Read Ebook: The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It Vol. 1 No. 39 August 5 1897 A Weekly Magazine for Boys and Girls by Various Bishop Julia Truitt Editor

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A dispatch from Madrid tells us that the people are indignant over Se?or Canovas' promise to send another twenty thousand soldiers to Cuba.

They say that Spain has already suffered enough, and that the Government ought not to ask for any more money or soldiers.

They complain that they were told that Cuba was pacified a month ago, and that nothing remained to be done but to subdue some bands of insurgents that were scattered throughout the island. This was only a month ago, and now they are asked to prepare a fresh army to go to Cuba, and are told that the Spanish cause has met with disaster.

The Spanish papers are openly declaring that the time has come to put a stop to the sacrifice of men and money, and that the mother country must end her wars and give her people peace.

The latest news of the insurgents is that Gomez is advancing on Havana, and promises that at the gates of the city he will show General Weyler whether the island is really pacified or not.

He has issued a proclamation, saying that Spain might as well stop any attempt to grant reforms to Cuba. He says: "We will accept neither reforms nor home rule. Spain must know that this war is one for independence, and that the Cubans would rather die than yield. The day we lifted our flag of liberty, we wrote on it: 'Independence or death.'"

The committee appointed to inquire into the Transvaal raid has sent in its report to Parliament--or, to speak correctly, it has sent in two reports, for the members could not agree.

One report says that, whatever justification there may have been for the people of Johannesberg to rebel against the rule of the Boers, there was none whatever for Mr. Cecil Rhodes to organize and dispatch an invading army into the Transvaal.

This portion of the committee declares that the blame rests entirely on Cecil Rhodes, notwithstanding the fact that Dr. Jameson did finally invade the territory without direct orders.

They find that Cecil Rhodes seriously embarrassed the home and colonial governments, by thus breaking the peaceful understanding between the nations; and further, that he used his high position to provoke a rebellion, and deliberately deceived the home Government that he might be able to carry out his own personal plans. The Government in England is declared to be entirely innocent of any knowledge of the affair, but two officers of the colonial Government are found guilty.

To the surprise of everybody, the report contains no suggestion for the punishment of any of the offenders.

In regard to Cecil Rhodes' refusal to produce the telegrams which they asked for, the committee says that he ought undoubtedly to be disciplined for his conduct, but that it would take so much time to do so that it would perhaps be as well to let the matter alone.

This is one report.

The other is much stronger in its tone. It blames everybody concerned, and says that there is little doubt that the raid was simply a plot arranged to make wealthy men wealthier.

This report does not agree that the home Government is entirely blameless. It says that it is a pity that the matter was not more fully investigated, so that it could be thoroughly ascertained whether the Government, and especially Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, was in truth ignorant of the plot.

Both reports agree that the officers who led the raiders imagined that they were acting under orders from the British Government, and that they have been punished more heavily than they deserved. The second report suggests that their commissions should be restored to them.

After the raid was over these soldiers were arrested and sent to England, where they were tried for invading a friendly country without proper authority. They were found guilty and sent to Holloway Jail in London.

When they were convicted they were one and all deprived of their commissions in the British army. While they were only imprisoned for a short time, and were not harshly treated in any sense, the fact of being dismissed from the army was a very serious thing for them.

A commission in the army means the authority by which the officer holds his rank of Captain or Colonel--or whatever it may be--and is naturally valued very highly by the holder.

In England, especially, the highest class of young men go into the army as officers, and to leave the army without wishing to, to have one's commission taken away from one, is a great disgrace. An officer who leaves the army at his own wish has all other careers open to him, but one who is dismissed from the service is disgraced and cannot easily find fresh employment, and moreover loses all the income and standing that being an officer in the army had given him.

This is the position of the officers who led the Transvaal raid; they have been disgraced and deprived of their profession.

If, indeed, they are innocent, it is only right that their commissions should be restored to them.

The Tariff Conference has done its work very rapidly.

After less than two weeks of discussion, this committee has prepared its report and given it to Congress.

It was presented to the House on the 20th of July, and after a debate of two hours it was adopted by a vote of 185 to 115.

The Conference had done its work so well, and had arranged the changes in the bill in such a manner, that the House made little objection to them.

The measure now goes to the Senate, where it has to be readopted; but, as the changes made by the Conference were so very slight, no doubt is felt that it will be passed without delay.

Unless something very unforeseen occurs, it will be in the hands of the President before the week is out, and the Dingley Bill will then become a law.

There is general rejoicing that the long and tedious discussion is over, and that Congress will be able to adjourn before many days have passed.

An interesting story comes from Paris about the new X-rays.

According to the account which reaches us, an apparatus has been prepared by which the Custom House officers can examine the baggage and ascertain whether there are any dutiable articles concealed in it, without going through all the trouble of unpacking and searching.

It is said that cigars can be easily counted by this new process, which promises to be a great success.

The method of using it is very simple.

The instrument is mounted on a large table; one of the Custom House officers takes the fluoroscope and stands at the end of the table. Two others seize the baggage, and piece by piece hold it in front of the rays for examination.

If this method is really as useful as it is declared to be, it will save an infinite amount of trouble in our Custom House. Unfortunately there are so many more dutiable articles in this country than in France that it is possible even the X-rays might not be sharp enough to discover them all.

The treaty for the annexation of Hawaii has been approved by the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, and returned to the Senate for ratification.

The committee thoroughly approved of the treaty, and sent it to the Senate without any alteration or criticism. It therefore stands as we explained it to you in No. 34.

The chairman of the committee, Senator Davis, would be glad to have the treaty ratified at once, as he thinks that speedy action would be the best way to avoid any trouble with Japan. He has, however, been warned that if he tries to press the treaty this session, the Senate will block it with the lengthy discussions about which we told you. Senator Davis therefore thinks that it will be best to let the matter rest for the present.

The President called a cabinet council to discuss the affairs of Hawaii, and at the council a policy was laid down to protect our interests in the Sandwich Islands until the treaty can be ratified.

The Admiral has been commanded to land a force of sailors and marines and hoist the American flag over the Hawaiian Islands at the first sign of hostility from Japan.

Reliable information has been brought to us of an enormous find of gold on the borders of British Columbia and Alaska.

The accounts of the find read like a fairy-story.

Those familiar with placer mining declare that the new gold-fields are the richest and finest ever discovered; they say that the California find of 1849 cannot be compared with this present one.

The place where this great discovery has been made is on the borders of Alaska, not many miles east of the British Columbia boundary, and therefore on English territory. It is called the Klondike district.

The Klondike is a river, a tributary of the Yukon River, into which it flows above Forty Mile Creek.

The story of the find is interesting.

It was discovered by an old hunter named McCormick.

McCormick had married an Indian squaw, and was therefore, according to the custom, known by the uncomplimentary name of squaw man, and was not much liked by other white men.

He lived a very lonely life in his cabin, with his squaw wife and his half-Indian children, and made his living by hunting and fishing.

In the spring of 1896 he went up the Klondike River to fish. At the point where this stream meets the Yukon, very large salmon are often caught. It was for this profitable spot that McCormick set out.

He had poor luck, however. The salmon didn't run as usual, and his fishing expedition was a failure.

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