The National tribune., 1908-04-09

by the Navy Department.
Forty-five American fighting ships
will occupy San Francisco Bay. The
Secretary of the Navy. aboard the Yank-
ton. as his flagship, will review the fleet.
The ships, which include the 16 battle
ships of Admiral Evans's squadron, be-
sides the cruisers Tennessee, Washing
ton, South Dakota, California, West Vir
ginia, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Mary
land, Charleston, Milwaukee. st. Louis
and Albany, and the complement of tor
pedo boats and auxiliary ships, will be
anchored in the bay, from Mission
Wharf to Hunters Point. That position
is bat of the line of the ferry between
San Francisco and Oakland, but in easy
view of each city.
The Yankton, bearing the flag of Sec
retary Metcalf. will pass between the
columns of ships. The roar of saluting
guns, the music of naval bands the gala
appearance of the harbor craft and of
the two cities which fringe the harbor
will enhance the spectacle.
The date of the review is May 8,
when the fleet will have completed its
historic cruise, had a months target
practice at Magdalena Bay, run the
gauntlet of receptions at San Diego and
Los Angeles and has had time to allow
the anchors to rest in the hospitable
waters of San Francisco. The latest
phase of the arrangements is the enthu-
siasm with which the women's clubs of
san Francisco have displayed in a pro-
gram to provide entertainment for the
Is, 900 enlisted men who are making
the cruise with Admiral Evans. Accord
ing to these arrangements, the enlisted
man is to be the hero of the occasion.
Japan has been added to the itinerary
Of our battIeship fleet. Japan extended
an invitation thru Baron Takahira, and
Ii has bee "ccepted. Say, as the small
become w...l that war with Japan, any
how!
y bill to enforce respect for the uni
2 worn by men in any of the armed
service of the United States was intro
duced in the House by Representative
Foss, Chairman of the Committee on
Naval Affairs. 1t makes it a misde-
meanor for any common carriers. inn
keepers or others providing public en-
tertainment to decline to provide such
entertainment to enlisted men of the
Army, Navy or the Marine Corps.
An effort will be made at this session
to have Congress enact a bill recon-
mended by Secretary Metcalf authoriz-
ing the acceptance and care of gifts pre-
scented to naval vessels. Nearly every
vessel has some gift or other, largely
silver service, given by the States or
cities for which the ship is named.
The cost of these articles, as far as
figures have been obtainable, amounts
to half a million dollars. The legisla
ton is desired particularly because of
the questions that may arise as to the
status of these gifts in case of their loss
by theft or otherwise.
The Monument Commission has final
ly decided to put the Grant Memorial
Statue down in the swamp in the Bo
tanical Gardens.
There has been q determined cam
paign made by the best citizens of
Washington against the vice of gam
bling, which included bucket shops as
well as the bOokmakers, who fleece the
would-be sharp ones at the race track.
Two notable cases were decided last
week which are TO do much TO get rid
of these pests of society. They all do an
immense amount of harm in their Sc
ductions of men who think they are
smart" into losing money badly needed
for themselves and families. Every
business in the city suffers greatly from
this diversion of money to the pockets
of the INSCRIPTIONS sharpers. This
comes up in the most unexpected places
For example, when / went to pay my
enforced visit to my dentist recently, j
found him mourning over the fact that
two customers, one who needed a $50
and the other a $50 job, had to cancel
their engagements for the work, on ac-
count of having lost their money at the
race track. OF these cases above men,
toned the jury in the Criminal Court,
after a strong charge by Justice Bar
nard, decided that a bucket shop is set
ting up and maintaining gaming ta-
BILE. 1t only took the jury 20 minutes to
reach a verdict, and it is interesting to
know that this jury was made up of a.
restaurant keeper, an electrician, n
driver. butcher. insurance agent, baker.
salesman, conductor, merchant, two
painters and carriage builder. SO that
ii may be taken as good representa-
ton of public opinion. In the other
case n bookmaker, who had been SEN
fenced in the Police Court to pay $5e0I
fine and serve 80 days in Jail, appealed
to the higher court, which upheld the
decision. Congress has now before it a
bill to absolutely prohibit race-track
gambling in the District of Columbia.
The canal wave has reached Wash
ington, and the East Washington Citi-
zens Association has adopted resolu-
tons urging the construction OF a canal
to connect the Eastern Branch of the
Potomac with the Severn or Patapscoe
River, in accordance with an old plan
for making a direct water communica-
ton between the harbors of Washing
ton and Baltimore by means of a broad,
paved ship canal.
The most of the praise for the splen-
did work done by our naval gunners is
said to be due to Commander Sims, who
is an enthusiast for accurate shooting.
He tore up and swept away entirely the
old system of gunnery, and adopted one
of his own based upon the principle
that guns are weapons of absolute pre-
cision, and should make no misses If
handled with reasonable intelligence.
William Souden Sims was born in Can
ada, but appointed to the Naval Acad-
emy from Pennsylvania in 1876. He
reached the rank of Com
mander Nov. 81, 1902, and has been In
spector of Target Practice since Nov.
5, 1902.
The Prisoners of War.