Newspaper Page Text
Opening Session of Both Branch.
es Was Brief, i
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Republican Leaders Will Try to Confine
the Work of the Short Session to
Passage of the Money Bills. “
Washington, D, C.—Both houses of
congress convened for the beginning
of the second session of the sixtieth
congress. Practically no business was
transacted in either house,
In the senate, ex-Governor Cummins
of lowa took the oath of office, as the
success of Senator Allison, as did Car
roll S. Page of Vermont as the suec
cessor of Senator siewart, In the
house the seven members who were
elected in November to succeed mem
bers who have resigned were sworn
in. They are Henry A, Barnhart, dem
ocrat, who succeeds the late Mr.
Brick, republican, from the” thirteenth
Indiana district; Albert Estopinal,
democrat, who succeeds the late Mr.
Meyer, from the first Louisiana dis
trict; Otto G. Foelker, republican, suc
cessor to Mr, Dunwell, repyblican, in
the third New York district; Frank E.
-Gurnsey, republican, successor to Mr.
Powers, republican, from the fourth
Maine district; Eben M. Masters, re
publican, successor to Mr, Parker, re
publican from South Dakota at large;
0. C. Wilty, democrat, successor to his
brother, A. A, Wiley, democrat, from
the second Alabama district, and
John P. Swasey, republican, successor
to Mr, Littlefield, who resigned dur
ing the last session from the second
Maine district.
The two houses appointed commit
tees each to notify the other house
and the president, that the two bodies
are organized and prepared to go for
ward with the business of the ses
sion, The senate then adjourned for
the day, out of respeet to the mem
ory of Senator Allison, who died dur
ing the recess. The house terminated
its brief session with resolutions com
memorative of the lives of Messrs.
Parker, Wiley, Dunwell aud Powers,
who have died since adjournment last
May.
Work of Congress Outlined.
¥ republican leaders retain their
present views, the legislation of the
#Session will include very little except
the appropriation bills. These bills
will carry in the aggregate about §sl,-
900,000,000, and the general opinion
ds that in the time tnat will be al
lowed the two houses will find that
they can best serve the country by
giving proper attention to these ap
propriations,
There will be a general effort to
hold the appropriations down to the
Jowest possible limit. It is generally
understood that there will be a bill
for the improvement of rivers and
harbors, to carry not less than $25,
000,000 or $30,000,000. Provision must
be made this year for the census of
1910, and this w.ll require not less
than $10,000,0¢0. There will be other
«exceptional demands, so that as it now
looks, congress will do well if it suc
«<eeds in holding the appropriations
for the second session of the sixtieth
gongress to thc dimensions of those
«©f the first session. The house com
mittee on appropriations alredy has
begun its work on the sundry bills.
The fact that the managers desire
to restrict legislation will not prevent
©ther members of the senate and
house from exerting their efforts in
behalf of favorite measures. The first
«ffort in this direction will be made
in the senate, by Mr. Foraker, who
will renew his attempt to have passed
the bill authorizing the re-enlistment
of the negro soldiers discharged with
out honor on account of the Browns
ville riot. This measure will be the
special order for December 16, Sen
ator Beveridge will make an effort to
obtain early consideration for his child
labor bill and Senator Carter of the
postal savings bank bill,
There also is a considerable ele
ment in both houses favorable to such
changes in the Sherman anti-trust law
as will provide immunity for some
of the combinations, like labor unions,
which have been held to be in re
straint of trade, and which it is con
tended are not injurious. Many also
desire the amendment of the inter
state commerce law, so as to permit
traffic agreements among the rail
roads, and to eliminate the commod
ities clause of the law, The labor in
terests will continue their efforts in
behalf of a modification of the in
junction laws, There is, opposition,
however, to all of these measures.
The advocates of separate state
haod for Arizona and New Mexico de
clare they will. have the support of
the president for their measures.
There will, however, be an effort to
pdss the measures over to the sixty
first congress, |
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" The president will recommend leg
islation looking to the supervision of
talegraph and telephone lines, Bllls
will be offered bringing them within
the jurisdiction of the interstate com
merce commission, Ship subsidy also
will receive attention, but the proba
bility of action is remote,.
There will be much discussion of
the tariff in the cloak rooms, and the
ways and means committee of the
house will continue its efforts to
a bill, but no measure will receive
attention on the floor of elther house
until after March 4, when the propos
‘ed special session will concentrate its
efforts upon this omne subject. It is
even probable that ‘action looking to
a change in the print paper and wood
pulp schedules will be postponed wi
til the special session.
Both houses will receive recommen
dations from the congressional mon
etary commission looking to changes
in the laws regulating the supervis
fon of national banks, and the pres
ent indications are that some time leg
islation for that purpose will be en
acted,
It 18 quite certain that the recent
agreement between the United States
and Japan will receive early consid
eration in the senate, Already a num
ber of senators have privately ex
pressed disapproval of the fact that
the compact was entered into without
consulting the senate,
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CERNER IN WEEAT.
20.900,000 Bushe!s, Biggest Deal on
Record, May Bring $1.40.
Chicago, Ill.—James A Pattem, the
¢orm king, with his partner, now con
trols 30,000,000 bushels of wheat—
more wheat than any one crowd of
men over held in Chicago, the scene
of the world’s biggest corn deals, and
$1.40 wkeat is looked for on the
board es trade as a result of the eo
lossal deal,
With Mr. Patten in the big ring are
William I Bartlett, George W. Pat
ten and Frank B. Frazer, 1t is big
ger than the Joe Leiter deal when
that young pilunger lost $9,000,000 just
after the world's fair, It is bigger
then the John W. Gates corner, in
which millions were lost by the cor
nerer four years ago, It is bigger at
least by 5,000,000 bushels than any
thing “Old Hutch” ever attempted
And yet it is not a eorner. It is
merely a colossal deal. The Bartlett-
Patten bull ring is not endeavoring 1o
buy all the grain in the market and
create an artificial condition, as “Old
Hutch” did when he forced wheat up
to $2. Its purpose is merely to use
to advantage what is believed to be a
world-wide condition, and to have a
large amount of wheat to sell when
the price soars. In their opinion it
will g 0 to $1.33 or $1.40, not as a re
sult of purchase, but because of a
combination of circumstances around
the world over which no man can con
trol.
PLANS FOR BATTLESHIPS
Are Reviewed by Admiral Capps in
His Annual Report,
Washington, D. C.—The annual re
port of Admiral W. L. Capps, chief
contractor of the navy, is very largely
devoted to a review of the navy over
the plans of the battleships North Da
kota and Delaware, Admiral Capps
disposes of various phases of criti
cisms that have been made of the
plans by declaring that the recommen..
dations for congress made by the
Newport conference related only to
minor details over which there nat
urally would be differences of opinion
and improvement from time to time.
- Admiral Capps refers to the lack of
adequate working facilities at many of
the navy yards for ships under repair,
and says this condition coutinues to
embarrass the bureau and prevent the
prempt and economical performance
of work,
ELECTION FRAUDS IN CHICAGO,
Outrageous Repeating and Ballot Box
Stuffing Charged by Grand Jury.
Chicago, 111, — The ballots of men
long residents of other cities, the bal
lots of temporary absentees, the bal
lots of the insane and even of the
dead were cast in the primary elec
tion of last August in Chicago.” “Re
peaters” voted in platoons, with the
connivance of willingly unseeing
judges and elerks of election, and
fraud, rampant to an extent hitherto
unknown in a city never famous for
the purity of its. political atmosphere,
rendered the resultant party nomina
tions morally worthless.
These and other startling allega
tions are made in the report of the
special grand jury, which, after sev
eral weeks of delving into charges
growing out of Chicago’s first prima
ries and returning sixty-one indict
ments against two-score or more of
politicians and others, adjourned,
HONOR MEMORY OF CLEVELAND.
Exercises Held by Association of Life
Insurance Presidents,
New York City——Notable exer
cises in memory of the late Grover
Cleveland, ex-president of the United
States, constituted the opening ses
sion in this city of the Association of
Life Insurance Presidennts, of which
he had been chairman during the year
and a half between the time of its or
ganization and his death,
The program, which was brief, in
cluded addresses by President Paul
Morton of the Equitable Life Assur
ance Society and Dr. John H. Finley,
president of the College of the City of
New York, and the reading of letters
which had been received from former
Vice President Stevens and Governor
Hoke Smith and Hilary A. Herbert,
members of Mr., Cleveland’s cabinet,
Seventeen Dead in Storm.
St. Johns, Newfoundiand.—Seven
teen persons have perished in a storm
which has lashed the Newfoundland
coast for forty-eight hours. In all ten
fishing vessels have gone ashore, most
of them breaking into fragments on
the rocks. The victims of the gale
were members of the crows of three of
these craft,
Over 300 Fisherman Drown.
Tokio, Japan.—Thirty-five Japanese
fishing boats were caught in a ty
phoon off Hatsu Island, in Kawatsu
Bay, and wrecked, It is reported
that 850 fishermen lost their lives,
Glad Treaty Is Signed.
Tokio, Japan.—News of the signing
of the American-Japanese agreement
was received here with glad acclaim.
Crowds thronged about the newspaper
bulletin boards and the announcement
that Secretary Root and Ambassador
Takahira had affixed their official sig
natures to the document was greeted
by enthusiastic cheers.
Mrs. Wardell Dead.
San Francisco, Cal—The wife of
General Wardell, who was exiled In
Arizona, dled here, The romantic
attachment of General Wardell for
his wife who was afflicted with lepro
sy and his devotion in remaining at
her side at the risk of his own life
was commented on universally,
Shippers of the South.
Louisville, Ky.—Discusgion behind
closed doors about an interstate com
merce commission ruling on the sub.
stitution of commodities was partici
pated in here by a large body of rep
resentative shippers from many parts
of the south,
None of the conferees would di
vulge the nature of the proceedings,
hut it was definitely stated by a prom
inent rallroad authority that a plan
of battle was arranged against the
commission’s order, . . Gt
PRESIDENTONSUFFRAGE
Roosevelt Thinks Women Should
Vote. Is not Enthusiastic.
WOAN'S CHIEF FUNGTION
New York City.—The attitude of
President Roosevelt and of Secretary
of State Elihu Root on the subject of
woman suffrage was disclosed at a
meeting under the auspices of the
National League for the Civic Educa
tion of Women, s
The Rev. Dr. Lyman Abbott, editor
of The Qutlook, in the course of an
address in opposition to granting the
rights to vote for women, read the fol
lowing letier from President Roose
velt, which he said he read with the
president’s permission, although it was
not “written for publication, ~
- “Personally, I believe in woman's
suffrage,” says Mr. Roosevelt, at the
outset of the letter, which is dated No
vember 10, 1908, “but I am not an en
thusiastic advocate of it because I do
not regard it as a very important mat
ter, I am unable to see that there has
been any special improvement in the
position of women in those states in
the west that have adopted woman
‘suffrage as compared with those states
‘adjolning them that have not adopted
it. I do not think that giving the
women suffrage will produce any
marked improvement in the condition
of women, I do not believe that it
will produce any of the evils feared,
and [ am very certain that when wom
en, as a whole, take any special in
terest in the matter they will have
the suffrage if they desire it,
“But at present I think most of them
are lukewarm; I find some activity for
it, and some activity against it, I
am, for the reasons above given, rath
er what you would regard as luke
warm or tepid in my support of it be-‘
cause, while I believe in it, I do not
regard it as of very ruch import-‘
ance, |
| _“I believe that man and woman
should stand on an equality of right,
but I do not believe that equality of
right means identity of function; and
I am more and more convinced that
the great field, the indispensable field,
for the usefulness of women is as the
mother of the family,
“It is her work in the household, in
the home, her work in bearing and
rearing the children, which is more
importart than any man’s work, and
it is that work which should be nor
mally the woman’s special work, just
as normally the man's work should
be that of the breadwinner, the sup
porter of the home, and, if necessary,
the soldier who will fight for the
home.
“There are exceptions as regards
both man and woman; but the full and
perfect life, the life of highest happi
ness and of highest usefulness to the
state, is the life of the man and wom
an who are husband and wife, who
live in the partnership of love -and
duty, the one earning enough to keep
the home, the otw“agtmf the
home and ‘the chi o, R
“THEODORE ROOSEVELT."”
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LIQUOR TO DRY TERRITORY.
Common Carriers Must Accept Ship-
ments Tendered,
Richmond, Va.—The supreme court
of appeals affirmed the decision of the
state corporation commission. in the
case of the Portner Brewing Company
against the Southern Express Compa
ny. The effect of the decision is that
while common carriers must receive
shipments for delivery to parties in
“dry territory,” wholesalers, brewers,
distillers and manufacturers cannot
avail themselves of that right, for by
so doing it could be made possible
for violators of the law compell com
mon carriers to aid and abet violations
on account of the consignees receiving
the liquor when shipped in large quan
tities and then selling It contrary to
law,
INLAND WATEEWAY ROUTE.
This is the Purpose of the Convention
at- New Orleans,
New Orleans, La.—Between two and
three hundred delegates gathered
here in attendance upon the fourth
anrual convention of the Interstate
Waterways League, which has for its
object the construction of an inland
waterway from the Rio Grande to the
Mississippl,
It is planned to connect and dredge
to sufficient length all of the rivers
and bodies of water lylng just inside
the Louisiana and Texas coasts, the
route extending from Brownsville,
Texas, to Donaldsonville, La, A gov
ernment appropriation has resulted in
a portion of the work belng completed
already, and a further appropriation
will be asked of congress.
NIGAT RIDERS GRANTED BAIL.
Sheriff Ordered to Release Them When
Sufficient Bond is Made,
Nashville, Tenn—Judge T, E. Mat
thews deiivered his opinion on the
writs of habeas corpus by which the
eight alleged night riders now con
fined in the Davidson county jail
sought to obtain their release from
custody, granting the relief asked, and
fixing the amount of bail, .
Four of the prisoners were granted
bail in the sum of SIO,OOO, and four
for half that amount each. The sher
iff of Davidson county was ordered
to turn over the prisoners to the sher.
iff of Obion county and that official
is directed to release the prigoners
when a sufficient bond {8 made.
DEFICIT OF $58,070,201,
United States Treasurer Treat So
States in Annual Report.
Washington, D, C. — Charles H.
Treat, treasurer of the United States,
in his annual report, calls attention
to the fact that owing to the disturh
ed relations between the income and
outgo of the government there was a
deficiency last year of $58,070,201 as
against surplus for the preceding year
of $%4,236,686, and points out that the
total revenues for 1903 exceeded any
preceding filscal year except 1907,
T 0 CHANGE POSTAL LAWS,
Proposed To Eliminate Assistant Post
master General.
‘Washington, D. C.—The four officcs
of n‘g:i}stant postmaster general will
be abolished, a director of posts, with
Seven assistants, provided for, and the
entire postal service of the United
States, divided into fifteen separate‘
districts, if the bill providing for the
revision of the postal laws which is
being prepared by the joint postal in
vestigation committee of congress, ap
pointed two years ago, is passed by
congress,
1t is claimed that a director of posts,
appointed to hold office until remov
ed for cause, and who shall receive
a high salary, will tend to improve
the service through a continuity of
policies for the benefit of postal serv
ice. By providing for seven assistants
to the director of posts, the membors
of the committee believe that the dis
advantages due to frequent changes
and the appointment of inexperienced
men te the four offices of assistant
postmaster general can be obviated.
These assistant directors are, accord
ing to the provisions of the bill, also
to hold office during good behavior.
The postmaster general would con
tinue as the executive head of the de
partment,
Much information was gathered by
the commission last year in an effort
to find some means of improving the
accounting system of the postal sevv
ice. To perfect the system of man
agement, provision for fifteen super
intendents to have direct charge of
the fifteen separate postal districis,
which it is proposed to create, has
been decided upon. According to the
bill, each separate district would in a
sense be a branch office
In addition to these charges, many
of which have to be recommended by
Postmaster General Meyer, numerous
minor alterations in the pcstal laws
are included in the bill, The commis
sion is composed of Senators Penrose,
Pennsylvania, chairman; Dolliver,
lowa and Clay, Georgia, and Repre
sentatives Overstreet, Indiana; Gard
ner, New Jersey; and Moon, Tennes
see, ;
GOAL MINE EXPLOSIONS.
Demonstrated by Government Testing
~ Station at Pittsburg, Penn.
Pittsburg, Pa.—Coal operators, mine
owners, enginers, practical miners,
scientists and mational and state of
ficials here for the meeiing of tte
American mininig congress ,participat
ed in the formal dedication of the
federal government’s laboratory and
lesting station, recently ostablisied in
this eity. A series of tests in an
artifieial mine, in which conditions of
real mines are reproduced so far as
possible, showing the results from va
rious explosives and from so-called
safety agencies, was the most inter
esting feature of the ceremony,
The first test was with safety pow
der, fireclay and bituminous coal dust,
‘the latter placed on shelves represent.
ing ledges in real mines. The powder
was iguited for the blast and did not
exnlode the dust, ~n RN
_i'There was a terrific éxplos on during
{bo_fourth test, when 1.1 pounds of
la. ¢ “Ter and ‘twenty pounds of
road dus ‘_“‘”‘%@ - dust) were
used. *The recoil was strong and the
flames covered the full length of the
artificlal mine, The test proved the
combination to be exceedingly danger
ous,
At this point, experts of the station
appeared wearing the Draeger oxygen
apparatus, including metal and glass
hoods, chemical chamber and air bag,
designed to render breathing normal,
or nearly so, while the operator is
surrounded by the most deadly gas
ard vana - The men hurried into the
gallery, still filled with the fumes of
the explosion and apparently were not
affected by any of the gases. This
device is designed particularly for
rescue work, and was used with good
results at Marianna,
- DETEGTIVES CAUSE RIOT.
Fired Over Heads of Strikers and
Were Attacked by Mob,
Perth Amboy, N, J.—When drink
orazed detectives employed to guard
the strike-breaking employes "of the
National Fire Proofing company, fired
their pistols over the heads of a gath
ering mob about the stockade of the
plant, the word went out that strikers
and their sympathizers were being
murdered, and in a short time men
and women were rioting and blood
was flowing frecly, Great excitement
prevailed following the shooting, No
one was struck by bullets and the
only wouhds were made by flylng
bricks and clubs,
Emperor of China Crowned.
Pekin, China.—The coronation of
Pu Y 1 the 3-year-old emperor of Chp
na, succesgor of the late Kuang Hsu,
took place at the imperial palaco. The
new ruler was given the name of Hsu
en Tung,
24 Bridges Destroyed.
Cleveland, O.—Twenty-four bridges
just finished or In course of construc
tion by the National Erectors’ asgoci
ation, otherwise called the bridge
trugt, have been destroyed Ly dyna
mite during the last year and the or
ganization announced its determine
tion to find and punish the dynamit
ers. A reward of SI,OOO hag been of
fered,
Trial of the Coopers,
Nashville, Tenn.—On application by
the defense, the trial of Colonel Dun
can B. Cooper, Robin Cooper and ex-
Sheriff Johin D. Sharp, indicted for the
murder of former United States Sen
ator B. W, Carmack, has been post
poned until the January term of court,
Conservation Commisslon,
Washingten, D, C—" Land” was the
subject discussed at the last session
of the mational conservation commis
#lon. = Assistant Attorney General
Woodruff of the departmont of the
interior read a report, which declared
that the facts regarding timber lands
show a decided tendency towards
monopoly, It was asserted that there
are elghty million acres of swamp
lands 10 the United States which can
be reclalmed at a profit and that two
fitths of the country i 3 a desert,
Aged FPresident of Republic Driven
From Port-au-Prince.
Alexis Wrapped in Flag of France to
Awe Mob. Assassination Pre
vented by Soldiers.
Port-au-Prince, Haitl, — President
Nord Alexis has been deposed and is
now safe on beard the French train
ing ship Duguay Trouin, and Port-au-
Prince is in the hands of the revolu
tionists, General Antoine Simon, the
leader of the insurgents, is marching
up the peninsula with an army of 5,-
000, and a new president, General Le
gitime has ben proclaimed.
At the last moment President Alexis
yielded to the urging of those about
him and decided to take refuge aboard
the French warship, Thousands had
gathered at the palace early in the
day, and they had surged around the
entrances threatening to tear down
the walls to drive out the president
and his loyal followers, and heaping
curses on the head of the aged man,
8o serious was the situation that
the French minister, M. Carteron, and
other foreign representatives, togeth
er with members of a specially ap
pointed committee, forced themselves
‘upon the president, who finally con
sented to withdraw, Shouts greeted
" him as he stepped form the palace
’and into a carriage which had been
provided.
M. Carteron, carrying the French
tri-color, sat beside him and threw the
colors of the flag over the shoulders
.of the deposed president to protect
him,
All along the route the people
shouted, jeered and cursed at the fallen
president, but when the landing stage
was reached the mob lost all restraint.
Infuriated women broke through the
cordon of troops and shrieked the
coarsest insults into the face of the
president, who strove bravely to ap
pear undismayed.
They tried to hurl themselves upon
Alexis, and fought with hands and feet
the soldiers, - A space finaly was clear
ed and Nord Alexis was hurried
aboard a skiff in tow of a steam
launch, his suite tumbling in after
him. As the launch drew away three
Haitien gunboats and the French and
American warships in the harbor fired
a salute,
One of the leaders charged that the
American minister, H. W. Furniss,was
encouraging the president to resist,
and he iscued the following proclama
tion:
“Citizens: The danger is supreme;
we risk our independence if we do not
take goed care, The old man would
have given up already were it not for
the advice of a diplomat who is pre
paring for our annexation. A clash ig
expected, and this diplomat wishes to
precipitate one in order to have a
pretext for colonizing us. Let us,
therefore, be docile, yet not supine.”
The flags of the nations are flying
over the doors and from the windows
of the homes of the foreign residents,
for, notwithstandin~ their exhibitions
of hostility against their fallen presi
dent, the Hatiens sve in dread of the
landing of forces from the warships,
They especially fear ‘-~ men of tho
United States cruisers Tacoma and
Des Moines, whose reputation for put
ting down riot and disorder have gone
before them, General Canal is doing
everything possible to maintain order,
CHINA THANKS UNITED STATES.
For Remission of $14,000,000 of the
Boxer Indemnity,
Washington, D. C.—“ Long may your
excellency enjoy good health and hap
piness, May the American people be
blessed with prosperity and peace.
These are our heartfelt wishes.”
The above are the sentiments ex
pressed in a letter from the late em
peror of China tc President Roose
velt, presented to him by Ton Shoa
Yi, the special Chinese ambassador,
thanking the United States for the
remission of $14,000,000 of the {ndem
nity guaranteed by China for damages
resulting from the Boxer rebellion,
MILLIONS PAID BY U. §.
For Transmitting Franked Matter
Through the Mails,
Washington, D, C.—The cost to the
government during the fiscal year
ended June 30, 1908, by reason of the
transmission free through the mailg
of departmental and congressionai
franked matter was $42,544,047, ac
cording to the annual report of the
third assistant postmaster general,
This figure includes the matter car
ried by the postoffice department for
itself, and the postal service, Added
to this is $57,000,000 for uncompensat
ed sgervice in the handling and trans
porting of gecond clags matter of pub
lishers of newspapers and periodicals,
TO CURB KAISER WILLIAM,
Bocialists Want Chancellor Held Re.
sponsible for Ruler's Words,
Berlin, Germany.-—Three geparate
and distinct propositions to curb the
power of the kalser and incidentally
to secure to the Gerian people a real
constitutional government weie cffer.
ed to the reichstag. The Boclalists
suggested that the kalger be deprived
of all power to declare war without
the consent of both the federal coun
cil and the relchluf, also making the
chancellor who falls in his duty or
should permit the kalser to involve
any nation in a position of discredit
is llable to prosecution in the criminal
courts, . - j
NO LIQUOR IN OKLAHOMA.
State Dispensary System Abolished
by Vote of the People,
Guthrie, Okla.~—~Governor Haskell
has issued a proclamation declaring
that the sfate dispensary system had
been abolished by the vote at the re.
cent election, which leaves the eciti
zens of Oklahoma without any lawful
means to purchase inside the state
liquor for medicinal purposes, This
situation will continue until the leg
islature provides for the gale of liquor
for medicinal purposes,
LATE NEWS NOTES,
Generai.
Three men, armed with revolvers,
held up a Third avenue surface car im
New York City and robbed the con
ductor, One highwayman forced the
moterman to keep the car moving
at the point of a pistol, while the oth
er two seized the conductor and fore
ed him to turn over his money, They
then escaped,
A wireless station in San Francis
co reports having overheard in the
last fortnight e~~- maccages which
are belleved to have been sent from
some station in Japan, To confirm
the local company's belief that mes
sages have come, the Japan and Hon
olulu avireless station is said to have
heard the same message, The Jap
enese station is over 6,000 miles from
this ecity, and should the signals have
originated in Japan it breaks the wire
less record by over three thousand
miles,
A. 8. Trude, a millionaire attorney
and “skyscraper” owner, will leave
Chicago soon for a seven months’
Robinson Crusoe existence on an un
inhabited island, He will pitch a tent
on Matiagorda island, in the Gulf of
Mexico, south of the mainland of
Texas. The island is merely a sand
bar, devoid of vegetation., It has nev
er been inhabited and nobody claims
ownerthip of it except the govern
ment, and he has obtained a permit
from the authorities to live there in
his tent from December 10 to July 15.
W. C. Brown, known in the little
town of Dallas, Ore., a 8 “Uncle Billy,”
entertained seventy-six widows at a
banquet. The number included all
the widows in his town and the imme
diate vicinity. It was strictly an in
vitation affair and if any were omit
ted it was by advertence. “Uncle
Billy” is a widower and is looking for
a wife, He is 84 vears old and cele
brated the event by inviting those
whom he thought possible candidates
for that position. The oldest of his
guests was 91 and the youngest 25.
i Experiments that have been going
-on at Berlin, Germany, for some time
have shown that it is almost impos
sible for dirigible balloons to escape
from the fire of field pleces and rifies
on the ground by going to high alti
tudes, The greatest height the air
ships can attain with safety will leave
them in range of special cannon with
which the experiments are being
-made, It is the opinion of experts
that dirigible balloons will have to
}roly solely upen their own speed to
~escape the fire of a properly equipped
enemy,
B, H. Hardaway of Columbus, Ga.,
has been awarded the contract by the
Southern Power ecompany of Char
lotte, N. C,, to build a dam ninety feet
high on the Broad river near Blacks
burg, 8. C. The dam will be one
thousand one hundred feet long and
its construction, and the building of
the power house, which contract was
also awarded to Mr. Hardaway, will
represent an expenditure o f about
$1,000,000. The dam will davelop 20,
000 horsepower, which will be used by
South Carolina and North Carolina
industries. Mr. Hardaway recently
received a contract to build a $500,-
000 lock for the United States govern
| ment on the Black Warrior river in
‘Alabama, 9
President Roosevelt has ordered
his hunting shoes. They really are
boots reaching almost to the knes
ond the measurements by which they
are to be made are the most complete
that have ever ben made, Several
weeks ago, at the request of the pres
ident, a Brockton, Mass., firm sent
one of its most expert men to Wash
ington to take the measurements of
the president’s feet, Orders were glv
en for four pairs of boots. Each of
the president’s feet was carefully
megsured., In all nearly fifty meas
urements were taken, From them
plaster casts will be made of the
president’s feet and legs and the
boots will be built on them, The
shoes will have an extra-double sole
into which the upper will be sewed
with waterproof stitches,
Washington
The monthly statement of the direc
tor of the mints shows that during
November, 1908, the coinage at the
mints of the United States amounted
to $8,817,210 as follows: Gold, $7,-
993,740; silver, $820,000; minor coins,
$3,470. There were also coined 3,475,
000 pieces for the Philippine islands.
It was announced at the headquar
ters of the Southern railway that the
new uniform bill of lading approved
by the interstate commerce commis
gion would be put into use on January
1 next, Notice to this effect has been
gent out to all agents of the road, toe
gether with the information that an
cffort is being made by interests rep
regenting the water and rail routes
to bring about some modification in
the terms of the commission’s bill,
necessary to its application to water
and rail traffic and to meet certain
local conditions,
Secretary Wilson has stated that
his department was gaining control of
the foot and mouth disease among the
cattle of Maryland, New York, Michl
gan and Pennsylvania, but that the
department would permit no lexity in
the quarantine against these states
until the disease had been checked.
More than a thousand cattle, he said,
had already been slain,
Herbert I, Satterloe of New York
who was offered the position of agsis
tant gecretary of the navy to succeed
Mr. Newberry, who has heen elevated
to be head of the department, has
notified the president of his accep
tance of the appointment., Mr, New
berry was sworn In and participated
in the cabinet meeting, He was ac
companied to the white house by Mr.
Metcalf, his predecessor ..
In a decision rendered by Commis
sioner Lane, In the interstate com
merce commission, in the case of T.
M. Kehoe & Co., against the Nash
ville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Rail
wap company and others, it was de
clared that the commission would
not impose on a carrier the duty of
telegraphing to the consignor in the
event that the shipment is refused by
the coneignee or the latter cannot be
found, The present practice of the
carrlers in regard to this matter is
held to be reasonably expeditious,
