National

The resolutions passed by the recent National Irrigation Congress at Albuquerque, N. M., strongly favor liberal grants of the use of public lands for the development of electric power, a census of the standing timber in the United States, the general conservation of waste water through reforestation, and other means, giving sweeping endorsement to the work of the reclamation service and the geological survey, and an increased appropriation for the support of these bureaus, the speedy cession of the Southern Appalachian and White Mountain national forests, an international congress on irrigation in Washington in 1910, and the placing of sugar on the free list.

The Country Life Commission, which was appointed last August, is expected to make a in time to be available for the President in his message to Congress in December. Many facts desired were already at hand in various governmental departments, and these will be supplemented by correspondence along special lines. Its investigations will relate mostly to business and social conditions in the open country. The Commission will meet Dec. 8 in joint session with the National Conversation Committee.

The Massachusetts Railroad Commissioners, to which body the Merchants' Association and others of Boston and vicinity referred their complaint, have found that, based upon the facts relating to intrastate business, the rates of the American Express and the National Express Companies, within a radius of fifty miles of Boston, are "excessive and unreasonable."

The Atlantic battle-ship fleet, homeward bound, leaves Manila Dec. I, stops from Dec. 14 to Dec. 20 at Colombo, and arrives at Suez Jan. 5. After passing through the Canal the fleet splits into four divisions, each division visiting a different Mediterranean port, reassembling at Gibraltar on Feb. 3. They will proceed thence direct to the United States, where they are due to arrive Feb. 22.

Through the operation of the Government powder factory at Picatinny, N. J., release from the high prices of the Powder Trust is promised, the plant there having a capacity of one thousand pounds a day. The success of this experiment may lead to the establishment of other plants at different points in the country.

The cause of the Chelsea, Mass., fire of April 12 last, which destroyed millions of dollars worth of property and rendered thousands homeless, is attributed by a court finding to careless cigarette smoking.

Prof. Harry A. Garfield of Princeton University on Oct. 8 assumed the presidency of Williams College, his own alma mater, as it was also of his brothers and of their father, the late President Garfield.

Wellesley College opened last week with the largest freshman class in its history, over four hundred; Cornell University also enrolled its largest freshman class, over one thousand.

Work on the new airship for the Wellman polar expedition is being carried out in France, and it is expected that the start for Spitzbergen will be made next May.

Thirty days in the city prison, with no alternative of a fine, was the sentence imposed by a New York justice last week upon a chauffeur convicted of overspeeding.

The National Anti-Vaccination Conference meets in Philadelphia Oct. 19.

International.

Wilbur Wright, in a recent flight at Le Mans, France, in his aeroplane, accompanied by .a passenger, remained in the air 1 h. 4m. 29s. He has now fulfilled the conditions of the contract signed by him and Lazare Weiller, representing a syndicate, whereby he was required to make two flights within a week of fifty kilometers (thirty-one and a fourth miles) each, with a passenger or equal weight. The contract calls for the payment to Mr. Wright of $100,000 by the syndicate, in return for which the syndicate obtains the patent rights of the machine in France and the colonies. M. Weiller has already given an order to a French manufacturer for fifty aeroplanes on the Wright model.

The second conference of the International Tax Association was held in Toronto, Canada, last week. Representatives were present from practically every State of the United States, from all the provinces of Canada, and from many of the leading universities of both countries. The list of subjects for discussion covered almost every phase of the question of taxation, national, state, municipal, land, personal property, and franchise. The first international conference was held in Columbus, O., last November.

The political map of Europe during the past week has been greatly changed. Bulgaria has proclaimed herself free and independent of Turkey, Austria-Hungary has annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Crete has announced her union with Greece. The territory lost to Turkey in these changes amounts to over sixty thousand square miles. an area nearly equal to all the New England States, or about twice that of Scotland or Ireland. The population of the different states numbers about five million people.

Russia's naval budget, just submitted to the Douma, amounts to $44,067,500. an increase over last year of $616,000. The construction account is $8,155,000. The present program includes the building of four battle-ships of twenty-three thousand tons each, five torpedo boat destroyers, to have a speed of thirty-five knots an hour, and three submarines.

A proclamation has been issued at Teheran, Persia, fixing the date of' the elections for the new National Assembly and Senate Oct. 19, and the Shavval, or convening of Parliament, for Nov. 4. Conditions are imposed; for the new National Assembly will not be free to initiate any legislation, but must only accept or' amend any legislative measures sent to it by the government.

The national industrial exhibition, the greatest of its kind ever held in South America, is now open in Rio de Janeiro. The Brazilians are particularly proud of the educational department, showing the advancement in the school and college systems, wherein they have incorporated many American ideas.

Japan is planning to give the American battle-ship fleet a sincere and generous welcome upon its arrival at Yokohama Oct. 17. The occasion is fraught with great international and political significance and Japan plans to make the most of it in allaying unbased suspicions.

Holland, in a letter to President Castro of Venezuela, admits the offensive character of the letter written by her minister at Caracas, who was given his passports and dismissed summarily from Venezuela.

Industrial and Commercial.

A comparison between the work done on the Panama Canal and the Erie Canal, which is being reconstructed, shows that the excavation the first year at Panama was 243,472 cubic yards and in the Erie Canal 716,676: the second year 1,799,227 at the ship canal. and 1,460,705 in the barge canal; the third year, 4,948,497 and 4,500,459 respectively; the fourth year at Panama, 15,764,098; the fourth year at the barge canal, which will be the calendar year, thus far, month by month, approximates the totals at Panama.

New photographic plates, which make possible good snapshots in a half-light with an ordinary lens, have been produced in France.

General.

Attempts recently made to map out weather charts of the high seas between Europe and the United states are said to have proved entirely successful. The systematic experiments undertaken by the director of the Aix-la-Chapelle meteorological observatory, in conjunction with the Hamburg-American Line on their streamship Kaiserin Auguste Victoria, have been prepared carefully, telegrams relating to the weather condition on the coast of Europe being transmitted daily by wireless telegraphy from the observatory to the steamship on its way to New York throughout its voyage. It is hoped that the American and European governments and other authorities will cooperate so that the weather conditions from the western boundary of the United States to the eastern boundary of Europe may be surveyed daily. It is believed that this would result in more accurate weather predictions.

Visitors to California will have access to a third forest of giant redwoods when the counties of Tulare and Fresno complete the construction of twenty-five miles of highway between Visalia and Redwood Canyon, in the Kings River country, where there is a grove of over fifteen thousand magnificent specimens of the Sequoia gigantea, many of which are said to compare in size and beauty with the trees of the Mariposa and Calaveras groups. It is probable that the property, which is as yet untouched by lumbermen, will be recommended to Congress for purchase as a national. park. One tree in the redwood grove, recently measured by a government ranger, is one hundred and ten feet in circumference and is estimated to contain eight hundred thousand feet of lumber.