N the presence of the Emperor of Germany and a notable gathering the steamship Imperator, of the Hamburg-American Line, was launched recently at Hamburg. The new liner, which establishes new standards for size, luxury and-it is claimedsafety at sea, will enter the North Atlantic service early next year. The Imperator's length of 900 feet and her tonnage of 50,000 render her the largest ship in the world. She is to be followed by two sister ships of about the same size. The Imperator is built with a double bottom, extending her entire length. In addition she will have coal bunkers at the sides, practically giving her a double skin, rendering her a ship within a ship. The Imperator is also equipped with many transverse bulkheads whose doors are controlled by hydraulic power from the bridge, and can be closed simultaneously within a few seconds by touching a lever. A complete system of electrical communication extends throughout the ship, thus placing the officer on the bridge in instant control with any part of the ship. Her owners declare that she will carry sufficient lifeboats of the latest de

sign to provide ample accommodation for passengers and crew. The wireless apparatus on the Imperator, it is asserted, will be the most powerful of any ship in the world and will be in constant service at all hours of the day and night, to receive or send messages.

To drive this immense steel vessel it will be necessary to install engines capable of developing 70,000 horsepower. The Imperator is not expected to establish a new time record for crossing the Atlantic. She will be driven at an average speed of about 221⁄2 knots an hour. She will have four propellers driven by the turbine engines.

Probably the Imperator's most unique feature will be a magnificent swimming pool, reproducing with great fidelity a luxurious Roman bath. This cabin is two stories or decks in height, and surrounded by a broad gallery. The ceiling of the bath is carried out in marble and bronze. For those desiring special privacy, beautiful suites are provided, including a private veranda or deck. These ocean "apartments" as they may be called, consist of drawing room, bed room and dining room.

STEAM MOTOR TRUCK

THE

HE motor truck shown in the illustration was made by its owner for less than twenty dollars. All its parts were gathered together from discarded scrap iron. It is of ten-horsepower, with two simple engines working at right angles, in locomotive style. The maximum speed on a level road is twelve miles per hour. It has low speed for a heavy pull or for hill climbing. The weight of the machine, with necessary coal and water for its operation, is one-half ton. The inventor uses his device to saw his neighbors' wood and to haul produce.

Automobilists, in their modern machines, stare in wonder as they pass the strange looking vehicle on the highway.

A FLOODED SEWER THAT BURST THROUGH A MANHOLE INTO THE STREET ABOVE. AT LOS ANGELES, CAL.

There is a joy in constructing one's own machines that the man who buys does not experience. At first thought the impression is obtained that this steam motor truck is something for nothing. Reflection will show, however, that its inventor put into it a good deal more than merely so many parts, and so much labor. labor. He had to have the knack, the ingenuity, the skill to do this. The point, however, that the thing is there to do, and can be done by the man who has the eyes to see, and the patience to execute, is the one striking thing that every one should dwell upon when considering a piece of work of this sort. It must have been a very slow process to accumulate the parts.

MEXICAN FOREST

RAILWAY

MEXICO has only re

cently entered on a period of industrial development, as prepared by the installation of a comprehensive railway system. As, however, the coal mines of the country proved insufficient to supply fuel for the operation of these railroads, the immense forests covering the heights, especially in the State of Michoacan, had to be drawn upon on a large scale, the more so as there was also a demand for lumber and railroad ties. This induced the owners of one of the largest estates, the hacienda San Joaquin Jaripeo, to construct a forest railroad, or rather a network of such, from the hacienda to Huingo Railway Stationa distance of 14.9 milesand a number of narrowgauged branches or feeder

A PIONEER TRIP DOWN A NARROW GAUGE MEXICAN FOREST RAILROAD.

lines radiating from the estate through the forests to be exploited, these latter to be shifted and moved as desired. Saw mills were installed at the hacienda itself.

The installation of this railway system was entrusted to a Pittsburg concern. As there was no skilled labor to be had, any points involving heavy excavation or extensive fills and blasting of rock were avoided as far as possible, a line being chosen with an average downward grade. of five per cent. This allowed locomotives of the ordinary type to be employed, while leaving sufficient tractive power to haul back the empty cars. The excavation work was done entirely by hand labor, by

using pick and shovel, with the aid of Vshaped dump-cars and of portable tracks, which outfits were light enough to be handled by a few men on any ground. On account of the abundance of fine timber, trestling was done wherever possible.

The only work done by the locomotive on the downward trip from the hacienda obviously consists of controlling the traveling speed of the train by its braking power.

The most noteworthy point about this railway system is that no extensive plant was required for construc

tion and that everything was built by unskilled labor through a wild and mountainous country.

BABY CHIMPANZEE THAT

ROLLER SKATES

SOME time ago Dr. William Howard Furness, Jr., of Wallingford, Pa., son of the distinguished Shakesperean scholar of that name, agreed with Dr. Carl Witmer of the University of Pennsylvania to make an exhaustive experiment to determine how far the reasoning faculty can be developed in apes. Dr. Furness went to the East Indies and selected from captured animals for sale there a young orangoutang and a baby chimpanzee. With these as his traveling companions he returned to America and established the apes in a small house on his estate at Wallingford, Pa. The result of a long series of experiments with the two young apes, both mere babies, goes a long way to demonstrate that the monkey tribe have reasoning powers.

The most interesting feature of the education of the apes, in the opinion of some visitors to the Wallingford home, is that they can articulate with perfect distinctness simple words like "papa" and "mama."

"Say papa," Dr. Furness will say to Borneo, one of the baby apes. Borneo will immediately close her not very prepossessing mouth and repeat the word uttered by her owner. In the same way she will say "mama" when requested. Simple requests such as patting the head of the doctor, or "making a nigger lip," or expectorating when instructed to do so, Borneo complies with at once and without the slightest hesitation. She will also select blocks of any color from a heap of blocks or pick out a certain letter from a mass of letters without apparent effort. Dr. Furness will ask the visitor to make the choice of color or letter so that there can be no possibility of Borneo merely following a set rule to select certain colors or letters in rotation. All these things Borneo has learned from Dr. Furness, his education having been directed altogether at Wallingford place.

Mimi, the chimpanzee, has accomplishments all her own. These accomplishments amuse not only herself but others as well.

Mimi finds her greatest delight in roller skating. She will cackle with joy when the skates are brought out and sit patiently while Dr. Furness fastens them to the feet. Then she will get up and skate furiously up and down the smooth zinc floor of the little room. Her agility makes roller skating come very natural to Mimi, she finding no difficulty in balancing herself.