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EUROPEAN ARMIES STRUGGLE FOR SUPREMACY IN MILITARY SIGNALING. Devices That the Next War Will Bring into Use. C3 . Tn all European armies now great attention is being paid to the sigual oirpa, and each nation every now and then vaunts itself over the others with the announcement of the discovery of some new method of signaling, says the New York Press. The really reliable systems of mili¬ tary signaling are few, and none of them is exactly new. In our own army the heliograph and the “wig¬ wag” system of flag signals are most relied upon. The captive balloon at Santiago was only a qualified success, but it has not diminished the ardor with which European powers are seeking to solve the balloon problem. The bravery and the eflicient work of the signal service men in the war with Spain received high praise from all the foreign attaches and from our own Government, but Europe seems loath to take up our system of signaling. With every nation on the Continent of Europe military signaling is a military hobby, and each rides its own especial hobby bard, and spends great amounts of money on it. I All over Europe experiments are going on constantly in military signal¬ ing. Every bright young officer and ©very crank regards the signal corps a* the body which shall make his fame and fortune by utilizing his invention. And it would seem as if every King and Emperor and every field marshal lay awake nights to think up some new invention for that branch of the service. No ‘matter what branch of the ser¬ vice has to go short on funds in a Eu¬ ropean army, the sigual corps gets what money it wants. That the sig¬ nal service of an army is of the first importance is not to be denied, and our own corps will compare in ef¬ ficiency with any in the world. But in Europe the corps is a fad. mm ZJ ■?' | i gn ■j. WIGWAGGERS OF THE FRENCH PIONEERS. The German Emperor is credited with having said the other day: “So important will be the part played by military telegraphy in the war of the future that the army having the most efficient system of signaling will hold a trump card which may be of most decisive influence on tbe conduct and success of the war.” * Another Germau authority says: “Electric telegraphy, with and with¬ out wires, is a main branch of the service, and not only with the 'pioneers,’ but with every troop, in¬ fantry, cavalry, artillery and railroad¬ ers. The German army, adhering to its principle of meeting the enemy on - :•*- 7 - 4 ^ - "4 Eg mm * V V- \ .'W 7 1 . r, .iiitf .... ■ , ~'V> fii. / •'/ 1 V Mi ■* ■* l n ■ ©j im V '/ £ *__, % I r£ J • J •*CT Ta ;n •A. % r in I A / 1 \ J m m T m* V'' 0^ - > THE UPPER PICTURE REPRESENTS FLAG SIGNALING BY AUSTRIAN MOUNT¬ AIN ARTILLERY. THE LOWER PICTURE REPRESENTS THE BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA USING THE HELIOGRAPH. the latter’s own territory, must needs possess greater hlacritv in aud better faoilities for building electric tele- graph lines than the French and Rus¬ sians, the Austrians and Italians, who might be eager enough to keep war out of their own territory, but who are behind Germany in the rapidity of mobilization.” Neither the German nor the other European armies rely exclusively upon the electrical telegraph, which may fail for various reasons, the principal one being that the ordinary com¬ mercial lines, as well as the field lines established in their stead or for the purpose of supplementing them, may be destroyed by the enemy or the ele¬ ments, thus robbing the commanding m ■r Hi 1 II ' •> t l \ V." " '\« >> . » e fe l C \ 'J I V - LIME LIGHT SIGNALS IN THE RUSSIAN ARMY. general of the means for com¬ municating with his subordinate com¬ manders. The Germans, like other nations, rely largely upon ojitical methods of signaling. The favorite device of this kind in the German army is the sema¬ phore, which is made more efficient by Redi’s system of cones. The sema¬ phore proper is quite an ancient de¬ vice. It was first introduced by the French in* 1794 for conveying in¬ telligence from Paris to the armies on the frontier. As the illustration shows, the German army semaphore is similar is to our railway signal poles and W 0 . 1..4 arms. There is also a telescope in tu« e*s r — nin.b commands the mast at the next station. * mast can be inserted at any place. As to the cone, each cue represents a number, 1, 2, 3 or 4. If 1 and 4 are down, that means 5, and similar ad¬ ditions are made with the other figures. Signals can also be given without the cone by moving the arms horizontally against the body, or by placing them in any other position agreed upon. At night lantern slides of various colors are placed in the ends of the cones. Personally the Kaiser has more faith in the captive balloon than in any other optical means for telegraph¬ ing. The German captive balloon is furnished with means for photograph¬ ing, and the parties in the car com¬ municate with those on the ground by means of the telegraph or tele- phone. For telegraphing an instru meat similar to the Morse apparatus, arranged iu compact %in 1 is used, The system is practically that used in this country. For the signal corps of the German army the brightest men of each bat¬ talion and regiment are selected. They are thoroughly drilled in all the man¬ oeuvres connected with the transpor¬ tation, the erection and operating of the apparatuses. Each German signal station is manned by five privates, a non-commissioned officer and a lieu¬ tenant. In the English army a similar num¬ ber of signal men are employed with each company, squadron of cavalry and battery. The French employ eight instead of five men; the Russians think four men of each company sufficient for the service. The French army employs as opti¬ cal telegraph flags and lanterns. The flags are worked according to the naval code and Morse alphabet. French signalers are said to be able to execute 120 movements per minute. To sig* nal the dot of the Morse alphabet the French hold up one flag. Two flags represent the dash 'of the Morse al¬ phabet. After each letter there is a short pause, after each word a longer pause, the latter being accentuated by the flag being held over the head of the signal man. If the telegram is finished the signal man repeats the last word three times. If the receiver doesn’t understand the operator he raises a flag with his right hand to his head. Of course, flag signals can only be used in daytime. employed At night the lantern is when search and flash lights are not available. Signal lanterns are bandied after the fashion of the flags, dots being maiKod bj- openuier and shutting the / 1 7 . ft / ft w “W. 4 : ft l 47 1 V>' * 4 -V mm 77 m SEMAPHORE APPARATUS IN USE IN THE PRUSSIAN ARMY. slide respectively. A dash is marked by exposing the flame four times longer than in case of a dot. Thus dispatches of twenty words can be for¬ warded in a minute. The Austrians follow <the French method of signaling in all but the size and form of flags. To the standard colors of black, white, red, blue and yellow they add green. Green plays also a part in the Italian flag, signals. The English largely employ the heliograph. By means of tho helio¬ graph trained signal men can commu¬ nicate with each other at a distance of fifty miles, whether they have a tele¬ scope or not. General Roberts once sent 1200 telegrams by heliograph in a single day. That was in Egypt, where the sun is very strong. The English mode of signaling by flags differs from the Frencli in minor details, which are kept secret. But this secrecy doesn’t amount to much, considering other nations, that the Britishers, like use the Morse alphabet. The Russians have adopted the French lantern system for distances from one to two miles. These lanterns are constructed on the lines of bicycle lamps, having a bulls-eye lens, and being fed by oil. On long distances the Russians use lime light appara¬ tuses constructed as follows: There are two tanks filled with oxygen aud hydrogen respectively. The hydrogen is lit and, the oxygen gas mingling with it, produoes a colorless flame. A lime block placed in the flame is ren dered incandescent'and its light, re¬ flected from a mirror, is sent forward. The resembling mirror is a yowilful parabolic, in shape the end of an egg. The concave portion is the re fleotor. This apparatus is so con¬ trived that the beam light can he sent in all directions. The telegraphing is effected iu the same way as the tele¬ graphing with lanterns by the French, All the apparatuses described are, if possible, set up on natural or arti* elevations. The sigual officers must also be careful to find a suitable background for their operations, side so that the signals from the other can be readily interpreted. There is, however, one great drawback to all these systems. As all armies use as a basis for their systems the Morse alphabet, friend and enemy alike are capable of reading the messages sent out. CEMETERIES IN CUBA. There is a Question as to Who Now Con¬ trols Them. In most of the cities and towns of Cuba there is a contest pending oyer the control of the cemeteries. During the Spanish regime the burial places were managed and controlled by the authorities of the church. The fees from the cemeteries formed a consid¬ erable item in the revenues of each parish church. It cost all the way from seventy cents to $70 to secure funeral services and a burial in these consecrated grounds. Plots of ground were assigned to such families as de¬ sired them on annual ground rent terms, or else “ovens” in the ceme¬ tery walls, capable of containing a corpse, were assigned upon an annual rental fee. If the rent was not paid within five days-of the expiration of auy year the corpse was dragged out and the remains, bones and ashes, thrown upon the “bone pile.” In the cemetery at Havana when the Americans took possession of the city the dump pile contained literally millions of bones, and thousands of whitened skulls. The American au¬ thorities have ordered these horrible stacks of bones buried, and this par¬ ticular “sight” can £no longer be seen in the island. Paupers have been buried with the slightest of earth cov¬ ering. distin¬ Some of the cemeteries are guished by beautiful tombs and pieces of memorial imported from 51 S 1 i Y 9 d 9 3 iL magraBiij OVENS FOR CORPSES IN A CUBAN CEME¬ TERY. abroad and erected by the richer fam¬ ilies of the communities. Under the new order of affairs the city governments are claiming the ®<wai.ataries the church as municipal property and pressing their authorities title are tenaciously to them as the property of the church. In Cienfue gos the commanding general has al¬ lowed the city authorities to take charge of the cemetery and reform the past abuses. General Brooke, Governor of the island, has notified both parties to the controversy—the church on the one baud and the city governments on the other—to submit their claims and proof in eacji case, and the decision will then be finally rendered as to which is the owner of the cemeteries and entitled to control them. Moose and Caribou Cemeteries. The Forest and Stream contains the following contribution from a Quebec correspondent concerning the habit moose and caribou have of going to the same place, season after season, to shed their antlers: “The idea of the animals seeking a definite place for this purpose was quite new to me, but lately the effi¬ cient Superintendent of Game and Fisheries at Quebec, L. Z. Joncas, Esq., has told me that they do fre¬ quent such places, and that this habit was quite well known to him. He knew of many and mentioned several places where horns could almost cer¬ tainly be found at any time. And not only do they go to shed their horns, but they go there to die. These places are known as cemeteries, and whole skeletons are occasionally found. This,‘however, would be rare, as the bones would usually be torn apart and scattered by bears and other carnivorse. “Mr. Joncas instanced the case of a gentleman going to a certain region for geological exploration, who asked for a permit to shoot a moose out of season in order to get a good pair of antlers. He was told that by diverg¬ ing a little from his route he might reach a place where he would find plenty of them. He did so and se¬ cured five excellent specimens.” Big Sum* Paid For Horae*. One hundred thousand dollars was quite recently paid to Mr. John Gnb bius, of Druree, Ireland, for his fa¬ mous horse Galtee More,which secured the double event, by winning last year the Derby aud the St. Leger. But, despite bis great cost, Galtee More was not the most expensive horse that has ever been purchased. That honor belongs to the famous Ormonde, u a triple-ftrowned hero. This splendid animal belonged to the Duke of West¬ minster, who sold him to a South American gentleman for $105,000. Shortly afterwards Ormonde was re¬ sold to Mr. Mactlonogh—a California millionaire—for $150,000, realizing the highest price ever paidfer a horse. THE MEKEY SIDE 0E LII STORIES THAT ARE TOLD-BY T*E FUNNY MEN OF THE PRESS. Anotlier Casey at the Bat—That Settle* Him—A XVlse Little Boy—All] Hut the Outline*—Quite Uaconscb a# of HI* Condition—HI* Plight, Etc.,Ete, With his bat upon his shoulder,— He walked up to the plate; His manly chest was bulging, And lordly was his gait. A boy rushed forth with flowers, That the hero’s friends had sent, And as he raised his cap the sky With many a cheer was rent. He turned and faced the pitcher, And scorn was in his look; He then pulled up his breeches, His bat he fiercely shook. The anxious people watched him— But why continue here? Of course you know what happened— He lilt the atmosphere! —Cleveland Leader, A Wi*o Little Boy. Doctor—“Put out your tongue.” ■ Little Tommy— “Not on your life! I did that to the teacher yesterday and got a licking.”— Brooklyn Life. r That Settled Him. “Your dressmaker’s bills are too high,” he said. “Well,” she replied, “why don’t you speak to her about it?”—Chicago Post. Quite Unconscious of Hi* Condition. Coroner—“Was the victim conscious when you reached him?” Pat—“Yis, sir; he worr. But be chune us, I don’t belave he knew ut.’* —Philadelphia North American. All Gone But the Outline*. “How are your plants, Mrs. Mnd ger?” isn’t single leaf “Well, there a on one of them, but otherwise they are doing first rate.”—Chicago News.* A Reason For Disarmament. “You are in favor of this universal peace movement, aren’t you, captain?” “Indeed I am; what would I look like in battle charging up a hill on an automobile?”—Indianapolis Journal, A Humble Example. Ethel (of Boston)—“They say he 13 very rich, but intolerably vulgar.” Victoria (of Chicago)—“You’re dead right, there, my dear. He’s got a load o’ dough, but he’s on the ‘hog’ every other way.”—Judy. Hi* Flight. Hassit—“It’s strange you’re so hard up, old man. I thought you owned half of Swamphurst, and had lots to sell?” Haddit—“I have; but what I want is lots to eat.”—Brooklyn Life. MaUing It Easier For Pa. r 4 m X ) I ( M m m Jill 1 ■*( “Remember, Bobby, this will hurt me more than it will you.” “Say, pop, you try to be better and I’il let you off this time.”—Life. Wanted For an Understanding. Dick —“I wisli we had a great big dictionary in the house.” Father (proud of his son’s thirst for knowledge)—“Doyon something?” want to look for Dick—“Yes; there’s some jam on the shelf that I can’t reach standing on the chair. A Way to Be Brave. Tightfist—“I’ve been as far as the door of the dentist’s office three times, but I can’t get up the courage to go in.” Watts—“I’ll tell you what to do; send the money down in advance. That will make you desperate.”—In¬ dianapolis Journal. The Deep Refrain. v And now, ’ said the horticulturist, as he sallied out into his orchard with iis knives, grafting wax, and tho other implements of his calling ready for use, I will take up my share of the white man’s buddiu’.” And naught was heard in response save the deep-voiced bark of the trees. —Chicago Tribune. Real Rubbing It In. Estate Agent—“A fine place, and a splendid one for a golf course, sir Does your family p l ay go lf?” Prospective Buyer — “Does my family play golf! My two sons afc school have won all the intercollegiate tho championships, my daughter wins all women’s handicaps, uiy wife is out on the links every morning before . breakfast, ... my wife’s mother has broken all the club records, and the very first word my baby learned to say was lore. Does my family play golf! If you can show mo a piece of property with no possible hazards, no bunkers, nothing but rocks, woods aud water. I m your man!”—Life.