Los Angeles herald., 1910-04-29

/
DONALD, r.. N, son of Senator
~ Macdonald of British Columbia
will have the distinction of command
ing the first war vessel to fly the Ca
madam flag. The ship will be the
Niobe, which Is to be purchased by
the Dominion.
Commander MacDGnalds assignment
| by the British admiralty has been re-
ceived with much expression of pleas
| ure both by the Canadian 1Sblic and
| the Canadian press. He entered the
| royal navy some years ago as mid
shipman, serving ON II. M. S. the Royal
Arthur, when that vessel was flagship
of the British squadron, which in the
| old days was based on Esquimault.
Commander Macdonald wears a decor
alton conferred by Emperor William
of Germany. He was dispatched to
meet a German cruiser approaching
| English waters, bearing the kaiser on
his way to a visit in London. His skill
full handling of his ship in the fog
which prevailed when he met the Ger
man cruiser attracted the emperor's s
attention. The Niobe is expected to
reach the st. Lawrence in June.
Sir Ernest Shackleton, a lieutenant
in the British navy and the near
4
United States. In Philadelphia few
days ago he was signally honored by
the Geographical society, which at a
banquet given in his honor presented
to him the Elisha Kent Kane medal.
The lieutenant on his farthest south
expedition penetrated to within Ill
statute miles or 81 nautical or geo.
graphical miles of the south pole.
In the course of his address before
tbp Epoprra pbip1I gopiptV Sir ERNEST
made a prediction. "The south pole" ="
he said, will be discovered on or
about December 20 by Captain Scott of
the royal navy. | may be a few days
out of the way, but it will be about
that date that Captain Scott will plant
the English flag at the bottom of the
world, as Commander Peary planted
the American ensign at the top.
MY prediction is based upon a
knowledge of conditions and of the
preparations that have been made for
this expedition. Captain Scott has all
my records, and l do not think that
failure is possible. He will start from
England in June and leave New Zea-
land about the end of next November"
Mayor Seidel of Milwaukee, the only
Socialist mayor in America, has gone
to bat to give the Milwaukee taxpayers
a square deal as between themselves
and the common or garden variety Of
plumber. The Milwaukee plumber is
hummer. He runs his business on the
double entry system of bookkeeping
and the entries all appear on the
credit side Of his ledger. He's always
willing to do happy hammer solo on
his neighbors' plumbing, but the bill
that follows usually Is longer than
snipes. In fact, II seems well calcu
lated to make even Oscar Hammer
stein admit that his own soloists have
not been so extortionate in their de-
mands after all. That's why Mayor
Seidel purposes to establish a corps
of city plumbers which shall do all
work at cost. An ordinance is being
drawn to bring this about and the
Milwaukee householder is jubilant in
consequence.
The mayor has refused an offer of
$3.50 q night to go out for Chautauqua
lectures. He says his time belongs to
the city which pays his salary. That's
unusual, but the idea seems to be
sound Also the mayor expects to open
free Sunday night dances in the school
houses to take the place of the saloon
dances now an unpleasant and evil
breeding feature of Milwaukee life;
and he has declared war on the Mil
waukee slums.
A queer sort of a mayor, this, and
one who will bear watching.
Earl Douglas has so many skeletons
in his closet that If they ever started
rafting in concert pitch the resultant
cacophony would be worse than a
comic opera chorus trying to interpret
Wagner. He isn't a member of the
British nobility, this man of bones.
That's just his first name, not a title.
Usually he is designated as Prof. Earl
Douglas and I'm the scientific who's
who he has good part of the alphabet
strung along after his name, the re-
wards of merit bestowed by divers in
stitutions of learning. In brief. Prof.
Douglas is the field paleontologist of
the Carnegie Institute. For several
years past he has been engaged in coll
lecting fossils. Just at present he's
digging around in Utah where the
digging's good. He began two years
ago, establishing his headquarters near
Kennedy's Hole, on the states eastern
border where he succeeded in discover
ing more or less perfect specimens of
a lot of things which looked as though
they might have escaped from the
bug ward" of some sanitarium. Still,
the prof wasn't satisfied, even though
some of his finds were new ones on
science. He wanted to make a souve
mir collection of dinosauria and so he
kept digging around until he found
'em. In a quarry recently opened near
Jensen six skeletons have been un-
earthed and one of them is said to be
bigger than the diplodocus, which here
tofore has been regarded as the little