The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1890-01-30
IA enouIu be maintalned. TIL

IA 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 which such wasteful ex-
penditure has occurred and is occurring
Russia IS great tranSgresSOr in this re-
spect The late car already possessed
half dozen capital yachts when he gave
orders for the building of the notorious
Livadia. 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 I've supplied with three screws
80 that she might be handy as we'll as
fast. And upon her spacious deck was
to be built vertable 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 fisst to
last considerably more than e500, 900 was
expended on her. Yet her imperial own
ar would have nothing to say to her. AS
a yacht she was a colossal failure, and
today che is only useful as a kind of float
! ing barracks in the Black sea- The pres
ent car is, nevertheless, expanding a
further e500,00 over a new vessel,
which is to be called the Polarnaia
Zvezda, and which, should she be sue
ccs3 will .haveall the magnifcencc, near
II all the size and more than the speed
and hardness of the discrcdited Noah's
ark IN which his majesty once hoped to
take his pleasure.
The czar's extravaganza does not in
jure 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 ahoat,
has just applied to his faithful subjects
for grant of money equal to e225 900
in order that be may build himself new
yacht. These examples are interesting
to the British taxpayer only because
they illustrate what appears to be a very
general tendency OH the part of the Eu-
ropean royalties. It. is not until the tax
payer comes to consider the royal yacht
question as it affects him 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-
teal purposes are yachts also, and the
Alberta and the Elfin. The oldest of the
four is the little yacht Elm, which was
built at Chatham in 1949. and which is of
only ninty three tons displacement. She
originally cost Sc. 1G9. or about .e66. rs. a
ton. The Enchantress. the present. ad-
miralty yacht, is beautifully fitted
craft of LOO tons displacement, yet her
original cost was rather less than SAT a
ton. 1t IS clear, therefore, that, at the
outset, the Elm was an 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 Coasunlahta .stnres4 sha