1. How long did it take to complete the Suez Canal, and how great was the cost? What is its length, width, and depth; what workmen were employed, and by whom is it controlled? 2. Can you give the percentage, of merchants who have failed in the United States during the past few years? J. J. S. Answer.-1. The Suez Canal was begun in 1858, and was formally opened in November, 1869. Its cost, including harbors, is estimated at $100,000,000. Its length is 100 miles, 75 of which were excavated; its width is generally 325 feet at the surface, and 75 feet at the bottom, and its depth 26 feet. The workmen employed were chiefly natives, and many were drafted by the Khedive. The number of laborers is estimated at 30,000. Government virtually controls the canal, as it owns most of the stock. 2. The following list of failures for the years 1870-1883, inclusive, is taken from the American Almanac: The British Percentage. 1 in 120 1 in 163 1 in 130 1 in 108 1 in 103 1 in 83 1 in 76 1 in 64 1 in 66 1 in 105 1 in 153 RUST ON IRON SMOKE-STACKS. 1 In 140 1 in 122 1 in 94 H. Antrim, Dover, Iowa-A coating, of coal tar is one of the best protections against rust on iron smoke-stacks, Where paint is preferred, use red lead. INVENTION OF MATCHES. INDEPENDENCE, Kan. Who invented matches, and when? A TEACHER. Answer.-Friction matches were invented in England by Walker, in 1829. Up to nearly that time the old brimstone match was used, an article whose origin is hidden in the dim past. It consisted of a slender stick, pointed at the end, dipped in melted sulphur, and was lighted by touching it to the spark struck into tinder by a flint and steel. As was said above, this match prevailed until about the close of the first quarter of this century, when various improvements were attempted. First of these was the "Instantaneous-light box." followed by the lucifer or loco-foco match, and that, in turn, by the Congreve match, which was similar to the one now in use. The composition of the friction match is of phosphorus and niter, or phosphorus, sulphur and chlorate of potash, mixed with melted gum or glue, and colored with vermilion, soot, amber, or red lead. Into this is dipped the end of the wooden body of the match. This match has superseded all others, and has been carried to great perfection in our own country. ATLANTIC CABLES. G. E. Mark, Belvidere, Neb.-1. The French Atlantic cable was laid in 1879, by a company chartered in France, and composed at first chiefly of French capitalists. F. S. Walker, Lyons, Neb.-The greater part of each of the Atlantic cables lies too far below the surface to be disturbed by storms, tides, or currents. The shore ends are made much stronger, and heavier. to withstand the action of waves and currents and in some cases, near the landings. they are weighted to hold them in place; a thing entirely unnecessary in deep water. CAPTAIN JACK AND THE MODOCS. URBANA, nl, Please tell us something about Captain Jack, the Indian chief. Having heard that he was a white man, I should like to know more. SUBSCRIBER. Answer.-Captain Jack first came into special prominence as the leader of one of the bands of Modocs that left the (Klamath) reservation in 1872, because of feuds between the Klamaths and Modocs. One band settled on Hot Creek. near a white settlement; the other, under Captain Jack, a half-breed, after many hardships, returned to the old hunting grounds on Lost River. Vain efforts were made to drive them back to the reservation, but they absolutely refused to go. In 1873 General Canby and the Rev. Dr. Thomas, while trying to make terms with the Indians, were treacherously shot by their chief. The rebellious leaders were captured after hard fighting, and Captain Jack, with two other Miodocs, was executed at Fort Klamath Oct. 3, 1873. The rest of the band were placed on the Quapaw Reservation, in Indian Territory. PATRICK HENBY' DETROIT, Kan. To settle a dispute, please give the date and a brief account of the death of Patrick Henry, the Virginia orator; also a sketch of his public life after 1775. C. H. LOWRIE. Answer.-Patrick Henry died at Red Hill, Va., June 6, 1799, at the age of 63. His illness was short, and his death peaceful. During the last years of his life his thoughts dwelt much on religious subjects, and, when one day his friend found him reading the Bible, he exclaimed: "This is the best book of all, and I only regret that I did not take time to read it until lately." At the outbreak of the war he enlisted as a colonel of militia from 1776 to 1779, and again from 1781 to 1786 he was Governor of Virginia. In 1787, being pressed by debt incurred during the war, he declined an appointment to the Federal Constitutional Convention, but in the following year bitterly opposed the constitution as contrary to State rights. During this time he continued the practice of the law, and was enabled in 1794 to retire from the profession and public life with a comfortable fortune after the payment of his debts. Later he declined the position of Secretary of State, the Governorship, and a mission to France, but allowed himself to be elected to the State Senate in order to oppose the Virginia resolutions of 1798. Ho did not live, however, to take his seat. His death was lamented by the entire country. FRANCES E AND MARY B. WILLARD. LINCOLN, Neb. Give biographical sketches of Frances E. Willard, President of the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and Mrs. Willard, editor of the Union Signal, our temperance paper. What is their relationship, if any? A PROHIBITIONIST. Answer.-Frances Elizabeth Willard is descended on the father's side from Major Simon Willard, one of the founders of that famous literary center of New England, Concord, Mass. The maiden name of her mother, a cousin of the late Rev. Dr. Jonathan Clement, a distinguished Congregational clergyman, was Mary Thompson Hill. Frances was born in Churchville, N. Y., Sept. 28, 1839. When she was 3 years of age the family removed to Oberlin, Ohio, where they remained five years, and then removed to Janesville, Wis., where she and her sister Mary, the subject of that charming memoir, "Nineteen Beautiful Years," spent the next ten years in the school of nature, amid the lovely scenery of Rock River Valley, with her wise mother and a beloved governess as instructors. In 1857 she entered the Northwestern Female College, now the Woman's College of the Northwestern University, at Evanston, Ill., where she graduated with honor in 1859. She taught some years in Evanston, part of the time in the college above named, then in the Pittsburg Female College, and later at Genesee Female College, at Lima, N. Y. In 1868 she went to Europe, visited the points of greatest interest, including the chief centers of European culture and activity, and studied in Paris, Berlin, and Rome. She also visited Greece, Egypt, Palestine, points of special interest in Asia Minor, returning through Turkey via the Danube. While abroad she was a frequent contributor to the New York Independent, Harper's Monthly, the Christian Union, and the leading Chicago journals. She reached home in 1870, and in 1871 was elected President of the Evanston College for Ladies, which by consolidation with the Northwestern Female College, made her President of her alma mater. Under her energetic leadership a spacious new building was erected for this institution, and two years later the union with the Northwestern University was rendered complete. As a teacher she was an inspiration to her pupils, and there was deep regret when in 1874, she resigned to enter upon a wider field of usefulness. In August of that year the Woman's Christian Temperance Union was initiated at Chautauqua, N. Y., and at the convention held in Cleveland the succeeding November, Miss Willard was elected Corresponding Secretary. From that time to this, not by any means except ing the several months which she was engaged with Mr. Moody, the famous revivalist, in his great work in Boston, the cause of temperance has been topmost in her heart and efforts. The "Home Protection" movement originated with her as an outgrowth of her zeal for temperance. In 1879 she was elected President of the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union, a position for which her eloquence on the platform, her tremendous zeal, and her remarkable talents as an organizer peculiarly fit her. She has held the office ever since, having been unanimously re-elected at the late annual convention held at Detroit. Through her incessant travels (extending to every State and Territory in the Union except Alaska), and her stirring appeals and wise guidance, branches of the W. C. T. U. now exist in every State and Territory, constituting the framework of one of the most powerful organizations in this country. Mary Bannister Willard is the oldest daughter of the late Rev. Henry Bannister, D. D., Professor of Hebrew in Garrett Biblical Institute. She was born at Fairfield, N. Y., Sept. 18, 1841, and was educated in part at Cazenovia Seminary, of which her father was then principal. After his removal to Evanston, she was a fellow student with Frances E. Willard and her sister Mary at the Northwestern Female College, where she graduated in the full classical course, with special distinction, in 1860. Very soon after this she married Miss Willard's only brother, Oliver A. Willard, the late able editor of the Chicago Evening Post. Mrs. Willard assisted her husband on the Post, besides contributing to several of the leading literary periodicals of the country, including the Christian Union and New York Independent. She was a trustee of the Woman's College, Evanston, from an early date, and is now a trustee of the Northwestern University. When Mr. Willard died, in 1878, this heroic woman, aided by Francea, undertook the work of conducting the Post, and did so with ability until a sale of the property was effected. Mrs. Willard is as eminently successful as a writer as her brilliant sister-in-law is upon the platform. Not very long after quitting the Post she was appointed editor of the Signal. which has since, by consolidation with Our Union, become the acknowledged National organ of the W. C. T. U. Of late, urged on by her consuming zeal for the cause, Mrs. Willard has so far conquered her natural shrinking from lecture work that she is rapidly gaining the reputation of being one of the most intellectually powerful and convincing advocates on the temperance platform. CONSUMPTION OF TEA, COFFEE, AND TOBACCO. BRIDGEWATER, D. T. money expended in the combined, or tobacco in CHARLES STEELE. Answer.-It is impossible to state the cost to consumers of either tea or coffee, or the tobacco used in this country. The only comparison possible is a statement of the total value of the tea and coffee imported into the United States at custom house appraisement, and the value of the tobacco imported added to the tobacco product For which is the most United States-tea and coffee its various forms? of this country, as given by the statistician of the GREENLEAFTON, Minn. Answer.-Jupiter is the fifth planet in the order of distance from the sun, and far the largest and most massive of all the members of the solar system. He travels at a mean distance from the sun of 475,692,000 miles. His volume exceeds the earth's 1,233 times but the mean density of his substance being only equal to about onefourth of the earth's, his mass does not exceed the earth's more than 301 times. Professor Proctor, from whom the above has been taken, gives a table representing the masses of the various known members of the solar system, the earth's mass being represented as 1,000: Smaller planets Mercury.......... Venus..... Earth........ Mars 651 885 .1,000 118 Larger planets- for their caravan trade to the Mediterranean coasts. The principal exports are gold, indigo, ivory, iron, skins, attar of roses, ostrich feathers, and gum arabic. Its area is estimated at 2,250,000 square miles, or about three-fifths of that of the United States. But it is the Egyptian Soudan with which readers are at present most familiar. The Soudan is a province of Egypt, distinguished from that which we have been describing, and of which it is but a continuation eastward, by prefixing the definite article the Soudan. It comprises Kordofan, Nubia proper, Sennaar (or Senaar), Toka on the east, and some Nile districts farther south. Sir Samuel Baker estimates that the population is over 1,000,000. The products of the Soudan have hitherto found their way to Cairo chiefly by caravans, that have taken about four months to make the journey. The soil is fertile, and much might be expected from it under favorable conditions. HOW THE UNITED STATES GOT ITS LANDS. MERNA, Neb. Is the United States indebted to England or France for lands purchased or for borrowed money? If not, where did its lands come from, and when was its indebtedness for the same paid? J. A. COLEMAN. Answer.-How many United States bonds are held by English and French citizens at present we cannot say, but if they have any it is only because they do not wish to surrender them at their face value with interest. Our government borrowed some money of France more than a hundred years ago-during the Revolutionary warand paid it all back long ago. It has not borrowed money of any foreign government since then. The United States bought Louisiana, the vast region between the Mississippi River, the eastern and northern boundary of Texas (then belonging to Spain), and the dividing ridge of the Rocky Mountains, together with what is now Oregon, Washington Territory, and the western parts of Montana and Idaho, from France for $11,250,000. This was in 1803. Before the principal, interest, and claims of one sort and another assumed by the United States were settled the total cost of this "Louisiana purchase," comprising, according to French construction and our understanding, 1,171,931 square miles, swelled to $23,500,000, or almost $25 per section-a fact not stated in cyclopedias and school histories, and therefore not generally understood. Spain still held Florida and claimed a part of what we underA. 8. G., Bath, Ohio.-The established church stood to be included in the Louisiana purchaseof England is Protestant Episcopal. Its fundaa strip up to north latitude 31-and disputed our mental doctrines and tenets are embodied in the boundary along the South and West, and even Thirty-nine Articles agreed upon in Convocation claimed Oregon. We bought Florida and all the in 1562, and revised and finally settled in 1571. disputed land east of the Mississipi and her THE SOUDAN. claim to Oregon, and settled our southwestern TAYLOR, Ogle Co., Ill. boundary dispute for the sum of $6,500,000. Please give a description of the Soudan. F. B. ROLPH. Texas smilingly proposed annexation to the Answer.-Soudan, or Sudan or Soodan, as it is United States, and this great government was variously written, is a vast belt of territory which "taken in" Dec. 29, 1845, Texas keeping her stretches nearly across Africa, mainly between public lands and giving us all her State debts the sixth and fifteenth parallels of north latitude, and a three-year war (costing us $66,000,000) and south of the Great Desert; and from the Nile with Mexico, who claimed her for a runaway provinces of Egypt on the east to Senegambia on from Mexican jurisdiction. This was a barthe west. The principal cities are Kano, Sokoto, gain that out-Yankeed the Yankees, but Kaka, and Timbuctoo, which have become famous the South insisted on it and the North submitted Asteroids togeth er, less than.... 100 Total.... .... 2,168 Total .419,935 Grand total.422,103 Jupiter's mass..300,860 Mass of all the planets except Jupiter....121,243 Sun's mass on the same scale equals. 315,000,000 ESTABLISHED CHURCH OF ENGLAND. After conquering all the territory now embraced in New Mexico, a part of Colorado, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, and California, we paid Mexico $25,000,000 for it-$15,000,000 for the greater part of it and $10,000,000 for another slice, known as the "Gadsden purchase." In 1867 we bought Alaska from Russia for $7,200,000. All the several amounts above named were paid long ago. As for all the rest of our landed possessions, we took them with us when we cut loose from mother Britain's apron string, but did not get a olear title until we had fought ten years for itfirst in the Revolutionary war, costing us in killed 7,343 reported-beside the unreported killed-and over 15,000 wounded, and $135,193,103 in money; afterward in the war of 1812-15, costing us in killed 1,877, in wounded 3,737, in money $107,159,003. We have paid everybody but the Indians, the only real owners, and, thanks to gunpowder, sword, bayonet, bad whisky, small-pox, cholera, and other weapons of civilization, there are not many of them left to complain. Besides all the beads, earrings, blankets, pots, kettles, brass buttons, etc., given them for land titles in the olden times, we paid them, or the Indian agents, in one way and another, in the ninety years from 1791 to 1881, inclusive, $193,672,697.31, to say nothing of the thousands of lives sacrificed and many millions spent in Indian wars, from the war of King Philip to the last fight with the Apaches. This is the way that Uncle Sam got land enough (3,607,604 square miles, or 2,308,866,560 acres) to give us each a farm. CAPTURE OF J. WILKES BOOTH. NEWBURY, Kan. Kindly tell us where the assassin Booth was captured after the fatal shot in the theater at Washington. Was any one of his conspirators with him when he was captured? Please give us a short sketch of the pursuit, and settle a dispute among US SUBSCRIBERS. Answer.-Booth had scarcely escaped from the theater when special detectives and a squad of United States cavalry were upon his track, for he had been recognized by some as he appeared for a moment after the shot. After being deluded several times, his pursuers finally learned that, accompanied by Harold, who had held his horse at the door of the theater, Booth had gone thirty miles into Maryland, and had there had his broken leg dressed by a Dr. Mudd who had also given him a crutch. For ten days longer he escaped, hiding in swamps and thickets; but he was at length traced to Garratt's barn, on Bowling Green, about twenty miles from Fredericksburg. The pursuing party, twenty-eight in number, reached the barn at dusk, and ordered Booth and Harold to surrender. The latter, after a short parley, yielded, but Booth declared that he would never be taken alive. In hope of driving him out, fire was set to some straw about the barn, but unintimidated he stood his ground, and was in the act of firing at one of his besiegers, when Colonel Conger commanded Sergeant Boston Corbett to shoot. The ball entered Booth's head and two hours and a half later he died in great agony. His remains were buried in the Arsenal yard at Washington, after being identiSed. Some years later his brother, Edwin Booth, by earnest request, received the body, but not until several bones had been removed for the National Museum. Harold, Payne. Atzerot, and Mrs. Surratt were hung: Arnold, Mudd, and McLaughlin were imprisoned for life, and Spangler for six years. Dr. Mudd was pardoned a few years later. BOSTON CORBETT. R. Dick, Berlin, Iowa-Sergeant Boston Corbett acted under orders from Colonel Conger, and was justified in the shooting of John Wilkes Booth. He was not court-martialed for the act. LAND MONOPOLY IN ENGLAND AND AMERICA. WHEELER'S GROVE, Iowa. Is England in small farms or is it owned by a few large owners? How is it in France and this country? S. C. SMITH. Answer.-The "New Domesday Book" shows that in the year 1873 there were 972,836 landowners in England and Wales, holding a total of 33,013,515 acres, producing an estimated annual rental of £99,382,301. Omitting London and waste spaces, moorlands, crown property, roads, lakes, and rivers, aggregating 4,311,368 acres, from the total of 37,324,883 acres prised in England and Wales, the remaining 33,013,515 acres were owned as follows: OWNERSHIP. Owning acre... com 1 acre and under 10... 121,983 10 acres and under 50. 72,640 50 acres and under 100 25,839 1,791,606 100 acres and under 500. 500 acres and under 1,000.. 1,000 acres and under 2,000.. 2,000 acres and under 5,000.. 5,000 acres and under 10,000 acre, and under 50,000 acres and under 100,000 and upward.. Areas not specified.. Rentals.. Total.. 32,317 6,827,347 13,680,760 4,799 3,317,678 6,427,552 2.719 3,799,307 7,914,371 1,815 5,529,190 9,579,312 581 3,974,725 5,522,610 223 3,098,675 4,337,023 66 1,917,076 2,331,3038 3 194,939 188,746 1 181,616 161.874 972,836 33,013,575 £99,352,301 From the above it appears that 703,289, over 72 per cent of the whole number of land-owners, held less than an acre apiece, or were mere lotowners; that 121,983 held not to exceed ten acres each. most of whom, a closer examination shows, owned less than five acres each. These last can hardly be regarded as farmers; probably about half of them were well-to-do persons, occupying from one to five acres for residences, and the rest, for the most part, mere market gardenThe farms proper, therefore, were owned by not more than 15 per cent of the total number of land-owners, and of these it is worthy of special remark that there were more who owned from 100 to 500 acres than there were who owned from fifty to 100 acres; that 874 owners held 9,367,031 acres, or more than a fourth of the whole country; that the owners of 1,000 acres and upward, numbering only 5,408 persons, held 18,695,528 acres, or more than one-half of the whole ers. country; and that 10,207 persons held no less than 22,013,206 acres, or over two-thirds of the whole, constituting them beyond dispute the "upper ten i housand." Of these the Duke of Northumberand owns 181,616 acres, returning a rental of £161,874; the Duke of Devonshire owns 126,904 acres, returning a rental of £127,633, while twelve other noblemen own from 51,517 acres to 87,256 acres each. In some cases the estimated rental exceeds the income. derived from the property. According to the latest official statistics the cultivated lands of France were divided among 5,550,000 proprietors, of whom 50,000 owned properties averaging 600 acres, 500,000 owned properties averaging 60 acres each, while there were 5,000,000 who owned but 6 acres or less. There are 9,097,758 landowners in all living on their estates of various kinds, rural and urban. In the United States there were, in 1880, no fewer than 4,008,907 farms, of which 2,984,306 were cultivated by their owners; 322,357 were rented for fixed money rentals, and 702,244 were rented "on the shares." The average farm of this country, therefore, is 134 acres. The following table shows the number of farms in the United States, in 1880, from 3 acres and under to 1,000 and upward, divided according to size into eight classes, compared with the numbers in 1860 and 1870 similarly classi The tendency of the larger landed estates to absorb the smaller ones is here only too apparent. That the owners of farms of from 500 to 1,000 acres each, nearly quintupled in number in the last decade, and that the owners of farms of 1,000 acres and upward nearly octupled, are facts full of significance. THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC. ROSARIO DE SANTA FE, Argentine Republic, } South America. Will you please give the principal facts in the history of the Argentine Republic, South America? ANTOINETTE CHOATE. Answer.-The constitution of the Argentine Republic bears date of May 15, 1853, with modifications in the year 1860, when Buenos Ayres entered the confederation as a member. In January, 1831, after a succession of changes which would only perplex the reader to recall, a confederation, based upon voluntary alliance, was formed between the provinces of Buenos Ayres, Corrientes, Entre-Rios, and Santa Fe, which were soon joined by the other provinces. General Rosas, after defeating those opposed to him and his cause, was elected Captain General or Governor of Buenos Avres, which he held till 1852, during that period being the sole ruler of that state, and practically of the Argentine Republic. From 1827 to 1852 there was no meeting of the national congress or constituent assembly. The dictator Rosas' conduct led to trouble with foreign nations, and, his enemies growing too powerful, he was defeated Feb. 3, 1852, by Urquiza, Governor of Entre-Rios, and the dictator fled to England. The changes which followed induced Buenos Ayres to maintain itself for & time as a state independent of the confederation. The congress of the confederation, Jan. 22, 1853, met and began to frame a constitution, and it was adopted and promulgated as above stated.. It was framed in the apparent expectation that Buenos Ayres, the richest and most important, as the only maritime state in the confederacy, might be induced to return to it. The constitution, with some slight modification, was copied from that of the United States. Urquiza was chosen President for six years from March 5, 1854. In 1859 Buenos Ayres was united to the Republic, and in 1860 Urquiza was succeeded to the Presidency by Dr. Santiago Derqui, and the year after there were hostilities between Buenos Ayres and the government because of the exclusion of the deputies of the former from congress. Again the difficulties were adjusted, the capital was removed to Buenos Ayres, provisionally, the old constitution was revised. and General Mitre was elected President of the Argentine Republic. Once more the confederation was endangered by revolution, in which Paraguay, Uruguay, and Brazil took hands, and Lopez figured as a leader. In 1864 General Flores was elected President, and in the following year entered upon the duties of the office, and soon war was declared against Paraguay, the Argentine Republic having as alliesUruguay and Brazil, and the war ended when Lopez, President of Paraguay, was defeated and killed at Aquidaban, March 1, 1870. In the month of April of the same year a formidable rebellion broke out in Entre-Rios, headed by General Lopez Jordan. General Urquiza was murdered, his palace sacked, and his property confiscated, and it was not until March, 1871, that the national troops, after heavy losses, succeeded in quelling the uprising. There is almost constant irritation between the Republic and adjoining states, now with Brazil, now with Paraguay, and now with Chili. The growth of the confederation nas, notwithstanding its vicissitudes, been very great. The present President is General D. Julio A. Roca elected in September, and installed in office Oct. 12, 1880. OUR AMERICAN MERCHANT MARINE. MUSKEGON, Mich. What is the total tonnage of American vessels at this time? How does it compare with our tonnage ten years ago and twenty years ago? What proportion of it is engaged in the foreign trade, and how is the rest of it employed? SAILOR. Answer.-The total American tonnage in 1863 amounted to 5,155,056 tons, old measurementby which many vessels measured somewhat more than by the new rule. At the close of our civil war it was 4,310,778 tons, showing the effects of the war rates of insurance and other consequences of that terrible struggle. The new measurement was in full effect in 1869, for the first time, and judged by this standard our total merchant marine shrunk to 4,144,641 tons. In 1873 it had increased to 4,696,027 tons, of which 3,539,584 tons were in sailing vessels and 1,156,443 tons in |