The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 27, 1897, Page 2

2 T THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, the treasury, and the position San Fran- cisco has placed itself in in the eyes of those at the capital is that of a semi-bar- baric people. I will show you how. “Two years ago Secretary Carlisle was intending to start the work of building 1he new Postoffice here, and word to that «ffect soon reached this City. What was the result? Immediately after the Examiner of San Francisco came out with columns denouncing the site as unfit for such a structure and declared that the site was a boghole and that the masons could not build the walls fast enough to keep the last row of bricks above the sur- tace, so fast would the whole structure sink. Even editorially the paper declared that the building should never be placed oh the site selected. The Keport took up the matter in the same v in. These edi- torials and local clippings were sent by the dozens to the Secretary in letters, in which the writers, basing their assumptions upon this newspaper rot, advised Mr. Carlisle not to let the work be done there. “The result was just what might be ex- pected. The Secretary quit then and there and said that he would not be re- sponsible or take any chances upon mak- ing a mistake that involved so many hun- dred thousand dollars of the Govern- ment’s money. As I saia these papers and the people of this City are wholly re- sponsible for this long delay in beginmng the construction of this Federal building, and not the architect nor the Secretary. The latter showed a desire even after re- ceiving these newspaper clippings and the | letters to do all t bhecould and had a board of military engincers rebore the ground all over the postoffice iot and the Teport showed that the foundations would { be as good 1y in the City. In olher: words, good and solid. On another ocea- | sion the Examiner published articles in which it s; at we do not need such a building south of Market street and these clippings were also sent to the officials at Washington, which did not in any way basten the work contemplated. | “Then again the plans of the building have been attacked by pecple in this City. | 1 brought out a prospectus view of the | mew Postoffice and put it on exhibition. | It was at once denounced by Willis Polk as being unsightly and having the apoear- ance of a cross betwesn a Madison-square boarding-house and a brewery. He stated | that his opinion was shared by the editor | of the American Architect, but that gen- .tleman wrote to me and he iudorsed the plans as good. So you see the people themselves are to blame for all this delay The Secretary of the Treasury could not | consistently go on with the work with ob- | jections to the plans and the stability of | the foundations seriously questioned. | Years ago I showed that the Seventh- street Jot was never a bog, but to the con- trary that there wasa hill forty to sixty feet high over the present site. I even produced the affidavits of the men who graded the lot to present level for | Pove & Talbot.” J. A. Filcher at this point made an ex- cellent suzzestion by saving: ‘*Admitting all this to be irue would nota petition and requast from our combined respective bodies counteract the impressions made at | Washinston? The membersof our several commercial and industrial organizations ar: the representative citizens of San Francisco, and a strong petition from us would img ciais at the capital with the true sentiments of our people. This should be our object in dealing with this proposition, and it would pave the way to our getting what we want from the Federal Government, and without | much delay, I think.” | Mr. Emery—I am of the same opinfon | as Mr. Fiicher. By showing in the way indicated that the true sentiment here is friendly instead of hostile to the project | we could no doubt get the work of exca- | vating for the foundation started very | soon. | Chairman Sonntag—I am sure that with such an understanding our severa! bodies would take up this matter in earnest and its to me that the work can be taken up with- out much delay or'trouble. Iam confi- dent that if we place the matter properly before our representatives at Washington they will be able to secure the desired ap- propriation, so that the work will go on continuously, and not be delayed until the next regular session of Congress.” ‘That being the general sentiment,’” said Chairman Sonntag, “it will be un- derstood that we call for a mass-meeting of the Chamber of Commerce, the City Board of Trade, the State Board of Trade, the Manufacturers’ ana Producers’ Asso- ciation and the Merchants’ Association to take up the matter upon the plan sug- gested. I hope every member will attend aud show what the true sentiment of San Franciscans really is.” Mr. Freud eaid that the Merchants’ As- sociation, as indicated by tie board of di- rectors, is favorable to the project, but that at the last meeting it was decided to send to Congressmen Loud and Ma- guire asking for information as to the cause of the delay. An answer is ex- pected by mail, but as the movement is now making such progress he would ask for this information by telegrap, and his body will no doubt act upon the matter as soon as the answeys are received. After a little discussion it was decided that ‘the joint mass-meeting of the five organizations will be held in the Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, March 4, at 2 ®. M. The calis of the several presidents upon the members to be present at that gathering will be sent out on next Mon- | day and Tuesda; LEGISLATORS ACT. The Senate Unanimously Passes Wolfe’s Resolution Demandinga Federal Bullding. SACRAMENTO, CarL, Feb. 26.—By a unanimous vote the Senate to-day passed Wolte's resolution calling on the Senators and Congressmen at Washington from California to take steps that will cause the issuance of orders to begin work at once on the proposed new Postoffice and Fed- eral building at S8an Francisco. There wasa special caucus of the Re- publicans of both houses this morning to consider the abolition of the rule prohib- iting the introduction of any measure but revenue bills after the fiftieth day of the session of the Legislature. While it was admitted that the rule wasin contraven- tionwof the constitution of the State it was decided to retain it. In view of this decision Wolfe changed his resoiution so as to make it a simple Senate resolution instead of a joint reso- lution, by siriking out the woras “‘the Assembly concurring” in the first resolu- tion, which left it to read: WHEREAS, There has been inexplicable and apperently inexcusable deiay on the part of the Federal authoriues at Washington, D. C., o ordering the commencement of work on the Postoflice buildiag to_be constructed on the site already Kul’c)lls{d at the northeast corner of Seventh and Mission streets, San Francisco, and for which there is now $21 000 availuble for immediate use in the treas- ury of the United Stetes; end whereas, there a large numb-r of unemployed men in San Francisco, who have gathered there from ail parts of the State and who are anxious d clamoring for an opportunity to earn a living by honest toil, and who would be a! forde the opportunity thev desire if this work | were begun at once; and, whereas, the | construction of a new Fosioffice at San Fran- cisco is a necessity demanded not only by the commercial needs of that City and the entire State, but will be & boon fo every section | whose mail must pass tnrough that City; therefore be it lved. By the Senate, that our Senators iu Coagress be instructed,’nnd our Representa- tives therein b requested and urged to take such action as will cause the proper author: at Washingion, D. C., to issue the n sary orders to have the work of constructing the San Francisco Postoffice building begun forthwith; and be it further Resolved, That & copy of these resolutions be rded to seid Senators and Representa- tives in Congress by the Secretary of the Seoate. In this form it was received and read by the Secr-tary. Woife moved its adoption and Voorheis seconded the motion. Wolfe spoke to the resolution as follows: *‘This resolution is the expression of the | sentiments of the people of San Francisco | It is well known to those people and the | rest of the people of the State that San | Francisco has no Federal building worthy that our friendly attitude, as representing the true and unselfish sentiments of the people of San Francisco, will show Secre- tary Carlisle exactly how the representa- | tive, people of this City view the situa- | tion. | Colonel Irish—If this matter is taken | "upin such a manner and in such a apirit | yoor wishes can, I am sure, be gratified. | Call together the mem bers of your organi- zations, pass appropriate resolutions and | draft a petition to ths Pacific Coast Sena- tors and Representatives and to the Sec- retary of the Treasury as to what is| wanted. There will no doubt be an extra | session of Congress called for about March 12. Have the Pacific Coast representatives ask for an additional appropriation of | about $250,000. There is on hand now | available about $240,000. With these two | sums of money there would not be any necessity of stopping the work after it is | begun, waiting for the next regular Con- gress to act upon such an appropriation | as T suggest. | Hugh Craig stated that he was convinced | that the plan offered would meet with suc- | cess. Heissure that there will be much less delay, he said, in this work than is anticipated. The Chamber of Com- merce, of which heis the president, has had this subject under consideration on several occasions and much corre- svondence has passed between the cham- ber and Secretary Carlisle. The last letter upon this subject sent to the Secre- tary was in the nature of en inquiry as to the present situation upon the entire Postoflice proposition. To that the follow- ing seli-explanatory letter was received : Treasury Department, % Office of the Secretary, Washington, D. C., December 1, 1896 Mr. Buah Craig, President the Cham- ber of Commerce of San Francisco, San Franci co, Cal.— Sir: Referring to your communication of July 31, 1890, relative to the inade- quate facilities of the present Postoffice building in your City, and requesting ‘the early commencement of the con- struction of the proposed Federal build- ing in San Francisco, 1 have to advise youthat since the receipt of your letter the sketch plans of this building have been compléted and approved, and the ‘working drawings ars now being pre- pared with the view of obtaining pro- posals for ghe work at an early. date, “Respectfally yours, W. E. CURTIS, Acting Secretary. “‘This letter,” said Mr. Craig, “‘indicates of being so designated. It is the largest commercial center ot the Pacific Coast and shouid be shown more consideration than has hitherto been accorded it at the National Capitol. “If this resolution is adopted it will hasten the action of the Federal authori- ties, and this means that It will give work to the hundreds of unemployed now seex- ing avenues of honest employment in San Francisco. It also means, if the Federal | anthorities are induced to act, that proper mail facilities will be given the business men of Ban Francisco and of the entire Btate. ‘San Francisco has poorer accommoda- tions with reference to its Federal bus: ness than any city in the United States, and its Postoffice accommodations are in- ferior to those of a city one-tenth its size. | Sacramento and Carson have Federal buildings that they can be proud of, but San Francisco, by reason of the inactivity | of its representatives in Congress and the unexplained discrimination against her Washington, has been unable to get recognition, and I know that if this reso- lution be adopted it will hasten the neces- sary action and give us what we so much need.”” Senator Mahoney advocated the adop- tion of the resolution, He sai “I heartily concur in the resolution offered by my colleague, and know that it meets with the approval of the people of San Francisco. The site for the Postofiice was burchased two or three years ago, and there is now over $200,000 in the treasury of the United States, remaining out of this purchase price, which is available for the construction of the building. For some reason or other it has never been offsred to San Franci 1 hope that this resolution will meet with the approval of this Senate.’ % Senator Seawell favored the adoption of the resolution in the following words: “It affords me pleasure to indorse - the resolution offered here in the interest of San Francisco and the country that is tributary to it. That City in the line of public buildings 1s not up to that stand- ard that it ought to be, and has mnot re. ceived that recognition by the Federal Government thatit ought to have receivea, an Francisco is one of the most im- HOW THE SITE WAS CHOSEN. John P.Irish Explains Why the Seventh-Street Lot Was Considered Most Eligible. The several reports of the commission transmitting to the three Cabinet officers the sites offered, described each, located them all upon an acompanying map and gave the the price per square foot. In each the eligibility of the sites in the order in which it appeared to us. superficial area in square feet and report we indicated our judgment of We - merely nominated the sites, and the Postmaster-General, Attorney- General and Secretary of the Treasury elected upon our nomination. A part only of the present site was ferior area was not rated by us first in eligibility. quently largely increased, and in eligibility. v first offered, and because of its in- Its area was subse- our last report we rated it first in JOHN P. IRISH. e SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1897, S e Perspective View of the New Postoffice Building, From the Latest Sketch. portant ports in the world. San Fran- cisco deserves more than it is asking for in this direction, and I heartily .concur with these gentlemen in this suggestion; and I would further suggest that if this | policy were pursued and continued by the people of this commonwealth the waves of tte great ocean that sing a constant lullaby to the couriers of commerce that leave our sheres would be bearing on their bosoms a much larger numberof these white-winged carriers. I hope this reso- Intion will be adopted, and by a unani- mous vote.” Thirty-one Senators voted on the reso- lution and not a gissenting voice was heard. THE. ARCHITECT AWAKE. WASHINGTON, D. C., Feb. 26.—The supervising architect of the Treasury has evidently heard from some of the San Francisco people, for THE CALL correspondrnt learned to-night thut he is at last making extraordinary efforts to push the San Francisco Postoffice building plans to completion and to commence work as soon as possible. Senator Perkins and Representative Loud, in response to urgent request from THE CALL, will use every effort to induce the Treasury Department to commence work this spring. They do not hope to be able to do anything, howaver, until the new administration is installed. ———— | LABOR COUNCIL IN LINE. Will Urge That the Work on the Postoffice Be Bagun at Once. The San Francisco Labor Council, which is the central body of the local unions, | has taken up the Postoffice matter. At the rezular meeting last evening Secre- tary Rosenberz called attention to the | ituation and said that to have tne work | on the prorosed Federal building begun | aL .once would afford great reliel to| a large number of laborers and me- | chanics of all kinds. An extra session | of Congress will b: called under the | new administration, and the Pacific Coast representatives in Washingion would be able 10 do much toward obtain- ing & fair-sized appropriation from Con- gress in addition to that already appro- priated or left over after the purchase of the San Francisco site. Delegates Hawks, McArthur, Robbins and others spoke in a siumilar vein. The matter was referred to the law and legis- lative committee of the council, which re- tired and a little later returned with the following resolution, which was unani- mously adopted. WHEKEAS, The Postoffice facilities of San Francisco have for many years been very inadequate and a cause of great inconvenience and a commercial and whereas, there is In the hands ury Department of the | United Sta‘es tho sum of $240,000 left over from the appropriation for the pur- chase of the site for the Fostoffice at San Francisco; and wheveas, thers is now a season of unexampled distress in San Francisco, and that work on the Postoffice would furnish employment to a large number of mechanics; therefore, be it Hiesolved, By the San Francisco Labor Council in reguiar session assembled, on February 26, 1897, That our represen- tatives and the authorities in Washing- ton be earnestly requested to use every effort to expedite the beginning of this most necessary public work; and Renolred, That a copy of these resolu- tions be forwarded to our represegta- tives in Congress and to the authorities in Washington. NO REASON FOR DELAY. W. H. Milis Says That If We Wanta Government Building We Should Have It. W. H. Mills, land agent of the Southern Pacific Company, said: If the Government of the United States in- tends to construct a large Government build- ing, popularly known as a *Postoffice build- ing,” but which in fact will be a home for Government offices, such as Federal courts, Federal land offices, incidentally some of the offices connected with the revenue servico ot the United States and the Postoffice, now would be the best time in the world in which 1o expend the money, not only because gov- ernments are bound to consider the condition of the people, but because the same money will ®o farther, expended now. than when prosper- ity is restored. In addition to the fact that the expenditure of Government money, which must sooner orlater be expended, and a large percentage of which is now on hand, wouald relieve the distress of the unemployed, 1t is also obvious that now would be an excellent time in wnich to spend that money. In short, #f the Govern- ment is going to butld that Postoffice they might just as well do it now as at any time, and better, : However, the construction of a great post- office building is an suachronism. In all cities of Europe and America the branch post- office is just as much an independent post- office a8 the main postofiice of any city. Alla geueral postofiice building is used for is to distribute the mail' in sueh a way that it may be sent directly 1o the branch offices in the city. What the Governmentshould have done was to have built a small general Postoffice buflding and constructed, as they were needed, branch Posioffice buildings for the use of the districts which they serve, and serve as abso. lutely as the postoffice at Stockton or Napa serves the town. Nuw, take Loudon for ex- ample; the necessity for o building in tnat city is not greater than it 1s at Los Angeles or Sacramento. The postoffice districts ot London are so well known that letters are addressed to them by district, and-the district vostoffice serves exactly the purpose that®postoffice buildings serve the towns of the State. Tne time was when a postoffice building was | 1 What is called “the railwsy mafl’ service,” by Visited by the people. but that was before you bad the carrier system, before you had the branch poswfiice system and before you had which the matter is distributed into sacks ad- dressed to branch postoffices. Let us illustrate this with 8 familiar exam- ple. The mail for this building, if properly addressed, never passes through the Postoffice atall. Our mail thatwe send ont never sees the Postoffice in San Francisco. Itis distrib- uted by clerks in the service of the railway mail service on posial cars into sacks and de- livered directly here. This is the case witn all tho branch offices. The mail is delivered directly from the distributing office on the trains to the branch offices in the cities and sent by carrier to the proper address. This eliminates the Postoffice building for postal purposes. We may safely predict that the San Francisco Postoflice building will be the last of its kind. At the same time the Government has determined upoa the policy of building & &reat building for postal services in San Fran- cisco. The suggestion that it will cease to have the uses to which the same buildings were devoted in times past has no practical bearing on the case on hand, and the time to build it s now. Itiss matter of much surprise to Eastern visitors that San Francisco has no Govera- ment building, and 1t is a matter of aificult explanaiion why there is a good postoftice building at Sacramento and none in this City. It is hardly fair to attribute this lack of at- tention to the Postoffice building to the inei- ficiency of the people who have represented this City in Congress. 1, for one, am disposed to think that it has been due to the dissensions &mong our own peopie here in San Francisco. The City has been represented by men of large ability and great efficiency. Horace Davis und Charles M. Clayton might be named in tuis connection, besides Senator Aaron A, Sargent, Who was the mos; efficient Senator the State ever had, and who exerted himself frequently on benalf of San Francisco's Postoffice build- ing. A peculiar fatality has attended the un- dertaking since the first. There is no apology at the present time, however, for delay in the construction, except the mere dilatoriness of the officers of the Government who have charge of this construction. They have the necessary appropriation and a site has been selected and conveyed. There is no reason | now why the construction of the building | should not be proceeded with. Twant to say this: 1f THE CALL succeeds by the agitation it has raised in securing the con- struction of this building it will be an addi- tional fliustration of the already recognized fact that an energetic newspaper is better thun a Congressman. IR Tes s FURTHER TESTS. Plles to Be Driven and Heavily Welighted In Four Deep Pits. The report of the local military en- gineers who last year had charge of what was the second test of the ground for tne new Federal building has not yet been made public, though it was filed some time since in Washington. It is given out semi-officially, however, that it was favor- able to the erection of a heavy structure. A complete test was not made owing to lack of -funds, anly $3000 having been originally available for the use of both commissions. Four large square holes were dug to a depth of from fifteen to twenty feet under what would be the positions of the four corhers, or heaviest parts of the building. At a depth of fifteen feet below the sur- face of the ground yellow sand containing small particles of iron was found in all cases. It was thesame kind of sand found at lesser depths and on the surface. The tests made in the four pits con- sisted in placing sixteen tons of pig iron upon a board fitted into the bottom of the pit after the water had been pumped out. After the first compression there was no settling. Water was struck in all of the pits, and samples of it still on exhibition in the military engineer’s office here in- dicate that some of the pits furnish clear well water. The water levelin the different pits was not the same. It varied from a foot to two leet, The lowest point of the deepest founda- tion of the building wculd, it is stated, be 13.84 feet above the plane of the City directrix, or 1idewater lev The complete test contemplated the driving of two viles into the bottom of each pit, and then placing upon them a weight not of only sixteen tons but of eighty tons of pig iron: This conclusive test will be made when an appropriation is obtained sufficient to defray the expense of the piles, the rent of the pig iron and of the piledriver, and the cost of labor, Such a_test can, it is asserted, be easily concluded in six weeks. The four pits are now simply covered over with boards awaiting further operations. ¢ oo X S LOCAL MERCHANTS SPEAK. All Want Work on the Bullding to Begin at Once. Among the merchants the sentiment in favor of urging ithe matter of beginning work on tke new Postoffice building is unanimous. All are heartily in accora with the views of THE CaLL, and few for- got to say so. “This matter has been delayed entirely 100 long,” said George W. Raphael of Raphael Bros. “In my opinion the prin- cival fault lies with our delegation in Congress. They are the men to urge this project. Itis theirduty to strain every merve to ee that the matter receives immediate atteation. % “The ground has been paid for, and there is a large surplus in the treasury. It should be used at once as a starter, “THE CALL has, with its usual vim and foresight, taken voluntarily upaon itselt the duty of securing the Postoffice in the near future, and I hope its efforts will bear good fruit.’” i “You can count me in on anything that, will help to awaken the Federal officials from their leth; * said Henry Froh. man, & member of the firm of Kohlberg, Strauss & Frohman, “and 1t is agrand idea of THE CALL 10" step forward and di- rect the atiention of the people to the fact that they are not in receipt of something long due, “I am very much In favor of doing { scriptions for the poor. everything that can be done. For that matter everybody else feels the same way. It will put many men to work at once, If there is anything we need here much more than a chance for the worthy poor to earn bread I am ignorant of it. *If THE CALL urges this matter force- fuliy, as I have no doubt it will, some good will resuit. There can be nodoubt of that. The construction of this building should have been begun a long while ago. If we are not'going to have it pretty quick it is our right—nay, our duty—to demand a good and sufficient explanation.”’ Charles Keilusof the Hub was emphatic in his views and wasted no time in ex- pressing them. “Sorely in need” of a postoffice is the way he put it. “‘The quicker the work is begun the bet- ter,” he said. ‘‘lhe present quarters are an outrage on a city of 300,000 inhabitants, They are fit to be exhibited to strangers asa monument of ancient days. THE CALL is one of the foremost jour- nals of the day in everything that relates to enterprise, and if it stays with its fight it will not be long till we will have a post- office to be proud of.” “There fs no question but that the con- struction of the Postoffice would do the town a vast deal of good, id N. P. Cole of the California Furniture Company. “We are talking about taking up sub- Well, in my opinion, 1f the Government is unable to start our Postoffice we had better take up 8 few subscriptions to help it along. Un- cle Sam can help the workmen of this City a great deal jast at present. “We may have men at the head of the Government in a week or two who will do something. When we have paid for the site, tte plans for the building have been adopted, and there is a surplus to our credit in the treasury, I fail to find any good excuse for delaying the work. The fact that Tug CALw fails to find any either serves to strengthen that opinfon.” *“There can be no two opinions in tne matter,” asserted Quincy A. Chase of the firm of Kohler & Chase. *‘The constru tion of the building snould be begun at once. “San Francisco has yielded a big reve- nue to the Government and it seems strange to me that while third and fourtn rate towns in the East get postoffices we are left out in the cold. *‘The site has been paid for and is lying there useless. I cannotsee why the sur- plus is not utilized to begin work on the building.” H J. F. Bullivan, proprietor of Sullivan’s shoestore, was also a warm advocate of the work beginning at once. In fact he sald he was willing to be put down as say- ing anything at all so long as it was fayor- able. “There can be no possible process of reasoning by which any man can find a sufficient excuse for delaying matters,” he declared. “We are entitled to ‘the building and it would help the town won- derfully. . ““Other places not half so large have been given good postoffices, but up to dave all we have is a site. We should have the building.” baid R. E. Marx, manager of the Maz ““THE CALL has started in the right direc- tion. We need the building, and further- more we deserve it. It will be one of the best solutions of the mooted problem of work for the unemployed yet discovered. *‘We have the site paid for. The plans of the building have been adopted. Now, with a surplus on hand, let us bave the building by all means, “The reasons advanced for the delay amount to nothing. Our representatives in Congress ought to make themselves heard on this subject. It THE CaLL stays with it they will nave 1t “The building cannot be started too quick for us,” was the emphatic declara- tion of Marshall Hale of Hal Bros., “‘and Iam unable to see why things have been delayed so long. “‘Mr. Loud is the Congressman from the particular district in which the site lies, and Ideem it his duty 1o stir matters up a bit. “The appropriations for the smaller towns have been carried out. San Jose and Sacramento bave good yostoffice buildings, and we should see to it tHat there is no more dawdling in our case.” “Weought to have had that building long ago,” said A. H. Page of the Indian- apolis Furniture Company. “We nave been treated worse thun a tenth-rate village would have been in the Eastern States. *‘The Postoffice we have now 1s not one- {fourth ‘large enongi. It wss built te supply the wants of a town of a few thou- sand people, but while it has remained the same we have grown. *I cannot understand why the work has been delayed so long. Qur Congressmen should look to it at once.’ —— Attorney Creswell, City Attorney Harry T. Creswell—The Gevernment of the United States ought to own a building 1n every large city of the country and each building should be large enough to accommodate all the Govern- ment offices in its particular locality. That is the first reason for hastening the completion of the new Postoffice. Further- more, such a structure ought to be cen. trally located, so that citizens who have busingss with Kederal officars will not be compeiled to go miles our of their way in order to attend to their affairs. Therefore I hope for fiedy action in completing the new buildlg so that the public may be accommodated. In like manner and for similar reasons I hope to see the dome of the new City Hall complete and finished in such a manuer that it may be occupied apartments in the world and bringing all our State courts under one roof. - Besides the State would pay $600 a month rent to the City. County Clerk Curry. County Clerk C. F. Curry—Without a doubt the Government officials ought to have their memories jogzed. Possibly they have forgotten that tbe people have rights which tbey are bound to respect. ‘When McKinley is in the White House there will be no more trouble having such public matters adj:sted. He will give some thought to the interests of the people of this City as well as of the rest of the country. The money that would be paid out in this work would help many deserving men, and would relieve their wives and children from the fear of priva- tion if not of actual hunger. The effort to secure speedy action in this business de- serves and ought to have the support of all good citizens irrespective of party. The work ought to be commenced as soon as possible. e Colonel George H. Mendell. Colone!l George H. Mendell, one of the three engineers who originally tested the stability of the site of the provosed Fed- eral building—1t was three years ago that 1 made the examination and I do not re- call the details, but I know that I found no reason why the building should not be placed there. I found no indication of a bog. The foundation would be as good as that for any of the big bdildings now in the City. There has been, howsver, an- other examination since then conducted by Lieutenant Davis. . Suparvisor Delaney. Supervisor Delaney—I am heartily and strongly in favor of having the Board of Supervisors take such action as may tend to hasten up the dilatory people at Wash- ington in reference to the construction of the new Postoffice. The board should make itseif understood fully and show that it is in earnest in voicing the wish of the people for fair treatment. I will vote for any resolution to that end. There are meany idle people and they should be given a chance to go to work. —_— Collector Wiss Surprised. Collector of the Port John H. Wise—I am certainly surprised that something has not been done to start the work on the new Postotfice and Federal building. When My, Clark was in this City he told me that work would probably be begun by the first of last November. The new building is certainly needed, and needed badly, for this o}d tumble-down structure is not only & disgrace to the City, but to- tally inadequate for the business tnat is transacted here. I understood that the lot had bgen tested and found fit for the building, and that the only obstacle to beginning work was the matter of the de- sign, which was not satisfactory to the people of this City. If that has been satisfactorily arranged, Isee no reason why the work shouid not begin at once. 1t would certainly give work to- many idle men and puta large amount of money in circulation that is now lying in the Treasury. It would bea great thing for the unemployed. St ik et W. W. Foote Says Move. I would like to see work on the build- ing commenced at once,” said W. W. Foote, *in view of the fact that there is at present alarge number of idle men in the City. If work should begin it would bs the means of putting a larze amount of money in circulation and would belp to tide over any &tringency.” - s A S Unlock the Money. City and County Treasurer Widber— There can be no better time than the vresent to begin work upon the now Post- office. The approvriation made for the building should be used. The money should be unlocked. In circulation it will do much more good than it can do while locked up in a vauit. The great number of unemployed persons in the C indicates unmistakably the desir- ability of going to work as soon as pos- sible. ——— 'ax Collector Block. Tax Collector Block—The present Post- office was ancient thirty - eight years ago. It is clearly inadequate and the people at Washington know that to be the fact, So I cannot un- derstand why the new Postofficeis not got under way. Tuis is a propitious time to begin. I am most assuredly in favor of exerting all the pressure that can be brought to bear on the supervising archi- tect through our Representatives in Con- gress, or otherwise, that we can exert. e S “Cupid” Danforth Solid. *‘Cupla” Danforth — While there are several things Sar Francisco needs de- cidedly, there is no more pressing neces- sity than the need for the new Postoffice. That is so evident a fact that it admits of no question. PUSTAL SHINES B S. E Moffett Treats on That Subject Before the Iroquois Club. Dr. Ragan’s C.ustic Letter of Criti- cism—Money for the Ugem- ployed Fuand. The regular meeting of the Iroquois Club was enlivened last evening with a paper by S. E. Moffett on the subject of *'National Postal Savings Banks.” The lecturer was a warm advocate of the sys- tem, and was greeted with applause. In part, the paper was as follows: In view of the consuming anxfety now pre yailing about the precarious condition of the Natioua! finances and the talk avout issues of bonds, exchequer bills and other dev ices for Dridging saps in revenues and taking cate of an inelastic currency, :t {s rather curious that 80 little attention nas been paid to the fiscal advaniages that might begained from a sys- tem of postal savings banks. In Great Britain more than two-thirds of all the savings deposits are kept in the postal bauks. The proportion in round numbers in 1894 was $446,000.000 for j-osial to $217,000, for private savings banks, and (he posial banks had 6,108.763 depositors. against 1.470,946 ia the private institutions. In the United sxlfllugr 89405 the sayings deposits aggrezate: ,810,597,023. _Two-thirds this xmount would be ximost §1,207.000.000, No Other Medicine has such a record of cures as Hood"s Sarsaparilla. No other possesses the curative powers due to the peculiar combination, pro- portion and process of Hood's - . Sarsaparilla The best—in fact the One True Blood Purifier. by the Califofmia Supreme Court, thus giving that honorable body the finest D cure Liver Ills; easy to take, Hood's Pills gure Liver Wi epsy or nearly 50 per cent more than the total bonded National debt. 1f we should take in deposits to this extent they would enable us to redeem ali our cut standing bonas of 1907 at the smallest vricy, and have s reserve of nearly $300,000,000 le1 1 which we could keep on hand ior use in par. for other purposes, «8 seemed mostconvenient: That such a reserve would more than be am ple, the experience of existing savings bauks abundantly proves. s The aggregate savings derosits in the United Stutes were $1,524,844,506 in the fiscal year 1890, $1.623.074,749 in 1891, $1.712. 169,026 in 1892, $1.753,150,957 in 1893, $1,- 747.961,280 in 1894, aud $1,810,597,023 in 1895. The growth has been almo‘t continu- ous.* Even the panic of 1893 caused a decline of only about £37,000,000 in toe amount of deposits, and iack of contidence in the safety of private institutions—in many well justified—was largely responsible for that, It is evident that as a rule new deposits may be sateiy counted upon to balaice with- drawals in the abseuce of doudt as 0 tho solvency of the Government. The entire record of tne American savings bank sysiem from its origin in 1816 disclose ouly four instances in which the agar deposits have decitned from cue year to next. There never has beeen a year in wh the net withdrawals have reached 80 000,000, If the savings deposits had been secured by the credit of the Government it is doubtful whether there couid excr have been any et withd-awals at all. The value of Euglish postal depos! steadily increased every year since the e lishment of the system in 1861, although deposits in private savings banks are I greater now than they were thurty-five 8go and have fluctuated from year to year. The fundamental vice.o our present c rency system, nccording to “sound mone authorities, is that tne Government is doin banking business without having any of bank’s resources for teki: g cere of its notes. Postal savings banks would give it absoluts control of the currency, ana this whether our standard were gold, siiver, bimet The chief objection to the Postal ' Bank system from an abstract point of view is that the Government has no_means of ing deposits 10 advantage. It would be e to mention investmenis it could sufely make, but we have no need to disturb ourselves acout such things under present c The Government now has the bes vestment in its own bonded det In Great Britain, with litt our population, there were 7, banks deposits i 1894, Britain taps & stratum o1 population that our savings banks do not touch. The little rills of private thrift continue to fill the reservoir of pubue. credit. We are al- most the onty grest Nation that entir nores tnis natural association, neglec once the interests of the people who solute security for their earuings and'of the Government tiat necds se of those earn- ings. In France there is not only a nationat postal:savings sysiem, but there are municipal &and school systems, % Among all the millions of depositors in the pubiic savings bauks of Europe not one has ever losta cent through the faiiure of the in- stitution to which he has intrusied his earn= ings. Compare that with the black traii of ruined lives left by Americau savings banks. In the three.years before January 1, 1897, the loss of depositors in twenty-two bankrupt sav- ings banks in New York City alove amounted 10 $4,475,061. The recent failure of the People’s Home Sav- ings Bank in San Francisco robbed 12,000 depositors of their accumulated earnings, left many in destitution, drove ohers to suicide, and others from good homes to the slums. But when the Government can end all these evils at a stroke, not only without cost but with & profit to {iself, its persistent re!usal o do so deserves some harder name than negli- gence. Dr. Ragan, who was blackballed at the last meeting, sent in a drastic letter com- menting on the club’s degeneracy, and explaining that the bringing forward of bis name was a mistake. On motion of Max Popper all proceedings in relation thereto were expunged from the roll. H. P. Andrews, District Attorney of Tehama County, was accepted inio mem- bership and made a speech of thanks. On motion $50 was ordered taken from the clun’s treasury to help swell the fund ior the relief of the unemployed. The subject for discussion at the next meeting be: Resolved, That a general treaty of arbitra- tion beiween nations to provide & court or triounal for the sett.ement of international disputes Deiween the treaty nations is a de- lusion and a “usre #nd as impractieal as it is undesirable. A letter from Wiiliam J. Bryan to Charles Gildea, ex-president of the ciub, making formal acknowledgment of an in- vitation to the last Iroquois banquet, le- livered throuzh Congre:sman Magu. re, was greeted with applause. Communica- tions to the same effect ere received from Senator Morgan, George Fred Williams, Chauncev F. Black and ex-Gov- ernor John P. Altgeld of Illinoi«. nditions. HEAD SWIM. HEAD SWIM. HEAD SWIM. HEAD SWIM. HEAD SWIM. HEAD SWIM. HEAD SWIM. HEAD SWIM. HEAD SWIM. :tktiti: HEAD SWIM. EHupYAN E HEAD SWIM. ¥ CURES % HEAD SWIM. SR HEAD SWIM. SWIMMING SENSATION IN THE HEAD, the necessity to hold to piller or post only for s second. shows there is something the matter with the man. What Is the Matter ? Undoubtadly the individual is afflicted with some form of liver disorder. It may be worse; it may be nervous debilily or some form of nervous disorder. If you are in this condition you can use with safety the Hudyan Remedy treatment. You can get Hudyan only from the Hudson Doctors. Write or eall. s Hudyan cures Spermatorrhea, Nervous, Men- tal or Physical Debility and the peculiar diseases and disabilities of man. Circulars Free. 30-DAY CURE- First, secondary or 30-DAY CURE—— tertiary form of blood 30-DAY CUR troubles can be cured 30-DAY CURE—— with30-day Blood Cure. Write for Circulars. - Hudson Medical Institute Junction Stockton, Market and Ellis Sts. Consult Hudson Consult Hudson Doctors Free. Consult Hudson Doctors Free. 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