The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1900-08-11
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

expenses OF Il party OF efgnt Mexican young
women teachers who are touring the
lining our schools. They have visited ST
Louis. Chicago, Buffalo, New York and
Boston.
Artificial stone steps are said to be
growing in popular favor in Germany. A
design in imitation of a staircase carpet,
in any color. is pressed into the steps while
they are still soft. The figures penetrate
10 a considerable depth and last as long as
the steps,
The fate of famous horses is some
times sad one Mansour the animal
which ran third in the Paris Grand Prix
OF 1894 coming in only a length behind
a horse which sold later for $4,000 is now
drawing public cab in and about the Ex-
position city.
"A 12-year-old recruit has passed the
doctors examination for the Imperial
Yeomanry. He had served twenty-eight
years in the Black Watch. the Gordons
and other Highland regiments, and has six
sons serving in the army, four of them at
the front in South Africa.
A resident of Wichita, Kan, who IS
now at Gaze Nome, recently wrote a let
ter to a relative at home from which the
following is an extract: Here lies the roll
ing sea; towering above that are the ice
green mountains, and towering above the
mountains is the price of grub"
The question is frequently asked why
it is Fortress instead of Fort Monroe.
The difference consists in the fact that a
fort is designed to contain solely the gar
rison and attendant munitions while q
fortress Is often q city with many nom
combatant inhabitants. France, for exam
pie, has a number of important fortressas
on her frontiers.
They tell in New York of wealthy
citizen, name not given, who for twelve
years past has been importuning presi-
den,s Of the United States to appoint him
to office. He assures each occupant of
the White House that he will under
no circumstances accept. All he wants is
the privilege of refusing" as he wrote
to President Harrison, but so far no chief
magistrate has cared to take him at his
word.
After a series of tests on coal with
the Roentgen rays. it was decided by a
number of experts in Germany that the
process was valuelesS for ash determine
tions. After many experiments 1t was
found that samples tried showed great
difference in regard to their permeabil-
ity, the hindrance to the passage of the
rays being in direct proportion to the
amount of iron present. AS the practical
use of the Roentgen rays must determine
the exact amount of ash present in the
coal, the method is not likely to be used.
The fourth big company operating at
Redlands. Cal, has just been organized,
and the place seems to be a center of cleo
trical organizations. The new plant Is to
be placed above Kerrville. on the Kern
river where an effective fall of 800 feet
is available at the point where the power
house is to be built. 1t is expected that
at least 10000 horsepower will be 'devel-
oped, and $4,000 delivered at Los Angeles,
oyer 125 miles of wire, with a loss of is
per cent. The preliminary work of sur
veying will take about six to nine months.
The International Electrical Congress
which is to be held at Paris is to meet at
gress hall, near the Alma Bridge, in the
exposition grounds. Later meetings will
be held at the well-known scientific head
quarters, No. A Rue de Rennes. Mem
bers ca1d DIS will give free admission to the
exposition while the Congress lasts, a Pc
Rod of probably eight days, until Aug. %.
A long programme has been sketched out,
covering every IOplC Oh lnIeleSl ~ NISC-
trical engineers and physicists The secre-
tary is Paul Janet, No. IA Rue de Steal,
Paris.
"A saw mill run by electricity began OPP
erations last month in Oregon and seems
10 have been successful The electricity
is generated by water power, the water
being f1umed from small stream which
runs horsepower whater-wheel, in
pyiS which n
generate the current to run the mill.
Wires are strung from the power house
to the saw mill and are attached to the
saws and other machinery of the mill. A
feature of the electric saw mill is that
the carriage Is above the log and carries
two saws, which are so fixed as TO cut
both ways, making two cuts at the same
time. This arrangem allows the saws
to cut going both ways and obviates the
necessity of having to bring the carriage
back and begin cutting at the same end
of the log each time. 1t is claimed that
the mill will cut any lumber or logs at
one-half the cost of other mills.
The State Railway Commission has, in
it's report of its investigation into the
subject of hand and electric brakes, re-
commended that except in special cases
where the liability to accident is very re-
use on street cars should be replaced with
those worked bytelectricity, says the New
York Post. The commission in its report
does not recommend any particular make
or type of brake but states that in order
of merit an electric brake stood first in
the tests, friction brakes next hand
power brake next, and air brakes last.
The commission states that 1t was led
into the investigation by the alarming
increase in the number of accidents hap
pening on the street roads throughout the
ate. which the beard believed to be due
to a great extent to the inefficient brakes
in use The report notes further that to-
day there are electric street cars in ser
vice on various lines that weigh as high
as twenty-three tons complete and have
a speed capacity of over fifty miles an
hour. while in the larger cities those gen
orally used weigh from ten to seventeen
tons, and are operated at a maximum
speed of twenty-five miles an hour. Now
that the comm ision has decided that the
electric brakes are necessary IL is likely
that some action will be taken 10 bring
about the change and thus reduce the
possibility of accident to pedestrians.
The following curious statistics con-
corning the Bible are said to have been
compiled by the Prince of Granada. heir
TO the Spanish throne, during his life i'm
prisonment in the Palace of Skulls,
Madrid: The Bible contains 3.5S64s9 letters.