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JANUARY 8. 1901;
The Commoner.
5
CuiReNT Topics
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THE SUBMARINE CABLES OF I HE WORLD
amount to 252,436 miles. A writer in the
!New York Sun says that governments own but
15 per cent of these cables, the res., being in pri
vate hands. It is pointed out that Denmark lias
a more prominent pla.ee among co-inties whose
capitalists have engaged in laying ocean caule
linds than , might be expected from her inferior
comjherciai( importance. Denmark ranks fourth
on the listeven surpassing Germany. It is ex
plained that the reason is tbat the Great; Northern
Telegraph 'company, with its offices at Copcn
hagen,laid' and operates one of the most import
ant cable systems in the Orient that which con
nects .Vladivostok with Nagasaki, Shanghai and
Hong Kong.
ACCORDING TO THE SAME AUTHOR
ity, Englishmen 6pened the first cable line
across the narrow channel between Dover and
Calais; on August 28, 1850 and Englishmen yet
control a larger mileage than the capitalists of
any other country and mere than half the total
of the submarine lines. The Sun writer says:
"The British cables which connect Loudon with
all parts of the world have a length of 154,099
miles, of which 14,963 miles are owned by the
government! Of the. 139,136 miles owned by pri
vate companies, he largest mileage is in tne
Australian! 'and Oriental lines. The Eastern Ex
tension, Australasia, and China Telegraph com
pany controls 2.7,6d9 miles and the Western Tele
graph company 19,880 miles. The most important
of the Britisn cable lines are tile five that stretch
across the north Atlantic," and also the first line
stretched across Jthe .Pacific which connects Van
couver wjth the . Fiji islands, Norfolk island,
jQueenslanQand NawZealand, and which was
Topejied oiijjilecember .8, 1103... Among trie many
British lin,es4,al.go are cables to South America and
alpng both oMts coasts.'-' . ..,
:'V.
V? tf
np'HE UNITED STATES IS .SECOND ON THE
JL'V .list SVith 44,470 miles of cable, nearly all in
private, hands, the government controlling 'only a
short mileage in Alaskan water's. The Sun writer
adds:' '.'The most important are the five lines
across the Atlantic and the second great Pacific
cable, completed on July 25, 1903, by the Com
mercial Cable company between San Francisco,
Honolulu, Midway Island, Guam and the Philip
pines. Another great line laid down by American
capitalists 'is that on the Pacific coast between
the isthmus' 'of Tehuantepec and Valparaiso, Chile.
France has" the third place with a total length of
24,010 miles, of which 10,092 are the property of
the state. JThe most important of the submarine
connections' of France are the two lines which
'connect Brest with the United States. As already
mentioned, Denmark is fourth on the list with
9,488 miles. Germany lags behind with 9,228
miles of cable, of which more than one-third is
owned by the government. Its most important
cable service is that between the island of Bor--kum,
Fayal and New York city. The seventeen
other countries which take a financial interest in
cables, have altogether only 11,131 miles of lines,
nearly all of them owned by the various govern
ments. The country which figures to the smallest
.extent in this list is Bulgaria with an ocean ca
ble about three-fourths of a mile long. Rou
mania beats her neighbor with a cable four and
one-third miles long,"
. if a
PENNSYLVANIA'S NEWSPAPER LIBEL LAW
is soon to be tested, and a dispatch to the
Washington Times says that the tesi will be made
on- the weekly publications in the state. The law
requires that the name of the editor and owners
of every paper be printed. Few papers have com
plied with these terms and Governor Pennypacker
Announces his determination to enforce the law.
The Times correspondent says:f '"After the storm
of public opinion which followed the passage of
the libel' bill those who were instrumental in se
curing its passage were very willing that no at
tempt should be made to enforce it. Those who
attended conferences of the republican state lead
ers at that time say that many of the politicians
were fearful of the effect which the united action
of the republican papers in the state might have.
The recent state campaign, however, convinced
the leaders that they had nothing to fear from
subservient republican papers, but that the groat
majority of them could be induced to tamely
acquiesce in any program the leaders might agree
upon."
dC so
HENRIETTE DUPERRON, A WELL KNOWN
character, died at Paris December 26. bho
was seventy-six years of age and during the
past thirty-five years sold newspapers and maga
zines at one of the Paris street corners, llie
Paris correspondent for the Chicago Inter-Ocean,
referring to Mmo. Duperron, says: "She was the
especial protege of the Americans who patronized
the hotel, and thousands of them sought her ad
vice on all subjects. The old woman's funeral
promises to be one of the most notable Paris has
seen for some time. Members of the Jockey club
near by, one of the most exclusive clubs in the
world, will attend in a body. This club for many
years sent a carriage nightly to the kiosk to tako
Mme. Duperron home. Many gifts, from money
to houses, were offered the old woman, but sl.o
never would accept a present. She contributed
$2,000 to the cause of Napoleon III., but when, al
ter he became emperor, he sought to reward her,
she proudly refused all his proffered favors. It -is
supposed the government's decision to close the
kiosk over which she presided so many years hast
ened her death."
AN OPERATION WAS RECENTLY PER
formed at Sioux City, la., and the Sioux City
correspondent for the New York Herald says that
this particular operation has no parallel in the
surgical world. The operation was performed at
St. Josepli's hospital by Dr. William Jepson, who
has the chair of surgery at the state university.
, The Herald correspondent explains. "John Nor
strom, of Danbury, fell from a load of hay, strik
ing on his head and breauihg his neclVr Ho bus
been almost paralyzed for weeks, and Dr. Jepstyn
decided to operate on his broken neck. Accord
ingly part of the third cervical vertebrae was re
moved, the false growth of tissue was cleaned out
and the bone replaced. The patient Js doing
well, with every prospedt of recover. Operations
have been performed for the relief of dislocation
qt the lumbar vertebrae, but it is said that no
other case is known In which the cervical verte
brae, situated so near the medulla oblongata, the
seat of vital bodily functions, has been success
fully removed and replaced." i
AN INTERESTING CASE IS REPORTED
from IoWa wherein a man charged 'with wile
desertion may be freed from, the accusation be
cause of the omission of a comma -n the Jav on
this point. Recently the New Jersey authorities
applied for the extradition ot one Fred Shivers
who was charged with wife desertion, and Gov
ernor Cummins of Iowa denieu the application be
cause of the omission of a comma and the In
sertion of a conjunction in the New Jersey law.
The Des Moines, la., correspondent for the St.
X,ouis Post-Dispatch says: "The New Jersey law
on wife desertion provides for the punishment of
men who 'desert their wives and leave the state.'
Governor Cummins points out that leaving the
state must be part of the crime, therefore the
crime could not be committed till the offender nad
left the state, and, having left the state before
the crime was committed, he cannot be extra
dited and returned to the stale."
AN INTERESTING FIND WAS RECENTLY
made by a resident of Chester, Vt., while
sawing logs in the woods near that place. An Ind
ian tomahawk was found firmly imbedded in an
oak log, at least ten inches in frojn the bark and
although the tomahawk was covered with rust it
was still in a fair state of preservation. On the
knife was found the words "Peter Snow," and also
"Gen Starks Array, 1777," as well as some rough
drawings. Speaking of this discovery, the Ches
ter Vt correspbndent for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
says: "In 1777 Gen. John Stark and his
New Hampshire militia marched from Concord,
N H to Bennington, Vt., and camped for two
months near Lowell lake, a short distance from
where the tomahawk was found. He later took
part in the battle of Bennington. Many curlosl-
ties have been found near the camp, whleh In
now marked by an old burying ground. Several
years ngo a resident of this rluco dlncovored, un
der two feet of soil, a cannon ball and a toma
hawk, similar to that found by North. But it had
no inscription. It Is boliovcd.that ono of Stark'
soldiers Jeft the weapon In (bo tree, and that iho
wood grow around it until it covored IL The oak
was stunted, but in full vigor when felled."
A PRISONER WAS RECENTLY RELEASED
from the Sioux Falls (S. D.) penitentiary
alter serving a term of fifteen years, less good
time allowance, for the theft of a 2-cont pontage,
stamp. This released prisoner had held up a
mall carrier In Nebraska fifteen yours ago nnd al
though he got but a 2-cont stamp', under tho fed
oral stntutes the highway roimery of a mail car
rier Is a crlmo punishable with life imprisonment,
but this sentonco was aftcrwardB commuted by
President McKlnloy to fifteen yearB imprisonment.
SOME ELECTRIC ODDITIK8 AltE BEING IN
stallcd in tho new White Star liner xialtlc,"
now noaring tiomplotlon on tho other side of the
Atlantic. A writer in the Now York Commercial
says: "One of the novelties Is an electric griddle
cake and wafllc range. The automatic egg-boilers
are designed to cook 200 eggs at once, n .clock ar
rangement causing the basket containing tho egB
to hop out of tho wator at any half-mlnutc up to
six minutes. Another novelty Is a self-dumping
oyster cooker for stews. At the end of a given
time tho cooker pours its savory cbntohls Into a
soup plate and automatically shuts off tho elec
tricity. There are electric oyster and toaBt ranges,
coffee urns, self-feeding tea and chocolate, urns,
cereal hollers, ice-breakers, butter cutters, almond
and cocoanut graters, ice cream ircezers Hour
sifters, bread mixers, egg beaters, vegetable cock
ers, plate warmers, batter cake, cooking poxes,
dmnpUng4 st'(iair)ers, and .pastry cookers.' In, fyijtp
of repeated experiment,, ah oleeiric. broiler for
steaks and chops has not been invented. Epicures
say that meat cooked on electrical rollers haw a
metallic taste. It is-a tribute to" American in
genuity that -this English and Irhh built ship
must havo nearly .all her electrical equipment
manufactured In this country."
DR. ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL, THE IN
vontor of the telephone, recently arrlvcj in
Genoa, Italy, from which place he will convoy to
the Smithsonian institute at Washington, D. C,
the remainsof James Smllhson, founder of the in
stitution, who died in Genoa In 1829. In connec
tion1 with this action on the part of Mr. Bell, a
Washington dispatch under date of Decembor 27
may be interesting. The dispatch says: "It is
said here that the reason for the removal at thi
time of the body of the founder of the Smith
sonian institution from Genoa to this countty is
because a stone quarry jas encroached on tho
English cemetery at Genoa to such an extent
that it' has become necessary to remove' the re
mains Interred there. Mr. Bell left this country
a little more than a week ago. Congress has made
no appropriation for the removal of Mr. Smith
son's remains i6-;thls country and it could not be
learned tonight, on account of the absence of
Prof. Langley from the city, whether the regents
of the Smitnsonian had voted money for this
purpose or Mr. Bell was acting on his own in
itiative. Tho matter had been discussed Jn local
scientific circles, where the opinion prevails that
the grounds of the Institution in this city are the
proper site for the final resting place of Mr.
Smithson's remains." '&
sc
AMONG THE GIFTS RECEIVED BY PRE3
ldent Roosevelt on Christmas day was one
that was sent to hiraby a resident of Scranton,
Pa. This nresent consisted of a miniature coal car
carved out of a chunk of coal, the car being
topped off with coal and ornamented with the na
tlonal colors. It stands four inches high and is a
foot In length. President Roosevelt has sent to
the Scranton giver his autograph letter acknowl
edging the unique gift.
A VALUABLE WORK HAS BEEN COMPILED
by an official in the state department at
Washington. Assistant Solicitor Frederick Van
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