Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 August 1893 — UNCLE SAM NOT ASLEEP. [ARTICLE]

UNCLE SAM NOT ASLEEP.

lie .eadj* Military-Ridden Europe in th* Manufacture of Explosives. While the United States Government hoi -i aloof from foreign contentions an inarches steadily onward on the road <: prosperity, without a thought of e adding armies, it is interesting to note •an it is alive to preparations for de- !' '• in time of war, and has modest,y so!:., red out that idea to complete succe in at least one particular. The Huron- an powers have been far ahead of ui n the manufacture of gunpowder an gun cotton, particularly of smokeless powder, which in warfare promises to lie of great utility on account of its iui ability, lightness and power. But they will be much surprised to learn ilia L'nole Sam Is in possession of theif te.- etsand has greatly improved upon lit tn. A little over two years ago, by ■J:r ction of the War Department, Prof, t ha ieß E. Monroe, chemist at the torpedo station at Newport, R. 1., began ytip'i intents in gun cotton, and as a rest U the Dupont Powder Company has a tl.t.i mghly equipped plant at Wilmington, Del., for the manufacture of the • <> -on, which is the basis of smokeless P w ier. That this is not a mere experfluent is proved by the fact that pounds of gun cotton have receut! been received at Newport from iViln- ngton. Both the cotton and the eiuo’.eless powder are claimed to be fai supe.ior to the European artioles, and, besides, are manufactured muoh cheaper. Experiments prove that the powder is most satisfactory for small bore and 1 evolving and rapid fire guns up to what are known as six-pounders. It is more -- able than any used abroad. The powder is not suitable for use in muskets, but this is a possibility of the future. To a large extent It Is now used £>u our war vessels and is adapted to the main and secondary batteries. Greater ; e.*".notion will come in time,

Fame Found Wlm In Africa. I not. Henry Drummond, the author of ihat remarkably successful boafc, “Natural Law In the Spirit World, ” is a man of a slight and intellectual type, with a „ jvlendid head. He has a wonderfully ••ngnetic influence over his students. His most famous book first appeared serially in a journal which soon died, the chapters not having attracted much Attention, and the writer feeling “a lingering remorse at what share I migb* iuive had in its untimely end.” Then, the Bookman says, “two leading Lonon publishers were offered the bock and declined it. The author had resolved never again to be served with the black seal of literature and put the doomed sheets back in their pigeonJaoJes. Mr. H. M. Hodder, however, the papers in their serial form, and a >ropoSed their publication to the author, who tevTote his pages in much haste, purree ted his proofs and started for 4 rioa. He heard nothing of his late lor five moutfcs’ travel, during which ho saw a letter or newspaper, an . •mgroased with a geological and botani--o*i survey, he forgot his venture completely. One night, an bx>ur after mitlu gkt, three blew messengers from th>> oorth aid of Lake Nyassa disturbed hi - delivered the hollow skin o a tijfer-e«twith a small package of letter 'said* Among them he foun 1 c pf ot Spectator containing a (. ,tt of Ida book, which remains to i< » mat niyetertoa of literary no