JANUARY 1. 1804,
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The Commoner.
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CURRGNT
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IT IS REPORTED THAT AN AGREEMENT HA3
been reached whereby the government of
the Philippines is to purchase the land held by
the friars, paying for 403,000 acres the sum of ?7,
250,000. Under the terms of the agreement, the
Spanish friars, to whom the native population
seriously object, will withdraw from the Philip
pines. The land purchased from the friars will bo
sold, the tenants now occupying the land being
given the privilege of purchasing.
DURING THE LAST TWO YEARS MORE
than $600,000 has been expended on repairs
to the White house. The Washington correspon
dent for the New York World says that the engi
neer officer of the army in charge of the grounds
submitted an estimate of $60,000 to build a stable
for the president's horses. The estimates sub
mitted to congress provide an increase of $3,500
to apply to the care of the enclosed grounds about
the White Louse; $9,000 is asked for the care and
maintenance of the conservatory and green-
houses oi tne wnuo nouse, aim iv,vvv wi ..
erection and maintenance of additional green
houses to supply the White house with flowers
and plants.
SECRETARY ROOT HAS ENTERED INTO A
contract for' the erection at the National
cemetery at Gettysburg of a memorial of the ad
dress delivered by President Lincoln on the occa
sion of the dedication of that cemetery. The
Washington correspondent for the New T!ork Tri
bune says: "In February, 1895, congress passed
an act appropriating $5,000 for a suitable bronze
tablet containing the address referred to, and spe
cified the portion of the address to be inscribed.
The plans approved by Secretary Root called for a
granite oxedra, 22 feet wide, containing a granite
pillar, surmounted by a bronze bust of Lincoln.
On one side of the pedestal is a bronze tablet con
taining the address, and on the other a bronze
tablet containing the legend of the momoiiai.
The site selected is as near the spot whore the
address -was delivered as is posible under exist
ing conditions."
a? &
THE ARCHBISHOP OF ' VALENCIA, WHO
died' recently, left a legacy of 50,000 pesos
to the Jlrst Spanish general who would land on
the territory of the United States with an army
strong enough to avenge the defeats of Spain in
Cuba and the Philippines. Until that s done, the
money will be in cnarge of the Bank -of Spain.
Commenting upon this statement, the New York
Tribune is unkind enough to remark: 'The arch
bishop was evidently a believer n the oasibllity
of modern miracles, but was not desirous of the
benefits of the New Testament doctrine of bless
ings for peacemakers. The Bank of Spain will
have at least one permanent deposit among Its
treasures."
rpUNNULLING THROUGH THE SIERRA NE
1 vada mountains will be the next engineering
feat of the Harriman overland route. A represen
tative of the Chicagot Chronicle says that speaking
to a party of newspaper men at Reno, Nev. Mr.
Harriman said: "Some day we hope to bore a
hole through the Sierras and then we want to take
you to the coast. There will be one tunnel five
and one-quarter miles long and seyera others not
a ereat while hence. Our surveying is all done.
Intact, There fcave been several surveys made
and we have our plans, but are not just ready for
it vet " Being asked how much -would be saveu
by this Mr Harriman replied: "That's hard to
eay' 'There is a lot of lifting required to take
traffic over the road west of Reno and the cost
is therefore enormous. Such things are i ard to
estimate. We will cut out most of the forty
miles of snowsheds, leaving only about four.
The long tunnel which Mr. Harriman referred to
will start considerably west of Truckee i .h sup
posedand it will result in an lf f000 fee
of grade,, the new-roadbed being about 1000 feet
below the old line on the mountain above. Ac
cording to an official of the engineering depar
ment the reduction of grade from Reno west wl
be about one-third or from 1 to 1 per ecru
The country west of Summit which te 6.000 feet
high, is rough and hilly, so that the task of ma
ing the new road will requlro immense expendi
ture and the highest engineering skill. Tho con
struction of the tunnel system through tho Sierras
has been regarded as chimerical by many railroad
men as was tho Lucin cutoff over Salt Lake. Tho
saving in expense and time by such a tunnel sys
tem would be immense.
MRS. IIONORETTA MARSHALL OP WEB
stcr, Mass., died in tho Worcester hospital
for tho insane December 20. Mrs. Marshall was
born in Poland, August 7, 1798, and was, there
fore, at the time of her death, 105 years four
months and twelve days old. Nearly sixty years
ago she became a widow and distributed her con
siderable fortune among tho poor. Several years
ago she became insane and was committed to the
hospital.
ar if
RECENTLY SENATOR DEPEW, AD
dresslng the Rockefeller Bible class, said
that there are 100,000 millionaires in the United
States. The New York Press says that if Senator
Depew is correct In this statement, then an official
of a great commercial agency and the president
of one of New York's richest banks are decidedly
in error. The Press adds: "Both place the num
ber of millionaires in the entire world at 10,000.
There are 7,000 in the United States and 1,000 of
these live in Now tfork city, whether they pay
taxes here or not. The financial Red Book, a
most carefully compiled publication, gives the
names of practically all the persons in the Un ted
States who are supposed to be worth more than
$300,000. And there are only 15,000 names on the
list. No claim is made that tho name of every
person worth that amount or more is given, but
the proportion of those left out is extremely
small, for a most exhaustive Investigation has
been made. 'There may bo a few more than 7,000
millionaires in the United States,' said tho official
of the mercantile agency. 'I doubt it, however. I
also doubt if there are more than 1,000 million
aires in New York. It is absolutely Impossible to
tell accurately. It may seem strange that we
should not be able to tell, especially when we arc
engaged in finding out how much a man is worm
and giving such information to our subscribers.
So while it is impossible for us to tell exactly
how many millionaires there are, we would not
take the number of those who are known to pos
sess a thousand thousands at least and then mul
tiply the number by 10. For that is what Senator
Depew seems to have done in his anxiety U urge
Mr. Rockefeller's young men to get rich.
BIBLES ARE SAID BY DETECTIVES TO BE
more rarely stolon than any other object.
The Chicago Tribune says that this Is not be
cause Bibles are worthless to a thief but because
few criminals are sufficiently depraved to steal the
eood book. A detective said recently that in an
fmportant case which he had followed up some
years ago a thief had entered the house, stolen
some valuable jewels, and left untouched a Bible
bound in white chicken skin and s udded with
Searls. The detective caught the thief, and the
man who had been robbed, a dealer in 'curios''
visited his despoiler in jail, took an in erest in
him because he had not taken the Bible and
eventually reformed him and got him a good job
Tkncw," the thief said, "that lf I ook that
niM it would do me harm, and if I dlun t iawe
?Mt mLht do me good. I let it alone, and now,
It it migni uo wo b .. j,nri ft righteous
man" The detecUve added that in another case
mf fhipf hid stolen a Bible the book had
SoTreta net "he? thing tow thieves will
S" he added, "is a child's savings bank."
IT
CTT50PATRA RECEIVED EGYPT AS A PRES
1 e?t front Julius Ccaser, and a writer in the
rr coo iYv Tournal presents a number of other
gSwteiHSiSleB were used as present,
instances wt p0mpey each gave away half a
Lucullus, Sulla and Pompey b Mngdom
d?ZfiS?o Herod One of the excellent stories
n oas i M2 the Emperor Constantly gave
of the past is Sylvester, who cured
frnnenrosv Bng John, called Lackland, being
him of leprosy. jnb , t IU gave t0
tlTe1 Aslsors the kingdom of Ire-
land and England. The deed Tcade: "Not con
strained with fear, but with my full consont and
tho advlco of my barons, for tho remission of my
sins against God and tho church, I resign England
and Ireland to God, St. Peter, St. Paul and our
lord, tho Popo Innocent, and to his successors lo
tho apostolic chair." Julius II. gave tho ntntcfl
of King Louis XII. to the Emperor Maximilian.
Slxtus V., Gregory XIV. and Clement VIII. wero
ready to mnko a present of Franco to whomso
ever Philip II. wouia have chosen for tho hus
band of hla daughter, Clara Eugenia. Alexander
VI. presented tho East and West Indies to Spain
and Portugal, which was like giving almoBt all
tho earth. Speaking of tho gift of England nnd
Irolaud by King John: Ho declared hlmsolf the
pope's farmer, or tenant, and paid down In cold
cash $40,000, with a promise to pay $5,000 moro
every year. Tho first year ho paid In advance and
Btood to lose all In tho event of failure to meet his
Installments. It is said that tho popo's legate,
Pandiilph, departed with the money and forgot
to remove the oxcommunlcatlon.
LITERARY AND ANTIQUARIAN ClxvoLES
In London, according to a correspondent for
tho St. Louis Republic, arc agitated by the re
port that J. Plerpont Morgan has offered $250,
000 for the original manuscript of the first book
of Milton's Paradise Lost. Tho Republic's corre
spondent says that this book is about to bo sold
to tho highest bidder, also that Mr. Morgan's
London representative refuses olthcr to deny or
affirm tho report. Tho Republic's correspondent
adds: "Tho Times warns Englishmen that the
manuscript 'may well be expected to flutter tho
susceptible purse strings of American 'novl ho
mines' (newly rich).' While laying stress on tho
remarkable historical, literary and sentimental
interest of this relic, the Times mentions the Tact
that tho document lo not in Milton's handwriting,
and compares unfavorably with tho rich Mlltonlc
mementoes in the library of Cambridge univer
sity. At the same timo, it shows that the copy
was licensed for the press and boars hundreds of
precious Indications of tho personality of the
blind poet. It Is stated that, while t.io English
museums are full of antiquities, particularly old
manuscript pootry, and whilo the famous library
of Trinity College, Cambridge, contains In Mil
ton's own beautiful writing tho original drafts
of 'Lycidas,' 'Comus,; 'Arcades' and many of the
shorter poems, the nation should realize Its duty
to preserve for the poet's native land the unique
object which is about to be knocked down to
the highest bidder."
ACCORDING TO A LONDON CABLE
gram, there will be no more experiments in
radium for a while. The London correspondent
for the St. Louis Republic says that tho Austrian
government controlling the source of supply has
effected a corner in radium and as a result, It is
now quoted at $17,000,000 a pound. A few days
ago It was quoted at $3,000,000 per pound. The
Republic's correspondent says: "By an oraer
of the Austrian government, tho further exporta
tion of refuse from tho uranium oxide works at
Joachlmthal, a town of Bohemia, is prohibited.
., .!... lo. l,Mif tlm nnlv ROllfCfl OI SUPDly UX
the universe scientists in all parts of tho world
are saying unkind things of tho monopolistic ten
dencies of the Vienna government With radium
costing $17,000,000 a pound and dciUt to get
oven at that price, many scientists will be com
pelled to cease experimenting with it, for obvious
reasons, unless they secure tho co-operation o
multimillionaires. Even then, it is pointeil out,
.they must bo sparing In its use, for even so rich
a man as John D. Rockefeller, with all his
wealth, could buy only about four pounds at the
current market price. Efforts arc now being made
in many parts of tho world to find supplies of tho
ores from which radium can be secured but the
results are not hopeful. It was recently Relieved
that a large supply of such an ore had been found
in Colorado, but Sir William Ramsay, the emi
nent Bntlbh chemist, and others have tested the
ores ana jave found them absolutely worthlesa.
THE MEMORY OF DAVID KENNISON, LAST
survivor of the Boston tea party, was hon
ored December 19 by tho unveiling of a huge
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