National.

F. H. Newell, chief hydrographer of the Geological Survey, has decided on seven sites which he will recommend to the Secretary of the Interior as suitable for the purposes of irrigation reservoris to be constructed by the Government under the recent irrigation Act. These lie on the St. Mary's River and the Big Horn in Montana, the Gunnison River and the Grand River in Colorado, the Gila and Salt Rivers in southern Arizona, the Carson and Turkee Rivers in Nevada, and the Sweetwater in Wyoming.

Professor Asser, the Dutch jurist who has been arbitrating the claims of American sealers for the seizure of their vessels by the Russian government about ten years ago, has delivered his award in favor of the United States. The amount awarded is $101,270 with interest; the amount demanded was $512,443.

According to the statement of Secretary Hay all the essential points involved in the Panama Canal treaty have been arranged, and it could be signed at any time. It is thought that the delay on the part of Colombia is for the purpose of raising the purchase price.

It is stated that Queen Liliuokalani will attempt to secure from Congress $3,000,000 for the crown lands in the Hawaiian Islands, which were taken over at the time of annexation. A bill will probably be introduced in Congress for her benefit.

The report of the director of the mint shows that during the last fiscal year there were coined more pieces than during any previous year, but that their value was less than for 1901.

The number of names on the pension roll for the fiscal year ending June 30, according to the annual report, was 1,041,687, the amount paid in pensions $137,504,268, the total expense of the department $141,090,428.

Foreign.

In Berlin three hundred Americans celebrated Thanksgiving Day by dining together at the Kaiserhof. Retiring Ambassador White, who presided, proposed the healths of the German Emperor and President Roosevelt. At London nearly five hundred Americans dined at the Hotel Cecil under the auspices of the American Society. The company included Ambassador and Mrs. Choate, all the members of the embassy staff there, Robert McCormick, American Ambassador to Russia, Consul-General Evans, the Rt. Hon. A. A. Asquith, Lord Reay, Lord Fairfax, Field Marshal Lord Roberts, and Sir Henry Newman. Toasts were proposed to the King and to President Roosevelt with equal enthusiasm. At Paris the day was quietly observed by the American colony. At Rome the day was announced by the display of the American flag over the houses of the Americans. At Vienna about two hundred attended the reception at the Hotel Bristol given by Charge d'Affaires Hale and Mrs. Hale.

A large delegation of farmers under the auspices of the German Agricultural Society intends to come to the United States in April for a three months' tour to study American agricultural methods. The German embassy at Washington has negotiated the affair with the Agricultural Department, which will furnish a guide for the entire trip, the German government defraying his expenses. Special attention will be given to the dairy farms at Baltimore; to the Agricultural Department at Washington; to the stock yards at Chicago, St. Louis, and Omaha; to the beet-sugar industry in Nebraska; to the irrigating systems of Colorado; the fruit farms of southern California; the wheat farms of the northwest; the grain elevators of Chicago; and the agricultural experiment stations en route.

After forty-five days' discussion of details, the education bill has passed the committee stage in the House of Commons, the final vote that the bill be reported being 212 to 83. Notice was given that several amendments would be made in the report stage of the measure. The bill has the support of the Anglican Church, but is strongly opposed by the Non-Conformists of England.

Emperor William in his farewell audience to Ambassador White at Berlin on Thanksgiving Day, presented him with the Gold Medal of the Empire for science and art, an honor conferred each year upon the German or foreigner, who, in the opinion of the government, is best entitled to it.

Lord Lansdowne, the British Foreign Secretary, has handed to the Chilean and Argentine ministers the award of the British arbitration commission in the boundary dispute between Chile and Argentine. The award is a compromise. Chile's chief contentions are not allowed.

The Czar has conferred the Grand Cordon of the Saint Alexander Newysky order on Ambassador Tower, and the French government has made him a grand officer of the Legion of Honor for his book on the Marquis of Lafayette in the American Revolution.

The members of the imperial commission to investigate German trusts have requested the government to extend their inquiry so as to include the important foreign trusts, such as the American oil and shipping trusts.

The evacuation of Shanghai by the foreign troops began last week, Japan being the first government to withdraw its garrison.

Colonial Secretary Chamberlain is to make a visit to South Africa to study the conditions existing there.

Industrial and Commercial.

A consolidation of the Union Steel Company with large works at Donora, Pa., and the Sharon Steel Company and subsidiary interests, has just been arranged. The new concern, to be known as the Union Steel Company, will have a capital of forty million dollars and will be the strongest independent company in existence. It is rumored that this company will either be merged eventually into the United States Steel Corporation or else co-operate with it in some working arrangement.

It is estimated that during the twenty-four hours of a recent Sunday there were moved in and out of Pittsburg 929 freight trains, consisting of 46,225 cars carrying a tonnage of 1,750,550 tons, relieving in consequence the greatly congested terminal freight yards.

A movement supported by the Canadian government is said to be on foot to erect in Canada subsidized flouring mills for supplying the flour market of the United Kingdom and the Continent.

The white pine lumber sawing season of the northeast is over. The shortage of three-hundred million feet is likely to result in high prices.

General.

In accordance with a vote by the last general convention a commission was appointed to canvass thoroughly the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America—the present official designation—to ascertain whether that body wishes to change its name. This canvass will be conducted through the various diocesan conventions, about eighty in number, and it is desired to have the results of the canvass in the hands of the committee in time to report at the next general convention. Many names have already been suggested.

The laying of the corner-stone of the new Public Library took place in New York recently. This marks the formal step in the final result of a long series of negotiations, by which the foundations provided by the generosity of the Astors, Mr. Lenox, and Mr. Tilden have been consolidated through sacrifices on the part of the families represented and the liberal spirit of the boards of trustees of the different foundations.

The deepest sounding in the Carribbean sea lies south of the Great Cayman and is 3,428 fathoms. The deepest known place in the South Atlantic is a spot of 4,030 fathoms, eleven miles south of the equator, 18 degrees, 15 minutes west of Greenwich. The deepest sounding on record is in the North Pacific, where Lieutenant Commander M. H. Hodges. U. S. N., measured a depth of 5,269 fathoms.

In 1880 the value of farm products in the United States, south, exceeded that of manufactured products by more than two hundred million dollars, while in 1900 manufactures exceeded farm products by more than one hundred and ninety million dollars, although meantime the agricultural population increased thirty-six per cent.

The lead keel of the new cup defender, now building at the shops of the Herreshoffs. Bristol, was moulded last week. One hundred tons of lead were run into it. The keel is said to be deeper and larger than that of the Constitution. Shamrock III. is expected to draw one foot more than her predecessor.

The aggregate capitalization of the industries at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, is more than two billion, five hundred million dollars. The production of steel in Pittsburg in 1901 equalled half that of England, more than that of Germany, twice that of France, five times that of Russia.

According to German statisticians, the United States stands fourth in the volume of import and export trade for 1901, with $2,118,000,000 in value. Great Britain ranks first with $4,165,000,000, the British colonies second, and Germany third.

Professor Favaro, the Venetian, declares that the results of his researches into the correspondence of Galileo with his intimate friend, the Venetian patrician, Sanuto, establishes beyond question that it was Galileo who invented the thermometer.