NEWS OF THE WEEK
In a Condensed Fern Icr Cur
Easy Readers.
BAFFEMKGS OF TWO CONTINENTS
A Rssums of th Lsss Important but
Not Lsss Interesting Events
of th Past Week.
Riots are breaking oat among the
striking German coal miners.
Secretary Taft recommends annuling
the Pacific mail contract with the Tan
ama railroad.
The president recommends the reduc
tion in number of Panama canal com
missioners to three members.
It has developed that Port Arthur
had provisions for two months and dis
sensions caused the surrender.
The president has appoionted Vespa
sian Warner, of Illinois, to succeed
Ware as pension commissioner.
Utah politicians say polygamy is op
posed by young Mormons and will die
of itself if given an opportunity.
Bristow has resigned as fourth assist
ant postmaster general fand the presi
dent has designated him as a special
commissioner to make an investigation
into the present trade conditions and
freight rates between the Atlantic and
Pacific coasts, and between the west
coast of South America and the east
vmi of th TTnitd State and of Eur
ope and to determine the best policy of
manageing the Panama railroad.
A naval battle in the Indian ocean is
expected.
The miners' strike in Germany is
spreading.
A bill will be introduced in the sen
ate to restore the army canteen.
The Colorado legislature has expelled
two senators in connection with the
election frauds.
Russia has entered a protest to the
powers, claiming that Japan is organ
izing Chinese troops against her.
Oyama has received a large number
of reinforcements and Kuropatkin will
make a supreme effort to crush him
before more arrive.
Appropriations, though small, will
be maed for the Columbia jetty and
channel, and Fulton has joined in the
fight for the Celilo canal.
Two Santa Fe trains collided head on
near Las Vegas, New Mexico, and three
persons were killed and a number of
others injured, two fatally.
The Japanes war office has notified
Minister Griscom that it will be
pleased to permit General MacArthur
to accompany the army of Japan in
Manchuria.
The National Livestock association is
in session at Denver.
Mark Twain is much improved and
will be able to be out shortly.
Japanese cruisers await the Russian
fleet in the Indian ocean off Borneo.,
Seven more vessels have arrived at
the Suez canal on the way to join the
Baltic squadron.
Sixteen degrees below zero has been
recorded on the Great lakes and in the
Mississippi valley.
Russia intends to be better prepared
for a siege against Vladivostok than
she was at Port Arthur.
While removing mines in Port Ar
thur harbor, one was accidentally dis
charged, killing 20 Japanese.
T. C. Powell, of Portland, has been
appointed United States marshal at
Nome, Alaska, by the president.
Russian troops are losing confidence
in Kuropatkin. There is constant
bickering among the officers at the
Manchurian headquarters.
President Roosevelt will call an ex
tra session of congress to revise the
tariff and calls on congress to pass rail
road rate law and navy appropriation
bill.
Edward Wallace Hock is now gov
ernor of Kansas.
A great socialist conspiracy has been
discovered in Russia.
Charles S. Deneen has been inaugu
rated governor of Illinois.
The president urges improvement of
the army medical andjordnance service.
The oath of office has been adminis
tered to Governor Douglas, of Massa
chusetts. Govenror Peabody announces that he
will contest the Colorado election and
unseat Adams if possible.
General StoesBel says he was led to
believe by Chinese spies that General
Kurokatpin was marching south to re
lieve him. He knew nothing about the
retreat from Liao Yang until after his
surrender, .
DOINGS IN CONGRESS.
Monday, January 0.
After the passage of the omnibus bill
and a few minor measures and the fix
ing of January 28 for the delivery of
addresses in memory of the late Senator
Hoar, the senate devoted ita time to
the statehood bill. At 4 :23 the senate
adjourned.
The house spent the day tn discussing
minor matters and at 4:23 adjourned
until tomorrow.
Tuesday, January 10.
The senate today continued consider
ation of the joint statehood bill, the
chief accomplishment being the accept
ance of most of the amendments sug
gested by the confmlttee on Indian
affairs.
Senator Cullora reported the legis
lative, judicial and executive appropri
ation bill as amended by the senate
committee on appropriations. The to
tal carried is $29,192,962, a net in
crease of 1134,772 over the amount ap
propriated by the bill as passed by the
house.
The session of the house was given
over almost entirely to discussion of the
bill on banking and currency "to im
prove currency conditions."
The impeachment charges on which
Judge Charles Swayne will be tried
were presented just before adjournment
and notice given that on Thursday they
would be called up for action in the
house. Wednesday, January II.
The attention of the senate today was
divided by the statehood question and
government regulation of railroads. All
amendments to the statehood bill ex
cept one were agreed to.
In the house the army appropriation
bill received consideration. The ex
penses of the army and navy were se
verely cr?ticWd by (teveral members.
Attention was called to the large re
tired list of officers, which includes 236
brigadier generals. An effot was made
to reduce the' pay of retired officers
above the rank of major when assigned
to duty with the militia of the several
states. This was aimed at General
Miles as secretary general of Massa
chusetts. Thursday, January 12.
The legislative, executive and judi
cial bills were read at length in the
senate and there was considerable dis
cussion of the civil service question
and the provision for an investigation
of foreign trade conditions by the de
partment of commerce.
The house devoted it sentire session
to the discussion of impeachment
charges against Judge Charles Swayne,
of the Northern district of Florida.
Friday, Jan. 13.
Further consideration was given in
the house today of the impeachment
charges against Judge Swayne. There
was a noticeable lack of interest in the
case except among a few members. The
defense charged that the whole thing
was a case of private vengeance.
The house concurred in the senate
amendments to the Philippine govern
ment bill and sent the bill to confer
ence. The senate today passed the legisla
tive, executive and judicial appropria
tion bill and also a number of private
pension bills.
Hear Evidence in Public.
Paris, Jan. 14. The text of the pro
cedure of the international commission
appointed to inquire into the North sea
incident was given out today. It regu
lates the hearing of witnesses and vari
ous other details. The most important
points are as follows:
The official language of the commis
sion will be French. Witnesses testi
fying in other languages will have
their testimony translated into French.
The commissioners will deliberate in
secret and will hear the witnesses in
public.
The British claims will be first pre
sented and the Russian reply will fol
low. Counsel for both sides will pre
sent final arguments.
The commissioners will deliberate in
secret upon their final report.
The closing session of the commis
sion, which will publish the result,
will be public.
Bids for Armor Plate Opened.
Washington, Jan. 14. - Bids were
opened today at the Navy Department
for 7,828 tons of armr plate for the
battleship New Hampshire and the ar
mored cruisers Montana and North
Carolina. The aggregate bid of the
Carnegie and Bethlehem companies was
identical, $3,204,700, the first delivery
to be made in six months. The lowest
bidder was the Midvale Steel company,
of Philadelphia, whose aggregate bid
was 131,28,781, delivery to begin Au
gust 15, at the rate of 600 tons a
month.
Stoessel Had 50,000 Men.
Tokio, Jan. 14. The Japanese
achievement at Port Arthur is more
remarkable in the light of further in
vestigation. The original Russian
strength is now believed to have been
almost 50,000 men. It is announced at
the army headquarters that in addition
to the prisoners already reported, about
13,000 wounded combatants will event
ually be brought to Japan.
SPLIT IN ITS RANKS
Livestock Association Has Civil
War and Cattlemen Secede.
THEY FORM A RIVAL ASSOCIATION
Admission of Packers and Railroads
the Issue Sheapgrowers Stay
With Old Association.
Denver, Jan. 16. The National
Livestock association was rent in twain
today by the adoption of a new consti
tution which admitted the packers to
membership and provided an open
door through which the railroad of the
country might at any time become fact
ors lu the control of the organization.
The cattlemen, horse and swine grow
ers, together with representative of
some of the affiliated industries, re
fused to agree to the new constitution,
withdrew when they considered Its
adoption probable, and this afternoon
formed a new organization under the
name of the American Stockgrowers'
association, whose aim it will be to
wield a dominating influence in the in
terest of the cattlegrower.
Roughly speaking, the sheepgrowers,
commission men and stockyards inter
ests remained with the Nationa Live
stock association, and the actual grow
ers c! all other ftp.irosl f"f thw mrkt
have,gone with the new association.
The cattlemen have from the first
strongly opposed the admission into
their organization of the packers and
especially of the railroads. They main
tained that these two influences would
ultimately dominate the cattlegrowing
industry of the country to the detri
ment of the individual grower, and
they refused to remain in an organiza
tion which included their representa
tives among the members of its con
trolling body.
PARLIAMENT TO BE DISSOLVED
British Government May Call Election
About End of March.
London, Jan. 16. King Edward, at
today's meeting of the Privy council,
signed a proclamation convening parli
ament for February 14. The session
will be opened by the king personally,
with full state ceremonies. The unus
ual lateness of the date of the opening
is interpreted to mean that the govern
ment does not propose to press any re
distribution bill, but to give the aliens
bill, which Premier Balfour had defi
nitely promised, the first place in its
legiidutive program.
Recent speeches of ministers confirm
the bflii-f in an early dissolution of
Parliament, and it seems likely that
unli'HH previoulsy defeated, ossibly
through the intentional absentation of
the Chamberlainites, the government
will find pretext for volutarily dinsolv
ing parliament towards the end of
March and hand over to the opposition
the seemingly thankless task of formu
lating the budget.
Rebuild Brooklyn Bridge.
New York, Jan. 16. Fearful lest the
strain to which the Brooklyn bridge is
being subjected will weaken it to serv
ice to the extent that a great catastrophe
might he possiblu, engineers of the De
partment of Bridges are reported to
liave determined that the structure
must be almost completely rebuilt.
To do this it will require at least two
years, and meanwhile traffic between
New York and Brooklyn will have to
be diverted to the Williamsburg bridge,
the new Manhattan bridge and to the
Brooklyn subway tunnel now in course
of construction.
Locating the Wrecks.
Tokio, Jan. 16. Commander Thaka,
of the Japanese naval staff, detailed to
examine the Russian war vessels at
Port Arthur, reports the condition of
the unprotected cruisers Djidjid, Raz
boynik and Zabiaka, hitherto unac
counted for. The Djidjid is at the
mouth of a small inlet east of the tor
pedo storehouse and inside the west
harbor. Evidently she was sunk. The
Razboynik is sunk near the lighthouse
at the entrance of the harbor. The
Zabiaka is about 300 yards east of the
bend in the Tiger's Tail peninsula.
Lower Rates of Docking.
Washington, Jan. 16. On recom
mendation of Representative Humphrey
the Navy department has reduced the
charge for docking commercial vessels
at Bremerton dry dock from 10 to 6
cents per ton in order to permit Puget
Sound shipyards to compete with yards
in British Columbia.
THREAT TO CHILE.
Japan Warns Her Not to Sell War
ships to Russia.
Paris, Jan. 12. Japan has informed
Chile that further sale of vessels to
Russia will be followed by summary
punitive measures. This information
comes directly from the foreign" otllce,
but has not yet been published lu
Paris.
According to an official of the office,
Japan is greatly irritated over the mat
ter, and has even gone so far as to hint
broadly that the Chilean coast would
make a fine target for Japanese war
ships.
At the same time a similar protest
was made to the Argentine Republic,
In spite of the tact that such a threat
might be considered an offense against
the Monroe doctrine. The source of
this Information leaves no doubt as to
its correctness.
Dr. Motono, the Japanese minister
here, says he has no knowledge of any
such communication on the part of his
government. At the same time he
took occasion to criticise the two re
publics. A member of the Japanese
legation said that, if the United States
should take no measure to prevent any
further action of thta sort, it would not
be (air to Invoke the Monroe doctrine
against Japan.
Speaking unofficially, members of
government circles say this incident
shows that Japan has grown so self
complacent over her victories that she
can run the risk of losing the good will
of even the United States.
HOLD-UP GAME BLOCKED.
Fulton Puts Spoke in Wheel of Kla
math Irrigation Company.
Washington, Jan. 12. The chief of
engineers, at the request of Senator
Fulton, today decided to grant no
authority to the Klamath irrigation
company to divert water from Klamath
lake for irrigation purposes. This
company, with purely speculative In
tent, ha begun the construction of an
irrigation canal lying within the pro
posed government irrigation project, Its
purpose being to sell out to the govern
ment at a large profit.
Fortunately for the government, it
proposes utilizing the water of a navi
gable stream, and this cannot I hi done
except by authority of congress. The
company had applied for permission
from the War department, contending
that Klamath lake and Link river are
not navigable. Senator Fulton showed
that both bodies are navigable and
navigated.
While the government will probably
recompense the Klamath Irrigation
company for the work which It may ac
quire, it will only pay a fair price. It
will not be held up and robbed.
IRRIGATION IN WASHINGTON
Government will Carry Out Palouse
Project If O. R. & N. Helps.
Washington, Jan. 12. The Wash
ington delegation had a conference this
morning with official of the reclama
tion service, during which T. A. Noble,
in charge of examinations in Washing
ton, explained the progress of work in
that state. In brief, he showed that
government irrigation is not practicable
on the Okanogan river, and intimated
that the whole Okanogan project would
be abandoned. Because of numerous
vested Interests in the Yakima valley,
the government has not yet found an
attractive project in that vicinity.
The Big Bend project, which contem
plates the reclamation of 1,000,000
acres or more at a cost of (30,000,000,
is too gigantic to be considered serious
ly at this time, but there is a strong
probability that the government will
next year begin work on the Palouse
project, which contemplates the recla
mation of 80,000 acres, mostly in
Franklin county, at a cost of $5 per
acre. This project has been found en
tirely feasible. All preliminary sur
veys are completed, and it only waits
for the O. It. & N. Co. to consent to
remove its tracks from Washtucna
coulee, which it is proposed to convert
into a storage reservoir. This consent
is ezpected to be given, negotiations to
that end being now under way.
Needs of Oklahoma.
Guthrie, Okla. T., Jan. 12. That
Oklahoma should begin the purifica
tion of politics by punishment of the
professional "lobbyist," who he con
tends is striking a vital blow at the
government by the people; that Okla
homa is deserving of, and should be
given, statehood by congress, and that
a crusade should be inaugurated for
good roads in the territory, are the
points of most general interest men
tioned by Governor T. B. Ferguson in
his message to the Eighth legislature,
now in session.
To Open Mineral Lands.
Washington, Jan. 12. A provision
was inserted in the Indian appropria
tion bill that all mineral lands .within
Indian reservations shall be declared
open, subject to location, develompont
and entry under the mineral land law.
This provision will apply to all reser
vations where it has been enforced
without infringing on the rights of Indians,
NO MONEY TO SPARE
Chairman Barton Is Opposed to
Dalles-Celllo Canal.
THINKS PORTAGE ROAD ENOUGH
Williamson Makes Vigorous Answer, '
Saying Portage Road Is Only
Temporary Makeshift.
Washington, Jan. 13. It is going to
require all the Influence that the com
bined delegations for Oregon, Wash
tngton and Idaho ran bring to bear to
secure provision in the river and harlmr
bill for carrying on work on the Dalles
Celilo canal. Chairman Hurton, who
has heretofore boen regarded a friend
ly to this project, Is now decidedly an
tagonistic, and, If his present views
prevail, uo appropriation will be mado
for the canal. In a letter which ho
sent to Representative Williamson to
day he said:
"I am strongly disposed to think we ,
shall have to omit any appropriation
for the Dallea-Clilo canal. The total
cost of the plan would be $3,800,000,
and it I useless to begin with a partial
appropriation,
"Again, them are numerous other
project in Oregon, notably the mouth
of the Columbia, which will require
large appropriations. Would it not
lie well to try for the time the portago
railway that ran bo completed at com
paratively small CkHns and would
indicate whether traffic from In-low the
falls would develop in sufficient amount
to make it desirable to canal Ise the
river for 12 mile at and near Tho
Dalles?"
To this letter Representative Wil
liamson tonight made reply, stating
that the people of Oregon, Waxhingtoti
ami Idaho are not suiting for a full ap
propriation at this lime to completo
the canal, hut only enough to start
work, not over $500,000.
Congressmen Join and French aro
co-operating with Mr. Williamson in
the effort to convince Chairman Burton
that the government should at this
time make provision for the Dalles
Celilo cana. If the effort ultimately
fails in the house and the river and
harlHtr bill should pass that Imdy a re
newed effort will be made by the north
western senators to have an amendment
attached to the bill in tho senate, pro
viding for commencing work on this
canal.
OPPOSED TO REVISION.
Canvas of House Shows Nine-Tenths
of Republicans so Inclined.
Washington', Jan. 13. A prominent
member of the ways and means com
mittee of the house said to the Associ
ated Press today that the poll which
the leaders of the house had conducted
of the Republican members on the
question of tariff revision showed that
90 per cent of the memlH-r who had
been approached were against revision.
All of the leader of the house except
Representative Payne, chairman of tho
ways and means committee, who Is laid
up with rheumatism, and Representa
tive Tawney, are against revision. The
work of crystallizing sentiment against
revision is being done by Represent
atives Dalzell, of Pennsylvania, ami
(irosvenor, of Ohio.
GONE TO MEET HIM.
Japan's Cruisers Believed to Be Near
Baltic Fleet Commander.
London, Jan. 13. Japanese corres
pondents of the Morning Tost consider
it not incredible that Japanese men-of-war
have reached Diego Garcia (Chagoa
Archipelago), and point out that, al
though Admiral Togo Is at Tokio, other
admirals are not idle.
Vice Admrial Uriu, it is stated, has
been cruising in the vicinity of the
equator for some time past. The num
ber of vessels he'hns'at his command Is
kept secret, but doubtless he is ready
to do battle with the Russian Baltic
squadron whenever It appears east of
the 70th meridian.
i
Great Flood at Phoenix.
Phoenix, Ariz., Jan. 13. Light rain
has continued to fall at intervals today,
adding to the already flooded condition
of the country. Last night an area five
miles square, northwest of Phoenix,
was under water from six inches to two
feet in depth. Considerable damage
has been done to farm crops and ditches
through broken banks. One end of tho
flood crossed the west side of Phoenix,
surrounding many houses with water,
but doing little damage, excepting to a
colony of invalids who lived in tents in
the suburbs.
Deep Snow In Oklahoma.
Oklahoma City, Jan. 13. The bliz
zard that began yesterday in Oklahoma
continued today, the fall of snow and
sleet being the heaviest in years. Street
car and railroad traffic were intorupted
and wires were broken by the weight
of the sleet.