The National tribune., 1906-01-04

" AOf1INdIUN, H.s e., THURS.
ing q BIT too loudly: row ne gives &
iran hearty slap on the shoulder that
IL almost audible; then again he brings
his hands together With a smack There
Is nothing in the way of majesty about
him; one feels that he lets himself go
completely, and then again remarks
that behind this almost savage nature
force is concealed consummate diplo-
matist. The President addressed me
with foreign accent, but said. in fault
leSsly correct German: Il don't speak a
word of German, it is true. but I read
German a great deal and like German
poetry beyond anything.
The New York Zoo has s5 buffalo
that it wants the Government to take
off its hands and place in some one Of
the National Parks. 1t, will cost about
$4,000 to get these buffaloes, and it
is not thought probable that Congress
will see the wisdom Of thus preserving
the Gibson" once innumerable on the
Great Plains, but now almost extinct
There are not many of the pure-blood-
ed American bison left. Buffalo" is
a kind of misnomer, that hangs on
longer than the animals which wrongly
bore 1t. They say that the buffalo will
not live in Zoos. and that is one reason
rid of those it has. They are fine,
healthy animals now but they have not
room for them. and fear that they will
begin to die off. The Government ought
to acquire all the buffalo now in the
country and put them in our great Ma
tional Parks, where they will increase
naturally.
The bluejackets on the submarines
of the Navy have had their pay in
creased IS a month, and in addition
will receive 81 a day extra pay for each
day or part thereof Of service while
their boat is submerged The order
granting. this increase to the submarine
tars was promulgated by the President
who has evinced much interest in this
branch of the naval service since his
experience i'm the Plunger, along the
bottom of Long Island Sound, last Sum-
mer.
Stamp-canceling dies for all the post
Offices of the United States and it's de-
tendencies are made in a lonely little
harbor of Northumberland County, Va.
The man who makes them has had the
contract for nearly q generation; his
father had 1t before him, and it seems
likely to descend to third generation.
Just one thing makes it possible for the
present contractor to hold and transmit
his contract, and that is the fact that
he has a secret process of hardening
the face of his dies SO that they last
longer than any hardened by other
processes. The process is an Inheritance,
and the contractor has two sons asso-
ciated with him, one OF both of whom
will inherit the secret.
1t is so miles or more to the nearest
railway station in Virginia, and the
only mode of communication with the
outside world is by slow sailing craft
and a steamboat that touches three
times a week at the harbor and con-
sumes "a hours in the voyage to Wash
ington. This steamboat takes to the
factory the dies in the rough to be let
tered and hardened. and carries them
away again when they are finished, to
be distributed to post offices all over
the continental area OF the United
States, to Porto Rico. Hawaii and the
Philippines. The little factory turns
out thousands OF dies every year, and
the business grows with astonishing
rapidity. The heaviest freight of the
steamboat at that harbor comes from
the die factory. Meanwhile the fame
OF the die sinker has spread abroad
and he is sometimes called upon to
make dies for foreign Governments. One
OF his recently executed orders came
from Venezuela, and he is likely to have
more work than he can easily do for
South American Republics.
The report for the past fiscal year Of
Francis S. Dodge, Paymaster-General Of
the Army, shows that the amount ex-
pended on account Of the pay of the
Army during the year was $31, 361, 1872.
The last complete pay schedule for the
Army was passed by Congress 50 years
ago. and the report contends that it is
not sufficient for the demands Of our
% IA ia
derpaid, the report adds. makes it i'm
possible to recruit out of such classes
as might be wished. That economy has
been the watchword for the Army for
the last 20 years, Gen. Dodge says, is
shown by the fact that whereas the cost
was 1892, it was during this year 1887.
POky is to have a monument at last
POcahOntas, don't you know. It's good
many years since she died, but better
late than never. 1t is proposed to erect
the monument at the Ter-Centennial at
Jamestown, Va, in 1907. The women
are going to do this.
Bryan is sure a funny man without
meaning to be-William Jennings
Bryan, he that Is perpetual candidate
for the Presidency, you know. He
fondly imagines that having his name
1t tiC hC1A VI O. 4uCSt cuCCt lHC
commoner makes him a newspaper
man-now, il he called himself Jour
nalist,' well. that would be different
He's over yonder, now. I'm the Orient,
but to particularize, he's doing the Phil
ippines Doing" Is used advisedIy. 1t
was announced that while gone he
would write letters for some newspaper
at $1,000 per. which. after all. may be
cheap for a Presidential aspirant of ~
years standing. But the funny part is
that being newspaper man who pre-
sumably wanted to know about every
thing, he was invited, presumably in
that capacity, to be the guest of Gov.
Ide. Acting Governor of Hong Kong.
And he declined the courtesy; yes, in
deedy. Said that he could not accept
the hospitality, because as newspaper
correspondent he might have to SAY
things" and he did not care to be placed
under obligations to Gov. Ide. Well,
did you ever!
The new Senator from Oregon might
have been born in Indiana, from which
State his parents migrated to the great
West, but he just missed it, and gains
greater distinction by being a native
son Of Oregon. His parents started
West in a wagon, in company with a
long train of these prairie schOoners,"
for in that day single moving wag-
on" would have stood about as much
show for getting through as snowdrop
would have in pII1t0's raSaryafion Tho