The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, April 11, 1895, Page 6

THE SAN FRANCISCO CAi.L, THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 1895. CHARLES M. SHORTRIDGE, Editor and Proprictor. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: DAILY CALL—4#6 per year by mail; by carrler, 15¢ per week. SUNDAY CALL—#1.50 per ye: The Eastern CALL (Daily and Weekly), Pacific States Adver- tising Buresu, Rhinelander building, Rose and Duane streets, New York. APRIL 11, 1895 Come to the front. The pledge is the thing. Work with those who work for you. A dime well expended will earn a dollar. Make California have a market for home goods. United California means prosperous California. Sectional jealousies are buried with the dead past. The Pa in enterprise thi. teaching the Union Get ready to visit the southern fiesta and enjoy the springtime. The Half-million Clubis being wielded with the strength of a giant. Subscribe to the Joaquin road and get your name on the record. The Democratic losses in New Jersey did not surprise even the Democrats. Visalia is smoothing her way to prosper- avements. ng bitumino: There seems to have been almost as much steal as silver in the Carson Mint. ans turn out the fiestas ians take them in. Southern C: and Northern ( ‘The silurian who wishes to be spoken of gently as the dead, should quit his kicking. Tue Caun would rather use an olive branch than a rod, but it knows how touse both. Those whose only idea of thrift is a gelfish application of industry are making bricks without straw. n her ability to advertise herself it opear the coming woman intends te the stage. d to el The only cloud on the silver lining just now is the attempt of some brash Demo- crats to get in and hoodoo it. Don’t purchase any imported article un- i e there is no Californiaarticle | serve your purpose. It is now asserted that Arizona and New 1 ait outside the Union | until the silver question is settled. In the phrase ‘‘new, united, progressive Caflifornia,” the Half-million Club has given the watchword to the million. In comparison with the foolish people | who continue to live in the blizzard-blown East, every man in California is wise. The report that Gladstone will return to Parliament and m a speech implies wind. Californians who buy the products and manuiactures of California are' depositing in the savings bank that pays the largest d at the number of pro- f's e men Spril up all over the Btate. This is the season when daisies blossom. | A community that is not rasolute in pro- tecting its law from the contempt of the powerful will never have a law strong enough to protect its people. Bear in mind that every resident of the Pacific Coast is expected to do what he can to bring the next Republican National Convention to San Fran The Democrats of the country are about concluding that a gold plank is too nar- row and thin to support the enormouns weight of President Cleveland. We could suggest a number of very stately and imposing silurians who might be induced to take the place of the relics stolen from the Park Museum. Nobody would ever steal them. The portraits of pretty Santa Rosa and Petaluma girls, which the papers have been publishing lately, have set a few phi- losophers wondering why most of the pretty girls in the world seem to prefer being born in California. He who employs all his capabilities in the pursuit of money in the belief thatit is the only commodity exchangeable for happiness, will discover after he becomes rich that his money is the rainbow and his happiness the bag of gold that lies at its foot. As it seems likely that the theater managers of other cities will follow those of New York in abolishing billboard and lithograph posters, the newspaper will soon reign supreme and without a rival in the field of advertising. The proposed change is certainly in the direction of common- sense and good business, the only draw- back to it being the danger that advertis- ing supplements in glaring colors may become a necessary feature of all future journalism. General Campos, who is on his way with an army from Spain to Cuba, is unable to see any martial glory in the suppression of the Cuban insurrection, and he declares that he will shed aslittle blood as possible; but it is more than likely that if he finds any American adventurers among the in- surgents he will make them stand with their faces to the wall and their backs to a line of leveled rifles, and that he will not fool away any time easing the consciences of the executioners by distributing blank cartridges with those that are loaded. It is announced that Keeley hasat last succeeded in constructing a machine that can be worked by his mysterious vibratory force, and that he will soon exhibit it in the form of a 250-horse-power commercial engine. The sole motive power is said to be *‘a sympathetic force of outreach repre- senting in the full receptive circuit an ac- cumulation of polar sympathy of more than twenty-three tons when under rota- tion to be distributed to the polar and di- polar circuits” of his machine. Notwith- standing the many failures of the past vhere are quite a number of people who have confidence in Keeley, and the ap- proaching exhibit is awaited with consider- eble interest. THE LIARS COALLED DOWN. The policy of the CALL’s present proprie- tor is not only to do.all that he can as a journalist to assist in building up this splendid State, but to assist all other jour- nalists, to the full extent of his power, in that worthy aim. In doing this we have made a radical departure from the estab- lished ‘‘ethics’ of journalism in San Fran- cisco, in that we have given praise and other assistance to our contemporaries, by name, for acts intended to benefit the State. At the same time, we have an- nounced that we are just as ready to assail them when they deflect from the standard of right. It has fallen to the lot of the San Fran- cisco Post to be the first of our local con- temporaries to learn that the CALL can be as vigorous in chastisement as in praise. In its issue of yesterday the Post contained an editorial entitled “The New Bosses,” in which, after saying that the local politi- cal bosses had been disposed of in the last election, and after referring to the recent ordinance concerning bituminous rock, it says: “The ordinance does not suit two esteemed contemporaries, for the reason, it is said, that they are interested in the proscribed bituminous mines. Both are therefore engaged in rendering a chorus, the purport of which is that the Grand Jury should immediately indict all boodle Supervisors.” It is not our present business to an- nounce what local papers besides the CALL have opposed the infamous bituminous rock ordinance which Mayor Sutro has vetoed. It is sufficient to say that the Cary denounced it, and that it intimated a course which the Grand Jury might take to the credit of the City and the discom- fiture of those who may be in league to rob the City. If the editor of the Post, or any other human being, says that the proprietor of the Cavrw is directly orindirectly interested in any bituminous mine in the State of California or elsewhere, or that his oppo- sition to this ordinance is inspired by any selfish motive, he utters a deliberate and barefaced lie; and what is more, we charge that all who make such statements know in their hearts that they are liars. We hope that they will note the fact that we have publicly branded them as such. If this is not sufficiently direct, orif itis desired that it should be given that per- sonal turn which shall permit of no hiding behind the ample petticoats of a newspaper, | and which shall force the utterer of the charge to stand solely upon the ground which every courageous man should be glad to occupy, we should be pleased to be informed, in order that there may be noth- ing lacking in our attitude. “There are two or three things,” mlds“ the Post, ‘“of which these journalistic | bosses ought to be reminded. One is that Supervisors cannot be indicted for their votes.” True, true; but they can and ought to be indicted for any corruption which may lie behind their votes. *‘The law provides,” says the Post, *‘that when a man becomes a Supervisor he is guaranteed liberty of conscience so long as he exercises his rights honestly.”” Which means to say that a man’s conscience is not violated so long as he himself does not violate it. Enough of this. The Carrdoes not think that it has lowered the standard of its dig- nity in thus showing that the Post has placed itself in alignment with an ordi- nance that bore every evidence of a corrupt spiration on its face, nor in showing that after the ordinance has been irretrievably defeated the Post displays an eagerness to prevent a Grand Jury inquiring into the rottenness that may lie behind it. If the Post desires to show that it has an editor who regards himself as amenable to the rules of conduct which govern gentlemen, whether they be engaged in journalism or any other occupation, he may decide upon the course which he may think has been left for him to pursue. As for his attitude before the public in defense of public mat- ter that seems to have had a corrupt in- spiration, he has published it to the whole community. THF LAW OF WILLS, Among the enactments of the last Legis- lature there is one law at least which the legal and moral sense of the people of Cali- fornia most heartily approv It is the law which so amends the Civil Code as to provide for the formal recordation of mar- riage contracts as a prerequisite to their validity. It is high time in the history of California that such a statute should be enacted and enforced, and had it been so twenty years ago, much of the disgraceful and disgusting litigation of that period would not have occurred. The principle which underlies the public satisfaction with this enactment is, that instruments which are intended to affect the domestic relation and the rights of property arising therefrom should be sus- ceptible of exact and official proof as to their validity, and that to permit theirexe- cution without formality and their preser- than those so filed, certified and officially held be refused admission to probate. Thus nearly all probate contests and every doubt as to the genuineness of the wills would be forestalled, and thus also a double benefit would be done in that our courts would be relieved of an increasing mass of unsavory litigation, and decedents’ estates would in every instance be dis- tributed, and that speedily, in accordance with theirundoubted desire. Such a reform in the law is a crying need of our State and time. A SUPREME DUTY. The Supreme Court of the United States owes a supreme duty to the people in the matter of the odious and mow eviscerated income tax law. The duty is the rendition of a decision at the earliest possible time upon the vitality of that portion of the statute which has not as yet been either sustained or overthrown. ‘The importanceof a speedy and decisive opinion from the court of last resort upon this matter hasbeen doubly accentuated by what it has recently de- cided. 1 the officials who are charged with the execution of the law were in a state of doubt before, they are now in a state of despair. If the law as a whole wasun- equal, that which now -remains is doubly so and more than doubly inequitable and unjust. If the statute in its completeness placed a burden, with some pretense of uniformity, upon the virtues of saving and thrift, it now imposes the whole weight of its discouragement upon still higher vir- tues of enterprise and energy, upen the very genius and faculty of creating wealth. In the cause just decided the Supreme Court has not seen its way clear to pass upon the whole law and declare it asan entirety valid or void. We propose to sub- mit to that high tribunal a case so fairly, fully and directly presenting the whole act for decision as to make the avoidance of such a judgment impossible to the court without a breach of its solemn duty to the people, whose servant it should be. The proprietor of this newspaper has heretofore declared and now reiterates that he will refuse to pay an income tax, and will resist at every stage the effort to col- lect it under this unequal and now emas- culated act. This will be done with no design to oppose or impede the enforce- ment of the laws of the country which are valid, but solely with a view to test the | constitutionality of a statute which in all honor and good conscience is believed to be void. The cause which has been pre- sented already appears to have been such in form as not to compel the ¢ourt to an opinion upon the whole enactment. In short, upon that case the court could in honor, as it did in fact, postpone its ruling as to those parts of the statute upon which there was a serious division among its members. We intend to leave no loophole for such an evasion of the supreme duty of the hour with respect to this matter. This upas tree of legislation should have the ax of justice laid to its roots and not applied to its branches. It ought to be stricken down as a whole rather than de- stroyed piecemeal. The Supreme Court cannot afford to wield a pruning knife when the iniquity of the statute and the emergency of its attempted execution require the woodsman’s blade. Let the ministers of the law proceed to enforce this act upon its offered victim with all the speed they may and we shall feel proud to present our claim, as well as the claim of the great State of California, that this always unequal but now intensi- fied outrage in the form of legislation is void in its entirety and vain and bad and abortive altogether. A NEEDLESS ALARM. The Sacramento Record-Union sees serious cause for alarm because the Cali- fornia Debris Commission have issued licenses to 112 hydraulic mines to operate. The tabulated statement of the 112 mines includes an exhibit of the number of cubic vards of earth they propose to move, and the Record-Union says: ““They propose to move earth enough to fill Suisun Bay and raise the delta of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers to such an extent as to make a lake of all the country lying be- tween Antioch and the city of Stockton.” The ground is taken that this material will be run into the tributaries of the Sacra- mento River, and only be held back by un- substantial dams. The paper says also that the Caminetti bill is “simply an ingenious’| device for the resumption of hydraulic mining, utterly regardless of the rights and interests of the people whose property is to be destroyed by it.” The real fact is that no hydraulic mine can be legally operated in the drainage basin of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers unless it obtains a license from the California Debris Commission, and the law under which they were appointed ex- pressly stipulates that the tailings from such mines’ must be impounded. No per- mission to mine can take effect until the vation in privacy and secrecy is to allow endless opportunities for fraud, to the com- mission of which the temptation is pecu- liarly subtile and strong. The same common-sense which has applauded the statute requiring the record- ation of marriage contracts should have suggested to the last Legislature another law touching a kindred subject. The law of wills in this State is in as much or more need of amendment as was the law of mar- riage contracts. By its present terms an apparent solemnity iscast about the execu- tion of a will which the testator does not himself fully write or will or sign. The required formalities of the present statute avail but little, however, in view of the fact that any paper, no matter how in- formal, purporting to bein the handwrit- ing of the testator is entitled to admission to probate as the dead man’s will. The result of this loose condition of the law of wills bas been the establishment as genuine of all sorts of nondescript documents. Wills scrawled upon walls, upon envelopes, upon wrapping-paper and the like with varying sorts of perishable pigments have demand- ed recognition from courts of law after the hana which uncertain oral testimony asserts to have written them is dead. If it is sound public policy to require the official acknowledgment and recordation of deeds and mortgages and marriage con- tracts why not also require an equally formal authentication of wills and that, too, before the death of the testator? ‘We may well learn wisdom in this mat- ter from the laws of older States and social systems than our own. I[n Germany and France the laws have long required the authentication of the will during the life- time of him who is claimed to have written it. 'We might easily adopt a similar pol- icy and enforce it without any violation of that secrecy which is often desired by the makers of wills. All that would be neces- sary by way of amendment of our present law would be a requirement that the tes- tator in his lifetime present to some au thorized official, such as the County Clerk, his wilt for filing. Let it be sealed and its contents be as sacredly kept as other sealed records are now preserved. Let a duplicate original be certified and returned to the testator, if he so desired, an added precaution against the possibility of loss of the official copy. Let all wills other prescribed restraining works or settling basins are safe to use; and no license is issued until the commission js satisfied the mine can do no harm with its debris. The commission is composed of United States engineers, who are very conserva- tive, and who are skilled in the preserva- tion of navigable streams. They will not issue a license to mine where the streams will be endangered. 1f the miners were in fact,as is implied, to dump their debris into the rivers, a stop would be put to their operations at once, as would be proper. No one wants to see the streams injured or individuals suffer loss from mining debris; nor does it seem at all probable that this can occur under the present law and Debris Commission. When it is found that the debris-impound- ing works enforced by the commission, and paid for by the miners, are ineffective, it will be time to consider some other method. But thus far they have been found to answer the purpose very well. though the miners are unable to work to their former capacity when using them. At the same time, they prevent damage to streams or individuals, while permitting the miner to pursue his vocation and add to our gold product. Ifitis ever found that damage is being done the law will doubtless be changed, but there is little fear of that as long as the Government engineers have control of the mining operations as well as the rivers, as at present. They have the power to close down any mine at any time when they see fit, and there is no appeal from their decision. The whole question of hydraulic mining in the section referred to is in their hands, with absolute authority conferred by the Congress of the United States, and they will permit no injury to be done. ] A WARNING FROM WHEELING, In 1891 a leading citizen of Wheeling, West Virginia, bought an old concert hall, the walls of which had been condemned as dangerous, and in spite of a popular pro- test added a story to the structure ana opened a store in it. This building, as everybody expected, has now collapsed, killing a number of persons and greatly damaging contiguous property. The dis- patches announcing the catastrophe naively add that “owing to the lack of adequate laws’’ the leading citizen was permitted to commit this crime. This tragedy discloses an exceedingly common fault in the government of Ameri- can cities. The citizens of Wheeling saw this outrage being committed, and not one of them, not even the Mayor, had the civic spirit sufficiently developed to apply the simple remedy of a court injunction, and it is not supposable that this act caused the passage of an ordinance prohibiting others from committing similar outrages. The science of architecture is so well un- derstood in these days that there is no difficulty in devising reasonable safeguards against fires and structural weakness, but in the absence of laws defining modes of construction and in the presence of a lax administration of such laws as do exist, the mean leading citizen, who cares more for money than for the lives, safety and health of the people, finds hardly any check upon the propensity to murder which his rapacity creates. San Francisco has & great number of enormous wooden tinder-boxes into which people are packed by the thousands, but, terrible as they are, they are nota whit worse than other disgraceful accompani- ments of a lax public sentiment. A city in all its public details is an expression of the pride and intelligence of its inhabi- tants. Its rich men would not be per- mitted to erect dangerous or unhealthful structures if the masses were not wil!ing that they should. The people of Wheeling, in permitting this disaster, cannot escape ashare of moral responsibility with the owner of the house. If any of the danger- ous ‘structures of San Francisco shouid burn, the blood of its victims will rest upon the head of every resident. Likewise, every citizen of S8an Francisco must bear the disgrace and material loss which the presence of death traps, fire holes, inadequate sewers and wretched pavements imposes. It is not sufficient to say shat the City is young and that the correction of these evils will come with time, for observation is as valuable as ex- perience. A stranger will properly judge the character and intelligence of a city by its externals, and if he comes hither from a city where the externals are more invit- ing, he will be justified in deciding against investment and a residence here. The pavement of Market street alone isa bar- rier that the superb natural attractions of the City can with difficulty overcome. When we compare the perfectly smooth and noiseless streets of Los Angeles with the rude, primitive and exasperating pave- ments of San Francisco, we need go no further in our quest for the cause of the wonderful prosperity of that charming city of the south. PEOPLE TALEKED ABOUT. General Eko Tangs, a Tartar commander sta- tioned near Mukden, recently reported to the Chinese Board of War that between November 23, 1894, and January 3, 1895, he had killed 2000 Japanese. He said the Japs didn’t know anything about warfare. “Isent 1000 braves with flags,” he reports, “to strike terror into them, followed by 3000 troops. Instead of waiting in & dignified manner, the Japanese opened fire from every direction. To avoid bloodshed I was obliged to retire my army twelve miles.”” M. Andree, the Swedish seronaut ‘and scien- tist, who proposes to reach the North Pole by balloon, has secured a companion for his aerfal trip. Mr. Elkholm of the Stockholm Meteoro- logical Bureau, who headed the Swedish expe- dition to Spitzbergen in 1882 to watch the transit of Venus, has volunteered to accompany M. Andree. The grandfather of William Court Gully, Lord Rosebery’s choice for Speaker of the Brit- ish House of Commons, was & pugilist and gembler. The House of Commons has fre- quently shown the necessity for & Speaker who can enforce the Marquis of Queensberry rules, and ix willing to take chances. The late Rey. Dr. Lord of Buffalo officiated at the funeral of one of Buffalo’s notoriously rich and wicked citizens. After noting the de- censed’s parentage and date of birth he closed his tribute by saying, “Our dead friend had one noble virtue. He always got up early in the morning. George Moore, the novelist, advances several reasons for not fighting & duel with Artist Whistler. One of the reasons he gives is that Mr. Whistler is very short-sighted. There is no telling, of course, how deadly his pistol might Ve under the circumstances. The sole surviving membeér of Yale’s class of 1822 is said to be the Rev. Dr. Edward Beecher, a brother of Henry Ward Beecher. He is nearly 92 years old. Grant Allen commenced life as a school- master, and it was some years before he en- tirely abandoned the calling for literature. Captain Crossman, commander of the Alli- anca, was for two years an acting ensign in the United States navy. SPIRIT OF THE PRESS. Oregon and the Pacific Northwest have vast resources and natural wealth, but is enor- mously: handicapped by exorbitant freight rates that contront the agriculturist and manufacturer on every side. Let us hope and pray for the early completion of the Nicaragua Canal which will relieve the Pacific Coast from the bondage in which it is held by extortionate toll gatherers.—Eugene Guard. America is a great country. We ses our mints turned into dens of thieves and robbers. ‘We shoot negroes in Louisiana, lynch Italians in Colorado and convert the Indiana State capitol into a prize ring. And still we con- tinue foreign misstonary work.—Virginia City Enterprise. Humboldt wants a raiiroad, but how to get it is a difficult problem to solve. While some believe that an outside company will build it, others entertain the idea that to get it sooner ‘would be for us to go to work and construct it ourselves.—Blue Lake Advocate. ‘We want more wealth producers and fewer wealth destroyers before we can hope to have prosperous conditions. It is the man who eats—destroys—and does not produce any- thing who causes hard times.—Pendleton Ore- gonian. Every acre of land which is reclaimed to agri- culture is a perpetual productive factor, and represents just so much prosperity to the community.—Albuquerque Citizen. If we taxed wisdom and let each one assess himself, what & big revenue the State would have.—Williams Farmer. Stop talking about -‘hard times.” You only destroy confidence and injure your own and the community’s prosperity.—Woodland Mail. Low prices for Easter eggs, Townsend’s, * ————————— THE prettiest Easter novelties ever made, at Banborn & Vail’s, 741 Market street, > ———————— BAcON Printing Company, 508 Clay strest. * pas et At ey CRYSTALLIZED ginger, 25¢ 1b, Townsend’s. * ————————— FLOOR paints, stains and bath enamel in small cans, at Sanborn & Vail’s, 741 Market st.* ot Ao The value of the French wine crop for 1894, which is enormous,is placed at 16 cents per gallon. ¥ Fom that tired feeling, or when you are weak, nervous and worn out, Hood's Sarsaparilla is just the medicine to restore your strength and give you & good appetite. It purifies the blood. ——————— Avy danger of drinking Impure water is avolded by adding 20 drops of Dr. Seigert’s Angostura Bit- ters. s — ' WHY sufter from corns when HINDERCORNS removes them so easily. 15 cts at druggists. PABKER'S GINGER TONIC, the best cough cure. ————————— “BROWXN'S BRONCHIAL TROCHES' are an effect- ual remedy for all Bronchial Affections, MUSICIANS HELD UP BY A LYNCH- ING PARTY. BY JAMES E. WILSON. Theatrical life does not bristle with thrilling incidents as & rule, but I remember once hav- ing an experience that few sctors ever met with. It was when I was with the fl;s:::ngllifl:- speaking compeany that ever crosse e Mexi- can frontier. On our way we played through Texas. Just before our arrival at the town of Dennl- son, & horrible murder had been committed. 1 forget the details, but the town was much stirred up over the affair, and patrols were out for miles around scouring the country to find the murderer. The thing did not trouble us, and our band, in which I played first cornet, set out to promenade the streets as usual. On our way back to the hotel we were met by 8 big mob, heading toward one of the suburbs, and the leaders commanded us to turn back and lead the procession. It seems the mur- derer had been caught and the mob was on its way to lynch him. There was 1o joking about the way the leaders sald, “Go ahead and play alively tune.” So having no choice left to us MR, WILSON. [From a recent photograph.) we wentback and played a succession of popular airs. They made us give them music while the man was being lynched, and then forced us to head the procession with “Marching Through Georgia.” A few days after crossing the Mexican fron- tier we had a different sort of lynching éxpe- rience, in which, strange to say, we ourselves played the part of the mob. Going to Laredo we made the acquaintance of a sheriff who had a manacled man in his charge, and who, he told us, was an escaped murderer who had not yet been tried. The Sheriff remarked that our destinations were not far apart, for the theater at Laredo is only & few feet from the jail. The night of our arrival we played “The French Spy,” & regular blood-and-thunder melodrama, with any amount of shooting, red light and pistol- firing. The next morning some of us strolled down to visit the Sheriff and casually asked after his prisoner. “He nearly died of fright,” was the answer. “When he heard the shout- ing and the firing outside, no one could per- suade him thata mob had not come together to lynch him.” And after what we had seen at Dennison we did not laugh at the man’s unnecessary terror, as we might otherwise have done. JauEs E. WILSON. California Theater, April 10, 1895. AROUND THE CORRIDORS. Ben C.Maddox, editor of the Visalia Delta, who is in town with the committee to confer with the directors of the new, road was telling yesterday at the Lick of the county seat jug- gling done by the Southern Pacific in some of the southern counties in the past. “Visalia beat them,” he said, “in the county-seat war in Tulare County, and they have never been friendly to the town since. They located the town of Tulare City, eleven miles from Visalia, made it the end of a division, built machine- shops, and built up quite a little town, and at- tempted to get the county seat moved from Visalia there, but in spite of all the work they did to influence the electors were beaten. They pursued similar tactics in Stanislaus, Merced and Fresno and were successful. Knights Ferry was the couniy seat of Stanislaus, but they had it moved to Modesto, and Knights Ferry has gone down very much. In Merced County Snellings was the county seatand quite a flourishing town, but they had the seat of the county govern- ment moved to Merced, and Snellings is now merely & little village. In Fresno the county seat was at Millerton. They had it moved to Fresno, and to-day Millerton has not even & postofiice. “When they found that they could not geta local branch built into Visalia by the Southern Pacific, the people raised enough local capital to build two branch roads, one to Goschen, seven miles, and one to Tulare City, eleven miles, and to-day Visalia is the largest and most prosperous town in the valley excepting Stockton and Fresno. Our streets sre paved with asphalt and lighted by electricity, and we have an excellent water service. In fact,it1s a live modern town. Itis the oldest in that part of the State, having been founded in 1850, before there was any gold excitement in that neighborhood. "__ Attorney C. A. Faughinbaugh, representing the Franklin Line and Oil Company of Mont- pelier, Ind., is at the Golden West Hotel. He has come with a view of establishing a depot for the handling ot his company’s oils in this city. “We have extensive oil wells near Mont- pelier,” said he yesterday. ““As you can im- agine, we are having a hard fight with the Standard Oil Company, which is doing its best to freeze us out of business by leasing all the wells it can. The feeling against the Standard is very bitter in Indiana, however, and we are able to hold our own with the great monopoly except in the matter of freight. We are now establishing pipe lines, and can pump oil & distance of 137 miles at an average cost of 53; cents & barrel. We control & large petroleum field in Southeastern Kansas, and are arrang- ing to put in 150 miles of pipes and pump our oil right into Kansas City. It is only by pipe lines that we can hope to compete with the Standard Oil Company, for by its system of re- bates on freight it nearly always freezes out all competitors. The Franklin Line and Qil Com- pany is a new concern with & capital of $3,000,000. We now operate thirty-five wells, with an average flow of 2700 gallons each a day. G. P. Carnell of the Green Mountain and Cherokee mines at Crescent Mills, Plumas County, who is staying at the Russ, says that during the past winter there has been more snow in that county than in any other winter for over thirty years. “Plumas suffered severely on account of the closing down of the hydraulic mines, but during the past year a good many permits have been granted by the Debris Commission, and there is promise of greater prosperity. Prospecting for quartz has been more active the past year and considerable Eastern capital has been in- vested. What is wanted is more capital to develop the mines that have been discovered. Plumas has produced in the past & great deal of gold, particularly from the hydraulic mines, and then there is the Plumas Eureka, which has been mined steadily for forty years, and from which ever twenty millions of dollars have been taken. The English company that owlnN; it now has paid many millions in divi- dends.” SUPPOSED TO BE HUMOROUS. Jack—I proposed to May last night. Tom—How did you come out? Jack—Head first.—Town Topics. Down on the Rio Grande a horsethief stole a runaway mule that nobody else could catch. —Texas Siftings. Bryce—Algernon Fitz Sappy is one of those fellows who has more money than brains, isn’t he? Knowso—Yes; and he is poor, too.—Life's Calendar. She—I would never get married if I had to ask the man. He—And you mightn't 1f you aid.—Detroit Free Press. Bragg—When it comes to cooking my wife is right at home. Wagg—That's where my wife cooks, too.—Boston Courier. “Planks tells me his last painting was a great success.” “It was.” “What was it?” “The front fence.”—Chicago Inter Ocean. Music and Tlusicians. The popularity of the fairy opera, “Hansel and Gretel,” continues to spread over Europe like ‘an epidemic. It is only one of Grimm’s fairy tales put to music that hasbeen described as “Wagner made easy,” and was written by Wagner's favorite disciple, Engelbert Humper- dinek, who was once chorus master at Bay- reuth, but the work continues to charm chil- dren and adults slike. In Germany more than forty cities have hailed it with enthusiasm, in London it has run successively in three dif- ferent theaters, and is still the rage, while in Vienna, where it has just been produced, the puplic have gone crazy over it. The famous eritie, Ed. Hanslick, who is not lenient toward new works, does not fear to affirm that since Mozart no composer has appeared with more genius than Humperdinck. The Viennese pa- pers are telling some pretty stories apropos of “Hansel and Gretel.”” One is thata little girl, 10 years old, wrote to the Empress that she was very unhappy because she heard every one talking of the fairy opera, and she could never sce the beautiful work because her bedtime came before the hour of going to the theater. The Em press, touched by the little letter, in- structed the manager of the theater to reply to the baby petitioner that “Hansel and Gretel” should be given once as & matinee on her ac- count. The Emperor, wishing to have his share in the affair, decided to make the repre- sentation a children’s fete, and had candy and toys distributed to ell the little visitors. At Mullhouse “Hansel and Gretel” was also the occasion of a fete, when a splendid Christmas tree was donated to the town’s children, and when the opera was being played at Mayence an amusing scene took place. Among the flowers that enthusiastic admirers heaped upon the prima donna was discovered a beautiful basket containing a tiny curly dog. The play was by common consent interrupted while the little creature was christened “Hensel.”” Miss Zelie de Lussen, the New York prima donna, who is so populer with her Britannic Majesty that she is known as “The Queen’s Own,” has given her opinions upon women as composers in the current number of Music. The subject is one that has excited consider- able attention lately on sccount of Miss Holmes' new lyric drama, “The Black Moun- tain,” and Miss de Lussen, who has had oppor- tunities of meeting meny of the prominent women composers, speaks her mind very frank- 1y about them: “Idonot think a woman is strong-minded enough to become a composer,” she says. “As a rule a woman composer is much more mas- e e ZEILE DE LUSSEN. culine than any other kind of woman. It may also be that 8 woman cannot well devote the time she should, end that a man would. In her singing eapacity a prima donna works as hard as & man, but if it came down to com- posing—counterpoint, harmony and all thet sort of thing, I don’t think so. You will find, t0o, that as & rule a composer nas begun his career as & child of 5 or 6 years old and a woman has not. Look at that Hoffman boy for instance. He began at 4 years of age. Itis very seldom that a girl of 5 or 6 knows any- thing about harmony or counterpoint. Take those choirboys in England. Where do you find girls 5 or 6 years old singing in choirs? The reason is that a woman does not begin early enough. I do not think that she doesn’t want to, but I don’t think she could.” In discussing whether women are possessed of the creative faculty Miss de Lussen says she thinks they are charming composers of ballads, but when it comes to symphonies and grand operas they cannot,in her opinion, compete with men. Back in the last century, when Gluck’s «Alceste” was produced at the Opera of Paris, and was at first coldly received, the great com- poserexclaimed: “‘Alceste’ will not only please now in its novelty. It knows no time, and I affirm that it will please equally in two hun- dred years, if the French language remains the same. The reason is that I have built it on a foundation of nature, and that is never swayed by fashion.” How strangely prophetic these words were! The other day the temple scene from Gluck’s ‘““Alceste’” was revived at the Paris Conserva- tory, and seldom had the building resounded with such applause as i+ aroused. The music of the classical master performed the. miracle of thrilling & public surfeited with good music. It was very evident that the simple accents of the noble tragedy had kept their power, and, in spite of the progress accomplished in the technique of musical art, the inspiration of the old master had remained young and vivacious. Corney Grain was not a great musician, but in his musical sketches and satires, for which he was famous as an entertainer in London, he was able to ridicule in a good-natured way all the follies and affectations of the musical ama- teur as perhaps no other man has succeeded in doing. “The average audience,” Grain used to say, “expects a high note at the end of & song. If the song terminates without one they fold their hands and say, ‘That is not the end; give us our high note.” Every abuse of singing and pianoforte playing was delicately held up to ridicule and laughter at some time or other 1in the course of this gifted entertainer's career, and unconsciously he did much to improve the tender pathos of a piano passage. Hans von Bulow used to complain bitterly of the clock of St. James Church, which has a trick of chiming at awkward moments, and Herr Sauer’s pet aversion has proved to be the muffin man. At a recent Saturday popular concert the tinkling of the muffin bell outside was too much for him, and he stopped hig performance of Chopin’s fantasia in ¥ minor till the vender of indigestibles had passed away on his rounds. When the pianist Stavenhagen was in New York the Musical Courier did not cease to re- port that his recitals were a failure because of the bad piano he played. When the same artist went to Chicago the artistic correspondent of the Courier, Walton Perkins, lately critic of the Chicago Times and a good pianist himself, re- ceived a telegram from headquarters desiring him to “roast” Stavenhagen, all on account of the piano. Mr. Perkins ately resigned, and now journalism kriows him no more. Levi, the gifted conductor of the Theater of Munich, has justdistingu self by a beautiful production of Berlioz's “The Troyens.” The difficulties of the staging, such as that which putting the famous wooden horse on the scene presents, were all victori. ously overcome at Munich, as they had been before at Carlsrube under Felix Mottel. Paris Grand Opera-house still shrinks from coping with the dificulties of staging “The Troyens.” South America has come to the front with another operatic composer. Hitherto the most popular of the composers born in the New World has been the Brazilian, Gomez—at least as far as Europe is concerned. His opera “Il Guarany” enjoys great popularity in Southern Europe. Now, Berutti, a resident of Buenos Ayres, has written an opera, ‘‘Taras-Bulba,” which has been enthusiastically received at Turin, Italy. Royal d him- The Nikisch concerts take place in London on June 10. There is great curiosity to hear this great conductor from Buda Pesth, who used once to conduet the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Paderewski has agreed to play at the last of the Nikisch orchestral concerts. He will probably give another recital in London before sailing for New York in November. The oratorio performances given by the Sun- day National League in London have proved 80 successful that orchesiral concerts are to be given under the conductorship of Alberto Rendegger. The unpublished works of Chopin, which were recently discovered at Varsovia, have just sen performed in Paris at the Salle Erard, by the brilliant pianist, Miss H. Kezyzanowska. George Ellsworth Holmes, a barytone who has won cousiderable success in the East, is expected in San Francisco shortly. His trip is said 10 be & sight-seeing one on Mme. Patti will receive $2000 a night for her fortheoming performances at Covent Garden Theater, London, with the Augustus Harris Opera Company. The season of Wagner opera, which has just closed in New York, has been a great financial success. PERSONAL. Sanford E. Moses Is a guest at the Palace. W. T. Ellis of Marysville is registered at the Palace. Dr. J. 8, Stephen of Petaluma is stopping &t the Grand. J. R. Waggener of the navy arrived at the Pal- ace yesterday. T. 8. Rosenbaum, & merchant from Stockton, is at the Palace. Senator Thomas Flint Jr., registered at the Grand yesterday. P. B. Fraser, a merchant of Stockton, is stay- ing at the Palace. R. H. Willey, an attorney of Monterey, is a guest of the Grand. G. C. Hyatt, & foundryman of Stockton, is staying at the Grand. W. H. Poole of Poole Bros., bankersin Chi- cago, is at the Palace. G. B. Vanderhurst, a merchant of Salinas, is stopping at the Occidental. L. U. Shippee of Stockton came down yester- day and put up at the Palace. Charles Faulkner, a prominent banker of Chico, is registered at the Grand. W. F. Shepherd, a real estate man of Fresno, arrived st the Baldwin yesterday. Samuel Frankenheimer, a merchant of Stock- ton, is among the guests of the Grand. H. F. Bragdon, & prominent mining man of Salt Lake, is stopping at the California. F. J. Branden, secretary of the Senate during :ihe last session, registered at the Grand yester- ay. ' Ex-Judge J. M. Walling of Nevada, depart- ment commander of the G. A. R., is registered at the Russ. e —————————————— NEW TO-DAY. EAGLESON & CO.’S NEW SPRING GOODS ! Fancy Shirts, Negligee Shirts, musical taste. Hissudden death from la grippe has been recognized in England as a national calamity, and high social and church dignita- ries attended his funeral. The well-known drawing-room actor, German Reed, who was for years associated with Corney Grain, died of la grippe one day beiore his friend. A composer, Adolph Wibelle, to whom & long time ago a brilliant career seemed to be open- ing, has just died in Paris, forgotten and neg- lected. Twenty years ago Wibelle's opera comique, in four acts, “The Alibi,” was played very successfully in Paris, and enjoyed a long run. Among other works of his that found favor were “The Fountain of Berny” and “The Benediction of the Neva.” The latter work contained some very beautiful and exalted passages. Unfortunately, however, Wibelle had more exalted views with regerd to compo- sition than his talents justified him in attempt- ing. He gradually slipped out of the public view, and at the time cf his death, which took place in his seventieth year, he was entirely forgotten by the musical world. There are all sorts of rumors about Verdi un- dertaking a new opera, though the aged com- poser stoutly denies them all. One story is to the effect that Verdi is at work on a one-act opera, the plot of which is founded upon the deeds of his old friend Ismail Pasha, the late Khedive of Egypt. The Pasha was certainly & warm admirer of the Italian maestro, and not only commissioned him to write his Egyptian opera “Aida,” but mounted it lavishly when it was produced in Cairo. The nolses of London streets have been a constant source of annoyance to foreign musi- cians. Anton Rubinstein was known to bound from the piano-stool in the middle of Chopin’s “Marche Funebre” in St. James Hall when the coach horns outside in Piccadilly broke in upon 1 Underwear, Neckwear, Etc. Latest Novelties! POPULAR PRICES! 748 and 750 Market St., S. F. 242 Montgomery Street, S. F. 112 S. Spring St., Los Angeles. A POSITIVE BARGAIN 1100 ACRES, WITH IMPROVEMENTS, $186,500, IN SAY NATEO COUNTY. N THE PLAIN OF OAKS; S. P.R.R. RUN: I through; S. F.and 8. J. V. R. R. may also. Thg best and a growing locality. To i , address Owner, box 117, Call Branch Office. No agents. GEQ. H. FULLER DESK CO, 638 and 640 Mission Street.