The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, June 25, 1895, Page 6

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, TUESDAY, JUN 25, 1895. CHARLES M. SHORTRIDGE, Editor and Proprietor. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: DAILY CALL—46 per year by mail; by carrier, 150 per week. SUNDAY CALL—$1.50 per 3 WEEKLY CALL—$1.50 per y The Eastern office of the SAN FRANCISCO CALL (Daily and Weekly), Pacific States Adver- tising Bureau, Rhinelander building, Rose and Duane streets, Ne o THE SUMMER MONTHS. Are you going to the country ona vacation ? It £0, it 1 no trouble for us to forward THE CALL to your address. Do not let it miss you for you will Orders given to the carrier, or left at Office, 710 Market strest, will receive JUNE 25, 1895 e e e e e e It may be an off year, but politics stay with us. Money is a very accomplished thing, for it can both talk and fly. The Twin Peaks are still yawning for the extension of Market street. As a parlimentary leader Rosebery was not much of a huckleberry. Consumption of home-made goods pre- vents consumption of home capital. There should be no criticism of the bloomer girl as long as she is our girl. To-day the Kentucky Democrats get into the ring for a fake or a knockout. It is time to begin your preparations for the celebration of the glorious Fourth. Rosebery’s failure has only tended to lift Gladstone a league nearer the stars. You will taste of the fruits of prosperity if you eat of the fruits of home industry. ‘When the practice of purchasing lottery tickets has become a habit it amounts to a disease. Pauncefote does not regret his trip on the St. Louis, but he is sorry he put his foot in it. Judging by the swing on them, it ap- pears that to some people the world isa hammock. The proposed reformation of the British House of Lords will now take a back seat for awhile. 1f Salisbury dissolves Parliament, Eng- land may have to join us in a campaign or the silver question. Rosebery’'s premiership was just about as useful and important as the success of his horse at the Derby. The difference between living and exist- ing is fully appreciated by those who go camping in the summer. Kaiser William’s reference to his grand- father as William the Great was a strong hint to German historians. Since the great Republican victories of last year even the Democrats are able to see better prospects ahead. People who buy lottery tickets never have any money to contribute to charity or to undertakings for the public good. There is many 2 hard-working, wearied girl in the City who might find a pleasant outing picking fruit during the summer. The producers of the State should bear in mind all summer ghe importance of making a good display at the coming State Fair. The electric carnival which Sacramento is preparing to give will be literally the most brilliant spectacle ever witnessed in California. The sun gives in California the most valuable proof of the good arising from free- dom and generosity in the exercise of beneficent powers, Every trainload of fresh fruit sent over the mountains from California is an invi- tation to settlement ‘here and a threat to the fruit industry of the East. Having taken hold of Korea, Japan re- gards it somewhat in the light which the monkey found hovering over the lighted cigar stump which it picked up. One advantage of the British system of government is that it dissolves a crisis as soon as it occurs, and does not permit it to drag along like four yearsof Clevelandism. Until Californians develop as eager a tooth for their own fruit and wine as the Eastern people have cultivated there is still wide room for the developing of our market. Along with our grand celebration of the National holiday there should be enough reserve patriotism among the people to prompt every one to stand by the home factory. It appears that;Chicago ha an annual festival known as “wash day,” on which a charitable society gives all the poor chil- dren of the city a free bath and a clean suit of clothes. About the only pleasant memory con- nected with the old City Hall is that of the fact that the Salvation Army daily fed 5000 hungry persons there during the hard times two years ago. According to a Berlin critic the German reporters at Kiel had a more imperial time than the Emperor himself, and not only went through the canal but got half seas over before they came back. It is a happy arrangement that causes so many San Franciscans to leave for the mountains in summer and so make room for the dwellers of the hot plains to come and enjoy a deliciously cool climate. In view of the wide divergence of opinion it might be well for the Legislature to pass an act deciding whether the horizontal pro- . file of Mount Tamalpais should be called the Sleeping Beauty or the Old Woman. There are said to be some persons so good that the name which Mount Diablo bears prevents their ascent of the mountain and beholding from its summit a view which Professor Whitney declared was the grand- est in the world. The silurian, who until recently has seemed so fierce and formidable an ogre, is discovered, now that he has been caught, impounded and deprived of his claws and fangs, to be the most harmless and pusil- lanimous of whimperers, Those who insist on calling Los Angeles “The City of Angels”’ would exhibit wis- dom by remembering thatthe name of the city in its original form, translated into English, means “The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels.” THE TAX LEVY. Auditor Broderick has prepared and submitted his official estimate and recom- mendation as to the rate of the tax levy for the present fiscal year. The rate which he figures out as proper is $1.2045 on a property valuation of $300,000,000 or $1 on about $320,000,000 valuation, according to the way the taxpayer sees fit to look at it. The truth is that Auditor Broderick is affected somewhat by the fetich of the dollar Jimit, but realizes that this phrase of the silurian has lost its power. The Board of Supervisors must pres- ently pass upon the estimates of Auditor Broderick and either adopt or increase his suggested rate. In doing so they should be guided by certain business principles, the logic of which applies equally to cities as to individuals. These principles are mainly two. The first is thata tax rate must be fixed which will provide money enough to carry the City through the fiscal year without a deficit. The honor of the City demands this, and its plain and simple obligation to those who furnish it with its necessaries requires it. The dis- grace of being a defaulting debtor at the close of each fiscal year should no longer stain the ermine of the metropolis of the West. This observation suggests the second business principle which should be ob- served by the board in its fixation of the tax rate. The City of San Francisco al- ready owes a considerable sum of money to its own citizens for certain necessary goods, wares and merchandise furnished to it during the past two years at its spe- cial instance and request. A portion of this debt has already been put into the form of judgments and it all could be, for to these debts of honor there is no meri- torious defense. The tax levy of the present year should be ample enough to pay these debts in full. The arecument that there is a clause in the State constitu- tion which forbids cities from paying for the necessaries supplied during one year out of the revenues of another is as illogi- cal as it is dishonest. It is inconceivable that the framers of the constitution could have intended to provide that cities should maintain certain departments at an expense which, though inevitable, is not susceptible of exact pre- vious ascertainment, and yet that this ex- pense must be ascertained in advance and be provided for out of the taxes of the year in which it was incurred. The Board of Bupervisors should adopt no such non- sensical limitation upon their honesty of action as the City’s agents at least until the Bupreme Court has unmistakably in- structed them to do so. The tax levy should be high enongh to provide for the payment of every dollar of floating in- debtedness which the City in honor and justice to the merchants ought to pay. It is probable that a tax rate which should come up to these requirements would be as high as justice to taxpayers would permit for any single year. It will be seen that Auditor Broder- ick’s report makes no proyision for street improvements or the building of sewers or for other permanent public improvements which have been of late much discussed and earnestly desired. There is a way open, however, for the making of these improvements, and the time is ripe for its adoption. The City of San Francisco should issue bonds. The legality of such an issue is past dispute in view of the express letter of the general laws. The wisdom and present expedi- ency thereof are a matter of easy demon- stration. The experience of all great and growing cities proves the wisdom of making the future liable for those permanent pub- lic improvements which the future is to mainly enjoy. The City of San Francisco has reached a point in its history when it must determine whether its destiny will be dominated by the folly of the silurian or by the wisdom of the progressive spirit of the age. A SPLENDID POST. General Schofield has declared that our military reservation, known as the Presi- dio (a Spanish word, meaning a fortified place, from the Latin preesidium, whence we get “‘president” and its allied words), is not only the most attractive military post in the country, but that when the improvements now under way are com- pleted it will be also the best fortified. While these are evident facts, he some- what surprises with his assértion that Fort Wintield Scott is by no means worth- less, and that its antique guns could do efficient work at close range. As it seems very likely that a single shell from a great modern gun nine miles at sea could wreck the ancient brick pile, the close-range efficiency of the fort’s pot-metal armament would have but a meager chance for its display. However, that is a trifing matter. The interest which the Government has re- cently taken in strengthening the defenses of the post is more important. The dyna- mite battery is rapidly getting into shape on the high bluff facing Bakers Beach, and between it and the fort two mammoth rifles are being mounted. These are the principal features of the new defensive armament, which throughout is to be of the latest and best design. While these improvements are going on, two handsome brick barfacks are being constructed, a railroad and a steam excavator are being employed in making firm ground out of the marshes, the planting of trees is being extended all over the reservation, and the roads are being overhauled. The abolition of the San Diego garrison and its trans- ference to the Presidio will add another incentive to developments and improve- ments. One of the most interesting features of the Presidio is the beauty of the flowe: gardens. The residence of every officer is a bower of gorgeous blooms, and they pre- sent a refreshing contrast to the desolate aspect of the City gardens. Whether this display of superior taste and pride is due to the fact that the officers’ wives are East- ern women and know how to appreciate the extraordinary advantages of the cli- mate, it would be unnecessary to consider; but the fact remains that if one wants to see beautiful private gardens in San Fran- cisco one must visit the Presidio. It is difficult to understana why the authorities of the post plant even forests of evergreen trees—eucalyptus, pine and cypress—in preference to deciduous trees, and why they go so extensively into the planting of the acacia, which is the most prolific of insect-breeders, The peculiarities of the local climate make the planting of deciduous ornamental trees advisable. Besides being one of the handsomest spots in the City the Presidio has certain advan- tages which have a special military value. The climate is of a kind to insure the per- fect health of the garrison, and the near- ness to a great city gives the postnumerous manifest advantages. The configuration of the.coast permits of so few pointsat which even a landing may be effected that this port must always be the one to be most carefully guarded. It isthe only one that gives access to the great interior basin of the State, where future development on a grand scale is to proceed. The many rich and peculiarnatural resources of California give it a special value to the whole Nation tection and development. In comparison with the coast defenses of European coun- tries those at San Francisco seem wofully meager, and considering the fact that be- hind them is a defensive population ex- ceedingly small in comparison with that backing the defenses of the Atlantic Coast, there seems to be every reason for develop- ing the strategic strength of the Presidio far beyond the contemplation of the pres- ent plans. A GERMAN MUDDLE. The great festival at Kiel has gone into history; the fleets have dispersed, the splendors vanished, and nothing isleft but a memory and a faction fight among the German journalists. Out of this contest there have come some strange stories of the festival which as illustrations of the way things are done over in the land of the Kaiser and the home of the first print- ing press are worth noting. It appears they have over there a cer- tain Herr von Koeller, who, being a Min- ister of the Interior, had charge ofall thear- rangements for the press during the festi- vals, both at Hamburg and Kiel. This man is reported to have declared he had “nothing but contempt for newspaper” men and the reporters who were sent to the festivals are now being denounced by their brethren for degrading the profession by cringing before a dignitary who, ii his ministerial chair, had spoken of jour- nalists in that insulting way. . It appears further, however, on the testi- mony of one of the leaders in the faction fight, that every reporter for the press, on arriving at the scene of festivities, received an order-book good for fifty bottles of champagne or other wine. As the cere- monies continued three days, this allow- ance gave each reporter fifteen bottles of wine for each day’s refreshment and five more to taper off on when' the fete was over. The man to whom the reporters did the kowtow, for which they are so severely condemned, is the man who made the ar- rangements about the wine; and the ques- tion arises whether, under these circum- stances, the reporters at the fete are justly subject to condemnation by those who stayed at home. From this distance it appears the re- porters were not so base as their critics are trying to make them out. Dcubtless Herr Koeller had spoken contemptuously of them, but it is equally doubtless they had often spoken contemptuously of him. At the great national parade the time had come to let bygones be bygones. The Minister had evidently done the proper thing in regard to the wine, and it would have been unkind to rake up old scores against him. The occasion, in fact, was conducive to good feeling, and despite the criticisms of those who were not there it appears evident the German journalists acted on this occasion with as much inde- pendence and as lofty a sense of dignity as can be expected of men of any profession among any people on earth. A WEALTHY CORNER. It is a misfortune that some of the rich- est of the smaller valleys of the Coast Range lie off the main lines of travel and are therefore practically unknown. A rea- son for this is that these wonderfully rich spots—each as large as some of the smaller Atlantic States—are land bays letinto the mountains and backed by steep slopes which railroad builders in sparsely settled regions avoid. The Ban Juan and San Benito valleys, whose remarkable attrac- tions were fully described in yesterday’s Cary, are instances, and yet they 'are among the wonders of the State. When we keep in mind the wise old saying that in locating their missions the Franciscans “never made a mistake,” and that one of their noblest missions was founded in the San Juan Valley, we have sufficient to look for something extraordinary in the locality. ‘We find that it consisis of these excel- lencies: a remarkably fertile soil, an abundance of purest water, a delightful climate, freedom from winds, fogs and storms and ideal healthfulness. Thisdoes not include the picturesque which with the Franciscans was as important over a cen- tury ago as it is to-day among our most cul- tared people. The ground attached to the picturesque old mission of San Juan Bau- tista has been under cultivation for more than a hundred years and to-day has a fertility which to an Eastern farmer would appear wonderful, The two main valleys of San Benito County—San Juan and San Benito—have each their distinguishing peculiarities, The San Benito, which contains Hollister, the county seat, and an intensely modern and progressive town, is practically closed against the immediate effect of the Pacific trade winds. Its climate is very much like that of the Santa Clara Valley, to which it is joined by a narrow opening in the moun- tains. The Santa Clara Valley’s climate Teceives a certain modification from con- tact with the bay of S8an Francisco, and hence has a slight ocean character that the San Benito lacks. The San Juan Val- ley, on the other hand, though further re- moved from the ocean than the San Benito, opens upon it over the Pajaro Valley, and thus has even more of a coast climate than the Santa Clara Valley. Being backed by very high mountains, however, it is free from the winds and fogs of the coast, and hence enjoys all the balmy effects of the trade winds without any of their discom- forts. To the very high credit of S8an Benito County it may be said that all the discov- eries of its wonderful resources and all the progress seen in their development have been made by its own residents, without any assistance whatever from that aggres- sive energy and enterprise which have been observed in other parts of the State to have been put forth by newcomers from the Eastern States. Hollister would be taken for the smartest product of Yankee industry and thrift, so beautiful have its residents madeit, and so modern is their way of governing it. The quaint old town of San Juan is very different, for its ancient manana air of sweetness, comfort and re- pose are as much a part of its charm as is the memory of the old Spanish times that hovers over it. Those who have not seen 8an Juan and come under the spell of the infinitely soft and winsome graces which constitute its charm and make it a strange and picturesque slice out of medieval times, have missed one of the very few of these rare pictures which the vandal hand of progress has not destroyed in California. —_— ARMY INSPEOTIONS, Lieutenant-General Schofield and party left last night to inspect the defenses of Portland. It has taken the commander nine days to thoroughly do up San Fran- cisco and vicinity, and it is safe to assume that hereafter the Palace Hotel will be held as a fortress open to attack. ‘When General Sherman was in com- mand of the army he always made his inSpections at such times that he could see his troops under working conditions and in the field. In following out this plan he visited Southern posts in midsummer and Northern posts in midwinter, but the modern idea of warfare as practiced by the Washington authorities at present is to reverse such conditions of affairs, so that and call for special measures for their pro- | the inspection is made for pleasure while the business part is learned in the reports required from subordinate officers. Instead of a real inspection every four or five years made by the commander and two or three staff officers, in which the ex- act condition of the troops and defenses is ascertained, we have reviews and dinners and receptions—not one, but generally two or three times a year. And, strange to say, these reviewing officers visit only large posts, and at that season of the year that the traveling public most favor that section of the country. Thus, last summer the As- sistant Secretary of Warand friends visited during the heats of summer & few large posts where the climate was agreeable in Northern Minnesota, Dakota, Washington and California, while during winter of the same year the Secretary of War en- dured the captivating climate of St. Au- gustine and a few posts in Texas, and toward hot weather reached Colorado in time to cool off. This year we have Gen- eral Schofield, his brother, two sons, his wife and his wife's sister and the general’s staff coming out here and going back by way of the Northern Pacific and the Yel- lowstone, while the Secretary of War and wife and friends are now in the Yellow- stone. But it is only the large posts where a big review can be had, a great crowd of specta- tors assembled, that are visited. Angel Island, Alcatraz and Benicia are better seen at a distance, and neither will Gen- eral Schofield, while in Portland, visit the real defenses—Forts Canby and Stevens. It would not be “‘military” for a general or a secretary to take his family to out-of- the-way posts, where real army conditions exist, but where reviews and receptions are precluded. And so the Secretaries and the generals and their staffs will travel around in pri- vate cars, with little or no expense (to them), taking their “sisters, cousins and aunts” with them, holding reviews at one or two large posts, g0 that they can draw mileage for their trip, and the public looks on, partly understanding, but making no complaint, because the people feel thatlt is not every country that with an army of only 25,000 men, can sapport a lieutenant- general, who, with his staff, costs them as much as the President, who never makes reviews although commander-in-chief. ROSEBERY'S EXIT. The resignation of the Rosebery Ministry for so small a cause as that of a snap vote in the Commons on a motion of little im- portance may be taken as a confession that the Cabinet did not feel equal to the task it had assumed and was glad to accept any excuse for getting out of office and turning the work of government over to the oppo- sition. This conclusion of the administration was not unexpected. When Rosebery be- came Premier he inherited with the office the great poticy which had been formu- lated for the Liberal party by Gladstone. To succeed the great Liberal in office and to succeed him in leadership are two dif- ferent things. Rosebery found himself in the position of the successors of Alexan- der. The wide programme of reform ad- vocated by his mighty predecessor has hung upon the new Premier “like a giant’s robe upon the puny shoulders of a dwarf.” He entered office speaking brave words of reforming the land laws, disestablishing the Welsh church, reoreanizing if not abolishing the House of Lords, and grant- ing home rule to Ireland. He has been too weak a leader, however, to hold his party together on a single one of these measures. Being thus unable either to carry them. or to get rid of them while in office, he has wisely chosen to get out of office and give the Conservatives a chance to dissolve Parliament and submit the issues between them to the country. In this crisis Gladstone again stands as the central figure in the empire. He onily can rouse the Liberals in England to make a vigorous fight for the great measures which he has so long advocated. He isan old man, it is true, but his retirement from office has given him a chance to rest and he may still be able to lead his old follow- ing to another victory. The people of the world who have with 8o much sympathy watched his long fight for justice and liberty on the British Islands will care little whether he takes office again or not, but they would rejoice to see him save his party from impending defeat and prepare the way for the passage of a home-rule bill before he leaves altogether the arena of politics. RAILROAD STATISTIOS. The seventh statistical report of the In- terstate Commerce Commission, which has just been published, deals with the con- ditions of railroads for the year ending June 30,1804. This period, while it was marked generally by a widespread and unprecedented business depression, in- cludes the last four months of the Colum- bian Exposition, during which there was a marked increase in passenger traffic. It is noted, moreover, that at the close of the year 192 roads, operating 42,000 miles and representing about one-fourth of the total railway capitalization of the country, were in the hands of receivers. The effect of these various conditions upon the opera- tions of the roads is apparent in nearly all the figures presented. Owing to the business depression the work of constructing new lines of road or extending old ones was seriously checked, and as a consequence the total mileage of railways was increased during the fiscal year by only 2247.48 miles, as against 4897.56 miles in the previous year. An- other evidence of the effect of the depres- sion is found in the fact that despite the additional roads put into operation, the number of railway employes in service on Jnne 30, 1894, was only 779,608, being 93,994 less than the number employed on the cor- responding date of 1893. This decrease, which amounts to 10.76 per cent, reduced the railway force lower than at any time since 1890, and on the estimate of four per- sons being dependent on each wage-earner, shows that in the railway industry alone over a third of a million people were de- prived of their regular means of support. It will be noted from the report that in bad years as well as in good, the process of railway consolidation goes steadily on, and that in fact the depression seems to have given an impetus to the movement. Dur- ing the year fifteen roads representing 1734 miles were merged, twenty-two roads representing 2351 miles were reorganized and fourteen roads representing 1590 miles were consolidated. Atthe close of the year, forty-four roads operated over 56 ver cent, and ninety roads operated nearly 73 per cent, of the entire railroad mileage of the country. The report gives little evidence of the attainment of any of those long-desired improvements in railway methods and management that would make the service safer for employes and travel safer for pas- sengers. During the year under review, 1823 railway employes were killed and 23,- 422 were injured, as compared with 2727 killed and 31,729 injured in the previous year; but it is believed the decrease was due mainly to the lesser number of men em- ployed and the decrease in business, and only to a small extent to the adoption of improved equipments. The casualties to passengers for the year were 324 killed, an increase of 23, and 3304 injured, a decrease ~ of 195. The railway service therefore con- tinues to be one of the most dangerous oc- cupations of men, for among that class of employes known as “trainmen” the report shows that during the year of compara- tively little business and no rush one out of every 156 was killed and one of every twelve was injured. THE (OIVIO FEDERATION AND THE LOTTERIES. 8. F. City Argus, June 84. The Civic Federation has buckled on its ermor, declared war against the lottery evil and given notice that it will show no quarter to those engaged in the business; but it is not likely that it will score & monumental victory until it secures the election of honest Police Judges, the reorganization of the Police De- partment, and its members turn informers, and Pprosecute in person the violators of the law in the courts. The federation laid its grievance before the Iate Grand Jury; but that body, for Teasons best known to itself, did nothing be- yond recommending, in its final report, that the Legislature make. the sale of lottery tickets and advertising and aiding the lot- tery business a felony instead of & misde- meanor, and the verdict of a majority of the trial jury sufficient for convietion, and ad- vising that the present statutes be more rigidly enforced. Of course no attention will be paid to this. It takes money to have such a bill passed by a California legislature, and the fed- eration 18 opposed to‘‘boodling.” That the lot- tery evilis one of the greatest enemies of the public weal, having a tendency to encourage the gambling instinets of both men and women and in & corresponding ratio to discourage thritt in the vain hope of acquiring wealth without re- turning an adequate compensation to the com- munity, with the result that thriftlessness and poverty invariably follow, there edn be no question. Indeed it affects the community more than any other form of gambling, not perhaps in itself, but because it is so far-reach- ing and all-embracing in its effects. That the evil has a strong hold in this City is a fixed fact. Nearly every business block contains an agency, and tickets can be purchased at almost any saloon, grocery, bakery, or tobacco and cigar store, or from numerous policemen, or the hundreds of peddlers who go around from house to house inducing women and children to buy them. Of course the sale of lottery tickets in this City could be effect- ually suppressed could the heads of the Police Department be induced to do their duty. They know where every wholesale agency is located, the name of the wholesale dealers, and the name of every person who peddles lottery tickets in San Francisco, and just where he or she can be found when wanted. But they don’t dare enforce the law prohibiting lotteries, and for the symple reason that for years past they have been paid large sums of money monthly to protect lottery deal- ers,and were they to now wage war against these law-breakers they know the latter would how! so loud and long that an enraged community would rise in its might and punish them asthey aeserve. Probably the worst of these violators of the laws is the Little Louisiana Lottery Company of this City, the stock of which is held by prominent poli- ticians, and, it is said, police officials. Its headquarters are well known to Chief Crowley, as also its stockholders and man- agers; and although for years it has open- 1y conducted its business right under the eyes of the Chief, there is no record that any of its managers or stockholders have even been sent to jail for violating the lottery law, Why have these men escaped punish- ment? Are they less guilty than the poor devils who are forced to peddle tickets, or steal that they may live? The Argus would like to see every person engaged in the lottery busi- ness punished as they deserve—not only the managers and ticket agents, but their protec- tors, the police; but it is not probable that such a thing will ever be done. Not that there is not sufficient law to do this, but because there is no power to enforce the law. THE GILA MONSTER. The Reptile’s, Bite Proyed to Be Pois. onous. Editor of the Call—Sir: Inote the very life- 1ike picture in the CALL of June 23 of Helo- derma horridum, the Gila monster, and also the statement that the bite of the creature is not venomous. Nature has not been kind to the Gila mon- ster. She has not endowed it with beauty, nor yet with any such position in the field of use- fulness as might enable it to base a claim for handsomeness upon even humble service. 1t seems almost a shame toadd to the burdens the poor creature has to bear, but having the public health in view. I beg leave to call atten- tion to the fact that the creature has been Pproven poisonous. The writer of the article in Sunday’s CALL is in error in stating that the monster is gener- ally regarded as poisonous. Sclentists have all along been inclined to contend that it is not, and while ugly enough to poison by sheer malignancy of appearance it has generally been considered harmless. The principal reason for gccording the Gila monster this in- nocent character is the fact that up to a very few years ago it was not known that any liz- ards are poisonous. Disgusting, hateful, shudder-promoting reptiles many of them are, ‘but zoologists would promptly laugh to scorn the idea of their being poisonous. But, in addition to the testimony of many Mexicans and Indians that death has fre- quently followed the biteof a Gila monster, the creatare has been by modern scientists suc- cessfully proven to be venomous. It is a dozen or fifteen years since Sir John Lubbock pro- cured one of these reptiles and presented it to the London Zoo. Tradition followed it from its home in Arizona, giving it & bad name, but the English naturalists were loud in their as- sertions that no lizardsare poisonous, that the Gila monster was & lizard, and that therefore, the Gila monster could not be poisonouns. It was handled freely, was easily tamed, and while sluggish and stupid seemed quite harm- Jess. | Dr. Gunther, however, of the British Museunr, in examining the creature, found its jaws to be very thoroughly equipped with a poison apparatus. A poisonous snake, like, for instance, the rat- tler, possesses two elongated and hollow “fangs” borne on its upper jaw. These fangs are merely large teeth and their hollow in- teriors each communicate by means of a canal with the poison gland. This gland, placed ia front of and below the eye on either side, is a modified salivary gland. Now, examining the Gila monster’s mouth Dr. Gunther found, to quote the report of Dr. Andrew ‘Wilson, F.RS.E., F.LS., “that its teeth formed a litera] series of poison fangs. Each tooth appar- ently possesses . a poison gland.” Now, nature does not provide useless ap- paratus in any cresture. Rightly judging that where there was 60 much smoke as was indicated by this elaborate equipment for poisoning there must be a little fire, the British Museum authorities tried a few experiments. They made the monster bite & frog and then a guinea-pig. The frog died in one minute, the guinea-pig in three. *‘There can be no ques- tion,” again to quote Dr. Wilson, “judging from the analogy of serpent bite, that the poison ot the lizard would affect man.” In some one of his travel sketches, too0, Mr. Frederic Remington has a characteristic account of the sufferings of a man bitten by a Gila monster. Tee man only escaped death by the prompt application of a native Temedy, and he was & pretty sick man for some time after, ‘When doctors disagree no laymen may ven- ture to decide, but with what is actually known of the Gila monster to guide us in form- ing an opinion of his harmlessness, it is not wise to pronounce the ugly reptile innocuous. He may, perhaps, be handled with impunity nine times, yet inflict a venomous wound the tenth. The question may not be regarded as settled, but prudent people will do well to avoid handling a creature which experience shows can be dangerous. THE NATURALIST AT LARGE. — AROUND THE CORRIDORS R. C. Irvine, one of the members of the State Bureau of Hizghways, was telling at the Bald- win Hotel of some of the experiences of the ‘members of the burean in their trips about the country and the remarkable state of affairs they found in regard to roadsin many places. “Up in Tehama County,” he said, “from Red Bluff the county road runs over an immense lava bed. All that was necessary at first was to remove the loose stones to make a roadway. But thissoon became soworn as to be almost im- passable. Then at one side another road- way would be cleared and used for a time. In one place we counted five parallel roads of this sort. We learned, too, that that stretch of road of twelve miles had cost the county about $100,000 since it was first opened and yet it is so bad that a buggy can- not be taken over it faster than a walk. We showed that with a very small outlay compared with what has been spent, and by building two retaining walls and crushing the rock found there, a good smooth road can be built that will cost to maintain but a trifie compared with the present outlay. This work is being undertaxen now. We have shown to the Supervisors where we have been how good roads may be built with 8 small initial outlay that would be saved in re- pairs in a very short time. We have been well received everywhere, and find the strongest kind of feeling in favor of carrying out the plans for building good * substantial roads everywhere. The people are taking hold of the guestion energetically, and it will not be long before there will be a marked improve- ment in the highways of the State.” M. C. Bristol, general superintendent of con- struction for the Western Union Telegraph Company, is a guest at the Palace. Mr. Bristol is a nephew of 0. 8, Wood, late general mana- ger of the Montreal Telegraph Company. Mr. Wood is the only man now living who had the distinction of learning the telegraph business under the direction of Professor S. F. B. Morse. During the war Mr. Bristol was continually at the front constructing telegraph lines under Generals McClellan, Halleck and Grant, and was many times in exposed positions during sharp engagements. General Thomas T. Eck- ert, president of the Western Union, was then & major on the staff of President Lincoln and always had his eye on the telegraph men, who rendered the Union invaluable service and has not forgotten them. Mr. Bristol will spend a week or two on the co: PERSONAL. Dr. J. L Stephensof Petaluma is at the Grand. Dr. and Mrs. C. E. Munn of the army are at the Palace. Captain J. H. Roberts of Sacramento is stay- ing at the Grand. L. W. Juilliard, a leading citizen of Santa Rosa, is & guest at the Lick. James E. Enright, a flourmill-owner of Santa Clara, is a guest at the Lick. J. F. Millar of New York, the well-known ofl man, is & guest at the California. C. P. Berry, a big rancher from Mountaln View, and Mrs. Berry, are at the Russ. 3. F. Smith, a mining man & Placerville, was one of yesterday’s arrivals at the Grand. C.S. Fiteh, a mine-owner and hotel proprie- tor of Sonors, registered yesterday at the Lick. ‘W. H. Chestnutwood of the Stockton Business College came down yesterday and is staying at the Grand. . John T. McCall, a well-known mining man, came down from Nevada City yesterday and registered at the Grand. ‘W. H. W. Laugenour, member of the Assem- bly, came down from Woodland yesterday and is & guest at the California. Jesse D. Carr, a well-known capitalist and politician of Salinas, was one of yesterday’s arrivals at the Occidental. Hon. J. A. Barham, member of Congress from the First District, came down from Santa Rosa yesterday and registered at the Occidental. C. C. Campbell, agent for the Standard Oil Company. in Cslcutta, and Mrs. Campbell came in on the steamer Coptic, and are staying at the California. SPIRIT OF THE PRESS. Guardians should be appointed for the pur- chasers of lotiery tickets.—Santa Rosa Repub- lican. That paper will live which tells the people the things the people want to know, and not the things which some crank thinks that the people ought to know.—Tulare Register. Every goose that laysa golden egg for Oak- 1and should be-cuddled instead of killed. The Chicago principle of reaching out for every- thing in sight should be the rule.—Oakland Times. The advent of the typesetting machine in newspaper offices is revolutionizing things. The man who views the change with comp! cency is the reporter. No machine can eyer supplant him.—Alameda Telegram. This country won her freedom with the Spanished milled dollar and continental eur- rency, and saved the Union with greenbacks, put the gold bopd buyer who sent a substitute to the army wants now to keep siiver demon- etized.—Portland (Or.) Sun. It does not speak very well for the adminis- tration that it sold the Government bonds of the United States abroad at 104 when the bank- rupt colony of Newfoundland has sold its bonds, bearing the same rate of interest, in the same market at par.—Hollister Free Lance. Sacramento’s committee of safety has again ordered all tramps to leave that city. Now let our officers watch for their coming and straight- way pass them on to our neighbors. For such is the enlightened nineteenth-century method of solving oneof our gravest problems.—Fresno Republican. A paper having suggested Sitka, Alaska, asa suitable place to hold a National convention, what's the matter with the Democratic hosts going there? Itiscold in Alaska, but it will be nothing compared to the deadly frost which will overtake Grover's adherents in 1896.— Santa Rosa Star. Do yon know the tide is turning? Do you know that any bad times we may have had are just changing? Do you know that now, right now, is the appointed time for grand opportu- nities? It is so. Let uspull together and do our pulling immediately. We must get there. —Santa Cruz Record. Every town that has this year had a floral fete has been in the eye of the public an at- tractive place. Local pride of place has been greatly stimulated. New improvements have been planned. This civic pride will do won- ders in transforming many of these smaller towns into most beautiful places in the State. The bicycle, too, has gone forth on its mission of reformation.—Oakland Tribune. There is no kind of vice that can bring pros- Pperity to & community any more than it can to an individual. And that which is harmful to an individual will in the end prove equaily harmful to a community. Vice is most flour- ishing in @ community which is prosperous, and the unthinking sometimes conclude that the prevalence of vice is essential to prosper- ity. While they are concomitants, vices are always parasites on prosperity and never its cause.—San Beanardino Times-Index. Stockton proposes to hold a Fourth of July celebration that will be something after the flesta order,and to which her streams and rivers and shining lagoons will lend them- selves, with fioat and canoe and flower-decked raft to give enchantment to the scene, Jubi- lant over the prospect of & competing line of railroad that shall link her with the great em- pire-like valley of the San Joaquin,she will make another declaration of independence of ber emancipation from the domination of a single railroad corporation. Well, the flesta spirit 1s not so bad for this State, especially when it makes a new spirit of enterprise and the determination to press on along new lines of progress.—Los Angeles Times. PEOFLE TALKED ABOUT. Tt is said that Rev. Hugh P. Hughes, the cele- brated English Methodist divine, has made the ascent of nearly all the difficult peaks of the Alps.* Kier Hardie, the labor reformer, believes that the days of trace unions are past, and that an industrial commonwesalth will shor tly be evolved. Zeller, the composer of ‘“Der Obersteiger,” will soon leave Europe for New York, where he will conduct the revival at the Terrace {;nd'en of his “Vogelhaendler” (“The Tyro- ean”), Mary Moore Davis, who became well known in the literary world through her charming story, “Under the Man Fig,” is the wife of Major Davis, political editor of the New Orleans Picayune. Dr. Andrew Wilson of London says that the odor ot violets, mignonette, tuberoses and heliotrope is injurious to the voice. Vocalists are especially susceptible to the scent ot these flowers. Violets are said to be the worst in their effect. Dr. William Thornton, who died in Boston recently, was widely known as a student of philosophy, and he was the author of several medical works of value. He had been a friend and coworker of the late Professor Kingdon Clifford of England. Miss Mary Carey Thomas has been nominated for one of the alumni trustees of Cornell Uni- versity, to be elected in June. This is probably the first time in the history of any of the lead- ing umversi‘zcs in this country that & woman has been nathed for trustee. John F. Cook Jr., the only Afro-American resident of Bonnerport, Idaho, has been elected Mayor of that town. He is a druggist. His father was for a long time Tax Collector of the District of Columbia, and is now one of the most popular and wealthy men of his race at the National capital. THE NEWEST WOMAN. ZLaborer—S’cuse me, Guv'nor, give us a light. New Woman—What do you mean, impertinang fellow? I shall call my husband ! SUPPOSED TO BE HUMOROUS. De Auber (the artist)—What objection have you to becoming an artist’s bride? De Rula—Oh, everybody would always be pointing me out s & model wife.—Truth. His Thoughtfulness. —She—What kind of & lawn-mower did you get, dearie? He—Igot & feather-weight, darling, so you can push it.—Louisyille Courier-Journal. “Do yo think it bad form for one to laugh at hisown jokes?” “It may be bad form, but think of the magnifi- cent bravery displayed.”—Cincinnati Tribune. Outsider—Mr. Surplice, why is it that bave service before daylight? Mr. Surplice—Oh, we have todo that not to interfere with the bicyclers.—Louisville Courier Journal. Maude—What’s that odious Miss Snubbs do- ing over there at the old lace counter? Mabelle—Buying something for her collection of Snubbs family heirlooms, I suppose.—Chi- cago Record. “How does Maud like life in the country?” “First rate. She’s trimming grape vines this week.” “Really? What with—ribbon?”’—Illustrated Fashion Review. “But how do you stand on the financial problem?” asked ner paternal relative. “Oh, the money of the fathers is good enough for me,” answered the prospective son-in- law.—Albany Argus. “You have been a good while getting up, stairs,” said Mrs. Smarte, who, with her lord and mester, was stopping at one of our hotels. “Yes,” sald Smarte, “I stopped te take an elevator.” *Oh, you need not have taken the trouble to tell me,” said Mrs. 8., tossing her head. *I smelt your breath the moment you entered the room.”—Boston Pranseript. THE RECORDS [N DANGER, City Officials Visit the Circu- lar Hall Where They Are Kept. Mayor Sutro WIIl Advocate Thelr Multiplication by the Print- Ing Press. Members of the Finance Committee of the Board of Supervisors—Taylor, Hobbs and Benjamin—with Mayor Sutro and Auditor Broderick, paid an official visit to the Hall of Records yesterday afternoon upon invitation of Recorder Glynn, he representing that the hall is in need of some attention, such as will cause it to figure in the next tax levy. He pointed out to them how more room was needed for the books and how the books were fall- ing apart because of bad binding. Many of them he declared should be copied at once into new and better books, as the records stood in danger of being lost. As the cause of the bad shape the rec- ords are in he cited the custom of letting the contract for making the books out to the lowest bidder without a stundard of excellence being set up to which they should be required to bid. He pointed out, further, the danger there was of the loss of the records and the necessity of a big safe for the preservation of the indexes and the more valuable records. He said some very valuable maps had been carried from the office, and the freedom with which the public was per- mitted to handle the books and invade the office was a constant source of danger. The committee agreed with him thata steel safe should be built for the office. - Mayor Sutro expressed the determination of advocating_the copying of the entire library records. ‘It is done in nearly every other city,” he said, “‘and should be done here. The records should be set up in type, and thus_a number of copies could be secured. With our complicated system here the lossof these records would result in chaos, a confusion that counld never be straightened out, and that would entail a loss of millions. Type-setters should be stationed in this office and the records put in type as they are made from day to day, and the old records should be put in type as fast as they can be.”” “Do you know how much that would come t0?” inquired Auditor Broderick. “No, Idon’t know. A good deal, I have no doubt, but it should be done.”” “It would cost half a million dollars,” said the-Auditor. “T don’t think it would cost more than $100,000,” said the Mayor, ‘“and at that price it would be well worth doing.” This and the big steel vault will be con- sidered further by the City Hall Commis- sioners at the meeting this morning. —_—— BacoN Printing Confpany, 508 Clay strast. * ————— Pineapple and cherries, 50¢ 1b, Townsend’s.* 'WINE-DRINKING people are healthy. M. & K. wines, 5¢ a glass. Mohns & Kaltenbach. 29 Mkt* T A Greek newspaper, one of the journals gf Athens, is printing Righard Harding Davis’ ‘‘Gallagher” storles in daily installments, With “Gallagher” in Greek and “Ben Hur” in Armenian the barbarian West is paying back some of 1ts literary debts to the East. PURE blood and good heaith go hand in hand. Take Hoodfs Sarsaparilla for the former and the latter is ensured. The weakened system needs a bullding-up medicine like Hood's. —————-——— DE. SIEGERT'S Angostura Bitters possess an ex- quisite flavor and are a sure preventive for ail diseasés of the digestive organe.