The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-05-11
ITEMS OF INTEREST.
-rhe government is about to establish

| peI1HleIltdl STATION at L Ort Myer, NHtIc
sort Of school for the signal corps has
| just been started. The balloon house,
| which is to be built al once, will cost
about $1,000, and Will have a plant for
the manufacture of gas for ascensions
| The building Is needed to protect the bal
looms from wind and weather, as well
as for the gas making machinery and ap-
| planes for imitation. The balloons to be
used will carry two men easily.
A full-blooded Jersey COW. owned by
the members of the Oak Island life saving
crew, performed a unique feat near
Babylon, L. J., the other day. The cow
became possessed with a desire TO return
to her home on the mainland, and had
been running wildly up and down the
meadows for some days. Suddenly she
plunged into the lagoon opposite the Sta
ton and struck out for the mainland, five
miles distant. There was a strong wind
blowing and heavy sea rolling, which
broke over the COW at ever sctroke she
took, but she made the distance and
climbed up on meadow land on the coun-
try seat of Benjamin Stephens, New
York millionaire, where she was over
taken by members of the crew who had
started in pursuit. The COW seemed I'M
injured by her adventure. 1t took sew
enty-five minutes to swim the five miles
john P. Altgeld, says the Chicago
News, has endeared himself to many
Democrats by moving out of their con-
gressional district, thus giving an in
dutiable assurance that he is not going
to hurt their feelings by competing with
them for a congressional nomination. 1t
is rather remarkable that more eminent
men do not take this simple, inexpensive
course of making themselves universally
| popular. A little assurance as to an in
| tention not to run for any Office will, we
| believe, add from % to 500 per cent. to
the esteem in which a famous man is
held. This is Simply in the way of antici-
! pating the benefcent courses of nature,
for as soon as a prominent man dies
| everybody is his friend. AS a matter of
| course, a dead man does not ask for any
| thing. The living man may enjoy a fore
| taste of this unanimous admiration by
merely putting himself out of the way of
! getting anything that any one else may
| want. Perhaps after the Dewey cam
>paign is over a wise law will be enacted
| whereby prominent citizen may file
| binding declaration of abnegation which
| will make him forever ineligible. In re-
turn his grateful neighbors will no doubt
erect a handsome monument to him and
! let him compose the epitaph to suit him
self. This single law, if it is generally
taken advantage of, will give us more
| national heroes and immortal soldiers,
! sailors, statesmen and patriots in a year
than we have been able 10 accumulate in
a century by existing processes.
One of the standing jokes of the ma
tional capitol is the statue of George
Washington, which is located across the
| wide open space in front of the CaptolS
main entrance, says the Washington cor
respondence of the Chicago Journal. les
incongruties and artistic imperfections
| have been pointed out time after time,
! and some of the stories written for publ
cation have given the Washington CORE
! spondsnts splendid opportunities 20 bring
| into play their abilities as fun-makers.
| The statue is old and the stone no longer
wristbands the rigors of the Washington
winter as it should. For years the statue
! has been in the habit of going into win
| ter quarters, alternating, as 1t were, and
wrapping a heavy coat of pine, stuffed
with hay, about from November to April
If the statue in the summer is inartistic,
| attired in its wooden overcoat in midWin-
! ter, 1t is abomination. At last there is
a member of congress to whom the sftua-
| ton has appealed strongly enough 10 re-
| suit in action. Mr.. Pearre of Maryland
has introduced a bill in the house provid-
ing for a transparent Waters weather
| case over the marble statue of George
! Washington, and directing that the capt.
tol janitors shall put the case on every
autumn and take ii off again in the
spring. This certainly would be a big i'm
provement over the present arrangement,
but better one still would be to take
the statue away entirely and replace 1t
with another more worthy of the man and
OF the place.
| One of the most interesting, as well as
most important, industries of Amsterdam
is diamond cutting and polishing. Though
an unknown art until the fifteenth CEN
| fury, it has f1ourished since then, and
| there are now ninety-two firms in the city
registered-as diamond cutters. In one $50
to 400 workmen' are constantly employed,
says the New York Telegraph. When the
diamond arrives from South Africa 1t Is
still In the rough, as when the Kaffir
picked 1t up. 1t has to pass through three
distinct stages-splitting, cutting and pol
| ishing. The rough diamind, full of flaws,
| has to be split up into perfect stones and
In one Amsterdam establishment twelve
men are doing this work all of the time.
| A stone of ten carats can be split in ff-
teen minutes by pressing the point of an
other diamond against 1t. Wherever there
| is flaw the stone splits. Except with the
| largest stones the cutting is also done by
hand, and women are largely employed
here. To gain roundness Is the one idea
of diamond cutting. The powder falling
| from the stone Is carefully preserved and,
mixed with oil, Is used for polishing.
Stones are put up in packets, and each wo-
| man is responsible for the diamonds In
her care till they are done. The work of
| cutting is hard on the eyes, for some are
so small Ii takes 800 to weigh carat A
large diamond of ten carats takes three
or four hours to cut. Diamond polishing
is a lengthy process. The workmen sit at
long tables with their backs to the light
and have in front of them small iron
| wheels revolving with terrible rapidly,
1900 times a minute. The rounded dia-
monds are dipped In oil and diamond dust,
soldered to handle and placed against
the wheel The many sides of the stone
are given here and 1t is a tedious process.
I'm Austria a man who was without
feet or arms seven years ago. says the
| Chicago Chronicle, lacking two months
| sentenced to hard labor for that term of
years, Is said to be well and hearty and
with eager longing looks forward to the
| day when he shall be liberated. Simon Op-
pasich is his name Born legleSs and arm
less he managed in the course of fifty
years 10 make purely by begging $4,000.
and this huge sum he was in the habit of
carrying about with him day by day and
| hiding in the wall of the cellar where he