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* ? ? UNCLE SAM'S "NOTES." How State Messages Aie Prepared * a>ul Transmitted. ?? \ Writing a note to Germany is one thing and sending it is another. . "Diplomatic "notes' pass between one government and another through channels that are peculiar to statecraft only. They are safeguarded from prying eyes, handled only by I the most trusted employees, and are ' sent between various points in such a complicated code disguise that even should they fall into improper hands it would be practically impossible to j decipher a single word. "The correspondence that has been passing between the'"'United States t - and Germany is handled in a manner typical of all such communications, with perhaps even more than the usual rigid care to prevent any leakage. "A "note' in diplomacy is by nc means a brief affair. It is always sent ^ by telegraph and in code. When a note goes out from the State department at Washington it has already passed through the hands of several | men. In the first place, it has beer prepared in rough form by the president himself, at least under his adf / "* '.%% ministration. In this form it has been read to the cabinet and discussThen tho nrociHnnt moboo or exact draft. "This is examined by the counseloi of the State department, who maj * suggest some verbal changes in ordei to bring it into strict conformity ^ ith r diplomatic usage. If there are an> changes, they are made with the approval of the president, and the last V 1 revision is examined by him. "It is turned over to the chiel l> clerk of the State department with in structions to transmit it. The code system most commonly employed bj the government involves the use ol numerals, so that when a note is finally in cipher form the message consists of a series of figure groups. ^ "The note now being arranged is , in a series of numerical groups, il * goes through another change. The figures in each group are transposed in accordance with a certain key This is an additional check against i. unauthorized translation. Should s State department note ifall into th? hands of a person who had in some \p manner possessed himself of a copj i of the code, he would still be unabl* i to decode it for want of the key tc the riddle. 3 "The use of various keys is understood'by prearrangement between the department and the ambassadors anc k ministers to whom such communicant tions are sent. The code copies themi saK'PS are L-ont nn/for Inelr on/1 l-n< , at the department in the chief clerk's L safe. iv "The code message goes first tc t New York, where it is received in the i office of a cable company. From this 1.4 time until it reaches^ its destinatioi it is in private hands. Under ordiS nary circumstances there are well , defined routes by which messages art < ^ cabled from the United States to va ? rious parts of Europe. Since the F war, however, some of these routes have been interrupted and others - changed. The government leaves ii v. to the company to get the message rto its destination in the most direci and speedy manner. "In the case of the note of Ma> 13, the message went first to Rome There the apparently meaningless Y't groups of figures were relayed tc $ Vienna. From Vienna the message travelled to Berlin. Italy was at that time still a neutral. V "Arriving in Berlin, German tele Pfi graphers receive the arithmetical puz [ zle and turn it over to Ambassadoi Uu- Gerard. Now the task of decodinf ^ me Qucuuiem oegms. 1 ne^ amnassa <!or has expert assistants for this pur J pose, just as in the case of the Stat< [|: department. He also has an identi If jy cal set of code books and. further |%- more, knows the key. The expert: 1ft;- ^et t0 work on the task of makin? * sense out of a tumble of numerals I Almost invariably his is a longer tasl than putting a message into code, anc it is often subject to delays causec by an error in the transmission of i single figure. "At last, however, the ambassadoi A has the note before him in plain Eng lish. He may discover, as in th< case of the original note on the Lusi tania case, that he Is instructed t< carry it to the German foreign offic< or^ * ??<> rl i f tr\ tlna minictnr f/"?* fArnio-r Inuu vuu iv vv W4tv iiiiiiiovvi iui i vt affairs. Thereupon he puts it in hi: . pocket and goes straightway to th< p . foreign office, where he secures an in 1 terview with Von Jagow. "To minister Von Jagow he read: : the note. It is still in English Whether Von Jagow has a per'ec imderstanding of that language is 110 I a matter of record here. At any rate having read the note aloud. Ambas v ador Gerard takes his departure leaving the copy in English at tN r foreign office. Von Jagow turns thi over to his translators, who nut th< document into German. Then, a . ? last, it is ready for official eor.sidera tion by the ministry, the kaiser. 0 whatever part of the German govern t ment is handling such affairs at th< i. : > ?* i GULLS SAIL WHALK CARCASS. I Their Fluttering Wings Cause it to! Speed Fast Steamer. Skippers from many ports and many seas brought their vessels safely into New York harbor, and brought, too. yarns of adventures, grave and gay. There was. tor instance, the carcass of a whale, which probably is scudding toward the South Pole by now. propelled by the wings of thousands of birds, which are feasting thereon. The whale carcass, fully 2f>0 feet long, according to the mar1 iners, was seen by passengers and crew of the Olinda, of the Munson Line, which arrived from Cuban ' ports with forty-five passengers and a general cargo. It was fifty miles off Cape Henry ; j that the lookout first heard a roar ' like that of a gale beating against I the reefed sails of a suffering schoon1 j er. To port he saw an amazing ' sight. With a yell he caHed the attention of officers, crew and passen'jgers, and they ran/to-the rail just as a weird vision passed oy. 1 It was the carcass of a whale pro1 pelled by the fluttering and whirring of wings of thousands of gulls, beating frantically. Within a few min; utes?so the passengers who talked 6aid, and so the crew echoed?the 1 carcass of the whale was a faint silvery speck on a deep blue tropic sea.?New York Herald. r Place Had Changed. i "Where's the old blacksmith shop . where I picked the hot penny off the | : anvil?" "The blacksmith organized the ' Gluetown Garage and Gasoline cor A oaO A fV>o of no L- onH u'PTlt i puratiuii auu oviu kuv tfbWit -- ~ to Europe." r "Where's the old oaken bucket f from which I sipped many a cool . draught?" "The health department has it in a glass case as a horrible exhibit." j "What's become of the little red : schoolhouse?" . "Mrs. Van Coin bought it to use [ as a hospital for her Pomeranians." "How about the Common where t we used to play one old cat?" i "The Confederate league has i bought it and we're going to have ? a game there as soon as we get Hal r Chase to jump to us." ? "The old tavern is the same. I sup> pose?" "No; Billy went out of business . rather than cater to the motorists' i taste for drinks with seven kinds of [ liquor and vegetables in them." "The postoffice?" "Not much changed: but Joe Gimp isn't postmaster any more. This i postcard craze drove him blind trying to keep up with his reading." , "Isn't anything the same as it ; used to be?" / "Vp? lust one. When you go to , get shaved you'll find that the bar. ber's conversation and his razor are . exactly the same as they were when i you went away." Rebuked. 5 He was deeply in love with his 5 wife, but aw.fully careless about t money matters. He started away on a long business trip leaving her t short of money, and promised to send her a check?which he forgot ' telegraphed: to do. The rent came due and she > "Dead broke. Lanlord insistant. > Wire me money." * Her husband answered: t "Am short myself. Will send check in few days. A thousand kisses." Exasperated, his wife replied: "Xever mind money. I gave landlord one of the kisses. He was more than satisfied." present time. "The recent answer of Germany in the I-.isitania case came to the Unit 5 ed States by way or Copennagen ana t London. It was delivered to Ambas. sador Gerard by the foreign office, t written in German. The ambassador i first had to turn it over to a transi lator. who put it in English. Then it i went to the cc'e experts at the embassy. who translated it into a series r of arithmetical groups. It was then - put in the hands of a cable company. ; "The cable company elected to - transmit the message to Copenhagen. > Denmark. From Copenhagen it was ? relayed to London. Now. all ordinary t cable communications between Ger> many ajia the outside world is cut ? oft'. England is a belligerent and - there is a strict censorship over telegrams. 1'ut England recognizes, of ? course, that the ambassador of a neu. tral power has a perfect right to comt niunicale with his government, t "An examination o? the code mes. sage by censors shows plainly the - character of it from the addres^ and . the signature. It is a message from 1 Gerard in Berlin to Bryan in Wash< ington. So England promptly per0 mits tlie message to go through. It t reaches X w York by cable. Ft0:11 -! New Yo:i. it is telegraphed to the r | State department in Washington. -{where experts reduce it from the ? code to plain English."? i JK>LL BRINGS TRAGEDY. [f Child Reaches in Flames for Toy and JJ Sets Mother Afire. A playmate, teasing Louis Poiairtz, j! three years old. while the children l| were playing in front of tlje Poiairtz II home, at 758 Hegenian avenue. II Brooklyn, the other day, tossed the II child's rag doll into a scrap paper II bonfire. The child, in reaching in- II to the fire to save the toy. lost his II balance and fell into the flames. In- II stantly his flimsy clothes were ablaze. II The child screamed with pain while II his playmate fled in terror. The mother, hearing her child's II cries, ran out of the house and at- II tempted to beat out the flames with II her hands. Her garments, too. I caught fire, and the mother, aflame. I ran about the street hugging her suf-j fering child to her breast. Mr. Pol-j airtz, working in the yard, was at- j tracted by the cries of passers-by and, with the help of Patrolman Mandt, wrapped the mother and the baby in heavy coats and extinguished the flames. Mrs. Poiairtz ana ner nuie suu were rushed to the Kings county hospital where it is believed the boy will die.?New York Sun. The Purchase of Alaska. Russia owned Alaska by right of discovery in 1741 and by continued possession. It was of little value to her and not coveted by any other nation. It is not definitely known when the cession of Alaska to the United States was first proposed, but in 1859 the United States offered $5,000.000 for it and the offer was declined. In 1866 it began to be feared that England might get possession of it and the negotiation for its purchase was renewed, resulting in Russia's acceptance of an offer of $7,000,000. This was the real purchase price, but our government nav $*>00,000 additional Cifo i f&vt vv t/?,- T- - for certain land grants and concessions held by Russian trading companies. The treaty of sale was signed March 30, 1867; ratified by the senate April 9 and proclaimed by the president June 20. But it was yet to be paid for and the house of representatives balked a little at the price. The country was popularly supposed to be a land of polar bears and icebergs and its value in gold and coal was unknown. The house finally passed the necessary appropriation bill July 27, 1868, and the deal was closed. Kindly feeling towards Russia for friendship for us during the civil war had much to do in securing the passage of the appropriation bill.?Indianapolis News. Blather and Bother. A certain lady in Paris gives periodical dinners at which assemble most of the best known wits and litterateurs of the day. The rule of the mansion is that while one person discourses no interruption whatever can be permitted. It is said that Mr. Renan once attended one of 'these dinners, and being in excellent vein, talked without a break during the whole repast. Toward the end of the dinner a guest was heard to begin a sentence, but he was instantly silenced by the hostess. After they had left the table, however, she at once informed the extinguished individual, that, as Mr. Renan had now finished his conversation, she would gladly hear what he had to say. The guest modestly declined: the hostess insisted. "I am certain it was something of consequence," she said. "Alas, madam." he answered, "it was. indeed: but now it is too late. I should have liked a little more of that iced pudding." Companions in Misfortune. Two men sat at the same table in a restaurant of the cheaper sort in Berlin. They were strangers to each other, but not too proud to talk. "Hard times." said one, putting down regretfully his empty beer glass. "Very hard times." said the other as he speared with his fork a last morsel of sausage. "I have seen better days." "And I." "Only a year ago. too." "Just about that." "I mean in my business." "Precisely. My business is gone clean to the devil." "The same with mine." "And what is your business, may I ask?" "I am a dancing master?a professor of the fox trot and allied arts? and you?" | "I am a professor of international ! law." \ot Informed of Demise. j Teacher?Where is the Dead Sea?! Toinmie?Don't know, ma'am. ; "Don't know where the Dead Sea is?" j "No. ma'am. I didn't even know, any of them was sick, ma'am."? I Yonkers Statesman. j i n High Price Paper J " ' J& AT *? A -r vyj j| f D^? I low niua 1 I? ftNF IIP ftllR SPFriAITIFS 1 iu viiu vi wii vi uvuiunuv ;| - E Another Shipment 1 Just Onened ' 1 Our regular customers | know what this state- 1 if ment means, but if vou 0 have not been buying I your box paper of us, |1 you had better come in J| and see for yourself. 1 We have an arrangement with M our jobber to take the entire line 'If of drummers' samples. We get I paper worth from 25 cents to M $1.50 per box/ and sell from .|| 10c to 40c per box. You can m find every style and shape here. 1 We get all the new styles, but if you want the newest styles you have to select early. .'. .'. .'. .'. |j . . = ^ BETTER COME TO-DAY I ' R AA Af A III iici aiu uuun ului uu MAIL ORDERS SOLICITED I | II i i F-n f D 1 c r III! I eiepnone dv-l. pampeig, ?. m ^