Show V R J News from Washington r Spelling Reform Order of the President Causes Agitation in Official Offi-cial CirclesDestruction of the Earth ProphesiedCondition of the Poor to Be Improved WASHINGTON Tliero Is cotiBldnraMo agitation agita-tion In olllclal Washington over the icccnt order K 1 by tho president directing the use of phonetic Flo t BimlllnK In all messages and other printed docti nirnts Ifcmtlng from the Whltu House In addressing Wlv l i address-ing tho order to tho public printer the president b cr has gono na far us he can to modernize orthography J p orthog-raphy Ho has Instructed the public printer to d follow copy and hid cabinet officer will of A 1 course full Into line They will huvo all the annual an-nual reports of division chiefs and other subordinates subor-dinates au well us their own prepared with the 71 words spelled us the president has decided they i b Hhould be The orthography advocated by Danker Matthews N I Mat-thews and In part approved by tho president n a while phonetic possesses tho combined advantage of bievlty It will save limo in writing and typesetting type-setting and will economize on tho printing bill In addition to tho use of the contracted forms thru and tho the past tense Is obtained by a sufllxcd t Instead of ed as dasht Instead of dashed and silent Hyllubles will bo dispensed with catalogue being upellcd catalog for example In contemplating tho Introduction of tho Improved system In the various departments the olllcluls shake their heads In despair and point to tho white haired clerks They appreciate the dllllculty they are certain to encounter Thoro Is a suggestion that tau stenographers employed In the departments will find It necessary to organize a night school to master tho new system The only encouraging part of the order Is that the modernizing process + is to bo gradual Should tho changes In spelling bo limited to easy stages of l 100 words at tho tlmo the stenographers and others who write tho letters and prepare tho departmental reports have some hopes of retaining their jobs and keeping out of an Insane asylum DOOM OF CITIES PREDICTED Prepare for shocks Prophet Edmund S Stevens of this city has prophesied a long series of dreadful catastrophes which will culminate In tho destruction of all tho cities of tho earth In eT tho year of our Lord 1982 h Mother Earth Is not of plumb according to ° j a this prophet and all the terrible earthquakes that havo occurred and are yet to como are duo to tho fact that tho earth Is gradually resuming its proper position When this stago of transition p transi-tion Is reached there will bo a now earth and anew i fi new heaven referred to in tho scriptures Tho prophecy followa CAUSE OF EARTHQUAKES Tho earth Is out of hor place or upright position It Is gradually resuming It Whenever r t thoro Is an accelerated or faster motion then In h that period earthquakes occur Wo aro now In ono of these periods from Mont Pelco 1000 tot to-t 1905 Again from 1925 to 1946 and again from 19C5 to 2000 A DIn D-In 1982 tho earthquake Is of such extent that all tho cities of all tho nations fall From 2035 to 3144 A D tho earth is in continual perturbation and in tho latter year settles to Its upright position This brings In tho now heaven and new earth EDMUND S STEVENS i Prophet Stevens proves all his predictions by an elaborate collection of charts which are Intelligible to him only WHYTE A MODERN SPARTAN e Senntor Why Marylands picturesque grand old man who is occupying the seat of gflJpi tho lato Arthur Gorman had a birthday recently and ho Is now In his eightythird year Whyto is probably tho most remarkable man In Maryland today Ho has never tasted a drop of liquor nor smoked and has never boon Insldo of a saloon g He is not a member of any club iiiiIiiIIIi Ho defended 60 alleged murderers and all were acquitted He always rides In an ordinary day car on iIilIll u passenger train and on tho street cars in a city Ho framed tho instruments on which tho unique government of the District of Columbia Is founded lIe lives outsldo of Baltimore yetis yet-is ablo to appear at a trial In Baltimore in tho morning and be in Washington in tlmo to answer to tho noon roll call of tho senate Twice chosen United States senator ho has also been governor mayor r state senator state representative city solicitor attorney general and state controller Ho was defeated for tho United States senate by Gorman and then succeeded suc-ceeded him Ho was a member of the Maryland legislature when Gorman was a lad in Howard county Ho began tho study of law while a boy sitting on bags of burlap in a commercial com-mercial house whoro ho worked from seven oclock in tho morning until ton oclock at night Ho has argued cases before courts In Annapolis Md New York and Boston within a period of two days Ho will never talk politics on Sunday lie is unquestionably a gentleman of tho old School TO IMPROVE CONDITIONS OF POOR Resident of fow clUes in tho country are moro proud of their town than are Washingtons Z1 but they have been deeply humiliated by the discoveries dis-coveries that have been mado recently by inspectors t inspec-tors authorized by law Within two or throo blocks of tho Capitol building thero are slums whero human beings old and young exist in great numbers In habitations habita-tions so small and vile as to stagger belief It has been stated that these buildings are worso t and more overcrowded than auy to bo found in New York or Chicago Since the agitation of j the question of housing tho poor It has been found 1 that tho old army barracks which did duty away t back In 1861 62 63 04 and 65 have been constantly con-stantly occupied by hordes of tho colored population popula-tion Without any sanitary provision whatever It Is needless to argue that such sections of the capital I My aro hotbeds for tho breeding of pestilential E disease and moral depravity But recently there has been an awakening to these conditions and laws have been passed which authorize tho destruction of dens of Infamy and L degradation In the nations capital The work has already been begun by tho cleaning out of tho alloys and tho removal of tho tottering domiciles miscalled mis-called houses Their present occupants aro to bo scattered In different direc lions and helped to secure sanitary abodes In localities better suited to their spheres in life Tho commissioners aro now armed with authority by law and it is not likely that they wlll bo dilatory under the pressure of tho press for Imme diate action Therefore doubtless the days of Queens court Chinch Row Naves How and 0 Street alleys are numbered 1 OUR BLUEJACKETS BEST SHOOTERS j American sailors aro tho best target shooters t S shoot-ers In tho world according to our naval officers While admitting that the record of tho British yt ship llrulzors six pounders said to have made 40 hits out of 64 shots shows excellent work naval officers hero aro not Inclined to give the palm to tho British navy for accurate shooting Tho record of tho American navy shows that at least in ono instance 22 hits out of 25 shots ware mado by a six p under In discussing tho work of tho Urulzer naval officers say that before they can make any accurate or valuable comparison between British and American marksmanship It will be necessary to know the size of tho target the rate of speed at which It was moving and tho actual tlmo In which tho Cl t shots were delivered de-livered The targets used by tho British navy t are considerably larger than those usod on this side of tho water Tho latest official statement regarding target practice which covers tin navys work of last year shows that since 1898 time size of tho target hat S 3 been reduced tho rapidity of tiring has been Increased and tho percentage ol hits to shots risen from 40 to between 75 and 90 per cent in main battery guns The target has been reduced from 100 by 25 feet to 21 by 8 feet and S U while a 12Inch gun was given five minutes for each shot it has this year mado a record of three shots and three hits within one minute Naval officers point out that with tho great improvement in tho rapidity with which guns on American warships are loaded and discharged there has come a proportionate accuracy in shooting so that 12 and 13 Inch guns aro not only ilrcd 15 times as rapidly as formerly but tho percentage of hits has risen proportionately making the efficiency of the Individual gun at least 30 times what It was before |