pennsylvania 777,983.48
Delaware 59,161.65
Maryland 517,491.08
Virginia, including Kentucky 2,934,416.00
North Carolina 1,793,803.85
South Carolina 3,999,651.73
Georgia 246,030.73
——————————————
$18,271,786.47

The foreign loans made by the United States during the revolutionary war pledged the faith of all the States. These amounted in toto to $150,000 from the Spanish Government; about 8,000,000 guilders by subscription in Holland, and 18,000,000 livres from the French Government, besides the free gifts of the French King, “forming an object,” wrote Franklin, “of at least 12,000,000 livres, from which no returns but that of gratitude and friendship are expected. These, I hope, may be everlasting.”

ORIGIN OF JOURNALISM.

PARIS, Texas.

1. Were any newspapers or periodicals published before the
invention of printing? 2. Give a short sketch of the advancement of
journalism.

FRANK LEE.

_Answer._—1. At a very early period daily news letters were circulated, concerning public and official acts, in Rome, Venice, and China. 2. The first printed newspaper was the _Gazette_, published in Nuremberg in 1457, and the oldest paper extant is the _Neue Zeitung aus Hispanien und Italien_, printed in the same city in 1534. Other countries followed Germany in issuing printed newspapers in the following order: England in 1622; France, 1631; Sweden, 1644; Holland, 1656; Russia, 1703; Turkey, 1827. The progress of journalism has been most rapid in America. The first American newspaper consisting of three pages of two columns each and a blank page, was published in Boston, Sept. 25, 1690, under the name of “Publick Occurences, both Foreign and Domestic,” but it was immediately suppressed. In 1704 the Boston _News Letter_ appeared, printed on one sheet of foolscap paper. It flourished for seventy-two years. The following data will show the advancement in the United States:

First printing office in 1639.
First newspaper in 1690.
First political newspaper in 1733.
First daily paper in 1784.
First penny paper in 1833.
First illustrated paper in 1853.

In 1880 there were published in America (United States and Canada) 10,131 newspapers and periodicals—899 dailies, 8,428 weeklies, tri-weeklies and semi-weeklies, and 804 monthlies and semi-monthlies. More than 6,000 of this number belong to the United States, and the annual circulation is about 1,500,000,000.

WHO VOTE IN GREAT BRITAIN.

GLENVILLE, Minn.

What class of persons are allowed to vote for members of Parliament
in Great Britain?

T. W.

_Answer._—The “Commons of England” consists of the representatives of shires or counties, representatives of cities, and representatives of boroughs. For representatives of boroughs every man is entitled to vote who is of full age and not subject to any legal incapacity, provided he is on the last day of July in any year, and has during the whole of the preceding twelve months been an “inhabitant occupier,” as owner or tenant, of any dwelling-house within the borough; has during the time of such occupation been rated (or taxed) “as an ordinary occupier in respect of the premises so occupied by him within the borough to all rates made for the relief of the poor in respect of such premises,” and has paid the said rate; or has occupied as a lodger in the same borough separately, and as sole tenant for the time above designated, “a part of one and the same dwelling house, of a clear yearly value, if let unfurnished, of £10 or upward.” For representatives of counties any man may be registered as a voter who is of full age, and not subject to any legal incapacity, who shall be in possession at law or in equity of any lands or tenements, of copyhold, or any other tenure whatever, except freehold, for his own lifetime or for the life of another or for any larger estate of the clear yearly value of not less than £5 over and above all rents and charges, who is on the last day of July of any year (and has been during the preceding twelve months) the occupier as owner or tenant of lands or tenements within the county of the ratable value of £12 or upward, and has paid all poor rates rated to him. The qualifications of city electors are not materially different from those above given. Of the 487 members for England and Wales, 187 represent counties, 295 cities and boroughs, and 5 represent the three universities.

The qualifications of electors in Scotland and Ireland are somewhat different. In Scotland, the burgher franchise is given to every man of full age who has been for twelve months an occupier, as owner or tenant, of any dwelling, and has paid his poor rates, and not been in receipt of parochial relief during that time. The lodger franchise consists in the permission of any lodger to vote who has occupied in the same burgh separately, and as sole tenant for twelve months, a lodging worth £10. In the counties the ownership franchise requires the property to be worth an annual net rental of £5, and a residential qualification of six months. In Ireland the borough franchise requires a lodging of the value of £4, where in England it must be at least £10, the other qualifications being similar to those required in England.

TYPE-WRITERS.

CHAPIN, Iowa.

What are the advantages gained by the use of type-writers? By whom
were they invented, and where?

G. W. ADAMS.

_Answer._—Perhaps the earliest form of a type-writer is a rude machine invented in England in 1714, without any practical fruits. M. Foucault, sent to the Paris Exposition of 1855 a writing machine for the blind; but the first of what are now popularly known as type-writers was patented in 1868, by C. L. Sholes, of Wisconsin. This has been improved until now it is possible to attain a speed of seventy-five to eighty words a minute in writing with this machine, which is fast enough for reporting speeches. The principal advantages gained are rapidity of execution and legibility. A type-writer can write with both hands and several fingers in instant succession, every letter being made with a single light touch instead of requiring from three to seven distinct strokes and dots, as in ordinary script.

NOT ONE CENT FOR TRIBUTE.

EAU CLAIRE, Wis.

By whom and when was the remark used: “Millions for defense, but
not one cent for tribute”?

JOHN J. MAGINNIS.

_Answer._.—An ill-feeling grew up between the United States and France soon after the breaking out of the great French revolution, near the close of the last century. France seemed determined that our government should take active part with it in hostilities against Great Britain. Washington and the Federal party insisted on strict neutrality. The French Minister, Citizen Genet, encouraged by the strong French sympathies of the Republicans of those days and the almost universal ill-feeling toward Great Britain, undertook to set President Washington’s proclamation of neutrality at defiance by an appeal to the people, encouraged the organization of secret political societies opposed to the administration, and even instituted recruiting for the French army on American soil. His course became so obnoxious that Washington demanded his recall. M. Fauchet was sent to succeed him, but the ill-feeling rather increased than diminished. In 1796 Charles C. Pinckney, of South Carolina, one of our revolutionary heroes, was sent to France as United States Minister, charged, among other matters, to negotiate a settlement of all differences, on the basis of American neutrality. The French Directory treated him with an incivility almost unbearable, and finally ordered him to quit the country. He withdrew to Amsterdam for a time, but, on some change of affairs in France, returned in the early part of 1797, when Talleyrand, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, declined to treat further until his government had received a payment from the United States in the nature of a present or tribute, and threatened war as the consequence of a refusal. Thereupon Pinckney gave utterance to the patriotic exclamation, “War be it then; millions for defense, sir, but not a cent for tribute.” These words were caught up by the administration party at home and echoed and re-echoed throughout the land until, in 1798, Congress was nerved to provide a strong naval armament. Later Washington, who had been succeeded in the Presidency by John Adams, was called to the chief command of the army, several French vessels were captured in reprisal for damages inflicted on American citizens, and an open declaration of war was daily looked for, when Napoleon I. came into power, and France, satisfied that the United States was in stern earnest, made overtures for reconciliation, which resulted in the treaty of 1800, honorable to all concerned.

RAINFALL OF THE UNITED STATES.

MASON, Ill.

Please give the rainfall in different portions of the United States.

T. M. TRIPLETT.

_Answer._—There is a small circle in Central Florida where the annual rainfall ranges from sixty to seventy inches. There is a belt covering Western Alabama, Eastern Mississippi, also Southern Louisiana for fifty to sixty miles on either side of the Mississippi River, where it measures from sixty to sixty-four inches. But the heaviest rainfall in the United States is in Alaska, where it is over eighty inches, and along the western coast of Oregon and Washington Territory, between the Cascade Range and the Pacific, increasing from sixty-eight inches south of the Columbia River to eighty inches on Puget Sound. In Central Georgia and South Carolina it is fifty-two to forty-eight; in Central North Carolina and Virginia, diminishing northward, it is forty-eight to thirty-six. Along the Atlantic coast, for about seventy-five miles inward, it ranges from forty-four inches at Savannah to forty in Connecticut, and thence increases to forty-four in Northern Maine. Along both flanks of the Alleghanies and Blue Ridge it is nearly uniform at 40. In most of the region south of the Ohio and Missouri, from Eastern Tennessee to Eastern Texas, it ranges from 48 inches in the south to 44 in the north, and the latter is about the average for Southern Indiana and Southwestern Ohio. The average for Illinois and Northern Indiana and Pennsylvania is about 40. For Western New York, Northern Ohio, lower Michigan, Wisconsin, Southeastern Minnesota, and most of Iowa it ranges from 40 to 32, diminishing toward the great lakes. West of the Missouri it ranges from 30 inches in Eastern Kansas to 26 in Dakota, and diminishes toward the Rocky Mountains. In Southern Texas it ranges from 48 near the southeastern corner to 28 on the Rio Grande, and diminishes to 34 in the northeastern, and 29 in the northwestern corners. In California the rainfall ranges from 60 inches on the northern coast to 9 or 10 in the south, and diminishes inland to 8 or 10 in the mountain districts, and still less in the desert regions. As for the greater part of the region embracing all the Territories except Alaska, Washington, and Southeastern Dakota, all of Colorado and Nevada, the western parts of Kansas, Nebraska and Dakota, and the eastern portion of Oregon, the rainfall varies between 10 inches and 22. Here and there within this region there are districts almost rainless. This is most common in Northern Arizona and Utah.

PESTALOZZI AND FROEBEL.

DUNLAP, Iowa.

Please give a short sketch of the lives of the three noted
educational reformers, Pestalozzi, F. Froebel, and Horace Mann.

JOHN KEITGES.

_Answer._—Pestalozzi, the famous Swiss educator, was born at Zurich Jan. 12, 1746. In his youth he was evidently undecided as to what profession to follow. He was first a theological student and then a law student. Having purchased some waste land, he turned from the law to farming, where he became interested in the welfare of the masses and devoted himself, during the intervals of his work, to promoting their elevation. Convinced that a rational system of education would remedy many of the evils of society, he converted his own house into an orphan asylum, and strove, by judicious blending of industrial, intellectual, and moral training, to illustrate his theory of a sound system of national education. The great idea at the basis of his system of instruction was the necessity of teaching by object lessons. Objects themselves, and not lessons about objects, were the means that he used to develop the observing and reasoning powers. He gave special attention to the moral and religious training of children, as something distinct from mere instruction in morals and religion. For two years Froebel, the father of the kindergarten system, was his pupil and assistant teacher. He died at Brugg, Switzerland, in 1827. Friedrich Wilhelm A. Froebel, to whom reference has just been made, was born at Ober-Weissbach, Germany, April 21, 1782. When sent to school he was so dull that his father, growing discouraged, took him from study and sent him to work among the wood-cutters in the forest. Here he became a student of nature and advanced, as Pestalozzi, upon his farm, to the idea of teaching from nature. In 1799 he went to school again, but falling into debt, was imprisoned by his creditors. Soon after his release he became a pupil and assistant of Pestalozzi, remaining with this great master from 1807 to 1809. He then began the study of the natural sciences, but was interrupted by the German and French war of 1813, in which he enlisted for fatherland. On the restoration of peace he became curator of the Museum of Mineralogy, under Professor Weiss, at Berlin. A few years later he began his life as a teacher, which, in 1826, the year previous to the death of Pestalozzi, he varied by publishing a work entitled “The Education of Man.” In this book he declared that man’s life was a succession of stages, each of which should be progressive. He was especially impressed with the importance of the first years of childhood as the period in which to give shape to all their after development. In 1837 he established the first kindergarten school, at Blankenburg. Having noticed the restlessness of children, and tendency to finger everything, he took advantage of these traits to arouse in them a spirit of intelligent inquiry and investigation. Much of his time was given, in schools of Germany and Switzerland, to training primary teachers. In the latter part of his life he gave special attention to the training of young female teachers, believing them to be best calculated by nature for the care and management of young children. During the revolutionary period of 1848, at a time when, through the influence of the great Middendorff, who had become interested in his kindergarten work, he hoped to enlist the support of the German Parliament in his system of teaching, he and his brother Karl were charged with socialistic tendencies, and an edict was issued forbidding the establishment of schools “after Friedrich and Karl Froebel’s principles” in Prussia. This blow utterly disheartened the veteran educator, and he died in June, 1852, at Marienthal.

A sketch of the life of Horace Mann will be found in Our Curiosity Shop for 1882.

GENERALS A. S. AND JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON.

BLAINE, Iowa.

Please give a brief outline of the lives of General A. S. Johnston
and Joseph E. Johnston.

READER.

_Answer._—Albert Sydney Johnston served honorably in the United States army in Mexico and Utah, and at the outbreak of the civil war was appointed General in the Confederate army. He was killed in the battle of Shiloh, April 6, 1862, at the age of 59. His native State was Kentucky. General Joe Johnston was born in Virginia in 1807, and, after completing the course of study at West Point, fought in the Seminole and Mexican wars. Receiving the position of Major General in the Confederate army, he proved himself a dangerous foe in the Peninsular campaign, in Tennessee, and Carolina. He surrendered to General Sherman April 26, 1865.

COLD IN DAKOTA.

CHICAGO, Ill.

In the interview with Mr. Geo. B. Armstrong, Register of the
Government land office at Huron, D. T., recently published in
THE INTER OCEAN, he asserts, substantially, that it is colder in
Chicago with the mercury 5 deg. below zero than it is in Huron with
the mercury 35 to 38 deg. below. A number of us, who swear by the
Curiosity Shop, have got into a dispute over this statement and all
agree to leave it to the editor of “the shop” to decide the matter.
The question is: Is it as cold in Huron, D. T., as in this city, on
the average?

G. H.

_Answer._—In one sense of the word, it is unquestionably colder in Huron than in Chicago. But Mr. Armstrong has not left our readers in doubt as to his meaning. He distinctly says: “With the mercury in the thermometer as low as 35 and 38 degrees below zero, we do not suffer so much as the people in Chicago with the thermometer at 5 degrees below zero. The air is dry and comfortable.” Here he clearly discriminates between the cold of the atmosphere and the sense of cold experienced by human beings. There is no ground for dispute as to the comparative average winter cold of the climate of Southern Dakota in and about Huron, and the same at Chicago. The thermometer shows that the former is several degrees greater than the latter. But taking cold in the second sense of the word, “the sensation produced by the escape of heat” from the body; “chilliness or chillness”—see Webster’s second definition—every one knows by actual experience that this depends to a considerable degree upon the dryness and stillness of the atmosphere and the state of the body. Exposed to a high wind in humid atmosphere not more than 5 or 6 degrees below zero, a person may freeze to death, when he would endure 35 or 40 degrees below zero in a dry, still air without serious suffering. Such air is classed among the poorest of all heat conductors; it belongs rather to non-conductors. The sensation of cold is due to the conduction of heat from the body more rapidly than the vital forces can replace it. Moist air in rapid motion carries off heat with great rapidity. When the skin pores are open a considerable part of the fluids of the body exudes through them, dampens the garments, and so renders them better conductors. The cold and wind evaporate this moisture in the garments. Evaporation is a cooling process; so when the pores are not kept almost sealed up by steady cold the body suffers loss of temperature both by increased conduction and evaporation. Observations of the United States Signal Service denote that the atmosphere of the region of Dakota under consideration is dryer, stiller, and less subject to extreme changes than that of Chicago; so that it is possible that, while in one sense of the word cold, it is certainly colder in Huron than it is in Chicago, in the other sense it may be no colder or not so cold there as here. This is plainly a question of personal experience, and the best that Our Curiosity Shop can do to settle this dispute is to give the above facts, and add that the testimony of many credible witnesses who have tried both climates is to the effect that, taking the winter through, one feels the cold there no more, or not so much as here. If a wager turns on our decision, taking the word cold in its first sense, the answer given above is definite and positive; taking it in the second sense, it is indecisive; a case for “a draw.”

ANCHOR ICE.

LAPORTE CITY, Iowa.—In the Curiosity Shop for June 14 I see a correspondent asks an explanation of ice forming at the bottom of rivers and remaining there. I saw this ice for the first time three years ago the past winter, at Waterloo, in this State, where business kept me most of the time. It excited my curiosity, and I studied it until satisfied of its origin. The Cedar River runs through the city, and a dam is built across it giving a power of about eight feet fall. A short distance below this is a bridge over 600 feet long. The space between the dam and the bridge is a rock-bottom rapids. Having occasion to cross the bridge frequently I noticed this ice attached to the rocks under water after the weather became cold, but not cold enough to form a solid sheet of ice on the pond. It disappeared and came again as the weather changed to warm or cold, but ceased to be formed after the pond was covered with a solid cake of ice, always forming at the beginning of cold weather. I concluded it was caused by the formation of fine crystals of ice on the pond not yet frozen together, which, as they were carried over the dam, were mixed in the surf below and driven against and stuck fast in the fine moss covering the rocks, always attached to the side of the rock facing the fall, the first crystals presenting points to catch the next, and so the mass, which appeared like water-soaked snow, grew under the water by accretion, the water being as cold as the ice itself could not thaw it. I think if the correspondent will examine he will find anchor ice is formed in rapids or at the foot of falls draining a smooth expanse of water before the water becomes covered with a solid sheet of ice, and always on the up-stream side of the rocks in the bottom.

T. A. KELLETT.

CHIEF RULERS OF THE WORLD.

WINDSOR, Ill.

Please give in “Our Curiosity Shop” the names of the principal
rulers of the world, with the countries over which they rule.