The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 25, 1895, Page 27

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, WEDNESDAY, NDECEMBER 25. 1895. 27 What Shall We Do With Our Boys and Girls—The Whittier School. Written for «The Call”” By Supt. J. E. Coflin. What shall we do with our boys and girls? Not the boys and girls who have good homes, however humble, with kind and loving parents to counsel aud encour- dge them. We have spent and are spend- ing thousands of dollars for these. We have provided a grand system of public schoois, and at Berkeley we have estab- lished a great university, which will very soom, if not now, take rank with the fore- most educational institutions of the land. Of these privileges they will avail them- selves. But what shall we do with the unfor- tunate boys and girls of California, many of whom never had a home, and a large per- centage of the remainder of whom would probably be better off 1f they had not had what they have been taught to call home— children who, from very force of circum- ances, go wrong, almost of necessity lding to the evii influences surrounding hem, and find themselves at enmity with the law and law-abiding people? “A child is a man in small letter, the best copy ‘of Adam before he tasted the apple. His soul is a white paper, un- scribbled with observations of the world, wherewith at length it becomes a blurred notebook. He is purely happy because he knows no evil, nor has he means by sin to be acquainted with misery.”’ Could we, while the page is white and the child is at the most impressionable age, compel its parent or guardian to love it and give it the wise, judicious care-and training it should have; if every child born with vicious surroundings could be removed at once to a pure atmosphere and every apparent or suspected evil tendency combated in the lizht of onr best knowl- edge of child-training, a large percentage would be saved for usefulness who other- wise will be trained in lawlessness, and the necessity for reformatories and prisons would be reduced to the minimum. Un- fortunately, so far, we have been unable to do this. It is an easy me=tter to find opportunity for criticizing parents in the care of their children. Any number who have the means to provide well for their children make no provisions, exercise no restraint and are orly too glad to have the State step in and relieve them of their care. There should undoubtedly be some means for compeliling such parents to at least pay the expenses necessary for giving their children proper care and training, but to hurl children back upon such parents without doing anything to better their opportunities is doing justice to neither the child nor ourselves. Sointerdependent have we become as fellow-citizens we can- not be wnolly disinterested parties to the training our neighbor gives his children. What is our responsibility to these chil- dren who have never known the influence of a good home and the watchful care of true loving parents? Children who have inherited criminal tendencies, or those who have acquired them through enforced associations, are rather to be pitied than blamed. The highest motive which should prompt us to an interest in such children is that we may save the children. Another motive is that the safety and general wel- fare of society may pe conserved. If we let them drift they will undoubt- edly work out their own ruin, become a curse to others and a burden to the State. Given the opportunity for reformation; ous surroundings replaced by those which are hopeful and helpful; not only the temptation, but the opportunity for offenses removed; regular habits and cleanliness enforced; sufficient and proper food supplied and both mental and physical labor exacted, with a view to de- veloping and strengthening feeble or dormant parts and faculties, and a vast number of boys and girls now growing up to fill prisons, hospitals and asylums may be diverted from their present course and saved from that for which they are not responsible to become law-abiding, wealth- producing citizens. Shall we give them the needed help or shall we ignore them until they force them- selves upon us as adult criminals, lunatics and paupers? California gave a most emphatic answer to these queries by establishing first, the Whittier State School, which opened its doors for the reception of children July 1, 1890, and secondly, the Preston School of Industry at Tone. The basic principle on which referma- tion is carried on at Whittier is the devel- opment of thé good in the child, to the sup- pression of the evil. Occupation pre- cludes mischief; diversion rather than co- ercion maintains restraint. A child entering the school learns that the officers and teachers are not avenging fates sent to upbraid and punish for past errors, but friends, giving small heed to his past, but greatly concerned as to his juture. Inflexible discipline is main- tained, but in its enforcement the child | meets with kindness, to which the major- ity of them have been strangers, and to which, as a rule, they readily respond. The boys and girls are assisted in their choice of occupations by the officers. With rare exceptions, they want trades and choose the places for which they are best adapted. Children are not born lazy. Many are misplaced, but if given an occu- pation for which their abilities and in- clinations fit them, they work enthusiastic- ally and become ambitious to excel. In the boys’ department there is: A shoeshop where all the shoes for the jnstitution are made, and thirty boys are learning to be shoemakers. A tailor-shop where all the clothing is made, and thirty-five boys are learning to be tailors. A printing omice where thirteen boys are learning the “art preservative.” An electrical department where the heat, light and power for the whole institu- tion is generated, and where twenty boyF are learning to be electricians and engi- neers. A carpenter-shop where twelve boys are learning to be carpenters. A blacksmith-shop where tweive boys are learning to be blacksmitis. A steam laundry employing fourteen boys. : £ A paintshop where instruction in house, sign and carriage painting is given to a class of twelve boys. A bakery where 400 loaves of bread are baked aaily, and where ten boys are learn- ing to be bakers. Seven boys learning to be cooks. There are 160 acres of land where boys Jearn to be florists, gardeners, vegetable gardeners, orchardists and dairymen. In the girls’ department tailoring, dress- l}mking. laundering, mending, housekeep- ing and cooking are taught. Every child attends school three hours daily and works four and a half hours. The boys are drilled in military tactics five houts per week. To everv company is allotted an ample playground. Healthful games_and physical exercises are encour- aged. Under the original act establishing the echool commitments were for definite periods. Under this law a child nine vears old committed for one year, with credits for gocd behavior, remained in the school ten months, at the end of which time the authority of the school over him ceased and he must be sent back to the en- vironment which, in nearly every case, caused his commitment to the school. Three years ago the Jaw was changed, the framers of the bill intending that all com- mitments should be for a period embracing the minority of the chiid, and introducing the parole system. Thus, while the av- erage stay in the school will probably not exceed two years, the State, through the Board of Tiustees, remains the guardian of the child during his minority, with the power of recalling him to the school in case of violation of the parole, either by himself or those to whom he is paroled. The knowledge of this continued author- ity acts as a powerful stimulus to the child o put forth his best efforts and also has a restraining influence over those to whom the child is paroled. In cases where children are paroled to parents the parent, if before delinquent, is now, in a measure, compelled to do his duty by his offspring. The one to whom the child is paroled is required to report in writing, monthly, his conduct, progress at school, or if at work, the wages received, etc., thus enabling the management to keep a history of each one from his en- trance to the school until he arriv at his majority. From this history statis- tics are compiled which will soon render an unimpeacheable verdict as to the result. According to this history, which, owing to the short existence ot the parole system, is, of course, not entirely conclusive, over 80 per cent of those paroled have so far been successful. The law was intended to cover commit- ments under all sections, but according to late rulings children may still be commit- ted as incorrigible or vicious for a definite period. So far, California has done well and the results have been most encouraging, but | if our great State is to keep step with the progress of civilization she must not stop here. The Whittier School is doing good work, is achieving splendid results, but it | is not yet what it ought to be. Itshould have enlarged accommodations and such enlargement should be on the cottage plan. No two child natures are the same, neither can children, young or grown up, | be reformed by hundreds, fifties, tens or | twos; individual work alone brings best | results. Our aim should be to come as near to the realization of a home as it is possible. Cottages shonld be built for the | accommodation of families of mnot more these cottages to be under the care of well-educated, broad-minded, sympathetic men and women; the children of one cot- tage to eat, sleep and play entirely separ- ate from those of another. This system permits of the nearest pos- i sible classification of the children, accord- ing to culpability or innocence. The shops, now but poorly equipped, should be supplied with the best and most | modern tools and appliances, that trades may be thoroughly taught in the best pos- sible way, so that on leaving school the childa will be ahle to put in practice in wage-earning that which he has learned in the school. He should be taught to do some one thing as well as it can be done. With this accomp'ished he is a positive and longer & negative quantity in the State. More trades should be added, that greater latitude may be afforded in finding the child’s proper place. More land for vege- tables, dairy, etc., as an economic meas- ure, should be secured. In order to more easily create and stimu- late a desire for learning, school facilities should be improved and more books, pe odicals, etc., added to our librar present one teacher has 100 boys depend ing upon her for instruction. It is evi- dent, even to the most causual observer, that this does not permit of the most thor- ough and effective work. ium, with competent in charge, would accomplish Let the illy developed and morbia child begin to take regular, systematic exercise, with hours for eating and sleep- ing exactly timed, quantity and quality of food rigidly prescribed, and the results may be read in his daily school record with marvelous accuracy. These results will invariably be more interest, more ac- curacy and more capacity. Every muscle hitherto unused, if brought into play, re- quires activity in a previously idle brain area. A muscle aroused to activity and then brought under the control and direc- tion of the will necessitates a mental effort which notonly contributes to mental growth, but, in most cases, is enjoyed by thechild himself. Insupport of the theory that muscular development gives mental development, I quote from a letter re- ceived a short time ago from Dr. Thomas D. Wood of Stanford University: “That the mind is developed. throvgh muscular training is proven, primarily, by the fact that the motor areas of the brain At | cortex on both sides of the fissure of Ro- lando are concerned in all voluntary mus- cular action. “The location of these areas and their subdivisions has been established by the experiments of Ferrier and Fritch and Hitzig, and also by the observation of pathological cases, in which there have existed, with injury or destrnction of parts of these motor areas, paralysis of the muscles over which these areas normally preside. Then, a case recently described by Dr. M. Allen Starr in the Psychological Review gives strong proof of the belief that the actual center of the muscular senses (which, of course, can only be de- veloped by muscnlar movement) is located in the loft parietal region of the brain, just behind the left motor area.” Then, again, Dr. G. Stanley Hall of Clark University, one of the best authorities on psychology in this country, says: “Once the muscular system, which is the organ of the will and has done all man’s work in the world, is allowed to grow flabby, the will is weakened, and it is for- gotten how akin weakness is ‘to wicked- ness.” If neglect of muscles weakens the will, which is the highest faculty of mind, it follows directly that the will is strength- ened by proper development of voluntary muscular power. The limit of ages for commitment to ‘Whittier shouid be lowered from 18 to 16, the compass from 8 to 18 is too great to be included in one school. I would not, how- ever, favor the sending of boys over 16 to our penitentiaries as they now exist. Why do we not have in California an in- stitution similar to the New York State Reformatory, at Eimira? Why should we not take a step in advance of New York and establish a system of reformatory trade schools, having some for children from 8 to 16 years of age, another for | than fifty, and thirty would be better; | vouths of 16 to 21, and after the plan of the Eimiraschool for young men from 21 to 302 A vear or so ago, and I presume the number 1s now about the same, we had in our penitentiaries 700 young men, many of whom were there for their first offense. Shall we keep them there wearing the uni- form of despair, erushing out the hope that it is supposed springs eternal in the human breast; keep them there in idleness or un- inspiring work that dees not fit them for independence when they are again given taeir liberty; associate them with older and more hardened and more expert crimi- nals, at whese feet they may and will, under the circumstances, sit and learn all that can be taught them of crime and vice in its most hideous forms, thus iitting them for teachers of other youth on the same lines later on? A. C. Pettijohn in November States’ Duaty says: “The object of confine- ment is the changing of the mind and habits of the offender. If the only benefits society receives from his being thus held is the sense of security while the term of his confinement lasts, as well might we chain the tiger’s cub un- til his muscles are strengthened and his fangs full-grown and then turn him loose with greater powers of evil and destruc- tion.” Elmira has stood the test of results and is no longer an experiment. California would, in adopting such a system asis above imperfectly outlined, not be work- ing on theories but on a foundation that has stood the test of years—a plan which New Jersey has in part adopted and is pre- paring to put in operation. The change from what we have to-day could be made with comparatively small expense and we would be sure of a great saving in the future. The managers of ar penal institutions and reformatories would be most zealous workers for the realization of such a system, but without the aflirmative voice of the people they are unable to inaugurate it. THE FUTURE OF STOCKTON. Interview With a Successful Young Attorney of That City. 1 believe that there is not a city in this State, all ttings considered, which has a more promising outlook than that of Stockton.” These words were spoken yesterday to a reporter by Charles Light, one of the prominent voung attorneys and ex-Judge of that flourishing town. ““In the first place,” continued Mr. Light, “the inauguration of the Valley Railroad has given a wonderful impetus to our trade, and the real estate and railroad ac tivity consequent upon this great enter- vrise has aiready made itseli manifest upon our streets and in every department of business and labor. It will give us lower freight rates, and yon know what that means. Stockton will profit im- mensely by the prosperity, for, as you are aware, it is the central point of ribu- tion of freightthroughout the San Joaquin Valley. Besides, having a water route to San Francisco gives it superior commercial advantages.” p Mr. Light is enthiusiastic on the subject of Stockton, having been elected to the po- sition of Justice of the Peace.when quitza young man. He studied law in that city, and is now an attorney of great promise, having been admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of the State, He enjoys a well-deserved popularity in the city of his adoption. -— THE PACIFIC HOSPITAL. An Institution Established Under Direction of Dr. Asa Clark. In the year 1 Dr. Asa Clark estab- lished the Pacific Hospital to accommo- date the insane of Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico, which were then Territories, This accounts for the extensive le on which every department and the grounds are laid out. It is situated just outside the city limits | of Stockton, pleasantly surrounded, and in the midst of forty acres of beautifully laid out grounds. Since Arizona and Nevada built institu- tions and became prepared to take care of their own infane, Dr. Clark has conducted the Stockton institution as a private hos- pital, It seems to meet a demand on the part of those people inclined 1o care for their own unfortunates, as it is a quiet retreat furnishing an abode in all respects private and homelike. The institution is man- aged principally by Dr. Asa Clark's two sons, Dr. . P. Clark and George C. Clark, the father's time being required at the State Insane Asylum, located on the other side of the town, of which he is the medi- cal superinfendent. has been such as to command the respect of the very best classes ot society. Among thie physicians who speak in the highest terms of the arrangement and manage- ment of the place are Drs. L. C. Lane, W. H. Mays, E. H. Woolsey, G. A. Shurtleff, Robert A. Mclean, I. 8. Titus, R. H. Plummer and W. H. Thorne. In addition to the consulting physicians there is a full corps of nurses and attend- ants. attendant at a very moderate cost. "‘In no feature is the equipment inadequate. The corridors are wide, airy and light, affording such patients as cannot be trusted out in the grounds, and all others on wet days, ample room for exercise. Every room is carpeted with Erussels or tapestry carpet and furnished in a style at least equal to any first-class hotel in the country, while the table is not surpassed anywhere. In short, the Pacific Hospital affords the luxuries of the best hotel, the comforts of a home, ana the .conveniences and restraints necessary for the patient’s well-being: and no institution in the coun- try can show a larger percentage of per- manent cures than the one so long under the charge of Dr. Clark and his sons. Scarcely a week elapses that this hos- pital does not receive one or more wounded men from the many factories of Stockton or from the Southern Pacific Railroad, which has largely patronized the institu- tion, having no hospital there of its own. Fred P. Clark is a skillful surgeon, com- petent to treat such surgical cases as may come under his care. It isjustas essential to have comforting as well as skili- ful care in any hospital or home, and this is especially true in the case of mental and nervous diseases, for the trcatment of which the Pacific Hospital has become so widely kno How She Proves Her Affection. A curious use for a husband is reported from Clerkenwell, near London, where a Mr. Lamb and his wife keep a small shop. For fourteen years the firm has avoided Euying taxes by the wife sending the hus- and to jail to serve out the legal time for unpaid taxes, while she remains at the store attending to business. e “Dear me,” exclaimed the microbe, petu- lantly. *Here is this girl sneaking under the mistletoe again. Doesn't she realize how terribly crowded we are already?’—Detroit Tribune. The management of the Pacific Asylum | Any patient can have a separate | Horticulture In the Beautiful Valley Of Santa Clara Written for “The Call’’ By J. F. Thompson The horticulturist in Santa Clara Valley has to deal with naturein her most charm- ing mood. She is never shy, cavpricious, sullen or resentful with him if he is intel- ligent and sympathetic with her. If he carefuily studies her ways and seeks to win her confidence, she will always be lib- eral with her favore. There is no such thing as failure for him then. Be it fruits or blossoms that he desires, she gives to him in profusion. Roses, pansies, carna- tions, peaches, prunes, apricots, he shall have them all in such abunaance that his garden and his orchard shail be the won- der and admiration of all beholders. All her forces work together for his benefit. The rain and the sunshine, the dew and the bay breezes, all come in their ap- ¢ to second his efforts and to bring his trees and his flowers into perfec- tion of shape, size, flavor and perfume. The soil that he works in is the store- house of centuries for nature’s fertilizing elements, all now ready to be transmuted into vigorous buds, blossoms and fruts at his command. He hasonly to keep it in such condition that the roots can readily avail themselves of itsriches, and a growth which is almost unprecedented in human experience will be the certain result. The horticulturist in Santa Clara Valley cannot wholly escape the primeval curse. He must labor, but labor in his case is for the most part a delight. [t is like the la- bor of a mother that nurses her babe. Ev- ery stroke of his spade or his hoe, indeed every click of his pruning shears isa ca- ress that finds a ready response from the tree or the flower which ne is tending. Nothing responds more intelligently and more generously to intelligent and sympa- thetic care than a flower or a tree. It will grow in almost any shape that may be de- sired with proper pruning and training, and the size and shape of its blossoms or its fruits, as well as their flavor or per- fume, may be determined in the same way. Itisat thecommand of its owner in every respect, and, with the abundance of food and the genial air and sunshine of .Santa Clara Valley he can make of 1t whatever he will, obtain from it the per- fection of blossom or fruit and the utmost | of profit. Horticulture in Santa Clara Valley is pations. It is wonderful to note how the trees and tlowers display their confidence and intelligence to those that love them. | It has often been said that one person will | stick a root or a slip into the soil any- where and anyhow and it will grow and thrive, while anothier person cannot seem to make anything grow, even with the greatest care and attention. These differ- ent results in different lands, T have always believed, simply show that one loves plants and cares for them as for a favorite | animal or a beloved child, while the other, { though ready enough to admire a perfect rose, or to taste a luscions peach or apri- cot, regards a bush or-a tree as a piece of | inanimate. matter wholly devoid of sym- | pathy or inteliigence. And this is a great mistake in horticulture. The best results arenotto be obtzined from either flower or tree without giving it the affection which it so constantly craves and so | readily appreciates. One of the principal reasons for the splendid success of horticulture in Santa Clara Valley 15, Tam fully convinced, the fact that the great majority of those en- gaged in it are intelligent lovers of trees and flowers. The owners of the finest | | orchards are highly cultivated peonle. | They have spent the greater partof their lives in other pursuits, aiways with the longing deep down in their hearts to be done with the strifes and struegles of busi- ness or politics, and to retire toa carden and orchard of their own, where they can end their days in comfort and inde- pendence. Most of them have spent all their lives in the harsh climate of the Northern States beyond the Rocky Mountains, in which the extremes of heat | and cold, the blizzards of winter and the lones and tornadoes of summer, make | existence a perpetual burden, and they | have always cherished the hope that they might some time be able to enjoy a more | genial climate. | 7 And just as soon as they have acquired a competence, or have in any way been able to see their way clear to making a ivelihood for themselves and their fam- s, they have left the shop, the store or the office and striven to realize their ideal of life. In some way they have heard of the glorious sunshine, the fertile soil anda the magnificent fruits and flowers of Santa Clara Valley, and they have come to see for themselves. And to see was to resolve to spend the test of their lives here, so they have bought themselves a few acres of land, built themselves a neat cottage, or a fine residence, according to their means, and have gone to planting and caring for trees and flowers with all the pent-up enthusiasm of a lifetime in the | change. And how well they have succeeded in realizing their ideal of existence let the thousands of beautifvl gardens and thriv- ing and profitable orchards of Santa Clara Valley testify. No one can go around this ! county in any direction without seeing evidences of the most perfect happiness to be found anywhere in this world. Every- where may be seen the retired physician, journalist, college professor, merchant, manufacturer, lawyer, politician, ete., each watching his roses as they grow and glory- ing in their perfeotion of beauty as they bloom as never he gloried in his former professional, financial or political success. And each one has roses or pansies or peaches or prunes such as never were seen before, and wants all the world to love and admire them as he does. These people are all in the garden or the orchard from dawn in the morning to dark at night, winter as well as summer, if in- deed there can properly be said to be any winter in this land of perpetual spring, and all the time they are finding some- thing to delight their eyes and bring more or less profit to their pockets. It is a pleasure for an outsider to watch them as they go around among their trees and their flowers, pinching off a bud here and protecting and encouraging a blossom there, always with a view to the symmetry of the tree or the plant and to the protec- tion of its bDlossoms or fruit. Oftentimes the whole family and sometimes the neighbors are called in to examine and ad- mire some unusually beautiful bud or some fruit exceptionally large in size or perfect in form or flavor, and then the whole air is filled with exclamations of wonder and delight. Itisa verit.bF therefore the most delightful of all ocen- | ¢ patadise 1n comparison { much about building matters as any m with the rush and the worry and the struggles and defeats as well as victories incidental to city life, and their people en- joy it to the utmost. All these old-time | mental ana physical troubles which used to worry them so constantly, and which sometimes threatened to take them to an untimely grave, have been thrown aside and forgotten. They are healthier and happier than ever they were before in their lives since they entered upon the cares and the duties of maturity. They have literally renewed their youth and are rejoicing in the prospect of a serene and comfortable old age with all their loved ones about them and wholly free from the caresof finance and business. They can always rely upon their orchards for a live- lihood if all other resources should fail, and they have thus attained the very summnit of human felicity. Of course it may be said that very many of the fortunate individuals who own or- chards and homes in Santa Clara Valley do not have to depend wholly upon the products of the soil for a livelihood. That is doubtless true, but it is also true that most of them wouid be quite comfortable if they did. Their orchards, well cared for in every respect, can always be relied upon to yield a fair ecron. In some sea- sons, of course, it is heavier than in others, but it is generally as heavy as the trees really ought to bear. In an experience of sixteen years in fruit-growing in Santa Clara Valley I have never had a failure. The crop of prunes and apricots has ranged all the way from four to ten tons an acre—never less than four, and the average of the sixteen years has not been less than six tons to the acre. This means about $120 an acre on an average for the whole sixteen seasons—surely enough to satisfy any reasonable person. My orchard is a small one, it is true, ana every individual tree is watched and coaxed and petted and coddled with the idea of bringing out its utmost capabili- ties, Still, some of my neighbors have made more from their cherries than I have from my prunes and apricots, and I know of no one who really understands how to care for trees who has not been quite as successful as myself. And, given the right kind of trees on the right kind of soil and the right kind of man to take care of them, the profits of fruit- growing in the Santa Clara Valley can hardly be overestimated. It has well been said that some men would starve to death anywhere if left to depend wholly upon their own exertions, while some would find their way to honor and independence if left naked and friendless in a desert. And even in Santa Clara Valley intelli- gence, industry and a sympathetic ac- quaintance with nature and her ways are indispensable requisites to the highest suc- cess in horticulture. sess them to the fullest extent carry a checkbook upon the exhanstless treasury of nature herself, and their drafts will al- ways be honored npon presentation. / F o fowerss THE OCCIDENTAL HOTEL. Long Established, High in Reputa- tion, Modern in Equipment. In almost any city in the civilized world some man or woman can be found who has most pleasant recollections of this most famous San Francisco hostelry. In the many years that it has been one of the landmarks of the City the hotel has shel- tered distinguished people from every With these there are | | no such thing as failure. Those who pos- | in the city, the Depew mill, one of the lareest and best equipped in the West, turning out vast quantities of building material annually. Among the buildings | which he built last year are Law & Law’s Viava building on Van Ness avenue, the | oftices of which, 55x95 feet in size, are made entirely of quartered oak; the San Fran- cisco Polyclinic on Ellis street; the three Bush residences on Eddy street, near Buchanan, and many others. R MODERN SANITATION. The Work of a Well-Known Fitm | in Some Large Buildings. In keeping with the other modern im- provements of construction and furnishing in modern-built structures comes the ne- cessity for perfect and durable plumbing | and drainage. This partof the arrange- | ment so necessary to the health of the oc- | cupants can only be intrusted to firms of | experience and reliability. Foremost | among these is the well-known establish- | ment of William F. Wilson of 204 Stock- ton street of this City. The plumbing and drainage system of to-day is far in advance of the systems in use some few years ago. The methods of working and the material used all tend to durability and perfect sanitation. Mr. Wilson has made this particular system of the plumbing and drainage of buildings and residences a life-study, and therefore is thoroughly reliable and guar- antees perfect workmanship on all work intrusted to his firm. The system of plumbing, drainage and ventilation of the Palace Hotel of this City has been entirely reconstructed by this firm, and all the material used for this work was supplied by them. The work of reconstructing the plumbing. taken in the United States. Mr. Wilson also names with pride a few of the many other structures which hold up his reputation for perfect work: The California Hotel, the Hobart building, Columbian building, Union Trust Com- pany’s building, Spreckels building, Union Club and the Spreckels residence. This latter structure, upon which no expense is being spared, will eclipse anything done heretofore in this line, and the plumbing work will certainly be a work of art. Aside from the work of large buildings and residences, a corps of competent work- | men are continually employed, who at- | tend to the many orders received daily for | repair work. Only those who employ | plunbers for repairing know the necessity for reliable men. Such only are employed | by Mr. Wilson, and any work intrusted to | the firm is given careful and conscientious attention. et THE TAYLOR SANITORIUM. Oakland’s Handsoms= Nsw Private Hospital Opens Next Week. That the successful treatment of disease depends largely upon the perfect sanita- tion of the building where the sick are cared for is conceded by all intelligent | people. Thousands of vatients die an- nually because of the imperfect sanitation | of their sickrcoms, who, had they been re- | moved to a properly constructed hospital | and there scientifically treated, would un- doubtedly have recovered. | in the West, public or private, have thor- oughly aseptic wards and rooms. Those few are of very recent con- | struction, and among that number is the Taylor Sanitorium, Oakland, which will be ready to receive patients January 1. | Physicians who have inspected this hos- | pital say that itis the best-equipped and e HTAY@R THE OANITORIUM. .9 country on the face of the globe. Itisa sort of naval and military headquarters, the place where the officers of incoming vessels first betake themselves after land- ing: the place where military men eat good dinners and fight their battles over again. It is the family notel par excel- lence, having always enjoyed a good repu- tation. And deservedly so, for nothing but the strictest respectability was ever tolerated there. The hotel is’ constantly undergoing changes and improvements. The outward appearance remains much the same, for the substantial walls were built to with- stand the ravages of time; but the interior arrangements are so changed and modern- ized that people who visited the house ten or fifteen yvears ago would scarcely recog- nize their old stopping-place. Constant refurnishing and decorating, the electric devices of convenience, the commodious cafe and dining-rooms with their irre- proachable cuisine, the handsbme bar and billiard room, the elegant parlors and am- ple sample-rooms for commercial men, make the hotel strictly up-to-date in every particular. Of Major Hooper, the proprietor, little can be said that is not already known to most of the people of San Francisco. He is a genial, kindly, modest gentleman who thoroughly understands the business of conducting a great hotel; conducting it in such a manner that guests regret to leave their pleasant, homelike quarters when circumstances compel their departure. prET At THE BUILDING OUTLOOk. A Prediction of Unprecedented Ac- tivity in 1896. Extensive as were the building opera- tions of 1895, experts say that the coming year will witness the erection of more buildings for all purposes in San Fran- cisco than during any twelve months in the last decade. In a recent interview Charles M. Depew, president of the Charles M. Depew Planing-mill Company, on Berry street, and who is also a con- tractor on a large scale, said: ‘I expect to see a very large number of new buildings goup in the coming year. Among my customers are many largs owners of real estate, several of whom have already had plans and specifications for new buildings submitted to them. Other contractors tell me that they are already busy on plans for structures to be erected within the next few months, and if the outlook 15 so good this early 1896 must surely be the ‘banner year’ in the building trade.” Mr. Depew is in a position to know a J most thoroughly aseptic private hospital on the coast. Three years ago Dr. Taylor opened a hospital at his home on Albion street, but owing to lack of room has never been able to accommodate the patients who applied for admission. The new hospital is the outcome of this venture. Its location at Telegraph avenue and Thirty-first street is in one of the most beautiful residence portions of the city, on high ground. The Telegraph-ave- nue electric cars pass the main entrance, and the Grove-street line is but one short block away. with a deep basement lined with concrete and cement its entire length. Back of the hospital are the stables, corresponding in design and outside finish to the main structure. Altogether there are about fifty ‘apartments. The basement accom- modates the electric plant for lighting and power, furnaces for heating and ventilating purposes, a model laundry, butcher-shop, dairy-room, wine cellar, servants’ baths, etc. On the first and second floors are the executive offices, pharmacy, dormitory and private wards, diet kitchens, complete systems of medical and tub baths, parlors and smoking-room. The operating-room on the third floor is one of the finest and most thoroughly aseptic in America. It is constructed en- ing into'its construciion. Connecting with it are the recovery and physicians’ rooms. All plumbing is confined to an annex built on the rear of the main building. The building is heated by an improved hot- water system, and ventilated by the McNally-Taylor ventilator. Dr. A. Miles Taylor, one of the most suc- cessful surgeons on the coast, is the pro- prietor and chiet of the medical staff of the new hospital. There are three assistant physicians, a corps of trained nurses and the staff of consulting physicians includes some of the best known medical men in Calbfornia. He Didn’t Want Much. Mr. Gotham—The doctor says I need rest anc neighborhood, where there are no noisy chil- dren, no batking dogs, no crowing roosters, no disturbing sounds of any kind. Suburban Agent (thoughtfully)—Let me see. Hadn’t you better buy & cemetery lot and build on that?—New York Weekly. ———————— The beauty of the Japanese court is the Princess Kita-Shirakawa, the tall and statel: ‘wife of the Emperor’s cousin, a major-gener: in the imperial army. etc., of this hotel is the largest ever under- | Few hospitals | operating- | The main building is three stories high | tirely of glass and nickel, not an atom of | material that could harbor germ life.enter- | quiet and must move to the country. I want to find & small house in ‘a perfectly quiet The Standard’s Patents Brought into Question From the New York World of November, 10. 1895 The action of the New Jersey Standard Telephone Company in appointinga com= mittee to investigate its parent, the Stand- ard Telephone Company, is of wide inter- est because the parent company has organized local branches in nearly every State in the Union. The parent company has its general offices at 295 Broadway, but it is incorpo- rated under the laws of Arizona. Its plan isto sell for cash to stock companiesin various States and Territories the right to use its telephones, retaining for itself & controlling number of shares of stock in each company. It agrees to establish trunk lines to the big cities throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico, and to furnish a long- distance telephone, protected by its own patents, which shall be superior to the Bell telephone. The Jersey company, consisting of twenty prominent capitalists who have paid, it isalleged, $20,000 for the Standard’s rights in New Jersey and Delaware, com- plain thatas yet there are no trunk lines and no telephones, and, furthermore, no | apparent effort on the part of the Standard | Company to furnish them. At last ac- counts the directors of the Jersey company had not even seen the patents which the Standard claims. 1S THE 'PHONE AN INFRINGEMENT? Some electrical experts who have seen samples of the Standard telephone are | said to declare that it is nothing but a re- production of the Bell telephone. If so the Beil Company would immediately con- test its introduction. The Standard recently sent two instru- ments to Elizabeth, N. to be submitted, together with telephones of other makes, | to a committee of experts. These experts, | it is said, did not select the Standard. One of the experts told a World reporter that there was no doubt that the instrument exhibited by the Standard was a fac- i simile of the Bell. In Richmond, Va., the Standard made application for a franchise in competition with a local company. G.S.Maxwell,a Bell expert, examined with others the teiephones submitted as samples. “Imagine my surprise,” he says, “when the instrument was presented to me, to find one of the regular long-distance, solid-back transmitters, arranged in desk form. such as are used throughout the country by the American Bell ‘l'elephone Company. This instrument is constructed without a single point of difference. It has the solid-back transmitter with micre retaining diaphragm; it has a piston elec- trode attached to the main diaphragm; it operates with the Rooseveldt gravity switch, which patent does not expire nntil | 27th of next May—in fdet, it is the Bell in- strument throughout.” SAID TO HAVE DECLINED TESTS. Mr. Maxwell proposed to go before a committee of the Common Council in Richmond with a Bell and a Standard telephone, and dissect both to show their similarity, but he says that the Standard’s representative declined to agree to this. After the committee had made its report Mr. Maxwell published a card in the local | papers of Richmond offering $100 provided he could not prove to any committee of disinterested experts that the so-called Standard telepnone *‘is either a Bell long- distance telephone or a rank infringement of the Watson, Rooseveldt and other patents controlled by the Bell Telephone Company.”” He offered $10 reward for the number of any patent owned by the Stand- ard Company and $10 reward for proof that the Standard Company have a tele- phone exchange in operation anywhere in the world. The Standard’s agent, Mr. Maxwell says, did not respond to this proposition. The journal, Electricity, has published a | fac-simile of the letter addressed by the Standard Company to ‘‘the boys who are in the real pot.” This is the letter which suggests “the greasing of Common Coun-; cils,”’ and called down upon the presens company the condemnation of the di-¢ rectors of the Jersey company. The pat- ticularly objectionable clause was: TO GREASE COMMON COUNCIL i ©So that the promoters of a local tele= | phone company, under the Standard Tele- | | phone Company’s license, have $20 in cash| | net profits on each 'phone to play with, | and a stock interest in every telephone ol $34, to grease Common Councils, to sell to: local third-floor, sub-cellar investors, ete.; | Yet the boys who ave in the real pot, it they play their cards right, will have the. coutrol of every local telephone company’s- plant.”’ President Thurlow Weed Barnes of the Standard Telephone' Company says that | he never authorized the issuing of the cir- cular referred to, and those who know him believe this to be true, but the World has found one man who says that he received i one of the circulars from the hands of a | Standard agent, and that the circular was | signed with the name of Allen T. Nye, general manager of the company. | It is charged now that the same Mr. Nye was one of the active promoters of the Overland Telephone Company, which went 10 smash a few years ago after collecting money from capitalists and prominent men all over the country. It is said that ! Samuel J. Tilden sunk $10,000 in the scheme and that others interested were such men as R. G. Dun, J. W. Barrow, N. Ewell, Charles P. Crosby, R. D. Bu- | chianan, S. R. Beckwith, F. W. Lockwood and Erastvs Wiman. LIKE THE OVERLAND COMPANY. The Overland’ Company was organized in 1883, and its prospectus was very much 1ike that of the Standard Company. Like the Standard its scheme was to break the Bell monopoly and furnish telephones at such a reduced rate that the -ordinary householder in cities could afford one, and that no farmer would be considered up to date without one. Like the Standard the Overland began oy selling State rights to local companies d accuriulated many hundreds of thou- wnds of dollars. The names of prominent. among the directors and investors in- spired confidence the country over. There were branch offices in Newark, Philadel- phia, Chicago, Cincinnati, Louisville, San Francisco and Montreal. The Eastern Overland Telephone Company, controlling the rights for the New England States, had offices at 2 Wall street. Itis lnckm comes whilg there is yet time to say “Peace of earth good will,” etc. %