The Appeal. [volume], June 08, 1907, Image 1

About The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??

Image provided by: Minnesota Historical Society; Saint Paul, MN

                
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4
VOL. 23. NO. 23.
wmmmwm*mmmmmmmmmmmmmammmm^m
To the tiny submarine torpedo boats
has been delegated a lion's share of
the work of protecting Uncle Sam's
great seacoast from attack.
Somewhat slow at first to adopt the
newest and most radical of devices for
combat on water, the United States
has suddenly developed ,into an en
thusiast, and no measure passed by
the recent* congress was more lmpor*
tant than that which placed three
millions aside for use in building of
submarines.
Lewis Nixon, the well known naval
constructor, who has figured very
largely in the building of American
underwater fighters, calls the subma
rine a steel fish, with human brains
and incalculable power to inflict dam
age.
Navy officials were taught a lesson
of appreciation by the purchase of
American built submarines by both
Japan and Russia in the recent war.
The department has now ruled that
which was good enough for the other
war-like powers, ought to be of value
at home, hence the important move
ment toward assembling the world's
most powerful fleet of these mysteri
ous protectors for the United States.
Many congressmen fought against
authorizing two new twenty-thousand
ton battleships, each superior to the
British "Dreadnaught," but not a
word of protest greeted the plan to
put Uncle Sam in the forefront of the
submarine owning navies. This is a
straw which shows how legislators
have been educated to the value of the
submarine.
As a lover of peace, the United
States has ever been opposed to any
naval and military plan that involved
a large outlay of public money with
the idea of provoking conflict with any
nation. But that policy which meant
only protection was ever heartily sup
ported and will continue to be.
Woman's Brave Heart.
MabelI know, George that you
have not much money, but you needn't
worry, as I don't care for money! Only
let me have plenty of dresses) and nice
things, and I'll willingly share your
poverty, no .matter how poor yon, are.
BECAUSE:
1It aims to publish all the news possible
SIt does so impartially. Wasting no words
8Its correspondents are able and energetic
IflBBBSBBySISlfiBZSaSlSIBZRSISISJSfSflSZISG
TO HAVE GREATEST FLEET
OF SUBMARINE FIGHTERS
Uncle Sam Will Build Eighteen New Boats at a Cost
of $3,000,000.
y%%
Poor Chap. */u
S*aThat Miss Flirter turned down
twelve young men and accepted the
thirteenth. Do you think it unlucky.
JackI should say sofor the
young man.
Here rests the value of the subma
rine. It is pre-eminently defensive in
its purpose. The wonderful little
fighters of the Lake and Holland type,
now in Uncle Sam's navy, could not
cross the Atlantic to levy war against
England or France. The furthest dis
tance the best of them can .travel is
500 miles250 coming and going. Un
der water, they eaa-only go about fife
teen miles each way. This limits their
sphere of action to the home coasts
and ports.
The new fleet, to amass which $3,-
000,000 is to be expended, will supple
ment the monitors and shore batteries
that now would have to bear the
brunt of defense against attack.
The United Statea now has one doz
en submarines, and with the ones just
"authorized, will soon boast of a fleet
of thirty, a respectable force that
ought to make it possible to take
ample care of the principal ports of the
UNITED STATES SUBMARINE BOAT PORPOISE ALONGSIDE A TORPEDO BOAT.
Atlantic and Pacific coasts, as well as
those on the Gulf of Mexico and at
the mouth of the Mississippi.
In providing for the purchase of the
submarine, the lawmakers specified
that they must be equal to the best
class of that kind of boat now in the
United States navy, which is another
way of prescribing that the new under
water warriors will be not less than
64 feet in length and 12 feet in width,
displacing, when submerged, about 125
tons of water
There are many problems to be
grappled with, not the least of which
is the difficulty of devising a method of
under-water navigation, which shall en
able the captain of the craft, when
submerged, to know to a certainty
what is happening on the surface
True, he always has the power to
come to the top and find out, but by
doing this he locates himself to the
fire of the enemy, a danger made
greater in view of the increasing pow-
THE PLUNGER, ONE OF UNCLE SAM'S NEWEST SUBMARINES. ABOUT TO TAKE A DIVE.
10 P. M.
good^ educa-
DollyHas Freddy a
tion?*t 1 A"V/J
SallyWellerI think he is very
deficient in arithmetic.
.DollyWhy so, dear?
Sally-Becausebecause he don't
seem able to count above ten.
A "V
& iM &
A Wife Trust.
*^"What -was that Mormon arretted
Hf'For maintaining a combination jln
restraint of trade." r,
er of the modern torpedo boat de
stroyer, a fighting engine born of the
necessity of finding a means to cir
cumvent the submarine.
There Is no such thing as seeing
ahead under the water.
Thus far the best means of taking
observations has been found to be in
the use of the "periscope." a funnel
shaped arrangement, which projects
eight feet above the water, when the
body of the boat is submerged fifteen
feet. By looking up into this the
navigator sees surrounding objects
much as the photographer locates
scenes and people on the "finder" of
his camera.
But the periscope will not avail
when it comes to a final test, the
launching of a torpedo boat at the bot
tom of the enemy's battleship. With
the ship 'stationary, the- periscope
might give definite information, but
with both the submarine and battle
ship under way, the movement would
be too rapid to permit effective aim,
without coming to the surface.
In all the models of submarine boats
which Uncle Sam has under considera
tion the torpedo is so placed that at
the moment of firing it is directly in
line with the enemy's keel. Supposing
it hits, if only a glancing blow, nothing
can save the mighty craft. It is the
story of David and Goliath all over
again. The ship is just as helpless be-
fore the torpedo of the little boat as
the giant of the Bible was before the
stone from the sling of the Jew.
Perhaps the prime advantage of the
torpedo boat is that she needs only
great offensive power. A battleship
must combine both. She must be
able to deal death blows, and to resist
the shells of the enemy.
But the submarine is ever immune
from danger of being hit, or nearly so.
When under water the sea compasses
her around as a perfect shield. The
shell that hits within five feet bounds
and skips from the water, harmlessly
as the stone a boy sends skimming
over a millpond.
The periscope is placed in a tiny
column, which can only be seen from
a short distance, and'then is a target
so small as to be very hard to hit.
One noted expert has said that a
small fleet of torpedo boats could
have thwarted Farragut's achieve
ments at New Orleans and Mobile bay.
Queer Sex. ,1
"Girls," remarked the ^thoughtful
thinker, "are queer propositions."
"What's the explanation?" asked the
dense young man. '*f"^f^
"One wilr try to keep ft a secret
that she is engaged," replied the T. T.,
"and another tries to keep it a secret
that isn't"
*ggshe |Pt
No Sitting Down for Him.
*'TDo you lead a sedentary life?"
"Not much I have twins to wilk
the floor with."
ST. PAUL AND MINNEAPOLIS. MDBL SATURDAY. JUNE 8. 1907.
"I was asked by the interstate com
merce commission what I regarded as
the greatest achievement of my rail
road experience. My reply was that I
considered the closing of the break in
the Colorado river on the afternoon of
Feb. 11 as the most remarkable
achievement of recent history. In the
handling of rock aM stone our engi
neers made a good frecord which is
likely to stand for many years to
come."Statement try E. H. Harriman
in Washington, D. C, March fi.
When Presisent Roosevelt iemanded
that the Southern Pacific company
take steps to save the Imperial valley
bf California by stopping the break in
the Colorado river, the prospect was
gloomy. For years a duel had waged
between nature an science, and, so
far, nature had wont
To-day it is different. The break
has been closed, closed within a period
which has astonished the engineering
world. The feat was thus described
by Mr. Harriman:
The time actually consumed in mak
ing the closure, dating from the dump
ing of the first rock, was fifteen days
and two hours, during which interval
77,000 cubic yards of material, 95 per
cent of which was rock, the balance
gravel and clay, were handled. The
difficulties which confronted the engi
neers will be better appreciated when
it is recalled that the Colorado river,
with a flow of 22,000 seconds-feet, was
rushing madly through a break 1,100
feet long in soft earth banks In the
nfs thirty-four feet.
Bat not only has the break been
closed the Southern Pacific engineers
are determined that such a break shall
not occur again. Additional material
is being added at the rate of 5.000
cubic feet each twenty-four hours.
When completed the dam will contain
140,000 cubic yards of material, 80,000
yards of which will be rock and the
balance gravel and clay.
The maximum amount of water con
tended with during the construction Qf
the dam approximated 40,000 secons
feet. In a period of a little more than
two weeks a structure of rock, gravel
and clay was built across the channel.
The top of the dam is now four feet
above the level of water. Its vertical
distance from the top to the base is
sixty feet. The dam will be raised
five or six feet higher, in order to be
safely above highest known water, and
it is to be padder on the up-stream side
with clay until it shall become entirely
impervious.
A great railroad corporation, with
abundant rolling stock, alone could
have achieved this feat. The entire
equipment of the Southern Pacific was
at the command of the "engineers dur
ing the period of the work. At times
even the locomotives on passenger
trains in transit were diverted to haul
rock to the scene of the accident, and
quarries hundreds of miles distant
ontributed materials to close the
'ireak.
Temporarily, at least, the Colorado
Tias been conquered, but, like the Mis
sissippi in its delta region, it will bear
watching always. The Colorado is
No Offense.
First Stranger (on train)Do
ever quarrel with your wife?
Second StrangerNever*!^^ 7^1
First StrangerHave any. trouble
with the hired girl? PjKfi?*t
Second StrangerNot me. vl^M*
lijFfrst StrangerDon't^ypur children
worry you at times? |Jjg 3JB$f| f|
^First StrangerNo, indeed. j&
^^irst StrangerSay, I don't like'to
call you a liar, but
Second StrangerOh, that's all
HghL Fm a bachelor.
DUEL BETWEEN ENGINEERS
AND COLORADO RIVER
The Break J. as Been Stopped, but 5,000 Cubic Feet
a Day Are Being Poured Into Dam.
ROCK DAM COMPLETED ACROSS BREAK IN
you
one of the shiftiest, slyest, and most
treacherous rivers that ever ran.
The original scheme to reclaim the
Imperial valley represented a design
upon' one of the richest sections of
soil in the worlda region with which
the Valley of the .Nile can alone com
pare. No wonder that in the effort to
protect this region for future genera
tions, the president of the United
States has thought enough of it to
send to congress a special message on
the subject.
This valley will some day be the
home of above 100,000 persons on hun
dreds of thousands of acres of truly
garden farm lands if intelligent meth
ods am employed. With a population
of something like 10,000, property
there is estimated to be worth in the
neighborhood of $5,000,000 to-day, and
some day it is thought it will be worth
seven times more at least. There
were nests of little farm houses to be
saved, tiny hamlets or settlements,
small villages and larger towns clean
up from the Mexican border and the
Imperial valley above the town of Yn
ma and the government works at La
guna dam. There were hundreds of
miles of railroad to be saved, main
linfs and branch line, with their
bridges, trestles, sidings and stations
there are salt works and other indus
triessurely a prize in itself worth
the fighting for.
It was not so many years ago that
the Salton district, with the Imperial
valley, so-called, was regarded as very
ROCK ON THE FACE OF DAM CLOSING BREAK IN BANK OF COLORADO RIVER.
fr.i 1 channel the depth of the watec
much as Dead Sea fruit. The country
was in fact a dried and dead sea. The
Salton Sink was described by scient
ists as "crystalline chloride of sodi-
um." which is mostly salt, and the Im
perial valley was the undisputed home
of the horned toad and the diamond
back rattlesnake.
Some curious persons, geologists or
others, investigating all this dry-as
dust land saw that the valleys were
really deposits of salt, left there ages
before when there was a river flowing
through, capable of the richest harvest
if only water could be obtained for it.
Rain was out of the question, and they
suddenly realized that right at hand
was the supply, all they wanted* and
more.
Nature had kindly arranged the New
river, branch of the Colorado river, so
that it could be made to transform
the entire district without any trouble
worth the mentioning. It had depos
ited the silt over it all, and the very
act had raised its bed higher each
succeeding century until it was above
the level of the land about it. All that
was needed therefore was to tap the
river intelligently, locate the canals
and the things would be done.
The first tap was made in 1891 and
the result was as expected. That part
of the country affected began to blos
som. Settlers began to come. Two
years later a company was organized
to take charge of the project.
Without taking thought of the mor
row, they put in flimsy dams, strung
a few canals-over the surface and sold
water rights to settlers.
In the spring of 1904 the demand
for irrigation- was so great that an-
BHNK
Romance and Realty..
"For two years^ Katharine hunted
for her ideal.**
"Indeed!" ^K i,
"Yes, she searched everywhere for
a chap with a waxen mustache, pink
cheeks and luminous eyes., At last
she found him.*'
"Ah! And he is now her husband?"
"Oh no. After she found her aes
thetic ideal she turned right around
and accepted the homeliest chap in
town because he was a real man."
other tap was made just south of the
first one. The second one had scarce
ly been completed when both taps
were filled up by silt washed in by the
river.
To relieve the situation, in July,
1904, a third tap was made farther
down the river, about Jour miles inside
the Mexican border. The location was
chosen because it would giv-e a greater
drop to the canal and it was believed
that the increased velocity of flow
would keep the channel clear.
This tap caused the trouble. They
had simply opened a hole in illuvial
soil forming the bank of the river.
Floods in the fall of 1904 caused the
mouth of this third opening to wash
considerably, and at each succeeding
flood the channel to irrigation canals
kept growing larger until in June, 1905,
almost the entire1
discharge of the riv
er flowed into the Salton Sink, where
a lake was formed which had an area
of about 400 square miles.
Slowly it began to back up and flow
back toward the Imperial valley.
Farmers were compelled to leave,
farms were inundated, miles and miles
of railroad track and development
went under water. The country be
came a wilderness of water.
Heroic efforts were made to stop the
flood. The railroad's equipment and
facilities were used and considerable
progress made,- but the fall floods
washed out part of the work, only to
have it rebuilt.
On Nov. 4, 1906, the break, which
had been 1,800 feet wide, was closed,
and on Nov. 15 all leakage of water
through the dam had been stopped. It
seemed as if the battle had been won,
but another flood followed, and on Dec.
8 water worked its way under the
levees south of the dam. By noon on
the following day nearly the entire
Colorado river was emptying into the
Salton Sink. The president of the
United States took a hand. He and
Mr. Harriman exchanged numerous
telegrams in a discussion as to the
best course to be pursued. It was a
rather delicate task for the govern
ment to undertake because an interna
tional question was involved. While
the damage was being done in the Uni
ted States, the break was in Mexico.
The upshot of it was that the Southern
Pacific was pledged to do the work.
MIGHTY LONDON.
Its Million Houses and Hundreds of
Millions of Income.
The six and a half million people in
Greater London live in 928,008 houses.
The population 100 years ago was
just one-fifth what it is now. Though
the number of births was nearly dou
ble the number of deaths in 1904, the
birth rate is steadily declining.
The postal figures show that In
1905 there were 1,028 postoflices in
London, and 2,435 public telephones
working. The total imports at Lon
don in 1904 amounted to $849,086,000,
and the total exports $462,290,000.
Some idea of London's wealth is
shown by the assessed income tax
value in 1904 in the administrative
county, houses representaing $219,-
264,000, trades and professions, $364,-
045,000, profits of companies and other
interests $698,514,000, salaries (cor
porate bodies) $115,044,000, salaries
(army and navy) $103,674,000.
In 1905 there were 2,993 motor cars
and 1,852 motor cycles in London. Li
censes to drive were granted to 8,070
people, the fees received amounting to
$30,800.Statistfbal Abstract.
OF COLORADO RIVER*.
The Small Boy Again:
A child at dinner with his parents in
Cork turned to his mother and said:
"Mamma, where were you born?"
"At Glasgow, darling."
"But I was bom in Dublin, wasn't
I?" 't """^^sjf/s
"Yes, dear.'
*%&f*st
t, %"*&& father, where was he born?&
jjJ'Tfc Brentford, Middlesex." ssh
'fcviThe little fellow looked gravely from
one f* the other.
Isn't it funny,"
he si
meet like this?" should
t&eik
82.40 PEJi YEAii.
IS BEING "RESTORED"
NEEDED REPAIRS BEING MADE
IN STATUARY HALL.
This Justly Famous Feature of the
National Capitol Building Now
Undergoing Thorough
Rejuvenation.
A very important project which is
now engaging the attention of Uncle
Sam's architects and builders involves
the "restoration" of famous statuary
hall at the United States capitol at
Washington. That any undertaking
having to do with this significant
chamber should prove of concern to a
large portion of the public is but nat
ural, since nearly'every visitor to the
nation's legislative headquarters at
Washington pronounces this improvis
ed gallery of art the most interesting
and most beautiful portion of the
great white-domed building. But, aside
from its architectural attractions, sta
tuary hall is notable for its historic as
sociations,
In the old days, when what is now
the national statuary hall was the
meeting place of the United States
Houdini's Statue of Washington-
house of representatives and resound
ed to the oratory of Webster, Clay,
Adams, Calhoun and other giants of
the republic, it was generally conced
ed to be the most beautiful legislative
hall in the world. As time went cm,
however, and repairs became neces
sary, motives of economy or misguid
ed judgment, caused some "improve
ments" to be made that did not justi
fy the name. To undo some of this
work is the object of the present task
for which congress at its last session
provided funds.
Accordingly, for weeks past the
marble figures in statuary hall have
been boxed up and the big apartment
has been filled with scaffolding, while
dozens of workmen have been busily
engaged in restoring this part of the
capitol to the state, even as to details,
originally intended. Incidentally it
may be remarked that there is .to be
a corresponding removal of the ob
noxious paint from the crypt under
the great dome, which was designed
to be the tomb of George Washington,
but was never used for that purpose.
Here also are stately pillarsa colon
nade of Doric columns with groined
ceiling, which will take on a new dig
nity when relieved of the disfiguring
coats of paint applied during a long
succession of years.
But the restoration of the meeting
place of the house of representatives
during a most important period of the
"nation's history will not end with the
restoration of the pristine glory of the
semicircular walls. Two of the old
stairways which led from the legisla
tive hall to what was formerly the
men's gallery and the women's gallery
have been rediscovered and opened,
and the men's gallery will be restored
to the original condition which char
acterized it when more than half a
century ago it was daily crowded with
visitors who gathered to hear the
most memorable debates of the anti
slavery crisis and other exciting peri
ods. The steps of this old stairway
are of solid blocks of sandstone and
of rather quaint design, and in each
step, a little to the left of the middle,
a distinct depression has been made
by the trod of the countless visitors
who passed up and down in the olden
times.
Probably the most interesting
statue in the entire collection in statu
ary hall is the replica of Houdon's
statue of George Washinton, the orig
inal being in the capitol at Richmond.
Sculptor Houdon was permitted to
make casts and measurements of
Washington's person, and consequent
ly his sculptured figure depicts the
father of his country exactly as he
was in real life. Great interest also -2^4
attaches to the only statue of a wom
an in this national gallery of celebri
tiesnamely the marble representa
tion of Frances ~E. Willard, presented
a few years since by the state of Illi
nois.
If**
_VV
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