National.

The executive council of the American Federation of Labor had a conference with President Roosevelt last week in which the President stated that he was in sympathy with the demands of labor as to an eight hour bill and a prison labor bill. The President said there had been a great deal of misunderstanding as to the order issued by him relating to Government employes taking part in efforts to secure an increase of pay. The order, he explained, did not refer to the effort of organizations as bodies.

Secretary Long requests the committee on naval affairs to provide for the construction of three battleships, two armoured cruisers, and several smaller ships. He disapproves of building warships in Government yards, and gives as his reason that the cost would be about twenty-five per cent greater, and that it would have a tendency to build up political organizations at the navy yards.

The Senate passed the Chinese exclusion bill last week. Senator Hoar of Massachusetts, who is opposed to Chinese exclusion, except by express treaty arrangement between the United States and China, and is personally opposed to any exclusion on the ground of race or color, was the only Senator who voted against the bill.

The Senate has agreed upon an amendment to the post-office appropriation bill which provides for the appropriation of $500,000 for the transmission of mail by pneumatic tubes and other similar devices. The tubes will be set in operation July 1, in New York, Brooklyn, Boston, and Philadelphia.

Secretary Root is in Cuba arranging for the transfer of the islands to the Cuban Government. The secretary is inclined to favor complete evacuation by the army if it is practicable. President Roosevelt is anxious that this shall be accomplished.

Arguments in the case of the State of Washington v. the Northern Securities Company and the Northern Pacific and Greal Northern Railroads. involving the merger of the two roads, were heard last week by the United States Supreme Court.

The House of Representatives passed the Cuban reciprocity bill last week. The bill provides for a twenty per cent reduction in the duty on all imports from Cuba.

Thomas Estrada Palma, president-elect of Cuba, sailed from New York for Cuba, April 16.

Foreign.

The Vanderbilt-Webb syndicate has mado application for power to construct, maintain, and operate a subway under the St. Lawrence between the South Shore and Montreal. According to the plans the subway will be the largest in the world. It will have two tubes, each twenty-seven feet wide and twenty-one feet high. That for cars, passengers and freight will be double tracked. The second will be for teams and pedestrians, having drives and footways. The cost is estimated at from $4,000,000 to $6,000,000.

A bill recently introduced for the same interests for permission to construct a bridge over the St. La wrence did not get through, and this has caused a change of plans to the subway scheme.

Count Rene de Rochambeau and Count Gaston Sahune de Lafayette have accepted invitations to be present at the inauguration of the Rochambeau monument at Washington, May 24. The monument was a gift to the United States from France.

Great Britain has accepted Germany's proposition for an international conference to regulate the use of wireless telegraphy. The United States has not responded, but the officials at Berlin confidently expect a favorable answer.

Owing to the scarcity of provisions on the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua. President Zelaya has issued a decree providing for the admission, free of duty, in that section of the country, of flour, wheat, beans, rice, and lard.

April 15 a matinee performance was given in Paris in aid of the fund for a memorial to President McKinley at Canton, O. The affair was a grand artistic and financial success. The fund now exceeds $10,000.

President Loubet has signed the decree providing for the participation of France at the St. Louis Exposition. M. Michel Lagrave has been appointed commissioner-general of the French section.

By a vote of 84 to 64, the Chamber of Representatives rejected the proposal to revise the Belgian constitution so as to provide for universal suffrage.

It is said that Spain will be among the first of the foreign governments to recognize and enter into diplomatic relations with the new Cuban government.

Industrial and Commercial.

The executive council of the American Federation of Labor which met in Washington last week, adopted an address to all the wage workers of America, from which the following is an extract:—

"We recommend to all organized workers that at their public celebrations on May 1, July 4, and September 1, 1902, they concentrate their attention to a discussion of the abolition of the injunctions in labor disputes, and the passage of resolutions, demanding at the hands of Congress and the Legislatures of their respective States. the enactment of laws conforming to that purpose."

J. Pierpont Morgan has succeeded in bringing together in close working agreement seven of the biggest British and American trans-atlantic lines, while two of the great German lines have agreed to co-operate. The lines in the new combination are the White Star, Dominion, Leyland, Atlantic Transport, American (International and Navigation Company), Cunard Steamship Company, and Red Star. The German lines are the Hamburg-American and the North German Lloyd.

"The World's Sugar Production and Consumption, 1800—1900," is the title of a monograph just issued by the Treasury Bureau of Statistics. The world's sugar production has grown from 1,150,000 tons in 1840 to 8,800,000 tons in 1900. The consumption of sugar in the United States was twenty-two pounds per capita in 1850 and sixty-eight pounds per capita in 1901. In 1840 the per cent of sugar manufactured from beets was 4.35 per cent, and in 1900 it was 67.71 per cent.

The United States Steel corporation will build a steel tube plant at Lorain, O. It will cost ten million dollars and employ eight thousand men.

General.

A great movement to the gold camps at Cape Nome is expected during the spring and early summer. Twenty steamships and sailing vessels have been announced for service in Nome trade during the season. These vessels have an aggregate freight carrying capacity of forty thousand tons, and will furnish accommodations for seven thousand passengers. Shipping men are confident that every available passage will be taken long before steamers commence to sail.

The Southern Negro Conference will meet in Galveston July 1—5. The first session of the conference was held about a year ago at Jackson, Miss. About six hundred delegates will be present, among them some of the most prominent negroes of the Southern States. The object of the organization is to create a better feeling between the races and to foster any move for the uplifting of the race.

Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler was installed as president of Columbia University, Saturday, April 19. prominent educators and other notables were present, among whom were President Roosevelt, Governor Odell of New York, and Hon. Seth M. Low, mayor of Greater New York, former president of Columbia College. Addresses were made by President Eliot of Harvard and President Hadley of Yale.

Miss Ellen M. Stone, the ransomed missionary, made her first public address, Tuesday evening, April 15, in her old Church, the First Congregational Church, Chelsea, Mass. She talked to her hearers in a simple manner, speaking as easily as to a roomful of friends.

Chester B. Jordan, Governor of New Hampshire, has issued a proclamation appointing Saturday, April 26, 1920, Arbor Day. The State Grange has offered prizes most trees on that day.

Dr. William R. Brooks, director of Smith Observatory and professor of astronomy at Hobart College, has discovered a new comet in the constellation Pegasus. This is the twenty-third comet Dr. Brooks has discovered.

After a stormy voyage the German imperial yacht Meteor III. arrived at Southampton April 17. She left New York April 1 and was expected to make the trip in sixteen days.

An Indiana glass manufacturer claims to have discovered the method of making malleable glass, which has long been considered one of the lost arts.

A new divorce law in Rhode Island requires a residence of two years in the State before application for divorce can lawfully be made.

The first book on short-hand writing was published by John Willis in 1602.