Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Weekly Oregon statesman. (Salem, Or.) 1900-1924 | View Entire Issue (March 2, 1900)
WEEKLY OREGON STATESMAN, FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 1900. FULL--"Of- JOY Great Britain Is Celebrating the News from Africa. i: CRONJE RECEIVES DIE HONOR III Achievement, la HoUUnf la Check Lord Roberto' Amy, Is rTormbly - CaaaMtodrpM. -j ! LONDON. Feb. 28, (Wednesday,, 4:30 a. m. From John O'Groats to Landsend, there has been cheering for . the queen, and a universal -singing of the national anthem. This mutual con gratulation is the Briton's way of cele brating the most cheerful day of the war. Already he is taking stock of the situation, and measuring: the future. There is no disposition to overestimate the success. The government enter tains no illusion. As announced in the house of commons, 10,000 additional troops will immediately go out, and the encctive army will be kept near 200,000. Lord Kooerts has done more than to capture 4000 Boers and a- few ''guns, he ia itlin striding distance of one of the Boer . capkais, and is master of a ji.'iic uinct of the Orange Free State, lie has given a shock to Boer cortfi uvuee, and immeasurea'bly restored The ,,-i-uu ot his own troops. In capturing Cfunje Jie has taken a leader; whose jirtatnc alone was worth thousand to :!c Uuer cause. "1 hi- oiuion here is that the Ti.iiv.ia'cra are ttriain to continue the t ta y.iii uuuitmuhed valor, but it is n.-it i'(ru.;i uoai tiie Free Staters. I. r 1 KuLcris has not a.lowed a corps (,! : -i:.1j:vc vtrmrs wun nun, w jur iiiin iiarrative as yet, ana "it ; !;nf 1 nc ' fort . 1 ; 1 ?i c thi? y.-ri- oaic points in doubt. I It is vV:.r '.iciucr the' 4000 prisoners "iiost liikta 111 small parties be : the ru;-.tula::ja. Yvivat has be . tin- r--t urtiic Boers who held AU r' T-vi'trr.tm iines, and where are 1.!,.: jiui! , iiic smallness of Cron 1 ' rtfc i-.iw. ti sonic wonderment, he. i.Hfr; j papers. iWithout excep :. i i: nt:H .11 the achievement of I'. n !-.4K r and i.is men in holding ,.r ;i-n lUyi, kjree from six to -. tEt.Ht-s .large as their j own. !nt: :a vi. iMr 1 i."K 1 .i.:nr is ur more generous rv t'lrtf i-i dvtcat. I tlrtf hi d kru.sfr- f;s!Jer is having a hard (i Ni!. i; i evident now. after iiyhtmy, that he was mis v :ti 1 there was onl ettjr.l ivt-,vcen him and Ajip.irt ntl- some of the ti.:lfip-.i- ot.the! war tookSplact at ;'.! tt.d t wtvkf -i an arraistk -iv ?:! t -j'l'vr.- attendance the vuidt a-i the burial of th- ! ri. io:U .-d.-'r.n;st have lost heav vv. A: arty 'K.i'tnt. however.' the nr.vi v fniih' f General Buller-s-v- Fri-1 ay win begin the fourth. Hi 1 th oi ire siege of the garrison, vi. i seemingly ih a position, where in to do anything to help it I Si VliKE FIGHTING, j.. .'iJn. Feb. 28. A special dispatch 'ruT'i (.V'.-nso. dated Tuesday. ; Feb ri'.irv ,i)i says: "The BoeTSj are en ai.jvnrinc to outflank us and severe continues. 1 A TI KKIF1C STRUGGLE. O'mso. Feb. 2$. (Sunday). In the .I'lir-.m 4 E-nmskiliins on- Friday eve ning, to rush the Boer position on Fie-u-r s hill, the Boer fire was so terrible when the infantry emerged from the cover of the trees, that almost .every man in the leading half of the company fell wounded. The advance line of-' the British reached Donga, in front pf the first Boer trench, which was not ap parent until they were actually in it. The Boers retired to the crest and then reftrned on either flank of the Ennis-l-Tins. enfilading thc captured Dongs vi:h a terrible cross-fire. Finding it Hipos'sible to advance or to hold the position, the British fell back and en trenched themselves half way up the hi 1 The Boers maintained a heavy, fire . '' :; In the -course of the flight, the" Dub lin fusiliers and Con-naughts arriving to s'tport the Enniskil'ins: a determined '.Tort wis made to take the Boer posi tion Thi alo failed. The heavy fire i-.n.ii'tt'nt trotisrhotit the nightj The l".'i:k:llirs !rt -fourteen out of peyen tc:i t'il.c r Jelled nnd wminded. and nlxuit -'o on-ci;n-?ni$?ned "officers and -mrn 5UHe.I and wott:jde,f:- " Tcday ariiii'.ti.'e airrcod ir'-ti t tnab'e Imj'i :K- to -Vrtllcct" their';" dead and wuijtvlt-.l. the nKT.'amv having. had ei liuvr !p, bur Jhev scout the i'U'.i that the British will compel them r.i";v the siege of Ladvsmith.f FOl'K THOUSAND, j f vW Vv .fir-e p. m -It is iv rnnounccdlct RcVrts has noti fied i'k mr.oll.ro i'.i it t'le number of. . 1-kt pri rs -approximates '4nno. of iwlwt-h nNiut i.tx are- crfixens of the Omvico I'rt-e State. he remainder are cilit :i F the Ttarfsvaa!; . OFFICERS . C.IT:UREDj -i-oifUf . '-.FA, jTwenty-nine Trr.t.va5! ouH-tri-ere ciiptnrcd, n'd eiarhtern Free State (seers were jnade I'ri.-w.fr' The on cafrt-d from the I'r:.r. -i;d forces trr three r-vcertti-ntcter. -Kr a:ps.- ni n: ine-p;m.kl's and i-r.c Masr-'it cnn. - Frm tl;e Frc - Stat ers the British .-a!.!ured one r.Wf nti !iicter Krr.;'p anl niie M.ixi-ji m. Kohi-ivrb k::i'okt. j I.miJ n.'.lri'. J7 Tin war liiwc tccvvM .'' i V d -.-Hi. hi t'rn; "Paardcbcrg. Feb. 27 (Tuesday II a. m.)- At 3 a. m. today a most dashing advance was made by the Canadian reg- Laent and Some of the engineers, sup j ported by the. First Gordon Highland ers and the Second Sbropshires, result ing in our gaimng a point seme 600 yards nearer the enemy and within about 80 yards of his trenches, where our men entrenched themselves and maintained their positions until morn ing, a gallant deed worthy of our col onial comrades, and which I am glad to $ay was attend by a conrparatiydy slight loss. ' "This apparently clinched ' matters, for at daylight a letter signed by Cron ie. in -which he stated that he surrend ered unconditionally was brought to. our outposts under a nag 01 truce. In my reply I told Cronje that he must present jhimsetf at my camp, and that his forces must come out of their laager after laying down their arms. By 7 a. m. I received Cronje and dispatched a telegram i to you announcing the fact. "In the course of conversation Cron- ie asked for. kind treatment at our hands, and also that his wife, grandson, private secretary, adjutant and servants might accompany him wherever he might be sent. I reassured and told him bis request would be complied with. I informed him that a general officer would be sent with him to Cape Town to insure his being treated with proper respect en route. He will start his afternoon under charge of Major General Prcttyman. who will hand him over to the General commandinz at Cape Town. . i "The prisoners, who numbered about Tooo. will be formed into commands un der our own officers. They will also I'eave here today, reaching Modder Riv r tomorrow, whence they will be railed o Cape Town inl detachments." ! TBe above dispatch was read in both The house of lords and the house of -otnmons today. The reference to tht Canadiaris evoked immense and pro 'onced cheering. Balfour, governmen -eader in the house of commons, sai4 ie bad no information relative to thf Boer guns. 1. EDUCATORS MEET. Krtnua! Conference of Leading Colleg Men in Chicago Yesterday. Chicago, Feb. 27. The annual con ervnee of the department of superinten lence of the National Educational As lactation (opened in University Ha ure today. Tiie department numbers imonjj its members, more than fort;, "residents and matiy professors ard yperintendents of schools and the larjrt indience which gathered today inchtii tl some of the most distinguished edr. rotors in the' country. Superintend tr ndrews. of Chicago, delivered tht opening address, and after the responr President Downey, President Nich Mas Murray Butler, of Columbia Un; rsity. was introduced to speak on th" "Sfattis of Education at the Close : Jie Century." At the afternoon session. State Super ::!ndnt Brottne. of Olympia. read .- :nper on " Some Possible Innovation ii School Administration." which w.-?t."lrv-f.j by a formal discussion of'th; subject, j REAR-tND COLLISION. i- R IGHTFUL DISASTER ON A MISSOURI RAILROAD. fvernl Persons Killed and a Number Badly Injured A Crowded ( Parlor Car Crushed. - ' ' KANSAS CITY, Mo, Feb. 27. The 'ast St. Louis day express, due to ar ivet in Kansas Cty at 5:45 this even ng. was; delayed by a freight train. v'?;ch stuck in the snow, drift two mile i:;h of ! Independence, Mo,, abo:" .velve miles out of Kansas City. Th :r. Louis local passenger train, running a minutes behind the fast express ame on through the blinding snow i torm and crashed into the expres rain ahead, the engineer having failed n the driving snow, to see the danger ignal which the fast train had sen: ack. The parlor car in the rear of the fast rain was literally cul in two. Fire idded to the horrofs of the wreck oa's from the furnace of the shatterec ngincj having fallen among the debri? f the! splintered coach, and soon the .vhole jwreck-was ablaze. Two or mor crsorvs, it is believed, were burned. The list of dead and seriously in ured, jso far as known; is as fbilows: Mrs. J.i G. Schmidlapp. a bankers wifv f Cincinnati, instantly killed; unknown voman; body consumed in the wreck The injured are: J. G. Schmidlapp. f Cincinnati, will recover; Mis Schmidlapp. Cincinnati, scalded." will ose sigit of both eyes: Mrs. J. Balecke. Cincirjiati, mother of Mrs. Schmidlapp, badly scalded, eyesight lost, may re cover; W. A. Vaughn, Cincinnati, a i.'wspaper reporter, scalded and right rr:i cruihea, amputation necessary; L. Shcld-"n. . Scdalla, assistant superin r.U-n: t ,'c'efrraph of the Missouri iu ;iic. ja: nfu'lv scalded : Brakemnn vrank 'MV'Aiee, St. Louis. bad:y bn's Mrs. .Uzabeth Peters. Kansas City, dlded; Mrs. tirzabeth Lee,' Cir.cin iii;i.i Fcalded. . All of the injured have een brought to the University hos pital in Kjansas City. Vpl A TROLLEY LINE. . New York, iFeb. 27. A bill pending iu Mhe iw York legislature ' repeals li. a :t ff'bitlinjr the construction of i :j:r(::r, oil the Albany and New York iM road. which is a continuation of Hrtutlwav .The bKI is said to be in .the s.ijiYst syndicate in which John D. Ro:kejelitfiLev-I ;P.-' Morton and J. P. Morgan '.prif reported, to be interested. Thi? syndicate, it is said, proposes to construct t'rc'ey-car l;nes between the snore pro-perons Hndson River towns. .m.i thn connect these lines so. as to irm a contjnnous line from New York to Albany. '-. ; Agatha Yo:t visit vour new neigh ior a greaj: id: a'. don't you? , . . A;r.;,,"it;3 jrs. A.i'.luS'if'j m very briillant. I hear. 'I supi-c tn.it ts the reason yoa nro 4 taken up with her?' Amanda A Veil er'-not exactly. Her cook makes such lovely pancakes. In dianapolis San.. ALL WILL EXPLAIN S ' Montana Legislators Called Be fore Senate Committee. TEil OF THEIU FINANCIAL AFFAIRS Tbelr Bjtak AccsuU Are IaTMtlfsUd and They Hut Show Where Their . Money Cams From. WASHINGTON, Feb. 27 The pro ceedings of the senate committee on privileges and elections, in the case of Senator Clark of Montana, today dealt with the bank accounts of some of the members of the Montana legislature. One of these accounts was that of Rep resentative Step-hen Bywater, of Flat head county, who deposited $15,000 in the Bank of Montana, at Helana on the 3d of last (March, after the adjournment of the legislature. By-water was put on the stand. He said that he had brought $6000 of this sunt to Helena with him. md kept it in his trunk ill winter, while $5000 had been received from his broth er as purchase money on the sale of mining stock. He declared that he had not received any .pay for.ihis vote for Clark for he senate, but said that Whiteside' had told him. that he could ?et $5000 for supporting Clark. HARRY MILLER NAMED. Receives Appointment as Consul to Chung King, China. Washington, Feb. 27. The president las nominated Henry B. Miller, of Or ron, tq' be consul at Chung King, China. 1 (Mr. Miller is one of the best known business men and politicians in the tate. In 1887-89 he -represented Jose phine county in the state senate, and nbsequently , represented that county i the assembly, and in both houses vas an active ieader. For many years ie was engaged in the manufacture of A'hite pine lumber at Grants, Pass. fIn t-cent years he has devoted his atten ion almost exclusively to fruit culture, n which . he has been very successful, laving large orchards in Southern Or f on. For a while Mr. Miller served as resident of the State Agricultural Col .cse at Corvallis. He is now president i the horticultural board of the state, uid was in one campaign a presidential ector. Though notA lawyer,, Mr. Miller is an effective speaker, and in olitics and business a very active, en fgetic man. The position tendered iim pays a salary of $2000 per annum). In Greece the man must have seen it least 14 summers, and the woman 12. LONELINESS OR WASHINGTON Impression of the Capital on a Stranger Without Social Connections. Washington, Feb. 17. A loneliness wngs over and about the national cap !al for the man or woman who has not assed the social dines. Within the ines there is no other city in, the coun ty so full of pleasures. Perhaps it is his knowledge that causes those with ut to. feel the sense of solitude which it times becomes oppressive. The stranger in the city sees the cap .tol, the congressional library, the.mon imen, the White House, the depart nemt buildings, the Corcoran art gal-; ery, the statues and he has seen all. If he is in a hurry be can do the town n a few days. Then he treads the wide thoroughfares, some of them so wide hat he can scarcely shout from one ide to the other so as to be heard; in .hese walks he soon wearies for there is 1 sameness in all he sees. People come o look alike. These people are from ill parts of the country, but if they lin ger long enough they walk in the same eisurely gait, they have the same stare, here is a striking likeness in their Iress. and finally they drift, uncon sciously, into the same manner of peech. This speech is a compound of .he dialect of the different parts of the South. The nasal twang is never hear.d : n Washington. When the stranger sees one shop window he has seen all. They are dressed alrke. When he has walked or; an hour he has looked at all the tores in the town. Day after day, n'eek after week, month after month, they never change. - Whenever one goes outside of the rircumscribed business centre there is the appearance of rest and ease. The hversity in architecture is not great. If one house has a striking facade the Impression quickly disappears from the riid because of blocks and blocks of ;!er houses which look as if they were rihnncd by an architect with one idea. Everywhere there U the front yard and its iron fence. Somebody has made mr.ney fn iron fencing Washington There is no apparent reason for an en closure anywhere in the city. - Where people leave" their front doors unlocked as is the; custom' in Washington the Yn re would seem to he useless. ,' When darkness falls upon the city the sense of loneliness i accentuated to fhe stranger, or the person who lives here and has no social privileges. Ex cept for a few weeks following an in auguration, the corridors of the hotels ore as quiet as untenanted rooms. If prrchancc one finds a chair occupied Walter Morley ft I'll i. , 1 . j : ! : I ; i : r ;r .: r : i , j . r : r n. fft IIW: THE HAWAIIAN BILL Senate Has Agreed to ! Vote on the Measure Today. QUArS CASE DISCUSSED TUESDAY Tarley Calls Attention to Action In th Corbett Cm Preeednt at!" ' th AppUcnnt. i WASHINGTON, Feb. j 27 The senate today agreed to take the final vote on the Hawaiian government bill tomorrow. t ! : 1 I . ;'' THE QUAY CASE. Washington, Feb. 27. In a speech in the senaite today, oft the ! resolution against seating Quay, Senator Turley said: - - , "Are we to say, in 1898, when Cor bett was knocking at the door of the senate, one thing, and in 1900, when Quay is knocking at the doors, another thing? WEPT BY FLAMES. Newark, New Jersey, Visited by the Fire Fiend. . New Yorlc, Feb. 27. The greatest fire that Newark, New Jersey, ever ex perienced, swept through the retail dry goods district tonight, destroying score or more of buildings. The Joss is es timated at over $1,000,000. i The fire destroyed W. V. Snyder?s department store at Broad and Cedar streets, . and its stock, worth $500,000; the building adjoining occupied by J. M. Mantz and others; TV B. Allen's confectionery store; C B. Peddie's truk : store; the rear of David Strauss' department store and L. S. Plautz's dry goods stores; W. T. Rae's jewelry store; P. J. Carrigan's drug store, an(L a number of small stores, and Bierman's pawn shop. Four firemen were buried iunder the walls. Captain Walter Harison jand Fireman Thomas Brown, were taken out unconscious, and may be! fatally in jured. The other two firemen ; were severely injured. r j ' WHERE THE WATER WENT. L. L. Dayton, of Pittsburg, in talk ing to a New York Tribune reporter of fires, said: '"The effect of fires on certain people, especially women, j is very curious. Everyone knows the an cient anecdote about the man who flung the looking-glass from the upper win - Jdow of a burning house, and then care ! fully shouldered a featherbed down ' st2irs. Personally, from an experience I once had,.! have always believed that the occupant, in most cases, is a man whose manner tell too plainly that he also is a stranger, and a representative of that class shattered, politically, by the civil war. The hoof beats of a single horse on the asphalt pavements are so clear and distinct as to attract attention. As the sound becomes fainter and is lost the silence deepens. A single person's passing is noticed. He turns the cor-, ner, disappears, and ten or fifteen min utes are measured off by the strokes of the clock before another comes. At night, as the stranger walks about, there are the cold gray columns of, the department (buildings before which arc lights swing to and fro throwing ghost ly shadows on the wall. The White House, standing well back ;from the wide street, looks like a I stack 1 of shrouds. ; Stop before this structure long enotfgh, and one will see spectres, for the place is full of the memory of strange incidents. What j political hopes have heie been crushed! What ambitions have here been wrecked! If the stranger passes to the east and looks through the night toward the cap itol. there in the dlsiance. clean cut against" the sky, is the great 'dome. Never a light twinkles from this cap of the halls of congress. The longer one Iffoks at it the more it grows, un til one almost fancies it hanging from the Stars. ; But the iMonument is the .sight that completes the sense of loneliness. It rises out of the ground as if it had no foundation.' There is not a -step or "a break in the barren hill upon which it stands. The single mountain rising from a plain., the lone tree on a waste of prairie, the white sails of a solitary ship at sea. are not so lonely, as this moitnirnit e rti'ght. It has Ibeen said that it is the one thing in Washington which cannot be .hid. that, igo where; one will, it l is still in sight. This is nearly true. 3 Whatever there ifto be said by way of commendation of this unornamented shaft towering 555 feet: whatever , it commemorates. it 1st- the cne thing which the stranger, man or woman, inclined to brooding shou'd avoid. r By night, especially, is this true, i Not because" k is less: overpow ering j'than great cathedrals i and ttm ples, or the stars in their courses, but because k is cold, forbidding voiceless., weighing heavily upon the earth and upon the heart of the beholder whose loneliness finds ia this white sentinel nothing responsive. Wo wctng send tor circulars: GET OUR PRICES CI HOP WIRE NO. 59 STATE STREET. SALEM. OREGON. story to be true. ' We were at dinner at my home one night, when the door bell was rung with such violence as. to summon me tfrortt the table to the door without waiting for a servant to answer it: An ' excited .and stammering man there informed me that the third story of my house was on fire, and upstairs I went three steps at a time, followed by my entire household. A friend of my wife; who was stopping with us, had carelessly left her window open and the gas burning. On a chair under neath the jet she had piled clothes until they nearly reached the burner, and a breeze brought the light in. contact with the pile. While the fire was still confined to the pile of clothing, as the chair was directly .in front of the win dow, it looked from the outside as if the entire room was cm fire. Calling for water, I seized the pitcher, and by judicious spraying the names with its contents succeeded in putting the. fire out without -the necessity for further assistance. The next room was the nursery, and my ' wife and her friend, rushing in there in search of water, came upon the tub in which the child had just been given his nightly bath. This they bore in triumph back to the guest room, but by this time I had the fire out, and, as they saw no other place to throw it, I'm blesesd if they didn't chock it over me. Luckily I was too mad to say anything, and could only sputter when that dirty water struck me, otherwises,! would have been guilty of language- not customarily used in the presence tirf women. I simply tell you this .story as an instance of the paralyzing effect of fires on certain peo ple, for neither of those women could be brought to a realization of what they had done for some time." THE TORN NOTE. f Lord Campbell, who wrote the lives of the lord" chancellors, and Broug ham's among the rest, tells a curious story as to his relations with the Times. Brougham, when he was in his prime was; the most feared and the least be loved of great men. While he was chan cellor some coolness sprang up between him; and other leaders of the Whig par ty, and Mr. Barnes, then the editor of the Times. One day while Brougham was sitting in chancery he receiveLthe following leter from Lord Althorp: "Dear Brougham, what I want to see you about is the Times whether you are to make war on it. or come to terms. Yours ever, Althorp." Broug ham tore up the letter and answered it. A reporter picked up the fragments, pasted them together, and took the re stored letter to Mr. Barnes. He, hav ing occasion to ask for some special news that same night, and it being re fused him, took for granted that Broug harruhad decided upon "war." Like Mr. Kruger he resolved to open nre himseh 1 1 rn-tf c rv In nrrir tprrnr into t!lf camps of the enemy. This he did in a leader which appeared next morning. As it turned put the inference he drew was a false one. and itwas the report er's baseness that started the ball roll ing, and so a political battle was fought out on a crime, which was quite a blun der. . THE FIRST COACHES IN LON DON. Ridinsfwas' the onlr alternative . to walking at the beginning of Elizabeth's reign, and a lady never rode without six or seven serving men to farry tire suitable to all contingencies. at and the means to repair a toilet which might suffer on the journey. To d:miinish this cost coaches came into use. Tjiiey were introduced in 1564 by a" Duttfh coach man of the queen; but we are told "a coach was , a strange monster : in those days, and the sight of it put both man and horse into amazement; onie said it was a great crabshell brought out of China, and some imagined it. to be one of the pagan temples in which, the can nibals worshiped the devil. f'j But at length these doubts were cleared and coachmaking became a sibstantial trade. So rapid was the iiidrease of coaches that in 1601 an acfl lof parlia ment was passed "to restram the ex cessive and superfluous use of coaches within this realm." In spite f tn's in novation, no method could bje devised which made locomotion j pleasant through streets which were alternately torrents of dirt finding their way to the Fleet ditch, and thick deposi :s of black mud, which furnished a ready weapon to any one who wished to express dis- approbation. It is difficult for us to picture London without eithef cabs or omnibuses. Bishop oi . London m Cornhill Magazine. DAWSON CITY'S FIRE BRIGADE The Engine Is Drawn by a! Team of Intelligent Dog3 There is here in Dawson (fty one of the most remarkable fire hri trades in f the world. The engine is drawn by a team of dogs, and the siiht of this team driving through the j streets of Dawson- City, with the fire engine trail ing behind, is one of the mjsst unique1 exhibitions in Alaska. The way the horses .jump into their place when the alarm sounds in an American engine house has always been a source of pride to the citizen spectator. The dogs are not a bk less .active and intelligent than the horses. The instant jtjhe' alarm sounds in the fi rehouse of a Dawson City brigade, the dogs are jalert, and when tBe number of strokes! has been given which announces the calling out of the brigade, the clever animals im mediately spring into" the plice where their collars are ready to be snapped into Dositicn. , , .1! A few seconds later they are dashing tnrougtt; tne streets of Dawson City at full tiltj dragging the fire j apparatus at theirheels, and tearing along in re sponse to the cracking of the whips of the drivers although they fully realized the importance of their duties. When the brigade turns out the streets of Dawsonf'City are sure t be lined with spectators, for the peopie. never tire of watching their dog team dash through the town. It is about the first .thing to which a new arrival is introduced when. Dawson's, attractions are on exhibi tion. Corr. Washington Post. ; ' The fact that (the indorsement of Gov ernor Roosevelt (for renomination was forced on the republican machine is not rendered less significant, because the machine may not enthusiastically sup port him.- ; IT WILL PASS Puerto Rican Tariff Bill Will Have a Small Majority. THE DEBATE ENDED YESTERDAY Crowded Galleries Ureeted the Rlriu Champions, DoUlvar and Bailey In the Closing Arramen. . WASHINGTON, Feb. 27 The . general debate on the Puerto Rico tar- itt Dill ciosea tooay in a Diazc 01 glory. The galleries were banked to the doors ' and every, seat on the floor was occu pied when the rival champions of the respective sides, -DolliveT. of Iowa, and Bailey, of Texas, made the closing arg uments. Each spoke for an hour and ( a half. ..... The speech of bailey, devoted as it ' was almost exclusively to tne legal phase of the controversy while it was profound and impressive, did not , arouuse the unbounded enthusiasm which swept the galleries and floors while Dolliver was speaking. The Iowan was at his best, and his wit. elo quence and sarcasm in turn drew salvos of applause from his republican associ ates. r t . Before the closing speeches were made. Cannon, "of Illinois, chairman of the appropriations committee and one of the veterans on the republican side, V made an exceptionally effective speech in support of the; bill. Messrs. Czr-SsJ mack, .democrat of Tennessee Clayton, democrat of Alabama; Kleberg, demo- ' crat of Texas; Pearce and Dc Armond,' democrats of Missouri, had also made speeches in opposition to the bill. The republican managers are now confident . that, with th.e modifications agreed up on at the conference last night, the bill will command a narrow majority in the final vote tomorrow. A MILITARY BILL- Washington, Feb. 27. The house f-ommittee on miiitary affairs today acted favorably on the bill, trtvinir a . the adiutant general Of the .army the rank, of major-general. The bill is lim ited to three subjects, viz: Promotion n line: tenure of staff appointments and :he relations between the staff and line, . and the organization of the artillery. It is' carefully framed to avoid rais :ng the question oi the size of the . army, which: it is understood, congress : not now ready to discuss, and its provisions are made applicable to any army, of- whatever" size congress miy determine upon. The provjsoin as to !;ne promotion is that, every third pro motion to the office of major, lieutenant-colonel and colonel, shall be by se-! tion, JeaviTig the other two-thirds to '""7 be as at present, by sen ority. This is -lesigntd to afford some slight opor- . timity for the 'recognition of exception al ability and gallantry. Under the fesent law which permits promotioji only by seniority, the president is pro- !i b ted trom recognizing meritorious or gallant conduct; the most effective and brilliant- service must go unrewarded, ,1 . 1. 1. .-. V. .'y . . .1 . -i - ' diiu me iiiuusikhh, uciulcu aim ain- bitious yoiing man is precluded from advancing himself by his own exertion 1 Jiair's breadth beyond the indolent,: dull and inefficient man.- who is jn able to perform duty to keep from oeing turned out of the service. The only objections teie, proposed measure are thatvthere may be favoritism in selections. Impartiality of selec tion is safeguarded by the provision of the biily that a promotion shall be mad,; irom the list" of three officers, selected from the grade from 'which the promo tion is to be made, by a board of su perior rank, convened for. that pur- pose and sworn to make the selection according to the merits and. fitness of , ; the candidate, as shown by his service . records. The sections relating to staff organizations provide for the abolition of the present system : 6f permanent staff appointments, and for the substi tution of details, from the line or , staff, of Periods of four years, unless sooner terminated by the president. ; A PRINCE'S PURCHASE. Pittsfield. Mas ' Frh --rTVi. TJ- and of. Basilan, in the Philippines, is reported to have been purchased by Prince Poniatowski. of San Francisco, for $500,000. The Prince, who fs- presJ dent of the Standard Electric Company, is in Pittsburg, buying electrical equip ment. Basilan is twenty miles long, lies southeast of Mindanao, and is val able for its pearl fisheries and hemp, trade. i . - 1 - THE SOLDIER DEAD, r aan rrancisco, f eo. 27. in tne morn fng the work of moving the dead from1 the transport Hancock will commence The Hancock (brought 505 bodies ho;nej whicb. with those that have been rctun-i ed on other transports, make a total! of 11.16 bodies received from the is-; lands. The bodies will be tnct at thej Presidio wharf by a detachment fomi .Battery O.. Third ArtilleryJ-which will; escort them to the building where theyj will await the disposal of relatives. I With August Belmont, Cornelius Vandenbilt and William H. Baldwin, Jr among the directors of the compa ny, along with numerous other long-, headed and resourceful gcrttlemen, the! (underground railroad in New Yorkl ought to be speedily a great and sue cessful fact. . , ' 'l The house in which John Rtiskin was. bom is till in existence. It is an un-l pretentious building in a quarter oi London now given over to cheap lodg ing houses. ; , General Shaf ter has waited nntil now to say that the Boers are fijrhting better than the bpamards did at bantiago. 1 .