The National tribune., 1909-09-30

up dBtut Tie TItSEuenlS WISH To NeV
Orleans. The Committee on Entertain
ment wrote Secretary of Commerce anf
Labor McHarg that when the President
came to New Orleans it would be nee
essary to take him aboard foreign ves-
sells for part of his Gulf trip. as no ship
flying the American Flag enters that
harbor. In fact it was announced that
while the President is inspecting the
harhor at New Orleans he will have to
sail under a foreign flag, and the COM
nlittee wanted to know if the President
wruld object
Now, what do you think of that?
Secretary MeHarg has written the
following, letter to the Collector of Gus
toms in New Orleans, which is self
explanatory: 1.-THE Department has re-
ceiyed your letter of the 9Th instant in
uiliring in behalf of the Entertainment
Committee whether there would be OBJ
lection to the use of one or more for
eign steamers to enable the President
of the United States and his party with
delegates to the Waterways Convention
to spend three or four hours Oct. 30 in
an inspection of the narbor4 of New Or
leans and the Lower N SSiSsippi River
the legal questions until efforts have
been made, for which there is ample
time, to Secure American vessels for
the purpose
1T is reluctant to believe that at our
principal gulf port American shipping
. has so dwindled that to enable the
President of the United States and a
relatively small body of representative
Americans to spend few hours on the
greatest American river with &. view to
its Improvement they must make the
trip under a foreign flag"
One is inclined to get just little
weary of the Cook-Peary controversy,
but there is a feature of the photo
graphs which DIR. Cook exhibits which
is eminently pleasing, and that is the
presence in all of them of the American
Flag. DR.. Cook does not seem to have
thought anything about lauding his
own exploits by inVenting a flag to
bring them into prominence. The Amer
ican Flag is good enough for him and
for his family. for every blessed one of
them, from the baby up, has been way
ing a Gag in every picture seen of them
yet DR.. Cook seems to be a pretty
good American gentleman.
Word has come to the Smithsonian
of the discovery of a brand-new tribe of
EskimCs. They were found by w. J.
Bower, an Arctic explorer who came
into San Francisco on the Jeanette.
The tribe, according to Bower, lives on
point of Prince Albert Land. The
natives call themselves NunacaoticS.
They are tall and look like the North
American Indians The explorer was
cordially welcomed, and he got many
rich furs from Them From the town
of the Nunacaoties Bower proceeded
a I'll T.rIfo I,o inn
mense copper deposits. On this trip
Bower lost one eye thru the bite of a
spider, After the eyeball had been
removed by the crude surgery of an
Eskimo the schooner used by the party
WAS wrecked, and the adventures had
where they were taken on board the
Jeanette.
First officer J. S. Townsend. of the |
United States collier Hannibal has re- |
ceiSed personal letter from the Act |
ing Secretary of the Navy commencing |
the premptness, GOODNESS and disre- |
gard OF PERSONAL danger" which char |
aeterizRd his action during the coaliug !
of the u. S. s. Mississ ppi in Hampton |
Roads the I3ti- inst. The commanding +
officer of the Mississippi called the at |
tention of the Navy Department to the |
meritorious conduct of First Officer /
Otl int OtCdSlDa III
while the Hannibal was coaling the bat |
tleship.
In topping up one of the collier's |
heavy booms. directly above a filled |
hatch and in which score of the crew |
of this vessel were at work" says the
Captain of the Mississippi, some one |
on the collier let go the lift and the |
boom started down on the run. Town |
send grasped the running end, and |
ferehanding it with a part of the stand |
ing gear, held on in spite of the fact |
that he was dragged halfway up the /
mast and had the palms of both hands |
SO seriously skinned as to incapaeitate |
him for duty.
1T is my opinion that his act saved |
the lives of several men. The behavior |
OF First officer Townsend is deserving
OF official eommendation, as he could |
easily have avoided the danger and in
jury to himself, but, realizing fully the |
peril of the men under the boom, he |
deliberately chose the part of Saorific- |
ing himself 1 strongly recommend the |
recognition of First officer Townsend's |
behavior"
A wealthy miner, James NJ. HamiI, |
VINO has Just returned from Fairbanks, |
Alaska, repbrts that the gold output of |
the Tanana Valley this year will be |
more than S12,g00,000 and would have |
gone up as high as S15,600,000 had |
weather conditions been favorable. Ow-
ing to the scarcity of water in the !
early part OF the year the output was
curtailed.
Nov. ponder on that And something |
like ~ years ago Secretary of State |
Seward was nearly mobbed because he |
said IT would be good business propo- |
sition TO buy Alaska, and thus get the |
Russians off any chance for harborage
along our Pacific Coast. He paid some |
seven and half millions for the big |
waste of land, and the politicians |
nearly had heart failure over it. Seere-
tary Seward said it would take a gen. |
GRAFTON or more to appreciate his act.
and the day has come. We do appre-
ciate it.
"I thoroly favor the idea of having |
naval trophy gift room in the new |
National Museum. II would be a good |
thing. The State Department has in |
trust about 500 gifts that have been |
presented to officers Of the Navy, and |
which the Department holds. They are |
locked in q safe in the office of the
Chief Clerk of the Department. These
gifts are never seen, except by special
permission from the officer to whom
they were donated.
The State Department is not permit
ted to let these gifts get out of its hands
without the permission of the recip-
Tents If, however, a naval trophy gift
room were established in the new Ma
ttonal Museum, L have no doubt that
the required permission could be OBJ
tained to have the gifts moved there
exhibition