The Washington times., 1901-09-20
FOREIGNI 1pPNS.

AT last the British merchant marine Is
ABOUT to make an effort to regain the At
lantic record. For ssome time the blue
ribbon has been held by the German
steamship Deutschland. whose repeated
successes have been watched by English
men with some irritation allied with Il
generous admiration, fQs her perform
ances.
In response to- APPEALS that they should
attempt to wrest the record from the
Teutonic vessel British shipowners have
pleaded that great speed cannot be at
tanned in passenger ships with due re-
gard to the interests of the companies
shareholders except by means of Gc!ern-
ment subsidies, and those hitherto have
not been available. But apart from Of
ncial assistance the Deutschland. it is
admitted has been 4 good advertise ment
for an all-world service. This is view
of the matter that at first was not recog-
nized on this side of the Atlantic, but It
appealed to the Americans, and at
length it has been recognized that even
steamship companies must indulge in such
costly advertisements as flyers provide
If they would hold their own in the keen
competition that now prevails.
AT any rate, this argument has led the
Cunard Company, the pioneers in the
matter of speed with safety-in siXty-one
senger-to decide to fight for the Atlantic
record. Owing to the high price of iron
and other causes the order has not peeh
placed, but the designs have been pre-,
pared and estimates invited for VeSsel
with a speed of twenty-five knots an
hour. She will, of course. be built for use
as an armed merchant cruiser, and, In
common with the other crack vessels OF
this the most patriotic of British lines,
she will fly the blue ensign and be com.
manded BY officers of the Royal Naval
Reserve.
The Anglo-Ger agreement, though it
has puzzled a great many people and
has been the subject of heated comment.
does not deserve to be ranked as danger
Gus. England and Germany have promis-
ed each other to make no territorial con-
quests, and to keep the door open. Yet
neither is bound to act unless ii considers
itself injured. and as Germany does not
think itself concerned in Manchuria. it
stands aside. from the debate with Rus
sia in regard to that region
The agreement has nothing to do with
railways. though it has been supposed by
some critics to apply to them. 1t has
reference only to the open door leading
to the treaty ports and coasts of China
Lord Cranborne had to explain that those
who complain of the presence of German
troops in Shanghai and the activity of
their countrymen in the YanStse valley
are unreasonable.
IT still remains uncertain what Russia s
| proposed agreement with the Chinese
Government in regard to Manchurla ex-
actly was, but Lord Cranborne was able
to say that his MajestyS Government,
acting with Japan and the help of patri-
otic Cinnamon, has been able to put a
stop to a treaty which would have handed
this part of China over to the cars ofil-
| GERS By friendly representations Russia
| has been induced to withdraw from the
whole of the railway Inside the Great
| Wall"
The Sultan's Yildiz palace at CONSTANT
| nople is monument to fear. 1t is assas-
sin-proof, bomb-proof. earthquake-proof,
| fire-proof, microbe-proof. Architects and
engineers are building and rebuilding in
| cessantly. Some new secret retreat is al
| ways under way. The entire domain is
surrounded by an immense wall thirty
| feet high and the choicest troops of the
Empire stand guard around it. An inner
| wall twelve feet thick, with gates of iron,
! encloses the private residence itself. The
| walls of the Sultans dwellings are filled
| with armor plate to resist projectileS. 1t
| is said that a mysterious passage connects
| with ten secret bedchamberS. forming an
intricate labyrinth No one but his body
| attendant knows where the Sultan may
| sleep during any particular night. He has
/ electric lights and telephones in his own
| apartments, but forbids them in Constan-
| for canspirators., and he believes that a
| dynamite cartridge could be sent over a
wire into the palace. He fears electric eX-
| plosions, so Constantfnople still gets along
! with gaslight. He hates the word dyna-
| mo. because it sounds like the word dy-
| Mantle Balloons are tabooed, lest one
| should pause over him long enough to
drop a chunk of explosive.
/ of hn
! is a matter of course. The domain is a
| small world in itself. Five thousand peo-
| pie live within the outer wall. not count
| ing small army OF workmen ana the
| 7 600 imperial gGardsmen. There are shops
| factories. arsenals. stables, library, mu-
scum. picture gallery, theatre, and even
! q menagerie.
A survey of the city, just completed
shows that Paris comprises SS.5Sl private
buildings-that is to say, houses, work
shops or ediices belonging to individuals
OF this total Si,SS2 are residential proper
! ties. I3I6 workshops or manufactures and
! 2:sS9 residences ard workshops combined
II is estimated that these Ss,5s7 properties
! have an annual rental value of $li60OO,OOt
and that the actual value of the edihces
| is about $1,000, .001. These totals only
refer to the buildings within the fortifi-
cations of the city.
\ fact not generally known to the public
is that the rent of the Ottoman embassy
| is paid BY the French Government, while
the furniture of the mansion formed part
of the collection held in reserve by the
| National Repository. The explanation OF
this curious condition of affairs is that
a number of years ago an agreement was
come to between the French and Turkish
Governments by which the Sultan Nah
I 4 If... l.tr of 70 nj q
gave TO France the Therapia Palace and
the magnificent park which surrounds II
on the Upper Bosphorus, and which Is
used by Inc French Ambassadors as their
that the French Government provided a
residence for the Turkish Ambassador in
| Paris.
In connection with this arrangement an
| other equally curious fact is recorded
The house porter is an official of the
| French Government. and is paid by the
French Government. He Is generally
looked upon as being the most fortunate
Turkish officials. high and low. have tC
| occasionally wait more or less lengthy
periods for their salaries. he. at all events
draws his with punctilious regularity.
| A large scheme is being promoted in
the north of England with a view at one
and the same time to increase the eff
cheney of British manufactures so as bet
ter to meet foreign competition. and to
unite in National Industrial Associa-
ton employers and employed. and so to
facilitate common action and agreement
that strikes and locit-outs, if not entirely
abolished, shall b. minirnized. The scheme
proposes % to bring about an association
of those engaged in trade. whether as EN-
ployes, employed Or merchants; 90 to
keep before the minds of the employers