Newspaper Page Text
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A GIGANTIC UNDERTAKING
• ______
SURVEY OF WORK TO BE DOXE OX
PANAMA CAXAL.
Views of Dr. C. A. Stephrna, XVho
Has Rrcently 'lnilr a Trip of Oh
nervation to the Uthmun—A Tide-
AValer rnnnl XVonld Coat More
Than gtiOO.OOP.WO and Take 20,000
Lalmrers Nearly Half a Century.
The Cnlelira < ill the HlßKrxl Work
of tlie Kind Fier Undertaken—lm
pnriaiire anil Magnitude off the
Sanitary l*rlilein— A Good AA'ord
for Cliagres River.
Letter in New York Post.
Dr. C. A. Stephens, who has been
"well known for a generation as a writ
er of stories of adventure for boys, has
recently visited Panama, where he has
had excellent opportunities for observ
ing the great project the nation has
undertaken there.
Americans speak glibly of the possi
bility of a tide-level canal at Panama.
Of this Dr. Stephens says: “It is not
an easy matter to estimate the exact
amount of earth which would have to
be removed to get a clear channel
across the Isthmus, thirty-five feet be
low low tide at Colon and at La Boca
on the Bay of Papana. But comput
ing it at the various levels, step by
step up to the Culehra, through this
vast cut and beyond, deducting what
the French appear to have done, we
obtain 446,000,000 cubic yards, as a very
conservative estimate of what re
mains to be removed in order to have
an open ditch from ocean to ocean, 150
feet wide at the bottom, with 35 feet of
standing water in it. As to the length
of time required, we have to guide us
only what the new French company
have done. It is agreed on all hands,
however, that they have worked with
a fair degree of diligence and with
honesty.
“During their most successful year, |
1897. the new company employed 3,600
men and removed, mainly in the Cule
bra cut. 960,000 cubic metres, chiefly
earth. This was by far the best ever
done by the French. Adding 40 per
cent, to this 960.000 metres, for better
American methods and better ma
chines, and assuming that the United
States will employ 20,000 laborers in
place of 3.600, we find that to remove
the 341,600,000 cubic metres forty-six
years and nine days will be required,
or until 1951. By employing 30,000 la
borers the work might be done in
about thirty-one years. More than 30,-
000 men could not be advantageously
worked there. At best, therefore, al
lowing nothing for contingencies or ac
cidents, a tide-water canal at Panama
could not be completed before 1936—50
that few of the present generation
would see it.
Immense tost of Tidewater Canal.
“As to the cost of a tidewater canal
nt Panama, reckoning laborers' wages
at only a dollar a day, and the salaries
of engineers, foremen, etc., at equally
reasonable rates; adding present cost,
figures for machinery, tools, explosives,
transportation, hospital equipment and
maintenance, with the thousand other
minor expenses, and to this the interest
THE LIAR’S CLUB’S CHAMPION STORY.
I WAS FISHING
A
wrcwf 1 T
r.r i I_L —f- —t
FINALLY J SWAM ASHORE, DOG
FISH SECOND.
on the money as used for thirty years,
at 3 per cent.; I am unable to find the
amount called for to construct a tide
water canal at less than $570,000,000.
or, adding the price of the canal from
the French company, $610,000,000.”
.Magnitude of the Project.
Dr. Stephens In other ways makes
more distinct, than do the formal re
ports the size of the project to which
we are already committed. The Culo
bra cut he describes us the greatest
thing of its kind ever undertaken by
man. When complete it will be three
fitths of a mile wide at the lop, falling
off to a w idth of 150 feet at the bottom,
into which the great lake made by
the dam at Bohio will flow back, fill
ing it to a depth of thirty-five feet.
From the lop of the Culehra on the
north side of the cut the depth will be
nearly or quite 400 feet.
These figures, he says, convey little
idea of the tremendous quantity of
earth and rock which must be remov
ed. It is not until one descends into
this vast trench and marks how they
the locomotives and great steam ex
cavators look when seen in the prodig
ious depth and breadth of the excava
tion that a conception of the hercu
lean labor dawns on the mtnd. It Is
liter Niagara, and must be contem
plated for awhile. At first sight It
might be thought that a thousand men,
operating 90 or 100 of these steam ex
cavators. would dig it out In a year;
but by the time the visitor has walk
ed and climbed about the cut for an
hour or two, he can readily believe that
the task may occupy 5,000 men, with
machines, for ten years.
The temperature In the rut he de
scribes as Intense. The lofty, bare
sides of the excavation accumulate
heat like the walls of an oven. The
seething steam boilers add to the calo
rific glow. It makes the eyeballs ache
and the lungs feel'dry and hot.
"It is no place," says Dr. Stephens,
•'for a white man's unprotected head.
A cork helmet, or a green umbrella, or
both, are necessary to his safety. It
makes me shudder to think of the hu- !
man suffering implied by ten years of
labor here on the part of 6,000 men.
But only at the price of all this toil
can stately vessels steam through the
Culebra."
The French Canal Company has re
moved much earth here, but vastly
more remains to be taken out. With
arc lights strung along the cutting. t!\e
men of the night shift would have by
far the easier day’s work; for then the
terrible sun ruys would be absent, and
the eooler night wind would be blow
ing through the trench. Indeed, If but
one shift of men were employed, he
thinks It would be better, after the
light plant was installed, to work them
only by night and have them sleep
In day time.
The Mi ill fm r > I'riilileni,
His account of the sanitary problem
Is even more impressive: “The French
exercised little or no sanitary control
over their canal laborers. They built
little villages of wood and galvanized
Iron for the men to live In, but In
x moit < sues provided neither water nor
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The Lale M. Waldeck-Rousseau, Former Premier
of France.
drains. If they fell ill in camp and
did not die at once, they were trans
ported after a day or two to the hos
pitals at Colon or Panama. That was
about as far as (he French medical
care or control extended from 1880 on
ward. Asa result they lost a great
number of employes—some say 50,000.
The construction gangs were often
crippled and ineffective. Excavators,
locomotives and other machines stood
idle for weeks, because the men or the
foremen were ill or dead. The losses
of time and money from this cause
were enormous. Work was stopped
from time to time, and often did not
begin again for a month, pay being
drawn all the while for the entire
gang! The direct loss from this cause
alone is believed to have exceeded 70.-
000,000 francs! The indirect loss from
delay and demoralization can never be
determined.
“Labor unions in the United States
have already debated the regulation
of wages and working hours at Pana
ma, and have announced an intention
to organize the laborers there to this
end. But no sensible person can spend
an hour in the heat of the Culehra
cut without coming to the conclusion
that this is not a white mans job.
The French Oanal Company is now
paying its laborers SI.OB a day, Co
lombian silver, worth about 44 cents in
United States currency.”
AND GOT A BITE
_
N— -L
OVERTAKEN, I “MEOWED”
LIKE A CAT
Dr. Stephens says that it is an er
ror to speak of any locality as in its
self “unhealthful." If disease is pres
ent it has been brought there by men
or animals which have become infect
ed elsewhere. No locality breeds new
disease. He wants the government to
establish a School of Tropical Diseases
at Colon. The greatest variety of clin
ical material would be abundant. Ca
nal laborers arriving from various j
points in the tropics will afford excel- ■
lent material for study, with the added
advantages of observing the course of
the diseases in a tropical climate.
Dr. Stephens also favors a camp of
detention and observation for incom
ing laborers. In no other way can dis
ease be prevented front gaining access
to the labor camps along the line of the i
canal. Nor when forwarded from the j
camp of observation to the labor j
camps should the executive guardian
ship over the laborer cease or be re
laxed for a moment. A single hole in
one's mosquito net lets in the mosquito
that will inoculate him with yellow fe
ver or malaria; so with a system of
health protection for 20,000 laborers. At
a single weak point of the system an
epidemic may enter; the system must
be precise, efficient at all points and
constantly operative. If the best eco
nomic results are to be obtained, the
labor camps must be enclosed, policed,
and regulated as if under military dis
cipline. He thinks it would be found
expedient to have a canteen at every
rami), where tobacco, malt beverages,
and a limited quantity of distilled li
quors of standard quality could be pur
chased by the laborers.
toooi Words tor the ('(mares (lives*.
This observer's account of the Cha
gres river is interesting. The whole
world has heard of the Chagres
rivers but has heard no good of it, in
deed the Kngllsh, French and Spanish
languages has been ransacked for
terms with which to stigmatize it. It
is the "torrential" Chagres, the "dead
ly" Chagres, the "miasmatic" Chagres,
the "uncontrollable, ungovernable"
Chagres, the "accursed" Chagres, "that
infernal river.” It has even had a
fever of lethal character named after
It.
"When the French canal officials
wished to find.a scapegoat," says Dr.
Stephens, "for thlr malfeasance in
spending, or stealing. t26n,oOo.fkin, and
not digging a canal with it, they se
lected the Chagres river and attributed
everything had to that. It washed
back all the earth which they dug out.
It rendered a tide water canal Impos
sible; it btought malaria and death to
their laborers, in tine, they would have
constructed the Panama <anal by IMC,
but for that awful Chagres river!
"I really expected to see a moral
monster of a river there, l was look
ing for something like the Styx, as
described by the classic poets. It
Would not have surprised me greatly
to see a stream of miasmatic, gteen I
slime, haunted by t'imgies fever
ghosts Instead, what one sees Is .1
pretty little river of axure water, pur
ling gently over sandy -bars -quite an
Ideal stream, with lovely gravels and
f
SAVAXXAH MORNING NEWS: SEND AY. AUGUST 14. 1904.
pbols beneath green banks, the bare
sight of which makes one think of his
fish hook and line. t
"But this was the dry season. I be
gan making careful inquiries as to the
wet season. Once, seventeen years
ago, it did rise pretty high. At a place
where the channel is much compressed,
at Las Cascades, it rose between thir
ty and forty feet that year for a few
hours. I found that at home —among
its neighbors, so to speak—the Chagres
bore a good enough reputation as riv
ers go. In the matter of floods, the
Chagres is not worse than the Big
Sandy, the French Broad, or the An
droscoggin in our own country. But
for the Chagres an interoceanic canal
at Panama, during the next quarter of
a century, would he a physical impos
sibility. A tidewater canal at Panama
is impossible, except at such cost as to
he practically useless to the American
people. It is just here that the Cha
gres river comes In. By building a
dam across it and across the canal at
Bohio, near sea level on the Atlantic
side, an elevated inland lake may be
formed across the highest portion of
the isthmus, extending through the
Culehra cut. By using the Chagres to
form this lake, more than four-fifths
of the excavation necessary for a tide
water canal may be avoided. Were it
not for the Chagres river, this lake
could not be formed. The volume of
IT WAS A DOG FISH
fgOOOOOH)
j&’d. BOW v*>v*
TSS
L,
THEN CLIMBED A TREE AND
GAVE HIM A CIGAR.
water which flows is Just about suffi
cient to fill the lake and supply water
for the locks. If it were much larger,
it would give trouble; If less, it would
be Insufficient.
“A ship canal, like that at Panama,
requires a vast amount of water for
feeding the locks. Nothing less than
a river of considerable size will suffice
for the water supply. This much ana
thematized Chagres river is. therefore,
the right thing in the right place. It
Is very fortunate for us that it is
there.”
A HOTPLACE*FOR CRUISING.
Discomforts of a Trip Through the
Red Sea.
From the New York Post.
Russia's abandonment of her patrol
of the Red Sea in search of contra
band goods carried under neutral flags,
if brought to pass, will bring peculiar
Joy to the officers and men of the ships
of the Russian volunteer fleet which
have been assigned to this duty. The
Red Sea is about the hottest place on
the face of the earth. To go through
there is bad enough; to he assigned
to cruise there must be intolerable. The
coal stokers, who are usually Lascars
from East Iftdia, and hence hardened
to high temperatures, often give way
under the terrible heat. Such of our
own transports as go to the Philippines
by the Suez route are compelled to
proceed very slowly over this pavt of
the journey on account’ of the stokers,
who must be relieved at very short in
tervals.
It is about an even four days’ run on
i the passenger schedules adopted by
the great lines which ply between Eu
rope Hnd the East between Aden and
Suez. Tramp steamers take a much
longer time. How the poor Russians
could stand anything like a permanent
patrol duty within that fiery furnace
is hard to Imagine. The only relief
would come In running the ship In
; such a way as to meet the breezes.
Peninsular and Oriental steamers have
HAPPY Itl.sri.Ts onWIM P
By the I so of the New Scalp Antisep
tic.
It wouldn't take long to number the
hairs in the heads of some people, the
reason being they haven'.t many to
number. In most instances, however,
the fault Is their own. A germ at the
root soon plays havoc with the most
luxnrinnt growth and causes It to fade
and fall out. A remedy for this has re
cently been discovered, called New
bro's Herplclde. that HCts by destroy
ing the germ that does the damage,
besides removing all Impurities from
the scalp. In addition It permits new
life and vigor to enter the scalp, and
happy results are sure to be obtained
from its use Try It. Hold by leading
druggists. Send 10c. In stamps for
sample to The Herplclde Cos., Detroit.
Mich
I.lvlngston's Pharmacy, Special
Agents.
often turned back in their course to
do this, to give their passengers the
invigoration of a short period of fresh
breezes. But Russian naval command
ers are not likely to do this. Their
whole system is characterized by lux
urious quarters for their high officers,
while the men in the ranks are treated
little better than cattle. Persons who
have traveled on the Russian line
which runs to the Far East, made up
of the vessels of the volunteer fleet,
have many tales to tell of the spa
cious accommodations, with double
bedstead standing out in the room,
when they have happened to get the
quarters which in time of war would
be assigned to an officer of rank.
With this autocratic theory it is hard
ly that the course of the patroling
steamers would be greatly modified
for the comfort of the poor boys from
Finland who were sweltering below
the decks.
The reason the climate of the Red
sea is so extreme, aside trom its near
ness to the equator, are the cloudless
skies overhead, the aridity of the
neighboring lands, such as the great
stretches of Sahara and Arabian des
erts, and the absence of anything
which would mitigate the force of the
sun. The Red sea water often meas
ures on the mercury 90 degrees Fah
renheit, and has been known to go
above 100 degrees. The air is usually
cooler than the water, especially at
night when radiation becomes very
rapid. The evaporation of the Red
sea is naturally excessive, so that the
humidity of the air is great. The Red
sea basjn is cut off from the general
oceanic circulation by a barrier rising
to within 600 feet of the surface in a
channel which is 'comparatively nar
row. As no rivers enter the sea and
little rain falls, it becomes an evapor
ating pan. The sea is naturally much
saltier than the outside ocean, but the
whole place would he a bed of salt
were it not for undercurrents of salt
water passing out to the ocean.
West-bound passengers, get a taste
of what is before them when they
land at Aden, which is on the Arabian
side, near the strait of Bab-el-Man
deb. If the ashes from a coal-burn
ing furnace were pounded down under
a steam roller they would not make a
dryer foundation upon which to buiid
a city. The city's water is obtained
by distilling ocean water with coal
brought from England, although there
are in the upper part of the town large
ancient reservoirs for the storage of
water conveyed for a distance from
natural sources. The only green things
growing in Aden are three box-plants
in front of the government house,
which have a soil of their own, and
are constantly moistened with fresh
water. Even then these plants are
kept alive with great difficulty. Aden
is a great trans-shi; ping point. The
leading steamship companies maintain
machine shops there to make the re
pairs sometimes necessary en route.
The British navy maintains a branch
workshop. It is a great place for the
sale of ship supplies, since the traffic
of all nations passes through. The ho
tels are miserable, in spite of the fact
that not a few people have to lie over
there in changing from the regular
through steamers to branch lines con
necting with side ports like, those oil
the east coast of Africa. The popula
tion consists of Arabs, East Indians,
Portuguese, and various other groups
of Europeans. The British flag floats
over the town; its fortifications Indi
cate that in time of hostilities the
HE JUMPED AT ME AND BARKED
——— — '^~.
SINCE THEN I CAN'T GIVE
ONE AWAY.
passage of these straits by ships at
’ar with Great Britain would be at
tended with some difficulty.
The population of Aden seem to live
off the travelers, they are all mer
chants, selling ostrich eggs a<t ten
cents each, ostrich feathers at any
thing they will bring, various woven
goods ot' the country about, and the
tike. But their efforts to get cash out
of the tourists are not confined to such
things. They act as coachman, with
their little stunted ponies and bullocks,
and the boys even go so far as to of
fer to fight for a few pennies. Rival
sets of lighting teams vie with each in
exhibitions of severity, when they ad
minister blows, as evidence of the se
riousness with which they accept the
assignment. Few amusements are
more popular. The civil authorities at
Aden will not allow the natives to dive
into the ocean for coins, as they do
at many points further east, on ac
count of the presence of dangerous
sharks.
Suez, from which some of the recent
Red Sea dispatches have come, is a
rather pretty town, under irrigation
from a canal which was brought over
from the Nile, as a necessary part of
the work of construction of the great
ship canal, which opens there. Hotels
and private establishments line the Af
rican bank of the ship canal for some
distance, and great rows of tropical
trees on both sides of the fresh water
canal, which is about ten feet wide,
give evidence of the reviving cheer of
good water. The great oil tanks which
supply the material by which the ca
nal is lighted, are the most conspic
uous objects of interest as the town
comes into sight from the Red sea.
Port Said, at the northern end of
the canal, is an altogether different
place. It more resembles one of our
quick Western towns in the activity
of its business and in general "wicked
ness.” It is one of the greatest coal
markets in the world, for ships from
the East like to coine through the ca
nal light, and fill their bunkers as they
start out into the Mediterranean. The
government derives a good share of its
revenues from the coal taxes which are
quite large on the coal that ts locally
consumed, and although very small on
that which is sold to ihe great steam
ers, such is the volume of this traffic
that it amounts to considerable. Port
Said Is one of the most cosmopolitan
places in the wotld. The moneys of all
nations circulate freely there. The
languages not only of all Europe, but
of the races of Asia and North Africa,
are understood. The long breakwater
which extends Into the Mediterranean
from Port Said Is surmounted at Its
extreme point by a magnificent statue
of De Lease pi. Few memorials have
been placed where they would he be
held by so large a representation of all
the tribes and tongues of the globe.
Each of the aggressive Powers of Eu
rope maintains a steamship line to the
East for political, quite as much as
for commercial purposes. While these
lines have different names, they are
popularly known by the people along
the wgy by the nation which they rep
resent— tha English Line, the French
Line, the German Line, the Austrian,
the Russian, and the Italian. The Jap
anese, from the East, also maintain a
line which does a goodly share of pas
senger husiness. The old substantial
system is the Peninsular and Oriental,
which is one of the great institutions
of England.
goodljeeds of two>lies.
One Woke Up Soldier nt Critical Mo
ment unit Another Bit Him in the
Xick of Time.
From the Washington Star.
A persistent fly was irritating one
of the two men on the lawn bench.
He kept slapping at the fly, and grow
ling. Although the fly was impartial
ly addressing its stinging attentions to
both of them, the other man on the
lawn bench never made a move toward
annihilating the busy winged pest.
"How do you stand having that con
founded malicious fly boring into you
nose that way without making a wal-*
lop at it?" inquired the irritated man,
petulantly.
“Don't mind it at all,” replied the
calm man. “Flies are pals and side
partners of mine. I haven’t slapped at
a fly for a good many years now.
Just let ’em gnaw and gouge all they
want to. The reason? None, except
that flies have saved me from a heap
of trouble on two occasions since I
began to shave.
“First time was when I was soldier
ing on the rock of Alcatraz, in the
harbor of San Francisco.
“One night—the night following pay
day, by the way, and as there had been
much stud-pokerishness and things on
pay day night, I wan’t any too \tqde
awake—l was on guard, humping Al
catraz's No. 1 post in the black dark.
No. 1 post at Alcatraz is the dock,
far below the looming citadel and
barracks at which the government boat
lands.
“The corporal of the guard jarred
me awake on my guardhouse bunk at
midnight, and escorted me down to
the dock to pound the dock post for
my little two hours.
“I walked up and down the dock for
about twenty minutes, thinking it over.
Wondered a good deal what the deuce
I was doing swinging up and down
with a gun on my shoulder in the
middle of the night, when there real
ly had never been any necessity for me
to do anything of the sort.
“The harbor waters, tidebound out
through the Golden Gate, brushed pur
lingly past the dock. That was sooth
ing. So was the resiny breeze blowing
over from Berkeley and Oakland way,
miles distant. Mighty soothing breeze.
“I decided to sit down just for a
minute or so. At the end of the dock
there was a pile of bags of coal that
had been unloaded from the govern
ment boat, the General McDowell, the
afternoon before. I sat on one of the
bags of coal, resting my gun between
my legs.
“It was, as I say, the night after
pay day, and I should never have tak
en a chance on sitting down at all
when on guard. I nodded and fell
asleep, of course.
“At 1 o’clock in the morning, or
about half an hour after I had done
that unfortunate thing, from the mili
tary point of view, of falling asleep
while on guard, the oorporal of the
guard had stood at the prison railing,
and, making a funnel of his hands,
called down to me:
“ ‘One o’clock and all’s well.’
“It was up to me, then, of course, to
reply:
“ 'No. 1, 1 o’clock, and all's ■well.’
“But how could I have done that,
when, being sound asleep on a bag of
coal, I didn't hear the oorporal of the
guard?
“All of a sudden I was awakened
with a start, and was brushing at my
nose. A barrel of molasses had been
landed on the dock the afternoon be
fore, and some of the treacle had leak
ed. That had attracted a swarm of
flies from the barracks to the dock.
One of those flies had awakened me
by biting my nose.
“And maybe that fly hadn’t awak
ened me in the very nick of time! I
had no sooner slapped at the fly than
I heard the even tread of quick foot
steps advancing in the pitchjy darkness
from the direction of the guard house.
The footsteps were perilously close,
too. But I was on my feet, and as
stiff as a ramrod, and giving the ‘Who
goes there?'
“It was the sergeant of the guard—
who hapfihned to be a man who had it
in for me—come with my relief. The
corporal of the guard had reported to
the sergeant that No. 1 sentry hadn’t
responded to the 1 o’clock ‘All’s well’
call. The sergeant of the guard had
hurriedly awakened my relief and come
after me, confidently expecting my relief
to find me asleep on post. If he had
found me asleep, you know what would
have happened—my gun and belt would
have been grabbed. I’d have been put
In the clink and then would have fol
lowed the general court martial with
all of the dismal consequences. But
the flv had stung me awake just in
the instant of time. The only thing
the sergeant who had it In’ for me
could do was to growlingly inquire why
I hadn't replied to the corporal’s 1
o’clock call. I told him that the wind
had carried the corporal’s hail In the
other direction. The sergeant returned
to the guardhouse with my relief,
grievously disappointed that he hadn't
been able to clink me. That was th
first time a fly helped be out nobly.
"Next time a fly came along and
handed me a sting at the psychological
moment I was on a ship of war. I
was working at some books in a log
room on the berth deck, when the offi
cer of the deck—he was on the main
deck—called down the after companion
way for me. I hustled out of the log
room and rushed around the compan
ionway to respond to the summons. It
was dark on the berth side. I had for
gotten for the moment that the gun
crews were overhauling the magazines
that forenoon. At the bottom of the
after ladder, up which I intended to
vault to make the main deck, a maga
zine hatch was wide open and yawn
ing. I didn't notice that open hatch.
I had a foot raised to take the step that
would have landed me, a mere man
gled mass at the bottom of the maga
zine, when a fly lit right under my left
eye and gave me a bite that I can feel
yet. I drew back suddenly to feel of
the bitten place, so that my foot didn’t
come down in that open hatch. It
wasn't until after I had drawn hack
that I noticed the open hatch, through
which I had all but tossed myself
when the fly gouged tne: and when I
saw It and perceived what a narrow
shave I’d had. I was so weak that I
had to sit down on the bottom ladder
step and fan myself with my cap for a
minute before going above to see what
the officer of the deck wanted of me.
"I’m not overly sentimental, but I’ve
never made a pass at a fly since one
of them so opportunely saved me from
plunging down that open hatch.”
Slap went the palm of the Irritated
man against his trousers leg, and the
mashed fly that had been annoying him
slipped off onto the grass.
"I hope that cuss isn't any kin to
either of the two flies that helped you
out, pal,” said the Irritated man. "but
I’m blooming glad that I got him any
way."
—Texas railway employes' organiza
tions have combined to enforce the
“sixteen-hour" law enacted bv the last
Legislature. Suits for penalties ag
gregating many thousands of dollars
are to be tiled In the name of the
atate against the railroads. The law
forbids the working of trainmen more
than sixteen consecutive hours and
provides eight hours' reat out of every
twenty-tour. Penalties ranging from
SIOO to SI,OOO ere provided.
GREAT NOISE MAKERS.
The Government Han Installed Meg
aphones That Send a Cry Out
Twenty Miles.
From the Philadelphia Record.
The Government Lighthouse Board
does not believe that the plan of build
ing a light tower off Cape Hatteras,
for which Congress has just made a
conditional appropriation of $590,000,
can ever be carried out successfully.
Diamond Shoal, which has been called
the "Graveyard of the Atlantic,” ex
tends thirteen miles into the ocean,
and experimental borings have shows
that there is no solid bottom 100 feet
below the surface of the sand. On the
contrary, the material seems to become
looser and more fluid the deeper one
goes.
A lighthouse securely established in
the midst of this vast quicksand ■would
be of enormous value, but it is alto
gether likely that no other means of
warning mariners will ever be placed
there than such as will float. In this
connection it is interesting to consider
some of the novel-contrivances recent
ly adopted by the government for such
purposes. Requiremonts necessarily
vary with the locality, and many dif
ferent devices are used for floating or
permanent signals in places where
lighthouses are not required or cannot
be built.
One of the most curious of these is a
machine with a gigantic voice, which,
under favorable conditions of wind, can
shout so as to be heard at a distance
of twenty miles. It was set up a
short time ago at Falkner's Island, off
the Connecticut shore, and is provided
with eight huge megaphones, each of
them seventeen' feet long and seven feet
in diameter at the mouth. The appa
ratus stands on a circular platform, on
which it revolves, a*nd the great horns
cry out to all points of the compass,
their voice being furnished by a steam
whistle. One can easily imagine the
tremendous vociferation they emit at
intervals of fifteen seconds. Each meg
aphone calls in turn, and there is a
distinct combination of long and short
blasts for each point of the compass,
thus giving to the mariner an accur
ate notion of the direction from which
the sounds proceeds. This, of course,
is a matter of great importance in a
fog.
Another new method of sending a
mighty voice across the sea involves
the use of a diaphragm which is made
to vibrate by electricity. To this are
attached two huge megaphones, which
emit a deafening rpar that fan be
heard for many miles. The machine
goes by clockwork, and when wound
up attends to business for weeks with
out requiring further attention. A dy
namo furnishes the requisite current.
The terrific blast that bursts from the
gaping mouths of the twin horns, each
of which is fifteen feet long, can be
heard above the noise of the fiercest
gale. It literally shatters the air.
Once started, this vociferous guardian
does duty night and day, and never
goes to sleep. It is designed special
ly for use on points of rocks where
bell buoys an 1 whistling buoys are in
adequate by reason of the fact that
the noises they make are drowned.
It is thought that there is no good
reason why such a contrivance should
not be set afloat, held by strong mush
room anchors, on Diamond Shoal, off
Cape Hatteras. The fogs which pre
vail in that vicinity are often so dense
that the lamps of the lightship cannot
be seen, and an ordinary bellbuoy or
whistling buoy does not serve to send
a warning for a great distance. There
is, however, anew kind of bell buoy,
with which the lighthouse board has
been experimenting recently, that is a
wonderful noisemaker. An essential
part of it is a drum, which, as it rises
and falls on the waves, turns several
wheels. To each wheel a tongue is at
tached, engaging with a ratchet in
such a way as to strike a bell every
time the drum goes down or up. A
mere ripple produces a continuous
clanging, which is described as a din
so infernal that the machine could
not possibly be used in any situation
close to human habitation. One of
them was tried on Robbins' Reef, near
New York, but was removed because
the people of the vicinity threatened
riot.
It is probable that on the great shoal
off Cape Hatteras the main reliance
for warning mariners will always be
lightships. Two vessels, known re
spectively as Nos. 71 and 72, now divide
this duty between them, each taking its
turn for three months at a time. Each
of them Is 118 feet long, built of thick
steel plates, with three decks and di
vided Into compartments, so as to be
as nearly possible >eak-proof. Two
hollow’ steel masts carry wires for six
100-candle-power electric lights, 100
feet above the water, which are the
most powerful used on any lightship
in the world. They are visible at a
distance of eighteen miles. Oil lamps
are on hand, in case of a breakdown
of the electrical apparatus. For fog
signals there is a steam stren.
Held by huge steel cables and mon
ster mushroom anchors, the lightship
on Diamond Shoal pursues a voyage
without a port. Not even the Flying
Dutchman endures more stormy and
trying experiences than the skipper
of this gallant craft, who, with his
brave crew, guards the most danger
ous point on the Atlantic coast. There,
where the northeast and northwest
winds meet and combine their forces,
is the very home of the Storm King,
while frequent fogs, cross-currents,
and shifting sands add to the dangers.
While perpetually tossing on the
waves, the vessel Is tn constant peril
of being run into by other ships In
the fog or of being blown ashore In
a gale.
The first lightship was stationed on
Diamond Shoal in the early twenties.
It was blown ashore and all hands
were lost. Other lightships have met
the same fate there since. A few
years ago a caisson 100 feet square
was sunk on the shoal, the Idea be
ing to All It with concrete and sur
round It with rip-rap. so as to form
an artificial foundation for a light
house. But the caisson was lost In
a storm, and after spending SIOO,OOO
without accomplishing any result, the
contractor gave It up as a bad Job.
In 1898 an attempt was made to set
up a “day beacon" on the shoal. It
was built in Baltimore at a cost of
$25,000. but, while being towed to
the spot, It was caught In a gale and
wrecked. The beacon was forty feet
high, and rested on pontoons—the Idea
being to cut away the pontoons and
allow the beacon to settle by its own
weight Into the sand, remaining there
as a guide to mariners.
There are some obstacles which hu
man skill cannot overcome, and It
seems likely that among these may
be classed the difficulty of establish
ing any permanent lighthouse or other
means of warning to ships off Cape
Hatteras. Such, at all events, is the
opinion of the Lighthouse Board.
—Ambassador Choate is by all odds
the most popular American In London.
He Is an unusually brilliant conversa
tionalist. being gifted also with an ever
ready and pungent wit. It was noticed
at a recent embassy dinner, the King
and Queen being present, that her
majesty laughed more heartily and
continuously at the ambassador's sal
lies than she had been known to do for
years. Asa rule an American Is easily
distinguished from a native of Great
Britain, hut this does not hold good
In the case of Mr, Choate, who In ac
cent, manner and general air la almost
Invariably set down by those who do
not know him as a subject of King
Edward.
CLASSIFIED ADVERTISEMENTS.
(Continued from Page Fifteen.)
FARBIS FOR SALE. ’
~THIRTyTaCRE farm] WITH
enough wood to pay for place, twelve
miles from city, on Augusta road,
(paved); sold originally for $300; just to
close out, $125 cash will buy it. Bewan,
Bull and Best.
FARM FOR SALE, FIFTEEN
acres of land, five-room house, fruit
trees, chicken yards, all cleared land,
ready for planting: oysters planted;
fronting on the Vernon river, running
back to shell road; convenient to elec
tric cars; eight miles from city on
Montgomery shell road. For informa
tion inquire on premises, or at C. A.
O'Brien, West Broad and Charlton
streets, Savannah, Ga., or S. R. Buck
ner. on premises.
FOR SALE, HUNDRED ACRES
good farming land, outskirts Savan
nah, cheap. Land, care Morning News.
FOR SALE, SEVENTY-FIVE
acres land near city limits. Savannah;
can be cut up in farm lots and net
big profit. Cheap, Morning News.
FIFTEEN ACRES OF LAND AD
joining the city limits, containing 140
lots, with streets through same, taken
as a whole would be a fine dairy,
chicken or truck farm. J. D. Laßoche.
SIX ACRES ON PAVED
five miles from the city, S3OO. Norman
Beckett.
FARM FOR REXT.
FARm] FOUrT
room house, delightfully situated, on
Ogeechee avenue, near Twelfth; S9O
year to responsible party. 103 Park
avenue, west.
FOR SALE— MISCELLANEOUS.
SEE OUR LINE OF TIRES; CUT
rates counts. Williams’ Bicycle Com
pany.
MACHINERY AT BAKERsT”mILL,
Fla.; must be sold quick; complete
sawmill, planing mill, dry kilns and log
train; will sell as a whole or in par
cels to suit the purchaser. Write quick
for list; our prices will sell you. Val
dosta Foundry and Machine Company,
Valdosta, Ga.
~ FOR SALE, A NEW 1904 MODEL
Wlnton touring car, canopy top; glass
fronts; 20-horsepower, four headlights,
side baskets, etc. This car is anew
stock m’achine and will be sold at a
bargain. A small runabout will be
taken as part payment. Also for sale
anew launch, 23 feet long, six foot
beam, 5-horsepower, double cylinder,
4 Cycle, White Engine; speed, eight
miles an hour. W. H. Petus, Daytona,
Fla.
"BICYCLE TIRES AT CUT PRICES.
Williams’ Bicycle Company.
A NEW LOT OF ORNAMENTAL
clocks just received. J. H. Kock, 46
Whitaker.
FOR SALE CHEAP, PHYSICIAN’3
microscope. 12 Broughton street, east
J. T. Wilensky, Jeweler and optician.
MAHOGANY SECRETARIES. SO
fas, bureaus, chipindalo buffet, card
and work tables, china, and bras*
pewter. 428 Congress street, west.
FOR” SALE, ONE 50-H. P. AND ONE
60-H. P. locomotive type boiler. D&vis-
Forrest Machine Works.
FOR SALE, buttermilk".
sweet milk, fresh butter and bottled
syrup. G. M. Ryals.
FOR SALE, CHEAP, SIX COUNT
ers, four letter presses, three large
store lamps, three oil heaters. Ludden
& Bates, S. M. H.
FOR SALE. A PHYSICIAN - CAN
buy a good paying office practice and
office fixtures at a reasonable price.
Address Physician, care of News.
FOR SALE, MILKERS, SFRING
ers. stock bulls ajid young bulls for
Stock purposes: four cheap mules.
Winkler, Monteith. GA.
LAWN MOWERS, HEDGE AND
pruning shears, scythe blades and
brush hooks repaired and sharpened
at Cuthbert’s, 227 Congress street,
west.
’ FOR sale; ONE SMALL IRON
safe and one walnut roll top desk,
cheap. Apply ID State street, west.
FOR’ SALE, ONE SECOND-HAND
Studebaker delivery wagon; only used
two months; will sell cheap. Kiernan
Plumbing Company, 10 State street,
west.
FOR SALE. TWO ICE REFRIGER
ators in good order; lined with gal
vanized iron; home made; will sell
FOR SALE, WELL ESTABLISHED
green grocery, splendid location, with
good cash trade; only reason for sell
ing owner leaving city. Address Green
Grocery, this office.
FOR SALE, ORIENT MOTOR
cycle; good condition, $75. Apply Oak
tnan & O’Neill,
FOR SALE CHEAP, A FULL SET
of showcases and counters, as good as
new. Jones’ Pharmacy, 241 Bull
street.
FOR SALE. ONE SEWING MA
chine and bedstead. Apply 518 Hen-
west.
FOR SALE - FINE JERSEY COW,
with young calf; splendid milker.
Premises, 2116 Bull street.
FOR SALE, ONE HUNDRED EGG
Prairie State incubator and brooder;
excellent condition. Premises, 2116
Bull street.
FOR SALE FOR CHARGES, GAS
range, bedroom suites, wardrobes,
books, sewing machine, mattresses,etc.,
etc. Savannah District Messenger
Company, 32 Montgomery street.
FOR SALE, ONE CHESTNUT
mare; gentle; lady or child can drive
her. P. A. Meincke, 583 Bryan street,
east.
FOR SALE. SHETLAND PONY.
Apply northeast corner Thirty-eighth
and Whitaker streets.
’FOR SALE, OLDSMOBILE IN
first-class condition; will be sold at a
bargain. E. F. Whitcomb, Lyons
Block; ’phones 644.
FOR SALE, HALF "COST, WHlT
man power hay baler; cost S4OO. Per
fect order guaranteed. Record three
bales per minute. T. Brewer, Oka
humpka, Fla.
FOR SALE, DRUG STORE AT MA
con, Ga., situated in residence portion
of city; doing a good business; good
reason for selling. For information ap
ply to W. H. Cornell, 301 Hall street,
west.
“ FOR P A LE,’ THE” FI NEST SORT’OF
up-to-date banjos; new; cost $18; can
buy for SB. 120, care Morning News.
FOR SALE. A FIRST-CLASS HAR
rington upright piano; in excellent
condition; price $l5O cash. 120, care
Morning News.
FOR "SALE, A FIRST-CLASS
Mathushek upright piano; cash; In
fine condition; price $l5O. S. S. Sollee,
120 State street, we.st.
FOR SALE, COW GIVING
twelve quarts per day. Mrs. Lee.
Gt'ass street. Thunderbolt, or 523
Barnard street.
FOR” SALE, SQUARE PIANO, IN
good order, cheap. Address Bargain,
care News.
KNOINB* AND HOII.KHS.
FOR BALE, PUMPs]
Burnham almplex, advance duplex,
neither short stoke. Hartfelder-Oar
kutf Ce.
—“le there anything you don’t need
that I might take?” asked the slovenly
old Junk man. watching Hubbubs pack
ing his goods on the moving van,
“Yea." enappad Hubbubs, "a bath.”—
Philadelphia L*dgwr.