The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-05-23

draws attention TO two important facts,
namely. the desirability Of opening. keep
ing open and Improving the inland water
way between the north and the south, and
the effectiveness Of and the facility with
which harbor defenders Of the torpedo
boat class can be handled in conpara-
lively narrow and shallow water The
/ Cushing's trip demonstrates that in time
I Of war craft Of her class could make the
/ distance between the naval station at Nor
! folk and the naval station at New Or
I leans without going out TO sea or expos
/ ing themselves TO the enemy's fire more
/ than twice and for a comparatively small
outlay on the part OF congress. one or
both Of those exposures could be avoided.
4 canal few miles in length would con-
meet the waters of Shallotte river and
Waccamaw river. in North Carolina. and
then nothing more than little dredging
would be required TO remove the neces-
sity for run at sea between Wilmington
and Georgetown. The route would then
be from Hampton Roads through the AL
bemarle and Chesapeake canal from Nor
folk to Currituck sound, thence through
I the North Carolina sounds to Cape Fear
river, thence behind the sea islands to
Shallotte and through the canal into Wac
camaw river, which empties into winyah
bay at Georgetown. The remainder of
the voyage would be through the well
known ways past Bulls bay, Charleston,
Edisto, Beaufort, Port Royal, Savannah
Jacksonville and Jupiter where another
short ocean trip would have to be made
to Biscayne bay and thence into the chan
mel between the Florida keys, and so into
the Gulf of Mexico. From Hampton
Roads northward. Lieut.. Fletcher has al
ready made the inside run through Ches-
apeake bay to Long Island sound.
With this inland waterway open. and
fleet Of torpedo boats in it, It would be
an extremely dangerous undertaking for
foreign fleet to attempt to levy tribute
from any city along the coast. The use
of the inland way for war purposes. how
ever is only a matter of possibility;
which. however. was commented on by
Robert Fulton in memorial to congress
early in this century. For commercial
purposes, a through route would be the
more valuable, as it would permit of
smaller vessels engaging in the carry
| ing trade than can now do So
To revert however, to the route in war
the efficacy of the vessels that could be
moved through it may be illustrated
by reference to the successes of
the torpedo boats of the Japanese
against the heavy battle-ships of the Chi
nese at Wei-Hai-Wei. where fifteen of
them attacked the iron-clad fleet of the
Chinese and sank the great cruiser Chen
1 Yuen upon the first rush. In the Chilean
war, also, the cruiser Almirante Condel
was blown almost out Of the water and
sunk by a saucy and swift little torpedo
boat. Manning torpedo boats in an attack
is extremely dangerous. of the fif-
| teen boats engaged IN the attack at
Wei-Hai-Wei only one escaped without
destruction or more or less serious in
jury. That, however. has nothing to do
with the efficacy OF such craft for defen-
slve purposes. or with the question of
the desirability of making a continuous
inland waterway between the north and
the south.
The Kickapoo lands, in Oklahoma. were
yesterday thrown open TO settlement, and
there was rush of prospective settlers
much resembling the famous rush into
the Cherokee strip. The settlement of these
lands will leave but very little more de-
sirable land in the west that the govern
ment may throw open to settlers, hence
in the future the movement of people seek
ing homes must be in another direction
And the south, with thousands upon thou
sands of unoccupied acres to Offer is the
section TO which homesee1ers win turn,
naturally and from necessity.
The Chicago womans Club has set
tied the color question, which gave it so
much trouble some time ago, by throw
ing open its doors to all, without regard to
race color, cree or politics." II was
sought to have the qualifications for men,
bership limited by character. intelligence
and the reciprocal advantage Of member
ship to the club and the individual but
the friends of the colored women said that
would obviously bar out the blacks, hence
the qualifications were cut down to char
dClGI anu HlNtlilStnNCs L ne ledQllS duNO-
cate of the equality of the blacks with
the whites was DR.. Sarah Haclsett Stew
enson, the new" woman who thinks
men ought to be put in skirts
The Atlanta Constitution continues to
declare in its editorial columns that the
author of Coins Financial School is a
southerner and an ex-confederate," not
withstanding it has published in its news
columns that he is a West Virginian, and
was only years old when the war broke
out. West Virginia was not a confeder-
ate state, and . or 1O-year-old boys were
not members of the confederate army. 1t
must be that the Constitution never reads
its own news columns, or else there
must have some motive in attempting to
create the impression that Harvey was a
confederate soldier.
A New York street railway company
hoe haep for two vCeeks rnalxiDe, o1,,o,s