1899 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
725- 
Events of the Week. 
DOMESTIC.—September 27, fire devastated Chickasaw, I. 
T. . . A mild blizzard, with snow, occurred at Grand 
Forks, N. D., September 27. . . A tornado caused dam¬ 
age in the Norwalk River Valley, Conn., September 26, 
injuring orchards, timber and buildings. . . The town 
of New Madrid, Ill., was practically wiped out by fire 
September 27. . . A railroad wreck occurred on the 
Great Northern Railroad, near Glasgow, Mont., Septem¬ 
ber 27. Five men were killed, and several others injured. 
. . A gas explosion in the residence part of New York, 
September 28, wrecked one house, damaged two others, 
killed one man, and injured several passersby. The gas 
main had been cracked by the settling of the ground, 
after a new sewer had been built. . . The Dominion 
Line steamer Scotsman, from Liverpool to Montreal, was 
wrecked in the Straits of Belle Isle, between Labrador 
and Newfoundland, September 21 ; 15 lives lost. The sur¬ 
vivors were crowded on rocky cliffs for four days before 
being rescued, nearly perishing with cold and hunger. 
While the officers and regular crew of the Scotsman dis¬ 
played conspicuous heroism, a number of the stokers and 
firemen robbed the drowning passengers; 24 of these ruf¬ 
fians are under arrest at Montreal, and nine were pun¬ 
ished at Liverpool, England. . . There were 54 new 
cases of yellow fever at Key West September 29. . . The 
vicinity of Makanda, Ill., is quarantined for smallpox. . . 
Capt. O. M. Carter, convicted by court-martial in April, 
189S, of conspiring to defraud the Government of vast 
sums, was arrested September 30, and taken to a cell in 
Castle Williams, Governor’s Island. He had been sen¬ 
tenced to dismissal from the army, to five years’ im¬ 
prisonment, and to pay a fine of $5,000. The freedom per¬ 
mitted Capt. Carter, and the laxity in enforcing the sen¬ 
tence of the court-martial, has been regarded as a fla¬ 
grant scandal. . . Robert A. Hinckley, who stole $97,000 
from a New York bank in 1884, evading justice ever since, 
was recently arrested in British Columbia. . . Snow fell 
in Connecticut October 2. It was the coldest October 2 
registered since the establishment of the Weather Bu¬ 
reau. . . The State Deaf Mute Institute, at Little Rock, 
Ark., was destroyed by fire September 30; loss $160,000. . . 
The Dewey celebration in New York passed off brilliantly, 
with few accidents. It is estimated that the visitors 
spent $5,000,000 in New York. . . Sadie Weisman, the girl 
who was brutally treated by the matron of the State In¬ 
dustrial School for Girls, at Trenton, N. J., died at Pater¬ 
son, N. J., October 3, after a surgical operation. In her 
ante-mortem statement she accused the matron, Mrs. 
Eyler, of cruelty. . . The lumber yards of the Wheeler 
& Dusenbury Company, at Endeavor, Pa., were de¬ 
stroyed by fire October 3. Loss $500,000. . . The town 
of Duquen, Ark., was destroyed by fire October 2; loss 
$250,000. . . The Illinois Cereal Company’s plant, at 
Bloomington, Ill., was destroyed by fire October 2; loss 
$200,000. . . Chicago’s Fall festival opened October 4. 
The city is brilliantly illuminated and finely decorated. 
. . .More than a mile of the big snow sheds on the 
Central Pacific Railroad, in the Sierras, near Emigrant 
Gap, were burned October 4, blocking the track, and 
causing a loss of $50,000. . . Great Falls, Mont., is suf¬ 
fering from a serious outbreak of smallpox. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—The British government has 
been making large purchases of mules at New Orleans, 
which has advanced prices. Two vessels have been 
chartered to carry the animals to South Africa, one 
carrying 800 and the other 1,200 mules and the necessary 
teamsters. White American teamsters only will be en¬ 
gaged, 500 being required. They will be offered great in¬ 
ducements, and have the opportunity of settling in Afri¬ 
ca, whether there is war or not. Orders were received 
in Chicago September 27, from London, for all the 1,200- 
pound horses that the market afforded. Choice stock is 
required, the prices being from $110 to $125 a head. . . 
On account of the non-appearance of some persons in¬ 
terested, the $1,500,000 suit brought by New York State 
against Armour & Company, for the sale of oleo, was ad¬ 
journed indefinitely without argument, September 25. . . 
The Millers’ National Association has suggested the hold¬ 
ing of a conference, either in St. Louis or Chicago, during 
October, for the purpose of discussing Congressional 
amendment of the Interstate-commerce law. . . The 
British government has placed an order for 4,250,000 pounds 
of hams and sides in the Louisville, Ky., market. . . 
The Kaw River region, Kansas, has produced abo.ut 3,- 
000,000 bushels of potatoes this year, which brought an 
average price of about 20 cents a bushel. . . J. G. Muir- 
head, secretary of the Interstate Fair at Trenton, N. J., 
whose management has been criticised, will resign. The 
attendance fell off 22,000 this year. . . The final crop 
estimates show that Canada will have a surplus of 50,- 
000,000 bushels of wheat for export, as against 30,000,000 
bushels surplus last year. . . The heavy frost Septem¬ 
ber 30 froze the ground one inch deep in several localities, 
and in Wisconsin there will be heavy loss in potatoes. 
Michigan celery growers were badly affected by the frost. 
. . Butchers in Dubuque, Iowa, have united to establish 
an anti-trust slaughterhouse. . . Walla Walla, Wash., 
opened its third annual fruit fair September 26. It is 60 
years since the first apple seeds were planted in this sec¬ 
tion. . . The nineteenth annual session of the Farmers’ 
National Congress opened in Boston October 4. . . Octo¬ 
ber 2, cattle on the hoof went up to $7 per 100 pounds in 
Chicago. This price was for Illinois cattle. . . The 
sharp frosts during the first week in October caused seri¬ 
ous damage to the grape crop in western New York. 
PHILIPPINES.—Forces under Gen. MacArthur drove 
the insurgents out of Porac September 28. . . Aguinaldo 
released 14 American prisoners September 30, but he still 
holds Lieut. Gillmore. The prisoners had all been well 
treated. . . The insurgents along the Bacoor road at¬ 
tacked the American troops October 2, and were repulsed 
with heavy loss. . . The conference with Filipino en¬ 
voys regarding a cessation of hostilities terminated with¬ 
out accomplishing anything. Gen. Otis considered the 
conference as an attempt to secure from the Americans 
a recognition of the Filipino government. . . Serious 
criticisms are being made of the moral conduct of our 
soldiers. The drunkenness and vice prevailing are used 
by the friars as arguments against Protestantism. . . 
The naval force in the Philippines is to be increased by 
at least seven vessels, and a vigorous blockade of the 
Island of Luzon is to be established. . . A naval expe¬ 
dition has raised the sunken gunboat Urdaneta. and bom¬ 
barded Orani, setting the town on fire. Fighting was 
continued for four days near Calamba. 
CUBA.—Cuban farmers are asking for aid. They desire 
our Government to supply oxen and implements, to be 
paid for in installments extending over four years. . . 
The street-car men went on strike asking for higher 
wages. They work 18 hours a day. The car company is 
willing to reduce their day to 16 hours, but does not wish 
to raise wages. . . Three young Cubans who recently 
hauled down a Spanish flag, behaving in a disorderly 
manner, have to give bonds for future good behavior or, 
in default of this, will be sent to jail. 
GENERAL FOREIGN NEWS.—The Anglo-Venezuelan 
Boundary Commission concluded its labors in Paris Octo¬ 
ber 3. The decision of the Commission is unanimously in 
favor of Great Britain. This is the question concerning 
which President Cleveland sent his famous message to 
Congress, December 17, 1895, reaffirming the Monroe Doc¬ 
trine, and stating that the United States would protect 
Venezuelan territory from British encroachments at any 
cost. The Arbitration Commission included two Ameri¬ 
can, two English, and one Russian member, with ex- 
President Harrison as chief counsel for Venezuela. . . 
At Cologne, Germany, 10 persons were killed by the col¬ 
lapse of a big building September 27. . . Fishermen on 
the west coast of Ireland are annoyed by visits from 
American fishermen, who net immature fish. . . The 
Greek government has received official information that 
in the earthquakes near Smyrna 1,000 people were killed, 
800 injured, and 2,000 houses were demolished. . . Of¬ 
ficial reports state that the floods and landslides at Dar¬ 
jeeling, British India, killed 400 persons. The American 
Methodist mission schools were destroyed. . . Serious 
earthquakes have occurred at Canderave, Peru. . . 
Earthquake shocks continue in Asia Minor. It is re¬ 
ported that 1,500 persons have perished by the disturb¬ 
ances. __ 
A COLD STORAGE MARKET. 
Excellent Arrangement at Philadelphia. 
IMPORTANCE OF REFRIGERATION.—It is 
scarcely a score of years since the process of freezing 
articles of food, for purposes of preservation, was per¬ 
fected; yet now refrigeration plays a most important 
part in the keeping and transportation of almost all 
conceivable food products. Perhaps one of the great¬ 
est examples of the effectiveness of this process is the 
trade in frozen meats between Great Britain and her 
Australian colonies. It is said that there are 88 vessels 
engaged in this business alone, with a carrying capac¬ 
ity of 6,700,000 sheep per annum, and that a single 
vessel sometimes carries 70,000 carcasses of frozen 
mutton. One warehouse alone in London has a ca¬ 
pacity for holding 250,000 of these frozen carcasses, 
all of them from Australia and New Zealand, in the 
neighborhood of 12,000 miles away. 
There are two processes of preserving food products 
by means of cold, differing from each other only in 
the degree of cold applied. One is that known as 
chilling, while the other is freezing. In the latter, the 
articles to be preserved are frozen solid, and contin¬ 
ued in this condition until wanted for use. In the 
former, they are kept at a low temperature, but not 
below the freezing point. The Australian meat which 
is brought to Great Britain is frozen, as the long dis¬ 
tance it travels, meantime crossing the Equator, ne¬ 
cessitates a low temperature in keeping. In this 
country, this process is coming to be considered al¬ 
most indispensable in the preservation and handling 
of many food products. The great dressed-meat com¬ 
panies never could have built up the trade they have, 
had it not been for this process. 
READING TERMINAL MARKET.—There are dif¬ 
ferent systems of producing the results desired, some 
of them, perhaps, better adapted to certain conditions 
than others. One of the best systems I have seen is 
that in use in the cold-storage department of the 
Reading Terminal Market, at Philadelphia. The mar¬ 
ket itself is one of the finest and, I think, largest in 
the country. It is located under the train shed at 
the Reading Terminal Station, being on a level with 
the street, , while the passenger trains come in over¬ 
head. The market itself contains 820 stands. The 
ceilings are high, the whole place is airy and clean, 
the passages wide, and the stalls roomy, and kept in 
good condition. A large number of farmers have 
stalls in this market, and bring in their products over 
the Company’s road. The charge to a farmer who 
sells his own products is only $4 a month for a stall; 
one who buys of his neighbors, and thus becomes par¬ 
tially a speculator, has to pay $5.50 a month, while 
those who are classed as dealers exclusively, pay still 
higher rates. It has been the aim of the Company to 
encourage farmers to take stalls here, and large num¬ 
bers of them have availed themselves of the privi¬ 
leges of the market, very much to their own profit, 
and to the satisfaction of customers, who thus get 
their products fresh from the farm at reasonable 
rates. 
THE COLD-STORAGE DEPARTMENT—But the 
cold-storage department is of more interest just now. 
Through the kindness of Mr. Geo. H. McKay, the 
superintendent, I was enabled to make a thorough in¬ 
spection of the cold storage. This is located directly 
beneath the market, and is, therefore, all under¬ 
ground. Cold here is produced by means of brine, 
which is reduced to a low temperature, and forced 
through pipes by powerful engines. The lower tem¬ 
peratures are produced by an increased number of 
pipes. In different apartments, different degrees of 
cold are secured from, perhaps, 40 degrees above zero 
to below zero. In some apartments, great piles of 
meats of all kinds were frozen solid, and in this con¬ 
dition, they could be kept for almost an indefinite 
time. In other apartments, were fruits of different 
kinds, vegetables, eggs, butter, cheese, and various 
other products. Extended experiments have been 
conducted here as to the best temperature for pre¬ 
serving the different articles. Whatever the tempera¬ 
ture, this one thing has been learned to be most im¬ 
portant, and that is that the temperature must be 
kept uniform. A varying temperature, even though it 
be below the freezing point, will injure the keeping 
qualities of almost any product. So whatever the 
temperature decided upon as best for the purpose, it 
must be kept without any material change. Large 
quantities of fruits have been kept at a point just 
below freezing, and the results seem to warrant this 
seemingly dangerous degree of cold. Butter is kept 
below the freezing point; eggs, which have usually 
been considered best at a temperature of about 40 
degrees, have been kept at a temperature about the 
freezing point. The advantages or keeping these 
products in this manner are evident, when it is 
stated that many of them were sold at prices double 
their cost, after being kept a few months with prac¬ 
tically no loss. The air is kept dry and pure by 
means of electric fans, which cause a circulation that 
carries off all superfluous moisture. 
HELPING THE FARMERS—The advantages of 
this system are here made possible to almost any 
one. By means of wooden grated partitions, apart¬ 
ments may be made of almost any size desired, and 
a farmer can hire an apartment here for as low a 
price as $2 a month, the price advancing according to 
the size of the room desired. The regular charge by 
the cubic foot for cold storage is two cents a month 
in Winter, and three cents in Summer. These low 
prices render it possible for almost any one to 
avail himself of its privileges. A farmer who has 
any product that he wishes to hold for a time before 
putting it on the market, can send it here. It can 
be Stored for him, insured if he wish, and at any 
time when he wishes to put it on the market, it will 
be turned over to any merchant he may desire, for 
sale. The railroad has built up a considerable trade 
for itself by extending these facilities, and it is a 
good example of the way in which a railroad may 
make friends, may build up its own business, and put 
money in its own pocket by helping others to do the 
same. 
People along the line of the road are encouraged to 
come to the market here, too, to buy their supplies, 
those so bought in this market being carried to their 
destination free. It is a liberal policy, well sup¬ 
ported, and one that can be commended to the con¬ 
sideration of other transportation lines. 
The Company also manufacture artificial ice, made 
from twice-filtered water. This ice is used on the 
cars, and is also sold to customers. In one apartment 
in the cold-storage rooms, was a large room fitted up 
for the use of an ice-cream company, in which were 
all the appliances for making ice cream, the ice being 
furnished for this purpose. This is only another of 
the many facilities furnished to their patrons. The 
exhaust steam and water from the engines are con¬ 
ducted into tanks, from which the locomotives are 
supplied. The cinders from the furnaces are ele¬ 
vated, loaded on flat cars, and taken away for filling 
and grading. Everything seems to be utilized. Cars 
loaded with products for the cold storage house are 
run into the train shed, products put on great trucks, 
run on to the elevators, and lowered into the cold 
storage house. Everything is systematically ar¬ 
ranged and handled in a business-like and thorough 
manner. _ f. ii. v. 
The Saturday Evening Post has found a new Aisop. 
Here is one of'his fables on gambling: “A monkey play¬ 
ing with a steel trap got his tail cut off. He went back 
the next day to get his tail, and lost his foot. The next 
day he said, ‘I will go back and get both my foot and 
my tail,’ but this time he got his head cut off, which 
ended his monkeying with the trap.” 
A Coal Famine.— Western papers say that there is 
likely to be a coal famine in the West. Many of the 
transportation lines that, in former years, have carried 
large quantities of coal through the late Summer and 
Fall, have found mere profitable freight this year, and 
have given up hauling coal. The result is that many of 
the markets are nearly empty, and the coal bins of the 
factories and foundries are in many cases short. The 
original trouble is given as a famine of cars, there not 
having been freight cars enough to carry all the freight 
offered the railroads. With all the advantages and privi¬ 
leges given the railroads of this country, it is a shame 
that they cannot provide cars enough, at least to keep 
the people warm. 
