Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1895-03-06

w uOh bLO b6tu tuIllb uD AS
clover we would have lynched him if
we could, but he was probably working
the same game over again in different
part of the United States''
1t begins to look little more than
ever before, as if we were going to
have submarine telegraphic connec.
tion between the United States and the
Hawaiian Islands. This is a thing that
has been talked about more or less for
nearly forty years. Four years ago the
Senate passed bill providing for
subsidy to a company proposing to
build, but the bill did not get through
the House.
MIR. Blaine. with his usual foresight
and breadth of view, was very much
in earnest in behalf of the construction
OF line between Hawaii and the
United States "by American effort and
with the sanction Of our government
He pressed his view upon the Senate.
and before doing so he fortified himself
with facts obtained from Mr.. John w.
Mackay Of the Commercial Cable Com
pany. He was very much surprised
when Mr.. Mackay told him that the
business to be done between the United
States and the Sandwich Islands would
not be large enough to Justify the con-
struction of the line by private enter
prise. 1t was Mr.. Mackay who fixed
the probable cost for building such
cabls at $3.000,000 and who called
the attention of Mr. Blaine to the over
looked fact that to keep the line in re-
pair it would be necessary to build
repair ship at cost Of about $780, 900.
and the maintenance of which would
require not much less than 800, 900
year.
The only way to build this cable is
for the government either to build on
its own account or grant such subsidy
as will make it worth while for some-
body else to do it. The British Gov
ernment literally subsidies the line
between this country and Bermuda
simply for the sake of keeping in touch
with the British West Indies. Sooner
or later it will do the same thing on
much larger scale for Pacific cable
from Vancouver to Honolulu and thence
via Samoa and New Zealand to Aus
tralia. But that will be British cable,
closed to us at British will, and we
will be left again.
The measure now under considera-
tion in Congress is valuable only as an
indication of the growth of public SEN
timent in the right direction. The
$500. 900 proposed to be appropriated
is not worth talking about. Nothing
could be done with it, for the neces-
sary surveys have already been made.
Here is new phase of the collecting
mania: "A few weeks ago." said
friend of mine, II went up to Vermont
to attend the funeral of my aunt. Just
before the coffin was lowered into the
grave an old fellow came forward, and.
greatly to my surprise, produced
screwdriver. My surprise was greater
still when without objection from an,
body he took the screwdriver to remove
the name-plate from the burial case.
Then he wrapped the plate carefully in
piece of brown paper and put it in
his pocket. Afterward I learned that
he was making a collection Of coffin
plates and had about twenty five, all
bearing the names of friends whose
funerals he had attended,
The United States Senate used at the
public expense last year 1000 soda
mint tablets and 1000 bicarbonate of
soda tablets, 5000 quinine pills, be-
sides immense quantities of bromides,
patent headache cures, Hunyadi water.
listerine and vaseline. All of these
things were charged to the contingent
fund, which amounted in all to $780,
900. Coffee and chocolate counted up
to 500 month.
Other interesting items in the ac-
count are twenty-six cases of apolli-
naris in one month. together with
eighteen boxes of lemons and $50
pounds of granulated sugar. No won
der it was necessary to buy ten
dozen corkscrews, some of which cost
80 a dozen.
The era of Jeffersonian simplicity
does not seem to have arrived. Major
Handy in Mail and Express.
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