The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, October 8, 1897, Page 1

VOLUME LXXXIL— SAN FRANCISCO, FRIDAY MORNING, OCTOBER S, 1897. PRICE FIVE CENTS BUILDINGS MAY MAKE WAY FOR A PARK Grand Jury Will Recommend That Land Opposite the City Hall Be Condemned for a Pleasure Ground. The Grand Jury has taken up the propo- 1 sition of furnishing the city with a mag: nificent public park on the property lying in front of the ty Hall, between Park . aven McAllister, Larkin and Marget | » sireets, and in ils next report will recom- | ¥ mend wai the TVisors condemn t! land and dedica > the use of the city. Soon atter the present jury was chosen several of its members discussed the:| question of public improvements and the | me of a pleasure ground, with the | Lick statue as a central point, was broached. The co matters su mitiee that has charge of such | was instructed to look closely into obtain possession of | s found that the land | belonged to the munici- | t through some overight | r city officials it had been allowed into hands of those now in on or to persons from whom the t holders had purchased. journeyed through the loons and small stores 1sightly one-story buila- r the ground, the mem- ieir way carefully over the t cumber the premises. the The committee rear areas of t at that the ci be made to pay but | little for the by s and that the time | for the city to reeain possession is the present, in view of the fact that property | in the vicinity is appreciating rapidiy in value and in a few years will be held at a much higher f e than now. Adfter its tour of inspection the commit- | cted the expert of the jury to| 2 the assessed value ew of gotting | cost ke city to of the proy idea c These fig 1 other data which has been 1 for, have not yet been placed in a shape where they can be used, | but the members of the jury are almost unanimous in the cpinion that the lana should be acqy the park laid out at the earli lity. It1s proposed to recommend that the Supervisors condemn the land and that bouds, maturing in iwenty or forty years, be issued to cover the expense, The committee is now preparing its report to the jur e ———— GREAT BRITAIN AND BIMETALLISH. Flans for an Informal Conference | That Will Delay a Reply to the | Proposals. LONDON, Exc., O made in the dispateh —The prediction s of the A<sociated Press on Saturday last to the effect that Great Britain’s 10 the d reply bimezaliic | has been 0 Ve now been nade 10 liold an informai conference be- 1ween the Chanceilor of tue Exchequer, S.= Michael Hicks-Beach, and officia's on tne one side, an United States moneisry commissioners and Colonel Hay, the United States Em- bassador, on the other side, for the pur. pose of securing a more cefinite under- standing as to what the United States and France expect. Consequently the Br b Government will be unable 1o fu the promise of the Cnancellor of the Exchequer io give the United Siates commissioners a reply early during the present month, and the delay will possi- bly last sume weeks. - = SECOND POWDER EXPLOSION. Disaster Again (ccurs at the Santa Cruz Works, and Buildings Are Set on Fire. SANTA CRUZ, Car., Oct. 8.—Another explozion of the powder works was heard about 2:30 o'clock this morning anda flames were seeu ascending from the puildings tbere. It is thought, however, that the explosion is not as serious as the one that recently occurred at the works. THE IDEAL CITY HALL H The AMERICAN Real Danger in the Annexation of Hawaii. TO CREATE A SLAVE STATE. Chinese and Japanese Labor Controls the Market on the Islands. | FREE TO COME AND GO IN THIS COUNTRY. Walter MzcArthur, the Well-Known Labor Leader, on the Evils of Cheap Labor. The proposal to annex the Hawalian Islands, if consummated, will be premedi- tated theft. No matter by what name it is designated, the crime will smell as loud. Moreover, it will be a piece of arrant | cowardice. The ruffian who wayiays a chiid and robs it of the nickel for gro- | ceries is no more execruble than the great nation which would pilfer the poor | heritage of & weak and inoffensive race. We are accustomed 10 sunning ourselves in the boast of our magnanimity toward | weaker peoples. We decry the policy of greed and conquest in other nations, Yet, here we are contemplating the adoption of that very policy, with all of its objections and none of its merits. Other nations have fought for their aggrandize- | ment and have substituted at least a measure of their own civilization for the savagery which they displaced. Street and City Hall Avenue Be Re the Lick Statue. THE CITY HALL AS IT IS The Grand Jury Will Recommend that the Unsightly One-Story Buildings on Market Dedicate It to the Public Use. moved to Make Room for a Park Surrounding The Supervisors Will Be Asked to Condemn the Property and ENFORCING THE FRANCESE 41 Surrender of the Louisville Railway to a Kentucky Decision. Speclal Dispatch to THE CALL. FRANKFORT, Ky, Oct check , 147 recently rendered against the company for a irancnise tax, and decided to aban- don the contemplated appeal to the Court of Appeals to further test ihe franchise to Attorney-General Taylor for law. Thisisa complete victory for the Siale in enforcing the law, and the case has .. direct bearing, if it is not final, on the dozens of big cases now under subm is- sion for franchise taxes. Kx-Chief Jus- tice Pryor was counsel fur the street rail- way, and it was under his adv.ce that the | contem plated appeal was abandoned. The | railway company will, howevar, appeal a branch of the case for $2300 for penalties, but this does not bear upon the main question, The action of the railway company in surrendering is a blow to all other com- panies resisting the tax, including the Southern Pacific, Although the Southern Pacific Company claims non-residence as a ground to distinguish it from the other companies, the Commissioners have recognized it as a resident of Kentucky through forcing the re-establisbment of the Loui-ville office. Should the court uold the Sonthern Pacitic Com pany liable, as it has the Louisville Street Railway. he former company will be forced to pay $50,000 annual tax 10 this State. 7.—The | Louisvilie Street Railway 1o-day sent -]‘ . the amouut of the judgment | LARGEST TONRACE ~ ORMANY YEARS Figures That Indicate the Efficiency of the Mer- chant Fleet. Special Dispatch to THE CALL. WASHINGTON, D. C., Oct. 7.—The an- nual report of Mr. Chamberlain, the Com- | missioner of Navigation, which has just been submitted to the Secretary of the T reasury, shows that the total document- | ed tonnage of the United States on June | 30, 1897, was 4,760,220 tons, and is the larg- | est tor 1weniy e vears, except 1893, | when it was 4,825,071 ions. Our largest | documented tonnage was 5,539,312 tons, on July 30,1861, Considering the speed and | numbe: of trips of steam vessels our mer- chant fleet has never been so efficien | inis year. The total construction of the year (801 vessels of 232,233 gros« tons) is the largest annual output since 1891, The square-rigyed sailing vessel has vir- tualiy ceased to be a product of American shipyards. The great lakes resion for the | first “time in our history has built more tonnage than all the rest of the country— 120 vessels of 116,937 tons, During the paxi decade steam tonnage bas increased 816,000 tons. The American tonnage sold 10 foreigners, amounting to 8243 tons, is the smallest amount since 1844. Durinz the past four years 38,828 tons ol foreizgn-built vessels have been ad- mitted to American registry, compared with 64,778 tons the previous four years. The tonnage registered for toreizn trade amounted to 792,845 gross tons, the lowest siizce 1841 The vwuale fisheries empioy 12 714 tons, com rared with the maximum 193,594 tons n 1858. About 10,000 men are empioyed in deep-sea fisheries, of whom 6500 are citizens of the United States. Bo far as there is any merit in the might of arms, and so far as modern civilization is superior to barbaric reign, these con- quering nations are excusable for their deeds. But the United States lacks even the excuse of having conquered the isiands by arms or of giving them a better gov- ernment than they previously possessed. The Provisional Government was estab- lished by a biuff, and the treaty oi annex- ation expressly stipulates that the laws now existing on the islands shall continne in force until altered by the Government at Washington, which, according to the present rate of progressive lezislation, will be forever. The business of absorbing the islands, 20 far as it has progressed, offers a specta- cle which, while it may be creditable to the national character for “'smartness,” is bumiliating to the national honor and a subject of well-merited scorn cn the part of the observant worid. The entire record of the white man (and in this case that term is confined to the American) on the isiands is one of duplicity. Take, for in- jstance, the coup bv which Liliuokalani was deposed. The Queen was charged with a ‘“conspiracy’ to injure the inter- ests of the merchants. The United Siates warship Boston was conveniently at Honolulu, and her sea- men were landed at the instance of Min- ister S.evens and Admiral Walker. The guns of the warship were trained on the palace under the stars and stripes, and ihe unfortunate worcan compelled to ca- pitulate. Her subjects, naturally of a submissive temper, had been too far ener- vated by American civilization and their faith in the honor (?) of the white man too far cultivated, to offer any resistance. The Queen was dethroued, and the few adherents who clung to her were either exiled or sent to work on the ‘‘Reef.’” Tuis was the ‘‘glorious victory” that was Continued on Third Page. WINAGET |CHARLES A. DANA IS A VERY SICK MAN WORKMEN The Last and in Many Respects the Greatest of the Men Who Created the Modern Newspaper. NEW YORK, N. Y., Oct. 8.—The con- dition of Charles A. Dana, editer of the New York San, was reported in this city to have changed for the worse this after- noon, and the members of his family were summoned to his bedside. A special from Glen Cove, Long Island, where Charles A. Dana resides, received late to-night, says the report that he is dying is not true. His condition remains unchanged. He is resiing easily and the family have hoves that thera 1s no imme- diate danger. Members ot the lamily say they realize that his condition is very serious, but they do not look for a change for the ‘worse to-night. ONE OF AMERICA'S MOST NOTED FIGURES. AFTER HE IS GONE WILL DANA’S FULL PLACE (N HISTORY BE REALIZED. The time has not yet come for the world to appreciate Charles A. Dana. No one is a hero to those who see nhim trudging the streets morning and evening in his work- a-day clothes, with a mitter of fact ex- pression on his face and exchancing commonplace remarks on the events of the hour. Itis only when he has passed away and the recording angel has closed the catalogue of his words and his deeds that the greatness of a great man is rea- lized, and mankind realizes that in bhis deatn 1t has suffered a real loss. For nearly half a ceutury the doings and sayings of Charles A. Dana were part of the history of his time. He had been marvelously well equipped, so that he could truthfally say of the events of his veriod, quorum pars fui. My acquaint- ancs with him began in 1852, but before then he had made himseif master of the ianguages, he had sounded to the depth~ the mysteries of European politics and he had learned by practical experience et Brook Farm how much truth and how much error there was in the Fourierism which is now cropping out as & new thing in the writings of Henry George and Bellamy. He was the right man in the rigbt place in the office of managzer of the Tribune. He was an encyclopedia of all forms of Sy CHARLES A. DANA. knowledge, and his head was so clear that he saw to the rootof a proposition at a glance. Round him circlea three men not inferior to him in mental grasp, but lean- ing upon him because they discerned his horse sense—the genial and cultured George Ripley, George William Cartis, the attic philosopher, and Albert Brisbane, thesocialist. Itwasarule with these men when in doubt to carry their doubts to Dana. He was a necessity to the Tribune. Greeley was brilliant, ardent, loyal to the core, but he was erratic; he embraced new ideas without due inquiry; no better guide could be found on the great ques- tion of the hour; he possessed the rare gift of striking home with a paragraph or asentencs; but he was such a crank that he seriousiy contemplated engaging a spiritualist to furnish him with foreign news in advance of the steamers. He needed @& man like Duna to hold him in check and to steady him when he inclined to fly oft at tangents. Dana was his bal- ance-wheel. It was a sad day for the Tribune when he offered the stockholders the alternative of him or Greeley, and they preferred the sage of Chappaqua. But, for the mo- ment, it was a still sadder day for him. For his work, which had - been pro- digious, had never been adequately re- paid; be was penniless and in debt, For some months he was in cruel straits. Then suddenly it occurred to Mr. Lincoln ana Mr. Stanton that they wanted a man of clear vision and untiring energy to act as a connecting link between the War De- partment and the generalsin the field. They chose Dana. Under the title of As- sistant Secretary of War, he visited every Union camp and became a member of every Union general’s military family. He camped and marched with Grant and Sherman and Burrside and Schofield and Thomas; talked with them face to face, studied them and their subordinates tll he knew them =all by heart, and every night he reported his observations to the War Devartment without fear or favor, affection or prejudice. It is not too mucn to' say that for bis knowledge of the gen- erals who served under his orders Mr, Lincoln was indebted to Dana. When the war was over Dana was out of ajob. He might have been rich; a word from him would have been priceless to army coniraciors; he did not make a penny. When be closed his accounts at the War Depar.ment he drifted to Chi. | cago and started a newspaper with money | contributed by friends, who were grateful for his patriotic services. It failed. A day came when the Republican ceased to appear, and the editor, disheartened and deeper in debt than ever, floated to bis old home in New York. He had moments at that period when he despaired of him- self; he to!d George William Curtis that ke did not see why he continued to cum- ber the earth. When his old friend, General Grant, who had not been backward in acknowl- edging his obligations to Dana, became President of the United States the ex- editor applied to him for an office. The verth of Collector of the Port of New York was about to te vacated. Of Dana’s fit- ness to fill it there could be no question, and it seemed that the ccuntry owed him so much. But the machine at New York was all powerful, and they had uo use for a man who would not be puttyin their hands. Good K-publicans, who were not profes- sional politicians, appealed to President Grant to appoint Dana in recognition of bis services during the war. But the stolid general had made up his mind, so far as ratronage was concerned, to place himself in the hands of the Murpbysand the other leaders of the machine, and he stonily reiused to consider Dana’sclaims. The aiscomfited applicant never forgave him. He was of the nature of a red Indian; he never forgot a favor, nor forgave an injury. He pursued Grant with his biting invec- t ve to the borders of the grave. It chancea thatat that time the Sun newspaper was for saie. It had been run into the eround by the Beaches, who hailooked on in & heipless fashion when the Herald took away their subscribers | and their small ads. Putting his old en- ergy into tue task, Dana contrived to beg and borrow money to buy it; it did not take so very much, for the only value of the Sun, {rom a business standpoint, was its franchise in the Associated Press. In his | long years of waiting, Dana had formed a concepiion of whata modern newspaver might be; bright, wideawake, truthful, | terse, with noentangling alliances or party «ffiliations. Such a paper he made of the Sun. He sold it for a cent, but he charged twice as much as other morning dailies for advertisements in its columns. It was a success from the first. Its edi- torial page, much of which was writgen