The Brooklyn Daily Eagle from Brooklyn, New York • Page 10

i 10 THE BROOKLYN DAILY EAGLE. NEW YOBK SUNDAY, FEBBUAKY 3, 1901. NEW EAST RIVER BRIDGE, Showing the Practically Complete Land Span on the Brooklyn Side, the Anchorage and the. Towers. PROGRESS OF THE WORK ON NEW EAST RIVER BRIDGE MR.

BLAGKWELL PLANNED TO REPEAL THE CHEER, But a Realizing Sense of the Mag' nitude of His Job Over came Him. arrangement will cause the strand during construction to hang from 12 to 16 feet above its final position and afford an opportunity to adjust each wire separately to exact parallelism with a standard wire. As the end of one coll is reached It will be spliced to the end of another coil and the wire made continuous throughout the strand. The wires In each strand will be lashed together In an approximately cylindrical shape, lowered several feet and united to form the cable, which will be built In a vertical plane and afterward moved transversely to give it the required cradling. Aa explained during the process of cable making in previous suspension bridges, including the Brooklyn Bridge, the strand wires have all been pulled across from one side of the river and the cable making has been performed by a limited number of men in traveling cars suspended alongside of the cables.

This, however, has been vastly Improved upon in the case of the new bridge, where the wires will be pulled across from both sides of the river. It has been so arranged that two strands of each cable, or eight strands in all, can be simultaneously made and allow a practically unlimited number of men to work on them at once by means of the footbridges which form the working platform under each cable for its full length. For this operation it will require four sets of machinery and will so expedite the work on the four cables that they will be built more rapidly than ever before thought practicable. It is expected that the principal cable machinery will be located on the Manhattan anchorage owing to the fact that there will be more room at that point to operate, but as a matter of fact both anchorages will be used as workshops. The weather will also play an important part in making the cables.

In calm weather the work can be carried on without interruption, but It will almost entirely cease during high winds. The cables at each anchorage will be attached to the forty steel eye bars, fourteen feet long, which are built in solid masonry. These bars are now in what are termed well holes, which will be walled in with granite blocks the same size used in building the anchorage, after the cables have been attached. It is estimated that the total length of outer cable from the center end pin of one anchor chain to center end pin of anchor chain In the opposite anchorage at mean temperature without superstructure load will be 2,385.08 feet, inner cable length 2.985.06 feet. The elevation of the cables in the center of span at mean temperature without the superstructure will be 161 feet and with the superstructure will be 156 feet above tide level.

The delay in finishing the steel work, Chief Engineer Hildenbrand told an Eagle reporter, was also delaying the work of the Roebllng Sons' Company. The latter were prepared to start stretching the cables for the foot monds have been found elsewhere in the world in India, in Brazil and in the Ural Mountains but there is no such organized method of mining them as in South Africa, and tie yield is comparatively small. The Kimberley mines were opened in 1867 and since that time more than worth of diamonds have been taken from that Bmall tract more in number and In value than had ever been found in the world before. "During recent years there have been new deposits of gold and silver discovered, new mines opened and new methods invented to treat ore. The supply, has kept pace with the demand.

Since 1S73 there has not been a single, diamond mine discovered and the output of the Kimberley. mines is giving out. It is not nearly so great as it was fifteen years ago. The supply has fallen behind the demand. Bearing these facts in mind, it is easy to see why the price is constantly advancing.

"Beside this natural increase in value from the causes I have described, there is another which has influenced the price of diamonds per. carat even more. This Is the cutting. Fifteen years ago the idea in cutting diamonds was to retain size. They were universally cut to retain the greatest possible weight; In the old days the rule was that the cut stone was 60 per cent, as heavy as the rough.

Since then the standard has gradually changed from size td beauty. Rough stones are no longer cut as large as possible, but the central idea In their cutting is to make them as beautiful as possible. Under this growing idea the percentage of weight retained has gradually decreased until to day it la no more than 40 in place of the 60 of former days. The stones after cutting are now Just as valuable and even more so than formerly. It is easy to see that this accounts for an increase in value of 50 per cent, by weight over fifteen years ago.

"In regard to the value of diamonds I have always said that there was as much difference In them as in men. I have sold stones for $20 a carat, and I have sold others for $2,500 a carat. It Is in this wide range of value that the judgment of the diamond expert comes into play, and his trade rises into a protest sion. "The most valuable diamonds are those known in the trade as fancy stones. They are stones of pronounced coloring and brilliancy, which are desired because of their rarity.

Diamonds occur in every conceivable color and tint. I have handled a sky blue 6tone of one carat weight which was worth $8,000, and I saw one in London of a deep ruby color of njt more than one half a caTat which could not be purchased for $10,000. These are the top notch stones and you would not find more than one or two of them in looking over 100,000 stones. They are the most valuable jewels in the world. Not more than 5 per cent, of the stones which are cut are perfect.

The most frequent faults are those of color. After these come those of texture, and the most frequent blemishes are carbon spotB. "Diamonds, though commonly regarded as the most precious or jewels, are not at present, weight for weight, as valuable as rubies and emeralds. They are not so hard in texture as the diamonds, nor so durable, nor, perhaps, so permanent in value, but at the present time they are slightly higher priced. The diamond far exceeds all other stones in popularity.

It Is always placed at the head of the list of precious stones, which includes ruby, sapphire, emerald, opal and pearl. "Although the diamond fields are at present confined to very small areas, there is no reason why other similar fields may not exist in other parts of the world. We may yet awake some morning and find ourselves reading in the newspapers that diamond fields as rich as those of India and Brazil have been, and those of South Africa now are, have been found and thrown open to the public. The latter, of course, 1b not likely to occur, for they would unquestionably soon fall into the hands of a few. and if the mines were prolific enough to produce more gems than could readily be marketed, we might some day have to fight the introduction of a diamond standard, just as we have lately battled over the introduction of another standard.

"Diamonds have been found in many parts of the United States, as, for Instance, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, California, Idaho, Arizona and Indiana. They have been found in loose material among deposits of gravel and earth, associated with garnets, zircons and particularly with gold, In the search for which they have generally been discovered. We have already had one diamond craze In this country, but It was based upon misrepresentations in other words, a swindle. I refer to the once well known, but now almost forgotten, 'Arizona diamond which was the subject of much discussion and considerable gnashing of teeth SIMOOUOOISTHtUE DF THE WORLD'S DIAMONDS leges, the degree of doctor of philosophy from anther college and the degree of master of arts from his alma mater. The degree of doctor of.

philosophy was also conferred upon him by the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama, whose faculty was composed exclusively of Southern Democrats, many of whom had served in the confederacy. Mr. White explained the operation of the new election law of North Carolina, which makes It impossible for another colored representative to be sent to Congress, as follows: "The present election law w.s adopted in February, 1899. Beside opening the door for the fraudulent counting of election returns, it places all the machinery of election in the hands of the white Democrats, and makes it hopeless to look for justice for the negroes of the state. Under this law every white or black, can register, but the evil lies in the way the votes are counted, those in control having complete possesion of the voting booths from the time they are opened until the result of the balloting is announced.

The law was put in force for the purpose of giving to the Democrats the possession of the legislature so that they could adopt the constitutional amendment, which is to make permanent the disfranchisement of more than 50.000 negroes of the state. This amendment proposes to put an educational qualification on every voter of the state. It declares that every voter must be able to read and write the constitution of North Carolina, with the further provision that if on the 1st of January, 1867, he was a voter, or his father, grandfather or any of his ancestors was voter on that date, he shall be eligible for the voting franchise. The amendment also provides that if a person complying with these requirements registers between the date of the adoption of the amendment and July 1, 1908, he shall forever thereafter be an elector, notwithstanding that he may be illiterate and unable to read the state constitution. This lets In every white man in the state, and knocks out every colored man in the state who cannot read and write, as there was not a colored man in North Carolina in 1867 who was allowed, under the law, to vote.

This will have the effect of disfranchising about one half of the colored men of the state, aggregating about 60,000. It cannot be truthfully claimed that it is proposed to adopt this amendment so as to prevent negro dom ination.vas there are nearly two and a half white men, women and children, for every negro man. woman and child in the state. The amendment to the constitution does not become operative until July 1, 1902. and of course cannot be tested in the courts until that time." In addition to driving Mr.

White out of politics, the election law and proposed constitutional amendment have forced him to leave his native state. Mr. White proposes to take up his residence in Washington and practice law here. Should the courts declare the constitutional amendment to be unconstitutional he may return to North Carolina. In response to the question of whether he expected to see any more colored men in Congress.

Representative White said: "I think we will have more colored Representatives, but it will he some time to Incompletion of Steel Work Prevents Construction of Four Cables. HOW CABLES ARE TO BE STRUNG Foot Bridges to Be Used Are Bemark able Pieces of Engineering Skill. It was expected that the steel work on the land epan botween the granite anchorage an'l the steel tower on the Brooklyn side of the New East River Bridge would by this time be so far advanced that the John A. Koeb ling's Sons Company of New York, who have the contract for the construction of the four bridge cables, could start work. William Hildenbrand.

the chief engineer for the company, was asisociated in the same clasti of work with Colonel Washington A. Roeb ling in the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, has been unable to proceed, as is his desire, oiviug to the incompletion of this steel work. Engineer Hildenbrand, with his' staff, is hard at work daily in the office established by the company at Kent avenue and South Sixth street, where they are drafting the necessary plans and solving the mathematical problems to be used later as the work they have contracted for advances. As indicated in the Eagle, Engineer Hildenbrand confidently expected that about thin time the steel work would be so far advanced that his force of workmen would be on the spot and pushing the work of stretching the cables for the footbridges, which i3 absolutely the first work to be accomplished before the work of constructing the bridge cables proper can be commenced. This preliminary work has all been planned ahead of time and will bo carried out to the letter, in spite of some reports to the contrary.

The work of constructing the four cables from which the superstructure will eventually be suspended will be a radical Improvement over the work of a similar character on the Brooklyn Bridge. In the latter case, one small cable was used as a traveler, over which two strands of the wire making up the cable was sent across. The work was necessarily slow and tedious. Later, In binding the strands, cradles were used by the workmen. This dangerous, as well as Blow element, has been entirely eliminated in the work on the new bridge.

The cradles in which workmen were suspended, as it seemed, midway between heaven and earth will not be used. Their place will be taken by what are virtually four footbridges and on these the workmen will be enabled to obtain a Arm foothold and perform their labors expeditiously. These footbridges, though only temporary affairs, will be remarkable pieces of engineering skill and will cost in the neighborhood of $200,000. They will be abandoned and removed when the bridge cables are completed. In technical terms the foot bridge will consist of a suspended structure of three spans, one of 1,000 feet between the two towers, and two of nearly 600 feet each between the towers and the granite anchorages.

The middle span will virtually consist of two narrow parallel double deck bridges, 67 feet apart on centers, and connected by cross bridges 1(10 feet apart. Each of these twin bridges will have a framework about 18 feet wide and 15 feet high in cross section, which will consist of a series of transverse braced timber bents longitudinally braced to make alternate towers seated on two temporary cables placed II feet apart and each composed of three 2', i inch steel wire ropes. The double upper platform will be carried on the tops of the towers, and the sills for the tower bents will form the floor beams of the lower platform. The platforms will be from 3 to 4 feet wide between centers of hand rails and continuous for the whole span, Alter all the strands have been made the tipper platforms will be abandoned and each pair of lower platforms will be connected by additional 5 foot cross walks, 20 feet apart, and the two parallel bridges will be connected by trussed crossed bridges 58 feet long and 160 feet apart. All the cross bridges will extend about 5 feet beyond the outer edge of the working platforms to form turnouts and all the working platforms will be supplied with a 1 inch guard cable.

The aggregate strength of the four cables supporting the working platforms will be 2,500 tons, and each will be fastened at either end by a serew adjustment to a temporary transverse box girder set across the well In the main anchorage pier. These cables will be suspended about 5 feet below the permanent main cables in the center of the span and will be from 5 to 15 feet above them from the towers to the anchorages. On each tower there will be three timber towers placed at an equal distance apart rising 17 feet above the center of the main permanent cables and surmounted with two pairs of carrying sheaves to support the endless rope used in strand making. The upper working platforms are sufficiently below and within the positions of the inner strands to enable the men on them to reach over and work conveniently on the strands and to clear the latter when they are finished and lowered to place. The outer strands will be made 32 inches beyond the inner strands, and in that position will be out of reach from the platforms, so that movable brackets or cantilever platforms will be provided to support the workmen employed on them.

On the ton of each tower there will be a working space platform 107x36 feet in extreme dimensions. The floor will be laid around the cable saddles and will be supported by cross beams on top of the main girders and surrounded on all sides by a wooden railing. Over each pair of saddles a wooden tower will be built for the carrier sheaves of the strand making endless cable, and for the trolley, with a hydraulic lifting apparatus to raise the completed strands, transverse, and lower them to their' required positions in the main saddle. During the cable making the main saddles will be set near the river sides of their beds. The necessary wire for the main cables is In the course of manufacture at Trenton, N.

and will be 3 16 of an inch in diameter and will have a strength of 2,000 pounds per square inch. Each wire will be made In 4,000 feet lengths and will be shipped to the bridge site on drums. In each cable there will be 10.000 wires laid straight and parallel to each other and will be first grouped into urands of 37 to each cable. Each strand will contain 280 wires and will be temporarily wrapped. When 37 strands for each cable are made, then the temporary wrapping is removed and the 10.000 wires are grouped together in a cylindrical cable.

Each cable is held in form by heavy clamps of eteel weighing about 400 pounds each. These bands will be placed 20 feet apart and will secure the suspenders to the cables. These ispenders consist of four strands of 1 Inch twisted steel wire rope, and to each of these suspenders the end of the floor beams will be attached. The same is used on the Brooklyn Bridge. The tloor beams and the entire suspended structure will be thus suspended from the cables proper by the suspenders.

When completed, the cables will be sheeted with a casing of sheet steel about one sixteenth of an Inch iD thicknesn, over Japping, In order to shed the water. In this respect they will differ from the cables on the Brooklyn Bridge and be more durable than a woven wire covering The construction of these massive cables will be the most interesting and difficult of all the work on the bridge that Is to bring the Boroughs of Brooklyn and Manhattan intp closer communication. The operation oPVcable making will consist of an endless rope rriftiyed in both directions by a steam engine placV in the construction plane of each cable an passing around shenves at the anchorages, will carry a bight of the cable wire across the river. The loops at both ends will be received on shoes, which will rest on legs several feet back from the anchor pins. This IN THE SCRAP BASKET 'rtOW.

A Point Missed by McKeown Iiawyer Got Wrong Committee, Newspaper Men Their Story. (Special to the Eagle.) Albany, February 2 The people of Greater New York will never fully realize how near they came this session to being disintegrate. The measure that would have made Brooklyn herself again and left New York to fight Tammany alone was all drawn up and arrangements were made for its introduction in both Houses of the Legislature, when Assemblyman Waldo R. Blackwell became suddenly conscious of the magnitude of the contract to which he was about to subscribe his name. and tearing it into a thousand pieces, breathed easier again.

Waldo R. Blackwell is one of the new young men from Brooklyn who will make himself known because of his earnest endeavors to serve the people from the standpoint of a real lover of the public itself. It is true that he was a little shocked when he discovered that the man who was given to him as a clerk was calmly picked out for him by the organi zation and he had nothing to say in the mat ter; but he has already demonstrated the fact that he believes himself capable of acting without suggestion, and now has in his mind a prodigious measure which will reduce the expenses of the state many thousands of dollars at one fell swoop If it passes. The details are not to be known as yet. Mr.

Blackwell is a lawyer and Is studying the question carefully before launching it into the cold, unsympathetic world of the State Legislature. For a long time Mr. Blackwell pondered on the abuses to which Brooklyn has been subjected. He weighed in his mind the mtuif individual measures and plans that have been brought forward to relieve his home borough. He did not believe they really could meet the situation.

Then the thought occurred to him that he might settle the whole matter by restoring to Brooklyn her rights and privileges as a city by divorcing her from her ungrateful and unthinking husband Father Knickerbocker. A New York County Sena tor said if Mr. Blackwell had the "nerve" to Introduce the hill in the Assembly he would put it into the Senate box. The hill was drawn. The Eagle correspondent found Mr.

Blackwell alone in the Assembly chamber one afternoon, his head in his hands, staring the far beyond. He started as the corre spondent approached. Around him were scraps of paper in heaps. The correspondent stooped and picked up a few scraps. They bore the title "An act to repeal the chapter known as the consolidation act, Thus died the most sensational bill of the year.

HUb (111 LUC IO.UJ111C11 IflWD UOkVV, Somehow, General Anderson Lawrence, me VDUiuiauuur ui tut? uaso uuj not be dispensed with by any administration. He has a memory for bills that makes him a walking directory and record book. One has but to mention tne name or wie uuuwr and the purpose of the bill and OenefSl Lawrence, as he is called, can give the number or at least the date of introduction as easily as the cleric intones tne pecuiini nun musical chant which stands for the roll call of members on a party vote. And unlike any other officer of the state, Lawrence may be discovered at work from 9 in the mornllig until onfl nnTneHme i late at night, and It 1 not make believe work either. There is no man in the Assembly quicker i.

ninf rti ntnh sUn made by txie majority than John McKeown, the Kinga County leader 01 tne Asseniuiy mmui But "John," as every one calls him. owed one point he scored last week to the Republican leader and his friendly adversary on all measures, Jonathan P. Allds of Chenango. The hill to legislate out of office tne two Democratic clerks in Judge Williams court was about to be advanced when McKeown objected to it as irregular. Leadp Allds admires a quick opponent, and ne looked up rather surprised, but encouragingly to hear the point.

McKeown, failing to have the bill returned to committee on question of constitutionality, was about to sit down when he caught a look from. Alld that plainly told him there waB something wrong with the bill. Allds not noticing that McKeown was about to give up the fight an4 let the bill advance caught the speaker attention and said: "There is something wrong with the bill, hut I did not think my friend was quick enough to catch it." McKeown was ready on the instant an4 asked that the bill be referred back becauee a word was left out in the first section. MP. Allds shook his head with a chuckle and Speaker Nixon overruled the objection.

McKeown now became flurried for the flrat time and tried another objection on punctuation and the omission of another small word. Allds again shook his head and tnM time laughed at the puzzled discomfiture of the generally quick wltted McKeown. Finally the Kings County man sat down vanquished, and then Mr. Allds said: "The fact is, Mr. Speaker, that a whole line has not been underscored in this bill which should have been, and the bill must go back to the committee." The Democratic leader was so crestfallen that he forgot to look grateful for the magnanimous fairness of Mr.

Allds. Assemblyman Bedell has had his revenge There was one man in the lower House who never ceased to rub in the veto of Mr. Bedell's first bill every time he got a chance. That man was Assemblyman Cooley. Mf.

Bedell got his bill through quicker than any other measure this year, and it was pretty well understood that it went through because every body believed Governor Odell wanted it. It heat Assemblyman Cooley's measure to have the state help build macadam roads in his township and so Cooley had lots of fun when Bedell's bill came back from Mr. Odell with a blue ribbon around it and a large veto message. Bedell was standing in the Assembly lobby one day last week when the Governor's secretary came along with a blue ribboned message. "What's that?" he asked.

"Cooley's bill vetoed." "Great Scott," said Bedell, while a beatlflo smile stole over his handsome face, "this 1 a cinch." He followed the messenger down the Assembly aisle and stole up to the Speaker and took the blue ribbon from the veto message. Then hi walked up to Cooley in an ostentatious way and presented the ribbon, while he remarked loud enough to be heard all over the chamber: "You won second prize and a blue ribbon all right." Cooley's was the second measure to be vetoed. There was a young lawyer in Albany about a week ago who was sent up to plead upon an Interesting meaurse. the details of which the newspaper men had not been able to, gather owing to the secrecy surrounding it. The young attorney was not inclined to help the newspaper men out, and oven shunned them to an almost annoying extent.

It was discovered, however, that he came to argue the measure before a certain committee and he was invited later into a committee room where he delivered a nicely worded speech to a most intensely interested committee the members of which took copious notes and assured the attorney that he had made a lasting impression. It was not until he wae informed later on in the day that tho real committee did not meet for a week and no saw a detailed account of his argument In the papers, that he realized how obliging he had been to the correspondents. bridges, but were unable to proceed until the steel work had been completed. This worn is some montns Denina and wniie the steel men continue at work Engineer Hildenbrand hesitates at commencing, through fear of accidents. Some preliminary work, such as erecting the platforms on the tops, of the towers ana placing other timbers is being done.

A stairway has been built to the sum i mit of the Manhattan tower and workmen are erecting a similar set of stairs in the Brooklyn tower. These stairways will be used exclusively by the men who will be engaged in constructing the bridge cables. 'the structure has been cleared of all the wooden superstructure used by the steel contractors and the employes of the Roebling Company are making the preparations possible for their own work. One of their engines has been placed in position on the Brooklyn anchorage, and as soon as the platforms on the top of the towers are completed the twenty four half ton cast Iron saddles to be used for the foot bridges will be placed In position. There will be eight of these saddles placed on the top of each tower, two for each cable.

Four others will be placed on each anchorage. These saddles are on the ground and ready to be placed in position when it is possible. The wire for the footbridges is also ready to be delivered and the necessary sheds or work shops are In the course or erection on both sides of the river. Also before the work of stretching the cables for the foot bridges it will be necessary to remove a quantity of the ateel work overlapping the anchorages which would obstruct the cables. These steel girders have been only temporarily placed In position and can be readily removed.

When these obstacles are removed and everything is ready for the building of this footway suspended high in the air and stretching across the river, a lighter laden with a big reel of two and a quarter inch steel wire rope will be started from the Manhattan shore. As the boat progresses the wire will be unreeled and the slack allowed to rest on the river bed. However, before the work of stretching the wire is started one end will be permanently fastened at the anchorage and lifted to its place on the top of the tower. The boat will make four trips and then the ends at this side of the river Will be raised to the top of the tower and hauled into position and made fast at the anchorage. The raising of the cables will be done at such a time so as not to impede traffic, and it Is estimated that this can be accomplished in the case of each in ten minutes.

A fifty power horse engine will be used in this work. The aggregate strength of the four footbridge cables wilt be 2,500 tons. Delay on the Manhattan side in obtaining the necessary space is being experienced through the failure of a commission to secure the property. On this account the contractors who have the contract for the steel work for the approaches which is nearing completion will have difficulty in finding space to store the completed work. All the steel work on the land span on the Manhattan side is considerably in advance of work of a similar character on the Brooklyn side, and it remains for the Commissioners to make some move toward securing the necessary land.

As none hns practically been secured it will necessarily retard the work. The Commissioners on the Brooklyn side have been more active in this respect and considerable property is already in their hands and they are negotiating for the balance. On Friday the Commissioners held a sale and sold to the highest bidders the buildings and all the materials of a number of vacated dwellings on Wythe avenue, between South Fifth nnd South Sixth streets, and also others on South Fifth street, which were in the line of the bridge approach. TO DISCUSS BANKRUPTCY LAW. Annual Convention of Clothiers' Association May Make Some Important Becommendations.

The annual convention of the National Clothiers' Association will take place at Sherry's, Manhattan, on Wednesday, beginning at 2 P. M. It will be followed by a banquet, tendered by the Local Clothiers' Association to the visiting delegates. A number of Important matters will be discussed at the convention, one of which will be the weakness and Inadequacy of the present bankruptcy law. Recent bankruptcy cases wherein clothiers were Interested revealed the existence of flaws that are in apparent contradiction to the spirit of the law.

and It will probably be one of the duties of this convention, representing one of the largest industries in the country, to submit to Congress certain recommendations to amend the present law so as to accord more protection to the creditor and provide more adequate penalties for fraudulent debtors. A number of honorary guests, mn of prominence in the affairs of state and trade will deliver addresses at the banauet. ELKS BAT BEEFSTEAK. Last night about forty members of Brooklyn Lodge of Elks held a beefsteak party in the lodge room, 123 Schermerhorn street. During the feast an entertainment was furnished by Brother Jacob B.

Doblln, who was the committeeman in charge. The entertainment included songs and stories by C. T. Wel gand. Brother Charles Gartner of the Or pheura Orchestra in cornet and flute solos and other artists.

The feast was enjoyed by a number of the famous Turkey Club of Manhattan, in addition to the members of the Brooklyn Lodge. They pronounced the steak the "best ever." A pleasant part of the proceedings was the presentation to Exalted Ruler Charle3 Cranford of a medal as the champion steak eater. The medal was of the material used on fire hat fronts, nnd was em olderod with the name and number of the IflfclRe. with the date on which it was given. ThJWIth Riven In Jest, It was really a valuable souvfcjiir.

and a proof of Brother Cranford'B populwity. NEGRO REPRESENTATIVE'S LUST SPEECH IN CONGRESS Henry George White's Strong Plea for Recognition of the Rights of His People. DISFRANCHISEMENT OPPOSED. Impressive Scene in the House Manner of Running Worth Carolina Elections Described. Eagle Bureau, 60S Fourteenth street.

Washington; February 2 A scene of dramatic impressiveness was witnessed in the House early this week, when a colored Representative from the South made what will probably be the last speech to be delivered In Congress by a negro for many' years to come. An. intelligent looking man, tall and commanding of figure, and with fine copper colored complexion, stood in the main aisle of the House and pleaded' for recognition of the' constitutional rights'of his people, and protested with almost tearful voice against the manner in which blacks of the South were being robbed of their privileges as citizens. The speaker was Representative George Henry White of the Second North Carolina District. He called his speech a valedictory from the fact, that it was bis last appearance as a speaker in Congress.

He has been forced into private life by the passage of a discriminating election law in North Carolina which permits the whites of the state to count the ballots as they see fit. Although White was elected to the present Congress by a large Henry George White, Congressman From North Carolina. majority and his district is normally Republican by 4,000 votes, he saw the handwriting on the wall and last fall declined to accept the nomination which was unanimously tendered to him, believing that it was Impossible for a colored man to be elected to Congress under the new election laws. The result of the election proved the logic of his reasoning. The man who finally accepted the nomination a white Republican and a former member of Congress was declared by the Judges of elections to have been beaten by 10,000 votes.

Owing to the rather peculiar facts surrounding his case Mr. White was listened to with great attention, and he delivered an eloquent appeal In behalf of his race. Representative White is a comparatively young man, having been born 49 years ago at Roslndale. C. He was.

fortunate In having parents able to educate him, and he attended the public schools of bis state and later was trained under D. P. Allen, president of the Whltten Normal School. He afterward entered Howard University, at Washington, aud was graduated from the eclectic department of that Institution in the class of 1877. At the age of 26 Mr.

White had been admitted to practice law before all the courts of his state, and has since made the law his calling. He took an active part in state politics, being elected to the House of Representatives of the State Legislature in 1880. at the age of 28, and in 1884 was sent to the State Senate'. In 1886 he was elected solicitor and prosecuting attorney for the Second Judicial District of North Carolina. He was a delegate to the St.

Louis convention in and voted for McKinley. He was elected to the Fifty sixth Congress by a majority of about 3.500 votes. Mr. White's abilities have been recognised by a number of Institutions of learning. Ho has the degree of doctor of law from two col Their Weight Over 3H Tons and More Than One half Were Found and Cut Since I 867.

PRICES HIGHER NOW THAN EVER. LucTwig Nissen Talks of Recent Developments, Discusses Value and the Sources of Supply. In all the world there are to day about $1,000,000,000 worth of diamonds which have been taken from the earth and are in the possession of man. If these stones could all be collected in one place and measured cubically in a mass, the room, chest or other receptacle which contained them would hold the greatest intrinsic value which it would be possible to put in the space which they would fill. Noth ing else upon earth would approximate In worth this grand total of worth of scintillating light.

Of the total, considerable more than one half has been found and cut since 1867, the date of the opening of the Kimberley mines, in South Africa. More than 95 per cent, of the annual product is from these mines. What is the intrinsic value of a diamond? If every diamond in the world should be lost, would the world suffer? If the three and one half or four tons of brilliants which now make up the world's wealth in diamonds were packed Into a piano box or a large cask and dropped overboard In mid ocean, would mankind be any the less happy or contented? It is difficult to say that there would be any permanent loss in such an event. The economic use of this, the hardest of known materials, is narrowly limited. Its chief usefulness is to cut other dlamr.nds, and if all disappeared at once the necessity would be done away with.

Without attempting to analyze the impulses of the human mind which have, since the earliest infancy of the race, driven it toward exterior and artificial decorations; without trying to predict how long the developing intelligence will retain that taint of barbarism, or when, in the movement of the centuries, glittering baubles will no longer be sought, we must at present accept the economist's definition of value and admit that diamonds "fill a felt want." Instead of diminishing, this want is at the present time gradually increasing and, psychological questions aside, diamonds mt.y properly be considered as having an intrinsic value. One of the most interesting facts in regard to diamonds to day is that they are much more valuable than they were five or ten years ago. Ludwig Nissen, president of the Manufacturers' Association, and one of the leading diamond merchants of New York, who is considered an expert in all questions pertaining to diamonds, recently told the following interesting facts concerning these most sought for and valued jewels for the Eagle: "The price of diamonds," said Mr. Nissen, "has been steadily rising for the last five cr six years. Many who are not familiar with the situation have ascribed the advance in prices to the South African War, but In my opinion those who hope for a reduction when that war is settled will be dlsappolnt ed.

I do not regard the siege of Kimberley ana tne temporary closing ot tne diamond mines as having anything whatever to do with the recent rise in the price of diamonds. "We must look for the causes in a deeper and wider condition than those produced by war. The reason for the advance in price we will find in the great law ot supply and demand. Twenty years ago diamonds were a luxury for the rich; now they are almost a necessity of the pocr. That statement may sound paradoxical, but when we think of it carefully it ceases to be so.

"Most persons do not realize the fact that the sum total of the material wealth of the world, that wealth which Is the produce of metals and minerals taken from mother earth, is constantly increasing. Very few realize that during the last twenty years it has Increased at a rate far beyond anything ever dreamed of before. This wealth taken from the earth is not dissipated nor destroyed. In the end it goes to make up the wealth of the people of the earth. During this period of twenty years the people of the earth have grown immensely wealthier than they ever have been before and they can afford to be more extravagant.

Now comes the curious fact that the extravagance of people of all classes wnen it seeks luxury seeks to acquire diamonds. The young clerk, having saved a little money, wants a diamond nin or diamond ring. The young wom an ot good family Is not happy until her fingers are decorated with the sparkling stone. Even the servant girl does not wish to marry unless she can wear a diamond engagement ring. This extravagant taste nas creaieo tne demand.

It Is not a harmful extravagance, but it accounts for the gradually Increasing snlpa nf stones. "Now we come to the supply. More than 95 per cent, of the diamond supply comes from the mines about Kimberley. That Is the only place in the world were diamond mining Is carried on systematically. Dia about the year 1870.

A rew Individuals in California started the story that diamonds and other precious stones had been found in great quantities In a certain territory. They exhibited specimens of their rich find, among which was a supposed diamond weighing lus carats. Companies with high sounding names were organized. They succeeded in selling stock certificates to the amount of $750,000. and they even went so far as to have a bill Introduced in Congress, which passed May 10, 1872, In the interest of the diamond miner.

After the innocent lambs had been fleeced to the extent of three quarters of a milion it struck them that it would be a good idea to investigate the mines. They did this with the result of finding that they had thoroughly roasted, tor tne 108 carat diamond proved to be a piece of and the immense and beautiful rubies were nbthing but ordinary garnets. "The story of the world's famous diamonds Is as interesting as the most alluring novel. Few of them there are which have gained a name as individual stones whose history Is not one of crime and bloodshed. Many of them have Influenced the course of empire to a marked degree.

Others have disappeared from sight for long periods of time only to reappear and become again the envy of queens and empresses. The history of such stones as the Pitt or tne Kohlnoor are books in themselves, but they have very little to do with the trade of the diamond merchant." A NEW ART GALLERY. The J. C. Evans Collection to Be Sold at O'Brien's.

The collection of oil paintings from the gallery of J. C. Evans of Philadelphia, with a few additional pictures, will be sold at the new art galleries opened by John Fell O'Brieii at 33 and 35 Liberty street, Manhattan, on Thursday and Friday afternoons, February 7 and 8, beginning on each day at 3:15 o'clock. There are nearly a hundred examples both of foreign and American artists in the collection. Among those best and favor abjy known for their excellent work of enduring fame are P.

J. Clays, Berne Bellecour, Jules Dupre, Jules Worms, E. Isabey, A. Pas sinl, E. Verboeckhoven, F.

Willems and F. Ziem. There are also many works by American artists, such as A. T. Brlcher, J.

H. Bolton, A. F. Brunner, George Inness, Edward Moran and Thomas B. Craig.

A varied and interesting assortment of landscapes, marines and interiors will be offered at the auction. ABOUT BROOKLYN PEOPLE. John Sutherland and son James of Brant ford, are the guests of Mr. and Mrs. George LeBaron Hammond, 200 Washington Park.

Charles Willard Raine and Leverett Curtis De Land of Brooklyn arc students in the Pennsylvania University. M'3C Florence E. Mitchell of Hancock street, in comnanv with Mr. and Mrs. Ed ward H.

Tlndale of Manhattan, Is spending the winter months in Columbus, and Palm Beach, Fla. The engagement is announced of Miss Cecilia Mosback of Greene avenue and Ambrose T. Murray of Brooklyn, who is well known In social circles, and a drummer in the Twenty third Regiment. Miss Mosback Is also "well known in social circles, and made a tour to California about a year ago. ABMY DEATHS IN HAVANA, Washington, February 2 Major General Wood at Havana has Informed the War Department of the following deaths since his last report: Private Frank Hensler, Company Second Artillery, Columbia Barracks, on the 27th instant, ot yellow fever, and Corporal Thomas Vancey, Company Tenth Cavalry, at Manzanlllo, on the 28th Instant, from an accidental gun shot wound.

ARRIVAL OF THE LTJCANIA. Tho Cunard.Llne steamship Lucanla arrived last evening. She had a rough trip, but was able to make fairly good time. She came into port covered with ice. Captain Thomas JDutton, formerly of the Umbrla, made his first trip In command of the Lucanla.

Captain Horatio McKay, her former commander, is spending a four months' leave in Italy. come before another member of my race can win a seat in the House of Representatives. I hope that in the near future there may rise up here and there colored men with such ability and degree of statesmanship as to convince their associates, white and black, that they are fit men to represent them In i Congress. Such men, however, will be very unusual, possessing more than the usual allotment of information, talent, push, pluck and diplomacy." In his speech of this week Mr. White explained as follows the' operation of the new election law of North Carolina, and how it resulted in Halifax County.

"I might state as a further general fact that the Democrats of North Carolina got possession of the State and local government since my last election in 1898, and that I bid adieu to these historic walls on the fourth day of next March, and that the brother of Mr Kitchin will succeed me. Comment is unnecessary. In the town where this young gentleman was born, at the general election last August for the adoption the constitutional amendment, and the general election for state and county officers Scotland Neck had a registered white vote of 395, most of whom of course were Democrats, and a registered colored vote of 534, virtually if not all of whom were Republi oona and so voted. When the count was announced, however, there were 831 Democrats to 75 Republicans; but in the town of Halifax, same county, the result was much more pronounced. "In that town the registered Republican vote was 345.

and the total registered vote of the township was 539, but when the count was announced it stood 990 Democrats to 41 Republicans, or 492 more Democratic votes counted than were registered votes in the township. Comment here is unnecessary, nor do I think it necessary for any one to wonder at the peculiar notion my colleague has with reference to the manner of voting and the method of counting those votes, nor Is it to be a wonder that he Is a member of this Congress, having been brought up and educated In such wonderful notions of dealing out fair handed justice to his fellow man." A. B. A. NOT APPOINTED AS BISHOP.

Waterville. February 2 The Rev. Father Charland of this city has received a cablegram from Mgr. Savelli Splnota, secretary for the Oriental rites at Rome, announcing that the report of the appointment of the Very Rev. M.

C. O'Brien, vicar general, as Bishop of Maine, was absolutely untrue. The message Is as follows: "The news absolutely false. No decision. (Signed) Splnota." Father O'Brien himself had not received official confirmation of the news of his appointment and, after waiting several days, he requested Father Charland to make Inquiry if the report wa3 well founded.

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