'FRISCO MAIL NEWS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 9071, 13 February 1901, Page 4

'FRISCO MAIL NEWS.

(Per R.M.S. Sonoma at Auckland.) SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 24. AMERICA'S MILITARY SYSTEM. Consideration of the Army Re-organisa-tion Bill m the United States Senate brought out the fact that, m the opinion of many Senators, war between this country and some other foreign Power is not j regarded as outside the range of probabilkies. "We will be fortunate," said Senator Daniels, "If we extricate our- 1 selves from the complications we have got into m the Orient without needing an army of one hundred thousand men." A bitter fight was waged as to the propriety of giving the President power to increase the army, and Senator Bacon said, "I think we have fallen upon an evil day when a Senator can rise m his place m this Chamber and say that objections to giving the President power to raise large armies is uncalled for. Senators may scoff at it, but it is nevertheless a march towards empire. It is a great revolution to propose to eliminate for all time the volunteer system of our army, which this country has depended on since the beginning of its history, and to establish m its place a system of large standing armies." LONG-DISTANCE TELEPHONY. Much interest is roused m a patent which makes telephoning long distances simple. The . American Telephone and Telegraph Company has bought the patents of Dr H. L. Pupin, of Columbia College. The right covers the. art .of ocevn telephoning, and includes devices for sending messages over any length of land lines. It has been given out that the price paid was two hundred thousand dollars, with an annuity of seven thousand five hundred dollars additional. The new method permits the use of conductors of relatively smaller diameter, covered with insulating wire of moderate thickness, thus much lessening the expense formerly necessary m the construction of long underground circuits. The plan for a trans-Atlantic cable shows inductance coils to be placed at proper intervals, permitting telephonic conversation to be heard across the Atlantic. LEFT HIS MILLIONS BEHIND. Philip D. Armour, philanthropist and multi-millionaire, the head of the great commercial establishment, is dead. Mr Armour passed away at his home on January o. The cause of death was the heait, following an attack of pneumonia. He expected death, and had declared he was ready for it. The funeral services were held m the Armour Mission, estab.lishcd by Mr Armour, and were largely attended, especially by employees and people m humble circumstances, m whom Mr Armour always took, a lively interest, and whose lot it was his pleasure' to; brighten m many ways. The house of Armour is immensely wealthy. The meatpacking department alone does an annual business of a hundred million dollars. There is a grain business of half that amount, always conducted by the payment of cash, and Armour was practically the owner of a great railway system. Armour was intensely American. He wis 6 years old. His widow, son, and grand-children are heirs.