BIG GUNS ON DEFENSE.
Sam Jlan Kiiormonn Rlllea ft
/ Gnnrcl SIore L > iiie.
7De-pite the fact tbat the United States
rtas oae of the lonifst coast lines of any
great power it u'ill shortly afford that
-cosst line nrnple protection from one end
> to the other on both the -Atlantic and
; Pacific sides. Work will soon be begun
to put on the nishing touches of de-
sfenscs and fortifications in the insular
possessions. Altogether the outlay neces-
-isary to fortify and protect the United
"States proper and its outlying possessions
: is ever $200,000,000 , of which amount
considerably more than half has been
expondcd.
The scheme of national defense upon
-which work was in progress between 1888
* and 1900 was based primarily upon a re
port .submitted to the President by the
so-called Endicott board in 1886. This
.board' investigated the entire continental
.coast line of the United States and rec-
.OTtunonded the construction of fortifica
tions which were estimated to cost about
. $120,000,000. Along the lines mapped
out by this board Congress has appropri
ated approximately $75,000,000.
In 1905 the President again appointed
.a. board to revise the work done under
the Endicott board and this tune Secre
tary Taft was its president. After an
.exhaustive investigation the new national
coast defense board recommended an ad-
.ditional expenditure of $51,000,000 to
provide fortifications for new places and
to modernize the defenses already built
on the recommendation of the Endicotl
iboard.
As a result of the work of both boards
ithe following twenty-six ports may be
said to be provided with ample sea-coast
defenses : Kennebec river , Me. ; Portland ,
Me. ; Portsmouth , N. H. ; Boston , Mass. ;
New Bedford , Mass. ; Narragansett Bay ,
R. I. ; eastern entrance to Long Island
.Bound ; New York , N. Y. ; Delaware river7 ;
Baltimore , Md. ; Washington , D. C. Jj
Hampton Roads , Va. ; Cape Fear river , ]
N. C. ; Charleston , S. C. ; Port Royal , S J
C5. ; Savannah , Ga. ; Key West , Fla.1
Tampa bay , Fla. ; Pensacola , Fla. ; Mo
bile bay , Ala. ; New Orleans , La. ; Galveston -
veston , Texas ; San Diego , Cal. ; San
Francisco , Cal. ; Columbia river , Oregon
ind Washington ; Puget sound , Wash.
A glance at the list shows twenty-
two of the twenty-six . " .a-coast defenses
on the Atlantic coast , mounting approsi-
'mately nine-tenths of the sea-coast guna
, of the United States.
Outside of continental United States ,
-under the recommendations of the Taft
'board , sea-coast defenses and naval stations -
tions are being constructed at Quanta-
narno , Cuba ; Honolulu and Pearl Harbor
in the Hawaiian Islands ; San Juan , Porto -
-to Rico ; Subig bay , Philippine Islands ;
Kiska. in the Aleutian Islands and Guam.
The manning of the sea-coast defenses
JLa at present in charge of the artillery
ibranch of the United States army. In
the estimate provided by the national
defense board it was shown that when
.all the sea-coast defenses were completed
it would require 57,387 men to properly
-manipulate them in time of war.
Yet , according to the last report from
-the War Department , there were only
18,9-il men in the whole artillery branch
of the army , of whom 4,912 were in the
field artillery. The last Congress , how
-.ever , authorized the formation of thir
teen full regiments of coast artillery ,
which , when fully recruited , will add ap
proximately 13,000 men to that branch of
the service.
The Order of Railway Conductors has
voted to hold its 1909 biennial conven-
ition at Boston.
More than 100,000 railway servants in
"England are required to work from twelve
-to fifteen hours a day.
The sixty-hour-a-week schedule will be
jput in force in the cotton mills of South
-Carolina Jan. 1 , 1908.
Average wages in Canada have in
creased 27 per cent in five years , accorfc-
-ing to the census report.
The number ofwage earners employed
in Virginia cotton mills in 1905 waa
8G19 , receiving $1,647,739 a year.
Eight hundred union barbers in Chicago -
-cago , have been granted a schedule of
wages and working conditions by their
-employers.
An effort is being made to establish
fl. federation of labor in Oklahoma. If it
Js organized it will have about 145,000
workers under its jurisdiction.
The Amalgamated Society of British
Engineers will , after this year , cease at
tending the Trades Union Congress , and
absent itself for at least four years.
A National Association of Carpet
Workers of America has been organized.
This will have jurisdiction of about 20-
--OOO persons employed in carpet mills.
The demand of the Havana -cigarmak-
. .crs that they be paid in American money
lias been granted by the Cuban manu
facturers , and the factories will immediately -
. . diately be reopened.
Garden truck bearing union labels Is
the latest thing proposed in Newburgh ,
N. Y. , farmers in that vicinity having
-organized and asked for affiliation with
-he Central Labor Union.
There are thousands of women and
girls who are members of unions of trades
in which most of the workers are men ,
these unions are , naturally , controll-
by the male members. The printers ,
-telegraphers , garment workers , tobacco
-workers and several other trades admit
women to membership in their unions ,
cand their rolls show a goodly number of
women members.
The Council of the canton of Tessin ,
Switzerland , has decided by 34 against
21 votes to repeal the act prohibiting
night work in bakeries. The men are
< &adly organized and will probably not be
. ble to resist the attempt of the masters
to reintroduce night work.
The Union of Sawmill Workers in the
, north of Sweden has beaten one of the
tiggest employers after a most bitter and
prolonged fight , during which several hun
dreds of families were evicted from their
dwellings , the employer in question hav
ing adopted for some tune the device of
i&ousing .jthe men in his own cottages.
OKLAHOMA QOZO DHY.
Election KclTirnn from New State
TndJcaie Succes.i of Prohibition. .
. Oklahoma has ratified the enabling act
and become ; i State so far as Oklahoma
and Indian Territory are concerned. Returns -
, turns from the largest cities and coun-
j ties of Oklahoma and Indian Territory
I up to midnight Tuesday indicated that
j the constitution of the proposed new
State 1ms been adopted by a large majority -
! ity ; that the prohibition clause of the
constitution has been adopted and that
the Democratic State ticket , headed by
C. N. Haskell of Muskogce for Gov
ernor , has been elected over Frank
Frantz , the present territorial goveruoi
of Oklahoma , who was the Republican
nominee. In the enabling act Congress
provided for prohibition in Indian Terri
tory for twenty-one years from Jan. 1 ,
390G. The prohibition clause voted on
applies the , ame provision to the Okla
homa side of the new State.
All of the elements of a national cam
paign were at hand in the canvass. Secre
tary of War Taft was the chief represent
ative of the Republican side and William
J. Bryan was brought in to answer Sec
retary Taft and to lead the Democratic
fight for 'the ' constitution and the Demo
cratic ticket.
The election was 'held under the terms
of the act of Congress granting joint
statehood to Indian Territory and Okla
homa Territory. The statehood bill was
passed at AVashington after a strenuous
fight which was carried through several
sessions of Congress. President Roosevelt
velt intervened on behalf of the people
of the territories , and , while each terri
tory was anxious for separate statehood ,
a compromise was affected by which the
friends of statehood accepted the joint
bill rather than have none at all. Imme
diately after the statehood bill was sign
ed by the President the battle for the po
litical control of the new State opened.
NEW CHARTER BEATEN.
Chicago's Proposed Measure la De
feated Twoto One.
Chicago's proposed new charter was
defeated at the polls Tuesday by a vote
of more than two to one. The measure
was snowed under in many strongholds
of both parties alike , losing in all but
four of the thirty-five wards. Fifty per
cent of the registered electors turned out ,
and their ballots killed the act by a vote
of 59,581 for to 121,479 against.
' Knowledge had hardly been obtained
that the charter was dead than a move
ment was on foot to secure another in
strument that will contain the good fea
tures of the defeated measure while hold
ing none of the alleged defects that led
the voters to turn it down.
An analysis of the vote shows that the
campaign made by the United Societies
. bore much fruit in the shape of ballots
against the measure. A survey of the
situation indicated that the defeat of the
charter was due most largely to the con
tention that taxes would be raised un
der the instrument , and that the Sunday
closing laws would be put into force.
On the North and West Sides hundreds
of small property holders turned out to
register an adverse vote because of the
taxes argument , while in the thickly set
tled foreign sections a heavy vote against
the act was talled because of the "per
sonal liberty' ' appeal.
The ward gerrymander , too , undoubted
ly played an important part in the defeat.
The political aspect it gave to the char
ter led many an independent voter to show
his resentment by marking an adverse
ballot.
STANDARD OIL PROFITS.
Earnings from 1S99 to 19O6 Shown
to Be $490,315,934.
Sensational disclosures regarding the
fabulous earnings of Standard Oil were
brought out in New York at the hearing
in the suit of the United States govern
ment to dissolve the corporation. Adroit
questioning drew from the reluctant lips
of Clarence G. Fay , resident comptroller
of the Standard Oil Company of New
Jersey , the admission that in seven years ]
Standard Oil's total profits amounted to
$490,315,934 , or something over $70,000-
000 a year.
Mr. Fay was also forced to admit that
in 1899 the profits were nearly $80,000-
000 instead of $34,000,000 as set forth on
the books of the company. The Standard
Oil managed to cover up its great earn
ings in that year by deliberately failing
to credit the earnings of nineteen subsi
diary companies that contributed vast
sums to the parent corporation. This
is the first time the company's earnings
have been made public.
Figuring on the capital stock now out
standing ? 9S,339$82 this is an annual
profit of something over 70 per cent. Fig
ured on the basis of the Standard OI
trust , which had a capitalization of $10-
000,000 when it was dissolved and reor
ganized into the present company with
out any additional investment on the part
of Mr. Rockefeller and his associates , the
annual profit is something like 700 per
cent. On the basis of the original Stand
ard Oil Company , with a capitalization
of $1,000,000 , the annual profit is a little
more than 7,000 per cent. On the basis
of the little refinery Mr. Rockefeller had
when he started out , with an invested cap
ital principally of nerve , the percentage
of annual profit is well , the statisticians
haven't figured that out yet.
BLAST ON JAPANESE SHIP.
.Twenty-Seven Men Killed by Ex.
plosion on the Kasliima.
Twenty-seven of the crew were killed
and many were injured on the Japanese
battleship Kashima by the explosion of
powder after target practice near Kure.
The Kashima , under command of Captain
Koizumi , went to Kure , where the wound
ed were placed in the hospital. The dead
included a lieutenant , two cadets and one
staff officer.
Details regarding the effects of the ex
plosion are lacking , but it was terrific and
the ship was severely damaged. The blast
followed an attempt to remove an unexploded -
ploded shell from the gun. A majority of
the bystanders were fearfully mutilated.
The explosion is under investigation.
It occurred inside of the shield of the
starboard after ten-inch gun. It was not
the shell which exploded , but powder ,
which evidently caught fire from the gas
emitted from the breech when opened to
reload the gun. The hull of the Kashima
is cot damaged.
! i i E
fte &t.m : .
l > tf m 11
1402 English defeated the Scots at
Homeldon Hill.
1504 Columbus took final leave of the
New World and sailed for Spain.
1G09 Henry Hudson discovered the riv
er which bears his name.
1G40 Lord Stirling , to whom James I.
gave a large section of what is now
the United States and Canada , died
in London.
1C45 Covenanters defeated Montrose at
Philiphaugh.
1742 Faneuil Hall completed and pre
sented to the town of Boston.
1759 Wolfe lauded troops at Quebec.
1775 Gen. Washington began to commis
sion war vessels.
1778 Benjamin Franklin sent to France
as minister plenipotentiary.
1781 Gen. Washington arrived at Wil-
liamsburg and assumed command.
1782 Congress accepted the offer of
Virginia's western lanus.
17SG Connecticut deeded western land
" to Congress.
17SS-7-Congress made New York the
capital city of the United States.
1789 Alexander Hamilton became Sec
retary of the Treasury Henry
Knox of Massachusetts became Sec
retary of War.
1803 Lord William Downs appointed
chief justice of Ireland.
1814 Battle of Pittsburgh , N. Y
British made an unsuccessful attack
on Baltimore. British bombarded
Fort Mcllenry , near Baltimore. . . .
British abandoned their expedition
against Baltimore.
1829 Treaty of Adrianople , ending war
between Russia and Turkey.
1S41 Walter Forward of Pennsylvania
became Secretary of the United
States Treasury.
184G First Mississippi riflemen , under
command of Company I , Jefferson
Davis , charged the Mexicans at Fort
Teneria.
1847 American army under Gen. Scott
marched into the Mexican capital. . .
Many lives lost in hurricane off New
foundland.
ISoO Jenny Lind first appeared on an
American stage at Castle Garden , N.
Y Alexander H. II. Stuart of
Virginia became Secretary of the In
terior.
1858 Steamship Austria , Southampton
to New York , burned at sea ; 471
lives lost.
1861 President Lincoln revoked Gen.
Fremont's emancipation order.
1802 Governors of fourteen States met
at Altoona , Pa. , and approved of
emancipation as a war measure. . . .
Gen. McClellan appointed to com
mand the defense of Washington.
1SG1 Gen. Sherman entered Atlanta ,
ending the four weeks' siege. . . .Gen.
Sherman ordered all civilians to
leave Atlanta.
1809 National Prohibition party organ
ized at a convention in Chicago.
1871 Henry Irving first appeared in
"Fanchette" at the London Lyceum.
Mont Cenis tunnel opened.
1872 Alabama claims against England
decided in favor of the United States.
1886 Canadian Pacific railway tele
graph line opened for business.
1893 Gov. William McKinley of Ohio
opened his campaign for re-election
with a speech at Akron.
1894 Hinckley and other Minnesota
towns swept by forest fires.
1898 British forces defeated the Der
vishes at Omdurman. . . .Admiral
Cervera and other captured Spanish
officers sailed for Spain.
1906 Emperor of China issued an edict
promising constitutional government.
Xew Ijife-Restorinsr Apparatus.
E. C. Hall , writing in the August Tech
nical World Magazine , asserts that Prof.
George Poe of South Norfolk , Va. , is able
to restore life to apparently dead animals ,
his treatment being based upon the well-
known method of forcing oxygen into the
lungs. For this purpose he has devised
an artificial res-pirator , modeled in all
respects after nature. It embraces two
small cylinders , each having an inlet and
an outlet , with which plunders work sim
ultaneously , and from which tubes are
conducted to the nostrils or mouth of the
patient. One cylinder is supplied with
oxygen , and the outlet of the other dis
charges directly into the atmosphere. The
plungers are worked by hand and timed
according to normal respiration. Thus in
one movement noxious gases from the
lungs are drawn into one cylinder , while
the next movement forces oxygen from
the other cylinder into the lungs. This
device has been patented and will soon be
the market.
Photographing Thoughts.
Dr. Hippolyte Baraduc , a noted French
physician , has recently published a series
of photographs purporting to represent
different thoughts or prayers , thus offering -
ing some confirmation to the theories of
the Theosophists. Dr. Baraduc , on the
assumption that the human being is com
posed of fluid or gaseous bodies as well
as that of flesh and blood , exposed vari-
DUS sensitized plates in the dark near to
persons in varying states of mind and got-
differing results. He sometimes uses a
A BATTLE ON KANSAS PLAINS.
American Artillery to Reproduce the
Great Mukden Conflict.
Out on a wide stretch of Kansas plain
the savage battle of Mukden is to be
fought again a mimic struggle which for
ten smoke-blown days is to stagger over
50,000 acres of government reservation.
There will be the crash of heavy siege
guns and the stench of picric as the dis
rupting shells hurl earthworks and their
du imy defenders in the air.
The infantry , with its siege guns and
field artillery , will throw its strength
against the redoubts which the engineers
have constructed a fortification which
duplicates as far as possible the one be
hind which Kuropatkin intrenched his
Russians at Mukden and over which the
little brown men swarmed after their
Shimose shells had blown great breaches
in the works.
It is chiefly for the purpose of seeing
what American artillery can do under
identical circumstances that this mimic
battle is to be fought. Dunnite is the ex
plosive with which our shells are to be
charged , a picric compound which takes
its name from Major Beverly W. Dunn
of the United States Ordnance Corps.
The works which are to be attacked
by this shell were constructed by the
Third battalion of engineers , now station
ed at Fort Leavenworth. The redoubt
is 30 feet through at the base and 12
feet at the top. It is rivetted with fa-
cines , hurdles , brush and sod and is made
as strong as the nature of the soil and
subsoils of the region will allow. On the
inner face a banquette tread , about four
and a half feet below the top , has been
constructed , and on this will be placed a
large number of dummy figures represent
ing men , to test shrapnel fire.
The work of making this redoubt has
occupied the engineers all summer and
they believe that it will put the artliKery
to a stubborn test. It is practically the
strongest fortification that modern mili
tary science could construct.
In all about 5,000 men will be engaged
in the maneuvers at Fort Riley.
WORSE THAN BLACK PLAGUE.
Greatest Catastrophe World Ever
Knew IVow in Progress.
The greatest catastrophe the jvorld has
ever known is in progress at this present
moment and the world recks little or
nothing of it.
This is the plague epidemic in India ,
which has now been raging for more than
eleven years , nad which , so far from
showing any tendency to die out , keeps
steadily increasing in intensity. Thus ,
during the six weeks ending May 11 last ,
481,892 persons perished from it , or at
the rate of over 80,000 deaths a week.
Nothing approaching the appalling horror
ror represented by these figures has ever
been recorded before. The nearest to it
was in 1905 , when , during the last week
in March , the epidemic was responsible
for 57,702 deaths.
No pestilence of ancient or modern
times , of which we have any knowledge ,
has slain so many millions of people as
has this one and the end of which , mind ,
is not yet.
The "Great Plague" of London , for
example , about which everybody has
heard , killed at the outside some 80,000
people in seven months , or about as many
as are dying weekly in India from a dis
ease which is identical with it in every
respect.
The "Black Death" is said to have
slain one-third of the then population of
England say 1,500,000 persons ; but this
is doubtful. Even admitting the correct
ness of the estimate , however , the mor
tality of the present epidemic in India
has already more than doubled this huge
total.
total.What
What will be the end no man can
foresee or venture to forecast. It may
be that all that has gone before , and all
that is happening now , inexpressibly aw
ful though it is , is but the prelude of
worse to follow.
HIGH PRICES FOR COAL.
Car Scarcity May Make Cost o Fuel
Highest in Years.
j The Pittsburg Coal Company , the Mo
nongahela River Consolidated Coal ana
Coke Company and the Pittsburg and
Buffalo Coal Company have refused to
accept an order from the Italian gov
ernment for 500,000 tons of coal , to be
shipped to Italy. |
For some time past a representative of
the Italian government has been in this j
country trying to obtain coal , first in the J
anthracite field and afterward in Pitts
burg. In both places he has been un
successful. The Pittsburg operators have
decided that it would be impossible to
fill the order because of the great home
demand for coal.
There is a shortage of miners at the
present time , and the car shortage is so
serious that it would be impossible to
get the coal to tidewater. Besides , there
are no boats available on which t ] coal
could be shipped.
According to the operators , there is
every reason to believe that the price of
coal will be higher this winter than ever
before , mainly through the car shortage.
The railroads entering Pittsburg have
served notice on the operators that here
after no cars will be allowed to be sent
off the lines owning them. This action
will prevent the shipment of thousands of
tons of coal until the order is rescinded ,
which is not expected to happen until af
ter the crop movement is completed. The
situation was never more serious than at
present.
Brief Kewa Items-
Chicago banks send millions of dollars
West to aid in crop movement.
Mayor Becker of Milwaukee intimates
that he will in a short time be a full-
fledged candidate for Governor.
A strong sentiment favoring Roosevelt
velt for a third term as President is seen
by Secretary Straus during a trip.
During a reception at the Eagle Club
rooms in McKeesport , Pa. , Louis Dele , a
well-known athlete , attempted to kill him
self by shooting. His condition is crit
ical.
ical.The
The Panama canal cost the American
government $84,449,000 up to Dec. 31 ,
1906 , according to a statement of the
audited expenditures made as of that date
and just published.
Sherman Long , a carpenter , was shot
and killed at his home in Columbus , Ohio ,
by Frank Miller , his brother-in-law , who
has had trouble with his wife , and went
to Long's house in search of her.
f KIDNAPED BY GYPSIES.
Child Slave Ecape From Band
After Four Year * ' Captivity.
The flam6s of the great South Chicago
steel mills -were the beacons which a few
: nights ago lighted a kidnaped boy to his
. home. After four years spent as a child
j slave of the wandering gypsies 10-year-
old Walter Cutler found a safe haven
under their glare.
The boy was kidnaped four years ago
from South Bend. Intl. , where his mother
and his stepfather , Frank Cullen , lived ,
j Some time before his father. J. II. Cutler ,
i a South Chicago shipyard superintendent.
I died , leaving a widow and two children ,
Walter and Flora. A year later the
mother married Cullen and went with her
husband and family to South Bend. The
couple had just settled on the outskirts
of the Indiana city when 0-year-old Wal
ter was stolen by a band of gypsies. No
attempt to secure a ransom was made ,
and for a year the captive was only a
charge to his kidnapers. Then he was
taught to care for the horses and children
of the gipsies.
Thp band subsisted by horse trading
and fortune telling and was commanded
by Chief Joseph Casmir. The captive
was abused by the gypsy children , who
regarded him as a slave , and any attempt
to resent their cruelty led to more severe
beatings by the chief and his followers.
He was compelled to sleep and eat
with the dogs and was commanded to
keep out of sight when visitors carne to
i the camp. .The child became tanned to a
hue almost as dark as that of his cap
tors , and because of enforced silence he
had forgotten all but a few words of his
childhood tongue.
During all of his wanderings the boy
remembered the great sheets of flame
uhich rose from the scores of stacks in
South Chicago at night and which light
ed up the yard in which he and his sister
played.
A short time ago the gypsy band in
their wanderings reached the vicinity of
Chicago. One night the boy looked out
from his place among the dogs and saw
the great stacks belching forth sheets of
flame and once more the memories of his
home came back to him. He crept out
from among the tented wagons and stum
bled out toward the great lights. When
I dawn came he took refuge under a bush
> and slept. When he awoke he pressed on
again to where he could see the great
mills.
mills.When
When the boy reached the city he still
was lost. He could not explain his
wishes , and for a day he wandered the
streets without food. Blind chance led
him to the place where his grandmother
lived , and in an instant he recognized
her.
Strikes Paralyze Butte.
The City of Butte , Mont. , for six weeks
has been without a telephone service on
account of a sympathy strike of opera
tors and linemen for some striking line
men in Utah. The courts have sustained
mandamus writs against the Rocky Moun
tain Bell Telephone Company to compel
it to operate its lines , but so far as Butte
is concerned the company has made no
effort to resume service. The telegraphic
strike almost completely isolated the city
from the outside world. The strike of
the mail clerks several months ago left
the postoffice service in a badly crippled
fnndltioti , mail delivery being almost as
uncertain as the telegraph. In addition
to these troubles the strike of the machin
ists , who went out about a month ago to
enforce a demand for increased pay , is
gradually closing down the mines.
Cuts In Ocean Rates.
The war between the trans-Atlantic
steamship lines was continued , th < j in
ternational Mercantile Marine announc
ing that first cabin rates from New Yoik
to Liverpool on such ships as the Baltic ,
Cedric and Celtic would be $72.50 , a re
duction from $95 , and that the eastward
rates would be , from now on , $57.50 , a
reduction from $80. The rate by the At
lantic Transport fleet will be $50 , instead
of $70 , for first cabin to London , and the
big Adriatic of the White Star line will
carry passengers for $77.50 , instead of
$95. The Cunard followed suit with a
first cabin rate of $72.50 , including Medit
erranean ports , nad $57.50 on the Uinbria
and Etruria. Corresponding cuts were
expected from the North German LloyJ
tnd Hamburg-American.
, To Collect 50,000,000 Seeds.
The forest service will collect 50.000-
000 seeds of forest trees in Montana ,
Wyoming , Colorado , Arizona and Califor
nia from the Douglas fir , Englemann
spruce , western larch , incense cedar and
yellow pine. The seeds will be used for
broadcast" sowing and for planting in for
est service nurseries. The broadcast sow
ing will be experimental , to test the ex
tent to which this method of renewing the
forest in denuded lands of the West can
be used. One method of gathering the
seeds is to rob squirrel.1 * ' nests. It is to
be hoped that Uncle Sab will not do this
without replacing the hoards of thesa
bright-eyed little rodents with a gener
ous amount of something "just as good
to eat. "
"Western Union Stands Pat.
The expected conference between tin
leaders of the striking telegraphers and
the Western Union officers did not mate
rialize , and the eexcutive committe ? of
the company sustained the course of the
officials in a formal resolution which re
ferred to the "late strike , " as though it
were a closed incident. President Small
of the union and President Gompers of
the American Federation were in New
York , and both said that there wouid be
no surrender. Small said that mo-t of
the telegraphers had got jobs on the rail
roads. The Western Union declared its
regular quarterly dividend , as usual , but
did not publish the earnings for the quar
ter , as is customary.
Meat Wagon Strike Settled.
The strike of the meat wagon drivers
of New York , against the Employers' As
sociation has been settled upon the fol
lowing terms : Wages are to be the same
| as before the strike ; there is to be no
discrimination for or against union or
non-union men ; sixty-five hours is to con
stitute a week's work , and all grievances
and the question of overtime are to be
left to arbitration. None of the competent
! tent strike breakers are to be
to make room for the strikers.
WELLMAN POLAR TRIP FAILS. '
Airnhlp IM AVrecIceil and Plan to tfcclc
Pole Vlmiulonctl for Tbl * Ycur.
Walter Wollumo on Friday arrived
at Tromsoe , Norway , on board the
Frithjof from Spitzburgen on his way
home. lie announced that he bad defi
nitely abandoned for this year , after a
disastrous trial of his airship , the pro
posed attempt to reach the North Pole.
World-wide interest had been excit
ed in Wellinan's proposed trip. Mr.
Wei I man's plans were as simple as they
were spectacular and scientific. With
two picked companions lie purposed to
sail in his airship from Spitzbergen
to the North Pole , a distance as tbe
crow flies of CIS miles.
The airship was a dirigible balloon ,
modeled on the best lines known to
French balloon makers. It bore a steel
car 115 feet long , which -would contain
the three explorers , their outflt of me
teorological and navigation Instruments
and a kenneJ of twenty-nine Alaskan
sledge dogs with sledges. In case of
WALTEB WELLMAJT.
mishap to the airship or unfavorable
winds , the men purposed to abandon
the America and take to the sledges
for the remainder of the way.
With winds in their favor and the
airship standing the strain well they
figured that the trip to the pole could
be made in three days. With ordinary
delays , but still sticking to the air
ship , it might take them twenty days.
Forced to abandon the America , their
trip might last three months. They
had provisions for 275 days.
Starting from Spitzbergen , they fig
ured that they would have to travel
1,23G sea miles to the pole and back to
their base ; to the pole and thence to
Alaska , the trip would cover 1,750
sea miles ; to the pole and thence to
Northern Norway , 1,740 miles ; to the
pole and thence to Northern Siberia , an
average of l0p miles ; to the no&e & and
thence as far < feouth as bumanyhabita-
tions in Canada , 2,440 miles.
The airship made an ascent Sept. 2
in a strong northeasterly wind , which
drove it southeastward over the land.
It was found necessary to cut the bal
loon adrift from the other parts of the
airship , but it was n&overed after two
days' search.
INCREASE FARMERS' EARNINGS.
Bis : Gain for Year Due to Higher
Prices of Products.
According to a preliminary report on
crops , published in the American Agricul
turist , the American farmers' earning- ; arc
$1,000,000,000 greater this year than last.
This big gain will be entirely due to th *
increased prices of farm products , as the
production in general will be fully 10 per
cent less in quantity than in 190C , which
was the bumper year.
"The farmer was never in so healthy a
position as he is to-day financially , so
cially , politically , mentally and spiritu
ally , " says the report. "The increase in
the value of his real estate has been pro
digious. He owes less money than ever
before. He has greater assets than ever , '
Again , the farmer's wants are greater. Ho
Is in the market for more and better
breeding stock , farm implement , , . Jiouse-
bold goods and other merchandise. "
r
A Rate La\v Test Case.
That State control of interstate rail
roads has ceased by virtue of the Hep
burn rate law is the broad ground of an
appeal to the federal courts now made
by the Missouri Pacific railroad from a
writ issued by the Supreme Court of
Kansas. The writ was issued In favor of
the Larrabee Milling Company of Staf
ford , Kan. , to compel the Missouri Pacific
to continue the practice of delivering cars
to the mill over Santa Fe tracks , which
cross at that point , at the old rate of $ li
a car. It was conceded that three-fifths
of the mill's business was interstate. The
defendant railroad now asserts that the
State court has no jurisdiction , and that
: he road is wholly under the control af
± e Interstate Commerce Commission.
Possible Arizona-Xevada Union.
Since the proposition for joint state
hood with New Mexico has been reject
ed by the people of Arizona it'has been
suggested that in case Congress shows a.
disposition to withhold statehood honors
from Arizona separately a move might
be made toward a union of that territory
with Nevada. Such a measure , it is said ,
will be strongly supported by the very
people who have opposed the union with
Mexico. 4
Use of Sei.smoprraph In TVar.
According to dispatches from Vienna ,
some important experiments were made
during the recent Ostend gunnery trials
by Prof. Belar , director of the Lalbach
earthquake observatory , who used the
seismographic apparatus to see if it was
possible to calculate scientifically by the
vibrations of the earth the location and
direction of distant artillery fire. Th&
experiments were satisfactory , and they
will be continued during the coming au
tumn artillery maneuvers in the Kara-
ianken hills.
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