The Irish standard., 1896-11-28

C..l. kurtz, chairman of the Ohio Re
publican state committee, said 1.-THE
suggestion which l hear in Canton about
Senator Davis, of Minnesota, for secre-
tary OF state, strikes me very favorably.
Senator Davis is man OF great intellect
ual power and information. 1t would be
Ia strong thing from one point Of view for
the presilent-elect to select secretary of
state from the west. t.. ., :.
.: - =. 8 Around the Earth.
~ will put girdle around the earth in
thirty minutes, said Puck.
- can do it in thirty days." says Prince
Hillkoff, the Russian minister of trans
portation who recently paid this country
a: flying trip to study our railways ami
make investigations for his imperial mas
ter on the method and cost of their con-
strpction., When Jules Verne wrote his
famous and fanciful romance, Around
the World in Eighty Days" the reading
public voted him the romancer Of the age.
A man, they said, who could imags
inc such an absurd piece of fiction had
mind that could see diamonds with a
commercial value in drops of sea water.
But In; the opinion of the New York Jour
/ Shy the side Of, what the Russian
prince intends and promises to accom-
plish; the story; Of the achievements of
/ Phineas Fogg pales into insignificance.
r To: 60 around the world In eighty days
even now means a leisurely journey, with
plenty Of time t0:spare, should the fancy
strike the traveller to stop over for a few
days at; the most interesting places along
the route ~ "'
The vast and hitherto little travelled
plains Of Siberia furnish the key to the
tiirty-day problem. The possibility that
the &limitless,, barren expanse from the
boundary line of Russia to the coast
should ever play apart in a rapid transit
between nations and so around the world
is one Of those big dreams Of engineering
that would fill the imagination only of
a man with an ambition as limitless as
the plains themselves. TheTcOuntry is
practically terra incognita. While here
and there are little villages, for the most
part the dwelling Places of exiled' Rus
sians,. the country has never been pro-
.ductive one nor has it served any purpose
other than to furnish a convenient place
ftoor exiles to die in: and prevent the sap-
proach on Russia Of an enemy from the
sea Hstssi ss,
I: No army would dare invade Russia by
way OF Siberia: The rocky, impossible to-
biography of the country and the severe
Waters make it most forbiddiug region.
A,lEl2vet it is: one Of the richest countries
in agricultural and mineral possibilities
on the globe. Coal and iron, and the
more precious metals are there in abund-
'ahce. The. summer. though short, is long
enough to admit Of a good wheat yield
were there any way of getting the crop to
"a seaport. I
h. To develop this portion Of his own
country and also make the Siberian plains
the key: to communication between the
east and west has spnrred Prince Hillkoff
|: to undertake the most gigantic railroad
feat OF the century. The trans-Siberian
railroad will be in operation, it: is now
thought, by 1900, when all the world will
be III Paris for the exposition.
I: The main object'of his visit to this coun-
try was to study American methods OF rail
way reconstruction, which are the marvel of
aIliforeigners, and also to learn if the pres
.e1t prospective cost Of the enterprise could
not be- lessened through arrangements with
American manufacturers. He intended
making q, most exhaustive study of the
subject, but was hurriedly summoned back
to st. Petersburg by message from the
czar, ,s g 4. u.@ .s
III i
which as a rule, cannot be made, will
enable the traveller to go round the world
in ~ days The average, time is about one
third more The routes vary, but the
shortest cut would be this: New York to
South champion, Southam pton to Brindisi via
Suez canal, Red sea, etc, to Yokohama;
Yokohama to San Francisco by steamer
and thence by rail over the American con-
tinsht,, in:71 days. ..
70 accomplish the trip in 80 days over
the trans Siberian route the: itinerary
would .be as follows: New York to Bremen,
II days; Bremen to st. Petersburg, 1 II days;
S, Petersburg to Vladivostock, 81 days;
Vladivostock to San Francisco, 8 days; San
Francisco to New York, 4 days. Total, 80
days s
rs make this trip, say in November,
1900, 1.-The globe girdler would board an
American liner and on the seventh day
wake up in Germany. Rural Germany
and the beautiful castled Rhine would greet
HIM on the first section Of the overland
European trip Then, as his course veered
to ::E1es northward toward ST. Petersburg,
he would. pass under the shelter of snow
clad hills, and the country all about him
would be typical of winter, with here and
there little village peopled with Russian
peasants in their queer fur garments, until
the noble. spires Of the palaces and cathe-
dra]s Of the Russian capital were in sight.
And then on from st. Petersburg across
the Black Siberian steppes, mile after mile
without q sign OF life, and the sky meet
fing2the. earth on all sides. At times the
traveller would see a band Of peasants rid
ink along on sledges drawn by dogs or in
the queer Russian sleighs. An occasional
black spot on thesgreat ice plain would tell
of. 10. coal mine where political prisoners
were working out the expiation of their
crimes. AS the train sped along it would
DOUBTLESS pass several gangs OF men
chained together, with an officer, whip in
hand, towering over the starved wretches,
urging them to the last remaining pound OF
energy in their emaciated bodies.
i Then for countless miles the scene would
baS al, lnvarying one, the monotony on.y
relieved by an occasional convict settle
men Gradually as the course turned to-
Tie ssrl, oward the northern frontier Of
sf scene onld change si,ntll the
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