The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, October 20, 1895, Page 18

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1895. CHARLES M. SHORTRIDGE, Editor and Proprietor. Taily #d Sunday CALL, One week. T ily apd Sunday CALIL, One yea: BUSINESS OFFICE: 710 Market Street, San Francisco, California. Selephone.... .. Main—1868 517 Clay Sur Telephone.... Maln—1874 BRANCH OFFICES: £50 Moptgor eet, corver Clay: open until £:5C o'clock treet; open until 9 o'clocic street; open until 9 o'clock. OAKLAND OFFICE: €08 Bropdway. EASTERN OFFICE: 1 32, 34 Park Row, ) ) M. FOLTZ, 8 D VID g but a National have that. s with the hope of e to a finish. cest field of uni- d out like a gridiron. nen who can weara having to carry a the condition t were made v you are to be reenway’s paper ize was it in the Demo- t led Buckley to believe he 1 Bennett Hill was nst Cle d, and r to put up now for the Na- tion than to put up with the ion tothe sis an off be altozether better York, but we do not have -day to get beer. they are in themselves. n of about 1,600,000, 10ld down that many count them out. There are several nations in Europe that d willingly protect Armenia if the other nat would get of the way, Corbe nd Fitzsimmons might as well agree to turn their affair into a debate on the silver question and t. the chances. There are some Spaniards who propose to whip Cuba first and then wallop the United States for sympathizing with her. development in our language New York newspaper of the ' to nify people who do a has a popu people long eno The late: is the use word v Sadly the country is being forced to ths conclusion that the talk of Olney’s vigor- ous foreign policy was only another ema- nation of the silly season. It is said American publishers have in press over 2000 new novels which will be issued before the holidays, and what will become ot them is another story. As the war in Cuba has caused our trade with the island to fall off over $1,000,000 it would seem that putting a stop to it would be attending to our own business. Carnival towns should arrange their dates so as to make a procession of festivals and not a set of conflicting fiestas, all going on at once like three shows in a circus. It is noted that never before in recent years have church conventions received so much attention as during the present fall, and the prediction is made that a great increase in the prestige of churches is at hand. The recently completed State census in JTowa shows a population of 2,035,000, or 123,000 more than in 1890. The gain is not so large as was expected, and the next time a census is taken some Minneapolis men will get the job. It is said that on the state railroads of France aluminum will be used hereafter in all the metallic work of car construction except the wheels and axles, and it is esti- mated the reduction in weight of an average train will be about thirty tons. It may be noted as an evidence of the way Chicago has degenerated from the nardihood of pioneer days that when it was desired to have rattlesnakes served at an old-settlers’ banquet there was not a chef in the city who would cook them. According to a writer in the Westminster Gazette, “Chariey’s Aunt” has been played over 7000 times and yielded the author over $150,000, while the “Private Secre- tary” yielded $500,000. It is evident “the play’s the thing,” provided it is a farce. The returns from the recent school elec- tions in Connecticut show that only 1906 votes were cast by women, as against 3241 votes cast by them last year. The decline in the vote is probably due to the fact that suffrage has ceased to be a novelty and hasn’t become a fad. There is a report going the rounds of the Eastern press that every man, woman and child living at Point San Pedro in this State is a bleached blonde owing to the in- fusion in the air of chemicals used in the powder factory; and if there are any blondes over there who are not bleached R17 4 better epgaf upy ASHWORTH'S PREDICAMENT. It must have been an overwhelming sur- prise to Street Superintendent Ashworth to learn that any body of citizens, whether organized as a Grand Jury or not, had dared to bring proceedings against him for corrapt and will ful misconduct and for his removal from office, and it must be im- measurably i lize that he cannot exercise the fur his office during the pendency of the pro- ceedi He is now placed in a far worse role than that of a common criminal, and that is probably beyond his power of com- sion. or although he had been repeatedly warned by THE CarL that he must mend the ways of his department or take the consequences, and had been clearly in- formed by this paper that San Francisco was beginning to emerge from the dis- | graceful political condition which has rought it so mnch harm in the past, he carried his position with a high hand, de- nounced those who would have been glad to see him spared this terrible disgrace, as- suned the attitude of towering superiority over the combined moral forces of the | City, and acted generally in a manner | which indicated his belief that his power was unassailable. It would not be proper at this time to discuss the merits of the case against him in their legal aspect. Public policy re- quires that this silence be maintained even in the face of the notorious circum- stances which have given rise to the pro- ceedir It is more profitable to turn to the agencies which have brought about the action. Mr, Ashworth has already explained that much of the crooked work with which his administration is charged was done by his predecessor in office. This makes the case none the better for him. It was his duty, if he knew of such things, to protect the City against them instead of carrying | them to completion. But what about the former members of the City government? | Mr. Ashworth’s explanation is an attack on their intelligence, vigilance or fidelity, and it seems incumbent on them to step out into the light and defend themselyes. In very sharp contrast to the former order of thingsis the record made by the present Street Commitiee of the Board of Supervisors. It was not content to take the Street Superintendeni’s word for the manner in which the contractors were doing their work. Itemployed an expert, paid his salary from private sources and set him to work. With no trouble at all he ran down a long list of scandalous con- tract operations, conspicuously valuable that he was en- gaged by the whole board and his salary paid from the public funds. His known integrity was an eiement of his selection, and that is something that is too often | overlooked in the selection of public func- tionaries. The splendid w of the Street Com- mittee would not have had so highly valu- able results had it not been.for the high character of the Grand Jury. Such forces working together are competent at any time to uproot corruption and check the evils of incompetency in the conduct of municipal affairs. ing to the people to realize that we have such men to guard the public interests as 1t should be a warning to corrupt poli- ticians that their days of prosperous ras- cality have come to an end. MUNICIPAL POLITICS. I age is a guarantee of respectability the belief that politics should not be a factor in the direction of municipal affairs is re- spectable. This view has recently been expressed, according to a published inter- | view, by J. Richard rreud, secretary of the Merchants’ Association. He isreported to have said that the association will work for 2 new charter, that it will adopt a platform, that it is already able to in- fluence 1000 votes and that it will extend its membersnip so as to be able to in- fluence 5000 or 10,000 votes. He is reported to have added: “Itis not implied by this that any intention exists to hold political conventions. Our mem- bers belong to both political parties, but the merchants generally believe that in municipat affairs there should be mno politics. With 10,000 voters interested in our platform and standing back of it no public official would resist our requests.” If politics is what it purports to be its aim is to assure, through organization and effort, the security and prosperity of the people. Differences in political par- ties express the difference in views which men entertain for accomplishing the de- sired end. In its proper sense politics1s the concrete expression of patriotism. The organization of a party would ration- ally and properly extend from a National body down through the various sub- divisions of the Government, fitted exactly to them and stopping only at the smallest, which 1s a city ward. If such organization stops anywhere such stop- page is a confession of the unwisdom of the whole idea of political organization and effort, and in addition to that weakens the whole organized structure. If organized politics is good for one division of the Government it must be good for all, and if it is not good for one it isan evil for all. The security and pros- perity of the smallest ward in the small- est city is as important a consideration as the security and prosperity of the Nation, and the strength of the whole is best assured by securing- the strength of the parts. When worthy citizens, having at heart the prover government of the people, with- draw from affiliation with established po- livical parties in municipal affairs and act independently of them, they cannot con- sistently affiliate with such parties in National affairs, because their withdrawal is a proclamation that they have discov- ered inefliciency at the very groundwork of such parties, and the necessary con- clusion is that such inefficiency must extend throughout the whole organization. There is no principle upon which political organization can be defended in its ap- plicability to one subdivision of the Gov- ernment that is not applicable to each and all. It seems not to have occurred to those who oppose politics in municipal affairs that it would be just as easy and far better for them to achieve their praiseworthy purposes by exercising their good influ- ence within the established parties than by seeking to weaken those organizations and invite corruption and inefficiency to them by withdrawing the good influence which alone makes them worthy, efficient and responsible. They seem to have over- looked the fact that established parties, being responsible to the people, and gen- erally suffering punishment for persistent wrongdoing, are in a better position than transient organizations to hold their elected public officers accountable for their con- duct, to punish with neglect those who have proved unworthy and to reward with higher honors those who have proved worthy. It does not seem to have occurred to these gentlemen that any organization which they may effect for influencing elections is itself just as much a political organization as that of any established political party; that the ends which they His services were 8o | It should be as gratify- | | | | | | [po tical methods; that the principle ex- pressed by their organization and efforts is identical with that represented by the organization and efforts of established parties; that when so organized and work- ing they are as much a political party as any other, with this difference, that their political party is transient and lacks the useful elements of accountability to the public and of holding their elected officers accountable to them. A PEOULIAR OFFICER. Adfter the exhibition of his temperament which United States Marshal Baldwin made at the hanging of St. Clair and Han- sen last Friday it is difficult to see how he can conscientiously retain his office or how President Cleveland can keep him there. Mr. Baldwin deserted his post of duty at the most critical moment, and had it not been for the superior efiiciency of the State officers in the San Quentin prison the probabilities are that an inconceivably dis- graceful scene would have been witnessed. 1t is believed Mr. Baldwin excluded re- porters because he feared that his courage would fail and that the press would put him in a disgraceful light. He did exactly as he feared Le would do, but the papers published the fact nevertheless, and he has suffered the humiliatfon of which he feared. It is nothing whatever to his discredit that he hasa temperament which makes the execution of the death sentence un- speakably repulsive to him. On the con- | trary, it is evidence of a tine, sensitive and sympathetic nature, and that is a credit to any one. Nor is it a discredit to other men that they lack such extreme sensi- tiveness if they have good qualities to com- pensate for the lack. It was highly credit- able to the San Quentin officers, for in- stance, that they had the courage to avert a shocking scene by performing a duty which rested upon Mr. Baldwin alone. But Mr. Baldwin’s official aspect is an- other matter. He liki knew his own temperament before he accepted the office; | be knew that it was possible he should be called on to execute the death sentence; his whole conduct immediately before the hanging showed that he knew himself to be incompetent for the task. It was clearly his duty then to resign his office. As he did not then exhibit that high sense of | duty which we should expect from a man of his high-strung and sensitive tempera- ment, it is not likely that he will now per- form his urgent duty in resigning. That, however, should not prevent the President from meeting the contingency. As Mr. Baldwin has doubly disgraced his office by | neglecting to resign before attempting the performance of a duty which he was sure he could not properly discharge, if at all, and by failing to perform it at last, the President cannot avoid removing him. THE NORMAL SCHOOL. While it is the part of wisdom on the part of the City Board of Education to abolish the Normal School, the reason which it gives for the decision—a necessity to economize—is unfortunate. The State hasa , satisfactory and highly devel- oped scheme for the education of teachers, and no city can enter into the plan of edu- cating pupils to teach without interfering with the State scheme and, by implication, casting a reflection on its efliciency. If there were no State normal schools it would be wise for San Francisco to have one. Whatever the efficiency of the San Francisco Normal School, its existence has been an impertinence, an intrusion and an unnecessary expense. The proper function of municipal and other local schools in the | public-school system is to occupy their as- signed place in the general scheme created by the Legislature. This is to have gram- mar and high schools, which lead up to the university. There manifestly should be but one system of training teachers, and it should be under one management. Any other plan leads to a variety of standards and a confusion of result RANDOM NOTES. By Jonx JGHT. The clear voice of Mr. Greer Harrison’s condemnation of New York assumptions has penetratea to that far land, and the air over there is filled with the reverbera- tions of a multitude of fools howling forth discordant replies. To some extent this is not unexpected. We knew, of course, that when the heel of California culture was set | upon the worm of Eastern rudeness the worm would turn, but it was not expected the worm Would come back roaring like the bull of Bashan and disturbing the whole country with a noise laid to our ac- count. The turning was all right, but the roaring is an impertinence which it is the duty of every Californian to rebuke gently as befits our Pacific climate, but resolutely in accordance with our Western style. Western cities by an immemorial custom have an established right to criticise all cities to the east of them. New York ex- ercises this right with great vigor and per- sistence at the expense of London and Paris, and has therefore no right to com- plain when we indulge ourselves in a simi- lar treat at her cost. It would be a revolu- tion in the course of civilization if the East should seriously revolt against the educating voice of the West. The star of empire would turn backward. It would be as if Spain should seek release from Cuba. The voice of the West shouid ever be regarded in the East as the voice of conscience, and while it is permitted unto the East to turn, it should always be a turning to repentance. The culture of 2 community like the wit of an individual is pleasing only when it 1s original, fresh and {freely fluent in all of its phases. When it becomes old, stale and formal it assumes the rough uncouth- ness of a chestnut burr; it even grows woolly in body and has whiskers on it. Now, the culture of New York is much older than that of San Francisco, and con- sequently is much more of a chestnut, not to say more woolly. We, therefore, having the vigor and the excellence of a fresher, more original and more Western culture, have a threefold right to use the shears of criticism in clipping the wool off New York, even to the taking of the hair also, and possibly some of the skin as a scalp for our wigwam’s adornment. Nor should New York be allowed to make too much fuss about it. Does she not live in a world where the Lord tempers the wind to a shorn lamb? The culture of a community can be fairly estimated by the homes the people build for themselves. If the rich folks of San Francisco had ignored the commanding views of the bay and the Golden Gate, and had erected their mansions on Morton street, what visitor to the City would not have said: ‘““Behold a community where there are many kinds of fools, but all of one degree.”” Yetthe rich of New York have done just about that kind of thing. With avenues commanding fine views of the Hudson River and the lofty Palisades beyond, they have built themselves houses and even palaces on a narrow thorough- fare commanding-no views at all and run- ning, as they themselves express it, only ‘“from hell to Harlem.” What culture seek to accomplish must be reached by |can be expected of such a commupity when at the very extreme it can be only of the hell or Harlem kind ? When the New York millionaires turn away from the noble boulevard by the riverside to build their houses on so nar- row and commonplace a street as Fifth avenue simply because it is nearer to the shops and give up the prospect of the Pali- sades for the prospect of getting five min- utes sooner downtown they disclose a lack of some of the best elements of culture; but even more disgracefu! to the com- munity than the mistreatment of River- side avenue is the abuse of the Bowery. No comimunity is morally responsibie for its millionaires, since they are never an outzrowth of public morals, but it is re- sponsible for its bohemians; and in making the beautiful, bright Bowery a jest and a byword instead of a toast and a classic the New Yorkers prove themselves to be the veriest Philistine pigs that ever turned away from jewels to root in the muck heaps of life. In a city where the kings of Philistia build palaces on the midtown thorough- fare of traflic instead of on superb heights far removed from trade, and where the princes of Bohemia turn away from the ireedom of one of the broadest and bravest streets in all the big, wide world, there may be taste in poetry, music and art, but if so the taste 1s imported. It is not wine only that New Yorkers judge by the label and give preference to European brands. Their tongues are too woolly for tasting home sweets, their ears are too hairy for hearing home music, and they consider nothing elevated unless the cost is high. Out of the talk and the writing caused by Trilby there has been made public an odd bit of information from the history of music that is interesting. We are told that the old French song ‘‘Malbrouc s’en va-t-en guerre,’”” which runs through the story, is sung to the tuneof “We Won't Go Home Till Morning,” and moreover, that the tune is of great age. Itcan be traced as far back as the middle ages, when it served as a war chant of the Cru- saders. It would be interesting to know exactly how far the tune has changed and through what transformations it has passed in coming down the centuries and descending from the dignity of a holy battle-song on the plains of Palestine to be a howling drinking chorus in American barrooms. Music itself, it seems, can lose its high estate, and perhaps if primeval man bad started out dowered with the music of the spheres the sublime harmony would by this time have dwindled down to a jingle, fit only to set the pace of boys and girls doing a round dance. Triiby herself has attained the dignity of being the subject of a scientific discus- sion. She has been considered under that aspect by the Social Culture Society of New York, for it seems they have a so- ciety, even if they haven’t got a culture, and a learned scientist read a paper there which proved that Trilby never could hayve been as Du Maurier pictured her, because such a Trilby could not have had ber throat filled with music by the most potent and most expert Svengali that ever lived. That settlesit. Science has spoken; let art be dumb. The only defect in fornia cultureisa lack of a‘community consciousness of it. Individually we may feel the confidence of a perfect poise on all things elevated, and be calm in the assurance oi a well-balanced equilibrium amid the oscillations of taste, but we have notas yet a sufficient common understanding and mutual agreement to be sure that our neighbors are right. Con- seque..tly when some fellow citizen pro- nounces judgment we hesitate to indorse him. In the present instance for example, not a few weil-meaning, but uncertain people have been inclined to look askance at Mr. Harrison and doubt whether New York may not have some culture aiter all. 1t is time this defect should be remedied, and the occasion is propitious for begin- ning the remedial task. The issue is simple. Is not our culture sufficiently higher than thatof New York to permit us to look down upon those who dwell there? Is not California Hill more elevated than Murray Hili? Has not a city on the shore of the Pacific a broader outlook than one on Spuyten Duyvel Creek? Is it too late to seek to avoid the conflict? The East is blowing ber trumpets and we must take our trumpets and blow also. San Fran- cisco has a right to expect that all her critics will come forward with braye words to justify their trade. *‘He that doubts is damned, and he that dallies is a dastard.”’ If there be any truth in the universe higher and broader than that which lies low and confined at the bottom of a well, then the culture of San Francisco isas much superior to that of New York as the view from California Hili is superior to that from the corner of Fifth avenue and some other brownstone street. The New Yorker sees nothing bigger than a hotel, nothing brighter than a gaslamp, nothing sweeter than a candy-store. But from our hilltops all the infinite is ours. Moun- tains, waves and fogs; sunshine and star- light above, and around about us or be- neath us the glow of innumerable lights, the coming and going of ships, the bloom of sempiternal flowers, the vigor of ocean winds, the sweetness of the odors of roses and lihes, the influences of men gathered from all quarters of the globe, the mighty impulses that throb forever in the great heartof the West—from these sources we draw fair passions, bountiful pities and loves without stain, deriving therefrom a culture so fine, free and fluent and full that we could go on higher and higher in elevated joys unwearyingly if it were not that we are occasionally rendered con- scious of the existence of New York in our beloved country and are thus made tired. It is not often that musical recitals are made interesting to non-musical people, but the task, though difficult, can be ac- cumplisl.\ed, and that without putting too much of a strain on the non-musical audience. An excellent instance of the successful accomplishment of the feat was given at a recent musical evening provided by the California College of Oratory for the entertainment of its friends. The musician of the evening, Professor Ble- mann, prefaced each of his selections with a brief description explaining the meaning of the different movements of the music, their relations to one another and the sentiment which pervaded and unified the whole. This was a literal “antwisting all the chords that tie the hidden soul of harmony,” and made the significance as well as the sweetness of the music clear., It would be well for our cultureif we coula have a series of explained recitals of this kind on a large scale. They would un- doubtedly prove popular as soon as they were understood, for they would enable peaplewhoknownnthingo!muulctoflndu much enjoyment in listening to it and dis- cussing it as an impecunious citizen finds in the ceaseless agitation of the silver question, DIGGING UP NEWS. Los Angeles Porcupine. The San Francisco CaLL publishes more Los Angeles News than all of the other Ban Fran- cisco dailies put together. J. M. Shawhan *‘digs up” his own news, while the Chronicle and Examiner are dependent upon the Times :)agbfli:lrl:\l:?idlfio wonder Ihltla “-l'&nlh % up & us 10 1018 6i5Y 00d sogniy, o THE DEGENERACY OF AMBROSE BIERCE. By W{LHAH GREER HARRISON. The decay of a brilliant mind is under all circumstances a pitiable sight, even where the decay has been self-wrought. Twenty years ago Ambrose Bierce held our small world at his feet. Then his sat- ire bad the keenness of the stiletto. Then San Francisco laughed with him. Occa- sionally since then our people have tittered over periodic suggestions of a brilliant past. To-day the world langhs at Ambrose Bierce asthey would langh at any other man who uses a blndgeon believing he is playing with the foil. Once he was epigrammatic and his terse, sharp-pointed humor told its own story without elaboration. Now he employs a column of matter to enable him to say of a man that he is an ass. Has age dulled his intellect? No, he is relatively a young man, and his work should be stronger and richer for the long practice of a once cunning hand. Once Mr. Bierce was original, now he is content to plagiarize from himself, and quotes Ambrose Bierceas hissole authority. 1t does not require any very large amount of brains to enable one man to call another afoolor a donkeyor an ass. That is a form of Billingszate easily acquired. In his later days Mr. Bierce stands upon a monument whose base is his undying self-conceit, wildly waving & ponderous beam, killing unfortunate insects foolishly venturing within his reach. Mr. Bierce’s case offers a study to the analyist. What has produced this strange degeneracy? Is it degeneracy, or is it that the glamour has gone and that the monotony of his wit has dispelled a belief in its potency, or is it that men no longer fear a sting, the too constant use of which has destroyed its point? Or is it that Am- brose Bierce, weary of his mask, has un- covered the real Bierce, and, glorying in his own shame, reveals himself as he really is? What is Ambrose Bierce? A critic who cannot criticize, an author who cannot write. Why? Because he aban- doned the field of ecriticism, in its true sense, to take up the work of a mere compiler of his own fugitive sketches. His published efforts were failures. A kindly merchant subject to his entreaty had unwisely become an amateur pub- lisher, and Mr. Bierce’s works were given to the public. The public pitilessly re- fused them. Mr. Bierce had spent the worst part of his life in abusing almost every man and woman who dared to enter the literary lists, and when his own works were presented this fact was not forgot- ten. He was not abused—he was simply damned by the negative method—no one cared to read him. And yet his works have great merit and deserved a better fate. It may be a mere conceit or it may be the truth that while all other human qualities have disappeared from Mr. Bierce’s nature, memory may have re- belled and refused to be silent, and that Mr. Bierce was made to see the long line of unfortunates whom he had mercilessly destroyed, and that the sight instead of humanizing him had the reverse effect. For years he poisoned his darts. At last he poisoned himself with his own venowr. Once he could dissect, now he can merely scoid. It would be easy to say of Mr. Bierce that he is a stuttering ape, a shambling idiot, an ill-visaged 'maphrodite, a literary monstrosity ; but to say so would not be to aiford evidence that he isall of these, though he may be said to be each of them in part. But that would be merely follow- ing Mr. Bierce’s later and most objection- able methods. Mr. Bierce once had the skill and dispo- sition to attack a man’s work; he still has the disposition, but he lacks the skill. Now he is content to resort to mere personalities, abusing the individual without even the slightest knowledge of his work. He can- not fire, so he burns saltpeter to remind himself that he still lives. It would be easy to assert that Ambrose Bierce is a man without manliness, a being without feel- ing, an existence without purpose; but that method is too Biercine to be legiti- mately used. It may be briefly said that he is without any moral sense, ard that he has not the slightest conception of what constitutes a gentleman. This is illus- trated by his sacrilegious attack upon the Lord’s Prayer and his brutal assault upon one of the most charming and briiliant women of our country. But his personal qualities are not worth considering. What is subject to inquiry is his egotistical assumption of the office of censor. 1Is his authority to be found in the only evidence before us—the work of his pen? We cannot look into his life—it is a blank. We must find the man in his Prat- tle. As there is absolutely not one particle of the man in his weekly scold, no indica- tion of genius, not even a suggestion of the past beyond the tiresome repetition of things ut‘ered long ago, there is but one conclusion left—Bierce is undoubtedly in- sane. Would even a novice tell his readers that the object of his attack was utterly insignificant, and then proceed to waste a column of matter in mere personal abuse ? No. The old Bierce would not have been compelled to resort to a postscript to ad- vise his readers as to what his elaborate foolishness was intended to convey. A too vast admiration of bimself has un- done poor Bierce. He has knelt to him- self, taken off his hat to himself so long that the refusal of the world—of anybody— to 1mitate him is gall and bitterness to his morbid nature and his self-love and self- homage, like unwholesome secretions, are telling upon his blood and softening his brain. Regarded from a literary stand- point he is a poor, shapeless, toothless wreck who deserves no pity, yet is a pite- ous sight. Mr. Bierce might have won any prize he desired in the literary world had he been human. He has failed because, in at- tempting to destroy others, he has de- stroyed his own powers. He is now a wasp without its sting—an fll-natured, un- charitable, heartless being, who finds his sole delight in the effort to pain others: He has the quality of mind which justifies a belief in the demoniacal obsession; heis, however, Dante’s devil—cold, brutaland repulsive—not the insidious, witty and courtly creature of Milton, There is no hope for or in such a nature. Mr. Bierce knows this—knows that he is doomed to a contemptuous obscurity; knows that when he lards the green earth there is an end of him. If there be any memory of him, he knows that it will be a painful one and haven it a sense of thunk- fulness that his dull mumbling is at an end, and knowing this he will fight fate until paralysis puts a stop to his morbid drivel and unwholesome diatribes. Ambrose Bierce is the most complete literary failure of the century. He entered the lists splendidly armored. He had brains, he had education, he had wit, humor, and knew their most dexterous use, but he prostituted them 2ll to a malicions desire to stab, to an insane and abnormal passion for the infliction of pain on those who were powerless to resent his blows. Now he is merely inane, retaining only the desire to be wicked, but, like other impo- tent things, incapable and incurable. A few months ago Mr. Bierce had the temerity to ettack o distinguished journs alist. The lash was taken from his hand and applied to himself. He was thor- oughly flagellated. The baseness of his nature, the prostitution of his genius, the degeneracy of his mental qualities and the utter insignificance of his life were fully portrayed. Mr. Bierce felt the lash and retired without a word, and has not dared to bray in that direction again. Am- brose Bierce has only been powerful be- cause his victims ware powerless. But his supremacy is gone, and he is only a sign- post, marking the wreck of an utterly wasted life, and the grave of a literary bully. To-day Ambrose Bierce is merely a literary eunuch, his utterances the windy spasms of an unesasy frog, and his criti- cisms the sour output of a disgruntled maule. Once Bierce dared to say ‘“poor old God.” Let us paraphrase and say, ‘‘poor old Bierce, poor old vodo.” * LETTERS FRON THE PEOPLE, THE BIRTH DATE OF CHRIST. To the Editor of the San Francisco Call—SIR: Apropos of the controversy 8s to the various dates given for the birth of Christ, which ap- peared in an article in last Sunday’s issue of your valuable journal, permit me to add here & few remarks. Mr. Sutro in his correspondence with the Vatican says: “And according to this calcula- tion Christ’s birth was fifty-three years before 8671, which is 3618; the difference between the first date (3761), the accepted date, and the last (3618) would be 143 years.” Undoubt- edly Mr. Sutro arrived at this conclusion from the quotation of “Zemach David,” towit: “In the year 3724 the Christ was captured, and ac- cording to this calculation was his birth_fifty- three years yet earlier than the year 3671, as they formerly said in Sanhedrin” It is, how- ever, very obvious that this passage, found in an old AS., as quoted above, has reference oniy to the capture and crucifixion and not the birth of Christ. The remainder of said passage should therefore read: “Andsccording to this calculation was his death fifty-three years later than the vear 3671, etc.,” as by adding 53 to 8671 we have the given date 3724. I That some ancient manuscripts are subjeet to revision cannot be disputed. Many an error might have crept in in copying and translating, hence the quotation above given might not have been au exception. In a chronologicel work called “Seder Hada- roth,” by Rab echiel, who flourished in the last centi , the passage from *“Zemach David” is given inan entirely different version, of which the following is a literal translation: “The Nazarene was born in the year 3724 and lived until the year 532, in in 532 years the lunar or solar c: times 28 being 532 and 7 times 532 i 4, 724 ends in 532, thus was found written in an old book. Z. D., part 2. This quotation, no doubt, is 0 newhat erratic, and should read thus: “The rene was born in the year 3724 (and lived until the year 3760), at the close of cycle 532, for in 532 years, etc.” Assuming that the nativity toox plaee in the year 3724 the accepted Christian era must needs be calculated from the crucitixion and not from the birth of Christ, i.e., from the cceeding the crucifixion and the 24 and 3761 are thus harmonized. The “Seder Hadaroth” being also our au- thority placing the bi of Christ at 3560, a differénce of 201 years. Yours respectfully, H. KRAMER. cycle 532, for s 19 San Francisco, October 18, 189: THAT RUNAWAY BOY. To the Editor of the San Francisco Call—SIR: In your paper of Friaay morning I see an article under the head *“He Would Rather Die,” and in justice to myself I believe it but proper that 1 say a few words in that matter, as the boy mentioned is my son. He is & boy who will sit down and read the news- papers like a man, only with this difference, he would read only sensational stories. I must confess I never thought of what bad effect it might have on him, but beyond ull reasonable doubt that is what caused him to run away. As to my cruel treatment ot him, that of course is but an ex- cuse for running away. While it is true that I have occasionally chastised him for running with other boys on the street when he ought to have been at work, or at least at home or in my store, it has not been with a whipstock, but with a leather strap at- tached to the small end of it, and alweys on that part of the body that is not supposed to suffer particular harm from such an appliance. From his standpoiut it seems reasonable enough that it was unjust of me to punish him for what other boys were allowed to do at their own sweet will. 1 believe his appearance will disclose the fact that he was not intended to | be a street arab. It is unfortunate that his tender years will not enable him to see the @is- grace he has heaped upon his parents. But I feel amazed to learn irom my wife that the officer who brought her the news of having found him should have requested her to give him $20 for his trouble. Luckily she did not havé that much with ber, but she handed him £5. The police deserve no creditat all for find- ing the boy, as they have had the case in hand for five or six weeks and never found any trace of him untll & newsphber reportes 80f wind of it, and much against my wish got the whole affair from a brother-in-law of mine. Hoping you will publish this, 1 am very respectfully N. yours, P, Rasyu Selma, Cal,, Oct. 19, 1895. MR. WRIGHT'S STRONG WORDS. To the Editor of the San Franciseo Call—Str: T notice that in your editorial entitléd *‘The Miners in Earnest,” in your i¥ue of Friday morning, you characterize my remarks of last Wednesday, before the Miners' Association, as “a fierce arraignment of the farmers, mer- chants and producers of the State” What I am reported to have said was: Icall your attention, Mr. president, to the fact that the gold-miners of the State of California are the only independent people in the State. They are the onés who can best make the contest for the people. Every other industry is under the control ©Of the transportation interesis of the State. W hy should the gold-miner be under their control? He alone is independent, and for reasons that you all know and which need not be stated. Iam quite sureIwould be very far from at- tempting to convey the idee that all other classes are willingly subservient. The mean- ing I intended, and which I should have de- fined to any audience other than an audience of miners, can best be made clear by an illus- tration. Nearly all farm products are bulky and proportionately expensive to transpori, while the expense of carrying the gold-miner's product is at the most but an infinitesimal portion of its value. The subject might be further illustrated, but that is unnecessary in order to show that the gold-miner in a practical sense is more inde- pendent of the transportation compenies than others are. Perhaps my meaning would have been batter conveyed by nymglum every other industry is at the mercy of the transportation interests. October 19, 1895. JOHN M. WRIGHT. e FROM WESTERN SANCTUMS. To Go With Napoleon’s Throne-Chair, Portland Oregonian. The Queen of Italy is continualiy adding to her large collection of gloves, hoots and shoes worn at different periods at Italian courts, in- cluding, for example, “Nero's” sandals. “Rienzi’s” throne shoes, a pair of white <lip pers which belonged to Mary, Queen of Scofs, slippers worn by Queen Anne, by Marie Antoinette, the Empress Josephine, ete. What excellent bargains in shopworn goods DeYoung may yet secure from the Queen. Home-Born Glory. Los Angeles Times. The love of home is the epirit out of which true patriotism is born, and there is no nation on the face of the globe in which this spirit should be so strong,so full enkindled, as in America—the land of homes, where more poor men own their homes than in any other coun- try, and possess a heritage in the soil that ex- ceeds that possessed by the masses in other lands, The Prospect Not Discouraging. £an Jose Mercury. Prize-fighters are now tabooed, and even dog-fighters are heavily fined, so moral has the publicjbecome. All of which leads to the fonJ’hope that after awhile some way will be found for punishing & murderer. The Men Who Are in Demand. Virginia (Nev.) Enterprise. It is the man who has confidence in himseli ‘who succeeds in this world, and when men of this stamp are aggregated 1nto communities you can’t stop them. Publicity (hecks Vice. Albuquerque (N. M.) Citizen. Publicity is allied to light and favors virtue. This is, perhaps, what brings the news, 50 close lopu:e hearts of the American peoplpee Thanksgiving Anticipations. * Seattle (Wash.) Post-Intelligencer. Just now we are thinking of Americans in Turkey. Six weeks from now we will be thigk- iDg of turkey iy AmeTicans PERSONAL. A. G. Boggs of Nape is at the Baldwin. Mayor H. N. Baggs of Stockton is at the Lick. Jacob Klein, » banker of Carson City, isin San Francisco. Dr. J. L. Ord end wife of Pacific Grove are at the Occidental. Assemblyman G. W. Morgan of Duncens Mills is in the City. [RG. C. Cokerend fam ,is at the . G. Fot Guatemala, is at Counciiman ley came down J. W. Linscott struction of Sar Colonel Ed Har tleman, came down from day. Captain 0. C. Berrym Marine Corps of Mare Island, is at the Occi- dental. Commander E. W. Watson of the U States steamer Ranger is registered at th cidental. Dr. G. Tucker Smit Churchill of the United Occidental. Re Graham of Chic mercanant from Kernville, and J. Woodland are at the Grand. Hervey C. Somers, the well-known Produce Exchange merchant, leaves to-morrow fortnight's visit to Los Angeles and Ri Mr. and Mrs. E. A. Hart and Miss Hart of Connecticut, Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Ackerman, Mrs. J. Ackerman and Miss Lydia Ackerman of Plainville, N. J., and Mr. ana Mrs. . Camp of New Haven, Conn., are at the Palace. ;They are making a tour of the world and will leave on the next steamer for the Orient. Brown, & Hink of CALIFORNIANS IN WASHINGTON. t. WASHINGTON, D. ( 19.—Among the arrivals to-day were: W Beard, Sen F cisco; H. Bond, Oaklana; Theodore L. Sto; Los Angeles. 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