Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1906-08-13
From Washington.
A., Correspondence Of the Alexandris Gazette.
Warrington, Aug. IL

make report Of all clerks whose records
for efficiency fall below the standard
The result of the work OF the Keep com
mission was the cslling of the buresu
chiefs attention to the law. OF 1890, re-
curing heads Of the departments to re-
port 70 Congress each year The number
of employees in each bureau and The
salaries OF each, who fall below the
standard of efficiency.
The new forth class of the NavaI
Academy will be the smallest at that IL
stitution since 1903. There have been
1873 successful nominees sworn in at An
napolis and few more WAC are await
ing a physical re-examination will
bring the total of the class 10 little
more than 200 members. There are 100
vacancies to go over for the next aca-
demjc year.. places to be filled in autici-
patton Of the examination TO be held in
Arrii and June of 1907. Those places
with the vacancies created by the gtadu-
alton of next June, will furnish an op.
portunity to sp1 oint something like 400
midshipmen during the next year.
Toe War Department is advised that
the cable duplexing apparatus sent to
Seattle, Washington, for use on The
Alaskan cable has been complete sue
cess TIE cable ship Burnside will 60
to Alaska aud install duplexing equip
ment at the Alaskan eod of the cable
twice the capacity it has at the present.
The duplsxing apparatus in the first ever
manufactured in this country and was
made by the army signal corps 10 this
city at a cost which is said to be S22, 900
less than manufacturers offered to make ii
The State Department is convinced
that he reports from ST. Petersburg tell
ing OF the attempt on the life OF the
Grand Duke Nicholas have been greatly
exaggerated. Advces received by the
acting Secretary of State this morning
from st. Petersburg bear cut this belief
They say that the true story is that on
last Thursday the Grand Duke, in the
company of several general officers OF
the Russian army, was inspecting some
troops. During the inspection some of
the officers in the Grand Dukes party
heard single bullet whistle over their
heads. This, the reports received by
the State Department declare, was con-
strued 10 certain quarters as an attempt
ed assassination OF the Grand Duke.
To accordance with directions from
President Roosevelt the Interstate
CONNIE rec Commission will institute sn
inquiry into the s0-cal,ed ice trust al
Toledo, Ohio. Official announcement of
this fact was made at the commission s
Office this morning. Commission Jnd-
sou Clements will open the hearings at
10 O'Clock tomorrow morning in the
United States room at Toledo. The
inquiry will be an exhaustive one.
The notification issued by the commits
sion is novel in that il merely recites the
ordering of the investigation against the
railways enumerated for violation Of the
laws by 'jllegll rates and practices in
the interstate transportation of ice, )"
instead of setting out the complaint 10
detail as is customary. This is due to
the inquiry having been begun upon the
initiative of the President Instead of
upon that of the commission. Who ap.
peared as complsinants before the Presl-
dent is not divulged.
The Bureau OF Labor today announced
the resnlts of its investigation of wages
and hours of labor in 1905. They show
that the average wages per hour in the
principal manufacturing and mechanical
industries of the country were l 6 per
cent higher than in 1904; that the aver
age hours OF labor per week remained the
same as 10 1904, aud that 8 8 per cent
more persons we're employed 10 The estab-
lshment investigated. AS there were
no reductions 10 the average hours OF
labor per week, the average weeks earn
ings per employee were l.6 per cent
higher than in 1904. As there was an
increase in the number OF employees
as well as in the weekly earnings
per employee, there was a con-
siderable increase in the weekly
earnings of ali employees, or in other
words, in the amount of the weekly pay
roll. This increase was per cent in
the establishments investigated. 10
connection With this investigation, the
bureau announces statistics on the retail
prices of food in 1905 as compared with
previous years. 1t Is stated that the re-
tail prices of thirty principal articles OF
food were six-tenths of one per cent
higher in 1905 than in 1904 The pur.
chasing power of hourly wages and also
of weekly earuiogs per employee, as
measured by retail prices of the thirty
articles of food, was therefore per cent
higher in 1905 than in 1904.
Leaving Newport aud the gay doiDgs
of his friends Of the ulLra-fashionsbIe
set, from whom he parted to enlist 10 the
United States navy on August T. under
orders to report at the training at the
Norfolk navy yard, j. Rotner Storrs
Wells, son Of President Wells, million
aire head OF the Fairbanks Company,
has just reached Norflk. lie Was
placed abroad The receiving ship Flank
lin Saturday evening under arrest, aud
will, it is understood, have to face a
court-martisl on charges OF disobedience
of the orders given him at Newport TO
proceed TO Norfolk and report for