Arizona republican., 1899-03-19
TOPICS OF THE HOUR }

l communication of London, is of more Or less importance to this country. AL ready, it appears, the British govern ment has acquired control of all the l telephone trunk lines which it now owns and leases to the company at a rental. It has nothing to do with the distributing lines, which are run by the company. The latter has a con- cession which expires in 1906. It pays 10 per cent df its gross receipts to the government, furnishes instruments and service free to all the government bu- reaus, gives unlimited service in the metropolitan district of 750 square miles for $S5 year to subscribers, and charges only cents a message at pay stations The fact that all these con- ditions and cheap rates, which would be considered 50 favorable to the pub lie in this country, still fail to give satisfaction in London, argues perhaps as much against the governm ental ownership as for it, but the purpose of the government now, it seems, is to compete with the private companies, permitting the latter to continue in business if they can,
 A herculean locksmith, who was out of work, obtained temporary employ ment as a laborer on one of the big eastern railways few weeks ago. He was set to work with an "o,d hand" | to shovel cinders into a wagon.
 When the foreman went to see how they were progressing, he observed that the "old hand" was shoveling twice to the big locksmiths once, and he remarked to the latter:
 Look here, my man, Jack is throw i1,tr oh f11c ;nF ha 4rN l your one.
 Well, iooss,'' replied the locksmith, five told the fcol about it.
 Arbitration seems to be a difficult mode of settling international disputes. The British and American joint high commission for settling everything in dispute between the United States and Canada, has adjourned it's sittings to August 2, 3n account of the difficulty of coming to an agreement. The ques- ton at issue is the Alaskan boundary and the British foreign office in a com munique states that the main difficulty arose over arbitration, the British com missiOners wishing to follow the Ven ezuelan precedent, and appoint six ar bitTatOrs, with power of referring to an umpire, while the Americans thought that finality could be secured by majority vote. The Americans, moreover, objected to European um- pire, while the British dis,iked the notion of an American one. The re- spective governments are, therefore, to consider further the subjects in dis pute. The Canadians are always a lit tie obstinate, thinking as colonists are apt to do, rather of their ciwn rights than of the broader interests of the empire; but there is every reason to hope that in August contentious feel ings will have been s0othed away. The professional diplomatists will, how ever, have right to chuckle little. They were superseded by the commis- sioners, and may fairly say that they could have failed as well as anybody else. Certainly the new method does not greatly increase speed.
 George T. Bell, who is now in Wash ington, is going to take trip that, he thinks, will be a recOrd-bIeaker in a great many respects. He outlined his plan as follows to, the Washington Post:
 "A short time ago I went from Brooklyn 10 Galveston in a Dayton wagon, accompanied by my wife and
 
 days on the journey, and I give you my word that I never had so good a time in all my life. It gave me an idea for another trip. I am going to make a belt line of the United States in a tWC-horse wagon. I will be accompa- nied by good newsp paper man and photographer. The newspaper man will write up the trip and the photog- rapher will take views along the route We will keep away from the railroads, and will take in parts of the country that no tourist ever sees.
 We will start from St. Paul some time in April, and expect to get across the mountains before cold weather. 1 Then we will go south along the coast to the Mexican line, returning via New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Arkansas, l Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, to Washington D. C. It will be an 5000 l mile journey, and will take about a year. We intend to take our time. We ! will fish and hunt and see all that there . is to be seen along the route. When | we get back we will put our experi- ences and adventures in a book. You i have no idea of the varied types of | humanity we have in this great and | glorious republic. I used to be in the | secret service of the government, and | nave d p4GLIy ldlI COuCGpLlOH Sl lnS | possibilities cf the undertaking.
 
 Even Tennyson, in drawing from the legendary past lessons that are still | valued in problems of our own day, achieved a lesser triumph than Kipling in his lines, that are sung and read | around the world. Time only can de eide as to the wisdom of the course in which England has spent a century and . hecatomb of lives of it's own sons and of the eastern natives to whom it has given protection, and America stands on the threshold of a future big with the fortunes and the honor of our own people, and of the lands and the peoples wrenched from Spain in the name of humanity. Rudyard Kipling is indeed the poet Of the hour, and his