ITEMS OF INTEREST June 19, 1909 Issue

ITEMS OF INTEREST

A frenzied demonstration of welcome by the men in gray for the son of the man who defeated them, marked the final scene of the annual reunion of the United Confederate Veterans at Memphis, Tenn., last week. In the reviewing stand during the parade stood Gen. Frederick Dent Grant of the United States army. A cavalry division approached, and its commanding officer, old and grizzled, peered steadily at General Grant a moment. Then he turned in his saddle and yelled, "Come on, you kids! Here's General Grant come to life again in his son." With an old-time yell the division charged on the stand, and the men jostles one another for an opportunity to shake the hand of the son of their old-time enemy. From that moment every gray-clad veteran who could reach the stand rushed up to do the same. The stocky army officer's gray eyes filled with tears and his shoulders shook with emotion as he murmured: "God bless you all, boys." He could say no more.

The largest of all the schemes of reclamation contemplated by the Government has recently been undertaken by the engineers in the Sacramento valley. Its ultimate object is to control the flow from a watershed of over four thousand square miled, and to improve the two great rivers of California. When the task is completed, over six hundred thousand acres of rich land, which at present is dry and sun-baked during eight months of the year, will have been brought underirrigation, and large areas of bottom land, which at present are subject to annual overflow and great destruction by the floods, will have been reclaimed.

Secreatary of the Interior Ballinger announces a new plan for the disposal of Government coal lands. He has had the coal lands on the public domain classified with reference to both the quality and quantity underlying the soil. They will be sold hereafter on this basis, with the prevailing royalty that is usually paid private owners as a fundamental price. The present ruling will increase the price of the most valuable coal lands from $100 an acre to more than $300 an acre. Lignite coal lands of a low value will be sold at the lowest price fixed by law, from $10 to $20 an acre, depending on their distance from a railroad.

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A TRIBUTE TO MRS. EDDY