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& _ ployment and food to a multitude of citizens. THE MARINE RECORD. THE DRAINAGE OF SEWAGE INTO THE MISSISSIPPI. The approaching complétion of the Chicago drainage canal, through which the sewage of a great city will find its way into the Mississippi, is exciting considerable anxiety and publicinterest. The discharge of offensive and pollut- ing matter intoa stream that is bordered with numerous hamlets, towns and cities, finding its way through magnifi- cent distances, and through an empire of States toa de- bouching point in the Gulf, is a matter the importance of which cannot well be over-estimated. The sewage of Chicago with a population approximating two millions of people, and with it the drainage of stock yards and slaughter houses, the waste water of manufacturing establishments, and other numerous sources of contamination, represents enough of diluted fluids and excretion to float a squadron of battleships. The discharge amounts to millions of gallons a day, and however opinions may differ as to the flotilla of disease germs making its voyage seaward, there is certainly good ground for apprehension as to its effects on public health, even if in its remoter distances the nuisance is less menacing or apparent. The presence of typhoid fever in St. Louis is being accounted for by many experts as due primarily to the sewage through the Illinois and Michigan canal and the Desplaines and Illinois rivers. This pumping of sewage is going on at the rate of from fifty to sixty thousand gallons a minute, and this is but a leakage in the hogshead to what it will be when the bottom is knocked out of the cask. The Chicago river is a sluice of putrid fluids. Its flow is sluggish ‘and is only stimulated by artificial inflows and by occasional freshets and floods. This, however, is insufficient to clarify the fetid fluid and remove from the public nose its putrid offensiveness. ‘To dispose of this nuisance, the drainage canal is being constructed, by which the Chicago river and the Illinois river will be connected, and these to the Missis- sippi river that will have to swallow what Chicago forces down its throat. Whatthe effects may be when the currents of the Mississippi and Illinois rivers slacken in times of drought, or when they are boxed upinice during severe winters, remains to be seen. Nor is it unlikely that the fishing industries may have an experience in store, in which the empty net will simply mean either the death or migra- tion of the finny shoals that up to date have furnished em- Conjecture has ample elbow-room in this and other matters, the real point at issue being the vital question of pure water and public health. To such a city as St. Louis, drawing its water supply direct from the Mississippi, the matter is one of serious moment. It has enough of dirt to swallow already, and when this is added to by bacteria-infected fluids, it may be found that mud in solution is less dangerous than poison-germs ina hydrant. It would seem by the statements made by experts, that some kinds of bacteria refuse to give up the ghost either in cold or heat, and that a swim from Chicago to St. Louis is not likely to bring about early death. Be this as it may, should the drainage canal be completed and a huge mass of City filth be turned loose in the Mississippi, the question of filteration will be one of self-protection. Thisis a matter that both in this country and Europe has engaged the attention of engineers, scientists and municipal authorities. Where certain conditions make the pollution of streams unavoida- ble, the only remedy lies in purification. Various methods have been adopted to secure this object, and all of them with more or less success. In Philadelphia endorsement of a loan for $12,000,000 for a filteration plant and new mains has been won at the polls. Other cities have been and are _ taking the water question into serious consideration, the ob- jective point being pure water and public health. These are more intimately related than many suppose. Municipal and sanitary history is full of facts bearing on this essential point. Disease and epidemics have in many cases been traced directly to impure water supplies, and will continue to be so, if there is any relaxation of vigilance on the part of those in authority. Should the drainage canal materialize, as it seems likely to do, the only course left will be to mini- mize the danger by some effective means of purification.— The Age of Steel, St. Louis, Mo. i oi or A JONAH ABOARD SHIP. It does not take a long series of misfortunes overtaking a ship to convince her crew that a lineal descendant of Jonah and inheritor of his disagreeable qualifications is a pas- senger. So deeply rooted is this idea that when once it is aroused with respect to any member of a ship’s company, that person is in evil case, and, given fitting opportunity, would actually bein danger of his life. This tinge of re- ligous fanaticism, cropping out among a class of men who, to put it mildly, are not remarkable for their knowledge of scripture, also shows itself in connection with the paper upon which ‘‘good words” are printed. It is an unheard of misdemeanor on board ship to destroy or put to common use such paper. The man guilty of such an action would be looked upon with horror by his shipmates, although their their current speech is usually vile and blasphemous beyond belief. And herein is to be found a curious distinction be- tween seamen of Teutonic and Latin races, excluding Frenchman, says the London Spectator. Despite the superstitious reverence the former pay to the written word, none of them would in time of peril dream of rushing to the opposite extreme, and, after madly abusing their Bibles, throw them overboard. But the excitable Latins, after beseeching their patron saint to aid them in the most agonizing tones, repeating with frenzied haste such prayers as they can remember, and promising the most costly gifts in the event of their safely reaching port again, often turn furiously upon all they have previously been worshipping, and with the most horrid blasphemies, vent their rage upon the whilom objects of their adoration. Nothing is too sacred for insult, no name too reverend for abuse, and should there be, as there often is, an image of a saint on board, it will probably be cast into the sea. ———$ ae ae A TALK TO FARMERS. In an address at Springfield, O., last week, before the Na- tional Grangers’ Association, Mr. Alex. R. Smith, New York, said in part as follows: The population and the wealth of Great Britain are only half as large as our population and our wealth. The natural resources of this nation are many, many times superior to those of Great Britain. And yet this great, big, rich and resourceful nation must depend upon the smaller, poorer and less resourceful—but more powerful—British Nation ! One hundred and six years ago Thomas Jefferson, then Secretary of State in the Administration of President Wash- ington, in submitting to Congress, at its request, a report on commerce and navigation, referring to the latter, said: “Our navigation involves still higher considerations. As a branch of industry it is valuable; but as a resource of de- fense essential. The position and circumstances of the United States leave them nothing to fear, from their land- board, and nothing to desire beyond their present rights. But on the seaboard they are open to injury, and they have there, too, a commerce which must be protected. This can only be done by possessing a respectable body of citizen sea- men, and artists and establishments in readiness for ship- building. If particular nations. grasp at undue shares and more especially if they seize upon the means of the United States to convert them into aliment for their own strength and withdraw them entirely from the support of those to whom they belong, defensive and protective measures be- come necessary on the part of the nation whose marine resources are thus invaded; or it will be disarmed of its de- fense, its productions will be at the mercy of the nation which has possessed itself exclusively of the means of car- rying them, and its politics may be influenced by those who command its commerce. The carriage of our own commodi- ties, if once established in another channel, cannot be re- sumed in the moment we desire. If we lose the seamen and artists whom it now occupies we lose the permanent means of marine defense, and time will be requisite to raise up others when disgraces or loses shall bring home to our feel- ings the disgrace of having abandoned them.”’ cane cet eal VISIBLE SUPPLY OF GRAIN As compiled for THE MARINE RECORD, by George F. Stone, Secretary Chicago Board of Trade. CITIES WHERE WHEAT.| CORN. Oats. RYE. BARLEY STORED. Bushels. | Bushels. | Bushels. | Bushels. | Bushels, - Buffalo... 1,350,000] 537,000] ~ 456,000] 327,000] — 866,000 Chicago... 14,324,000} 2,504,000 872,000} 368,000 56,000 Detroit... 798,000 198,000 221,000 9,000 25,000 Duluth ees casey: 8,196,000 93,000 186,000 322,000] 431,000 FOreawaliiamy Ouby o/c1y7LOHOOO lc anie vy acie heap cieunsiana ate ie emu gl| amine aa Milwaukee.......... W7ALOOO| «acs arora 2,000 7,000 1,000 Port Arthur, Ont.... QB; OO | entre: arive sePacas tage vrean guste cenit ehe) arveas ihe ave sia Moledonacieit Geass 2,041,000} 1,028,000] 515,000 BlOUO eee sc Toronto. <..3 52% Fi AS O00 || heais ces ten ASOOO KT SSa ee sats 6£,000 On Canal 789.000] 576,000 111,000 38,000 418,000 On Lakes 1,374,000] 495,000) 956,000}... 898,000 Grand Total..... 55,936,000] 11,572,000] 5,917,000] 1,498,000 Corresponding Date, we 31556/000 TBQB cecal wits sence 23,369,000] 22,263,000] 5,586,000} 1,139,000] 3,898,000 Increase. .....5..3.-- 1,935,000 512,000], .......- 136,00 IDQCHERSEY Syictied weisie sis cise ess AR on 208,000]. . ae AS While the stock of grain at lake ports only is here given, the total shows the figures for the entire country except the Pacific Slope. NOVEMBER 30, 1899. [ee eee eee ——————— aaa LITERARY NOTICES. Among the recent publications of the Astronomical So- ciety of the Pacific isa pamphlet by Ensign Everett Hayden, U. S. N., on “‘Clock-rates and Barometric Pressure as Illus- trated by the Maritime Clock and Wall Chronometers at the Mare Island Observatory.” The November number of The Century opens up a new volume, and marks a new era in its history. The number has a handsome colored cover, while the history of Crom- well, by John Morley, which is begun in this number, is also illustrated in tint, as are several other articles. Capt. Joshua Slocum’s narrative of his trip around the world in the Spray is continued, and as his voyage proceeds it grows in interest. In the present installment he tells of his visits to the island of Juan Fernandez and Samoa. Other writers whose work appears in the same issue are Mark Twain, Dr. Weir Mitchell and Governor Roosevelt. Leslie’s Weekly remarks on the fact that the party con- ventious, in their efforts to utilize military glory, have skip- ped the sailors while honoring the soldiers, No naval hero, says the Army and Naval Journal, New York, except Stockton, who won a little fame, but only a little, in the Mexican war, was ever conspicuously mentioned in connec- tion with the Presidental candidacy, and he was made im- possible in 1852, the next canvass after his retirement from the Navy, by the fact that both parties had selected military heroes that year—Pierce and Scott; while in 1856 the new issue which had come to the front through the repeal of the Missouri Compromise in 1854, put the Mexican war and its participants far in the background. In Harper’s Weekly, of Nov. 11, Ensign C. L. Poor, U.S. N., describes with illustrations our miniature colony of Guam. ‘To the navy people this spot in mid-Pacific ought to be a special object of interest since itis the only possession of the country that has been entirely under naval authority. We have heard much of army control since the Spanish war gave us island interests, but Ensign Poor tells us that if “run on true naval principles of order, thoroughness, cleanliness, and discipline, Guam should become a model colony.” Apprehensions as to leprosy will be dispelled by the Ensign’s report that ‘‘there is little of it on the island—not over a dozen cases;”’ and that in a population of between 8,000 and 9,000. These few cases have been segregated and the naval writer believes that ‘‘with improved American medical service and sanitation, we should be able to stamp it out entirely.” ‘‘Where Angels Fear to Tread”’ is the title of a book of short sea stories by Morgan Robertson, no doubt familiar to our readers as a writer of peculiar force and versatility. This work contains yarns suited to the tastes of all who love the sea—in books. There are yarns of the yacht, of the merchantman, and of that marvel of science and destruction, the modern battleship. Then there are yarns of the seaman— the ‘‘common Jack’’—as he is seen board ship and in the boarding-houses of the world. It is said that Robertson’s stories are exaggerated, and upon the strength of that characterization he has been called the ‘“‘American Kipling,”’ the American’ Russell,’’ etc. This is a view naturally tough to the landsman and, considering its basis, a very fine compliment to the alleged prototypes. But, in the view of the seaman, Robertson’s work, so far as it deals with the American deepwater seaman and the American bucko, is not exaggerated, and he is, therefore, not of kin with the Kiplings and the Russells. Morgan Robertson is a dis- tinctly and uniquely American writer, and he depicts con- ditions as only an American Robertsoncan. ‘‘Where Angels Fear to Tread” will be valued by the general reader of sea literature for its own merits, and by seamen for its obvious “‘purpose’’ as well as for its merits. The Century Co., New York, are the publishers. With the December number Harper’s Magazine begins its hundredth volume, and enters upon the last six months of its fiftieth year. Half a century ago Harper’s Magazine, as the announcement of the four Harper Brothers reads, ‘‘was projected and commenced in the belief that it might be made the means of bringing within the reach of the great mass of the American people an immense amount of useful and en- tertaining reading matter, to which, on account of the great number and expense of the books and periodicals in which it originally appears, they have hitherto had no access.’’ The original plan of the publishers then was to make the new periodical simply a literary digest, and for the first six months its pages were filled entirely with matter reprinted from English magazines and from current books. The suc- cess of the Magazine so surpassed the expectations of the publishers, that at the beginning of the second volume they felt themselves in a position to institute a new feature. Dur- ing the second year, in each number appeared at least one original article. This innovation proved so acceptable to the Magazine readers that it was continued and developed, and in a few years the periodical consisted entirely of origi- nal matter. Half a century makes a vast difference both in magazines and the tastes they supply—a difference which could only be understood by a comparision of the first num- ber of Harper’s with the elaborate Christmas number which has just been received, and which, as has been said, opens the hundredth volume. The Christmas number, by the way, ought to be remembered for a for long time, if for only one thing, that is Mark Twain’s short story, ‘“The Man that Cor- rupted Hadleyburg.”” The majority of readers will probably consider this the best tale Mark Twain has ever written; in any case, whoever fails to reads ‘‘The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg,”’ will have missed one of the things that make life worth living.