The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1896-04-24

II
Newspaper aas-Nore pocks For the
Navy.
| WASHINGTON. April rs. - Especial l.
Elk Postmaster General wanArnAker. ac-
soriing 20 trustworthy information which
,omes from Pennsylvania Is likely 10 re
appear In public life less than rear hence
Mr. wanamaker 10 . candidate for United
States senator % succeed Don Cameron,
whose term expires next March. and little
doubt Is entertained that Mr. wanamaker
| viii be successful he has been al work
| long time with this Idea In view, and I
| am told that for year or more his agents
have been travelling up and down the state
making arrangements for the election OF
members of the legislature friendly 70 his
ambition ofcourse Mr.. wanamaker will
not be able 10 carry his point without |
forming some sort OF an alliance with Sen. |
ator Quay. but according 10 gentlemen |
| well informed on Pennsylvania politics. |
this n quite likely 10 happen. I am also |
Informed that Mr.. wsnamaker has fund |
Of $500. 900 set apart which he Is willing
TO devote 10 the carrying out Of his ambi- |
ton, n 80 much should be necessary.
An Immense Contract.
Mr.. wanamaker Is one Of the remark |
able men Of these times. AS merchant
and money maker he has few equals. An
| instance Of his boldness Is found in con- |
tract which be recently made with q large /
| hrm OF manufacturers. i am told by q Il
gentleman who claims to have seen the L
contract that Mr.. wanamaker signed his |
name To a contract for 100. 900 bicycles TO
be delivered to him at stated times, and for
which he was 90 pay s25 each. That
would make total of 81, 500, 600 involved
In this one transaction. Mr.. Wanamaker
expects TO sell the wheels within two years
at $50 apiece, thus netting profit OF $780,
600. IL would surprise no one who knows
Mr.. Wanamaker II this story were con-
firmed. II would be quite characteristic
OF his methods, which were always noted
for boldness and for large operations.
Comptroller Eckels Is one OF the most
rapid workers In public life The "boy |
comptroller" has q besetting sin common
70 great many men-procrastipation |
An instance Of this is found in the fact |
that when last Tuesday night came Mr..
Eckels had not written q word of the id
dress which he was TO deliver mt Cincin-
natl few days later, though he was to
take the train for that city on Thursday.
So Tuesday night he set TO work. 1t was a
hot night, and as the little comptroller
showed his pencil over the paper the per.
spiration rolled down his face In streams
But by In the morning the copy was
ready 1t went to the printer the next ,
morning and by nightfall Mr. Eckels had |
the satisfaction Of seeing 2h newspaper 9
columns Of financial wisdom all nicely c
corrected and printed In clean slips |,
A Fiattering OFFER.
This Is the sort Of work which newspa-
per men often perform, writing two or
three columns ut a sitting, but it Is very
rarely that a public official sits down at
his desk and writes practically the whole
of an important speech before getting up. |
Mr.. Eckels Is one OF the few men I have
ever known who can do this thing and he /,
has done IL on many occasions. 1t is his
fayoritc method TO wait till the spirit | U
moves and then dash the whole thing of a
IN one round. Mr.. Eckels, by the way, 9
not long ago declined 6attering offer to !,
become member Of the newspaper pro-
fession. The cnterprising publisher OF the
Chicago Times Herald, Mr.. Kohlsaat,
offered Mr. Eckels $40, 600 year to be.
come the financial editor Of that paper,
with very little work to do and plenty Of
men under him for the routine tasks of |
financial editor. Though Mr. Eckes was b
tempted by the offer, which was increased a
in attractiveness by his friendship for Mr.. I;
kohlsaat other considerations led him to |
decline
More Docks Needed.
IL would be a good thing II congress
were TO listen with more willing ear to
the arguments and statements of some OF
our naval experts. Thanks to an aroused
public sentiment, congress has made fairly 3
generous appropriations for new battle. | q
ships and torpedo boats, but drydocks In
- /
cleaned and repaired are now imperatively I
needed. The Port Royal dock is more or Y
less Of failure, and the officials of the .,
navy department are seriously concerned
rs to how they are to repair the largest
ships OF our fleets now built or recently
authorized Chief Constructor Hichborn
OF the navy department appeared before q.
the house committee on naval affairs not =
long since and presented some very inter v
esting facts
1--WE must have moro drydocks," said
Mr.. Hichborn. Iron and steel ships are
required by the regulations of the navy
department to be locked and painted once
In six months, when practicable, and, TAX L
Ing into consideration the fact that some n
vessels must at times remain some time In |
dock for other work than cleaning and y
painting, 1t becomes difficult ut times to
provide for this routine work. In time
Of war, however, additional docks would 2
be not only desirable, but an absolute ne | Il
cessity. Experience has shown that al
most Invariably after an action the ship =
that survives has TO be locked That was
the case In the recent war between Japan |
and China, where, after fleet action, n | III
arge portion Of the surviving ships made r,
at once for the nearest dock
The modern feet without adequate
looks will be crippled for long time after
! fight Foreign nations have not been
slow to recognize that fact We find a
France, with her comparatively short coast p
Inc, provided with 81 docks, located in 70
six ports. England has now 43 docks, 10.
,ated In seven ports although her coast
line Is small indeed compared with that -,
of the United States but England recog- :"
nizes today, as she has always recognized,
he necessity OF an increase OF docks TO
keep pace with increase OF the fleet. Al
though at the great naval station Ports. d
mouth there are now completed Is docks n,
Of various sizes from goo to $50 feet long
and capable, some of them, of accommo.
iating ships drawing rs much as 40 feet OF |
water-which Is a possible contingency D'
after ramming In aotion-we find that y
England has under construction two more
locks of the largest size at Portsmouth
md three docks In other parts Of the coun- N,
ry."
Mr.. Hiohborn's views are shared by all ~
he other bureau chiefs Of the department.
WALTER WELLMAx.