Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 35, Number 82, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 June 1903 — WASHINGTON GOSSIP [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WASHINGTON GOSSIP

The advocates of irrigation are pointing to the Mississippi river flood as ao argument' ia favor of their scheme for the construction of storage reservoirs and other irrigation works iu the Western States. They admit that it may well be questioned whether in a hundred years the government could build reservoir-i with sufficient capacity to appreciably mitigate the evil caused by the rise of the Mississippi at St. Louis to over seven feet above the danger line. They say, however, the situation would be remedied considerably. “A feature of this flood storage, which may not be ■ generally understood, but which would undoubtedly accomplish the desired result, may be termed a ‘secondary storage,’ ” said one of the leading irrigation enthusiasts the other day. “The water storage proposition,.applied to the Missouri and its great tributaries involves the question of the irrigation of the vast arid domain through which these rivers flow. If irrigatioii storage reservoirs were constructed on these reservoirs it is estimated that as much as 35,000,000 acres of present desert land would be reclaimed. The principal season of "growing crops for this area would be April, May, June, July and August and the reason that the lands are not irrigated at present is that while there is plenty of water in the first three months, daring July and August, when water is absolutely necessary to mature the crops, these streams are reduced to mere threads. If ths storage reservoirs were built-they would supply water for this land during July and August, during the three preceding months the water for this great area of land would be drawn directly from the streams themselves.”

The number of immigrants arriving irthis country continues to increase. Sta-j tistics for the twelve months ending April 30 last, the Teturns for May not having yet been compiled, show that the immigrants arriving numbered 803,272. They were divided as follows: From Austria-Hungary 189,789 From Italy .227,403 From Russian empire 128,482 From German empire..... 30,920 From United Kingdom 59,850 From all other countries.’ 100,702 During this period 74,530 Hebrews arrived, about 4l per cent of whom came from Russia, 25 per cent from AustriaHungary, 10 per cent from Roumanisi, 12 per cent from Germany and 12 per cent from all other countries. It is believed by officials of the bureau of immigration that it will be shown that the number of aliens who arrived in May was close to 75,000. In the past a large! number of immigrants have entered the United gtates in the month of May than at any other time of the year. The fisca'J year 1882 liojds the record for the number of immigrants landing. In that year 778,000" were brought over. Owing to the enormous increase in immigration this year, however, the department officials believe that »he record made in 1882 will be surpassed and - that by July 1 not fewer than 850,000 aliens will have been admitted to this country.

• A naval officer recently returned from China tells an extraordinary story about a derelict which has been floating arounc. the eastern sea. The Fannie Kerr is a four-masted bark 0f~2,426 tons, built of steel. She left Newcastle in April, 1902, with a cargo of coal for San Francisco. She rounded the Horn safely, but her cargo caught tire in the South Pacific, and after trying for more than a month to extinguish the flames the ship became »o hot that the captain uud crew abandoned her on June 6 and took to their boat?. They laudc.d at Kauai, an island of the Hawaiian group, made their way to Honolulu, where the captain made hit rpport and the crew was discharged. Oil March 10 last the captain of the steam' ship Heathdene, bound from Y'okohamu to Formosa, sighted a vessel adrift from which smoke seemed to arise. Steaming toward her lie discovered that she was the long-missing Fannie Kerr, which had been gradually drifting westward several thousand miles for nearly nihe months, with her cargo still on fire. A Panama canal will be constructed and operated by the United States. Thl.i decision lias been reached by the President after conferences with those leader.i who huA’e been prominent in canal legislation. There is no intention of nbaiidoiiing the Panama project even though the canal treaty is rejected by the Colombian congress. Hope is entertained in official circles that the treaty will be ratified. No information has yet been received wltich convinces the President and hit advisers that the treaty will be defeated. That there will be strong opposition and an attempt to levy blackmail is conceded. President Roosevelt is' reported to have made a statement to William Nelson Cromwell, American representative o£ the French Panama Cnnal Company, which was in effect that Hie United States regards Colombia’s obligations ai more binding than those of an ordinar.i treaty and cannot admit the right of the Colombian government to recede from them. President Roosevelt, much to his din satisfaction, now tips the scales at near ly 200 pounds. His long transcontinental Journey resulted in his taking oil a goo:', deal of flesh, despite fact that the monotony us the trip was frcqueutljbroken by long mid hard horseback rider and extended tramps through the modntnins. Many years ago the statisticians es the pension office made careful calculations to allow the number of survivors of the Civil War for a aeries of years. They used aa the basis of their calcula tiona the mortality tables of the insnr ance companies, but were far out of the way. The old soldiers are dying ofl more rapidly tlijpi was expected. According to the estimate the total number of aurvivors In IUO2 should have been 930,380, while the pension rolls show only 725,100.