The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1902-07-02
FOREIGN NEWS

GOOD HARVEST: London, June 49,
A dispatch from Odessa published
this morning in the Standard says that
reports received there from all the
black soil grain-producing regions Of
Southern Russia indicate that an album
dant harvest is assured.
BIG FIRE: Portland orr, June %
The fire which started shortly before
midnight last night i'm the Phoenix Iron
Works. formerly the Wolff & Zwicker
plant, on East Madison and East Wa
ter streets, burned for four hours and
destroyed six blocks of buildings val
ued at 100000 The insurance amount
ed to about 100000 1t was long after
daylight before the fire burned itself
out, and several engines remained on
the scene all day today to prevent the
fire from springing up again.
MINERS WAGES: Wilkesbarre,
Pa.), June 22.-John Mitchell, presi-
dent of the United Mine Workers of
America, today issued a lengthy
address. 1t is partly a reply to the let
terS of the operators declining to ac-
cede to the demands of the union,
which were published about ten days
ago. In this he says: For more than
twenty-five years the anthracite coal
mine workers of Pennsylvania have
chafed and groaned under he most in
tOlerable and inhuman conditions Of
employment imaginable. Their aver
age annual earnings have been less
than those of any other class of work.
men in the United States, notwth-
standing the fact that their work is
more hazardous and the cost of living
greater than in any other important
American industry. The total number
of persons employed in and around the
anthracite coal mines is 1850. They
are employed never to exceed 200 days
in any one year, and they receive as
compensation for their services an
average of SLAP for a ten-hOur work
day. 1t will thus be noted that they
earn annually less than $500"
FIREARMS: New York, June 21.-
Colonel Humbert, French artillery
officer, has invented, according to the
Paris correspondent of the tribune, an
apparatus which, applied to d rifle or
to a rapid-firing canon, completely sup
presses the flash, sound and smoke,
even of black gunpowder. Colonel
Humbert says: Il have succeeded IN
converting the explosive powder when
has been known for centuries into mo-
tor power giving impulse to projectiles
from rifles and cannon without report,
recOi and without any diminutiOn Of
force or effect" The military authori-
ties here attach supreme importance to
this discovery, which they consider
will bring about a complete revolution
in the methods of warfare.
COIN TO PORTO RICO: New York,
June 2l.-About three tons of silver
coin of the United States will be ship
ped from this city today for Porto Rico,
in payment for bonds just purchased by
a banking house with branches in that
island. Heretofore, when bills and
bank notes were shipped to the island,
they disappeared very rapidly. For
some time the disappearance Of raper
money was a mystery. Finally it was
discovered that the peop'e of Porto
Rico were just beginning to find j.
handy to send paper currency through
the mails, especially when it was de-
sired to send small amounts out of the
island. In this way the currency sup
ply was being depleted, and the bank
ers determined to try silver coin, in
the belief that it will take a good deal
more in postage to send it all out of
the country in letters and may dis
courage the practice.
CASSAVA AND CATTLE: Chicago,
into consideration about a year ago
have been developed in the last lew
months to the point where some Of the
great packing establishments in Chica-
go have begun experiments on what
may prove revolution of the cattle
! industry in the country says the Inter
Ocean. The project involves the set
! tlement of several hundred thousand
acres of what is at present nearly
! valueless land in Northern and North
| west Florida and Southern Alabama,
! the cultivation on a large scale of the
! cassava root and it's use in feeding cat
! tie and hogs. If the plan develops as 1t
| is now in the minds of the leading
! packers the Southern states will become
the center of the embarrassing industry
1t is stated that arrangements are
now being made for the accommodation
! of a considerable number of cattle to
! be shipped from the stockyards here to
! Northern Florida, to be fed on cassava
root. The result of the fattening
! process will be compared with similar
work in the West, regarding which the
conditions and cost are already def
nitely known. The result obtained will
determine the future of the cassava
| experiment
WANT AN EMPRESS: Tacoma
CWash), June 1S.-The steamship Vic
| toria brings news that the Chinese EN-
press DOwager has undertaken the
choosing of third imperial consort for