Arizona weekly citizen., 1891-06-06
WASHINGTON LETTER.
President Harrison and Mrs. Harriso

| President Harrison and Mrs. Harrison
came home from their trip across the
continent with a remarkab collection
Of p-ese nts given to them by some good
! people along the route. The collection
makes a grand display, about which
both the president and his wife are very
proud. Mrs. Harrison has them spread
out in one of the corridors of the White
| House on exhibition to friends and ca:
lers. There are nearly four hundred
articles of more or less ID intrinsic value
| and artistic -5orth. The gold and silver
souvenirs are numerous and valuable; III
SIZE and variety they range from the
superb silver salver. presented 10 Mrs.
Harrison by the ladies OF San Francisco,
to tinv bit of a silver baby carriage,
about an inch square, but beautIfu,'- :
wrought in igure york, which ives
handed to the president somewhere
a.ong the route, for his grandson,
Benjamin Harrison McGee. The most
valuable Of any is probably the wrought
square OF gold, presented to the presI.
dent in San Francisco, giving him the
freedom of the city. The pre- Ident's
invitation TO the Palace hotel barquet
there was on thick gold card, aud his
menu card was another gold plate. In
Utah the president was given the free
dom of ,t1e territory in the presentation
of silver map OF the territory, nearly a
foot >quare.
President Harrison is expected within
a xxOaE r tn rho flU0
land court ldges, provided for by con-
gress last session. Thousands of cases
are being filed in the interior department.
fcr the courts consideration. so there is
great urgency about the mat er, and
the president cannot delay the estab-
lIshment Of the court much long, r.
The president means TO appoint three
republicans and two democrats TO make
up the court. Congressman Payson
of Illinois Will no doubt be appointe
as the presid ~ judge,and Congressmen
Peters. of Kansas, and Culberson of
Texas are mentioned as surely 10 be in
the court.
Army and navy officers have watched
with much interest the tests made dur
InG the past few days Of pneumatic dyn-
amito guns on the gunboat Vesuvlus IN
IlfD pJOD TOduS. Il Ic ISSUibo VI IuS
tests so far are anything but satisfactory
ar the opini is freely expressed here
that the Vesuyius. as q dynamite tOrpe
Go-thrower, is a dead failure. Efforts
were MADE TO throw Ar immense torpe-
do. tiled with several hundred pounds |
81 gGp-cotton, high explosive. a dis
tance of 4 miiie ct both liked and nova
bIe targets, and while the Vesuvirs was
at anch Ir. or at full speed. When the
vessel and the targets were stationary. |
tolerably fair results were obtained; !
but when both vessels and target wer, |
moving, the torpedoes, even at the dis !
tance of three quarters OF q mile, II |
most instances fell far short or over !
reached the mark. ::At three-fourtns Of 4 |
mile the prcjectile. in the experiment. |
fell 40 yards beyond the target, and al |
half mile range, one fell 300 yards |
short. Naval officers are disappointed at |
the result Of the experiments, and many, |
who all along doubted whether the Vesu-
wins would prove success, now say that |
the government has expended nearly |
a quarter of a million in a worthless |
pneumatic torpedG-thrower. One good |
result. however, is likely to grow out o.
these experiments: congress has author |
ized the construction of another vessel |
like the Vesuvius at a cost o. Ss}:}O, 600;
bnt after the experiments in Hampton |
Roads, Secretary Tracy is not at all like
ly to 60 ahead and spend the money in /
the construction of vessel with worth
less wind guns.