Governor Otero of New Mexico asks that the territory be admitted to statehood. The population, including 25,329 Indians, is 260,500. The territory includes nearly seventy-nine million acres. The assessed value for taxation is over forty million dollars.

One of the interesting features of the Governor's report is the religious. There are two Jewish places of worship in New Mexico, and four churches of the African Methodist Episcopal denomination. The Catholics had the field for a long time. In 1850 the Baptists established a church, and in 1881 the Methodists and Presbyterians. In 1881 the Congregationalists built a church and other denominations have followed.

General Buller suffered a serious reverse on the morning of December 15 while attempting to cross the Tugela River. This was General Buller's first attempt to relieve Ladysmith. The British lost eleven guns and were compelled to retreat.

Field Marshal Lord Roberts, V. C., has been appointed commander-in-chief in South Africa. Lord Kitchener of Khartoum is to be General Roberts' chief of staff. The whole of the reserves not yet embodied will be called out.

The first Lafayette dollar, the unique specimen authorized by Congress in aid of the fund for the erection of the Lafayette monument in Paris, was struck off in the United States mint in Philadelphia, December 14. This coin will be presented by President Mckinley to the President of France. The second coin struck off was forwarded to Mrs. Mckinley.

Fifty thousand of these coins will be struck off and are to be disposed of at two dollars each.

The thirtieth anniversary of the opening of the Suez Canal was recently celebrated. A statue of its promoter and builder, M. de Lesseps, was erected at Suez. The par value of the shares of the company is one hundred dollars. In 1872 the highest price that could be obtained for them was thirtyfive dollars a share. At the present time the stock sells at seven hundred and fifty dollars a share, and the canal is earning a good regular dividend on this valuation.

The convention of American Federation of Labor met at Detroit, Mich., Monday, December 11, Two hundred delegates were present, representing a membership in labor organizations of about eight hundred thousand. Resolutions were adopted declaring for the reduction of the standing army to twenty-five thousand men; urging Legislatures to outlaw all kinds of convict labor, and against permitting slavery in the Hawaiian Islands.

The Secretary of the Interior says that during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1899, public lands aggregating 9,182,413 acres were disposed of. The total area of public lands is approximately 1,082,138,221 acres, of which 929,308,068 acres are undisposed of, and 152,830,153 acres have reserved for various purposes. Excluding 5,320 Indians in New York, and 62,500 Indians embraced in the five civilized tribes, the Indians number 181,586.

The centennial of the death of George Washington was commemorated at Mt. Vernon, December 14, 1899. The ceremonies were conducted by the Masonic bodies and by the Red Men of the United States. All the thirteen original states were represented by Masons. President Mckinley delivered an oration at the tomb. In the evening exercises were held in Convention Hall. Chauncey M. Depew was the orator of the occasion.

Sunday morning, December 10, General Gatacre suffered the severest blow sustained by the British during the war in the Transvaal. With three or four thousand men he marched Saturday night expecting to surprise the Boers at Stromberg, but he was led into a Boer ambuscade by treacherous guides. He was driven back and suffered a loss of six hundred men, who are supposed to have been taken prisoners.

For some months it has been suspected that large quantities of military stores were in the possession of the Cubans in the interior. Recently the mayor of Tunis voluntarily surrendered three field guns, ten thousand rifles, and a large amount of ammunition. The mayor said he was convinced that the possession of these arms by the Cubans was a source of danger.

During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1899, we imported 51,382,000 pounds of rubber valued at $31,875,000. It is believed that within a few years our own plantations in the colonies will produce all the rubber we need. One hundred thousand rubber plants are to be started at once, and the business of rubber culture conducted on scientific principles. .

Assistant Secretary Meiklejohn of the War Department has announced that any outside influence to secure promotion for employees in the department would have no weight whatever, and that every such attempt will be regarded as a violation of the regulations. All changes in the civil service of the department are made entirely on merit.

The Pennsylvania Railroad proposes to inaugurate a pension fund on its entire system east of Pittsburg and Erie. About one thousand employees, it is said, will retire under the provision of the pension fund January 1. It is understood the pension will be on a percentage basis of salary received during the ten years preceding pension.

It is estimated that during the coming winter twelve hundred million feet of standing timber will be cut in the country around Lake Superior and the upper Mississippi River. To cut this enormous quantity of pine will require one hundred and fifty thousand men and five thousand horses and oxen.

General Leonard Wood is much interested in the plan of the Red Cross Society to establish industrial schools in Cuba. He favors a manual-training department, where the boys could be taught a trade, and also an agricultural department where the students could be given practical lessons in farming.

The American Negro Academy will hold its third annual meeting in Lincoln Memorial church, Washington, D. C.. December 27-28. The object of the Academy is to encourage young and ambitious Negro writers. The membership includes some of the leading Negroes of Europe and America.

The North American Review has published the details of a plot to put million dollars of spurious bills, the finest counterfeit ever made. Some of the bills were declared to be genuine by treasury experts in Washington, who had never been deceived before.

General Leonard Wood is now a majorgeneral of volunteers, the Senate having confirmed his nomination sent in by the President. The President will make him governor of Cuba in the place of Major-General Brooke, who now holds the office of governor-general.

It is reported that F. O. Matthiesen, who has been prominent in the sugar trust ever since its organization, has refused to remain longer on the board of directors. It is rumored he will withdraw from the trust and will become the head of a new opposition to the sugar trust.

Secretary Gage decided to anticipate the January interest on United States bonds outstanding, which amounted to about five and a half million dollars, and began payment of the same December 15.

Vermont forests have furnished forty thousand fir-trees for the holiday trade. These have been handled mostly by one firm in Philadelphia which has shipped eighty carloads.

The postal savings banks of Great Britain had deposits amounting to $615,720,495 at the end of the year, an increase for the year of about twenty-five million dollars.

A bill has been introduced in Congress extending the bounty of the homestead law to the soldiers who served in the war with Spain or are now serving in the Philippines.

The War Department has received notice from General Otis that it is his intention to open all seized ports to the commerce of the world as fast as they can be garrisoned.

During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1899, 23,550 patents were granted; 1,406 trade marks, 372 labels, and 76 prints were registered, and 16,670 patents expired.

The total horse power furnished by the Niagara Falls Company is 34,590, and it brings an income of more than seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

Ex-Senator Allen of Nebraska has been appointed by the Governor to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Senator Hayward.

The nineteenth annual meeting of the National Civil Service Reform League was held in Indianapolis, Ind., December 15.

Information is received from Manila that three thousand Spanish prisoners have been released within a month.

Admiral Dewey has been presented with a pair of seal-brown horses, costing one thousand dollars.

During the last year Missouri sold eight million dollars worth of mules, chiefly for war purposes.

A town in Iowa proposes to send Admiral Dewey a black bear for a Christmas pres ent.

Mr. Roberts of Utah says he will appeal to the courts if he is defeated in the House.

William S. Taylor. Kentucky's new governor, took the oath of office December 12.

The Republican National convention will meet in Philadelphia Tuesday, June 19.

IT is reported that two Chicago women are to start a bachelor's magazine.