The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-12-19
NEWS HND COMMENT

IL - H - lllAI WI III I'LL 4
General Merritt says: II found Ad-
! miral Dewey very much perturbed. He
| had been walking the decks sleepleSsy
night after night, and was sorely har-
assed by the difficulties of the situation.
| His first question was about the monitors,
| the presence of which he considered all
| important. After they arrived he told me
| that his mind was at ease. and he felt
| that he could more than hold his own
| against any force that might be brought
| against him. Dewey is a magnificent Gel-
| low, self-contained and of never failing
| good judgment, and, l need hardly say,
| is simply adored by his officers and men.
| When / left he might have come away
with me and gone on to Washington, but
| he preferred to stick to his post. The
! Germans did not care to play with us.
| OF course. YOU know | am simply d SOL
! dier and do not know very much about
| the ways of naval officers, but Admiral
| Dewey was very angry when the Germans
| took no notice of my arrival. They did
| not salute Us, nor did Admiral Won Died
| rich call on me. The British officers called,
| however, and so did the Japanese. l
| did not mind it much, because l was very
| busy, but Admiral Dewey said it was an
| outrage and grave breach of etiquette.
| He said to me that the Germans had
worried him n great deal. When we cap
| tured the city of Manila the Germans did
| not salute our flag as IL went up over the
| Spanish fortfcatons. Their admiral left
| in a hurry for Hong Kong to notify his
| government Of our movements. About
| two W eeks later one of his captains called
| on me- You have fine lot of soldiers
| here he said, but | see they are mostly
| all Germans. | told him that they might
| have been Germans, but they were Amer
leans then. 1t takes us about five years
| TO make a good American citizen of Il
| German and about three years to make
Il good soldier of him. l added. l did
not return his call until the day l started
for Paris. Then was in hurry and did
not stay long"
General Miles is highly elated over the
| success of certain tests of the two new
| guns and a new carriage made a day or
| two ago at Fort Hancock. "rhe Howell
| disappearing gun carriage" says he. met
| all tests successfully and we were delight
| ed with ii. Both guns that we tested
| are of new design and have never been
| used in warfare. The first was the Cat
| ling Cast-steel, high-power gun This
| differs greatly from the wire-wOund gun
| or built up gun. We fired five shots in
| all, one with a one-half charge, one with
| a three-quarters charge and the other
three with full service charges. All were
| highly successful The other gun was the
| SlmS-DuuleS 0-lnCn dynamite gun. lnlS
Is a very destructive gun. 1t throws 4
prOiectile three miles. This was the first
time it was ever officially tested We
| threw three of the projectiles along the
| beach TO witness the effects. They tore
| up the beach in manner terrible to be-
| hold. The conclusion was great that
| within a radius of 100 feet it would be
dangerous to life. There is practically no
recoil to the gun, and it will be one Of
| the most deadly weapons ever used in
| warfare
| Apropos of the contemplated return of
the American peace commissioners on
| Christmas day the New York Sun appro-
priately says: "They come back trium-
phant after victory as notable in its
way as Dewey's or SIMPSONS. They have
not only got what they went for, but they
have also broken many of the cherished
traditions of conventional European d-
plomaCy. SCme of the tools heretofore
regarded as indispensable in the dealings
of nations over important questions they
. have flung aside with manly contempt
as antiQuated, useless. and unworthy of
| employment by serious men who know ex-
actly what they want and are able to ex-
press their intentions in language both
court aous and veracious The whole busl-
ness of international negotiation will oe
| affected considerably by the success OF
the direct Am erlcan method There will
be less intrigue and professional lying
hereafter on the conscences of amiable
: gentlemen who have been accustomed to
carry unblushir gly into the pourparlers
of delicate diplomacy the spirit aud man.
oeuvres Of a low-down horse trade"
5 From all the iron centers come reports
of a great boom in American iron. Dur
ing November the furnace capacity was
increased, and the coke and anthracite
plants at work are turning out more pig
: iron than they have ever done before in
, this or any other country. The 230, j2S
gross tons ca pacity of American furnaces
on December ! is a new worlds record
= Furnace stocks have been further de.
pleted, and outside Of the steel works pro,
ducing their own iron, there is not enough
! pig iron to last three weeks. The furnace
= stocks sold and unsold, amounting to over
: 10000 tons on July l. have been gradually
cut down, and on December tho tota
l was less than $50 coo tons. This is usually
a dun season in the iron trade, but the
mid-month market reports to the IroI
Age show heavy buying and a consequent
t rise in prices. Everybody is looking for,
ward to a still greater boom in 1899, both
in the domestic and foreign trades.
= Things are not all askew in cuba. A
= Havana dispatch to the sun notes this
dawning sipn of reconciliation: General
+, Rafael de Cardenas entered Guanabacoa
! today with 100 cavalry and 800 infantry
: He will occupy the town until the Ameri
r cans take possession Of it, Ten thou,
sand persons welcomed the Cubans
TWENTY-FIVE triumphal arches had beer
\ erected i'm the streets, bearing inscriptions
in honor of the American government and
. people, The American residents, especial,
ly Mr.. Hyatt and his family, who have
D lived in Guanabacoa for many years, were
/ cheered and a banquet was given IN
honor OF the Americans, Senor Lopez
president Of the Spanish club, presided
Tie made speech, in the course Of whcl
ne said that the Spanish residents wished
4 L L Il L. L. l.