davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1917-05-27
ALUMIINUM AS A WAR METAL

reported that a Californian had discov-
cred Il process and perfected a machine
for the manufacture Of aluminium dust
in such form as to serve as an ingre-
dient of an explosive. 1t was reported
then that he was selling about 1000
pounds a day to England and Russia
With the exception of oxygen and
silicon. aluminium is the most widely
distributed of the chemical elements. is
produced on an enormous scale in this
country, and perhaps the largest re-
duction works in the United States are
in Pittsburgh. Davy, the chemist, first
noted the presence of aluminium. but
the first isolation of the metal was made
in 1S2S When il was brought into
commercial use in 1855 Its selling price
was $50 pound. Fifteen years later
its market price had fallen to S12 a
pound, mainly because of the increase
in the production of the metal, and
there was one year. either 1900 or about
that time, that the price Of aluminium
was only % cents pound.
Evening star., 1917-05-27

Young John A. Logan. Sd. enlisted
few years ago in state troops. last
summer was sent to the Mexican bor-
der. and is now ready to start out on
any campaign. In his regiment Is a
son of one OF the Fighting McCooks.
Mrs. Logan. widow of the general,
lives in Washington with her daughter,
Mrs. Tucker This John A. Logan. 3D..
is the only one to bear the entire name
to succeeding generations.
The fame of Pickett's charge at Get
tysburg is known the world over. Two
grandsons of Gen. George E. Pickett
are now in the United States Army.
The older is Geroge Z. Pickett. Sd,
who is an officer in the Marine Corps,
while the younger lad. Christfancy. Is
in the artillery. George was a gradu-
ate of the Virginia Military Institute.
Both are sons of Capt. George E. Pick
ett, I'd. who died when on service in
the Philippines.
Gen. Hooker, who was in command
of the Union army at the battle oe
charlottesville. has a grandson in the
Marine Corps.
The Confederate general. James Long
street, has a son. James Longstreet, I'd.
a captain in the army. and another SOL.
Maj. Lee Longstreet, who served In the
Cuban war as a volunteer. He has
also two grandsons at our grea
military schools-James Longstreet
Whelchel. student now at West Poir':
and John Esten Wlelchel. who entered
Annapolis last summer
]. E. B. Stuart. Sd. a grandson OF tie
great Confederate cavalry leader. who
is a student at the University OF Viz
ginia. is also taking military training
with view to entering some branch OF
the service, as is also Beverly MosbE
Coleman, a grandson of Col John :.
Mosby. Gen. Marcus A. Wright OF
Tennessee has 4 son. John. who is
captain in the army, and serving now
in the southwest.
Evening star., 1917-05-27

upon it. Between the rows. crops of vari-
Gus kinds have been planted, and an army
of negroes and whites is working the
fields.
NY visit to this farm was to inves-
tigate the potential bread basket that
Uncle Sam has way down here at the
mouth of the Mississippi. Our war
with the Germans and the high prices
of grain and meat demand that the
food lands of the United States be in
creased. Before the troubles in Eu-
rope began we were already importing
corn and beef from Argentina and NUT
ton from Australia. Our population
has been growing faster than our food
supply, and the great American stom-
acn had already surpassed in size the
materials needed to hll IT. With the
new Immigration from Europe at the
close of the war, the demand will be
larger than ever, and IL Is absolutely
necessary that we increase our agri-
cultural empire to the fullest extent.
We are doing something toward this
by reclaiming the dry lands OF the
west, but their possibilities are moth
ing in comparison with the potential
food wealth now lying in the swamps
of the south. and especially in the Mis-
Sfssippi delta.
According TO the scientists of the geo.
logical survey. there are in the neigh
borhoed of so ,000. 900 acres of good land
in the United States which is more or
less covered with water. This, at the
lowest calculation. represents a coun
try bigger than Great Britain and Ire
land. 1t is equal TO the three states
OF Indiana. Illinois and Ohio. and it is
ten times big as that little garden
patch which we know Holland. The
soil of our swamps is also ten times
as rich that of the Netherlands
Nevertheless. Holland is now feeding
almost six million people. and at the
same ratio our swamps could feed sixty
millions. or ten millions more than half
of all the people in the country today.
A great part of these swamps lie in
the south. and vast drainage projects
are under way to reclaim them. l
know of one little tract iii North Caro-
lima. A few years ago it was celebrated
as the largest lake of that state. Its
name was Lake Mattamuskeet. 1t
covered fifty thousand acres. and al
most every part of it had water deep
enough to have drowned the Cardiff
Giant if stood upright within it. To-
day colony on that land has the title
Of New Holland. The tract has been
divided up into farms. and one of the
biggest pumping stations of the world
keeps it as dry as is needed for cot
Ton, tobacco and corn The surplus
water is carried off into the Atlantic
ocean through Pamlico sound.
Other big drainage projects are going
on in North Carolina. South Carolina
and Florida. The lower part of Flor
ia. which is three hundred miles long
pp OF Iowlands. covered with water.
Evening star., 1917-05-27
Descendants of Civil War Heroes Enter War of l9

ginia Jackson, married Mr.. Christian
and the son of the marriage is Thomas
Jonathan Jackson Christian, who grad
uated from West Point few years
ago and began at once to serve in the
army of his country.
Gen. Jackson's widow died about two
years ago at her home in Charlotte, N
c. Young Christian is a first lieuten-
ant of cavalry, and is stationed now at
Fort Collins in Colorado. where he is
detailed for training the students at
the State Agricultural College
Gen. John A. Logan has a grandson.
a major in the 29th Ohio. Logan's son,
John A. Logan, I'd. was an officer In the
Philippine war and was killed in battle
there about seventeen years ago
Evening star., 1917-05-27

6HHE manifest of a munitions-car
rying ship will nearly always, if
not always, show that aluminium
is one of the items of the cargo. n
person does not usually think of this
very light metal as one of the metals
of war. The popular idea of aluminium
is that it is used exclusively in the
manufacture of cooking utensils and
toilet and fancy articles.
Aluminium is invaluable in he,-steel-
making business. being used to a very
large extent in the publication OF iron
and steel. For a good many years
it has found an important use in the
building of bed plates for. the engines
of torpedo boats, and when the era
of constructing submarine boats set
in the uses and consumption of alumni
mum were multiplied many times. Since
the development of the automobile and
auto-truck industry aluminium has been
in demand, for various parts are made
of this metal. The war has made a
demand for aluminium which could not
have been foFeseen. The aeropiane
opened a new sphere of usefulness for
this light and strong metal, and, of
course, the demand for it has been
greatly augmented by the mighty in
crease in the construction OF flying
machines.
Aluminium is also extensively used in
the equipment of the soldiers mess kit
and water bottle, the latter having
generally supplanted the old-fashioned
canteen and is now made of aluminium.
Aluminium is the third most malleable
and the sixth most ductile of the
metals, and, because of its ductility
and Its efficiency as an electrical con-
ductor, it has come to enjoy great
of electrical work. Aluminium wire
will carry more electric current than
copper wire of the same size, though
copper wire is tougher. However,
there are many uses for aluminium wire
where it's tensile strength is sufficient
for the work ii is called on to do
Aluminium conductors find many uses
in telegraphy and telephony.
This light and white or gray sub
stance is a metallic chemical element
found generally distributed throughout
the world in combination with other
substances, but never met with in the
free state as are gold. silver, copper,
iron and other metals. Aluminium
ture of various periods under the names
of "alumine." "alumina." "alumium"
and aluminium" was of great aca-
demic and laboratory interest from the
early part of the eighteenth century
until about the middle of the niEe-
teenth century, when it began to find a
place in the economic industries of the
world
This metal is obtained from many
sources one of which is corundum,
found in India and in the United States.
1t is found largely in clay and princi-
pally in commercial quantities in those
clays called kaolin and china clay.
From bouxite is obtained also a large
amount of aluminium. Bouxite, which
the chemists call "hydrated oxide of
aluminium" is found in extensive de-
posits in Georgia, Alabama and Arkan-,
sas and in the county of Antrim, Ire
land: in French Guiana, In Styria,
Hesse, Austria, France, Italy and India.
In the early part OF the war it was
Evening star., 1917-05-27

of Europe. His father was great cav
airy leader and the son no doubt in
herfts the traditional Virginia love for
horses and riding.
Gen. Robert e. Lee has no grandsons
in the army, one of them, Robert f.
Lee. jr., being a lawyer, and Boiling,
the second grandson. is physician in
New York. These two young men are
sons of Gen. w. H. F. Lee, who was one
of the great Confederate leaders chill
dren.
Every schoolboy is familiar with
"Sheridan's Ride" and will be inter-
ested to know that young Philip II.
Sheridan, son Of Little Phil" is cap
tain under Uncle Sam now. Capt.
Sheridan has been stationed for some
Evening star., 1917-05-27
A Gallant Speech.

ssNnARY ANDERSON" said a critic,
AVG has temporarily returned to
the stage to play for the benefit of the
soldiers.
"She is as beautiful. or almost as
beautiful. as she used to be. 1 dined
with her last year at her charming
English residence at Broadway. Dur
ing dinner she complained that she was
growing old.
Last night before my mirror she
said L counted four gray hairs
Navarro. her husband. spoke UP gal
lantly:
".NIy dear said he. as long as gray
hairs can be counted they don't count"
Evening star., 1917-05-27
Up to Germany.

Ss~ ERMANY, with her internal MILL
VI tary despotisn. caused this aw-
full world war. and hence Germany will
have to bear the brunt of the in
IDENTITIES and reparations."
&rAmbassador Gerard was replying to
a toast at a Boston banquet. He went
on:
Germany. at the wars end. will be
like the German private in the civil
war.
"A polecat one night got into a tent
where a German private slept with a
dozen other privates. The German
woke up and looked about him help
lessly, but his comrades every one
slept on.
"'Py chirniny, phew." he exclaimed
All der rest asleep und l got ter
shmell 1T all""
Evening star., 1917-05-27

over to Cuba and fought well in that
conflict. If ever there was game"
warrior, it was little Joe Wheeler. He
went along with his men, put on no
frills and was not above climbing trees.
even in his old age. IL by SO doing he
could get line on the enemy. Lieut..
Joseph Wheeler. his son, is a member
of the coast artillery and stationed at
far-off Hawaii.
Gen. Nelson A Miles Is one Of the
few officers of the civil war still active.
He was very young man at the time
of the surrender. and was given charge
of jefferson Davis, the captive Presl-
dent of the Confederacy, who was i'm
prisoned at Fort Monroe. Gen.
Evening star., 1917-05-27
.IFTY years ago the wounds of the
war between the states had not
begun to heal. The bitterness
niy5a


jH begun to heal. The bitterness
& between Yankeeland and Dixie
was no softer than 1t had been
two years before, when Lee laid down
his arms at AppomattoN.
In 1857 the armies were practically
intact. their leaders alive and. perhaps,
the last idea occurring to the oppo-
nents was that either would ever be, in
another generation. fighting together
side by side under one flag. Now over
all waves one Old Glory and under its
sheltering folds the Blue and Gray will
carry its victories across the ocean in
another triumph for liberty. And this
Memorial day may well mean more in
patriotic sentiment and fervor than
has any before.
In the streets of the National Capital
today there Is a new and bustling
scene. The city is the nucleus of the
war preparations. Officers in snugly
fitting uniforms are seen every moment
hurrying about the departments. The
blue and gray have been superseded by
the khaki tine. which is worn by
spry, snappy men whose fathers and
grandfathers faced each other across
battle smoke more than fifty years ago.
OF all the names which stand out con-
spicuously In the annals of the civil
war. those of Grant and Lee are the
most prominent. And today two grand
sons of Gen. Grant and a nephew of
Gen Lee are officers in the service.
Maj. U. s. Grant, Sd. engineers, is now
stationed in Washington and in active
duty in the War Department. His
father. the late Gen. Frederick Dent
Grant. was the son of Gen. U. s. Grant,
and for a long time was in command at
Governors Island. Maj. Grant is West
Pointer. He is married and has three
Evening star., 1917-05-27

cannot include the clearing of the land
of trees and stuYps, which is no small
matter.
Said Mr.. Parker: "This region is de-
veloping rapidly through the object les
son shown by the success of the drain
age works established in the city of
New Orleans. We find that if we have
levees of proper height and strength
around any district we can put in
pumping plants and lower the water to
six feet or more below the surface of the
earth by pumping it into lakes and
streams that have their outlets in the Mex
ican gulf. After that, such tracts are in
the same position that New Orleans is now.
Before we installed our present drainage
system, water was found within a few
inches of the surface anywhere in the
city Now the earth is dry to an exca-
vation of six or more feet. and we are
beginning to build cellars and base
ments.
Moreover, the swampy tracts thus
reclaimed will have wonderful trans
portation facilities. South Louisiana
drains into the gulf through a network
of navigable bayous. rivers and lakes
and we have made navigation canals 70
connect this network with the harbor
at New Orleans In this way every bit
of the new farms has easy access to the
Guy ny DoSt, anu lIolh Hesic NY ilNei
and railroad to all parts of the world"
l asked Mr.. Parker as to the prices
of land. He replied:
Swamp land is worth from IS to SIS
per acre, and drained lands can be
bought for from 500 to $500 an acre.
1t depends very much on the location
and the surroundings. This is low in
comparison with the lands of Egypt
and Holland. LII the valley of the
Nile farms bring as much as $3.50 an
acre. and in Holland from $500 to
$1,000 is paid for good land.
I'm Holland the cost of reclamation
is much greater than here. The dikes
there have to hold back the sea, with
its daily tide of thirty-one feet. under
stand that 3S per cent of the cultivated
lands of the Dutch kingdom are below
the level of the sea at high tide. On the
basis of the population of the reclaimed
lands of Europe, the territory about New
Orleans. If it were drained, would sup
port population of ten or fifteen
millions of people. and on the basis
of Holland alone it would furnish
homes and farms for more than seven
million souls"
l do not know how much it has cost
to redeem the big plantation / visited
today. The guide who took me over
the property told me that the taking
out of the cypress stumps and burning
them cost from $75 to 500 per acre,
and that the most of the seven
ty-two miles of shell road, which
runs here and there through the planta-
tion. cost $4,000 per mile to build.
A great deal OF these swamps contain
cypress trees. and these trees have the
Evening star., 1917-05-27
DRAINING THE DELTA.

not comprehend it in figures. If it were
loaded on cars at fifty tons to the car.
it would take eight million cars to
carry the load. and the train would
be long enough to reach twice around
the earth and almost twice through the
center. If fiume three feet wide and
three feet deep could be built from
the earth to the moon, that trainload
of dirt would be almost enough to fill
the great box to the top, and it might
all come from the silt brought down by
the Mississippi within the space of
AS have said. this soil is the cream
of our country. 1t comes from
thirty different states. and from an
area equal to one-third of the Union.
The deposits range in depth up to two
or three thousand feet. and on the top
of it vegetation has grown and decayed
until ii is covered with layer of
humus a foot or so deep. which con.
tains a maximum of nitrogen. one of
the most costly kinds of plant food.
According to Herman E. Eaer. a soil
chemist of the Illinois University. the
soil of southern Louisiana has enough
plant food to produce a thousand crops
of corn at fifty bushels to the acre
without artificial fertilization,
/ have recently Travelled over a great
part of this country. In coming from
Memphis TO New Orleans on the Illi-
nois Central passed many plantations
of rich black loan which are close to
the swamps. and the sol makes the
Queen and Crescent railway from Bir-
mingham to New Orleans goes through
A large area of swamps. and there are
other extensive regions that will have
river and rail transportation when the
Ia nd, is reel rlaimed.
I have also come up the Mississippi
from the Gulf of Mexico through the
flood of silt flowing out into the ocean.
The water is thick pea soup. The
ocean is muddy for miles before you
reach the mouth of the Mississippi
river. and little further up the banks
of the river are covered with gardens
and orange groves The highlands OF
the delta about New Orleans are said
to be more thickly populated than Hol-
land or Belgium. and the SwampS when
reclaimed will undoubt edly support a
vast number of people.
The geographers of the geological
survey have already made topographic
maps of a large part of this territory
They have gone over it section by Sec
tion. exploring the swamps on foot, on
horseback and in boats. making their
charts. The charts are peppered with
figures, each of which shows the height
OF land or depth of water under the
spot which it marks. They give every
hill and hollow, and every stream. The
bayous are drawn to a scale, and the
whole district is SO shown that the
civil engineers can easily make work.
ing plans for its drainage.
This is being done by the national
Evening star., 1917-05-27

Copyright By Harris 4 Ewing]
little girls, the youngest baby just
toddling.
A great-grandson of Gen. Grant re-
Gently Joined the army in New York
This young man, Ulysses S. Grant, 4th,
had been employed in the office of ]. p.
Morgan, but resigned to join the colors
at the breaking out of war a few weeks
ago. He is cousin to Maj. U. S. Grant.
Gen. Robert E. Lees nephew, Gen.
Fitzhugh Lee, has a son a captain of
cavalry at Fort Bliss. Tex. Capt. FitZ-
hugh Lee, who is West Pointer, was
at one time stationed at the White
House as presidential aid, but is now
seeing active service and will probably
have some experience in the battle lines
Evening star., 1917-05-27

confined to the province of Ontario.
The crop averages thirteen to fourteen
million bushels. although last yea&
it dropped to half that amount. Canada.
consequently, has no corn for export to
the allies or to any one else. Instead,
she imports nine to ten millions bush
els, chiefly from the United States.
While the value of corn as a means
of relieving the world food shortage is
undeniable, it will be seen that pros
poets are not favorable for educating
Evening star., 1917-05-27

the allied countries immediately to its
use. In the meantime there is no rea-
son why this European ignorance
United States. A wider use Of corn
among the American people is a food
economy of the most practical sort.
Corn meal mush and corn pone and
hoe cake and corn bread are one means
of bringing down the cost OF living
not only during the war. but when the
war is ended. G. NJ. p.
Evening star., 1917-05-27

time at Fort Myer, but is now station
ed at the War Department.
Capt Sheridan graduated at West
Point. His mother was daughter OF
the late Gen. Rucker, so he inherited
from both sides the taste for military
life. His boyhood was passed in
Washington in the old family home
which formerly stood at the corner Of
Rhode Island avenue and 18th street.
AS a lad he built snow forts and play
ed about the neighborhood; later at
tended military school, then was In
the army, rising to captatncy.
Gen. Joseph Wheeler was noted in
the civil war, and also he took troops
Evening star., 1917-05-27
e y


ton, which has risen from the bed of
q swamp. This great farm is within
FIVE miles of New Orleans and in
the very heart of the Mississippi delta
Five years ago it was covered with
water, and it adjoins territory which
is more dreary than the darkest parts
of the Dismal Swamp of Virginia. On
one side of it is Lake Pontchartrain,
and on another are forests of cypress
rising out of marshes and swamps. To-
day there are still a hundred acres of
the original swamp on the property,
and this has been preserved to show
the miracle made possible by pumping
and draining the flooded lands of the
delta This land is covered with trees
and the water extends far up their
trunks.
The remainder of the tract is as dry
as bone. The water. the marsh and
the trees have all disappeared, and the
soil is so smooth that it crumbles to
dust in your hand. There is hardly a
stone or pebble in the whole 1000 acres.
and its fertility is such that it surpasses
that of the valleys of the Mosopotumia,
THE Nile or the Ganges- The tract has
been cut up into small farms. and tens Of
thousands Of orange trees are growing
Evening star., 1917-05-27

Gen. Sherman, who made the famous
march through Georgia.
Their only son, Sherman Miles. is a
captain Of field artillery, and stationed
in California Gen. Miles daughter,
Mrs. Reber, has two boys who are too
young for the army yet, but will no
doubt follow in the footsteps of their
grandfathers.
Perhaps the greatest military genius
the civil war produced was Gen. Stone
wall Jackson, man whose ability to
get the best Of his enemy was equa1ed
only by his puritanica1 piety. His loss
at the battle of Charlottesville was
the heaviest blow, by death. that the
south ever received. His daughter, Vir-
Evening star., 1917-05-27

The use of corn for human food is al
most unknown in European countries.
When jeremiah Rusk was Secretary of
Agriculture he undertook to educate
the European public to the value of
corn as a diet. Congress made a small
appropriation, and an enthusiastic
champion, known as Corn Meal" MUIR
ply, was sent abroad to advance the
movement. He gave dinners and ban
auets to the foreign officials and trade
'as a side dish." one Of the reports
said.
The campaign seemed likely to prove
Evening star., 1917-05-27

ht, 1917. by Frank C. Carpentero
NEW ORLEANS. La.
BIG part of our food for the
future will come from the low,
wet lands along the Mexican
gulf. l motored this morning
through a I.000-acre planta-
Evening star., 1917-05-27

food economies are the order Oh
the day. Food relationships nave
been the order Of the war IN Eu-
ro,a for two years past. They
Norwich bulletin., 1917-07-05
The Lost Child.

One frosty morning ( little girl went out in the woods for walk She went so far that she couldn't find her way home.
 It was very cold. The wind blew hard and the little girl was tired. She laid down in the snow. Her feet were covered over by it. She had a little red coat on. It was wide open in front. She did not have it pinned up.
 Mary had a big shepherd dog. She was very loving to him. His name was Bruno He always used to be playing with her.
 When the dog saw his master com inG to find him and Mary he began to bark with joy.
 Mary's father took her up in his arms and kissed her. He was very glad to find her.
 Mary's dog did not go home until she did. She loved him dearly.
 When Mary got home she fe.t very tired, so she laid down and had a good sleep. She never went away again.
 Mary was afraid to go away from the house thereafter. She always stay ed with her mother and father.
 She did not like very we'll being out in the cold snow and she never forgot about gong away from home.
 EDITH JOHNSON, Age H.
 Norwich