Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 21, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 November 1899 — STUDY CANAL ROUTES [ARTICLE]

STUDY CANAL ROUTES

AMERICAN PARTY INVESTIGATING IN NICARAGUA. Officers Are Working to Decrease Cost of Building the Isthmian Waterway —Standard Oil Company Bnya Mnch Gas Land in Indiana. The canal commission in Nicaragua is actively and successfully engaged in the work of straightening the proposed route and otherwise lessening the cost of constructing the waterway. It is estimated that the commission will decrease by several million dollars the amount mentioned by Admiral Walker in his recent report to Congress. Captain A. P. Davis of the commission has charge of the hydrographic division, which is to examine the five proposed routes across the Central American isthmus and report the result of their investigations to the Government of the United States. Captain Davis has under his command a number of engineers who are taking the measurement of streams of water that flow into the lakes along the course of the projected canal. He reports that there is a bountiful supply of water for canal purposes in Nicaragua. He will shortly start for Panama to study the water supply for the Panama, Darien and other routes. \ OFFER TO ARBITRATE. Canada’s Final Proposition to Settle Alaskan Dispute. Canada’s final proposition for a permanent settlement of the Alaska dispute is very different from her former demands and was delivered to United States Ambassador Choate by the Canadian minister of marine and fisheries, Sir Louis Henry Davies. It is as follows: “That the boundary line be arbitrated upon terms similar to those imposed by the United States and Great Britain over Venezuela. That, as a condition precedent to and absolutely preliminary to arbitration, Skaguay and Dyea would be conceded to the United States without further 1- claim if Canada received Pyramid Harbor.” In other words, Canada gives up much of the disputed gold country in return for a seaport.

PURCHASING GAS TERRITORY. Standard Oil Company Buying Thousands of Acres in Indiana. The Standard Oil Company is buying up and leasing many thousands of acres of abandoned gas territory with the knowledge, satisfactory to itself, that with the exhaustion of natural gas the territory will be flooded with oil. Experts haye decided that this is the secret of the advance in the price of oil recently. Both oil and gas men believe that it will not be long until Marion, Alexandria, Anderson and other gas belt cities are surrounded by oil wells. More wells are being drilled now than at any other time in the history of the Indiana oil belt. STREET CAR COMPANY STOPPED. Judge Orders All Track and Equipment of Wichita Road Removed, Judge Dale of the District Court at Wichita, Kan., granted a permanent injunction restraining the Wichita Street Railway Company from operating its plant and ordering all the cars and track from the streets. The injunction was asked as a last resort by the Mayor and City Council to get a new system of street railway. A company with $200,000 capital was organized two months ago and given a franchise by the City Council to build a new line, but the old company refused to surrender the streets. Must Restamp Mortgages In the United States District Court at Keokuk, Judge Woolson rendered a decision on the construction of the war revenue act. The decision was rendered in the casq of the bank of Orion, Kan., against Jamison. The claim was made that the mortgage in question should be stamped at every change of ownership, whereas it carries only the first stamp, put on at the time it was executed. The court sustained this view.

Faithful in Face of Death. A head-end collision occurred on the. Baltimore and Ohio Railroad five miles east of Cambridge, Ohio, wrecking both engines and fourteen cars. Engineer W. A. Carney refused to leave his post and received injuries from which he died an hour later. The accident was caused by Engineer Carney’s failure to take a siding as ordered. Advance in Furniture Prices. Announcement is made that all grades of furniture will be advanced 10 to 20 cents in price as a result of the efforts of the Grand Rapids Furniture Association. The advance will include all parlor, chamber, extension table and desk furniture and will take effect immediately. Czar Agrees to Arbitrate. Russia, it has been learned, has at last agreed to arbitrate with the United States the claim resulting from the seizure of sealers in the Bering Sea, which has been pending for about eight years. Cooper Gets New Place. Mr. Bewail has informed the State Department at Washington that H. E. Cooper, at present Attorney General of Hawaii, has been appointed minister of finance ad interim. Hanged at Waco, Texaa.Walter Ford, who murdered his sweetheart, Lucinda Moore, in June, 1898, was hanged at Waco, Texas. He died without faltering, saying he was going straight to heaven. France and Rnaaia Max Interfere Telegrams from Brussels announce that in the Transvaal legation circle it is stated that France and Russia will not permit the annexation of the Transvaal and Orange Free State to England. Kansas Railway Sold. The Kansas City and Eldorado Railroad has been sold to the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad Company for the amount of its bonded indebtedness, $225.000. Gases Explode at University. An explosion of gases in Kent chemical labpratory at the University of Chicago caused a mild panic among laboratory students and coeds. ’’Billy” Ing-

NO pLACi: FOR PROVISIONS. Viking Ha Room for Everything but 'Food for the Crew. Somebody will have to answer for a remarkable discovery which has been made on the gunboat Viking. The Viking had been fitted out at the Norfolk navy yard for duty in Central American waters. Much money had been expended on the equjpment of the ship. It was equipped with a rapid fire battery and was stocked with the usual supplies, such as fuel and the many other articles of.a warship on a long cruise. It was placed in commission a few days ago and the detail of officers and selection of a crew was made. When it came to placing the provisions on board it was discovered that there was no place for such stores. No amount of figuring could re-arrange the material on board so as to accommodate the provisions for the crew. There was nothing to doi but remove all the supplies, disarm the ship and put it oi\t of commission. It is likely the Viking will be sold. It is of no use to the navy. HEAVIEST YIELD OF CORN. Reports Show the Crop for 1899 Exceeds Ail Previous Records. The annual crop review of the Omaha Bee show that the corn crop of 1899 exceeds the record of the best previous year by 14,217,240 bushels. Previous to 1899 the greatest corn crop was two years ago. The figures show that the crop of 1899 reaches the enormous figure of 244,125,093 bushels. The average yield per acre is 34.5 bushels, and the quality of the crop is excellent except in very limited portions of the State, where hot weather in August damaged it somewhat. The crop is not only the largest, but taken as a whole is of as good quality as any ever raised in the State.

SAYS BDLLO.K ROMANCES. Confessions of Stillwater Convict Are Doubted by Former Guard. A. L. King, a Kansas City gripman, who claims he was a guard in the Nebraska penitentiary at Lincoln seven years ago, declares the confessions of George Bullpck, alias J. C. Mcßride, the Stillwater, Minn., convict, are romances. King declares that Bullock, while confined at Lincoln in 1892, made the same confessions, with the exception of the Osawatomie, Kan., crime, which was not committed till three years later, and at the time he was considered insane. True Bill Against Jester. At Paris, Ho., Alexander Jester was indicted on a charge of murder ip the first degree. His alleged victim was Gilbert Gates, brother of John W. Gates of Chicago, who disappeared twenty miles west of Paris in 1871 while in company with Jester. Chickasaws 21,000 in Number. The Dawes commission has completed its enrollment of the Chickasaw Indians. The enrollment shows 17,000 Indians and 4,000 freedmen, the latter being slaves and descendants of slaves brought to Indian territory from the South by the Indians, Ridest Son Cut Off. Vanderbilt fortune is $70,000,000. Alfred gets $50,000,000 and Cornelius only $1,500,000, but younger son gives brother $6,000,000 additional, making his share equal to that of others in family. He would have contested will if brother had not offered extra sum. Lieut. Brumby Given a Sword, Georgia paid tribute to her ranking hero of the Spanish-American war —Flag Lieutenant Thomas S. Brumby of the Olympia—by the presentation of a handsome sword in recognition of his services at Manila.

Farmhousc Is Burglarized. > Five masked men, armed with a heavy plank, broke in the door of Warren Irvin’s residence in Harris township, Ind., bound all the occupants, and then robbed the house of several hundred dollars in money, watches and jewelry. Will Be No s-trike. After a conference between General Manager Schaff, General Superintendent Vanwinkle of the Big Four and the firemen, an agreement on wages was reached at Indianapolis, although the scale 4 is kept secret. Jeweled » word for Sampson. New Jersey's token of appreciation of the services of Rear Admiral William T. Sampson in the American-Spanish war, a beautiful jeweled sword, costing $2,600, was given to that officer at Trenton. Day of Thanksgiving. President McKinley has issued a proclamation designating Nov. 30 as Thanksgiving day.