National

The Secretary of the Interior reports that 19,431,187 acres of public lands were disposed of during the year, of which 1,774,341 acres were sold for cash. The others went for miscellaneous entries, embracing homesteads, land warrants, scrip locations, State selections, swamp lands, railroad and wagon road selections, and Indian allotments. Two million three hundred and seventy-four thousand more acres were disposed of than during the previous year. There remain of the unappropriated public lands 799,000,000 acres, of which nearly one half are in Alaska.

The Secretary reports that there were 324 cases of depredations upon public timber, to the value of $397,000, an increase of $213,000 over the previous year. Settlement was made in 172 cases and $19,000 collected. Recommendations for civil suit were made in 63 cases and criminal prosecutions also in 63 cases. He declares that 2,091,000 acres of public land were enclosed unlawfully and that in 66 of these cases the enclosures have been removed and 338,000 acres restored. Proceedings in the other cases are pending.

In discussing the leases of oil lands in the Creek and Cherokee Nations, Secretary Hitchcock, referring to the sub-leases scandal says: "The parties to said transfers were called upon for an explanation, and oral hearings were had at which full opportunity was given for such explanation as the parties interested might desire to make. The magnitude of these transactions, involving many millions of dollars, left no doubt in my mind as to the party furnishing the capital, and that if said transfers or drilling contracts were allowed to stand, the oil industry in the Indian Territory would be practically under the control of the corporation which already dominates to a large extent the oil industry of the country. The parties therefore were required to comply strictly with the regulations. Not satisfied, however, the parties endeavored to secure a reversal or modification of the departmental regulations from the President; but having been fully advised of my action in the premises, the President declined to make any modification and directed that the rules be enforced."

The Secretary reports that there are now twenty-three irrigation projects of great magnitude under way in the West in the effort to reclaim the arid lands. One of these, the Hondo project in New Mexico, is practically completed and will soon be in operation. The funds available for this work from the sale of public lands amounts to more than $28,000,000, and allotments amounting to $39,000,000 have been made. On the subject of forest reserves the Secretary says that there have been twenty-two additional reservations, that the area of three has been reduced, seventeen have been enlarged, and two have been consolidated. The increase in area during the year was 21,306,001 acres. The total number of reserves is now 106 and the aggregate area is 106,999,423 acres.

The Colorado River is again flowing into the Salton Sink, and Imperial and Coachella Valleys once more are menaced by rising waters. The main line of the Southern Pacific must be moved to higher ground, unless the water can be brought under control. A thousand persons in Salton Basin, it is said, must lose their homes, a quarter of a million acres of farming lands must be abandoned, the Southern Pacific must build two hundred miles of new main line, and irrigation about Yuma must be abandoned. The Government Laguna Dam irrigation project may become an impossibility. More than $25,000,000 of present values are estimated to be at stake upon the success of a further effort to close the break. What is known as the Hind Dam was thrown across the new channel, and an earth dike was built up parallel to the river for ten miles, mainly in Mexico. On the Arizona side of the river is the Government dike. The entire river has found its way around the Hind dam into the channel from which it has just been barred. The dam itself is uninjured.

All the large exhibit palaces of the Jamestown Exposition are rapidly nearing completion and a large number of buildings and pavilions will be in readiness for the installation of exhibits by March 1, nearly two months before the date appointed for the formal opening of the Exposition. The Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building, one of the largest of the group, is under roof. This structure is brick veneer with white staff (marble effect) trimmings and is one of the most stately and imposing buildings on the grounds. Its sister building, Machinery and Transportation, is about ready to be roofed.

The Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Institution of Washington at a meeting in Washington last week appropriated $661,300 to aid in scientific researches of various kinds during 1907. This provides for continuing work in ten departments already organized and for the reorganization of a department of nutrition. About $100,000 was set aside for the award of minor grants previously implied, for new minor grants and for research associates.

The annual report of the Second Assistant Postmaster General shows that, despite the heavy growth in the volume of second-class matter, the percentage of expenditure for railroad transportation is steadily declining. In the fiscal year 1906, ended June 30 last, when the postal revenues were in excess of $167,000,000, 27.88 per cent of the revenues was expended on account of the transportation of the mails.

The American artists in Rome, at a recent meeting, discussed and signed a petition to Congress asking for the removal of the United States tariff on works of art. The tariff was classed as "illiberal and unworthy of a civilized country," and its removal was advocated in the interest of artists living in the United States as well as in the interests of those living abroad.

The Federal Grand Jury, which is investigating coal land frauds in Utah and the charges that railroad corporations have discriminated against certain shippers, made a partial report last week. Indictments were returned against several of the highest officials representing the Harriman and Gould corporations in Utah.

A window in memory of the late Secretary of State, John Hay, was unveiled recently at the Temple Keneseth Israel, Broad Street and Columbia Avenue, Philadelphia. He is said to be the first man not a Hebrew ever thus honored.

Foreign

The decision of the Cabinet to reject entire the amendments to the Education Bill made in the House of Lords, came as a complete surprise to most of the members of the House and places the responsibility of killing the bill on the House of Lords. A new bill will probably be introduced at the next session of Parliament.

Emperor William dissolved the Reichstag on the 13th and ordered new elections in consequence of the Government's defeat, by 178 to 168 votes, on the bill authorizing what the ministry contends is an adequate number of troops to end the insurrection in German Southwest Africa and hold the colony against a recurrence of the rebellion.

The naval appropriation in the German imperial budget is $69,500,000, of which $55,250,000 is for ordinary expenses and $14,250,000 for extraordinary expenses. The imperial budget provides for an additional grant of $18,463,750 for South Africa. The permanent expenditures on the army total $124,456,920.

A professor at the Technical High School at Berlin is reported to have invented a method of producing artificial rubies which it is impossible to distinguish from natural ones. The chief material used is thermite, which is composed largely of aluminum, the basic metal of all rubies.

German Colonial Director Dernberg announced at a recent session of the appropriations committee of the Reichstag that all diamonds found in the so-called "Caprivi Corner" of German Southwest Africa would be reserved for the Government.

Industrial and Commercial.

Between 1880 and 1905 the number of American beet sugar establishments increased from four to fifty-one, the capital from $365,000 to $55,923,459, the cost of materials used from $186,128 to $14,486,876, and the volume of products from $282,572 to $24,393,794. The greater part of this increase has taken place since 1900, when the number of establishments was thirty, the capital $20,141,719, the cost of materials $4,803,796 and the output $7,323,057. The manufacture of beet sugar was carried on in twelve States at the time of the census of 1905. The leading States were Colorado, Michigan, and California. The value of products was $7,198,982 for Colorado, $5,378,004 for Michigan, and $4,415,172 for California. The State which had the greatest number of factories in 1905 was Michigan, and of the nineteen factories in that State ten had been established since 1900.

An Indianapolis man has invented an ink for commercial papers which he claims cannot be removed by any known chemical process, thus securing absolute safety. The inventor says: "To obtain security we must have a good, flowing, durable ink, adapted to all purposes, but specific for protection; a good linen paper of proper tensile strength and porous enough to permit the ink to penetrate to the reverse side, thus forcing the use of chemicals in order to eliminate; there must be an ingredient in the ink and another in the paper, neither of them injurious to ink or paper, which, uniting, transforms the fiber, thus forming a base within the body of the paper ineradicable by chlorine, acids, or alkalis. This latter constitutes the basis of my process."

The total amount of cotton of the crop of 1906 ginned to Dec. I in the United States was 10,025,445 bales, counting round bales as half-bales. The total number of ginneries in operation is given as 28,211.