The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-11-27

preparation made last year. All the
ammunition for small arms now made
IS supplied with smokeless powder of
american manufacture and of salts
factory quality
The secretary says the Mississiupi riv-
er commission has decided to discon-
tinue the plan to improve the river by
pank protection and to adopt the plan
OF dredging channels in shoal places
and maintaining, with state and local
cooperation, an effective levee system
With this change Of policy the func-
tlon or the commission is ended and the
work should be turned over to the Sec
rotary Of war.
LAKE TRAFFIC.
The new lock at the falls of ST.
Msry's river, though not fully complet-
ca was thrown open to commerce Aug
8. 1886. The secretary speaks of the
magnitude Of this work and saws it's
total cost will be but about per cent
pI the value of commerce passing
through the Detroit river during the
season OF 1895. The traffic through the
st Mary's falls canal in the year 1895
was the largest in its history. The to-
tai amount of freight carried to and
from Lake Superior in 1895 exceeds that
or 1894 by IA per cent. The commerce
passing through the Detroit river dur
ing the year amounted to about 1885,
O0o tons, with an estimated value Of
SzI5,0U0,OO0, an increase of per cent
over the commerce Of the preceding
year.
The secretary also says that but lit
tie change has occurred in the water
levels of the great lakes during the
past year from corresponding levels of
1884, and he adds that, as no water
has yet been drawn for use in the
Chicago drainage canal, no further
70 nf5 h
effect Of abstracting 10000 cubic feet
of water per second from Lake Michi-
gan. The Importance of inaugurating
a series Of observations and guagings
which will provide reliable data con-
corning the lake levels and the prob
able effect Of the Chicago drainage ca
nal and the deepening of connecting
chanels is again urged upon congress.
The $40 Apache prisoners Of Geroni-
mos band have, the secretary says,
led quiet" pastoral life at Fort Sill,
and have reached a self-supporting
condition. He recommends that, in
time, title to the So, 900 acres they oc-
cupy be acquired by the government,
and that they then be placed under
control of the Indian bureau
Concerning the statuary of Washing
ton, the report favors the appointment
by the president of a permanent COM
mission Of men best qualified to pass
on questions Of art, to whom shall be
entrusted the selection of designs and
sites for the future monuments of the
capital
The report shows total Expenditures
for the war department for 1896 aggre-
eating $51, S03,298. Among them is an
item of 81, 436,7 95 for salaries and con-
tingencies in the war office at Wash
ington. This, the secretary says, shows
a saving of $5S2,750 from the expendi-
ture under the same head for the year
1892 The aggregate of appropriations
for the department unexpended and
turned back into the general fund Of
the treasury at the end of the last
fiscal year was $1.795, 033; for the year
1895 it was $1,764, 467, and for 1894 it
was 81, 1897, 922, an aggregate for three
years Of more than $5,000000.
In closing this, his last, report, the
secretary says: ST have satisfaction in
placing on record my high apprecia-
ton of the character, ability and zeal
Of the officers of our army, and the
general spirit of loyalty and patriotic
inspiration which pervade it's ranks
To these officers and men, and to the
heads of departments in the war Office,
all Of whom have given faithful sup
port to the administration of this de-
partment, I make the acknowledgment
which is their 0ue