Omaha daily bee., 1906-02-10
OTHER LANDS THAN ours.


the other day but for the sudden death of
the king of Denmark-is confessedly the
result of lessons taught by the Russo-Japs-
nese war and is the most destructive naval
engine of war yet devised by human in
genuity. The latest type Of British battle
ships carry four twelve-inch guns $50
pound shelD. The Dreadnought will have
ten OF these weapons of new type, with
a muzzle energy of 1855, as compared with
the 1882 of the guns OF such recent bat
tleships as the Majestics an increase OF
power in each weapon Of 50 per cent In a
fight the Dreadnought will be able to dis
charge every minute ten projectiles weigh
| ing $500 pounds. with sufficient velocity to
send them nearly twenty-five miles, or to
! penetrate sixteen inches OF the hardest
| armor at a range OF two miles Unlike
| other battleships II will carry no weapon
I smaller than the great twelve-inch pieces,
except eighteen three-inch quick-frers for
! repelling attacks by torpedo craft II will
mount neither 9.2-inch. 7.5-inch nor 6-inch;
It will be the biggest ship afloat and
| II will have only the biggest and most
| powerful guns. The admiralty has decided
| that the war in the far east proved the
| comparative uselessness Of the gun of me
| dunn size at modern battle ranges The
Dreadnought will be impelled by turbines
and is expected to have speed enough to
overtake any ship of its class afoat.
zee
One of the first plans which was laid be-
fore the car after the conclusion of the
war was the gigantic project of building
tunnel through the Caucasus under the
/ present military Georgian road running
! from Vladikavkaz to Tiflis This will be
the biggest thing Of it's kind ever at
! tempted, and the costliest. The total
length OF the tunnel. which will be in two
divisions. will be thirty-two milestone d.
vision OF fourteen, the other of eighteen
miles. The mountain to be tunnelled will
! be the famous Gross" mountain and the
tunnel will be entered just within sight of
| the peak of Kazbek. the mountain to which
Prometheus was chained. The tunnel II is
| computed. will take about eighteen to
| twenty years to bore and the total cost
will not fan far short OF $50 10000. The
| strategic advantages of the line will be
! enormous The network of European Rus
sian railways will be connected with the
Caucasian system and with the line run
/ ming to the Persian frontier. with this
tunnel built 81 will be possible to move
troops from St Petersburg to the Persian
frontier in about seven days.
Owing to the present widespread agita-
ton against the existing system OF election
to the representative chambers in Prussia
and other German states, a speech which
/ has just been delivered in the upper cham
! Der of the Bavarian Diet by Prince Lud-
wig, the heir presumptive to the Bavarian
! crown, has caused good deal of comment.
! Prince Ludwig said that the country was
/ to be congratulated upon the existence of
system of election to the German Reich
| stag which satisfied the majority OF the
population To understand this it was only
\ necessary TO look at other countries with
| fancy systems OF election, which were in
conflict with the popular sense of justice.
He was inclined to doubt whether such
systems would last much longer, and
thought 1t quite possible that they would
be succeeded by more comprehensive sys-
TENS of popular election. In his opinion
elections as a rule could only give a faith
full reflection of the views of the whole pop
ulation when there was equal universal
and direct suffrage with a secret ballot.
country could never settle down, he said,
without suffrage of that character--a SEN
timent that is not likely to be hailed with
any great amount of official enthusiasm in
! Berlin.
For the last ten years England has spent
on drink from ss75.0Oo.OOo to $3.50 100000 a
year. Its average annual expenditure on
4 drink amounts, therefore, to a sum that is
more than the entire annual revenue, that
| is equal to all the rents of all the houses
and farms in the kingdom, and that is only
! little less that the cost OF the South At
rican war. Nearly five-eighths OF this goes
In beer, about third in spirits and one
thirteenth in wine. The expenditure per
head. on the basis of the whole population,
works out at a little over s21 per annum;
but It is reckoned that there are in the
! United Kingdom nearly 100000 abstainers
and about 100000 children under the age
of 10. Deductns these the number of ac-
tual consumers is estimated at 24,Oo0,O00.
whose annual expenditure per head thus
comes to over tS5. It is also calculated that
| the English working class family spends
almost one-sxth of its income on liquor.
! Australia has regarded with GOODNESS all
! propositions to help develop the island
continent with the aid of assisted emf
/ grants. She turned down Booth, the work
irgmen fatty Directing to what they as
serted was a transportation OF paupers.
| Canada appears to be less particular, and
! will doubtless welcome the 200 families
of unemployed Lord Rothschd proposes
to ship to them at his. own expense. The
Dominion offers abundant opportunities for
! capable men to get along, but unfortu-
nately for the unemployed likely to be sent
TO Canada they are of kind for which
their previous training has unified them.
Men familiar with agricultural pursuits
can get along prosperously in Canada, but
| those accustomed all their lives to factory
work or the less toilsome domestic service
cannot always be depended upon to make
a good showing even when they emigrate
on their own account and the chances
are still more against them when they go
there as assisted emigrants.
| There are 1850 cities In India numbering
from 5000 to 1000 inhabitants. and nearly
5000 cities numbering from 5000 to 5000 in
( habitants According to the census of
1891. the latest within our reach, the popu-
ation of the country included 67,4O3, 70l
males of over Is years of age II only 2
per cent of those are able to bear arms
India has a native fighting force Of over
100000 men. India counts 100000 Mo-
| hammedans and of the 30O0,O00 Moham-