The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-04-01

| by DR.. Thomas Wilson. Of tho smith
| sontan institution while oxcavatinE Il
the ruins OF Ostia, a seaport of ancicn
! Rome, In 1886, and contained li5 silve
coins issued from 200 TO 10 II. c.. so tina
IL is presumed that the bank was buric,
u snort time before the Christian cru.
Robert r. I'M. of the United State
geological survey, who recently completed
lS nasty examination of the mineral re
| sources OF Porto Rico, reports as follows
| 'Nine-tcnths OF. the rocks of the islam,
| are OF basic nature. containing a larg,
! proportion OF Iron. Inasmuch as thcd
are and have long been undergoing oNl
daton and alteration the conditions a 4
! theoretically favorable for the occurreni
or valuable iron deposits. and in one |
TWO instances these undoubtedly eXik
notably north of Juncos. At this pl4
| there Is large deposit of magnetic IL
ore Of great purity, containing 66
| cent. of iron and less than O.023 of pit,
phorous. French engineer mas ca,
lated that there are at least 35,0O0,OO0 a.,
of this ore in sight. At present IL ~ M
miles from seaport. and its deVe-a,
ment VIII necessitate the constrnctit ~
railway In my opinion this depof 30
the most valuable metallic resourt ~
the island at present in sight, and Aer-
allowed to do SO legally. II Is saiehat
the conditions of this deposit coul not
he more favorable. The ore Is epun-
tered in compact masses, easy of eirac-
tion, and covered only by light aver
of earth. 1t constitutes small HILL
about $50 meters high, at the openig of
plain. which leads to a port by atwo
per cent. grade. The constructionof Of u
railway fifteen kilometers long coui be
done quickly and with little cost. The
shipping port Naguabo. is said to Omit
ships OF twenty feet draft. Ii hasbeen
estimated that this deposit contain lO,-
100000 tons of metallic iron
The newspaper complaint that con-
gress is too lavish in the matter q au-
thorizing the construction of government
buildings does not impress W. II, Curtis
as being well founded. There ar, now
"l3 public buildings in the United states
which have been erected at cost o. $l39.-
00629 At the same time there are prob
ably 100000 buildings rented by the gov
ernmcnt throughout the country at a
cost of not less than $i0OOO.0O0 year,
for postofIices, courts, custom houses,
internal revenue offices. army and navy
purposes and for various other require
mcnts of the public service. The treasury
officials estimate that the average rental
is $500 year which for the II,237 postof-
sum, Mr.. Curtis contends, would pay I
per cent. interest on 81 .233. 100000 if that
sum were invested by the government III
its own property instead Of being paid
to private owners at much higher rate
of interest. In the city of Washington
alone the government pays an enormous
sum in the way of rentals, at high rates
of Interest when it could borrow all the
money II wants at 2 per cent. to erect
better ores upon its own property. I'll
I the government would erect its own
building in every city. town, and village
Of the United States it would says he
| mot only be measure Of economy and
promote the convenience of the public
but would be Il constant object lesson n
patriotism"
IN denying that n pre- iudiCe exists in tn
army against men who are not West
Pointers the Washington Post calls atten'
ton to these interesting facts: "Nher
the war with Spain broke out year d,,o
there was only one general officer in the
whole army VINO had Eraduated at the
Military academy. There were nine Off
GERS Of this rank then on the active list
but General Wesley Merritt was the one
West Pointer. out of fifteen adiutants
general there were seven West Pointers
out of seven inspectors general only two
out Of ffty-siX quartcimasterS of the up
per grade only twenty-seven. out OF
twenty-Six paymasteiS only four. on tht
lst of December 1880, we had eghteer
| major generals. five Of whom were WCs
Point men: fifty-sly brigadier generals
twelve of whom were graduates. So tina
out of seventy-four general officers only
| seventeen were educated at the Military
academy. The general commanding tht
army is not n West Pointer, neither I!
Adiutant General Corbn-in tact, So fal
/ nc nYlt tNI.n httrpan p,iafc II, N,
war department, the chief of engineers
| and the chief Of ordnance, are gradu
! ates."
Score one for the sultan Of Turkey. Tht
| dispatches from Manila say that the Mo
hammedan Inhabitants of the island %
Mindanao, which is one of the largest %
the Philippine group. and the Sulu arChi
pelago. are declaring their loyalty to tn,
United States and readiness to supper
| the American army against the followers
of AEuinaldo. This is believed to be du,
largely to the influence of the sultan %
Turkey, who is the spiritual head OF thu
moslem church and exercises religious au
thority over all the adherents of tina
faith. Abdul Hamld II has always beer
friendly to the United States. ana ha.
been greatly impressed by the achieve
mentS of our navy during the war. Dur
ing the hostilitics he frequently ex
pressed his sympathy to Minister Strau!
at Constantinople. and IL is believed tha
as soon az Manila surrendered he foun(
means to communicate with the triba
leaders of his faith in the Philippines ant
admonshed them to support the United
States. There are supposed to be abou
1000 900 Mohammedans in the Philippin,
| archipelago.
Says Senator Depew: - Young MAJ
born in this country today has reason
to congratulate himself. He comes at
time when our young men have befor,
them the greatest duties and the great
est rewards. The very atmosphere o.
the land is instructive and educative.
is In the air that there are importan
things to do and nobody lacks urging ant
incentive to prepare himself for futur,
duties. He can see on every hand fields
which are sure to develop. into which h,
may enter and, by striving with brail
and Drawn, secure himself high position
From farming to war, the chances Of sue
cess are inrumerablc, and the profit,
large They are ready to hand for thos,
wo are lust entering the world as infants
and those who brave II as young men
age The twentieth century holds some
thing for ALL"
Michigan has enacted law providing
that the common council of Detroit ma,
at any time within twenty Years anpOIn