The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1909-02-02
NORRIS COUNT
WASHINGTON LETTER



tons shall have the position of homo
in the parade Of March 4-personal es
cort to the president elect and vice
president elect-representativ of the
G. A. r., Union Veteran legion, the
United Spanish War Veterans and the
Army and Navy union have been add
ed to the committee on civic organiza
lions. General o. o. Howard has also
| accepted the appointment as marshal
of the veteran division, which will es
| cort Mr.. Taft and Mr.. Sherman from
the White House to the capitol, where
4 they will take the oath of Office.
Parade In Two Divisions.
The most serious problem that con
fronts Major General ]. Franklin Bell
who will be grand marshal of the pa
rade, will be to keep it within reason
able bounds. To shorten the regular
| it into two divisions. One will be the
escort, consisting of veterans of the
| civil and Spanish wars, and will ac-
| company the president from the White
House to the capitol. The other will
| pass in view after the inaugural cere-
mony at the capitol is concluded.
Despite this new arrangement General
Bell still faces the embarrassment OF a
too lengthy parade. There is great pres
sure from the national guard to OBJ
tain desirable places in the line, but
the marshal has decided to limit the
number of troops from any one state
to a brigade.
Naval Heroes Statues.
The location in this city of statues,
Of John Paul Jones and Commodore
John Barry, each of whom is heralded
by his admirers as the father of the
American navy" will prove difficult
task for the special commission
sion consists of the secretary of war,
the secretary of the navy and the
chairman of the senate and house COM
mittees ON library.
For each statue congress appropri-
ated $4,000, but no action has been
taken to decide the controverted ques-
ton relating to the navy's pedigree.
1t is for this reason that the location
of the effigies is regarded as impor-
tant, as the prominence accorded each
in the matter of location will be sup
posed to give some indication of their
respective merits in the competition
for the honor of being the 'father of
the navy"
Sacred Books of Tibet.
The library of congress has an addi-
ton to the collection of extraordinary
interest. 1t is very fine complete
copy-that is to say, full set-of the
sacred books of Tibet. These, known
as the "Kanjur," comprise over 100
volumes, together with an index vol
ume, each volume about two feet long
and four inches wide and containing
about 300 sheets.
Like most Tibetan books, they are
printed in red on coarse paper. They
come from Lassa and were secured,
by purchase, through our minister to
Pekin. Mr.. Rockhill.
Mr.. Rockhill remarks of the work
that "it is absolutely necessary in the
study of Buddhist literature and also
of great value for correcting Buddhist
books written in other languages, as
almost all of them were translated
from a single original"
He believes that there is no copy of
1t in America, though there are three
in England, one in France, two In
Berlin and one in st. Petersburg.
Battieship Fleet Medal.
Frank A. Leach, director of the
mint, recently laid before President
Roosevelt a beautiful bronze medal
the departure of the
battleship fleet from Hampton Roads
for its trip around the world. The
president is delighted with the design
and has directed Mr.. Leach to compli
ment the officials of the United States
mint at Philadelphia upon their work.
One side bears the figure of Column
bia sending away on the waters of the
Atlantic the fighting vessels, young
America standing behind. There is
also shield of the United States and
in the lower right hand corner this in
scription: Hampton Roads, Dec. 16,
1907 Departure of United States At
lantic Fleet in Cruise Around the
World"
The other side of the medal contains
a fine relief profile of President Roose-
welt, with the words, Theodore Roose-
welt, President of the United States"
and small anchor, surrounded by
bouquet of flowers.
Tons of Gold Moved
Halfway across the continent, from
San Francisco to Denver. 1925, 900
in gold coin has been transported, the
largest amount of metal of that value
ever hauled such distance.
Because of the accumulation of gold
in the San Francisco mint, brought
from Alaska and other points, the
vaults became congested, and it was;
necessary to either store it In insecure.
vaults or move it.
The work of removal began Aug. Is.
Every shipment of the gold had to be
counted or weighed at both ends; first
at San Francisco and then at Denver.
The contract for the removal was CIV
en- to an express company, which was
under heavy bond to handle lit safely.
The contract will yield the company
something like $250,000.
At first the shipments were in lots
of $5,000,000, twice a week, each ship
a