The Savannah morning news., 1902-03-22
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

4 "A fancy ureSS Dali was recently
| given in Munich. in which all the
| guests came dressed as notorious
/ criminals, while the walls were hung
| with. pictures illustrating the most
I famous crimes. The dance is said to
have been provocative of much merri-
ment.''
The Reichsanzeiger published de-
cree with regard to slavery in the
| Cameroons and Togoland whereby
| children born of domestic slaves be-
! come half free, and the children of
half free men become free. The sale
| of slaves is voluntary or otherwise but
the exchange of slaves is forbidden.
The members of the Maryland Pill
grims' Association have determined to
defer until April / the. celebration of
| Pilgrims Day, which falls on March
| 25. The object of the association is
to perpetuate the landing on March %
| 1854, of the Maryland colonists from
| the Ark and the Dove at st. Mary City.
The development of the Portland
cement industry in the United States
in the past decade is shown by the CEN
sus to have been enormous, increasing
as it did from half million barrels to
| nearly three million barrels. It's name
is taken from British island of Port
land, IN which is found a stone that
this cement, when set, closely resem-
| bles. Originally it was made from
chalk and clay, but as manufactured
in the United States it is crushed lime
| stone. The stone is ground and made
into bricks, which are baked and then
ground to fine powder.
As a result of the recommendations
of Sir Benjamin Baker, practical steps
have now been taken to insure the eff
| ficient ventilation of the twopenny
| tube tunnels in London. A powerful
fan has been placed at the base of the
| left shaft at Bond street station which
will remove the Initiated atmosphere
| from the permanent ways, fresh air
taking its place at the various hating
| places under ordinary pressure, The
| fan, which is 4S inches in diameter
and electrically driven, displaces 3d.
600 cubic feet of air a minute, and IS
thus capable of entirely exhausting the
! whole of the tunnels in a fraction over
| three minutes.
The recent appointment of a com.
mission to consider the whole question
! of Russian agriculture and the condi-
| ton of the peasantry marks new de-
parture in the internal policy of Rus
sia.. The powers accorded to the COM
mission are of the widest possible,
| and, in fact, amount to a charge to
complete the work begun a generation
ago with the freeing of the serfs.
! Thus the entire manner if life of the
! Russian mujik will form one of the
! principal matters of consideration for
| the commission, which is empowered
to present its proposals for the bet
tering financially, educationally, eco
| nomically and in general culture OF
agriculture labor to all it's phases.
The Manila Critic says that when
Gen. Weyler was sent as Governor
| General to Manila, Don Carlos PaIanca,
the wealthy standardized Chinaman,
| whose funeral last September was
| marked by great pomp, determined to
send Mrs. Weyler a gift, the GUS
| tomary way of obtaining the good will
! of the Spanish officials. He found at
a jewelers. two necklaces, each costing
| 100000, and both being so beautiful that
he could not choose between them. So
| he sent them both to Mrs Weyler, with
the message that she should make her
| choice. He received a warm letter of
thanks from her, stating that the neck
| laces were so beautiful that she could
not decide between them, and hence
would keep both, which she did.
While DR.. c. w. Matson of Brook
| vile, Penn, was making alterations
in his home recently he discovered
| closed passageway leading from the
| cellar to a good sized underground
room some distance from the house.
The house originally belonged to Judge
Heath, an anti-slavery advocate, who
| was connected with the famous "un-
| foreground railroad" Brookville was a
| station on the "road" and the Judge
was station agent" He was prose-
| cuted several times for aiding the es-
| cape of slaves, and, with several others,
| convicted in the United States Court
at Pittsburg. To escape payment of
heavy damages Judge Heath compro-
missed his case.
Japan is adopting European forms
| of architecture, particularly in its bus
| mess buildings and hotels, the old type
| of domestic construction not so read
| lily yielding to the spirit of innovation
which permeats nearly everything in
| that enterprising and interesting
| country, says the New York Tribune
| The government buildings are all of
| European design, their superiority in
! the matter of convenience and accom-
mediation being generally recognized.
| Whatever large structures are hereaf-
| ter built, whether for public or private
| business, are all sure to be of Western
type, with up to date equipment, in
| Guiding elevators, electric lights and
| signals, with the Occidental type of
| janitor bossing the outfit.
A Berlin dispatch announces that
hereafter the senior officer in COM
mand of the German squadron on the
American station is to bear the title
of Commodore" and fly special flag,
says the New York Times. This re-
wives the regretful memory that there
are no more Commodore" in the
United States navy, that grade hav-
ing been abolished by the reorganiza-
ton law of 1899 for reasons presum-
ably good but not easily comprehensi-
bic to the civilian mind. In other DAYS
whatever may be the present objec-
tions to that title, men who wore it
for US managed to win resplendent
fame and did work that made Ameri-
can commodores known all over the
world. The origin of the title is Span
lsh, but that is nothing against it,
and 1t does seem a pity that the splen-
did line should have been brought to
an end. though of course heroes with
other names can be just as heroic as
the old-time cOmmodores. A title that
could be better spared is "Comman-
der, which has no such noble assn