Arizona silver belt., 1901-02-21
VARIOUS TOPICS.

The formal announcement of the
 electoral vote for president and Vice
 president was made by the two houses
 of congress in joint session on Feb. l3
 The California vote came in go d
 casket which had been presented to
 President Mckinley, and the joint ses
 sion only saw the paper documents.
 The Connecticut certificate was ip-
 closed in handsome Russia leather
 portfolio. Some of the certificates
 from other states were printed like
 briefs of the supreme court. Others
 were written on parchment, like a col
 lege diploma, but the majority were
 recorded with typewriter upon ordi'
 mary legalcap paper.
 It Is gratifying to note that at last
 there is fair promise that the trut tn about the Maine disaster may be made
 known: The proposals of Chicago contractor have been accepted by the
 Havana authorities and the wreck of the battleship is to be uncovered anu removed from the muck of that fata
 harbor. A coflerdam is to be built around the wreck, and when the water is pumped out of the inclosure, for the first time it will be possible to make detailed and satisfactory eXam.- nation of the wreckage. Few Amerl- cans doubt that the loss of the ship and the hundreds of lives was due to an external explosion mine or whatever it should be called. The spanish have resented that charge more than any other feature of the troubles accompanying the war. To discover the truth will be distinct contribution to the history of that con flict, of equal importance whether It proves Spanish innocence or guilt.
 Missouri is the foremost state in the poultry industry. The report of the bureau of statistics for the last fiscal year shows that the total number of pounds of poultry, live and dressed, shipped from the Ill counties ot that state were l06, 9SS,7l0 pounds an in- crease of 36, 907, ,443 pounds Ul CT the preceding year. The total number of dozens of eggs shipped from there last year were 4,sI5, ,0+0, making an aggre- gate value to the producer of poultry and eggs of SIP, 2,0Ol ,O4S.54. Tps rela- tive importance of the poultry indus try in that state, as compared with the other industries, will be better under stood when it is shown that the total value of all corn, wheat, oats, flax. clover seed, millet seed, cane seed. castor beans, cotton seed, tobacco, broom corn, hay and straw which was shipped by all the counties in the state last year did not equal the value of the poultry and eggs shipped dur ing the same time by over sl7, ,0OO.
 The world is inclined to laugh at the project which contemplates shoot ing a man from New York to Chicago through a pneumatic tube In some thing like five hours," said Mir. Chester T. Frost of New York, to a Washing ton Post representative, but I be heve even more wonderful things III the way of rapid transit will be ac. complished before the end of the cen tury. The thing that surprises me is that people should be incredulous when such subject is broached. An age that has seen the express train displace the stage coach, and the ill., yentlOn of the telegraph and Lele- phone, should not balk before pneu- matic transit. The time will come, though do not expect to see it, when merchandise and human beings will be flashed across continents and under seas in as quick time as messages now are"
 British army mortality from bullets and disease in South Africa has reached l2,989, and the number added last month was $50. Probably the war mas cost 10000 lives on both sides, score that shocks humanity, as President Kruger predicted.
 According to the latest official list there are l9, I46 public functionaries of various kinds and degrees of attitude employed exclusively in the District of Columbia in conducting the numer- ous depar tments and bureaus of the federal government. These are the civilian appointees only in the execu- tive departments, and do not include and representatives and sev- eral hundred employees of the two houses who vibraTe between the capi-