The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1890-01-30

au should be maintained. The
London Daily News remarks that there
are extravagant as well as reasonable
methods of maintaining all the splendor
and dignity that may be desirable, and
few people who give themselves the
trouble of inquiring into the subject will
be found to deny that an enormous
amount of money has been needlessly
wasted in connection with royal yachts
Great Britain is far from being the
only country in whiclrsueh wasteful ex-
penditure has occurred and is occurring
Russia is great transgressor in this re-
spect- The late czar already possessed
half a dozen capital yachts when he gave
orders for the building of the notorious.
Lvadia. She was to be the largest and
most magnificent as well as the most
original yacht in the world Unlike all
other vessels of the kind, she was to be
constructed with beam equal to two
thirds of her length, so, that she might;
not roll, and the imperial family might
be spared the horrors of seasickness.
She was to be supplied with three screws
80 that size might be handy as well as
fast. And upon her spacious deck was
to be built a Feritable palace. The plans
were carried out, and the Livadia was
launched at Govan in 1880.
- ExTRAvAGANT CARS.
Probably no one knows what she
cost, but it is, certain that from FIRST to
last considerably more than G500, 900 was
expended on her. Yet her imperial own
! ar would have nothing to say to her. AS
yacht she was colossal failure, and
today che is only useful as kind of float
ing barracks in the Black sea. The pres
ent car is, nevertheless, expanding a
further e500,000 over a new vessel,
which is to be called the Polarnaia
Zvezda, and which, should she be sue
eess, will .haveall the magnifcence, near
~ all the size and more than the speed
and hardness of the discredited Noah's
ark IN which his; ma esty once hoped to-
take his pleasure.
The cars extravaganza does not in
| jtre US. Neither does the yachting ex-
travagance of the young German emper-
or, who, although he possesses in the
| Hohenzollern one of the prettiest and
most comfortable craft of the kind afloat,
has just applied to his faithful subjects
for a grant of money equal to e225, 900
in order that he may build himself a new
| yacht. These examples are interesting
to the British taxpayer only because
they illustrate what appears to be very
general tendency on the part of the Eu-
ropean royalties. Teis not until the tax
payer comes to consider the royal yacht
question as it affects linn personally that
he experiences any very discomforting
shock. .
Her majesty at present enjoys the use
Of four yachts and tenders. The yachts
are the Victoria and Albert and the Os-
borne and the tenders, which for all prac-
tical purposes are yachts also, and the
Alberta and the Elm. The Oldest OF the
four is The little yacht Elm, which was
built at Chatham in 1849. and which is of
only ninty-tbree tons displacement. She
originally cost Sc. Los. or about. EGG IS. a
ton. The Enchantress, the present. adj
miralty yacht. is beautifully fitted
craft of 1000 tons displacement, yet her
original cost was rather less than .G47 a
ton. It b clear, therefore, that, at the
outset, the Elm was am expensive bar
gain. She has now been in existence
forty years, and, during that period, with
out reckoning the wages of the crew and
the price Of her co7sunahiaf stores. aha