FEBRUARY 15, 1906
USe Nebraska. Independent
PAGE 3
erage charge at the harbor of. New
York is 3 cents.. The lighterage priv
ilege is controlled so closely by the
same interests that control the rail
roads that the latter have never been
able to be free from it. These allow
ances did not matter so much when
grain rate3 were hlgner. Now that
the export rate from the Missouri
river is 23 cents it means something
to take out of this rate almost 6
cents, leaving only 17 cents to be
divided among the railroads for a 1,500
mile haul.
TROUBLE FOR HOMESTEADERS
Government May Cancel Many Filings
Made at Valentine.
"The government land office at Val
entine has been closed since the first
part of December," said Attorney, An
drew M. Morrissey at the Lindell.
"The special agent who is in charge
files the mail which comes in but no
one can go into the office and make
any filings. ' I suppose there, will be
'something doing' wnen the new offi
cials come in. Undoubtedly, a num
ber of homestead entries will be can
celled at that time. I believe there
will be a large influx of homeseekers
as soon .as the office gets organized.
Many inquiries reach our office.-
"Receiver Petti john and County At
torney Tucker were the only men ar
rested in our county. The three
squads of government surveyors who
were at work in the county have sold
their outfits and scattered. They did
not survey more than a third of the
county. I understand that a number
of secret service men are still at work
ferreting out alleged illegal entries."
Mr. Morrissey - states that Cherry
county raised a rousing grain crop
last year on land adapted to it.
"The table land north of Valentine
produced thousands of bushels of corn
last year. Men who bought quarters
at $300 a year ago are now refusing
to sell at $1,000. I know of many men
who paid for their land with the first
crop and made a living besides. Alf
alfa and brome grass, which has been
planted on land which drains well, has
shown great adaptability. I had a few
acres of alfalfa - on my ranch near
Crookston from which my man cut
three rousing crops and could have
had another. Another- strip of alfalfa
was planted on ground which over
flowed and it did not do well. We had
more water in Cherry county last
summer than ever before."
IT IS LORD OF THE SEA
DREADNOUGHT, GREATEST OF
WARSHIPS, IS LAUNCHED.
Bears the Heaviest Armor Ever Placed ',
On a Vessel, Is Impervious to Tor
pedoes and Throws a Projectile
Twenty-five Miles. .
REST FOR THE WEARY EDITORS
Will Hold Annual Meeting In Lincoln
, on February 27 and 28.
The thirty-fourth annual meeting of
the Nebraska Press Association will
be held in Lincoln February 27 and
28. The meeting promises to be the
largest in the history of the associa
tion, and a program of unusual inter;
est has been arranged. ' Chief among
the numbers on the program will be
a discussion of the "Railroad Adver
tising" question, the business office
view to be presented by J. C. Seacrest
of the Nebraska State Journal, and
the editorial room view to be present
ed by R. L. Metcalfe of the Com
moner. The general discussion prom
ises to be unusually spicy. Hon. Lafe
Young, editor of the Des Moines Daily
Capital, will deliver an address on
"Newspapers of the Orient," and this
feature will be well worth all the
trouble entailed upon the members at
tending. The local newspaper fraternity has
arranged a series of social events that
will make the meeting one long to be
remembered. John T. McCutcheon,
the celebrated cartoonist of the Chi
cago Tribune, will deliver an illus
trated lecture, and the visiting news
paper men and their wives will be
the guests of the local men on this
occasion. A visit to the State Farm
is also on the list, and a theatre party
will be arranged if possible. The Lin
dell hotel has been selected as head
quarters, and unususally low rates
have been offered by that and other
hotels in the city. The attendance
promised to exceed 300.
' The monster battleship Dread
nought, which when finished will have
cost seven and one-half million dollars,
was launched by Kig Edward.
The ceremony was the most simple
possible, the king having vetoed all
decorations and pageantry on account
of the death of his father-in-law, King
Christian. There was a moment of
suspense after the king touched the
electrict" button, removing the last
block, as the huge ship hesitated and
appeared reluctant to take the water.
But, ultimately, she grided down the
Ways in safety.
Among the occupants of the royal
stand were the American naval at
tache. Lieutenant Commander John H.
Gibbons, and the' otner attaches, the
admiralty officials and. a few privi
leged persons.
Most Formidable Boat
The launching of the Dreadnought,
the largest and most powerful batte
ship of the world's navies, marks the
first stage in what the British admir
alty claim as the greatest achieve
ment in naval construction. On Octo
ber 2, 1905, only a few days over four
months ago, work was commenced at
Portsmouth on the vessel, the first of
what is to be known as the Dread
nought class. The promise was made
then that she would be launched
within six months. The admiralty has
more than made good their boast and
Britishers . have another cause for
pride in their navy.
Another twelve months, all going
well, the Dreadnought will be commis
sioned and join the Atlantic fleet, thus
beating all previous records in battle
ships building by six months.
Reasons for speed
There are two reasons why work
is being rushed on the preadnought.
One is the great saving' In cost, but
the chief reason is that the ship is to
some extent an experiment and It is
desired to give her a good trial be
fore commencing construction on any
more of her . class. '
Great Britain, it will be remembered
was the only, power Having attaches
or observers on Japanese ships during
the Russo-Japanese war, while expert
British constructors were given every
opportunity of learning wherein the
ships of Japan proven weak or strong
as the case might be.
These men were . ftusy from start
to finish of the war and immediately
after the battle of the Sea of Japan
came - home with their data, which
was submitted, with suggestions, to a
special committee on which sat not
only the most experienced naval ex
perts but the director or naval con
struction, Lord Kelvin, and a number
of the leading private ship builders.
Ship Is. Invrncfbte
The Dreadnought is the outcome of
their deliberations, an embodiment of
the lessons of the late war in the far
east, a ship apparently invincible, ca
pable at one discharge of her guns of
throwing with unparalleled force
twlrfi as much metal as any foreign
man-of-war now afloat, while her
armor will render her immune from
attacks by any enemy's guns, and,
some claim, even against torpedoes
fired at the usual battle range. The
details of the Dreadnought's construc
tion remain a secret, so well has the
admiralty guarded the plans.
Efforts of naval attaches to gather
information for their governments
have been fruitless. No Information
is forthcoming, the answer to all In
quiries being , the candid one that
Great Britain Intends to maintain
secrecy as to what hwr experts learned
as a result of Japan's experiences for
one year and by rushing to comple
tion the Dreadnought will gain a year
if not more in naval construction over
all other powers except her ally.
Not a Word of Information
Usually when ships are building a
board is placed at the head of the ship
giving her name, displacement, princi
pal dimensions, horsepower and
an&0( In th msp nf thfi Dreadnoueht
not an Item in the design is revealed,)
the board containing the simple sen
tence "His Majesty's Ship Dread
nought, commenced October 2, 1905."
When ready for sea the ship will dis
place 18,500 tons, but. this is the least
remarkable thing about her, for be
sides the ideas introduced as a result
of the far eastern war, Britain is plac
ing on her new fighting machine the
heaviest armament ever carried by a
ship.
In fhe past British vessels have car
ried four 12-inch guns throwing 850
pound shells; the Dreadnought will
have ten of these weapons of a new
type with a muzzleTenergy of 49,568, as
compared with the 33,622 of the guns
carried in as recent battleships as the
Majestic class, an increase in power
of 50 per cent.
Will Shoot Twenty-five Miles
In a great sea fight the Dreadnought
will be able to discharge every minute
ten projectiles weighing altogether
8,500 pounds with sufficient velocity io
send them twenty-five miles or to pene
trate about sixteen inches of the hard
est armor at a range of about two
miles.
Unlike all British and foreign bat
tleships built in the past thirty years
the new addition to the fleet will carry
no weapon smaller tnan the great 12
inch piece except eighteen 2-inch
quickflrers for repelling attacks by
torpedo cratf. She will mount neither
9.2inch, 7.5-inch nor 6-inch guns, she
will be the biggest warsnip afloat and
she will have only the biggest and
most powerful guns.
NO PUNCH BOWL FOR MISS ALICE
BEATRICE MEN BEGIN BORING
Commercial Club Committee Vill
Raise $10,000 for Oil Prospecting
Beatrice, Neb., Feb. 12.--The con
sideration of the oil prospecting has
finally laken definite form. The
committee to do the soliciting has
been named and the $10,000 to begin
with will be secured at once. The
committee as named by President
Johnson of the Commercial club con
sists of C. C. Knapp, F. E. Morrison,
H. L. Harper, J. .E. Smith, II. A.
Thompson, W. J. Pease, J. E. Lang,
J. II. Jenner and Gerhardt Wiebe.
They are all well known business men
and from the expression of those who
attended the numerous meetins, there
should be no difficulty in raising the
money. When this is done, a contract
will be made with a well maker, who
will sink the hole 3,000 feet more or
less under the direction of the commit
tee. hylly? gk-ftwoOOOffB. .su IwIIelOs.o
HOW ENGLAND SMASHES TRUSTS
Temperance People Create Uproar and
Ohio Decides on J-oving Cup
Columbu3, O., Feb. 10. The various
societies representing the Women's
Christian Temperance nnlon in Colum
bus are up in arms at the announce
ment that the Ohio delegation in con
gress decided to give Alice Roosevelt
a punch bowl as a wedding gift and
their indignation is not abated at the
later announcement that the delega
tion had decided to present her with
a loving cup which many of the W.
C. T. U. women take to be practically
a punch bowl. At the meeting of the
Memorial union of the W. C, T. U.
yesterday at Miss Moore's it was de
cided to send a letter to Congressman
Webber thanking him for his stand
against the punch bowl and also to
pray that the delegation shall not pre
sent the gift of a punch bowl.
This .May Bar Mortensen
Some of the onhangers around the
state house say they have found a
constitutional bar that will cause the
boom of State Treasurer Mortensen
for governor to die aoorning, because
of a provision of that document that
no executive officer shall be eligible
to hold .another state office during the
time for which he has been elected.
Mr. Mortensen's term as treasurer
will not expire until next January,
whereas the election comes in No
vember, and the supreme court has
held in several cases that qualifica
tions to eligibility to office must date
back to the date of the election, rather
than the date of entering upon the
office. This point, if well taken", would
also rule out the gubernatorial ambi
tions of Lieutenant Governor McGil
ton, who in this respect is in the same
boat with Mortensen.
Tobacco Combine Which Thrives Here
is Foiled There
That trusts cannot find lodgment in
England where they have no tariff
protection and the laws are not made
in their interest-as they are here, is
shown by the disaster that has over
taken the tobacco trust In that coun
try. "American trusts of every de
scription," says a dispatch from Lon
don, '"have just received a severe
blow in England. The decision given
In the court of appeal in the litigation
brought against Ogden's Limited, the
great tobacco firm, by retail tobac
onists, will have a far-reaching influ
ence on every American industry
which attempts to establish a monop
oly in England.
"Retail tobacconists are jubilating
over their really great victory. They
will be able to compel the trust start
ed in England by Mr. Duke to disgorge
the best part of $7,500,000, and be
sides this the trust will have to pay
an additional $3,500,000 making the
colossal total of $11,000,000.
"The legal fight has been one of
the most gigantic battles of the law
courts, though the proceedings have
as yet attracted little public atten
tion. The next step in the litigation,
however when the assessing of dam
ages goes before a British jury will
undoubtedly be the one topic of con
versation among smokers all over the
world."
Farmers' Institute Closes.
Franklin, Neb.,Feb. 10. The Farm
ers institute closed a successful two
days' session here Friday evening.
Messrs. Barnard McKee and Loenard
were the principal speakers. An in
teresting discussion was given by the
farmers. C. Hildreth was re-elected
president; H. V. Cyr, secretary. Din
ner was served by the ladies in the .
new Conkling hall and about 250 were
present at the afternoon meeting. The
Academy Glee club furnished music
for the program.
Postmaster W. H. Austin was in
Lincoln this week.
F. W. Barber is In Lincoln and
Omaha this week.
Several of the pew residences are
nearing completion and will be occu
pied by some of the retiring farmers
of . this vicinity.
George Brown has begun the erec
tion of a hew residence.
T. M. Cameron purchased a new
automobile this week, making two new
machines for this vicinity this winter,
A. S. Merrifield or Grand Island
college was in the city this week.
The Girls' Glee club of the academy
school of music sang in Bladen, Neb.,
last evening. ;
A surprise was given by the ladies
of the Congregational church for Prin
cipal A. C. Hart of the academy in
celebration of his sixtieth birthday.
