Items of Interest February 17, 1906 Issue

Items of Interest

The wedding gift of the French Republic to Miss Roosevelt is a beautiful Gobelin tapestry, over thirteen feet in length and over eleven feet in width. It represents "The Manuscript." The tapestry was designed by Ehrman. It figured in the Paris Exposition of 1889. The Gobelin factory, the most renowed in the world, is owned by the French Government, and was founded in 1601 by King Henri IV. The tapestries are made on high "way looms." The reverse side of the tapestry is turned toward the workman. with the outline of the design drawn in black crayon on the stretched threads. A very skilful workman can complete from three to four square yards in a year, but the average annual task is about one to one and a halfsquare yards. Many years are, therefore, required for some of the larger designs. The Cuban Government will present a peral necklace.

The first session of the General Council of Congregationalists. United Brethren, and Methodist Protestants at Dayton, Ohio, closed last week amid hearty utterances of satisfaction. The conviction is general that its achievements mark an important step in the history of Protestantism. The Committee on Vested Interests reported to the effect that there was no insuperable legal obstacle to the organic union of the three bodies; the report of the Committee on Doctrine presented a brief statement phrased in devotional spirit and terms of not over five hundred words, which greatly delighted the audience; the Committee on Policy tendered a somewhat longer report. The committee proposed as a part of the name for the new body, "The United Church." Later each denomination presented its report, and it was found that all three with substantial unanimity had approved of all three reports.

A decrease in the force of the Government Printing Office is likely to occur because of the lopping off of many of the so-called unnecessary departmental publications and the introduction into the office of numerous labor-saving devices, and the prospective through reorganization of the establishment. These changes are the result of the investi gations of the Keep Commission. It is the purpose of the newly-appointed public printer to make the Government printery as modern in its machinery and methods as the most advanced and up-to-date private printing concerns anywhere. It is his opinion that there is no reason why the Government Printing Office should not lead in the matter of modern typography.

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