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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 16, 1903)
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.-