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GERMAN ARMY OFFICERS. “
Their Pay at Beat Is Small and Pro
motions Are.Vory.8low.
To the American the pay of the
German troops, officers and men, is
ludicrously small. It is evident that
men do not undertake to fit them
selves to be officers and to struggle
through frequent and severe ex
aminations to remain officers for
the pay they receive. A lieutenant
receives for the first three years
$300 a year, from the fourth to the
sixth year $425, from the seventh
to the ninth year $495, from the
tenth to the twelfth year $550, and
and after the twelfth year $600 a
year. A captain receives from the
first to the fourth year $850, from
the fifth to the eighth year $1,150,
and the ninth year and after $1,275
a year.
Of 100 officers who join only an
average of eight ever attain to the
command of a regiment. In Ba
varia and Wurttemberg promotion
is quicker by from one to three
years than in Prussia. In Prussia
promotion to oberleutnant averages
ten years, to captain or rittmeister
fifteen years, to major twenty-five
years, to colonel thirty-three years
and to general thirty-seven years.
It would not be altogether inhuman
if these gentlemen occasionally
drank a toast to war and pestilence!
A commanding general, or gen
eral inspector of cavalry or field ar
tillery, receives $3,495; a division
commander, or inspector of cavalry,
field and heavy artillery, $3,388; a
brigade commander $2,565, com
mander of a regiment or officer of
the general staff of the same rank
$2,193. There are various addi
tions to these sums for traveling,
keep of horses, house rent and the
like. All soldiers and officers travel
at reduced rates on the railways and
are allowed a certain amount of lug
gage free.
It is a commentary upon the
three nations that in Germany the
soldier receives a reduced rate
when traveling, in England the
golfer pays a reduced rate, and in
America until lately the politicians
were given free passes. One could
almost produce the three ceuntries
from that limited ■ knowledge.—
Price Collier in Scribner’s.
A Robust Ghost.
John Leech and a member of the
Millais family once stayed a night
at Cowdray Hall, in England, where,
many guests being present, the two
friends had no alternative but to
accept rooms in an isolated wing
supposed to be haunted. In the
middle of the night Millais awoke,
believing that some giant was shak
ing him violently by the shoulder.
This was supposed to be the favor
ite device of the ghost. He rushed
into a corridor and found Leech
sitting there trembling and declar
ing that he would not for the world
go back to his room. They spent
the remainder of the night in the
corridor, but in the morning said
nothing of their experiences. In
the afternoon there arrived an
evening paper telling of a violent
earthquake in the locality. The
earthquake was what the two vis
itors believed to be their ghost.
f
Rocking Stones.
, Hocking stones are numerous in
all countries, some of them appar
ently natural, others seemingly arti
ficial. The famous Logan rock near
Land’s End in Cornwall, which
weighs seventy tons, was wantonly
displaced by Lieutenant Goldsmith
and his boat crew of nine men in
1842. He was obliged to replace it
at a cost of $10,000. In Ireland the
rocking stones are frequently to be
found, and one in County Antrim
is popularly believed to rock in an
excited way at the approach of male
factors.
A Chinese Chair of Repentance.
The knife chair is an instrument
of torture used in certain Taiping
religious ceremonies, which takes
the form of a straight backed arm
chair furnished with long blades
wherever the body and limbs touch
the chair. On the back the knives
are placed horizontally; on the seat,
as well as at the base for the feet to
rest upon, vertically, while each arm
is made of a similar blade, along
the edge of which the sitter’s arm
rests.
»
Discoverers of America.
According to the best informa
tion we have, the first white man to
lay eyes on the American continent
ivas Leif, Ericson. In the yegT 1000
Leif discovered Greenland and
probably touched at various points
of the coast as far south as New
port, R. 4. From this it follows,
naturally, that Columbus was not
the discoverer of America.In fact,
Columbus never set foot on conti
nental America, although it is per
fectly true that it was from his voy
age that the first reliable knowl
edge of America was first given to
the world.—New Yojrk American.
TREES THAT TALK.
Living Mast* That May B* Used In
Wireless Telegraphy.
In a certain very real sense trees
can “talk.” Their voice is not the
sound of the wind in their branches,
which the poets have called “whis
pering” or “sighing” or “howling.”
Real “tree talk” consists of vibra
tions that do not affect the unaided '
ear and are perceptible only by the |
aid of delicate instruments. In fact,
these vibrations are the electric
waves used in wireless telegraphy,
to which trees are curiously sensi
tive.
The discovery was made quite
accidentally by officers of our sig
nal service in the course of experi
ments connected with the improve
ment of the field telephone system
of the army. In setting up certain
telephone wires it was found that a
tre# was an especially good con
ductor cf an electrical current.
Struck by this fa«t, the officer in
charge ot the. experiments deter
mined to find out whether he could
use trees in wireless telepraphy in
stead of the tall masts that are
usually set up. He believed that
trees would catch or send the elec
tric waves even better than masts,
because trees have a multitude of
“antennae” in the twigs and leaves
of their outspreading branches,
whereas the masthead presents only
a small point.
He put his theory to the test, and
the result was the introduction in
California of a wireless system of
tree telegraphy, which’ may prove
to be of great value in time of war.
Messages can be sent from one part
of an army to another with remark
able rapidity. It would be unneces
sary to haul about cumbrous masts
and go to the trouble and labor of
setting them up. Instead, the sig
nal officer could rush to the nearest
big tree and communicate his mes
sage to it.
He need only pierce its bark with
a sharp nail, connect that with his
instrument and set every woody
fiber of the tree pulsating and every
twig and leaf snapping off Hertzian
waves. Thus the tree would pro
claim his message to all the other
trees and set them in turn throb
bing with the same vibrations. If
another tree were provided with a
receiving instrument properly at
tuned the apparatus would immedi
ately begin to tick off the words of
the message and communicate to
the trained human ear what all the.
treetops are chattering about.
It is said that wireless messages
sent by means/of trees may be dis
tinctly heard for about three miles.
Beyond that distance they become
too faint to be interpreted.—
Youth’s Companion.
His Limit.
The absentminded customer had
bought something on one of the up
per floors of the big department
store and had started for the ele
vator. Happening to notice that
the movable stairway was running,
however, he decided to use it in
stead. It carried him down to the
next floor, where another movable
stairway was in operation, and he
kept on going. At last he came to
a floor where there appeared to be
no stairway of any kind. An ele
vator stood not far away, with the
door invitingly open, and he step
ped inside.
“Going down ?” he asked.
“I hope not, just yet,” said the
elevator boy. “This is the base
ment.”—Chicago Tribune.
Sugar.
It is not known who invented or
discovered sugar. Sugar has, it
seems, been known since the dawn
of history, but not in all countries.
The Chinese appear to have delight
ed their palates with some sort of
sugar for more than 3,000 years,
and it was known in India earlier
than in Europe, being made from a
juicy reed or cane. One of the gen
erals of Alexander the Great is said
to have carried sugar to Greece in
the year 325 B. C., as Sir Walter
Raleigh, some 2,000 years later, car
ried tobacco from Virginia to Eng
land. But even so late as A. D. 150
sugar was still a rarity in Greece.
The famous physician ’Galen used it
as a'remedy for certain maladies.-*
Exchange.
A Warning.
Clara—I have been to the the
ater every night this week and had
a different escort each time.
Fred—You should be more cau
tious, my dear Miss Clara.
Clara—Cautions!
Fred—Yes; or ill naturCd people
will be saying that you can’t get the
same man to go with you t.wice.—
London Answers.
Use Found For It.
“Do you believe that music pre
vents crime?”
“To a certain extent,” replied
Mr. Sinnick. “When a man keeps
both hands and his breath busy
with a cornet, you know he can’t be
picking pockets, attempting homi
cide or slandering hia neighbors.”—
London Stray Stories.
A, M. DierinRer
Valdez Transfer
Cpany
General Trucking and Freight,
ing to all interior points
LIVERY ar d FEED STABLE
STORAGE
Teaming of all kinds’
Positively no coal delivered
unless paid (or in advance
PROFESSIONAL
Dr. H. COCKERILLE
— Graduate'ofNational University
Washington,ID. C."
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VALDEZ, ALASKA
CAMP VALDEZ No. 10
Meet every Tuesday evening at 8 o'clock In
Eagle, Hall. All members are requested to
ttend. S. MCNJF.CE. Arctic Cblet
VALDEZ LODGE NO. 6,1/O.'O. F.
MeetsevcrylMonday at S'p. in. in
ODD FELLOWS HALL
Visiting Brothers especially invited
Wm. Thomas, n. «. P. S. Hunt, p. Sec
Valdes I<odge
No 168,
Free and Accepted Masons
Regular Communications first Wednesday in
each month in McKinley Hall Visitors always
welcome*
James H. Patterson,,W. M
C. C. Reynolds. Sec
F O'. E
VALDEZ AERIE No. 1971
Meet every Friday, 8 p. m. Eaelc Tlal
PIONEERS OF ALASKA
IGLOO NO.'7.
Meets every first and third Mon
day of each month. AU visit
ing Brothers welcome.
E. G. AMES, Secretary.