The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-04-28
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

A British parliamentary report
shows that the total tonnage of battle
ships now building and projected is
divided. as follows among the greAt
maritime powers: The United States
200, 1S0; Great Britain, $4,000; RUSSIA
125,270; Germany, 103976.
The annual statement of the copy
right office of the Library of Congress
shows that the copyright business for
1903 was the largest in any one year
in the history of the office. No less
than 1907 titles were received for
registration, the total fees received
amounting to s70,230.50. The number
of articles deposited also exceeded the
number in any previous year, totaling
1S0727. On the entries for the year
there were 14,060 books and pamphlets,
4,56S booklets, leaflets, circulars and
cards, and 7,641 newspapers and mag
azine articles. This speaks volumes
for the literary activity Of the coun-
try.
-Corot's great landscape, LIE Soir,"
and Diaz's masterful Autumn in the
Forest of Fontainbleau," have been
purchased by firm of art dealers in
New York for the aggregate sum of
$4,000. The Corot landscape was val
ued at $75, 900 and the Fontainbleau at
$4,000. 1t is generally reported that
the buyer is Charles NJ. Taft of Gin
cinnati, brother of Secretary of War
Taft. lie Soir" was in the Crabbe
collection at Brussels several years
ago, and both the Corot and Diaz
works form a part of the Coates col
lection at Paisley, Scotland, where they
were purchased at private sale. Each
canvas measures A by "a inches.
"A miscellaneous collection of coins
which were recently discovered among
the ruins of the Campanile at Venice
has been the subject of an interesting
lecture by Signor Papadopoli at the
Institute Veneto." The coins were dis
covered in different parts of the re-
mains of the tower, so that they can
not have formed part of any concealed
treasure. In all probability they have
been dropped at various time by visit
ors to the tower, or not improbably
lost out of almsboXes. They are for
eign and Venetian coins, dating from
the fifteenth or first half of the six
tenth centuries. There are among
them some Bavarian coins of small
values Q394145O). and others with the
head of Ferdinand 1 of Austria and
Bohemia.
The United States now leads the
world in the production of salt, fur
nishing % per cent. of the entire sup
ply. Great Britain is second, Ger
many third and France fourth. The
worlds total production is 1900, 900
short tons. Recent figures show that
the production of salt in this country
exceeds 10000 600 barrels, which is
nearly four times as much as it was
twenty years ago. OF this total more
than 100000 barrels is in table and
dairy salt, and more than 1000, 900 bar
rels common salt. The states produc-
ing the greatest amount of salt are
Michigan and New York, each with
more than 100000 barrels annually,
and Kansas and Ohio, with about g.
100000 and 100000 barrels, respective
ly, followed by California, Utah and
West Virginia. The output in other
states is comparatively small
The biggest carving-knife ever ex-
hibited will be on view at the exposi-
ton. This monster blade will be thir-
ty feet in length, says the st. Louis
Post-Dispatch proudly, and will have
an edge as sharp as razor. 1t will be
made out of the finest steel, and the
handle will be a masterpiece of the
cutters art, deliberately carved and
beautifully polished. 1t would take
a veritable giant to WELD a knife like
this. The blade is to be altogether of
American manufacture, and it is ex-
pected to show for the first time that
American cutlery, which was former
ly not as good as that made in other
countries, has now reached a point of
perfection where it fears no rivalry. The
giant carving-knife will cost several
thousand dollars, and special machin-
cry had to be made before it's construc-
ton could begin. No such knife was
ever before manufactured.
The dispatch of Russian military
ballooning force to the Far East re-
minds one of the considerable use that
was made of them during the Franco
Prussian War. From the very day on
which Paris was beleaguered the Ad-
ministration des Telegraphes busted it
self in making ready its ballooning
outfit, and four days later, on the 23d
of September, the first dispatches to
the outer world were forwarded by
balloon post, in the Neptune. The first
replies, dated the 9th of September
were received in Paris on the LIST of
October, being brought by carrier pig
con. The headquarters of this pigeon
and balloon mail service were first at
Tours where the necessary photograph
ic measures were taken for reducing
the replies to a size small enough for
attachment to the pigeons body. Later
on they were removed to Bordeaux,
where they remained until the close of
the war.
One of the most remarkable school
rooms in the world is surely that of
La Petite Roquette," the Paris prison
for juvenile offenders. The system of
this prison is that of solitary confine-
ment, the whole building being so con-
structed that each of the detached cells
is overlooked by a warder stationed on
a small observation tower. The school
room consists of two hundred cells in
the form of an amphitheater, from each
of which the teacher. and the teacher
only, can be seen. Each of the youth
full offenders takes his place in silence,
the first in the furthermost cell and
the others in rotation. The closing of
one of these cell doors opens that of
the next cell. The voice of the teacher
is the only sound to be heard in the
building. Religious services are con-
Quoted in the same way, each of the
inmates being able to see the officiat-
ing priest and him alone. The solitary
confinement in La Petite Roquette' is
certainly more severe than the Ameri-
can method of dealing with juvenile
offenders.
How infinitely minute must be the
particles that emanate from the object
which the dog is tracking, says the
London Mail. Yet the matter is ex-
tremely divisible The tenth part of a