Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1899-01-25

The United States senate, on last
Saturday, by vote of sc to 6, passed
bill providing for the construction OF
the Nicaragua canal, under the auspices
of the Maritime Canal company. The
bill permits the issuance of 100000
shares of stock of the par value Of
500 each, and authorizes the secretary
of the treasury to subscribe for 925, 600
shares on behalf of the United States.
The balance of the stock is to be owned
by the governments of Nicaragua and
Costa Rica. The Maritime Canal COM
pany is to get $5,OOO,O0O for its fran
chise, and the president of the United
States is to appoint five members OF
the board of seven directors that is
hereafter to control. The other two
members are to come from Costa Rica
and Nicaragua respectively. The pay
ments for stock are not to amount to
more than $2O,O00,000 annually. If
the house agrees to the bill, the canal
willie be built within the next half
dozen years, very likely, and it will be
under the absolute control of the gov
ernment of the United States.
- New York Sun: V. K. Chestnut
is the assistant botanist of the United
States department of agriculture. He
has prepared bulletin entitled "Thir.
ty Poisonous Plants of the United
States" which contains the result Of
an investigation extending over the last
three years. 1t states that owing to
lack of statistics it is impossible to form
even an approximate estimate of the
damage done by poisonous plants. A
number of children are killed each
year by the various species of water
hemlock. Many cattle also are killed.
All poisonous plants are not equally
injurious to all persons nor to all forms
of life. The poison ivy, for instance,
acts upon the skins of the majority of
persons; but with varying intensity.
Many persons are probably wholly
immune, and the ivy has no appar-
emily external effect upon animals.
There are large number of poisonous
plants which are comparatively little
known. The bulletin considers those
only which are we'll known to be pois-
onous to a dangerous degree. 1t is
intended for free distribution and may
be obtained of members of congress or
by applying to the departments.
- The soldier correspondent of the
Charlotte Observer, writing from Ha-
vana, says: "The Cubans are greatly
interested in a play at one Of the
theatres here. 1t has no plot but is
simply a patriotic demonstration. In
the first act Weyler, clad in scarlet,
storms about upon the stage, flourish
ing big dagger, and trampling and
stabbing the miserable, defenseless re-
concentrates, huddled together in
starving groups. At last all are gone,
and Cuba stands before him, a woman
clad in white, defenseless, having lost
all save purity. AS the slaughterer is
about to end her, America suddenly
appears, wrapped from head to foot in
Old Glory. The slaughterer falls back,
and instantly nearly every hat in the
house is flung on the stage, while
syivas' and 'bravos' drown all other
sounds. AS soon as some quiet has
been restored, stage supers collect the
hats and distribute them in the audi
ence with surprising ease. Both Cuba
and America are types of beauti-
full women. Cuba is a brunette, and
America blonde.
- The Berlin correspondent of the
Associated Press, on Saturday, had a
conversation with high official of the
German foreign Office, DR.. Hamann,
who said: "The government has just
received detailed report from Samoa,
which they think reliable, all the more
80 because the report distributes the
blame for the errors committed there
pretty evenly, though some points re-
main unexplained. The report says
that Mstaafe, prior to his election, was
recognized as eligible by the three con-
suls. 1t is true that Matafe, in 1888,
was hostile to Germany but the situa-
tion is different now and Germany no
longer objected to Mataafe. And why
Chief Justice Chambers annulled Ma
taafe's election we did not know. 1t
was certainly not under the terms Of
the Berlin treaty. The doctor says the
disturbance is all the more regrettable,
as bloodshed might have been fore
seen. No whites property, however,
has been destroyed, and we do not
know why the chief justice sought ref
uge in the British warship Porpoise.
DR.. Raffel, the German municipal pres
ident, acted illegally in breaking into
the courthouse. The doctor can only
explain those things by assuming that
everybody there had grown nervous.
The German government, however,
takes the whole business calmly, and
doubtless it will be adjusted diploma
tically by negotiations between Wash
ington, Berlin and London. We do
not expect any difficulties. Germany
adheres strictly to. the terms of the
Berlin treaty. Whatever illegal e1ces-
ses Germans may have committed we
shall disavow."
- Reports from Manila indicate that
the Philippine situation is still very
acute. Under orders from Washing
ton, the American forces are on the
defensive, so to speak. That is, they
are required not to be at all aggressive.
The Filipino government insists that
it is independent, and is not inclined
to treat with the Americans until its
independence is recognized. There is