Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1899-03-24
WASHINGTON NOTES.
ITEMS OF INTEREST FROM THE CAPT.
TAI OF THE NATION.

Al Ot TIE INfNllC'N'
x,;;,,, rs,,,ds to he Governed Under |
old Laws Until Congress Makes New
Ones Liuuefed Gas for Commercai
purposes-American Capital in China.
The adjournment of congress without
passing the bill TO establish a territorial
form of government in the Hawaiian
islands will not cause much embarrass-
ment because under the annexation
resolution approved on the 9TH of July, |
1898. the present government at Honolulu
will run along indefinitely, and the ex-
listing laws will apply until congress or
ders otherwise. The resolution says eX-
pressly that "unti congress shall pro-
vide for the government of such Islands,
all the civil, judicial and military powers
exercised by the officers of the existing
government in said Islands shall be
vested in such person or persons and
shall be exercised in such manner as the
president of the United States shall
direct" 1t also provides that the
municipal forms of government shall
tsremain in force until the congress of
the United States shall otherwise de-
termine," and "until legislation shall be
enacted extending the United states
customs laws and regulations to the Ha-
waiian islands the existing laws and
regulations of the Hawaiian Islands shall
remain unchanged" But the present
government is prohibited from increasing
the public debt and is required to use the
revenues for the benefit of the inhabit-
ants.
Dispatches from China announce that
the Belgian syndicate which obtained
concession for cOnstru ting a railway
line from Pekin to Hau-Kow, the chief
city or the Yangtse river. has collapsed
for lack of financial support, and that
Gen. William Barclay Parsons, chief
engineer of the American syndicate,
which is building the road from Han
KOw south to Canton. has started TO
Pekin to secure a transfer of the
concession to his company. And
The American syndicate was organized
by the late Calvin S. Brce, and is the
strongest combination that has ever
been made in this country for any such
enterprise. 1t includes the chief men in
the Standard Oil company the sugar
trust, the steel trust, the Vanderblts,
the Goulds, Pierpont Morgan, the BEL
monts, several of the New York trust
companies, the Pennsylvania railroad
people, the Carnegies and the presidents
of a dozen of the strongest banks in
New York and Boston.
A Mr. Tripler has obtained patent for
producing liqueiied air by intense cold.
1t is grayish-looking fluid. and each
gallon represents 800 cubic feet of ordi
nary air. so that its expansive power is
tremendous. There is. however, no dam
ger in handling it and it can be easily
confined in lrS or cans or iron or steel.
A Mr.. Stearns of Zurich has obtained
patent for reducing carbonic acid gas to
liquid form, and he proposes to sell it to
the public in little steel capsules. small
enough 10 he carried in the vest pocket.
BY this Invention every man can have a
soda fountain with him wherever he goes,
for by un.crewing the capsule and drop.
ping its contents into a pitcher or bottle
of wafer The liquil dssolvPs lutO gas
again ami charges the water ike apolli-
naris or soda IN fountain or a siphOn.
A company is being formed for the
purpose of making capsules and charg-
ing them with the liquid gas. 1t is pro-
posed TO put them mp in little boxes to be
supplied TO the public through druggists
and grocprs and furnish them to hospi-
tails, st amships, armies and navies in
quantity.
Robert Gordon Hardie, the famous
portrait artist is here for the purpose of
painting portrait Of George Washing
ton in Masonic regaIia. His commission
comes from Henry :. Welcome, the
American merchant in London who
recently presented the portrait of
Pocahontas to the United States senate,
and will present Mr.. Hardle's portrait
of Washington to the grand lodge of
MasOns of Great Britain. Washington
was a member of the Masonic lodge of
Alexandria, Va, and upon the walls of
the lodge room hangs Il portrait of the
father of his country in the regalia of a
past master, which was painted from
life in 1894 by an amateur named Will
liams, who was a member of the same
lodge.
In 1898 there were 1886 books pub
iished in the United States, 1916 in
England and l4,7Sl in France This was
forty-twO less in the United States than
in 1897, 40 less in Great Britain and 9S2
more in France. These totals include
new editions and reprints of old books as
well as new ones. In the United States
the total has hot been so low since 1894,
when it fell to 44Sl. In England the
total was greater than in any year be-
fore except 1896 and 1897.
The Russian government has made
contract with the Baldwin Locomotive
Works for eighty-nine locomotives for
the Trans Siberian railroad, all of them
to be delivered within the next two
rNLn M ~ hnS