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Show American Gibraltar in Manila Bay WASHINGTON. About two years hence If passengers on steamers entering Manila harbor and passing between be-tween the several small Islands that guard the principal port of the Philippines Philip-pines should inquire with indifferent interest a3 to the name and use of a small dun-colored rock, hardly discernible discern-ible any distance away and looking much like an Irregular shaped .houses boat floating on the ocean, they will be told that they are looking at El Fraile Island. Perhaps, also, they will be told that the little island, scarce two hundred hun-dred feet square, is the most diabolically diaboli-cally effective fortification of its size In the world. For eighteen months army engineers have been directing the work of fortifying forti-fying what is intended as the backbone or keystone of the strong defenses in Manila harbor. They have resorted to a plan suggested by a young engineer officer after their superiors had thrown up their hands in despair at the prospects pros-pects of attempting to fortify the rock which showed its head above the water for 60 small an area. It involves the leveling of the Island almost to the surface sur-face of the sea and erecting a structure struc-ture in the form of a battleship deck stripped for action. The artificial fortifying forti-fying will be of steel and cement. The defenses of Manila bay entrance present the most picturesque as WC11 as the most complete set of fortifications Uncle Sam possesses. Stretchw across the mouth of the harbor are I series of islands. The largest of theao Islands and the one which will be used as a base of supplies for the others la Corregldor, from which the first hostile gun was directed against Admiral Dew ey's fleet In 1898. On Corregldor the array Is Installing a 24 company post. Warehouses of a capacity to contain supplies for a whole year for 20 000 men have been built. This island i8 considered impregnable from the sea side. ' . But the most interesting of all the Islands is the El Fraile, at present a tiny rock rising in a pinnacle 180 feet above the bay. The shape of the Island will, as stated, be changed by means of steel and concrete walls which will extend below the water line, to resemble resem-ble the hull of a battleship. ' No section sec-tion of the island ground will be exposed ex-posed to fire. It will be surrounded and covered over by steel and concreto walls, about fifty feet thick on the sides and almost solid steel on the top. On the surface of this "deck" two turrets tur-rets will be placed, each turret containing con-taining two 14-inch guns. Besides the four large guns; four six-Inch rapid-fire rapid-fire rifles will be placed in embrasures at the seaward end, and like batteries of small guns will be placed at other points of advantage. Quarters will be provided for only a sufficient number of men to work the guns and machinery. machin-ery. The cost of this powerful little fortress, the most dangerous fort of Its size on earth, will be $3,000,000, guns, walls, turrets and all. Treasury Building Isn Overcrowded WHEN the small army of architects and artisans has finished the ' work now in progress on the United Uni-ted States treasury building, the beautiful beau-tiful old structure will show the first material change since 1869. Architecturally Architec-turally it still will represent a. pagan temple. Indicating, many folk say, the American people's worship of money. But visitors to the nation's capital who have not seen the treasury in 40 years will find some . changes for efficiency and economy. The nucleus of the present building, located where President Jackson, irritated irri-tated by the procrastination of congress con-gress In choosing a .site, put his hickory hick-ory stick down with a thump and exclaimed, ex-claimed, "Put 'er there) on that spot," will remain unchanged, but the double-stone double-stone staircase leading up to the colonnade colon-nade on the Fifteenth street side has been torn away. Architects said It spoiled the beauty of that side of the building, plans for which were drawn by William T. Elliott, a surveyor, who came to Washington In 1813. The 30 granite monoliths, each of which cost $5,500 and weighs 30 tons, now stand in an unbroken row. They are said to be the finest example of their kind of the stonecutter's art It required ten men, working 60 days, to produce each of them, and a solid train of 30 flat cars brought them to Washington Wash-ington from the quarries in Massachusetts. Massachu-setts. To make more space Inside the building build-ing all the files of letters and documents docu-ments will be stored In" the old coal vaults under the lawn on the Pennsylvania Pennsyl-vania avenue side, and new coal vault3 are being built on the side opposite the White House. The completed building, as It stands, represents three stages of construction. The" nucleus, located by Jackson, was finished in 1842. The south wing was finished in 1864. The north wing, finished fin-ished in 1869, is on the side of the old state department building. The long colonnade of brown stone, erected in 1864, deteriorated in the southern climate and was replaced by the present granite monoliths a little more than a year ago. Big Job -to Fill the Supreme Bench THE seven Justices of the Supreme court of the United States, led by the venerable Justice Harlan, called on President Taft the other day to pay their respects. This annual call of courtesy reminded the president of a duty which is uppermost in his mind and occupying it almost to the exclusion ex-clusion of any other consideration, for the president Is called upon to remodel re-model the highest tribunal in the land. The president has appointed two Justices already Hughes in place of Brewer, who died, and Lurton in place of Peckham of New York, also dead These deaths removed a Republican and a Democrat, and their successors were of the same political faith. Since then Chief Justice Fuller, a Democrat, appointed from Illinois, has died, and Justice Moody, a Republican, Republic-an, of Massachusetts, has resigned because of ill-health, and President Taft will have to fill these two vacancies. va-cancies. In addition to judicial fitness, poll-tics poll-tics and geographical qualifications must be considered. Moreover, the president is brought face to face with a task which will be of tremendous importance to the United States for the next generation. With political beliefs changing over night and greater great-er zeal in governmental supervision being urged by the dominant party, the court which President Taft must reconstruct will pass on all the changes in the organic laws of the United States which may be made by congress. The problem will not be solved for the public until after congress meets, as it has been definitely announced an-nounced at the White House that no Judicial appointments would be sent to the senate until the Monday following fol-lowing the reconvening of congress. Society Soldier Out at Fort Myer ALBERT J. MYER. the American army's gentleman, soldier, is no longer wearing the uniform of an enlisted en-listed man. He has left Fort Myer. the army reservation named for his illustrious grandfather, and has gone back to Boston. Not only was the passing of the dandy soldier sudden and unexpected, but the manner of his going sensational. sensation-al. Mr. Myer, who was a corporal in the signal corps, has been In the guardhouse since August. A recent verdict of a court-martial which tried him sentenced Corporal Myer to be reduced to the ranks, to be confined at hard labor for three months and to forfeit $50 of his pay. The court-martial was a little slow and Myer escaped Its Imprisonment penalty, having been discharged in the meantime. He was given an honorable hon-orable discharge and the army knows him no more, i Myer created the biggest sensation j the army has had for a long time. He I tried to get into West Point, but was barred by age, and from the naval academy because of his size. Then I he enlisted in the cavalry, but that did not suit his liking and he trans- ferred Into the signal corps, where he was, promoted to be a corporal. At Fort Myer the dude soldier was the envy of his comrades and a particular par-ticular bore to his officers. After a hard day's drill, or the attendance on some other military duty, Corporal Myer would go to his bachelor apartments, apart-ments, have his valet rub him down and then don the habiliments of a society man. That night, perhaps, his commanding officers would find him in the same ballroom with themselves. The youngster rode and walked with the fairest of Washington's belles, and had money to .burn. He never did anything to excite the anger of his superiors except to play the dual role of a soldier and a dandy, too. |