National.

Boston University has issued a circular inviting opinions on the proposal to hold an international conference for the purpose of adopting a "universal alphabet" by which to indicate the pronunciation of words in the leading European languages. The twenty-six letters of the Roman alphabet are known the world over and furnish the "universal alphabet," representing, for the most part, the same sounds in all languages, but as the value of the letters is not quite the same in different languages or even within one language, it becomes necessary for dictionaries and language manuals to use what is called a key to pronunciation. It is now proposed to replace the multiplicity of keys by a single key, as perfect as it can be made through the amplest possible discussion and experimentation by a commission composed of the foremost experts in this line of research. By slight modifications, such as will not interfere with legibility, it is thought that the number of letters can be increased from twenty-six till it suffices to represent all the sounds of the leading languages. In English, about forty letters would be required.

The Panama Canal Commission has adopted the lock system for the canal instead of the sea level system favored by De Lesseps. It will be less expensive and take much less time to complete, and it also allows of a more feasible method of taking care of the waters of the Chagres River, which sometimes rises twenty-three feet in six hours, and once rose thirty-four feet. There is an average rainfall of 130 inches in the Chagres Valley, and it is proposed to take care of these torrential downpours, as well as provide water for the dry seasons, by constructing dams, reservoirs, spillways, etc. Estimates on the cost of the canal according to present plans are about $145,000000, and Admiral Walker figures that the work may be completed in eight years. There is a vast amount of work to be done, and outside of the Culebra cut most of the digging done by the French companies avails nothing. Rank vegetation and earth fillings have made it necessary to begin all over again in most of the seventeen districts into which the work was divided by the French company.

Forest fires have been raging in many of the principal timber sections in the northern districts of California and in the vicinity of San Francisco. In the Santa Cruz mountains the situation is serious, and it is believed that the State park in the big basin, which contains some of the finest redwood timber in the State, is doomed. The fire in Martin County devastated an area of fourteen thousand acres.

Those who have visited the Chicago and St. Louis Expositions declare that the designs for the Government Building at the Lewis and Clark Exposition indicate that it will surpass in beauty anything hitherto attempted by the Government, and that the main exhibit building will establish a precedent in architectural elegance.

The circulation statement for September I shows that a new record for amount of money in circulation in the United States has been established; the figures per capita being $31.16, the highest ever reached.

The Klondike output for the year will be about $10,000,000.

Foreign.

Colonel Younghusband, head of the British mission, and the Tibetan officials have signed a formal treaty. The proceedings closed with a short speech by Colonel Younghusband, who pointed out that the British had avoided interfering in the smallest degree with the internal affairs of the country. They had not annexed any territory, and had fully recognized the continued suzerainty of China. They had merely sought to insure the observance of the treaty of 1890, that trade relations between India and Tibet should be established, and that Tibet should not depart from her traditional policy in regard to political relations with other countries. The delai lama is now supposed to be on his way into Mongolia, and the officials insist that his action amounts to abdication. The administration is now carried on by a council of regency. It is believed that the tashi lama eventually will be recognized as the supreme religious head. The arrangements for the return of the British mission are complete.

The Canadian Government is building the largest fish hatchery on the Pacific coast on Trout Creek near Harrison Hot Springs, B. C. The station will have a capacity of fifty million fry, and will be almost entirely devoted to salmon propagation. This should be of great benefit to the Puget Sound salmon fisheries, as many of the fish hatched at the Canadian station will go into its waters and be taken by American fishermen. The news of the new hatchery will be particularly pleasing to the far coast this year, as the salmon pack in Washington will be less than one hundred thousand cases.

There have been no recent developments in the asphalt controversy, and the State Department is awaiting the arrival in Washington of Minister Bowen, now en route to the United States from Caracas. It is expected that the Department will wait a reasonable time for some action by the Venezuelan High Court, which assembles September 15, upon the Bermudez Company's appeal and application for the removal of the Government's receiver and the restoration of its property.

According to unofficial advices received at Washington, there is a reasonable prospect of a continuation for some time of the present peaceful conditions in San Domingo. The advices record the departure from the island of General Jiminez with his political aspirations. It is understood that before departing for New York he publicly announced himself tired of revolutions and without intention again to connect himself with one.

An international congress, at the instigation of France, will be convened at The Hague, probably in November, with the object of regulating the neutrality and the free movement of hospital ships in naval warfare. Other marine problems also are likely to be discussed.

Mexico will shortly establish a legation at Pekin. Don Carlos Lara, now Mexican minister to Japan, will also be minister to China.

A law has been gazetted in St. Petersburg providing that henceforth only ships owned by Russians shall be allowed to fly the Russian flag.

Industrial and Commercial.

A Swiss engineer has undertaken for a Franco-Swiss company to construct a system of transmission for electric power which will deliver in Lyons several thousand horsepower daily, in the form of electricity. The source of the power is to be found in the waterfalls of the Alps, about 125 miles from the great center of silk manufacture in France. The French are depending more and more on the "white coal" of the mountain streams, as they express it.

Work on the Simplon Tunnel, which it was expected would be completed by the beginning of next month, has been suddenly stopped, owing to the discovery of a hot spring flowing 1,500 gallons a minute. The temperature in the tunnel reached 112 degrees. The Simplon Tunnel, which is being cut through Simplon Mountain, will be 21,374 yards long, and it already has been pierced for a distance of 21,142 yards.

The pack of all varieties of salmon in southeastern Alaska up to September 1 is reported to be 393,800 cases. Very few of the canneries have equalled their pack of last year, and many establishments were closed up entirely. The total shortage in the Alaska salmon pack is placed at 400,000 cases.

A certificate for the incorporation of the United States Battleship Maine Salvage Company has been filed at Washington. The capital stock named is $600,000. The incorporators hold a concession from the Cuban Republic for removing the wreck from Havana harbor.

The German Admiralty has ordered two new tank steamers to be built at Kiel to supply petroleum as fuel to German warships. Oil as a subsidiary fuel has already been used so successfully on battleships that the Government proposes to use it in larger quantities.

The apple shipments from Boston for the week ending September 3 were 3,158 barrels, against 2,463 in the same week of 1903, and 13,020 in the same week of 1902. The total shipment for the season so far has been 6,932, against 8,652 last year, and 21,800 in 1902.

The deposits in the savings banks in the country closely approximate $3,000,000,000, which would be about $37 for every man, woman, and child in the United States.

There are about 44,000 hotels in this country representing a capital of $6,000,000,000, and giving employment to 3,500,000 people.

General.

The Status of Liberty, erected on Bedloe's Island in 1886, is to be repaired. It has begun to show the effects of the weather, which detracts much from its appearance. The War Department, which now has control of the island, will have the statue throughly cleaned, the bronze tablets repaired, the masonry renovated, and an electric passenger elevator installed to replace the wooden stairway running to the observation tower.

From many points along the southern coast of California come reports of damage by great billows which are rolling in from the sea, occasioned by some phenomenon, possibly volcanic disturbances. While there is scarcely a capful of wind, enormous waves, in some instances forty feet high, roll ceaselessly against the shores.