The Knoxville independent. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1894-current, 1917-01-20

the word horsepower" and the origin
of it's use.
When horses were used to turn the
wheels of machinery, many years ago.
by means Of a tr6&dmill the horse
came to stand for unit of power, &C.
c0rding to the size of the machine he
could work. When steam engines dis
placed horses 1t was natural to refer t.
their capacity on the basis of the horse
power unit by speaking Of an engine as
being able to do the work of two, three
four or more horses. So the custom
was established of using the term as
descriptive Of power.
The fact is, however, that horse
power really means greater power
than is expected of horse and greater
than horse Is capable of. 1t means the
power to lift 10000 pounds one foot in
one minute. But custom keeps alive
the old term to indicate the unit of
power for an engine or electric motor
| should like to know the languages
chiefly spoken in the business sections
of South America.
The business language of the South
American countries is Spanish, except
In Brazil, where Portuguese is spoken.
There are many English and German
firms In the South American cities, and
1t is always possible to find places
where English is freely spoken. But a
knowledge of Spanish is necessary for
business dealings with the people of
the country. Even in New York city
South American firms and agencies
employ men who speak Spanish in car
rying on their business.
When did steamboat navigation be-
gin on western rivers? When was the
first steam navigation of the Missouri
river?
The first steamboat on any western
river was the New Orleans, built at
Pittsburgh In 1911 for Nicholas ].
Roosevelt. This boat was 116 feet
long, twenty feet wide and drew seven
feet of water. The New Orleans made
her first trip from Pittsburgh to New
Orleans with difficulty, being obliged
to tie up for some time at Louisville on
account Of low water. She ran for two
years on the lower Mississippi. The
first steamboat navigated the Missouri
river In 1919, carrying United States
troops to post which had been estab-
lished at the mouth Of the Yellowstone
river The first steamboat assembled
the Wabash in 1923. An eastern paper
Of May %, 1919, said, "An association
is formed in Indiana for the purpose
of building steamboat to ply on the
waters Of the White river"
OF what use are pigeons in modern
warfare7 have seen in the news dis
catches reference to the use of pi-
seons in the European war. Are they
of any particular value, and how are
they used?
1t is claimed that the homing pigeons
have been so useful as messengers in
the present European war that they
cannot be supplanted for Carrying mes
sages by the field telephone, the hello
graph, the motorcycle or the aeroplane
Almost every country In Europe has
Its military pigeon lofts. In France
homing pigeons In the hands of private
owners which the government is en-
powered by law to commander in case
of need The breeding and training Of
the pigeons are under the care of the
engineer corps. Dispatches carried by
the birds are written on strips Of pa
per three inches wide by four and a
half inches long, triply folded and then
rolled, or else they are photographed
from manuscript on film two inches
long by an inch and a half wide A
tiny aluminium cylinder containing the
message is usually attached to the
pigeons leg, although there are various
methods. Any ordinary homing pigeon
can be relied upon to cover a fight Of
$50 miles in five to seven hours. The
homing pigeon upon being released In
variably circles upward to great
height until it gets Its bearings, then
strikes bee line for home
What is meant by the Latin Ameri-
can states and why so called? What
language do they speak?
The term includes all the countries
of South America, of Central America
and Mexico, so called because they
were settled and peopled by Latin
races, chiefly Spanish. They all speak
the Spanish language in different de-
grees of purity except Brazil, where
Portuguese is the national language
and Haiti, where French is national.
Portuguese and French, however. are
classed as Latin languages.
What is the difference between an
a ~ he q q Ian ax&ra - eJi - aru ord rla1ina