Arizona silver belt., 1899-12-21
General News Items.

I ,epeSS 10 oooop Nc pNi hCob. DC teiANo ln France are S14.4s per head; in Eng land, Si0s1: in Holland, sS, 5s; in Aus tria, SS.49, in Denmark, s6.6l; in Ger
 many, S5.9s; and in Belgium, S5S2.
 Over 25,0O0 British soldiers have
 landed in South Africa since the Boers
 invaded Natal. With them have
 landed thousands of horses and mules,
 D large number of field cannon and an
 immense amount of ammunition, camp
 outfits and subsistence supplies.
 Guatemalen advices to the New York Herald are that the governments
 bulletin, just issued, gives details of a
 revolutionary attempt in the eastern
 departments of Guatemala. Troops
 are now pursuing the revolutionists
 over the frontier into Salvador and
 Honduras. Several prominent citizens,
 supposed to be sympathizing with the
 revolutionary movement, have been
 taken prisoners.
 It has been decided that the national
 republican convention will convene in
 Philadelphia on June l9 next The
 friendly contest for the honor of en.
 tertaining the convention was between
 the cities of Chicago, St. Louis and
 New York. The proceedings of the committee are said to have been en- thusiastic and harmonious, and every speech that was made evidenced the fact that Mckinley will be renomi- mated, giving the convention the sem olance of merely ratification meet ing.
 The latest rulingof the commissioner of internal revenue calling for the mutilation as we'll as cancellation with ink, of documentary and proprietary stamps when used, looks, at first glance like superfiuous botheration. And yet, when due appreciation is had of the trouble which the govern ment is having with dealers in washed stamps in New York and other large cities, the new regulation is reasonable enough. It seems necessary for all who are obliged to use stamps to CO., operate with the government author ities is suppressing this crooked busi- ness
 A Washington dispatch to the New York Herald says that Instead of Great Britain or France acquiring the Galapagos islands, situated in the Pa cific ocean, west of Eucador the ad- ministration proposes that they shall be controlled by the United States or remain the property of Ecuador" The Galapagos or Tortoise islands are a volcanic group. Of the fifteen prin- cipal islands, Albermarle is the larg- est. They are remarkable for pecu- liarities of fauna and fora. They have an area of 2,490 square miles and a population of 200. The island of Albemarle is D miles in length.
 A. w. Fucker, a Denver attorney, and president of the monetary leagae, Is in St. Louis, where he will hold a conference with the governors of several states friendly to the free coin- age of silver, relative to suit which is about to be begun by the State of Colorado for the purpose of securing decision by the United States su- preme court as to the legality of the characterization of silver. The gen. eral assembly of the state of Colorado passed a joint resolution authorizing the governor to take steps to bring this question before the supreme court. The suit against the United | States government will be begun by l an action in Denver The United | States monetary league will give the | state of Colorado as a present a solid 1 silver brick of the purest metal of 100 | ounces and representing $l00, at par ratio. The treasurer of the state will | then present the brick to the state. | The state will send it to the United | States mint at Washington, with the demand that it be coined into loo silver dollars. This demand. of | course" says Mir. Fucker, twill be re- fused. Upon the refusal, suit will be entered in the United States supreme court, for we have a right under the constitution to demand that the bull lion be coined.'
 A press dispatch from Washington, D. C., of December II, says Mgr | Martinelli has just received from Rome a document in which the Pope | grants to the Catholics of the world | an unusual privilege in connection with the celebration of 1900 It con cludes as follows: Therefore, in order that the year 1900, which is about to begin and which it is to be devoutly hoped will usher in far more happy century, may, by the aid of God and of his only begotten son, our Savior, have an suspicious open ing and may close after q prosperous course, his Holiness, Pope Leo XIII, l graciously grants that on the 3lst of | Tn II a