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"Dewey Day" Celebrated

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they gave all the information desired by the authorities, and showed the police where firearms and ammunition were stored.

It would appear from this that, although the government declared it is not at all afraid of the Carlists, and does not believe that they have any power, it still keeps a close watch on the movements of all the members of the party.

In the present Cortes the party will only be represented by three members. Don Carlos, as you remember, asked his followers to take no part in the elections, and said that he did not wish to be represented in the next Cortes.

If this is the reason for the small number of Carlists in the parliament, it would seem to indicate that the Pretender is very thoroughly in control of his followers, and that they still have great faith in him.

It is sincerely to be hoped that he has abandoned his aspirations to the throne. Spain is not in condition to face the horrors of a civil war, and while Don Carlos might have won his cause without, a blow at the time when the Spaniards were so furious against the Queen-Regent, it is certain that any attempt to overthrow the government now would be met with determined resistance.

The anniversary of the victory at Manila, which has very appropriately been called "Dewey Day," was celebrated throughout the country on May 1. Manhattan Borough was ablaze with flags, the ships in the harbor were gayly decorated, and the same graceful

"Dewey Day" Celebrated.

compliment was paid to our holiday by the visiting British vessels, which all dressed ship in honor of the occasion.

President McKinley, who was visiting the city, inspected the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and from thence cabled his congratulations to Admiral Dewey and the brave men who acting under his orders carved out history for us just one year ago.

The children in the Public Schools took part in special exercises in honor of the day, and the anxiety to celebrate "Dewey Day" quite eclipsed the usual desire for parties in celebration of May Day, a holiday so ardently longed for by the little ones. The little queens of May put off their festivities until the next Saturday, and it is said that word has gone forth among them that May Day is henceforth to be postponed until the first Saturday after "Dewey Day."

At Manila the day was also observed. The Admiral in whose honor it was named gave the sailors of the fleet a holiday, and held a reception on board the flagship.

The Army Beef Court of Inquiry finished its work, and handed in its report. The work was completed on April 29. Each member of the The Army Beef board signed the report, which was at once sent to the President.

Inquiry.

The full text of the paper will not be made public until the President shall have read and passed upon it, but it is stated that it is not favorable to MajorGeneral Miles.

The verdict of the Court is that the charges made

The Army Beef Inquiry

635

by the commanding officer have not been sustained; that the refrigerated beef was not embalmed, and the only admission made is that canned roast beef is not a proper ration for troops.

The Court appears to lay the blame on the Commissariat Department, and thinks that the rations were not properly cared for by those in charge. It has decided that the refrigerated beef was excellent food when issued, and the canned meat also, but that it was spoiled after being delivered to the government.

Major-General Miles is criticised for not having reported the condition of the food earlier, and several officers also are censured, and declared to have neglected their duty by not having reported the state of affairs.

The Court has decided that the sickness of the troops was not in any great degree due to the use of either canned or refrigerated beef.

In writing about the inquiry into the beef supplied to the Army, we told you there were two inquiries being made. One was to decide whether the rations supplied to our soldiers were good and wholesome; the other was to decide whether the government ought to pay for 300,000 pounds of refrigerated beef that was supplied to the troops in Porto Rico, which went bad on the transport Manitoba, and had to be thrown into the sea.

Messrs. Swift & Co., of Chicago, who supplied the beef, insisted that the meat was in excellent condition when it was shipped, and would have kept sweet for the length of time required under their contract if it had been properly handled; but that owing to the

neglect of the Commissariat Department it went bad and had to be thrown away. For this reason they maintained that the government certainly ought to pay for the meat, and that they should not be expected to bear the loss.

The board appointed to inquire into this matter reported that from the time the Manitoba arrived, on August 10, to her departure, on August 25, no proper efforts had been made to distribute the beef to the troops, and that, although the meat was in excellent condition on arrival, the failure to distribute it resulted in its decay.

The Court declared that Messrs. Swift & Co. were in nowise responsible for the loss of the beef and said that they should most certainly be paid for it.

Dispatches are coming in from points along the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers which give somewhat alarming accounts of the rise of these waters and the flooding of the lowlying districts.

Missouri River
Floods.

Every springtime the country is threatened with the same danger from floods. It is caused by the melting of the snows on the mountains. When the spring advances rapidly, and the thaws are sudden, the rivers, whose duty it is to carry off the surplus water, become overcharged and overflow their banks.

Two years ago the floods were so disastrous that it cost the government $200,000 to repair the damage done. Thousands of people were rendered homeless, and millions of dollars' worth of sugar and cotton crops was destroyed.

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The present danger is reported from Omaha on the Missouri, and New Orleans on the Mississippi.

At Omaha the river became a raging torrent, and the conditions were more alarming than they had been at any time during the past eighteen years. Over two hundred people were driven from their homes, and many of them were forced to abandon their property.

Later telegrams, however, state that the worst of the danger is apparently past, and the Signal Service men insist that the waters will soon recede.

From New Orleans the breaking of a levee is reported. The crevasse (as these cracks in the levees, or banks, are called) is said to be two hundred feet wide, and it was reported that both ends cf it were still giving way.

Engineers and laborers have been hurried to the spot in the hope of averting disaster. About twelve hundred acres of land have been flooded, but happily no lives have been lost.

The Cuban troops have not yet been paid, and General Gomez and Major-General Brooke are annoyed at the delay.

The Cuban Troops The trouble has grown out of the not yet Paid. army lists, which, as you read in No. 129, had nearly ten thousand more names on them than had been anticipated.

When Major-General Brooke received the lists from the Assembly he was informed on excellent authority that they had been "padded," and that the

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