The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-11-28

more than 1000 feet. Its climate is de-
liehtful. its vegetation varied. There are
1000 whites living upon It and life can
be sustained without depending upon I'm.
portations,
Congressman w. y. Hepburn, chairman
OF the house &C ~ mittee on interstate COM
merce to which will so all bills relating
to the construction of the Nicaraguan
canal says; The questions involved IN
the construction of this canal are such as
have been presented in no previous work
of the kind. For instance. the one ques-
tion of seismic disturbances IL a grave
one. We know that they have such dis
turbances in Central America, yet nothing
definite is known as to their character.
violence or frequency of recurrence.
There are volcaI oes pouring forth their
volumes of smoke within sight of the
route. IL Is not difficult to Imagine the
havoc which might be wrought to such
structure by an earthquake OF three or
four seconds, shivering along through the
earths crust some morning before break
fast. When we remember that for dis
tance of seven OF eight miles the canal
must he carried between retaining walls
elevated high above the present level or
the country; when We remember that the
Ochoa dam, In the San Juan river, must
be built ninety feet high, to raise the
that the plans require that the vessels
passing through the canal are TO be raised
by three canals on each side OF Lake
Nicaragua. in one lCck forty-flve feet, an
other thirty-one. and another thirty;
when all these things are taken into con-
sideration, the seriousness Of the question
of seismic disturbances will be appre-
ciated. The locks, of course, would be
more liable TO damage by earthquake than
any other part of the canal. II seems to
be the concensus of engineering opinion
that the work is practicable; whether 1t
could be made financially profitable is
hard TO determine" Mr.. Hepburn pre-
diets. however. that the canal will be
built because the American people evil
IDENTIFY want 1t.
Professor Robert T. Hill, of the United
States geological survey, who has re-
Ocdtedly traversed cuba. speaks highly
of the Cuban people. THE opinion re-
gardng Cubans. which is now, unfortu-
ratelY quite prevalent says Mr.. Eill
| 'is very largely erroneous. They are by
no means a lot OF thieves, although, un-
doubtt dy, there is large class of these
on the islard. The larger part of the pop
ulaticn, however is composed Of intcili-
gent. fairly well educated men. who have
property interests to guard ana business
affairs to superinterd as in any other civ
| ilized country. In mechanical lines the
Cubans have rot prCer essed as rapidly as
| they might for they are essentially Gn
| agricultural people. As tillcrs of the soil
| they rank very high, and many of their
plantations are models of their kind -
| Recently he added. the country has suf-
| fered on account of the three years revo-
| luton and the war just ended. but when
| conditions were prosperous the city as
| well as the country life OF the people
showed that they were industrious, en-
| terprising, and capable of working out
| high social and economic efficiency.
| The chairman of the committee on ap-
| propratioEs. Congressman Cannon, ordin-
| arily officiates as a watch dog of the
| treasury. but just ow he is disposed to
/ Oe liberal toward the regular army. "The
| volunteers" said he the other day, "en-
| listed to fight the battles of the war.
| They did not enlist for garrison duty.
| Wha atever our feelings were about Cuba
| before the war, it is plain that the citi-
| zens there are not ready yet for seif-gov-
| ernment. There must be a large force OF
our soldiers in the island, PROBABLY 80,
| 000 to maintain order and to perform a
| sort of police duty. AS soon as peace is
| declared, the regular army, according IN
| the present law. will be reduced to about
| 25,O00 men. Several thousand soldiers will
| be required for similar duty in Porto
| Rico and probably $1,000 mere for the
| Philippines. Therefore, I should say that
| the regular army must be increased TO
| at least 100000 men. We must have II
| under the circumstances. We must either
fish or cut bait, and individually l prefer
| to FISH,"
| G1vernor-elect Stone has over two thou
| sand appointments to make during his
| term, not reckoning those accidental and
| frequently most important appointments
| which are likely to be at his disposal by
| the death of some OF the judges and the
| resignation and death of other judicial
| and state officers. The governor does not
| have the power to fill by appointment a
| vaCarCy in the Office of United States sen
| ator He must convene the legislature IL
| 1t is not in session and let it elect.
| 1t is estimated that to settle the claims
| Of American citizens for damages to per.
| son and property in Cuba under Spanish
| rule will cost our government. If it as.
| sumes them, not less than $4,000, 900. The
| claims aggregate S27, ono, 900 but of course
are much exaggerated.
| a libel suit is in order. Somebody has
| called Emperor William the Theodore
| Roosevelt Of Fun ope.
In Porto Rico only the men attend
| funerals.