National.

President Roosevelt has issued a proclamation calling the Fifty-Eighth Congress in extraordinary session, November 9, at noon. The proclamation states that the purpose of the session is to consider the commercial convention between the United States and Cuba, which requires the approval of Congress. It seems reasonably certain now that the Senate, at least, will have the Isthmian Canal question brought directly to its attention by Senator Morgan of Alabama who will endeavor to show that the Panama route now is beyond consideration, and will urge that it is the duty of the President, under the Spooner law, to construct the canal immediately by the Nicaraguan route.

Colombia has sent to the United States a special bearer of dispatches, Senor Archiniegas, containing some minor instructions to Dr. Tomas Herran, the Colombian minister, concerning the Panama Canal. He is reported to be on his way to Europe to complete arrangements with interested Europeans for furnishing money to finish the canal. These reports, however, are thought to be intended to influence the action of the United States, and are not to be taken seriously.

If rumors are true there is likelihood of another attempt next year by an Englishman to win the America Cup. The new aspirant is said to be Mr. John Lever, a wealthy manufacturer of Birkenhead, England. It is said he wished to offer a challenge this year but deferred in favor of Sir Thomas Lipton. The Royal Clyde Yacht Club is mentioned as the club through which the challenge will come.

In the first trial of persons indicted in connection with the postal service frauds, the jury disagreed. This is the case in which the head of turf investment company testified that he had paid $4,500 to buy a favorable decision as to his use of the mails. The trial took place in Cincinnati. It was considered one of the weakest cases.

The Navy Department will ask for an appropriation of $106,000,000 from the next Congress. One million three hundred and sixty-six thousand dollars is asked for ammunition alone for target practice. The interior Department asks for $156,000,000.

It is said to be the intention of President Roosevelt to issue a statement concerning the investigation into the postal frauds, and that he will declare that a congressional investigation is unnecessary.

The Interior Department is investigating alleged fraudulent purchases of forest lands in some of the Pacific coast States.

Foreign.

The scheme of the Powers for the amelioration of affairs in Macedonia has been submitted to the Porte. It proposes the control of and surveillance over all branches of the administration of the disturbed provinces by Austria and Russia for a period of two years. The proposals include the appointment of one Austrian and one Russian assessor, to be attached to the staff of Hilmi Pacha, the inspector-general, with a corps of assistants, secretaries, and interpreters, whose duties will be to exercise control over all the acts of the provincial authorities. A European general in the Turkish service is to be appointed to command the gendarmerie, and he will be assisted by Russian and Austrian officers acquainted with the languages of the country, and, if necessary, by Austrian and Russian non-commissioned officers.

A further important proposal provides for the establishment of communal autonomy and the rectification of the present communal boundaries.

Other points of the scheme deal with the relief of refugees, the rebuilding of villages, schools, and churches, the disbandment of the irregular troops, and the prohibition of the employment of Bashi-Bazouks. The Austrian and Russain ambassadors demand the adoption of the plan with the least possible delay.

Diplomatic relations between Spain and Venezuela are reported temporarily broken, owing to the interference of President Castro with the work of the Commissioners adjudicating the Mexican claims against Venezuela. The Spanish minister was acting in the capacity of umpire, and claims to have been insulted.

It is also reported that President Castro is not abiding by the agreement to set aside thirty per cent of the customs dues of Puerto Cabello and La Guayra each month for the payment of the claims of the Powers, and that the work of all the commissioners adjudicating claims is being made as difficult as possible.

The mixed commission which is hearing the Spanish claims against Venezuela has closed its session. Of the total amount of claims presented before the commission $394, 964 were awarded, $205,385 were withdrawn, and $31,004 were refused. Considering that the Spanish population of Venezuela numbers forty thousand persons, the total of claims presented to this commission is considered to have been small.

Through the influence of Wu Ting Fang, former Chinese minister to the United States and now a member of the newly organized Chinese Board of Commerce, the throne has directed that greater consideration be given to the merchants, who have always been considered as belonging to the lower classes.

Japanese and Russian officials deprecate the alarmist reports sent out concerning the trouble in Manchuria, and claim that every effort is being made to secure a peaceful settlement and avoid giving any provocation for war.

The appoinment is announced of Sir Henry Mortimer Durand, the British ambassador at Madrid, as British ambassador to the United States to succeed the late Sir Michael Herbert.

Industrial and Commercial.

More than 50,000,000 pounds of India rubber, valued at more than $30,000,000, was imported into the United States last year. In 1890 the quantity was only 33,000,000 pounds, in 1880 16,000,000, in 1870 9,000,000, and in 1862 only 2,125,561 pounds. Over $100,000,000 worth of manufactures from India rubber are now turned out from the factories of the country every year, and about half of this total is in the form of boots and shoes. Figures just compiled by the Department of Commerce and Labor, through its bureau of statistics, show that during the past few years the importations of crude rubber have ranged from 50,000,000 to 55,000,000 pounds; of gutta-joolatong from 5,000,000 to 15,000,000 pounds, and of "old and scran rubber, tit only for remanufacture," from 10,000,000 to 20,000,000 pounds per annum, and of gutta-percha 500,000.

A very large proportion of the India rubber imported into the United States is produced in Brazil. Over one-half of the total is imported direct from Brazil. Recent reports received by the Division of Consular Reports of the Bureau of Statistics show that experiments in the East Indies have shown the entire practicability of producing the best Para rubber in territory immediately adjacent to the Philippines from trees transplanted from South America, and suggesting the possibility that the Philippine Islands may in time supply at least a part of the growing rubber consumption of this country.

The Hawailan sugar crop for the year is approximately four hundred and twenty thousand tons, the largest in the history of the islands, although the profit is said to be smaller than in 1901. The average price has been seventy-five dollars a ton and the planters have received about thirty million dollars. The output this year is double that produced in 1900. The crop is brought to United States markets by freight steamers and sailing vessels. Next year's crop is expected to be carried around the Horn by sailing vessels only, as it is claimed that the uncertainty of the date of arrival of sailing vessels, as well as their smaller cargoes, will prevent the manipulation of the market price. The approximate date of arrival of freighters being known, advantage is said to be taken of it to force down the price and so the planters net a less profit.

The Scientific American says the Allan Steamship Company have decided to build a ship equipped with the turbine for traffic between the Clyde and Canada. This liner when completed will be the largest and heaviest, as well as the fastest vessel in the Allan fleet. The vessel will be 500 feet in length over all, with a gross tonnage of 12,000 tons; a horse-power of 10,000 indicates, and a contract speed of 17 knots.

An electric car, in the high speed experiments, on the Marienfelde-Zossen line, attained the speed of 130.4 miles per hour on October 23.

General.

The half-million acres cultivated in tea in India produce one hundred and ninety million pounds, the investment being about one hundred dollars an acre. The labor required is thirteen persons to the acre. One pound in India tea will produce seven and a half gallons of tea of a given strength, while the tea of China will produce but five gallons.

But 8.3 per cent of the 1,330,697 German-born males in the United States have failed to become naturalized, while thirteen per cent of the English, thirty-five per cent of the Russians, fifty-three per cent of the Italians, and eighty per cent of the Japanese are still aliens.

For the first time in the history of Columbia University a woman has been directly appointed to a professorship by the board of trustees. She is Miss Margaret E. Maltby, Ph.D. She will be installed is adjunct professor of physics.