The National tribune., 1900-08-16
CHAT OF THE CORRIDORS.


tor, has prepared . detailed statement
showing what is now going on in this di-
rection. This statement shows that the
total number Of craft building and to be
built Is 20. From the battleship OF the
first class down to the little submarine
| boat our Navy is to be strengthened all
along the line, and, best Of all, there is
each time increase the appropriations for
the Navy. OF the battleships seven are
now under course of construction and
| bids for five more will be submitted in the
| near future. In the class of protected
| cruisers, sig are now being built which are
| more, modelled after the Olympia, with
a speed of % knots, are to be constructed
Three new ships are to be like the Olym-
| pia, only better in every respect. This
| country is closely following the improve
| ments made each year in ship construc-
ton, and all Of the new vessels will be the
finest in their respective types in the
will be built and 16 torpedo boat destroy
ers. Tho destroyers are the Bainbridge,
90 knots: the Macdonough, 80 knots; the
Barry, 20 knots; the Paul Jones, ~
knots: the Chauncey, 20 knots; the Perry,
% knots; the Dale, % knots; the Preble,
% knots; the Decatur, % knots; the Stu
art, 20 knots; the Hopkins, % knots; the
Whipple, 30 knots: the Lawrence. 30
knots, and the Worden, 30 knots. There
are also 15 torpedo boats building, rang
ing from % to 80 knots speed. The USE
fulness of this kind of craft Is yet con-
sidered by naval experts as Of the first
order, although they did not manage to
accomplish much during the late war
with Spain.
There Is q very decided disagreement
between the Ordnance Bureau and the
War Department, and the Ordnance
Board. The Ordnance Bureau adopted a
type Of three-inch cannon for field bat
teries, and invited bids for the construc-
ton of 200 of the type. The Board Of
Ordnance and Fertilization claim that
the type is not the best, and that it ex-
pected the trials at Sandy Hook will de-
velop much better type. The Secre-
tary of War has sided with the Board
of Ordnance and Fertilization, and over
ruled the Bureau Of Ordnance.
1t costs the Government $4,000 a year
to carry people up and down in the Wash
ington Monument. Steam-power now
runs the elevator, but in a little while
electricity will do the work. The last
appropriation bill gave $4,000 for install
ing an electric hoist, and S6.500 for i'm
provements on the boier-house.
Speaker Henderson was at Coronado
Beach, Cal, Aug. /, and went out with
fishing party. He was the poorest sailor
in the outfit, but managed to catch the
biggest fsh-s 2o-pound yellowtail.
The dingy old United States court
house, or City Hall, on D street, has been
freshened up with new coat of paint.
Secretary Gage has received state
ment that the Porto Rican revenues will
aggregate $1,000, 900 this year, which is
very satisfactory, and that the conversion
of the money Of the island into United
States currency was accomplished Aug. 1.
Washngtonians think that much of the
credit of the successful defense of the for
eign Legations in Pe-King is due to Mr..
Herbert Goldsmith Squiers, the Secre-
tary of the United States Legation.
Squiers was commissioned Second Lieu
tenant in the LIST U. S.. in 1877, from
Minnesota, but afterward transferred to
the 18th Cav. While at the officers school
with the daughter Of w. g. Fargo, the
great expressman, and encountering some
opposition, eloped with her. They were
very happy together until her death. when
her husband felt the blow so deeply that
he resigned from the Army and lived for
while in seclusion. Then he decided to
enter the diplomatic service, and was sue
cessiyely Under-Secretary at London,
Berlin and st. Petersburg. He was pro-
NOTED to Secretary, and sent to Picking.
He quickly perceived the helplessness Of
the foreign representatives there. and set
about preparations for defense. This was
attended with difficulty, for it would not
do to arouse the jealousy and suspicion
Of the Chinese. He finally got all to-
EInr,
armed with Lee-Metford rifles, selecting
these because the ammunition could be Sc
cured from any British garrison, and was
used by the British soldiers on duty at
their Legation. He is said to have an
abundance of sound judgment, cool cour-
age, and military sense.
Four stalwart detectives In plain clothes
are kept constantly pacing about the Chi
nese Legation, on 18th street, and there
is a sufficient reinforcement ready for in
slant service, should they need it.
Last June John Hill, a young North
Carolinian, with a decided distaste~ for
hard labor, perceived Hon. Amos J. Cum
ming's fine Tuxedo suit hanging on the
line in the backyard Of the latters resi-
dence, No. 46 street, and appropriated
it to his own use. He went back to Ra-
leigh wearing 1t, tramping part of the way
and stealing rides in freight cars the rest.
Apparently tramp in a fine $75 evening
suit did not attract especial attention, and
the snit suffered. Later Hill came back
to Washington and stole a bicycle, for
| which he was arrested, and now the
United States proposes that he shall wear
clothes not nearly SO ornamental as the
statesman's fine raiment, but great deal
better suited to his moral and physical
| construction.
After all we are better off than they
| are in Paris. The telegraph reports that
| the great heat Is killing off the fish in the
Seine. So far the fish in the Potomac
| have shown no signs Of suffering, but are
probably rejoicing that the weather keeps
away from the banks of the stream SO
many of their natural prosecutors.
Last Saturday broke the heat record for
this Summer, and for all summers since
| 1881. The official record was 101 de-
grees, but thermometers In private life
were reported as registering almost up to
1000. Fortunately, there was little of
what the Washington darkies call "hu-
| mility In de atmosphere" and the heat
been. The public offices generally closed
at o'clock, and let tho perspiring clerks
get out to the only cool places in the city
the swift-running electric cars, which
reaped big harvest for the day and even
ing.
The average for the first II DAYS of
| August breaks all hot weather records,
| with a mean temperature of 95 degrees,
where the average for the preceding six
years was 65.