The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-12-05
thing or one that would have been better

thing or one that would have been better
appreciated.
The president OF the Pacific Gable COM
pany. Mr.. Baylies, thus explains why the
United States needs "a cable station IN the
Caroline islands:"ln laying a cable across
the Pacific the route is from San Fran
cisco TO Honolulu, thence to Guam. of the
Ladrone group, and from the latter TO
Manila. SO far all is under the Ameri-
can flag, Honolulu Guam and Manila be-
ing ours. The difficulty comes in the
stretch between Honolulu and Guam.
Here is n distance of 3.3iO knots. OF the
cables at present in existence the longest
is the one recently laid down from Brest,
France to Cape Cod. Its length is 3,l5i
knots. II Is so heavy that experts nave
expressed grave doubts as to whether II
can be raised and repaired II break oc-
ours in deep water. 1t contains 500 pounds
or copper and 40 pounds of gutta pcrcha
to the knot. If the weight of this cable,
measuring 3,167 knots. imperils It's safety,
as experts believe, q cable for the longer
distance of 1854 knots. from Honolulu TO
Guam, would be out of the question. IL
would Of necessity have TO be heavier
than the French cable, and in view or
past experience It is held that 1t would be
absolutely impossible to lay and maintain
st. 1t is therefore apparent that there
must be n landing for the cable between
Honolulu and Guam, so as to shorten the
sections This landing. to carry out the
purpose of communication under exclusive
American control, can be on no other
| than territory owned by the United
States"
1t is probable that the year 1900, IL not
an earlier one, will see the last of canal
| boating in Pennsylvania. as a means or
transportation. The next legislature is
| TO be petitioned to authorize the aban-
donment Of that portion of the Pennsyl-
vania canal from Duncan's island to New
| ton Hamilton, which was destroyed by
the floods of 1889 and has never been re-
built. This, the Harrisburg Common
| wealth assures US, is probably the begin
| ming Of the end. The abandonment of
| this section of the once great waterway
| will only leave the main line, which eX-
tends from Columbia to Nanucoko, ana
| the spur up the west branch of the Sus-
quehanna to Loyalsock creek, which is
| six miles below Wiliamsport, as the rem
| nant of the great public works which
| were begun July 4, 1926, and completed
| December 2. 1894. These works included
| 500 mikes of waterway and 120 of railway
| the canal from Columbia to Iittsburg, in
| which the old Portage railroad over the
| Allegheny mountains played so important
| 3 part; the canal from Sunbury to Lock
| Haven, the one from Duncan's island 10
| Nanticoke and the railroad from Column
| bia to Philadelphia. These works were
| considered the triumph of Governor
George Wolfe's administration and until
1857 played an important part in the de-
velopment Of the section of country
through which they passed.
| AS a matter of fact Spain got better
| terms of peace from the United states
| than she has been accustomed to.
| correspondent of the Sun recalls that
| after her twelve years war under Philip
| against England, Germany and Holland,
| though maintaining Philips right to the
| throne, she was obliged to cede Naples
Sardinia, Parma, Milan and all the Meth
| erlands to Austria, Sicily and Savoy
| without any money consideration. Under
| the same treaty (UtrechD she also cedod
| to England Gibraltar and Minorca also
| without cash consideration. When she
| was compelled to cede San Domingo TO
France as the penalty for joining in an
alliance against her, she neither asked nor
| received a sum of money for it. When
Olivenza was ceded by Portugal to Spain,
in 1901, Spain paid nothing back in money
| or otherwise. In 1902 when Spain ceded
Trinidad to England, Parma to the Cls-
alpines, and Louisiana TO France, neither
Of them, from sympathy or in mercy 70,
their conquered foe, paid back any money
or assumed any debts whatever.
| If the civilization of people Is indca t.
ed by the extent to which they utilize the
| mails Pennsylvania will need, as the say.
ing goes, to get move on. According
to the records of the postoffice department
of all the states Massachusetts stands
first, with an expenditure of $3.50 per capi
ia in the use of the mails; New York sec
ond, eXpending 1927; District of Columbia
third, $216; Colorado fourth, $193; Con
necticut fifth, 81 80, and Pennsylvania only
sixth, with an expenditure of $1.75. The
states ranking lowest are South Carolina
25 cents per capita; Mississippi, "a cents
Alabama, So cents; Arkansas, 81 cents
North Carolina, Al cents.
| Speaking of the liberality of the term!
| OF peace, the St. Louis Globe-DemoCra
points out that in past acquisitions of ter
ritory we have paid TO France, Spain
| Mexico and Russia a total of S52, 200 900
an average of $2l square mile, or
fraction more than cents an acre. Z,
give Spain $20,00O,00O for the Philippines
would be S7 a square mile, or about /
cents an acre.
Not one of the thirteen prominent new
plays by American authors produced il
| this country this season has been a dis
| tinct financial success, while a number o
| successes have been scored in the repro
duction OF plays by English and Frencl
authors. Vas ist los NIT de Yankee play
| wright?