The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1904-09-08
NATIONAL CAPITAL CHAT.
A Large Fleet Of Warships Now At
Washington.

IL
ment employees, on scientific errands,
combined with pleasure. There are
many things which needs investigat-
ing during the summer, in order that
reports may be made Forthcoming for
the next session of the Congress.
Work must be inspected; reforms
must be instituted; Information must
be collected, and many affairs need
regulating. One of the Civil Service
Commissioners, Mr.. Cooley, is touring
the west, making a study of Civil
Service as applied to Indian schools
and reservations. By direction of the
President Mr.. Carroll D. Wright, of
the Bureau of Labor, is in Colorado,
making a study of the civil war in
that State. Mr.. Clifford Pinchott. the
wealthy young man who runs the
Bureau of Forestry in the Depart
ment of Agriculture, for the love he
has for forest trees, is in Oregon,
where he has been urging the trans
fer of supervision of forest reserves
from the Land Office to his own He
says President Roosevelt's idea is that
public lands should be devoted to the
best possible use, and the object of
his trip through the far West is to as
certain what is the best purpose to
which lands may be devoted. This
he admits, depends upon the point of
view, whether one is a lumbermau, a
live stock man, a miner or a farmer.
Another man will soon be sent West.
perhaps into the Black Hills, to dis
cover, if he can. how to fix wireless
telegraph instruments to forest trees
in such manner that if the trees
catches fire the wireless will make
that fact known. The ornithologist,
the enthomologist and the botanist
are also searching out the waste
places of the land in the interest of
science, and for the benefit of man
kind.
With the coming of autumn, and
the fall of the mercury in the Their
mometer, there will be the usual &C
tivity in scientific circles. Announce
ment is made, here in Washington,
of an early gathering of weather
sharps, possibly one hundred in num-
Der, who will discuss the art of fore
casting and devise ways and means
for discovering the secrets of nature.
There is much interest Just now,
in these circles, in the remarkable
phenomena of the past few weeks
cyclones in st. Louis, Minneapolis,
and in Chautauqua county, New
York, none of which could be pre-
dicted, and all of which caused loss
of life, as.well as an immense amount
OF property. The recent discovery at
Cambridge, Mass, of spots on the
moon, supposed to be caused by vabor
or smoke, as the result of volcanic
action, causes considerable specua-
ton. What connection they have
with cyclones and thunder showers
on this earth is one of those things
not yet ascertained. While in con-
Vention the weather forecasters will
try to determine what problems ought
20 be studied at the new cobble-
stone station, now building, not far
from Washington, on an eminence
called Mt. Weather, in Virginia. 1t
is also announced that they will try
to have meteorology added to the
list Of studies in the colleges and high
schools of the country.
Col. Boddle, one of the Commits
sioners of the District of Columbia,
has Just returned from an outing in
the Canal zone of Panama. He was
delighted and surprised to find that
mercury in the zone never got above
80 degrees, while it is frequently as
high as 9S in Washington. He hunt
ed in vain for mosquitoes and when
it rained all he needed was an ordi-
nary So umbrella. He says Colon is
pleasant place to live in; that the
health of the people is very good, no
yellow fever, no smallpox, no typhoid
fever, no diptheria, hardly anything
of that nature worth mentioning.
Work on the canal is getting on very
nicely" Experts think that not
more than 10000 men can be profita-
bly, employed at any one time on the
work; that they should contract to
remain two years; that under favora-
Die circumstances it will take eight
years to build the canal, unless an
epidemic should occur, or unforeseen
difficulties crop up or there should
be change in public sentiment in
the Unitad States. If none of these
things happen, and the South is will
ing TO spare enough colored men to
DO the work, Col Boddle is very
sanguine that the canal will be
speedily built.
Here in Washington It looks as if
Judge Parker's pronouncement on
hA =.