Jan. x6, 1903
joined himself with the fortunes of Isabella's son,
Alfonso' XII., and made an attempt to form a lib
eral constitutional party in the interests of the
monarchy. From that for six years Sagastawas
shuttlecocking about the administration first in
high office, -then, in bitter opposition, but never
inactive. In 1881 he again was raised to the head
of the council of Spain. Again, 'in 1888, Sagasta's
character seemed to undergo a change. Attired in
but slightly restricted power, he became striking
ly democratic and swept from ofdco all those who
were opposed to or not useful to him. Shortly
afterwards his opponents gained the ascendency
again, and again Sagasta was temporarily pushed
to the background, but In January, 1890, he again
was put in charge of. the ministry. Seeing inevit
able trouble ahead Jf Spanish oppression of Cuba
and other provinces continued, Sagasta sought
home rule for Cuba and forced a law through the
cortes giying Cubans comparative freedom. The
law was never put inoperation because of the state
of insurrection existing in the island. Autonomy
in Cuba having failed, Sagasta retired gracefully
and his opponent, Canovas, was called to the
charge of the ministry. In the turbulent times
while the Spanish-American war was brooding,
Canovas was assassinated, and for a short time
a temporary cabinet held sway, but again Sa
gasta was called."
A HARVEST IS AWAITING THE GOLD BRICK
vender Jn New York and for a time at least
even the busiest New Yorker will not turn away
from a bit of the shining metal. The reason for
this is revealed in a telegram to the Chicago
Chronicle under date of New York, January 6, as
follows: "The wipe ones in Wall street who
think: they know a gold brick when they see it
took passing kicks today at a shining bar of metal
in lower Broadway. This brick of real twenty-two-karat
gold, worth hundreds of dollars, was
kicked about the financial district by messenger
boys, jocular brokers and knowing financiers for
an hour or so, when a stupid youngster who had
never heard a joke in his life came along and
picked it up. The. owners were found to be as
sayers on John .street and the boy was hand
somely rewarded."
DIRECTORS OF THE STEEL TRUST MET
in New :ork January 6 and declared a quar
terly dividend of 1 per cent on the common and
1 3-4 per .cent on the preferred stocks. A New
York dispatch to the Chicago Tribune says that
the financial statement was issued showing net
earnings for the calendar year, with December
.estimated, of $132,662,000. The net earnings for the
quarter ending December 61 were $31,339,613, an in
. crease of $1,579,700 as compared with the same
period of 1901. From the net earnings for the
year deductions are made of $24,528,183 for sink
ing funds, depreciation, and reserve funds and for
a special fund set aside for depreciation and im
provements; of $15,200,000 for interest on bonds;
.of $3,040,000 on sinking funds for bonds; and of
$56,052,869 for interest on the stocks. These de
ductions have undivided profits amounting to
$33,841,565 for the year, applicable to increase,
depreciation,- and reserve fund accounts, for new
constructibn or surplus. The cash on hand is
$54,724,106. -
IT WILfi BE POSSIBLE TO PRESERVE FLOW
ers and plants in their natural state if a pro
cess devised by Christopher Ross of Portland, Ore.,
reaches expectation. Mr. Ross claims that ho can
pluck blossoms and roses from the bushes, treat
them and thus keep them alive 'forever. He says
that one could not tell the difference between
growing roses and a plucked rose if the latter had
gone through the Ross treatment. Mr. Ross has
not revealed the secret of his plan and the pub
lic must be content with the statement that it in
volves "the extraction of an element"
PUBLIC PRINTS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD
have recently contained many observations
relating to ,the state of Count Tolstoi's health.
Tolstoi has recently written a letter to the Rus
sian Gazette protesting against these' continually
recurring notices. A cablegram from Moscow to
the Chicago Intor-Ocean, referring to the Tolstoi
letter, says: "Ho was prompted to write this
letter by a motive which would be, hard to un
derstand outside of Russia,, for the fact is that all
Russia, from the official world to the ignorant
Peasant; and from the church, which hates and
has shown that it fears Tolstoi, to the political
dreamers who well know the power of his name,
The Commoner.
SSSwSsasKS
a?hmX 7 ucensor. and the whole array of
glvei as to whnf tf instrucllons ave boon
m i? what is and what is not to be dono
ToLt deal":"""11 'S t0 b SM "S
A L?? ,CAIIEI1 THREE THOUSAND FEET
Eario nnrtnh? iWa? .reCently craPtcd between
The L? r amberlaIn1 lal in northern Maine,
ihe Bangor correspondent of the Chicago Intor
Ocean says that this Is the longest log carrier in
mn Wr iand that ll wU1 ie bringing of
5 ,mI Mn fGet .0f lumber d0 the Penohsco
2, th sawmills of Maine which under the
conditions that have prevailed since lumbering be-
Swl m "8 aI"Sh the logs were cut In
Maine. The Inter-Ocean correspondent describos
this accomplishment in this way: "The log car
rier runs over the rising ground that divides the
watershed of the Allegash river and the eastern
branch of the Penobscot, the Allegash being a
tributary of the St. John. The carrier is 37000
feet long and its cable is 0,000 feet ' It is built to
last for years, and when running at its regular
speed will deliver seven thirty-foot logs a min
ute, or about 4,000,000 feet a day. It will carry
at a time 100 logs of that length. The cable is
of steel rope, an inch and a quarter in diameter,
and weighs 100 tons. The motivo power for oper
ating the plant connected with tho carrier consists
of a Westinghouso automatic compound engine
of 150 horse-power and two sixty horse-power
boilers of the locomotive type. The carrier will
bo in use for the first time when the driving be
gins next season, that is, about the 1st of May.
At the same time its owners will launch into
Chamberlain lake a steamboat for towing logs
which will be a revelation to old-time log drivers.
This boat will have a length of seventy feet."
jf a?
IT IS TO THE CREDIT OF LORD KITCHENER
that he counts the construction under his
direction of a railway rather than any of Jiis con
quests on tho battlefield as his greatest achieve
ment. This railway Is located In the Soudan and
the history of its construction is related in an
article printed in the Century and written by Dr.
W. G. Irving. Dr. Irving says that "obliged by
limited appropriations to conduct all his opera
tions at the least possible expense, Kitchener made
use of every remnant of the equipment of Ismail
Pasha's unfinished railway, rescuing dismantled
engines from ditches, and collecting missing parts
from the contents of scrap heaps. Near the At
bara his rails gave out, leaving a break of some
distance to a necessary terminus. Every siding
which could be spared was taken up, and then, tho
results being insufficient, the village of Wady
Haifa was laid under requisition. Here many of
tho houses had straw roofs supported by rails
from the old line. These were summarily ap
propriated, and after their removal Haifa pre
sented a spectacle of a mushroom western town
after a cyclone. But tho line was completed."
:? &
THE GREATEST OBSTACLE IN THIS IM
portant work, according to Dr. Irving, was
the all-Important stretch of 230 miles from Haifa
to Abu Hamid across the neck of the great bend
of the Nile, an unbroken expanse of barren desert.
Dr Irving explains that tho leading engineers ol
Europe declared It impossible to construct a rail
' way across tho tract, arguing that the entire car
rying capacity of a train would be taken up by
the water supply necessary for the locomotive.
Nevertheless, assuming the responsibility, the sir
riir ordered the work begun, relying on the in
domitable pluck and skill of his subordinates in
pliarce anu his own habit of success. Near the
middle of the course, at points some fifty miles
Mart wells were sunk, an operation ridiculed by
fh na Ives, and with true Kitchener luck water
was struck n both Instances, so that the train now
JcwmJSs Si the distance with only two extra
water tanks. But all succeeding attempts to find
water along the line-and they have been many
havo proved fruitless. It was by means of this
railway that the Soudan was conquered. By its
SlSLlnn the long route of nearly 700 miles
by way a river" for long stretches absolutely
2nd olon L l,n ,r 0l0V0n montlm ,n th0 y
,v"at "God Impracticable savo for smal
moS ton aVaUlcd throush th0 raP,ds at enor
rtXinf n GXPns. was exchanged for a short.
85 ' im SidV14 ?-Ita carry,u8 v:
Pair o? rails y y- th BhortcomIn& of a single
X? JO
A N ISLAND OF SAND FORMED IN THE MIS
G, nf8"r river opposite St. Joseph is tho sub
K nsa, pi "t0Tre9t,n? "tlgatlon. According to tho
,s CIty Journal, tho Buchanan county court
caused a survey of this Island to bo made. Sov
SI 2Rnt1nn29rndCrt00k t0 Prcla80 it, offering from
fr !;, 1 ? 2? pcr acro' but nobody seems ablo to
give a oral title. Tho Journal says: "The law-
ft S fni10 la7 'ntieatod tho case say that as
Ln.,.1 Ut, '? th. r,ver' "nclthor Kansas nor Mls-
lluL ?n ,a,m ltt but IC J"h0 r,ver currat over
siiifts to the i.ansas side tho island will bo in
Mlssour ,and if It shifts to tho Misouri side, it
o "oin Kansas. Jack Ring, undismayed by le
feal qulbblings, has already taken stops to pos
sess himself of the Island. IIo has built a hut on
it, in which ho Is living, and defies anybody to put
him off. He claims It by right of possession, and
declares that If tho United States government docs
not vindicate his rights ho will fight for them.
1 11 make a kingdom of it, and I'll bo tho king
ho declares. Ring Is tho son of an early settler
who sovoral years ago laid claim to a sandbar In
the river, which aftorwards, through tho windings
of the river, was added to tho city and became
valuable. He obtained tltlo to it, and It has al
ways been called 'Ring's Island.' It docs not be
long to his son. How long tho now island will
exist is doubtful. Ring may wake up some night
and find himself in tho river. But trees havo sent
their roots down to bedrock, and it Is thought
unlikely that he will bo swept away without
warning."
SECRETARY OF STATE CROCKETT OF TEN
nessee is the great grandson of the famous
Davy Crockett. Secretary Crockett has In his pos
session tho rifle which was presented to Davy
Crockett by his friends. Tho Memphis Commer
cial Appeal describes this r.elic in this way: "This
gun was carried by tho grandson of tho first owner,
the late General 'Bob' Crockett, who brought down
much game with it, but now it has been rotiroJ
with honor and full pay to pass tho remainder of
its days, or centuries, as a relic of ono of tho
greatest characters this country has over produced.
It isa formidable looking weapon, originally of
the flintlock type, with a 40-calibro bore. Tho
barrel was originally forty-six inches long, but
some of it has been cut off and it is now only
forty and one-half inches. It was presented to
David Crockect won after his second election to
congress I . 1820, by some of his admiring young
whig friends of Philadelphia. It cost $250 and was
made especially for him. The donors raised the
money by contributing half a dollar each to tho
fund. The stock is trimmed in sterling silver,
appropriately designed, with figures of the God
dess of Liberty, a raccoon, a deer's head, and
other figures. Along the upper' part of tho barrel
are the letters, set Into the metal in gold, some
of which his worn out: 'Presented by the young
men of Philadelphia to the Hon. David Crockett
of Tennessee.' In similar letters near the muzzle
are tho words, 'Go ahead.' " It will bo romombored
that one of Davy Crockett's famous admonitions
was, "Be sure you are right, then go ahead."
J? &
PRINCESS IRENE OF PRUSSIA WAS BORN
during the close of the war of 18C6. When
peace had been concluded her father, Prince
Henry of Hesse, Invited the officers -and men of
the regiments under his command to act as god
fathers t.) his oaughter, upon whom he bestowed
the name "Irene," meaning peace. This young
woman has ihoreforo tho distinction of having
somewhere in the neighborhood of four thousand
godfathers.
THE MEMBERS OF THE -METHODIST
church are congratulating themselves on tho
completion of tho $20,000,000 Methodist thank
offering. Of this sum $8,000,000 will be applied
to education. Another $8,000,000 will be set aside
for church Indebtedness. Liberal sums will be
appropriated for hospitals and provision will bo
made for retired clergymen. It Is announced that
this fund was raised by the rank and file of tho
Methodist church, very few large contributions
were made. This enormous fund was raised under
the management of Rev. Edmund M. Mills.
t JHWV - M.-
