The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-06-26
COMMENTS ON MEN AND
 MATTERS OF THE WORLD

ten days all the harvest will not be saved. The state employment agent is making strenuous efforts to get men for the work. but Is meeting with a scant measure of success.
 It Is now proposed to search for the treasure lost in Lake Huron that has gone to the bottom with foundered ships. A wreclKlng company, well informed on all the vessels lost within the past fifty years, is also preparing to make a sys- tematic search for the cargoes now buried beneath the waters of all the great lakes. Figures show that within the past twenty years 1OS9 vessels have been wrecked on the great lakes with cargoes valued at over NOO0,O0O. large proportion of these cargoes was perishable merchandise, but many of the vessels were laden with cop per, Iron ore, gold, stone and brick and other commodities that are not injured by the water. For instance, of the ships lost In 1900 thirty-one carried iron ore, twenty two grain, thirty gold, twenty-eight lum- Der, four stone and brick and one copper ore. In the different years this propor- tion varied. It is easy to see from these figures of only one year that a vast treasure Is now resting on the bottom of the great lakes, but 1t will be a difficult task to recover any of the buried wealth.
 Wild animals are becoming scarcer every year and as result the prices of the lar ger speciments have increased greatly in the past fifteen or twenty years. Twenty years ago a male giraffe was worth from s415 to 1125. Now he will bring from sS50O to s4ooo and there are very few In cap- tivity. Ringland Brothers circus Is the proud possessor of one of the few giraffes that are now used for exhibition pur- poses
 Among the other valuable animals a full grown Indian elephant costs s25OO; lions are worth from $500 to s15OO; Bengal tigers bring 5000, and the hairy Siberian breed Is worth 5000. Ostriches are sold for SS76 per pair. The feathers are the most valuable part of these ungainly birds and the owner of the celebrated ostrich farm near Los Angeles. California, makes fine income selling the fluffy plumes to tour ists.
 It is rumored that when Count Cassini. the Russian ambassador, departs for Europe on a leave of absence, he will not return to this country, but will be suc- ceeded at Washington by Paul Lessar, now Museovite ambassador to Pekin. M. Lessar is a prime favorite of Count Lams- dorf, the Russian minister of foreign af- fairs and an intimate friend of Secretary Hay Paul Lesser has had a brilliant ca reer. He began life as an engineer and was employed on the trans Caspian rail- road. He was so successful in the branch of technical work that he was promoted to diplomatic service and his rise has been continuous since that time. He is a bach elor tall, good looking and an accom- plished diplomat. No doubt he will be- come a favorite among the foreign repre- sentatives at Washington, if he is really the destined successor of Count Cassini.
 The cutlass, once an indispensable ad- junct of the seaman is taking it's depar- ture from aboard ship and before many years 1t will be relegated to the past The popular idea of the pirate climing on board with cutlass in his teeth and a pistol in each hand will have to make way for something more up to date The French minister of marine has ordered that all cutlasses in the service of that navy be sent ashore. There is no need for these weapons. They were formerly used for boarding ships but long distance fighting Is now the order of the day, and sailors on the modern men-of-war never get close enough together to distinguish the men on the opposing ships much less climb over the rail on the deck.