The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-03-08
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

sell it for good prices in the market
There are thirteen possessors of he
reditary titles IN Canada-seven lords and
six baronets. Of non-hereditary titles
(knights) Canada can boast of thirty-two.
Our Secretary of the Interior has de-
cided that the models in the United States
patent office cannot be removed fer the
purpose of displaying them az the PARIS
Exposition. Commissioner Peck was desir-
Gus that exhibit should be made, but
it was decided that the models were rec
ords of the office and could not be removed
under the law.
L. F. Cook, the inventor of the Cook
elevated electric railway system, which
of a narrow elevated structure
on which cars are suspended on either
side, is at present in Milwaukee, WIS,
endeavoring to organize company to COLI
struct mile of road through that city,
which, if successful, it is proposed to ul-
timately extend to Chicago. The inVen-
tor claims that with his system speed
of sixty miles an hour can be attained.
Considerable Importance is. attached to
the magnetic survey of the United States
that is soon TO be made by the coast and
geodetc survey. A standard magnetic
observatory is 40 he butt at Washington,
and two proposed sites have been ex-
amined by parties under the direction of
DIR. Bauer of the survey. AT the first
which is twenty-five miles northwest of
the city, there are pronounced magnetic
anomalies but in the other, sixteen miles
southeast of the city there are no abnor-
NAL values yet shown. The latter lOCa-
uion also possesses the merit of being free
from the influence of electric railways
and will probably be chosen.
Lieutenant Commander Colwel of the
navy department viii soon submit an ex-
haustiVe report on the subject of steering
torpedOes by electricity. He mas been in
vestigatng the experiments in steering by
ether waves sent from shore, with no in
termediate wiring. which have been car
ried on by Cecil Varicas at Yoevil in Eng
hand, and says that the practcabiEty of
the theory has been fully proved, but a
decisive opinion upon the merits of the
plan cannot be given until it has been
used in connection with a full-szed craft.
He says further that if the principle does
hold good, the day of the present torpedo
has passed, and the present methods of
harbor defense will be revolutionzed.
1t is reported from Egypt that great
progress is being made with the improve
ments on the Nile, and large number OF
natives are employed on the work. At
Assuan the Babel ebir Babel Sogair
and Bab-el-Haroun channels have been
closed and the undertaking is advancing
rapidly. Two-thirds of the main wall will
be practically completed this season, and
a beginning made on the masonry of the
navigation channel. AT Assiout such pro-
gress has been made that it is believed
that the dam can be completed a year
earlier than the contract calls for. As the
Nile is very low and much land is out of
cultivation, these improvements are a
source of great benefit to the natives by
giving them employment.
"A novel use has been found for an cleo
trical stove by the water board of Mar
quette, Mich. The stove has been put in
the intake pipe which supplies the water
to the city works from Lake Superior, and
its purpose is to keep anchor or needle ice
from forming on the sides of the pipe and
finally stopping the flow. The stove is the
invention of the superintendent of the To-
cal electrical plant 1t is a resistance coil
like those used for heating street cars
and is made in circular form to fit within
the intake pipe, the water passing through
it. Current is furnished 10 the stove al
slightly above 100 volts and the plan is
10 keep it in constant operation when
weather conditions are favorable for che
formation of needle ice. III is not neceS-
sary that any great quantity of heat
should be generated a rise of two or three
degrees being sufficient TO melt the fee as
fast as II forms. The cost of the appara-
tus is SIS, and lhis expenditure win save
a least 800 900 for a new and deeper in
take.
"A canal project that is being discussed
and has some interesting engineering
features is the Red River Canal, designed
TO connect Lake Superior with Grand
n ba ct,,
with care and the most practicable way
is said to be from Bay st. Louis, near Du-
luth, up the ST. Louis river 10 Sandy
Lake, then northerly and westerly by the
upper Mississippi river and chain Of
small lakes to Lake Winnebigohish;
thence across the watershed to Red Lake
by Red Lake river 10 the Red River of
the North and to Crank Forks The canal
would be $50 miles in length, though the
direct distance is about $50, and 10 be of
any substantial benefit would have to be
a least 100 feet in width and 70 to Is feet
in depth. and carry vessels of 200 to /, 500
tons. The country which the proposed ca
nal would traverse is wild and undevelop-
ed, being included in a national forestry
reserve, and the climate is such that it
could only be used five or six months in
a year.
"A correspondent of the Philadelphia
Press says: The stranger in Central
Asia sees some of the humors of the mil
itary railway which no doubt escapes the
notice of people who are used to such an
administration. The station masters at
the important places are officers, and the
smaller stations n-commissioned Off
GERS. am sure 1t did not ap-
pear strange to my fellow
passengers, but for myself, l never got
over the delight of seeing the train con-
ductors wearing spurs i'm their daily du-
ties. The dining car, which accompanies
trains on the Trans-Caspian Railway four
days each week, was another source of
pleasure 1t was an ordinary third-class
car with the seats removed. A long ia
BILE ran down the center of the car, with
half dozen wooden chairs on either side.
The table was covered with oilcloth and
at night was lighted with two or three
candles. The impressive thing ABOUT 1t.
however was the military precedence OBJ
served. With a soldier for a waiter, of
course II was necessary for him to serve
dinner In the order of their rank, no mat
ter what order they might have been in
time of arrival"