Show s ta v washington gossip interesting bits of news picked up 1 here and there at the national capital the de armond williams clash it washington there ever lived a man whose appearance pe arance would suggest that the blood had become tame and ready to wait on tha judg ment that man Is david A de ar mond representative in congress from missouri yet it was the self con talked apparently absolutely impassive david de ar mond who walked over to the desk of john sharp williams not long ago called him a liar received the retort courteous in the way of a blow and then returned in kind at a distance the missouri representative senta tive looks like a man of 25 at close range he looks like a man of 76 most people see him at a alsi tance the gallery distance and alons or the con ot a dirig ible balloon tor the use of the army and tor which the signal service of the war department asked proposals were issued the other day by gen alien the chief signal officer the specifications are quite elaborate and are framed with the view of securing the best possible balloon which the latest de in aerial navigation can produce the balloon is to be of silk inflated with hydrogen capable of carrying two people weighing pounds with pounds of ballast must be capable of making a speed of 20 miles per hour in still air though a lower speed may be proposed at reduced cost down to 16 miles or a higher speed up to 24 miles at an en cost it must make an endur these long range observers read with absolute amazement the statement that the Is 63 years old to account for the act ot the seeming ly self contained one in calling his colleague a liar there are people tc declare that it was not de armond who used the shorter and uglier word it was missouri there it something in this doubtless david A de armond Is a lawyer one of the best so it la said in the congress he was appointed one ol 01 the managers on the part of the boune in the impeachment proceedings against judge swayne of florida everything that de armond says apparently is measured but ne less there Is no halting in his speech and what he says Is well worth bening to and weats more it Is Us bened to de armoond Is the last man in the house of representatives who would be named as one likely to be engaged in a brawl let alone to bring on the brawl by a heated word out of his own mouth opportunity for airship inventors ance flight of two hours at an average speed of 70 per cent of the trial requirements and must maintain its equilibrium without change of tion by the aeronaut one of the features of the alons that will appeal particularly to inventors of limited financial means la that relative to the silk to be used in the construction of the balloon this la one of the most expensive items in the machine and it Is stated that tho material for the gas bag will be fur nashed by the government the big nal office has procured some samples ot silk of great strength pliability and closeness of texture it weighs 5 ounces per square yard and has a minimum breaking strength of 62 pounds per inch width this material requires no varnish but Is to he covered with an aluminum alon which will not only make it gas tight lut will by reflecting the rays of the sun prevent a considerable losa of hydrogen such as occurs when an ordinary balloon is suddenly exposed to the increased temperature of the sunlight upon emerging from a cloud says soldiers want canteen THE abolition ot the canteen has made it impossible tor the united states army recruiting station to keep the arm and navy supplied with able bodied men this Is the drift of the report made by capt johnson hagood of the coast artillery service who was detailed a year ago to look into the reason why it Is so difficult to induce men to enter the army and gayy the publication makes a volume of printed pages profusely allus grated the illustrations convey in the most graphic manner an idea of the slender proportions to which uncle sams regular army Is now reduced in point of numbers A full page frontas piece depicts a company of infantry starting from fort niagara on a 21 day practice march with nine men in the ranks although the authorized strength was 65 men and some of the other pictures show an even worse state of affairs capt hagoodd hagoods report Is based upon a large number of reports secured by him from the dlf ferent army posts the report also undertakes to show why soldiers will not stay in the army some ot the answers being based on demands for restoration of the can teen less frequent change of station fewer court martl als building gyana slums and increased pay it is shown that the only other great nation maintaining an army of any size by voluntary enlistment great britain pays her soldiers more than the united states although the cost of living Is much less in the case of the british soldier the report shows the changes that have occurred in recent years in the expense of living at the army posts how the value of the allowances has shrunken bow traveling expenses of officers with families have increased through abolition of passes and reduced rates of tare how more frequent changes of post involve heavy household expenses and capt hagood points out that it is now very difficult to obtain suitable material to fill the numerous bacan cles at west point why candler was turned down THE one democrat in the bouse of representatives who has a thorough right to growl at speaker joseph G cannon la representative senta tive ezekuel samuel candler jr of mississippi representing ita wamba noxubee tasho mango and some other counties ot the good old south era bbate in the last congress eze klel samuel made a speech in favor of a bill appropriating a large sum of money for the improvement of the river mr dandier came within an ace of biking the bee as famous temporarily at least as private john alien a fellow elp plan made the town tupelo there were prose and song n equal measure in the s plea for the he wanted a hug sum of money but prose and song failed of their purpose standing the fact that the house had a light and an agreeable time of it for several hours while the loial held forth in fais A laal La JL now as or mr candrera Cand lera right to growl at speaker cannon the re chieftain wants to keep down the appropriations this winter for some reason or other he has an idea that the agricultural department Is likely to have some special pleaders plea ders for before the money committee on ag rl culture representative candler was a member of athla committee in the last congress and he wanted to be a member of it in this congress mr cannon however remembered the plea for the millions for the improve ment of the river that the had made last 5 ear with a perfect face and a perfect faith and camo to the conclusion that a man who could ask for millions as another man might ask tor hundreds would bo too easy a mark tor the beguiling ones of the agricultural department mr cannon therefore refused to give mr candler the place on the ag rl cultural committee and gave him ter instead in refusing the aarl cultural committee berth to the the speaker made the only refusal exception to the rule of granting requests for committee places made on behalf of the democrats by john sharp williams candler alone was singled out for denial and today to day he refuses to be comforted |