The San Francisco call., 1904-04-03
MEN analMAaYERS In
THE Ton lie WORLD
MOEEEYE

upon the band the name of an old
friend in Austria.
He wrote a note to his friend and
tied it to the metal band. When the
stork returned to Austria for the sum-
mer the friend saw the letter, caught
the storl and read the message. which
was the first certain assurance that the
outside world received that Slatin was
still alive
This storl1, as was proved by the
dates, made the journey from Omdur-
man to the Austrian country place, a
distance of nearly 5000 miles. at a speed
Of more than 100 miles an hour.
The American and English firms to
which the Pennsylvania Railroad Com
pany has recently awarded the con-
tracts for the construction of the rail-
road tunnels under the North and East
rivers at New York City have already
taken the preliminary steps necessary
to active operations. The contract for
the iron castings. which will be the
largest ever let, will be awarded in a
day or two. The work on the tunnels
viii require 800. .765 net tons Of the cast
ings. Practically every iron foundry
in the world is interested in the con-
tract and has submitted bids.
The details Of the tunneling Of the
two rivers and the necessary facilities
in and about New York City, which will
be in keeping with the gigantic engi-
neering project, have been made known
by the railroad company. The western
tunnels Will connect with the Pennsyl-
Vania tracks at Harrison, near Newark,
n. ]. The two tubes, which will be
placed thirty-seven feet apart, will
pass under Bergen Hill. The tunnels
viii be constructed in sections, the first
10 extend TO Weehawl5en shaft, dis
tance of 5910 feet. The next section ex-
tends from the shaft to the New York
State line, about the center of the
river. The distance from the shaft to
Ninth avenue, New York, is 9257 feet.
With the exception of a small section
Of thirty -four-foot span, a section OF
1896 feet of triple tunnel and a section
Of COS feet Of four-track tunnel, these
sections consist of two individual tun-
nels. The eastern division, from Ninth
avenue to Thomson avenue, Long ISL
and City, is 1S.SOO feet long.
The railroad company, in awarding
the contract, paid particular attention
TO the specifications relative to the
making and quality of steel and iron
castings TO be used in the work. The
specifications require that the cast
iron must contain not less than / per
cent of silicon, not more than six
tenths of l per cent of phosphorus and
not more than een-hundredths of
1 per cent Of sulphur 1t is also spec
flied that no mill cinder, white or burnt
iron or scrap shall be used in the man
ufacture Of the castings. The pitch,
into which the castings are to be
dipped while in a white heat, will be
distilled from coal tar and must be free
from naphtha, and the material de-
odorized by a solution of per cent
linseed oil. The tunnels will be lined
with cast iron or steel plates Hanged
and bolted together.-New York Press.
1t would be almost a physical i'm
possibility for a man to hide himself
in any remote corner Of the world with
out being discovered at last by some
insignificant agent of the worlds mail
service, the machinery of which ope-
rates with clocklike regularity. If a
birdseye view of the different railroad
and steamboat lines which carry the
mails could be taken the giant spiders
web thus formed would appear woven
in a pattern so intricate that the mind
would balk at the mere suggestion of
unraveling it. And besides the regular
steamship and railroad threads of this
maze would appear tens of thousands
Of cross lines, representing pony routes,
l @.
runner trails" and even reindeer,
whaling ship and canoe lines. Every
sort Of vehicle and beast of burden and
nearly every invention Of man for quick
transportation have been pressed into
the postal service, and it is possible
/ for a letter to go around the world
under conditions so strange that the
mere history Of its journey would form
story Of thrilling interest.
If a man should start from New York
and travel northward to Alaska, then
down the coast to California and take
ship to Manila, and follow the lines Of
travel to Hongkong, to Singapore, to
Canton, to Toxic, to Vladivostok, to
] st. Petersburg, to Vienna. to London,
to South Africa, and finally to South
America, touching on the way at sew
eral Pacific and South Atlantic islands,
and thence back to his starting point,
! he could travel a distance several times
greater than the circumference of the
globe If he ordered his mail forward
ed to him, and left correct addresses
behind at each place, the letters would
dutifully follow him and finally be de-
! livered to him in New York few days
after his own arrival there. All that
! he would have to pay extra for this
remarkable journey would be a dollar
or two in tolls, which would represent
the charges for forwarding exacted by
some of the countries through which
/ il passed. There is in the Postoffice
/ Department at Washington the envel-
ope OF a letter which Travelled in this
way 10000 miles. and another which
came safely through a trip of 125. 900
miles. Both are marked and stamped
/ in a way TO battle any except n very
expert decipherer of puzzles.-St. Mich
olas.
When Isaac Pitman, the inventor of
/ phonetic shorthand, predicted fifty