Chapter L: E. C. Roe

_Answer._—A German may be a Jew, or a Jew a German, Englishman, Frenchman, Italian, American, or of any nationality under the sun. As a Jew his nationality embraces the world; in many respects he still observes the laws of Moses, and by marriage and other peculiar institutions he maintains his race distinctions and national feelings. At the same time he is now in most Christian states a citizen of the land he happens to be born in, and in most such lands is permitted to enjoy all the rights of other citizens, as is the case with American Jews. It was not always so. It is only since the establishment of the German Empire, in 1871, that the Jew has enjoyed full civil equality in Germany. France granted it in 1790, and confirmed this grant in the constitution of 1795. In all but a few petty, contemptible particulars, since 1858 English Jews have enjoyed all the privileges of other British subjects. In Russia and some other European countries the Jew is still denied the rights of citizenship.

DUTIES ON FARM PRODUCTS AND COAL.

REST, Kas.

Give the present import duty on the various kinds of grain, also
potatoes, butter, cheese, and coal, and oblige several readers.

JOHN F. COULTER.

_Answer._—The following are the import duties on some of the principal farm products and coal:

Wheat, seed or other 20 cts. per bu. of 60 lbs.
Wheat flour 20 per cent
Corn 10 cts. per bu. of 56 lbs.
Corn meal 10 per cent
Barley, 48 lbs. to bu. 15 cts. per bu.
Barley, patent 20 per cent
Barley, pearl or hulled 1 ct. per lb.
Barley, pulverized 20 per cent
Oats 10 cts. per bu. of 32 lbs.
Oatmeal ½ ct. per lb.
Rye 15 cts. per bu. of 56 lbs.
Rye flour 10 per cent
Rye shorts 10 per cent

The import duty on potatoes, seed or otherwise, is 14 cents per bushel; on butter, 4 cents per pound; on cheese of all kinds, 4 cents per pound; on salt in bulk, 8 cents per 100 pounds; in bags, sacks, barrels, or other packages or in brown earthenware jars, 12 cents per 100 pounds; on bituminous coal, 75 cents per ton of 28 bushels of 80 pounds each; on dust coal, 40 cents per ton; on cannel coal, 75 cents per ton.

ST. HELENA.

RACCOON, Ill.

What are the area and present population of the island of St.
Helena? What is its history? Was the banishment of Napoleon just?

SUBSCRIBER.

_Answer._—The island of St. Helena, whose name always recalls the gloomy downfall of Napoleon I., contains an area of about forty-seven miles. It supports a population of 6,241 souls. It was discovered in 1501 by Juan de Nova Castella, a bold Portugese navigator, who gave it the name St. Helena, because he first saw it on the day sacred to that saint in the Romish calendar. In the following century the Dutch took possession and retained it until England seized it in 1673. When Napoleon Bonaparte was first banished to this island and held here as a political prisoner under British surveillance, the population was but about 800,200 of whom were soldiers and 300 slaves. The importance to a maratime nation like Great Britain of St. Helena, lying as it does in the path of European, South African, Australian, and India and China trade, developed as years passed: its value as a naval station and its other strategic advantages have become more and more apparent, and now it is looked upon as one of the strong keys of English power in the South Atlantic.

HOW SLAVERY AFFECTED CONGRESSIONAL APPORTIONMENTS.

HENRIETTA, Neb.

Were slaveholders entitled to extra votes for the slaves which they
possessed?

INQUIRER.

_Answer._—In Congressional apportionments before the war, five negroes were counted as equal to three whites. Of course the slaves were not permitted to vote, but the voting power of the whites was plainly magnified over that of an equal number of whites in the free States. For example, the first Congressional apportionment allowed one representative for every 30,000 inhabitants; but in the South 21,000 whites owning 15,000 slaves counted the same as 30,000 whites in the North where there were no slaves, or 15,000 whites holding 25,000 slaves were granted the same representation in Congress and the electoral college as double the number of Northern whites.

JEFFERSON AND JEFFERSONIANISM.

BELLE PLAINE, Iowa.

Please give a brief biography of Thomas Jefferson.

A SON OF VULCAN.

_Answer._—“Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the statute of Virginia for religious freedom, and father of the University of Virginia,” is the inscription upon Jefferson’s tombstone. He was born April 2, 1743, in the county of Albemarle, in the interior of Virginia, then a desolate forest. His diligence and study was encouraged by his parents, who placed him under the care of a talented Scottish clergyman. When he was 17 he entered William and Mary College, and after graduation studied law. In 1759 he was chosen to represent his county in the House of Burgesses, where he continued with but little interruption until the days of the revolution. Like George Washington, disappointed in his first love, he married a widow, in 1772. Three years later he was sent as a delegate to the Second Continental Congress. As Chairman of the committee to draft the Declaration of Independence, he is said to have written the whole of that document, which, with a few minor amendments, was adopted by Congress and sent to the King of England. In October he resigned and retired to his farm, but only again to be forced into civil life by his election to the State Legislature. During the war he was not only busy in originating and advocating measures to aid the cause of liberty but also he began a thorough revision of the statutes of Virginia. From 1779 to 1781 he served as Governor. After a short term in the House of Burgesses he was sent to the Confederate Congress, which, in 1784, thought fit to appoint him as one of the three commissioners to negotiate treaties with European nations. Upon Franklin’s return Jefferson was made Minister Plenipotentiary to the court of Louis XVI. He watched with eager interest the progress of the French Revolution, and when given a leave of absence in 1789 returned filled with democratic ideas from the new republic. Upon his landing he was immediately tendered by Washington a position in his Cabinet as Secretary of State. Soon it became evident to Jefferson that among the President’s advisers there existed a radical difference of opinion on nearly every important subject. Hamilton was regarded by the Secretary of State as a man in favor of a constitutional monarchy, and the latter’s ideas of centralization were construed to mean the destruction of the existing Constitution and the formation of a government like that of England. The Secretary of the Treasury, on the other hand, believed Jefferson to be infused with the socialistic democracy of France, and one whose principles if put in practice would overthrow the Constitution and produce anarchy. To Jefferson the financial policy of Hamilton was very aggravating. The recommendations of the Treasurer to Congress he believed to be in the interest of the speculators and the moneyed classes. On New Year’s Day, 1794, he resigned his office, greatly to the annoyance of Washington, who was reluctantly compelled to acquiesce, and returned to his farm. The position occupied by the first President was a peculiarly embarrassing one. He had in his Cabinet Jefferson and Randolph, the leaders of the Republican, or Anti-Federal party, and Hamilton and Knox prominent Federalists. With such associations the administration as a whole was comparatively little criticised, although Hamilton and Jefferson were the targets for the denunciations of their respective opponents. In 1800 Jefferson and Burr each received 73 electoral votes to Adams’ 65, which threw the election into the House. According to the decision of that body Jefferson was inaugurated March 4, 1801. His frugal administration increased the popularity of his party, which continued to remain in power twenty-four years. After having served two terms he again retired to his farm, a poor man, considerably burdened with debt. Congress purchased his library, which their committee valued at $23,000, although its cost had been nearly double that sum. Mr. Bacon, who had charge of the removal, says that there were sixteen wagon loads, each wagon being required to carry at least 3,000 pounds. The remainder of his life he spent in endeavoring to introduce schools and colleges, and in general, the New England system of local government into his native State. After witnessing the establishment of the University of Virginia, he died July 4, 1826, upon the same day that John Adams passed away. In politics Jefferson was considered by the Federalists as a theorist. Speaking of his administration, Gouverneur Morris says: “There is just now so much philosophy among our rulers that we must not be surprised at the charge of pusillanimity.” In religion he was very bitter against the Calvinists, and held Unitarian views.

WHAT IS MICA—WHERE OBTAINED?

AURORA, Neb.

What is mica, and where is it found?

B. O. B.

_Answer._—Mica consists of a silicate of alumina, combined, according to species, with small proportions of potash, soda, lithia, oxide of iron, oxide of manganese, etc. The most common and serviceable variety is known as potash mica. It is a constituent of granite, gneiss, mica slate, and several other kindred rocks. It is found both disseminated and in veins. It is very widely distributed, especially in composition with other minerals; but there are comparatively few localities where it is known to exist in such quantities and form as to be mined with profit. Its most valuable form is that of muscovite, in which it appears in translucent lamina or plates. The larger and clearer these plates the greater the value of the mine or quarry. In Siberia they have been found more than three feet across, and they have been obtained of great size in Sweden and Norway. This is also the case at Acworth, Grafton, and Alstead, N. H., and mica has been found large enough for economic use in Canada. Mica is used largely for the doors of stoves and the sides of lanterns. It is employed in some countries as a substitute for window glass, and its toughness recommends it for this purpose on board vessels of war. It has also been used for spectacles. When ground it makes a cheap bronzing powder. There are some mica factories in North Carolina, near Mitchell County mica mines. In the state of a fine powder it is used to give a brilliant appearance to walls, and as a sand for drying ink on manuscripts. Lithia mica contains a small proportion of lithia, which gives it in many cases a fine rose or peachblow color, so that it is used for ornamental purposes.

WHY THE GREAT DIPPER SPINS AROUND THE POLE.

COLDWATER, Mich.

Please explain the apparent revolution of the Dipper about the
Polar Star.

J. C. A.

_Answer._—The Great Dipper only appears to revolve, owing to the revolution of the earth. Of course, it makes an apparent revolution every twenty-four hours, the same as the sun. It is visible throughout the entire night because it is within what is called the circle of perpetual apparition, or that part of the heavens which is always in sight to the observer. This circle enlarges as one travels from the equator, where it is nothing, to the pole, where it takes in the whole northern hemisphere.

THE OLD UNITED STATES BANK.

CRESTON, Iowa.

Please give the location and explain the government of the first
and second banks of the United States.