Japan insists that Hawaii must remain an independent country. She says that as soon as the Panama or Nicaragua canals are opened the importance of the Sandwich Islands will be greatly increased, and that it is necessary to the welfare of Japan that her independence be preserved. The Japanese minister is reported to have declared that "annexation must not be recognized. Japan must oppose it to the utmost." In spite of this the Senate is going right ahead with the business of the treaty. In the mean while the Secretary of the Navy is making all the ships at his command ready for service, so that we shall not be altogether unprepared to defend ourselves if occasion arises. * * * * * There is not very much to tell in regard to the strike. No settlement has been reached, and there is not much likelihood that the miners and masters will come to any understanding at present. We told you that some of the miners had stood out against the offer of better wages, and refused to go to work until the condition of their fellows throughout the country had been improved. All the miners have not been as brave and loyal as these men. In some parts of Western Virginia, such excellent wages have been offered to the men, that they have weakened and gone back to work in spite of the fact that the labor agitators have been constantly urging them to remain firm. They have been telling the men that they will secure great benefits if they will only hold together. At one time there was some hope that the men might submit the whole matter to arbitration, but this seems doubtful. * * * * * Another report about the use of the X rays in the French Custom-House has reached us. This time the rays were applied to thirty packages which had arrived by parcels-post. It took but fifteen minutes to examine the whole of these packets, and their contents were discovered without the necessity of breaking a seal or untying a string. The amusing part of the story is that the thirty persons to whom the parcels were addressed had been asked by the officers if there was anything dutiable in them, and all had replied in the negative. The confusion and trouble were therefore great when forbidden articles were found in twenty-seven out of the thirty packets. The French officials are very strict about such matters, and enforce heavy fines for attempting to bring things into their country without paying duty on them. The senders had had no idea that the X rays would be used on the packages, and had arranged them so that on opening they would appear to contain nothing dutiable. One basket was labelled fruit. Had it been opened in the ordinary way the officers would have found nothing but apricots and plums, unless they went to the trouble of emptying the whole basket out--a thing that is seldom done. When the X rays got to work on this packet a pair of patent-leather shoes was revealed, hidden away amongst the fruit.