The Fargo forum and daily republican., 1906-01-31
GOSSIP FROM The NATIONAL CAPITAL
Correspondence. BY William Wolff Smith.

Washington. p. G., Jan. 26. Presi-
dent Roosevelt has received from w.
r. Stokely, an orange grower Of ST.
Augustine and Jacksonville, Florida, IA
crate Of especially fine oranges sent as
a token of his esteem. The oranges
were carefully selected by Mr.. Stokely
to represent the best fruit produced by
his state. They were packed in a
cylindrical crate, designed by Mr..
Stokely and arranged so that as much
of the fruit as desired for use at any
time can be removed from the crate,
without exposing the remainder. Each
orange was packed in separate COM
partment and the compartments ar
ranged in trays with tops and bottoms.
By saving through the thin veneer COW
|ering the traps can be separated and
the fruit used at will If desired the
trays can be packed with different
kinds OF fruit, such as oranges, grape
fruit, tomatoes, strawberries, peaches,
being separable from the package with
out disturbing the remainder OF the
fruit.
| salsa
A monograph just issued by the de-
partrnent of commerce and labor on
transportation routes and systems OF
the world, gives some very interesting
statistics on the decadence of American
shipping In I855--a half century ago
Ia period when steam was coming in
to favor, America had in its foreign
trade ships aggregating 2,348, ,358 tons,
OF which II5,O45 tons were steam tom
mage, In 1905 the total tonnage OF
American ships engaged in the foreign
trade was only o43,75o, OF which $780,
5o4 tons we're steam. In other words,
while this country has led all others in
growth Of population, wealth, COM
merce, manufactures and railroad
building, its shipping in the foreign
trade has steadily decreased until it is
only slightly more than one-third what
it was half century ago. America
has total ocean tonnage, according to
the department Of commerce and labor,
of 7,456, ,543 tons, including the whale,
cod and flackerel fisheries and OF this
total, 5,44I, ,688 tons is employed in
coastwise and lake trade and in the
fisheries and only o43,75o in the foreign
trade. According to Lloyd's register
England and her colonies have 1900
| 72o tons, Germany, 3,5647o8 tons,
France I,z28,o38 tons, Norway, I,776,-
| 2I8 tons and Italy o,Ioo,o66 tons. AS
to its shipping in foreign trade, the
United States ranks along with Japan
with 873,552 tons, Russia 10000 tons,
Sweden 8o4, ,346 tons and Austria
Hungaria 6I8. IQ1 tons. The lowest
point iii our foreign shipping was in
| 1893 when It was 726,2I3 tons. In ten
years from 1895 to 1906 it increased
2o,o55 tons, equal TO about two ships.
Among the noted figures in the con-
gressia al press gallery is that of O.
10. Stealy, the Washington representa-
tive Of The Louisville Courier Journal.
For twenty or more years Mr.. Stealy
has been watching the doings Of con-
gress, ningling with the noted law
makers and studying their character
istics. The experience Of those twenty
years he has embodied in volume that
has just come from the press, and it is
one of the most entertaining books OF
the season, treating as it does in free
and easy manner with the. great legis-
lative epochs since he became a WASH
ington correspondent, and of the men
who most prominently figured therein.
When he FIRST came to Washington,
Blaine and Conkling were the two lead