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THE GREAT ROUND WORLD AND WHAT IS GOING ON IN IT
Vol. 1 AUGUST 26, 1897 No. 42. [Entered at Post Office, New York City, as second class matter]
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VOL. 1 AUGUST 26, 1897. NO. 42
The most important news of the past week is the step which Great Britain has taken in breaking off the commercial treaties with Germany and Belgium, which have been in effect since 1865.
By the terms of these treaties, Great Britain gave her word that no articles manufactured in either of these countries should be charged higher tariff duties in her colonies than similar articles of British manufacture.
For instance, on German and Belgian cloth, exactly the same duty is charged in Canada and Australia and the colonies generally as on the English cloth. You would have supposed that England, being the mother country, would have been charged a lower tariff than foreign countries, but according to the treaties this was impossible.
By breaking these treaties it has, however, become possible for Great Britain to make arrangements whereby her merchandise can be introduced into her colonies on terms that are very favorable to herself.
In taking this step England is only closing the last chapter of a volume of her history, and when she makes her new treaties with her colonies she will be commencing the first chapter of the new history of the British Empire that is yet to be written.
This matter is of such vast importance, in the bearing that it will have on the future, that we must try our best to understand it.
England's importance and wealth lie in her colonies. She is but a "right little, tight little island" of herself; but when regarded from the standpoint of her possessions, her territory covers about one-sixth of the land surface of the globe (see map, page 1189). Her possessions lie north, south, east, and west, till it is rightly said that "the sun never sets on England's glory."
All her various dependencies are self-governing. They have their own legislatures, impose their own taxes, and manage their own affairs socially, politically, and commercially.
At the same time, the colonies are absolutely a part of the British Empire. The lands belong to the Crown, and the Crown derives an income from the profits of the colonies.
Though the legislature is made up of representatives chosen by the people, the governor of each province or colony is appointed by the Crown, and governs in the name of the Queen.
The local governments can make what laws they please, but any act of the colonial parliament that is obnoxious to England can be annulled by the British Parliament.
While England endeavors to make the colonies independent, she also insists on their being obedient. She maintains armies to protect them, stands ready to advance the young colonies money for their development, and rules them in a kindly and beneficent way.
There is no question of taxing and draining the resources of the country for the sake of gain, as in the olden days, or as Spain does at the present; the English policy since Victoria came to the throne has been to develop and improve the colonies and make them self-supporting and independent.
The colonies are represented in the British Parliament by the Colonial Secretary, who is a Cabinet officer, and holds one of the most important positions in the Government. The wishes and desires of the colonies are made known to Parliament through him.
For years people have discussed the position of the colonies, and whether it would not be better if the bonds between the mother country and her dependencies were more closely drawn. It has often been suggested that England should band her possessions together into one vast empire, on the principle of our own United States. Each country would then have representatives in the British Parliament, just as our various States are represented at Washington, and all these countries would be joined together for offence and defence just as we are.
Such a federation would make Great Britain an enormous power. The British possessions are scattered all over the globe. Were she to federate with her colonies the declaration of war on her part with any country would mean that Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and British South America would all join in the fight, and help to uphold England's quarrel. England could then dictate to the world, and her power would exceed that of ancient Rome in its days of greatest glory.
This scheme has always been a dream of ambitious English statesmen, but the policy of the British Government has always been against it.
The idea was so vast that no one dared advise the taking of the first step.
The British Ministers feared that the result of the federation would be a combination of all the rest of Europe against England, so they adopted the policy of keeping good friends with their European neighbors, and allowing the colonies to wait yet a little longer for federation.
The modern statesmen have been extending British influence ever further and further, in the hope of one day accomplishing the great federation.
It was this dream that was behind the Transvaal raid. The Colonial Secretary, Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, desired to see the whole of South Africa under the sovereignty of England, and Mr. Cecil Rhodes had no objection to making the effort to realize this wish, because the scheme would have proved as profitable to himself as to the Government. That to accomplish his purpose he had to crush the Boers, and drive them out of their own country, was nothing to him; he did not hesitate at anything that was to be for the honor and glory of England—and the subsequent enriching of Cecil Rhodes.
The scandal over the Raid brought the idea of federation to the front again, and when the Jubilee celebrations took place a move was made to secure it.
Eleven of the colonial premiers, or prime ministers, attended the Jubilee, and during their visit to London they held a conference to discuss the project.
At this meeting the Colonial Secretary took the old ground that the matter was of such vast importance that it must not be approached hastily.
The Canadian premiers were, however, anxious that some step should be taken, and Sir Wilfrid Laurier, from Canada, voiced the sentiments of his brother premiers when he stated that the time had come for the colonies to draw more closely to the empire, or separate from it altogether.
England found herself in a dilemma. While she had been careful to bring up her colonies to be independent of her, she had not realized that one day they might become too independent, and seek to break away from her rule altogether. She had repeated none of the mistakes of oppression and greed that had cost her the American colonies, and she had supposed that her other colonies would be satisfied to belong to the British Crown.
Sir Wilfrid Laurier's hint was enough for her.
She was well aware that the tie which binds Canada to her is so slight that it might easily be broken, and realizing the danger of the situation, she determined to throw aside her old foreign policy, and adopt new measures to bind her colonies more closely to her.
Sir Wilfrid Laurier, who is a statesman of a very high order, had foreseen what England's answer would be, and last winter prepared the way for the breaking of the German and Belgian treaties.
He engineered a tariff law, offering about twelve per cent reduction the first year, and twenty-five per cent thereafter, of tariff dues to all countries admitting Canadian goods on certain favorable terms.
It was thoroughly understood at the time that England was the only country which could benefit by such an arrangement. England, as you know, believes in free trade, and has now but twenty articles subject to tariff; the most important of these are beer, wine, spirits, tobacco, tea, coffee, and soap.
With such a very small list of dutiable imports you can readily see how easy it is for England to be the country which gives the best terms to Canadian goods.
When this Canadian tariff was first made the other nations smiled at it as a meaningless piece of legislation, but as they thought over it they saw its true meaning, and at once denounced it as an attempt to make England false to her agreement with Germany and Belgium.
England saw the force of this herself, and did not attempt to take advantage of the reduced rates of the Canadian tariff.
This did not disconcert Sir Wilfrid Laurier in the least. He had put the new law through for a certain purpose, and he was willing to wait patiently until he could secure the desired end.
His opportunity came at the Conference.
After the Colonial Secretary had answered the premiers that he thought it better to wait a while before federating, the Canadian Prime Minister made a very earnest speech.
Having first stated that the time had come to take some decided action, he said that he and all the other premiers were of one mind that Great Britain should make an end of all her treaties with foreign countries which hampered her trade with her colonies.
He added that if this were done the various governments would see if some arrangement could not be made by which a preference would be given to British manufactures.
These remarks met with the most enthusiastic indorsement from the other prime ministers, who requested that they be embodied in a resolution, and presented to the Colonial Secretary for parliamentary consideration.
Mr. Chamberlain therefore laid the matter before the government, and it was thereupon decided to end the two treaties mentioned.
Notice was accordingly sent to both Germany and Belgium that the existing treaties would cease on July 30, 1898.
Canada and the colonies are highly elated over this matter, for it is understood that this is but the first step toward federation.
That the foreign Powers will be very much opposed to this plan is a foregone conclusion.
The foreign journals are speaking very severely about it, and saying that England is much mistaken if she thinks that such an arrangement would make her powerful enough to dictate to the world.
The day when federation will be completed is still very far off, however; the colonies themselves are not federated as yet, and it is hard to suppose that they are ready to come together and be happy as one country with England when they are still divided among themselves. Newfoundland is outside the Canadian federation; Cape Colony, in South Africa, is divided into several states; Australia has five separate states, each with its own governor and legislature. These states should first be joined together before they can safely venture to combine with the mother country in an alliance which would be against the world.
Germany and Belgium are both incensed that England should seek to put an end to the treaties. Some hot heads in Germany are urging their Government to return blow for blow, and commence a tariff war with England.
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With wars and rumors of wars about us, the necessity of being prepared for any emergency has presented itself very strongly to the Secretaries of both the Army and the Navy.
While our standing army is small, our military arrangements are such that we need have little anxiety on the score of the army. We have a large State Militia always at the service of the country, and we have the right to call on all able-bodied citizens between the ages of eighteen and forty-five for military service in case of need. This brings the number of men capable of bearing arms in our defense up to the number of ten millions.
Our army, therefore, is on a satisfactory basis.
With our navy, things are different. It has come to be a recognized fact among nations that countries who wish to be respected abroad must have a sufficient naval force to compel that respect when necessary.
Our navy is not as large as the importance of our country demands, and it is the intention of the Secretary of the Navy to ask Congress to make appropriations to enable him to have several new ships built.
Meanwhile he is in a good deal of difficulty over the armor for the ships that are being built.
Armor is a covering of thick steel plates with which all the modern battleships are supplied. It is intended to protect their hulls from the cannon-balls and projectiles that are now used in warfare.
There are three ships now building for the Government, the Illinois, Alabama, and Wisconsin, and the cause of the trouble is that no firm can be found willing to supply the armor-plate for the price fixed by Congress.
This price is $300 per ton.
Congress had a long discussion about the matter, and decided that this was a fair and proper price to pay, and instructed the Secretary of the Navy to buy it for this sum.
The Secretary had his doubts about the possibility of doing as he was required, because he knew that the iron and steel manufacturers asked a much higher price.
He, however, did as Congress desired, with the result that the Carnegie Company refused point-blank, saying they could not possibly manufacture it for that price. Several other firms also declined, and finally, giving up all hope of placing the contracts, the Secretary suggested that the Government should make its own armor-plate.
Agreeably to this suggestion, a board has been formed to look into the matter, and see whether it is possible for the Government to enter into this business with profit to itself.
While some people declare that it will cost the Government twice as much to manufacture the armor, others think that it can be made for considerably less than the companies ask.
The history of this affair is very interesting.
About 1885, Mr. Whitney, who was then Secretary of the Navy, induced a private company, the Bethlehem Iron Works, to build the first American armor plant, by making a number of contracts with them which would keep them busy furnishing armor for battleships for several years.
The price then fixed was $580 per ton, and the armor to be supplied was what is known as steel armor.
Before the first contract could be filled, the next Secretary, Mr. Tracy, had his attention called to some new kinds of armor that were being introduced.
One kind was being made by an English firm, and another by a French company.
The English plan was to make what is called compound armor. This was hard steel welded on to a back of softer metal, the idea being that the soft back would act as a sort of cushion, and save the front part of the plate from being cracked by the blows of the shot.
The French system was to make a mixture of steel and nickel. They claimed that the nickel alloy would give greater strength to the plate.
Secretary Tracy was so anxious that we should have the best possible armor for our battleships that he ordered a plate from both companies, and sent them to the Naval Academy at Annapolis to be tested.
The big guns were tried on first one and then the other; the English armor cracked in four pieces, but on the nickel steel the shot were shattered into fragments.
Congress immediately voted that the new battleships should be supplied with nickel-steel armor, and an appropriation was made for this purpose.
Before the new contract could be carried out, President Harrison learned that a man named Harvey had invented a process for hardening the surface of the steel used in making tools. This process was found to be so excellent that it revolutionized the making of tools, which were thereafter made from the hardened or "Harveyized steel."
This process had never been applied to any large surface, but it was thought that if Harvey's method could be used for the nickel-steel plates, a perfect armor would be the result.
The experiment was therefore tried. A large nickel-steel plate was subjected to the process and then tested at Annapolis.
The result was highly satisfactory; all the projectiles sent against the plate were shattered, while the plate remained comparatively uninjured.
The success of the Harvey process on the nickel steel was universally acknowledged; other countries abandoned their previous style of armor, and the United States set out to build a number of new ships that should be protected with this invulnerable armor.
It was soon found that the Bethlehem Company was not able to furnish all the armor needed, and so the Government persuaded the Carnegie Company to go into the armor-plate business. The Carnegie people were promised an equal share of the work, and the same prices as the Bethlehem Company.
Matters went on peacefully until July 10th of last year, when Congress directed the Secretary of the Navy to inquire into the cost of making armor-plate, and to give an idea of the price he thought the Government ought to pay for it. The result of his inquiries was to be made known on January 1st of this year.
The Secretary did make the inquiries, and found that the actual cost of making a ton of armor-plate was $197.78.
After an elaborate calculation of profit and loss, and the cost of the machinery used in making the armor, he decided that the armor could be made for $250 a ton. He suggested that the Government ought then to allow the companies a liberal sum per ton for profit on their enterprise, and suggested that a fair price to pay would be $400 per ton.
Had Congress accepted this suggestion there would have been an actual saving of $180 a ton over the price made on the original contracts.
Congress was not, however, satisfied with this. If the Company could make the iron and come out clear at $250 a ton, it was thought that a profit of $150 a ton was too much to allow, and therefore Congress voted that the Government price for armor-plate in future should be $300 per ton.
They offered at this price to make a contract for twenty new battleships, which would keep the armor works busy for the next ten years.
The Carnegie and Bethlehem companies were indignant at this offer, and refused it absolutely.
They insisted that they could not begin to supply armor for less than $442 a ton, and that then they would be making little profit on their work.
They reminded Congress that they had added costly machinery to their plants to oblige the Government, and that the country ought to be willing to pay them enough money for their work to reimburse them for the sums they had laid out.
Congress would not listen to this argument. It declared that the armor-plate people had formed a trust by which they hoped to force the Treasury to pay them any price they chose to ask, and finally declared that if armor-plate could be made at an actual cost of $197.78 per ton, the Government would no longer pay $558 to benefit the pockets of private individuals.
Further than this, Congress declared that if the Carnegie and Bethlehem people would not make the armor for $300 a ton, the Government would go into the business for itself, and leave these two companies with their machinery on their hands.
The committee appointed to examine into the cost of establishing government armor works is to be ready to hand in its report next December.
In the mean while the three new warships that are building will have to wait, and no new vessels can be commenced until this very important matter is settled.
* * * * *
Startling and terrible news reaches us from Spain.
Senor Canovas del Castillo (Casteelyo), the Spanish Prime Minister, has been assassinated!
The whole of Europe is greatly excited by this dreadful news.
Senor Canovas had overworked himself during the last session of the Cortes, and this, combined with the worry of Cuban affairs, had broken down his health.
In the hope of regaining his strength he had gone to the baths of Santa Aguada, at Guesalibar, on the Bay of Biscay, not far from San Sebastian, where the court is summering.
He was sitting reading his paper in the grounds of the bath-house when he was shot and killed by an Italian ruffian.
In Senor Canovas, Spain has lost one of her greatest statesmen. It was he who put Alfonso XII., the father of the present king, on the throne of Spain.
During his whole career Spain has been the scene of many stormy trials.
In 1868 the people forced the old Queen, Isabella II., to resign the throne. She was a very wicked woman, and did so many bad things that the people would not be disgraced by her any longer. They rose against her, and she was obliged to flee to France to seek the protection of Napoleon III.
On her departure a council was appointed to choose a new sovereign. There were several claimants, among them Alfonso, the son of the deposed Isabella, and Don Carlos, the grandson of Don Carlos I. (See p. 563.)
The council rejected all the candidates, and chose a German prince. Napoleon III. objected on Queen Isabella's account; the Germans were incensed at his interference, and the argument that followed gave rise to the Franco-German War in 1870.
The Spanish council, disappointed of their German prince, finally chose a son of Victor Emmanuel of Italy, and made him King of Spain under the title of Amadeus I.
The new King did not take kindly to his throne. The Carlists were striving to gain the crown for their candidate, and the country was plunged into the horrors of a civil war.
After a reign of two years and one month Amadeus abdicated and went back to Italy, disgusted with the honors that had been thrust upon him.
This did not help the Carlists. A republic was declared which lasted until 1874. In August of that year the republic was formally acknowledged by all the countries of Europe except Russia, and in the following December the people changed their minds once more, and Alfonso, the son of Isabella, was proclaimed King by the Republican armies.
Alfonso reigned eleven years, and died in the winter of 1885. In the spring of 1886 the young King was born, his mother, Maria Christina of Austria, was declared Regent, and will continue to govern the country for the young Alfonso XIII. until he is old enough to take care of the country himself.
During all these troublous times Canovas steadily upheld the crown; through riot and revolution he never wavered, and was even banished from Spain on one occasion because of his well-known sympathy for the crown.
When the right moment came he placed himself at the head of Alfonso's friends, and succeeded in seating him on the throne.
Alfonso XII. never forgot the service Canovas had done him. He made him his Prime Minister, and during his entire reign was guided by the Minister's advice.
After Alfonso's death Canovas devoted himself to the service of the Queen Regent, and has been her faithful ally and counsellor ever since.
The Minister was, however, a haughty and arrogant man. He made many enemies through his pride, and despite the respect which both King and Queen had for him, both were more or less afraid of him.
There are two stories about him which show how little he cared how he offended even such mighty personages as his sovereigns.
On one occasion Alfonso XII., wishing to reward him for some service, offered to make him a duke. Canovas is said to have replied to the King:
"Sire, I made you a king—how can you make me a duke!"
One day, during Alfonso's lifetime, the Queen got very much out of temper with her consort, and allowed herself to give way to her anger before the court.
Canovas was greatly displeased, and followed the Queen to her apartments.
"Madam," he said, as soon as they were alone, "the interests of the monarchy are of more importance than your private feelings. To-morrow you will leave Spain for Austria, and await my orders in Vienna."
Astonishing as it may seem, the Queen obeyed.
Canovas ruled with a rod of iron. It is stated that his murder was committed in revenge for some terrible cruelties that were practised in Barcelona by his orders. A little over a year ago a bomb was thrown into one of the churches in Barcelona. Four hundred people were arrested, and it was supposed that the bomb-throwing was the outcome of an Anarchist plot.
Numbers of the persons arrested were evidently innocent, and the Government could not find out who was responsible for the outrage. Canovas refused to believe that any of the people arrested were innocent, but insisted that they knew all about it if they could only be made to speak, and so he ordered them tortured in the most inhuman ways to make them confess.
The man who shot Canovas declared, when he was arrested, that his brother had been tortured in Barcelona, and that he had killed the Minister in revenge.
Great statesman and good friend to the crown as Canovas was, he was a bad friend to the people. He believed in force. It was he who chose General Weyler to go to Cuba, well knowing his ferocious character, and that he would be sure to treat the insurgents with great severity.
Now that Canovas is dead the Cubans believe that the war will soon be brought to a close. They think that Sagasta will be appointed to fill the place of the murdered Minister, and that he will at once recall Weyler, and send Campos in his place.
They think that Sagasta will offer them home rule, and if they refuse it, and show a determination to continue the war, that Sagasta will weaken and offer to give up the island for a sum of money.
One Cuban, being asked what effect he thought the death of Canovas would have, replied:
"He has done more to harm Cuba than Weyler, and through his death the unfortunate island will lose two of her worst enemies. Canovas' death means Cuba's freedom!" But, naturally, a Cuban's estimate of a Spanish Minister cannot, be accepted as an unprejudiced one.
To his sovereign and his country Senor Canovas has ever been a most faithful servant. In him the Queen Regent loses the one man on whom Spain relied for help out of her present difficulties.
* * * * *
The Coal Strike is still unsettled.
A determined effort is being made to get the Pittsburg miners to join the strike. There is a great Pittsburg firm called the New York and Cleveland Gas and Coal Company, of which Mr. W.P. De Armitt is the head. It is a most important firm, and the strikers think that if they can only get De Armitt's men to join them they are sure of success.
The De Armitt men are, however, quite content with their treatment, and not anxious to join the strike. To win them over, large bands of striking miners have camped near the De Armitt mines, and every morning they march to the pit's mouth, intercepting the men as they are going to work, and urging them to join the strike and help their fellows.
They have already persuaded many of the men to leave work.
They have been very orderly so far, and though fears of violence are entertained, as yet there has been no rioting.
The only person who has got into trouble has been Debs.
When the strike was first organized, Debs and the other labor agitators declared that it was impossible for the strike to fail if the miners only held together. They gave such a rosy picture of the whole affair, that many of the miners believed that the great strike would be settled with little delay or trouble.
They were quite unprepared for the long and bitter struggle into which it has developed, and many of them are angry with Debs and the other agitators for misrepresenting affairs to them. Debs is therefore losing influence with the miners just now.
On the other hand, the coal-owners are combining against him, declaring that but for his mischievous intermeddling, everything could have been adjusted without trouble.
The mine-owners of West Virginia have therefore sought relief through the law, and obtained a judge's order, forbidding Debs, or any of his fellow-agitators, from making any efforts to induce the miners to strike.
They are forbidden to make speeches or conduct parades, or gather crowds in the mining districts.
This is a severe blow to the agitators. The cooperation of the West Virginia miners is also considered essential to success.
These men, like De Armitt's, have no grievances of their own for which they need redress, and it has not been easy to persuade them that they ought to strike for the sake of their less fortunate brothers.
To obtain any such result it is necessary to have a number of speakers constantly talking to the men, and teaching them, and urging them.
The order forbidding speaking and persuading is a hard blow to Debs and his workers.
He, however, declares that he is not discouraged, and that he will win the strike in spite of every effort of the owners.
While the coal trade has been thus agitated, a curious labor difficulty has arisen in Paterson, New Jersey.
There are, as you know, labor unions all over the country. Every trade has its own special union. The members of these unions, when they first join, bind themselves to be guided by the rules and laws laid down by the officers of the union.
The United Broad Silk Weavers' Union held a meeting the other day, in which it adopted a certain scale of wages, and sent out an order that no member was to work for any other wages than those fixed by the Union.
When this order was sent to Paterson there was great consternation. Nearly all the weavers there are members of the union, and when they came to examine the new scale which they were bound to abide by, they found it to be below the rate of wages which they were at that moment receiving.
The Paterson weavers have been enjoying good wages, and are in comfortable circumstances. Since the inauguration of President McKinley they have gone on strike several times. Their employers thought their demands were just, and agreed to give them the increase they asked, so that they have settled their own affairs in a way that is highly satisfactory to themselves.
Now comes this order from the labor union, and they are in a terrible dilemma.
If they obey the rules of their order, they will have to go in a body to their employers, and ask to have their wages reduced.
If they do not, they will be obliged to leave the union; and if in future their employers try to get the best of them, they will then have no one to come forward and fight their battles for them.
The outcome of this affair is being watched with a good deal of amusement and interest.
* * * * *
A scientific expedition, headed by Professor Libbey, of Princeton University, started early in July to explore a mesa or table-land of sandstone which rises out of the alkali plains, in the neighborhood of Albuquerque, New Mexico.
This mesa is seven hundred feet high. Its top has never before been trodden by man, for it rises from the plain with perpendicular walls that are inaccessible to even the most experienced mountain-climbers.
The mesa is situated near the Indian village of Acoma, and is called by the natives the Enchanted Mesa. They have a wonderful legend about it.
The rock is fifteen acres in extent and, according to their story, was once the dwelling-place of the Acoma tribe. After a while, as the tribe increased, there was not room enough on the rock for their dwellings and their fields, so they made a way down the rock, and used to send their able-bodied men below to sow and reap, while the aged and the young did the housekeeping on top of the mesa.
The story goes on to say that once, when the young men were away in the fields, a terrible storm arose; the thunders raged and the winds blew, and when at last the storm subsided it was found that the rocky staircase by which the Acomas were used to go up and down had been entirely swept away.
The Indians ran round and round the rock, but everywhere they found the straight walls as we see them to-day. It was impossible to climb them; they could not get up to the friends they had left behind, nor could the unfortunate people come down to them.
For days they tried every means to reach the top, but they could not do so. They could see their friends peering over at them, but day by day the faces grew fewer and fewer, until at last all were gone.
Since then the mesa has been held sacred by the Acomas, and regarded by them as a city of the dead.
This legend has been so thoroughly believed that scientists have often discussed the possibility of scaling this rock for the sake of the wonderful remains that must be on the top. Finally Professor Libbey determined to make the attempt.
He took with him a life-saving apparatus, of the kind that is used on the sea-coast for sending a line out to a wrecked vessel. His plan was to throw the line over the rock, and then have himself hauled up in an arrangement of ropes, used by sailors for working over the side of ships, and called by them a boatswain's chair.
The life-saving apparatus was tried, and proved to be most successful. A rocket was sent up with the life-line attached, and on the second effort was shot clear over the rock.
The line thus thrown was a thin quarter-inch rope; to this a strong hawser was attached, and after infinite labor pulled across the mesa's top. The boatswain's chair was then attached, and with the aid of a pair of strong horses, who pulled away at one end of the rope, the professor was hauled to the top of the rock.
To his disappointment he found no traces whatever of former inhabitants, and no evidences that any human being had ever trodden the rock's surface before.
He found plenty of water standing in pools, which had evidently been left from recent rains, and plenty of grass and trees similar to those found on the summits of the other buttes in the neighborhood, but the legend of the Acomas was evidently a myth.
He went from end to end of the Mesa, but there was not the slightest sign of cave or dwelling, nor even a scrap of broken pottery to prove that the rock had once been inhabited. G.H. ROSENFELD.
INVENTION AND DISCOVERY.
PORTABLE REFRIGERATING CASE.—It must be some one who loves to go on picnics or excursions who has thought out this delightful contrivance, a portable refrigerator. It comprises an inner case which holds bottles and ice, and an outer case with a partition into which the water from the ice can run, and with means for drawing it off.
A fair supply of ice would insure bottles of cold water, milk, ginger-ale, etc, throughout a long day's trip.
LEAK-STOPPER FOR PNEUMATIC TIRES.—This seems to be a very clever and practical invention.
The bicycle-tape, and the mastic, and the dozen other devices for mending punctured tires are all very well in their way, but they are not absolutely reliable.
A punctured tire is a wounded tire, and needs the aid of a bicycle doctor. All attempts at doing one's own surgery are likely to fail for the simple reason that we are not experts in the business, and do not always understand the extent of the damage.
The leak-stopper is merely a bandage to be applied to the wound till help can be found. It consists of a strap of flexible material, provided at one end with a buckle and at the other with a pair of tongues.
On the inside of the strap is some flexible air-tight material partly fastened to the strap, and so arranged that it will entirely cover the lips of the wound.
The edges are covered with adhesive material, and are firmly pressed on either lip of the wound, drawing it together and covering it with air-tight material, so that no air can escape.
The strap is then buckled round the tire, holding the ligature in place, and the air can be pumped in and the rider proceed without fear of any further difficulty.
BICYCLE PROPULSION.—So much has been invented for and said about bicycles, that it seems strange that anything is left to say or to do, yet here is a very novel idea. It is not so very long since wind and water were the only motor powers, but those days are so clearly superseded that it is quite a surprising suggestion that a wind-wheel be attached to bicycles. Machinery connects it with the driving-wheel by means of a rotary shaft, and the wind-wheel becomes an additional help. This may prove a very useful contrivance for long-distance riders.
EMBROIDERY HOOP.—There are surely among our readers some girls who embroider and who have experienced difficulty with their embroidery hoops. The inner hoop is sure to fit so tightly within the outer one that if the material to be embroidered is at all thick, neither persuasion nor force will make it slip into place. A new hoop is now being made which can be adjusted for goods of any thickness. This is done by means of a split binding-hoop, the two ends of which connect by a screw-threaded bolt, and can be loosened or tightened at will, a nut on the threaded end of the bolt holding the ends firmly in place.
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S.T.A. Vertical Writing Pens
PRICES:
Per Gross, $1.00; Per Dozen (samples), 10 Cents
Vertical writing demands a commercial pen. The "S.T.A." pens are strictly a commercial pen, made after the famous models designed by John Jackson, originator of the
———System of Upright Writing.———
The desirability of teaching children, boys especially, to write with such a pen as they will use in after life will be recognized by every good teacher.
Introduced into the Schools of Denver, Colo., and elsewhere.
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