The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-12-03

 ing faster than they think the reve- nues of the government will justify.
 If they could materially reduce m stead of increase these expenses TOT the coming fiscal year 1t would be done beyond any doubt. The trouble, now ever, is that the people In the country districts find the service such a con venience that petitions are reaching the Postoffice Department from nearly all sections asking for more routes. on the 1st of July last, the appropriatlons available to pay carriers was $zs,zOV,- 900. Indications are that tor the com ing year the appropriation will be ln- creased to at least s30.0o0,o00, Unless there Is a shutdown at the depart ment in allowing new routes to be put fin operation it may even go higher,
 Sneaker Cannon for several years mas used his influence to curtah the amounts. Ills lieutenants appear to De with him. The service has grown 10 such enormous proportions that the force and those behind them In the various states have powerful political Influence. They are getting to be dangerous combination to oppose. as many a congressman knows.
 Alabama already has 745 of these rural free delivery routes In operation. The third congressional district, repre- sented by Mfr. Clayton. has more than any other in the State--140. The sew enth represented by Mr. Burnett, comes next with 1t5. Mir. Rowie's district has 1O5. In Mir. Heflin's district there are eightyLeight, Mir. Richardsons eighty-seven in Coionet Wley's seven tys-three. in Colonel Bankhead's sixty five. in Mir. underwood's sixty-elgnt- and in Mir Tayior's eight
 One hundred and eiEhty-five peti- tions are now pending before the oe- pertinent for the establishment of new routes in Alabama.
 | Texas still leads all of the Southern States in the number vf rural free de- livery routes, 1867 being credited to the Lone Star State. Tennessee comes next with 1,544. and Georgia Is third with 1,411.
 Illinois has the largest number of any of the states-2,744. Other big states have: Ohio 2.440. Pennsylvania 2.0e6, Iowa 2.206. Kansas 1898 Win lconsin, 1.450, Michigan I,913 and Minne- | Spta 1.475.
 There is only one route in the State of Nevada Most of the states out Tn that section of the'Union have compa- ratively few rural delivery routes. They seem to prefer the old star route service, the forerunner of the system which the other sections are clamoring so loudly for.
 Indian Territory and the Territory of ! Oklahoma adjoin each other and will be | united as one State that will come into 1 the Union, The topography is practic- 1 ally the same, and there is not a heavy | difference in the population of the two Territories. And yet, oklahoma has 67S routes in operation and Indian Terri | tory only twenty. At the department. the officials are at a loss to account for | the comparatively small number of pe- 1 atktnNa that raynA from fine Indian Ter | ritory.
 Nearly ali the close political observ- \ CTS who have recently visited the Cap ' itai City of the nation, and who know anything about conditions in Oklahoma and Indian Territories, seems to be of ! the opinion that after the new State is | admitted, and the election is held, the l Democrats will carry four and prob ably all five Of the Congressional dis tricts The Democrats have an over whelming majority in the convention that is to frame the constitution, ana they will arrange the districts. It il confidently expected also that two Dem ocratic Senators will be sent to Wash ington from the new State. This is { very important matter to the Senate Democrats, for the reason that they need additional votes to prevent thu Republicans from ratifying certain very oh jectionable treaties the administra tion people are trying to put through It will be remembered that Republican Senators are to succeed Democrats il Idaho, Colorado and Montana in thu next Congress.
 Below will be found some interesting | points taken from Daily Consular ant Trade Reports" issued by the Bureav
 of Manufacturers, Department of Com
 merce and Labor:
 In response to numerous inquiries | ~ I-Tn Cx0ftechalIx 0f fha Cif' of Mexico, has gathered the followini data regarding pig iron in Mexico: Native pig iron does not appear t
 have made its appearance upon tn market until some three years ago The only reason that can find for thi seems to be that the lack of prope 2 fuel makes iron-working extremely ex pensive I am told that 1t averages be
 tween twenty-five and thirty Mexica!
 pesos ($12.55 and $14.94) per ton, an that therefore 1t proves cheaper to i'm
 port pig iron from abroad. It woul , appear that of the pig iron used in Mex
 leo at present about three quarters imported from England, and that a yer . small percentage comes from the Unit
 ed States Some ten years ago, whil
 Mexico was yet in the beginning of il
 railroad history, the railroads sold thei
 scrap" to whomsoeYer would buy fo
 remelting. Steel could not be worke
 here in those days, and all the old rail
 road steel appears to have been sold a
 Tampico for sometimes less than tn
 freight from Tampico to Mexico City.
 There is a steel plant in Montere called the "Fundicion de Fierro Acer
 de Monterrey" whose president is a Italian, and whose paid up capital (sai
 to be 10,000,000 Mexican pesos, or $4, 9S0,000 United States currency) is prin
 cipally Mexican. This company ha
 been a factor in the national develop
 ment of the industry by being tn
 means of obtaining the greater pro tective duties on rails and building ma
 terial They make rails, and, general ly speaking. all sorts of steel work. bu
 their chief output, am told, is struct
 ural steel
 According to a report of the Aus trian representatives at Naples the an nual importation of musical instrument by Italy exceeds S40O.000. Of thi nearly three-fourths go to the import ation of pianos, Germany getting tn Hons share by furnishing nearly $200
 900 worth of these instruments. Tn
 balance comes from Austria. Consul
 General Guenther. of Frankfort, com
 ments that American pianos are indiS
 putably among the best instrument made in the world and the Italian
 being a very musical people, shoul
 have American pianos adapted to tf
 climate.
 Aiken, New Metal. Alzen is the name given to ne
 metal. which is composed of two par
 of aluminium and one part of gin
 writes Consul General Guenther fro
 Frankfort It Is said to equal cas iron in strength but is much more elai
 tic Alzen Is superior because it dot