The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1893-04-15

lultN, VfNHltU fDlHt lllUNlllh HVpt W cut
30 per cent Of the timber on twcnty-six
sections Of land In Montana.
Secretary Morton OF the Department
Of Agriculture has devised plan TO test
the fitness Of applicants for positions
not governed by the ciyil-scryicc rules.
Each applicant on filing his application
will be required 10 answer set Of qucs.
tious ~ TO moral and physical qualiica-
/ tiOus and on the work which he will be
required to perform. He hopes by this
means 10 secure high standard in the
! department.
A Republican Senator, who stands
high ia the party councils says the pro-
posed Senatorial investigations Of a pri-
yute character and the reorganization
schemes will come to nothing this scs-
sion. They cannot be considered while
the contested seats are under considcrl.
tion aud when that subject il disposed
OF the Senate will probably adjourn, ~
the quorum would otherwise disappear
within two days after the President no-
! titled the Senate he has no further busi-
ncss 10 present 10 IL.
Secretaries Gresham and Carlisle while
/ looking into the expenditures Of the
/ Bchring Sea Commission reached some
allowances which were cXtrayagant and
/ should be discontinued. 1t appears that
everybody connected with the Commis-
/ sion, from the stcnographcr down, have
been given very liberal allowances which
| the officials Of this administration in
cludc under the head of "uselcss eXtrav-
agancc." There are, it is said, eight or
! ten officials connected with the COmmis-
sion who are receiving more than double
/ pay by drawing s6 to 10 per day in adj
dition TO regular salaries, which range
/ from 81 300 To ,3 800 per annum. Ru-
mOrs OF these exposures have made
quite stir in the department, and some
interesting developments are expected.
The Senate Committee on Foreign Re-
lations held meeting the other morn
ing. II il understood that, while favor
able to making public the text OF the
Russian treaty, il was unable 10 agree
upon a favorable report by reason OF dis
agreements relative 10 the correspond
enCc accompanying the convention. a
wcll-known Senator, who il the cham
pion OF general humanitarian lcgisla-
ton, states that, when published, the
treaty will be found neither more nor
less Objectionable than several other
treaties which have been in operation
for some years The criticisms, he says,
are due to Il conception of the effect OF
the instrument upon the garblcd eX-
tracts OF surrcptitious publication OF
. . l,. 80, Il. thn Apnufn
Assistant Secretary Spaulding has
written the following letter to Collectors
on the Pacific Coast; "The department
il informed that the practice obtains
among Chinese laborers in this country
OF cntrusting money to merchants, which
is treated rs part OF the capital in the
business. Chinese laborers who have
made such disposition of their savings
although not actually engaged in bust
ness, have claimed to be merchants, and
say they are thereby entitled to leave the
country and return at pleasure. The de-
partment desires you to closely scrutln'
izc the certificates which may be pre-
scntcd ut your port by returning Chinese
and to require evidence OF the standing
OF the holders as bona-tide merchants,
actively engaged in business. In no case
should Chinese be permitted to enter as
merchants unless their right to the priv
ilcge is clearly established, and where il
appears the practice herein referred to is
attempted the certificates presented
should be ignored, the holders arrested
and the facts reported to the depart
mcnt."
The question of sheathing our nava
vessels is one to which Secretary Herbert
it is said, proposes to give some earnest
consideration. Naval Constructor lliCh
born has prepared some important dati
on the subject. He shows that the At
lanta on her trial trip with clean bot
tom attained speed of l5.5 knot,
an hour with 3,345-horse power
while the Boston, her exact duplicate
with comparatively foul bottom made
but 1873 knots on 3,390-horse power
Constructor llichborn holds that the i'm
portance of the preservation of the bot
tom of steel vessels from Corrosion anC
fouling can hardly be overestimated anC
is continually emphasized by the reports
of loss of speed and increased coal con
sumption received from our new un
sheathed steel vessels now in commits
sion. Unless our cruisers are to be con
fined to cruises of short duration in the
neighborhood OF our own ports, it woulc
appear that they are deficient in tht
most important quality-the ability tC
maintain high speed at sea for long pc
riods. The additional expense incurred
in putting on the sheathing of wood anc
copper is in reality great saving dur
ing the lifetime OF a ship, as it obviate'
the necessity of frequent docking anC
the largely increased coal bills when thu
the metal bottom is foul. For vesse
like the Chicago the cost would be be
tween 1900 and $400 for docking alone
TO this sum must be added about 81 ,0OI
for scraping and painting. In Grea
Britain competition has brought thO
charges for private docks down to a min
imum, but the docks in India, China
Australia and on the Pacific Coast ar
} very expensive. Captain Hichborn rec
, ommends that all cruising vessels in
tended for general service in foreign wa
ters be sheathed if above 1000 tons dis
placement, and that vessels of less thai
900 tons displacement intended for gen
eral service as cruising gunboats, ETC., b
) of composite construction, with steel
framing wood outside, planking and cop
per sheathing.