The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, March 20, 1898, Page 25

THE SAN FRA NCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, MARCH 20, 1898. MAKING HIGH EXPLOSIVES FOR THE ARMY AND NAVY. Dangers Involved in Gompounding Dynamite, Nitro-Glycerine, Cun Gotton and Other Deadly Agents Used in War. HERE are two kinds of explo- sives—low and high. Lieutenant Edward Simpson, U. S. N., who is an authority, writes that the term explosive is one applied to those substances, solid or liquid, which upon the application of heat or shock are converted either by combustion or decomposition into gases having many times the volume of the original substance. A low explosive, like gunpowder, is one which can be exploded by ignition. Further, the rate of this combustion can be regulated by mechanical treatment. Thus, black gunpowder eoes off quickly, like a flash, whereas brown gunpowder burns slowly as punk. Gunpowder is a m chanical mixture, as are all low ex plosives; but high explosives, with which this article has to deal, are| chemical compounds. Gunpowder is the best known repre- | sentative of the former, nitro-glyc of the latter. High explo: where shattering and ding effec are to be produced,and the n bemade to explode only by wkat is called deto- nation—that is, by s;suddenly shoc] ing or heating the surrounding high explosive that the mass is instantly chemically changed into gases many times greater than the original volume of the explosive, and this gas in its efforts to e pe rips, tears, destroys, annihilates anything and everything around or about it. The havoc it can work is terrific and irresistible. A great many ds of high explo- sives have been compounded; in all those d for commercial purposes ni- tro-glycerine furnished the active prin- Nitro glycerine is formed by the acid upon ciple. action of concentrated nitric glycerine. It is a colorless, oily liquid having a pi t aromatic taste. It produces a Vv t temporary head- ache if taken o the human system, either by r p upon the At a temperature of 40 degrees Fah renheit nitr glycerine freezes to a white crystalline mass, and it is usu- ally kept in this condition until ready d; it can be thus transported af In its liquid form handle in any way. i from its frozen state into the liquid form, the cans containing it are placed in hot water of a tempera- ture of 100 degrees. The point of firing is 356 degre: Nitro powerful e use; it can be fired b with fulminate of mercury nitro glycerine in its pure used for explo- rely bi} ause of its ntials are strength 1 b nature. Three e required in a high explo: or disruptive power and keeping qualitie forts to secure s afety in handling, and in their ef- S these many scientists have brought out different explosives. Dynamite, perhaps, is the name most familiar to people; it has become to a great extent generic, and means a high explosive without consideration of the ingredients of which the compound may be manufactured. Dynamite, the gen- uine article to which the name was first given and by which in the army and navy it is still called, is a preparation made by mixing nitro glycerine with a natural s or rotten and organic driven out. is 75 per cent of nitro gly of rotten stone. The r und is soft, of a pale brown col- neral appearance and consist- ency not unlike damp brown sugar. The rotten stone in dynamite proper is replaced in other high explosives by yme other substance which inventors claim adds certain specific qualities to the resultant. This absorbent is called a dope. It is this employment of this dope that renders dynamite safer . to one, from which the water substances have been icious earth called kieselguhr. | The proportion of the mix- | | handle and less liable to explosion from | shock than is the case with pure nitro- glycerine. Dynamite freezes at 40 d t is always frozen for transportation at 360 deg. To thaw 1t is e with the great- | est care. Ninety-five per cent of the accidents in mines due to explosions of dynamite have been owing to the c: lessness of thawing. In blasting dyna- mite is very extensively used, though generally it goes under the name of powder. For submarine mines, planted in a channel to obstruct the fairway, | dynamite is e y used. It is put up in copper s s or cylinders, which are anchored so as to float ten or twelve feet below the surface, or still lower; to these are connected elec- tric fu. operated by an electric cir- | cuit from the shore. Pressing a key will cause the fuse dynamite and the explosion follows. Gun cotton, however, is more exten- ively used for military purposes than any other form of high explosive. It is produced by the action of concen- trated nitric acid on cotton or cellu- dangero to detonate the | | pounds |1 After compression the white cakes resulting look very much like ordinary hard-pressed cotton, white and hard. Gun cotton is unaffected by | water. This is one of its r t valuable | properties and one which makes gun cotton so valuable for use on board ships in torpedoes, or wherever under- water explosives are needed. Dry loose gun cotton is harmle: if burned it flashes off. Dry compressed gun cotton burns rapidly but quickly if uncon- fined, and moist gun cotton does the same. Wet gun cotton cannot be ex- nators—it may be treated without dan- ge: it may be even forced into or placed in a shell and shot out of a gun, yet it still remains intact. These are most important characteristics of wet ‘gun cotton. You might have maga- zines full of it, instead of one or two torpedo heads, yet fire on board ship or a shot from an enemy or an explo- | of a ship W sion from within or without will not detonate this wet gun cotton. Gun cot- ton is always stored and used wet. Dis- tilled water is used to wet it and keep ; in this condition it is the safest ve known. In one of the naval ntelligence publications it is stated that the English Government the safety of gun cotton containing 30 per cent moisture by burning bonfires in two lots of a ton each. In one case the explosive was in disks in a closed tank, and in th other it was divided c the gun cotton burned away without explosion. In order to explode moist gun cotton be used, consisting of a disk of gun cotton, and this dry gun cotton fulminate of mercur: fuse fired by electricity. These disk of gun cotton may be made a Usually they are about four inches in | diameter and an inch thick, with a hole in the center. Several disks of wet gun cotton are placed one over the other; | near the top is put one layer or disk of dry cotton, then the electric primer is lowered into the charge through the hole, and the entire cartridge is care- fully sealed up with a water- through which the electric wires lead, which are to be spliced to the wire leading to the firing battery. It is of the utmost importance to keep this dry gun cotton dry. fuse would be inoperative. When gun cotton is used to charge the war heads | of torpedoes, the gu.. cotton is usually molded to fit the form of the chamber designed to hold it. Guncotton is not so extensively used for commercial submarine operations as some of the nitro glycerine com- pounds, mainly because of the diffi- culty of preparing it for firing. Nor is it so terrible in its explosive action as some of them. A form of gelatine | seems to be more generally preferred. One of these now on . the market is called Repauno gelatine. It is described as a high explosive powder, having a gelatinous consistency. It is, therefore, sticky and very dense or heavy—two | very advantageous features in certain mus dr is exploded by tested | ight head | Should it get wet the | ploded except by certain kinds of deto- | | tion of the nitro glycerine. a special kind of primer or detonator | | posed to a tropi more liable to detonation by influence | classes of work. The higher grades have extraordinary .disruptive power. It is decidedly plastic. This, with its density, renders it particularly suitable for submarine work, where the flow of water is strong, because it will adhere firmly together even should the cov- erings of the charges get damaged or removed, and it is not disintegrated by water. Another high explosive in our mar- ket is forcite. It closely resembles ex plosive gelatine cellulose, being used in- stead of nitro-cellulose. Some forcite contains 95 per cent of nitro-giycerine, and other grades less, incorporated with a mixture of nitrate of soda, sul- phur and wood tar, With a little wood pulp added. It burns in the open air, explodes in confined places, and water has no action on it. There are many other explosives suit- able for submarine use, some of them of a greater explosive strength than dynamite, others less. Some years ago General Abbot of ,the United States army, carefully investigated the prop- erties of several kinds of. high ex- plosives and gave as the result of his experiments the following relative strengths under water of certain ones of them per pound, assuming dyna- mite No. 1, that described above, as 100: Blasting gelatine, 142; forcite gelatine, 133; gun cotton, wet, nitro glycerine, 81; gunpowder, 20 to 50. There was some other interesting data reported by General Abbot concerning high ex- plosives. His experiments led him to believe that in order to wound the bot- tom of a man-of-war of 9000 tons, ar- mored with nine inches of iron, an ex- plosive must produce a pressure of 5500 per square inch; that 6500 would be fatal to an ordinary double- bottomed ironclad. However, all scien- tific investigators in this direction, as well as in other theoretical matters pertaining to the force which high ex- plosives exert, are not by any means in agreement. Referring to some of the results of the researches of Colonel Bucknill of England, into the relative strengths of high explosives, it is no- ticed that he gives the following rela- tive horizontal distances and charges necessary to inflict a fatal blow on a modern ironclad: —Distance in Feet— 20 4 50 10 2 Lbs. Lbs. Lbs. Lbs. Blasting gelatin P 359 465 Forcite gelatine.. 188 496 Dynamite 251 60 Guncotton . 251 650 Gunpowder 1004 2640 But it should be remembered that theseresultsare largely speculative,and may be very much influenced by the disposition of weights and internal ar- rangements of the vessel. Thus in some Jtalian experiments with a model ith a triple bottom seventy- five pounds of guncotton exploded in contact broke through two of them, and when the space between the two inner ones was filled with coal, only the outer bottom was injured. Comparing dynamite with guncotton, the two explosives with which we are most familiar, it may be said that dy- Shall Making Mac | '}Teshnp Dynamite. Rhine. where Gun Corron, 1s Made.” eropioraseeones: ANY REQUIRED LENGTH ~==v=== TorpedgStafion, : ¥ Newport. LENGTH TOMOLOREQUIRED CHARGE <eesmsNY REQUIRED LENGTH yemer—==cZys Mechanism For Doading, MANUFACTURING DEADLY EXPLOSIVES TO BE USED IN WAR. i N one of the coldest and barest namite loses strength by the evapora- cotton, whether wet or dry, is unaf- fected by changes of temperature. Gun- cotton, as well as forcite and gelatine among eighty closed packages. In both | dynamite, are unaffected by water, but dynamite loses 6 per cent of Its power when drowned in water. Nitro glycer- ine is insoluble in water, so that most of the compounds are uninjured by be- ing submerged. With regard to safety in handling and transportation, dyna- mite and nitro glycerine are the most sensitive. They should not be ex- 1 sun. Guncotton is when dry than when wet, and dynamite when compressed than when loose. Buoyant mines when planted, if filled with 500 pounds of blasting gelatine, need to be spaced every 456 feet; gun- cotton mines require 321 feet, while gunpowder requires 100 feet. Summing up—and here we are quot- ing from Lieutenant Simpson—we find blasting gelatine and guncotton as the two explosives best fulfilling all the re- quirements, and they are the ones generally in use for submarine work. Blasting gelatine shows a superiority with regard to strength, shattering ef- fects, plasticity and specific gravity, but guncotton, from its stability, safe- ty and capability of exerting its full force even when confined simply in a net, combined with its high standing in the other requirements, all tend to make it the best explosive for naval use. —_—————— About mid-afternoon is the best time for gentle outdoor exercise. Early morn- ing exercise Is as much to be avoided as early mental or physical labor, because at that time vitality Is at its lowest ebb, | and it needs stimulation rather than fur- ther taxing; none but the gentlest exer- cise should be taken until the exhausted system has been supplied with abundant urishment. Pure gun- | | | rooms of that very dreary build- ing, the City Hall, there is a little gathering every morning, and a pa- tient, or it may be perhaps two or three, is added to the melancholy | assemblage of human wrecks which | populates our State Asylums for the | Insane. In this enli ened age, when indi- s safeguarded by every | possible pre it takes a great deal of writing and a great deal of offi- | cial questioning to make a man a luna- tic. There are four examining doctors, | who act in pairs each alternate month, | and it is their duty to ascertain wheth- er the patients brought before them | from the Receiving Hospital or the po- lice station are really sound or un- sound in their minds. “Whatever people vidual liberty may say,” Te- ible precaution against any sane per- son being railroaded into an asylum. Wait and see for yourself.” The examination was certainly elab- orate enough. haggard-locking, grizzly-haired Italian, was breught in. He was clad in the traditional rough blue garb of his class, and his tangled locks had failed to re- cover from the effect of submersion in the bay. But two or three days ago he demonstrated his insanity, from the police point of view, by jumpling over- board from one of the docks. As sui- cide in this State is not a crime, he was promptly fished out, and hung up in the Receiving Hospital to dry. To complicate matters the patient could not read or write, neither could he speak a word of English. His sis- marked the doctor, “we take every pos- | Presently the patient, a | THE STATE IS GOING TO COLLECT FEES FOR MAINTAINING THE WELL-TO-DO INSANE. MANNER IN WHICH PATIENTS ARE EXAMINED AND SENT TO THE SEVERAL ASYLUMS AND THE VARIOUS CAUSES THAT BRING ABOUT ThHEIR COMMITMENT. | ter, who accompanied him, had little | more of our language, and it took the | doctor fully a quarter of an hour to find out the subject’s name and his place of birth. A huge printed form was before the examiner, and he had to fill in num- | | berless blanks. He had to ascertain, | for instance, the names and ages of the patient’s parents, whether they were alive or dead, whether they or any oth- | er members of the family had ever | drunk alcohol or suffered from demen- | i shape or form. Also, it was | tions, to contrast the patient's mental condition with that of his brothers and sisters, his uncles and cousins and aunts. To do all this with a half- crazed Ttalian who can't speak English is enough to send any physician to an asylum. After several amateur attempts at in- terpreting, the doctor gave the task up in despair, and sent for the official in- terpreter. This personage took the matter quite chirpily. He seemed to know the alleged madman very well, and saluted him with a friendly greet- ing in the most voluble Italian. It took the interpreter exactly five minutes to find out what the doctors | had been puzzling their heads over for half an hour. “The man’s not mad,” he sald, turn- ing round; “it’s dago red.” A new light broke upon the scene. “Put out your tongue,” cried the doc- tor hurriedly. Obediently the man thrust histongue forth, and its color was as the color of the tablecloth of a Latin quarter restaurant when you spill your wine upon ft. ““A clear case of inebriosis,” remark- ed the doctor, covering up his sur- prise, after the manner of the faculty, with technical language. | Various attempts were made, with the aid of the interpreter, to find out how much wine the man had been in the habit of drinking. He would go out in his boat with the other fisher- men, he admitted, and of course they had a jar of wine with them and drank whenever they wished, using no measures. So it came to pass that one day Pietro saw strange lights dancing be- fore his eyes, and then, while down on | the wharf, he had a vision of a man struggling in the water and drowning | for want of aid. Therefore Pietro jumped in to save him. The support of the insane costs the State somewhere in the neighborhood of $600,000 a year. And the burden is constantly growing. i Since the last census was taken the number of insane persons supported by | the State has increased by 1400. In 1850 there were 3594 patients in the various asylums; to-day there are 4927. They are distributed as follows: Mendocino, 460; Napa, 1451; Southern California, 573; Agnews, 918; Stockton, 1525. Each patient costs the State on an average cf $140 per annum, so that, for mere financial reasons, it is not desir- able to increase their number too rap- | idly. On social and sanitary grounds | the objection of course is much strong- | er, but still there is no reason to be se- riously alarmed at the increase. “It is not the native-born Californians who are going insane,” said the Com- missioner, “it is the foreigners who in- | flate our totals. They number more than 70 per cent.” A glance at the contribution made by San Francisco to the insane population of the State will illustrate this point. During the past year 499 presumably insane persons were brought up for ex- amination, and out of these 357 were sent to the asylums, and 142 were dis- charged. It is noticeable that the male i to lunatics outnumbered the female by nearly two to one, the figures being 224 male and 133 female, showing that, whatever may be the case in other States, California is not a place where household worries bring about an un- sound state of mind. But the point is the nationality of the patients. Out of the total of 357 luna- tics, only 142 were of United States birth. The Irish were the next highest on the list, with a contribution of 52, and then comes Germany, 50; Englan: 17; China, 16; France, 12; Italy, 8; Scot- land, 7; Sweden, 7, the balance being made up by small contributions from nearly every nationality under the sun. It will thus be seen that the foreign element among our population is large- ly responsible for the increase in in- sane patients. Another thing is that California has for a-long time past been the favorite dumping ground for luna- tics from all parts of the Union. Peo- ple desirous of getting rid of their helpless relatives would ship them off with a ticket to the Golden State, and the Golden State of course would have to care for them. The State Commis- sion is busily engaged in shipping back as many of these helpless creatures as possible to the States Whence they came. It is cheaper in the long run to pay the lunatic's fare back to the East than to keep him. A curious and rather pathetic in- stance of this kind occurred the other day. A family migrated from Massa- chusetts to Oregon, bringing with them their aged and witless mother. But apparently they soon got tired of keeping the old lady, so they bought her a second-class ticket to Spring- field, Mass., and put her on the cars get there as best she could. However, they took the precaution of sewing a label on her dress, showing her name and destination in bold let- ters. Probably, being thus ad- dressed, the old lady would have got through all right, had not the unusual bustle and jolting of the cars destroyed what little balance of mind she had left. Thus, when she got to Califor- nia she had to be placed in an asylum, and arrangements have only just been completed for sending her to her home in the East. J. F. ROSE-SOLEY. TERRITORY THAT HAS BEEN ACQUIRED BY aea iacnsen ssar Dep S G“‘Qg)ys",'f“(omm - o5 REATY N L : NORTH y%:»AKOTA and Included Texas and part of New Mexi The area west of the line of the Sabine was n as part of the considera- surrendered to tion for Florida in 1819. NOTE—Loulsiana, as conveyed by France in 1608, extended westward to the H1o Grande, THE UNITED ico. MAP SHOWING THE TERRITORY ACQUIRED BY THE UNITED STATES. FLORIDA WAS CEDE#® FOR 17 1 OF ARIZONA AND NEW MEXIC 1CO FOR 4% CENTS AN AGRE, AND ALASK. HAT “Uncle Sam” is rich enough to give all a “farm’ has been true from the earliest history of the Government, but his landed pos- sessions have grown comparatively small, and that which Is left is mestly arid or mountainous, How these | lands can be best utilized for the benefit | ot the people is engaging the earnest at- | tention of those publicly charged with | their management. The policy most fa- vored seems that of ceding the arid lands to the several States in which they may lie and of reserving under national con- .10 CENTS AN ACRE; THE PROVINCE OF LOUISIANA 0 FROM MEXICO (THE GADSDEN PURCHASE) FOR 34 3- ‘A FROM RUSSIA FOR 1 19-20 CENTS AN ACRE. TOTAL AREA OF THE UNITED STATES, trol the mountainous regions as water sheds. The United States has disposed of a vast domain. It had none to start with. The United States began life with a debt of about seventy-five milllons, which, es- timated by the ability to pay, is the (PRACTICALLY THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY) FOR 3 3-5 CENTS AN ACRE: PART 16 CENTS PER ACRE: UTAH, NEVADA AND PART OF ARIZONA AND NEW MEX- 3,601,409 SQUARE MILES. equivalent of the Civil War debt, owed mainly for food, clothing and ammuni: tlon of its citizen soldiers. The continu- ous settlements of the thirteen original States did not extend farther back from the Atlantic seaboard than to the Alle- ghanies, but from here to the Mississippi and from the Great Lakes on the nortl to the thirty-first parallel on the south stretched a territory over which the con- flicting claims of the several States ex- tended. Here was an area of some two hundred and fifty million acres—rich, un- settled. The availability of the unoccupied lands of the West as a _means of revenue for the States and of individual enterprise on the part of the people had early re- ceived the attention of the Continental Congress. Even during the stress of war, Congress found time, in the inter- ests of harmony, to urge the States to cede their lands to the confederation for disposition for the common benefit. In- dependence won at last; in 1784, Congres's moved that the same subject be again Presented to the several States.” In due course of time the States ceded their lands to the United States and thus was provided a nucleus for a vast Federal do- main. The Government Kkept its prom- ise to the States, and in less than a dozen years, the soldiers—the first care of the Government—had received individual grants, varying in extent according to rank, from officer to private. ~Some were in lieu of pay; some for merit. To heads of families lands were sold for cash or upon credit. Grants were made of large tracts to organized development compa- nies upon partial cash and deferred pay- ment considerations. Thus homes were afforded the people and revenue for the Government. _ Three new republican States—Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee— were added to the Federal Union, and others were in development for state- hood. Two streams of commerce were now flowing, one from the Atlantic seaboard, one down the MXsslssi&)pL ‘The people were thriving. The fondest hopes of the founders of the young republic were be- ing realized, when suddenly a little cloud appeared. Spain denied further exercise of the right of free navigation of the Mlsslsslprl. President Jefferson, ever zealous for the welfare of the people, sent a special envoy to Paris, for France had secured to herself Louisiana. The re- sult was the acquisition of Louisiana for $15,000,000 paid to France. A territory was dded by this purchase which was nearly one and one-half times the prior area of the United States. The total cost of the 756,000,000 acres of territory added was some(hm% over $27,000,000, the additional amounts being for interest on bonds and the assumption of the payment of certain spoliation claims. The average cost per acre was about 3 3-5 cents. The land thus acquired was promptly opened to settle- ment, and three more States were settled and formed thereon in the next few years. Greater revenues swelled the na- tional treasury. Buying and sel{lfll}f land Y appeared to be profitable, financ and politically. When Spain, a few years later, again grew troublesome—this time on the southern .border—she was promptly paid $5,000,000 in_bonds, to which subsequent interest added another million, and a lit- tle item of thirty-seven or thirty-eight million acres of land, the areas of the Floridas, was added to the public domain in 1819. This cost about 17 cents per acre, but since Spain threw into the bargain | her claims in the Oregon country, the price_paid bought something more than | the Floridas. In 1846 the Government quieted title to | the Oregon country definitely by treaty | with Great Britain, without any further expense than items of extras in the diplo- | matic disbursements. Here the public | domain suffered a serious loss, because | the managers of a political campaign as- | sumed to make the subject of diplomatic | correspondence a campaign_promise of | “Fifty-four-forty or fight.” It was found | inconvenient to fight,"so the country had | to go back five degrees of latitude to the forty-ninth. To heal all wounds of war and pride | growing out of the Texas affair and war of 1848, the sum of $15,000,000 in interest | bearing bonds was paid ~Mexico, and | 340,000,000 acres were transferred from the | landed assets of the Mexican Republic to | those of the United States. This added | a territory about half the gize of the | Louisiana purchase of 1803, and moved the western boundary from the summits of the Rockies to the waters of the Pa- cific_in an unbroken frontage. This, like the Louislana purchase, was a “snap bar- ga_l&n," costing about 42 cents per acre. ‘hen to soothe the woes of Texas, in 1850, the sum of $16,000,000 was paid her for her claims to 60,000,000 acres. This was the most expensive purchase thus far—a little over a quarter of a dollar per acre, especially as the Government had bought the land once before. By this time sixteen new States, not counting Vermont and Maine, had been formed out of the public domain, not to mention organized territories. The land purchases of the Government were cer- tainly proving popular. In 1853 the Government grew fastidious and wanted the line of its southern boun- dary to run a little bit differently, so Mexico obligingly turned over 30.000.000 acres for that purpose, and $10,000,000 paid the bill. Fastidiousness is expensive,’and a better looking boundary line cost the Government about 35 cents per acre. Then came the purchase of Alaska for $7,200,000, which was at the rate of about 2 ‘cents per acre. STATES THROUGH TREATY OR PURCHASE. benefit. By 1880 the soldiers and marines have been given homes—over ,000,000 acres; heads of families, 55,000,000 acres; for schools, seminaries and agricultural colleges, about $0,000.000 acres; for rail- roads, wagon roads, canals and telegraph lines, 50,000,000 acres, and so on one might go with a statement of numbers of acres which grow meaningless because of their immensity. The Government has sought to lay out and settle up its lands by townships. Actual occupation and use of the land has been the elementary condition of trans- fer of ownership to the individual. The title conveyed Is an absolute one; no reservation of an annual rent; no per- formance annually of an act of homage to an overlord; no right of entry retained. The actual tiller of the soil may become the landlord in_every sense. He is his own overlord. He is a free man. What wonder, then, that as fast as the Government has acquired lands actual and potential citizen-settlers have pushed the surveyor forward with his compass and chaln. Why should not population rise from 3,000,000 to seventy odd million? Why marvel that thirteen little States have erected a Union of fifty-one repub- lican States and Territories. Why should not the task and reward that follows bringing forth the riches of a billion acres of land that range through all forms of base and precious metals, all vegetable wealth from the tropics to the Arectic, suffice to keep a people too busy, too happy for anarchy. When in one ear the yield of gold alone in a single tate of the newly purchased territory almost equaled the total cost to the Gov- ernment of the billion acres acquired, why should the increase in national wealth seem so incredible. When one re- gards the generous aid given to educa- tion from the lands of the public domain, why should the high average of enligh enment and culture of the American pe ple seem so exceptional. Considering the aid given railroads and other roads, why should not our mileage and equipment of roads lead all other nations. A little reflection, it is plain, must lead to_the conclusion that the materjal and political growth of the United States is Since the Goyvernment has halted | due largely to the character of its terri~ in its purchases. No wonder. Look at | torial-acquisitions and its policy of dispo- this: sition of newly acquired lands. The Gov- Total Cost. Per Acre. Loulsiana purchase, 1803. 27,207,621 98 East and West Floridas, 6,489,768 00 dalupe Hidalgo, 184 15,000,000 00 1-2 5 ‘exas purchase, 1 16,000,000 Gadsden purchase, 1353, 10,000,000 00 Alaska purchase, 1567. 7,200,000 Total purchases... 488,157,339 98 It requires just a little bit of manage- ment to get over a billion acres of land into shape for disposition: some little financial skill to turn the revenues of the Government to make this land to pay its price; many persons to spread out over these vast tracts of land, to form new States. Let us see what disposition has been made of all these lands for the common ernment has consistently adhered to fits original guarantee to holid the vast public domain in trust for the common benefit and the settlement and formation of sov- ereign States, always leaving the circum- stance of the future to determine what the common benefit demands, and the ability of the soil to support population to fix the time and place of a new common- wealth, ELENOR D. PRATT.