The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1892-01-21

AY, JANUARY IL 1881.
ranch. They were well armed and in
good lighting condition. The whole
country along the Rio Grande are in
sympathy with Cara.
Capt. Bates and his company are
guarding quite long stretch of the
river and fight is expected at any
time. Lieutenant Evans said they
had a detachment of men at every
ford on the Rio Grande for seventeen
miles down the river and several
miles up, but no soldiers between
Devil river and PrenOr Soldiers are
expected to cover that territory soon.
CAPITAL SAFE IN MEXICO.
Special to the Statesman.
SAN ANTONIO, Tex, Jan. 17.-Mr.
H. d. Whittemore, for thirty-eight
years mining engineer in Mexico
and now the manager of large
mining property, recently interviewed
prominent officials in every state
lying between the frontier and the
City. By none of them, he says, was
there the slightest excitement over
the Cara matter. The people were
contented and almost universally in
favor of the Diaz government. In the
past two years twenty-siX millions Of
American money has been invested in
Mexico, The CARA trouble has much
decreased railway passenger traffic
into Mexico. Mr. Whittemore will
visit St. Louis, Chicago and New
York. His mission is to see the lead
inc business men and remove the i'm
preston that American capital is not
safe in Mexico.
WASHINGTON, d. G., Jan. 18.-The
Navy department today is still the
scene of great activity. Tracy was in
frequent consultation with the chief of
ordnance, the chief of navigation and
the chief of construction and occas-
ior ally called for his chief engineer.
The other chiefs also fit back and
forth through the doors and are Civ
ing outward and visible signs of the
real work that is going on. At the
bureau the clerks are working at top
speed with typewriters and skimming
through ledgers making calculations
and transacting the greatly increased
volume of business, but in the office of
the chief of the bureau Of navigation,
Commodore Ramsey, the hustle is the
greatest. Three or four assist
ants have been detailed
to translate the ciphered
dispatches and they are kept busy
putting messages into cipher for trans
mission and making ineligible the
eablegrams that come in from the
south.
The naval code is one of the most
intricate ever devised 1t is numeral
in character, and has never yet been
detected. lis inconvenience, there
fore, is tolerated because of the safety,
a consideration of the first importance
at such time as this, and at its pres
ent use is the main work of the navl-
cation bureau. The officers sit in a
small room adjoining the office of the
chief, with closed doors, their desks
covered by large, flat code. book for
which a foreign enemy would give
the price of a man Of war.
The grist of half dozen cable
grams constitute nearly days work,
and So all the available force of the
bureau is put upon the task.
Meanwhile, Ramsay devotes con-
siderable time to communication with
the chief of the photographic office,
Commander Glover, who has in his
office accurate charts of both CONT
nents. They are especially valuable
now and great care 10 being taken in
their study. By this means every
mile Of the South American shore can
be watched and advantage thus taken
of the materials that have been pa
tiently collected in former years. The
greatest pressure, however, is being
brought to bear on the ordnance bu,
reau, which represents the fighting
am of the navy.
The chief of that bureau is getting
the most satisfactory results from the
gun making plant at Washington
yard, besides stimulating the steel
to their best efforts in
he rapid production of material, but
above all the greatest activity has
prevailed in the bureau of naval in
the agents of which are
'aid to have been at work on plan of
possible campaign, besides collect
ny all imaginable information from
lbroad. 1t is through this bureau
hat the secretary has kept himself
thoroughly informed on the move
nents of the agents of Chile, who it
S rumored have some time be en- ran
acktng Europe for war material.
THAT TORPEDO SHIPMENT.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 1S.-Geo. Asia
Surnaga, who was charge d'aflairs
f the Chilean legation at Washington
uring Balmaceda's administration I
ives some interesting information re-
arding the 1000 torpedoes shipped to
lille, which Admiral Walker cabled |
rom Montevideo were on their way
0 their destination. This heavy ship
1ent of torpedoes is generally taken
s an indication of Chile's preparation |
IL war and an evidence that she is
citing ready to fight the United
tates. Asia Burnaga asserts posi-