The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-05-20
shelves devoted to works of fiction and
wild romance

The yellow Journals and the "Spe-
| cial service" papers have reached the
length Of their rope. The censorship
established at Key West, the only
point from which news can come of
what may happen off the coast where
the fleets are operating, is very strict
and very shrewdly managed. No cor
respondent has yet been so adroit as to
elude it's vigilance. The censor reads
all dispatches filed, and blue-pencils
what he will ineXorably. Then the
government has its operators, who
oyerhear the work of the operators of
the Western Union, to see that they
send none Of the interdicted matter.
All news relating to actual movements
of the squadrons is killed by the CEN
sor. No information that might reach
and advantage the enemy gets out of
Key West. But news that comes
only from the Imagination of the spe
cial correspondents. the wild and wool
ly stories Of sea fights and squadron
guesses of the hard-pressed news gath
erers. these are all allowed to so
through. They do no harm. and, if
relied upon by the enemy, only mis-
lead. The fact that they are permitted
to go stamps them as fakes; if they
were genuine news, he would kill them.
Verify. the yellows and the special
serVicerS are in hard lines.
Those who have seen the trig and
trim, little revenue cutter Gresham
as she cut the waters of Lake Michigan
will read with regret the misfortune
that overlook her. or rather one-half of
her, at OgdenSburg. She is the victim
of the Mysteries of the navy depart
ment in the first days of preparation
for war when it was securing the seas
for auxiliary vessels. The Gresham
was ordered from the lakes to salt wa
ter. To get her through the locks of
the Welland canal it was necessary to
cut her in two, task that was ac-
coznplished at Cleveland, and the sepa-
rate halves, bueyed up by pentoons,
were towed through the canal and
reached Ogdensburg in safety. It is
not difficult to imagine the graceful
little beauty rebelling against her dis
memberment, disguised at the spec
tacle she cut, thus cut, and determined
to show the bureau Of naval strategy,
CT whatever other bureau was respon-
sible for her disgrace, that she was
not to be trifled with. So at Ogdens-
burg one Of the halves simply threw
itself into the arms of its Supporting
pontoon, Overwhelming it, and they
both sank together. This At ending
OF this foolish effort places it, with the
Klendike' relief expedition, among the
Instances of government Mysteries.
The secretary Of the. treasury In
forms the senate, in response to an
inquiry, that there was bought, under
the provisions Of the Sherman act OF
1890. 100, 655,614 ounces of silver at an
aggregate cost of $9S.S74, 662 If coined
into standard dollars their face value
would be $141, 1863 ,oS9 Here is an ap-
parent profit of SAP, 4SS,427. This pro
fit is the seigniorage which the senate
committees bill proposes to convert
into coin, treating it as an actual gain.
The value of the silver bought is, to-
day, S62,55s,7O0, Or s36, 1920, 1862 less than
was paid for 1t. We confess to
an utter inability to comprehend the
principles Of finance by which. a
dead loss of sss, eoe,O0o is TRANSMITTED
into a clear profit Of $4,000 600. The
alchemists of old yainly .. sought, to
Wrest from nature secret which our
modern ffnanciers regard as merely a
matter Of "be it enacted
ex-senator Brices oldest son has been
appointed captain in the regular army
ana the second son has been appointed milf
tary secretary to Gen. Merritt. 1t does not
appear that either of these young men has
had any military experience, and neither OF
them IS a graduate of a military school,
Mr. Brice, seniors, services to the
cause of protection by tariffs while