The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 22, 1897, Page 6

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, WEDNESDAY. DECEMBER 22, IS97. JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Proprietor. SHRb R ST Address All Communications to W. S. LEAKE, Manager. PUBLICATION OFFICE........Market and Third Sts., S. F. Telephone Main 1868. EDITORIAL ROOMS ..217 to 221 Stevenson stree Telephone Main 1874. THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL (DAILY AND SUNDAY) Is served by carrlers In this city and surrounding towns for 15 cents a week. By mall $6 per year; per month 65 cents. THE WEEKLY CALL.. One year, by mall, $1.50 OAKLAND OFFICE . --.908 Broadway Eastern Representative, DAVID ALLEN. NEW YORK OFFICE.......... Room 188, World Building WASHINGTON (D. C. OFFICE Riggs House C. C. CARLTON, Correspondent. BRANCH OFFICES--527 Montgomery street, corner Clay; open until 9:30 o'clock. 339 Hayes street; open until 9:30 o'clock. 621 MoAllister street; open untll 9:30 o'clock. 615 Larkin street; open until 9:30 o'clock. SW. corner Sixteenth and Mission streets; open until 9o'clock. 2518 Mission street; open untll 9 o'clock. 143 Ninth street; open until9 o'clock, 1505 Palk street; open until 9:30 o'clock. NW. corner Twenty-second and Kentucky streets; open until 9 o'clock. AMUSEMENTS. Baldwin—"The Jucklings,” Thursday evening. Columbia— “A Milk White Flag.” California—"The Raiiroad of Love.” Alcazar—"“The Girl [ Left Behind Me." orose “The War of Wealth.” Tivoll—Mother Goose.” Orpheum—Vaudeville. Cosmopolitan Orchestra. Callfornia Jockey Club—Racing to<day at Oakland. Veldrome—Corner Baker and Fell streets, Ladies’ Football me, Chrisumas day, AUCTION SALES. By Frank W. Butterfield & Co.—This day, December 22, at11 A. M., at 314 Hayes st., Furniture, e By Wm. Butterfield—This dav. December 22, Furniture at 116 Butter st., at 11 o'clock. By Easton, Eldridge & Co.—This day, December 22, 8t2P. M., at 200-282 Sutter st., Turkish Kugs, ete. By Wm. G. Layng & Co.—Thursday evening, December 23, Horses, at 121 Howard st., at 7:30 o'clock. THE CHRISTMAS WAR SCARE. ~ AROLS of ‘“Peace on earth, good will to ‘ men” will be sung this year to a world on the verge of widespread war. From the British isles to the isles of Japan, across the length and breadth of Europe and Asia, the nations are armed and the peoples watch one another with suspicions of hos- tility. The first aggressive movements have been already made, and the salute to the new year may be thundered from the guns of warships in battle. The course of events in the Orient will be the most interesting feature of international history this winter. The fact that both Germany and Russia dis- claim any intention of conquest in China does not weaken the significance of their action in occupying Chinese ports. It will be remembered that Great Britain has always disclaimed any intention of con- quest in Egypt. Modern diplomacy abhors the word “conquest.” It sanctions the act as of old, but if gives it another name. The powers of Europe are seeking to extend their spheres of influence for trade purposes, and in this generation that is tantamount to conquest. Ger- many, France and England desire to establish them- selves firmly in China, mainly for the markets they hope to find there for the products of their factories. Russia is probably animated more by military and and political motives seeks imperial expansion rather than commercial advantages. It matters not about the motives, however, since the end is the same. The partition of China seems to have been virtually begun and the movement will probably hurry to a precipitate end. In former times such action as that taken by Germany and Russia would have been a cause of in- stant war. It is different now. There has grown up in diplomacy an immense power known as the con- cert of Europe, whieh acts as a restraining force vpon the military spirit. It moves slowly, but its force is unmistakable. It prevented Russia from dividing Turkey after her successful war with.that country, it compelled Japan to yield ner conquests in China and it forced Turkey to submit to arbitra- tion her demands upon exhausted Greece. It is potent enough now to make Russia and Germany halt, or at least consent to a division wf the spoils. The issue seems to be so far away from us that our Government will probably account it as no con- cern of the United States. We will keep our hands oft and let the aggressive Europeans fight or argue it out for themselves. Nevertheless, the partition of China would be certain in the end to exert a pow- erful influence upon the Pacific Coast of the United States, and if the threatened partitfon takes place we may find before this generation passes away that the matter was of more concern to us than to any part of the world except the Orient itself. Rudyard Kipling has told us that Europe will never reform Asia, for there is too much Asia and she is too old. The aggressive powers now de- scending upon China can do nothing more than break up the kingdom and thus dissolve the moral and political bonds which have kept the Chinese out of the competitive labor markets of the civilized world. When that is done a deluge of yellow men will flow wherever steamships and railways will carry them, and it will be fortunate for the victorious white man if by rigid exclusion acts he can keep the flood of cheap labor out of his own land and save the workingmen of his race and country from being sub- merged by it. As near as can be judged from this distance the only thing Japan got out of her little difference with China was a burned paw, the one wherewith she ex- tracted chestnuts from the flames for Russiaandother hioggish nations. Japan took that to which she had at least the right of war, which seems no weaker be- cause it is usually wrong. Russia, England and Ger- many are merely stealing. Such is the march of civilization, a spectacle the world views with pride. There need be no surprise that one woman cashier has vanished with funds belonging to the firm. The habit of imitation is strong. Women are wearing men’s hats, shirts and collars. They have been known, it is said, to wear the pantaloons, al- though this may be a figure. Now, in disappearing with a bundle of money, an advanced one among them is evidently trying to be more than ever like a man. —_— Back in Kansas, where Jerry Simpson and other strange things are always happening, a man 33 years old has sued for breach of promise a woman of 6o. A counter suit alleging that he ought to be in an 2sylum for idiots would seem an easy way out for the old lady. It is a little hard for the public to figure out why Durrant would rather be hanged for the murder of one girl than for another. FINANCIAL LEGISLATION PROSPECTS. HE prospect of legislation for banking and Tcurrency reform is not as hopeless as repre- sented by some members of Congress and some Eastern newspapers. In the party platiorms and the campaign of last year there was a unanimous admission of the need of legislation to such end. The sound money men finally got together and pooled their issues, and in this were followed by the fiatists, who sloughed their specific differences and stood together in behalf of liberating the financial wild cat. The sound money men prevailed by a large popular and electoral vote. The significance of the vote may appear when it is remembered that Mr. Cleveland had a popular plurality over General Harrison in 1888 of 98,544, and in 1892 of 372,562. In 1806 this was changed to a popular plurality for McKinley of 603,044. These figures mean that the people who want sound finance, agreeing with Mr. Cleveland’s well known views on that issue, followed him, and that the same people followed the same principle in 1896 and thereby reversed the apparent partisan control of the country. If we turn back to the atmosphere of the last Presidential campaign our sense of the necessity for financial reform is enlarged. We witness again the separation of the sound from the unsound money Democracy and that contest between the two wings that in its tactics and evolutions had no precedent in our political history. Turning to the figures re- cording the result, we find that nearly 300 counties in the Union, with a record of unbroken Democratic majorities for twenty-five years, gave to McKinley a popular majority of 491,000 votes, and that Cali- fornia, Illinois, Connecticut, Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, West Virginia and Wisconsin, which in 1892 gave Cleve- land a popular plurality of 172,473, in 1896 gave Mc- Kinley a popular plurality over Bryan of 721,307. There are many who claim, with a large show of reason, that the spine of this strength was furnished by the sound money men. We discuss the matter only tentatively, going no further than President Mec- Kinley goes in his message. There will be differ- ences over the details of any plan that may be sub- mitted, but if, after raising the expectations of the country that some plan is to be put in issue, none appears and the party put in power by the expecta- tion of such plan makes ndjresponse, we respect- fully suggest the difficulty of next year meeting the positive plans of the fiatists. In the fiat money idea there is an appeal to positive fanaticism which sets the face of a crusader against reason and demonstration and goes straight ahead. This is shown in the State of Nebraska. The advance in prices made the agricultural output of that State for 1397 worth $300,000,000, and the official figures from each county, as collected by Henry W. Yates of Omaha, show that the mortgage in- debtedness of the State was reduced this year $26,- 000,000. Now here are economic and financial facts which apparently negative every theory of the fiatists and yet they carried Nebraska at the November elec- tion by a larger majority than they had ever ob- tained at preceding State elections. Whether in the face of such results the party in power can afford to lose the confidence placed in it by the non-fiatists, by failure to form solidly around a plan for finan- cial reform, is for the practical politicians to con- sider. Senator Chandler is out against any attempt at reform. He says that all that is necessary is to pass the appropriation bills, take care of Cuba and Hawaii, and adjourn Congress in May next. This may be wise. It may be that the attention of the country can be diverted from the serious possibili- ties of our present treasury situatiun by a spectacular policy toward Cuba and Hawaii, but the pathology of political diseases is rather against his hypothesis. With such conditions existing as the President has diagnosed in his message, many will doubt the possi- Lility of their cure by amusing the country with the affairs of two little islands. Cancer cannot be cured meets after the holiday recess the different plans for currency reform will go before the country and their It is plain that the fiatists will fight any plan that will remove this_question from among the issues of still,” as Senator Chandler suggests, but it will have some difficulty in keeping the other fellows still. ing that the placing of our banking and currency system on a sound basis forecloses all effort and con- He errs in treating the President’s stand for non- fiatism as treachery to international bimetallism, and must decide whether he will act for his people or his plutocrats” would become Bryan more than it THE MINING EXPOSITION. /\/\ OST gratifying in every respect are the signs State in the coming exposition of mines and mining. The opportunity for attracting atten- Greater West is so promising of beneficial results that it would be folly to neglect it, and yet we can- State, and particularly the mining counties, co- operate with San Francisco in making it an exposi- Fortunately the outlook is bright. Three forces combine to advance the movement. In the first generally are working for it as a means of displaying to the world undoubted proofs of the superiority of the pioneers, with the Native Sons and Daughters, are supporting it as a most appropriate means of of gold in California while at the same time sery- ing to promote the welfare of the commonwealth; ested in the Alaskan trade are giving their help be- cause they see in it an opportunity to attract to San to Alaska and whose trade will constitute almost a commercial boom for the Pacific Coast. in the State is affected. There is no community in California—or in the whole mining region of the to be gained for itself by an active participation in the exposition. All sections of this portion of the for the investment of capital than the world knows, and the only way to bring about their development the exposition, and such an advertisement will be the more advantageous because it will reach men mining investments. Enough has been already accomplished in the by taking the patient to a circus. When Congress merits will be ready for discussion. 1898 and 1900. The Republican party may “keep We believe that he is manifestly in error in contend- ciudes all probabilities of internatioral bimetallism. his dramatic declaration that “President McKinley does a New England Senator. of increasing public interest throughout the tion to the golden resources of California and the not rightly profit by it unless all the counties of the tion of even more than national fame. place the mining men of the State and of the West the mining resources of this section of the Union; celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the discovery and, finally, the merchants and manufacturers inter- Francisco thousands of persons who intend to go By one or more of these forces every county West for that matter—that cannot see some benefit Union have more resources and more opportunities is to advertise them. This will be accomplished by who are interested in mining and are looking for of preparation to make it certain that the ex- | way position will be successfully held. It should be something more, however, than a civic celebration and a local exhibit for the benefit of Alaskan trade. It should be a great exposition of the rich West and thoroughly representative of all California. A com- prehensive -exhibit should be made from every county in the State. No section, no community, no industry, should be lacking from the splendid dis- play California will make to her visitors when the exposition opens. A TRUNDLE - BED CAMPAIGN. NE sentiment expressed at the “mass” meet- ing held on Monday evening at Metropoli- tan Hall to ratify the selection of the Free- holders nominated by the Citizens’ Committee of One Hundred evoked a tremendous storm of ap- plause. It was uttered by Hon. Horace Davis, and, as reported in the organ of the committee, was as follows: “We want the places now filled by boss appointments thrown open to every honest citizen.” This, then, is the milk in the cocoanut of the Czar charter. The purpose of the Phelan-Sullivan combination is to “throw” the offices of the city open to honest “citizens.” Of course it is needless to in- quire who these “honest citizens” are. ~We know they are none other than the adherents of Mayor Phelan’s Democratic machine. They are not the adherents of the Merchants’ Association or the Com- mittee of One Hundred. No one suspects the re- spectable gentlemen who comprise those organiza- tions of having “honest citizens” on hand whom they desire to place in the City Hall. The persons re- ferred to by Mr. Davis undoubtedly belong to the Phelan-Sullivan machine, which is making the fight for the Czar charter and which will claim the credit oi electing the Freeholders of the Committee of One Hundred should the people on December 27 be so foolish as to follow their leadership. « A specimen of the kind of rule which would pre- vail at the City Hall in the event of the adoption of the Czar charter and the installation of “honest citizens” in all departments of the municipal govern- ment is foreshadowed by the speech of Mayor Phelan at the same meeting. It goes without saying that the adoption of the Czar charter would mean the re- election of Mr. Phelan. We never could hope to carry on the government successfully under that in- strument unless we invested the political boss who made it with full power to administer it. So we as- sume that a Phelan charter would mean a Phelan town. The Mayor told the people in his speech that they have no municipal government at the City Hall. “You have no voice there,” he said. *The Super- visors meet and they adjourn, and the taxes go right on, water rates remain the same, the gas bill con- tinues to accumulate and the dead are numbered by the hundreds. Men leave office with your contempt. There is an atmosphere at the City Hall which, like carbon monoxide, kills everything it encounters.” In view of this terrible condition of affairs one cannot refrain from inquiring why Mayor Phelan and the friends and relatives whom he has ap- pointed to office do not get out of the City Hall? If carbon monoxide lurks in the corridors, killing all it encounters, why is Mayor Phelan working like a beaver every day to build up a political machine which will keep him in office? "Is he risking his life for the people? If he is, his heroism is sublime. Nor can we refrain from asking about the “yoice” to which the Mayor refers. He says the people have no “voice” at the City Hall. What is the matter with his voice? through the corridors of the municipal building? so, why so? else. From North Beach to the Potrero, from the Cliff House to the laughing waters of Hunters Point, his tones are constantly in evidence. Why have the people no ‘“voice” at the City Hall? Does the Mayor mean to intimate that he is too diffident to act the role of a popular tribune? If so, he is too modest. But, seriously, what trundle-bed trash all this is. If some of thc men who are attempting to fool the voters with bogie bosses and the “voice” of the people were given a good spanking and were put to bed they would receive no greater punishment than their demagogy merits. If Mr. Davis, Mr. Scott and Mayor Phelan think they are going to secure the adoption of their Czar charter and make reputations as statesmen by filling us with such “guff” as this, they are calculating on chickens that never will be hatched. THE WEATHER BUREAU SERVICE. O MUCH eriticism, both flippant and caustic, S is visited upon the Weather Bureau whenever it makes a mistake in forecasts that it is only fair commendation should be given when by some conspicuous act of useful service it demonstrates its value to the community. Such service it has just rendered in giving warning to the orange growers of the coming of the cold snap, thus enabling them to prepare in time for guarding as far as possible against injury by frosts. It is yet too early to venture upon estimates of the amount of damage done by frosts or to calculate how much was saved in the orchards where the growers smudged or resorted to other devices to keep the temperature of their orchards above the danger point. Enough is known, however, to make it certain that the loss in some localities has been very great and that it would have been greater but for the warning sent by the Weather Bureau. Taking all things into consideration there is probably no department of the public service in which the Government renders so much benefit to the people in proportion to its cost as the Weather Bureau, and the value of the service increases with each succeeding year. It would be more valuable if the people understood better how to profit by its warnings. For that reason it is to be desired that some data will be gathered of the results obtained from the various means of guarding against frost in the present instance, so that the best method of avoiding the danger in future may be made known. There is one reform needed in the bureau. It should have a different nomenclature for use in de- scribing California weather. Dispatches from this coast carry to the East announcements of “storms,” “cold waves” and other weather varfations which are misleading when construed according to Eastern experience. What is called a storm in California would be accounted as only a general rain on the other side of the Rockies, and our cold wave would seem like spring weather. It is a continual mis- representation of California to describe her weather changes in the terminology of the East, and it is to be hoped that in the steady progress of improve- ment in the bureau it will eventually make a reform in this direction. Zola hissed at the grave of Daudet! Where is the French politeness the world has been taught to admire? Perhaps the world has been tractable and has admired duly because it lacked an intimate knowledge of the subject. Has it ceased to resound | If | The Mayor’s voice is heard everywhere | SOUND-WRITING IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. It is very justly said that photography plays a part in the exterior life and the physical world that surrounds us very similar to that of writing. By the one thought is preserved and put into a form which permits it to be reborn, as it were, in a mind other than that which conceived it. By photography the images of phe- nomena are fixed, and the generations which follow us can participate in the SOUNDS AND NOISES. Fig. 1. Fig. 2. Fig. 3. Fig. 4. Diapason. Vowel A. Vowel 1. Beating a Tin Pan. > 0630310 00 30050 0633836 B oD 0 same visual manifestations as_{f the scenes were passing directly under their own eyes. Perfect as the work of science has been, however, a great gap has existed between the reproduction and the ac- tuality. Photography certainly fixes for the future the phenomena of the ex- terior world, and when desired the cine- matograph completes the fllusion, Te- stores the movement, the action, the animated life. Such a spectacle, wonderful as it may be, comes short, however, of the l“ll" ality, for photography at its best only puts in play mute actors. The reproduti tion is but a pantomime—but a part o the daily, natural human life. It is an opera without the music, says Science Pour Tous. The eye alone participates in it, while most frequently the ear is the sense which should hold the first place. In natural life the two have equal place. In reproduction the events of the past have been considered dead as far as the hearing was concerned. To bridge the gap and make the pic- ture of the past real, moving and speak- ing was long the question. The prob- lem_was, however, solved by the genius of Edison and Charles Cros. Through the medium_ of the phonograph we are enabled to place side by side with a pho- tograph a phonogramme, thus preserv ing the voice as well as the view of pe sons and t ngs past—to actually re- enliven them. ow this may be will be understood from the accompanying res. 'he general workingof the phonograph is easy to understand. When it is de- sired to fix and preserve the ‘‘speaking’’ features of a scene, the sound is allowed to enter the mouth of a tube which has at the other end a thin diaphragm, which by means of a very light stylus engraves its vibrations on a cylinder of wax. On this cylinder, rotating and at the same time having a side movement, the stylus cuts a spiral line whose depth, following the diverse phases of the vibrationus, varies at every instant. 'This is true writing—the ‘writing of the natural word, not the characters which stand for it. To read it we must recog- nize the signs by which the fundamental qualities of sound are there indicated— h&!iht. intensity and “timbre.” ‘The height or the number of vibra- tions made in a unit of time in the air is on the wax in direct proportion to the number of periods turned off in a given length and in inverse proportion to the length of the period. The intensity is indicated by the variation in the depth of the imprint, and these variations are in close correspondence with the ex- terior sinuosities of the line, as may be seen in reproductions of the tracings of the several sounds given in plate 1. The musical timbre, that ‘}\mmy of sound by which we are enabled, through the ear, to distinguish from each other several instruments playing the same air or a single or even the same note. A glance at the figures on plate 1 will convey as much to the mind as long and minute explanations. The timbre is the form of the period (see tracings 2 and 3, plate 1). The periods (P. P.) have the same length in each case, because both sounds have been pronounced on the same key, but how different is the interior design of each complete wave, which results from the number, the Intensity and the relative lengths of the partial waves which enter into the composition of the complete wave or period. We have here two distinct timbres. Neither the eye nor the ear can be deceived. Thus it may be seen that the three fundamental qualities of the sound can be read ac- curately from the tracing. The helight, intensity and timbre correspond ex- actly to the length, depth and form of the perfod. Contrasted with a musical sound a noise is shown irregular and variable in ail its parts. Photographic phonography may play an important part in the study of language. In the near future they will put in grammars and language books the let- ters a, e, o, etc., side by side with their corresponding phonographic periods just as they write the name on the photo- graph or picture of a person or object. f I $00H 02000000000 00040000860000 The San Francisco Call appears addressed to various San Francisco Seattle. sions in this city because it was, 000000000000 40000000000¢00004 A COW ARDLY AND CONTEMPTIBLE SHEET. Seattle Post-Intelllgencer. aminer the charge that it issued and caused distribution of the circular to the fact that The Call had bought most of its Bear supplies in The Call openly declares that it secured groceries and provi- ticable to forward them from San Francisco. ored to take advantage of its competitor's apparent want loyalty in a most cowardly and contemptible manner. ie the great buccaneer of journalism. scheme too audacious and outrageous, for it to adopt to gain its ends. to have brought home to the Ex- merchants and directing attention under the circumstances, imprac- The Examiner endeav- of local The Examiner is too low, no No method i f PERSONAL. R. E. Hyde, a banker of Visalla, is at the Palace. E. W. Allen, an orchardist of San Jose, is visiting at the Lick. F. Graham, a San Jose lawyer, among the guests at the Russ. C. T. McEchran, a large wine maker of St. Helena, is staying at the Lick. E. S. Farrington, a lawyer of Elko, | Nev., is a late arrival at the Lick. E. P. Colgan, State Controller, is at the | Lick, registered from Sacramento. Fernando Wadsworth, the mining man, | is making a short stay at the Lick. J. M. Walkup, a farmer from Stanley Ford, Colusa County, is at the Russ. | Ex-Judge Thomas B. Bond of Lakeport | is staying at the Lick for a few days. | Rev. and Mrs. Daniel G. MacKinnon of Stockton are staying at the Occidental, | Jas E. Suggett and family of Mohler, ‘Wash., are staying at the Cosmopolitan. D. E. Knight, manager of the big woolen mills at Marysville, Is at the | Lick. Jerome Churchill, a capitalist and land- owner of Yreka, is registered at the Grand. Colonel L. S. Babbitt, U. 8. A, with Mrs. Babbitt, is registered at the Oceci- dental. Mr. and Mrs. George T. Mills, of Car- son, Nev., arrived at the Occidental yes- terday. L. S. Bar, a merchant of Callahan’s Ranch, is one of the recent arrivals at the Grand. G. Migliavacca, a wine maker of Napa, is at the Baldwin, accompanied by Mrs. Migliavacea. Leon Carterf of Santa Barbara, a land | owner and former wholesale butcher, is | at the Grand. H. J. Fleishman, cashier of the Farm- ers and Merchants' Bank of Los An- geles, is in town. Royal Heath is in town from the San Joaquin Valley and will be at the Grand during the holidays. J. C. Kayes, a capitalist of Los An- geles and a member of the State Lunacy Commission, is in the city. State Senator I. S. Weiler of Idaho and T. Regan, a merchant, are at the Lick, registered from Boise, Idaho. John T. More of Santa Barbara, one of the prominent figures in the Alexander More estate litigation, is at the Palace. A. F. Gartner, an insurance man from Portland, Or., arrived at the California yesterday, accompanied by Mrs. Gartner. H. M. LaRue, a member of the Rail- road Commission, is in town from Sac- ramento. He has a room at the Occl- dental. Lieutenant-Colonel A. K. Whitton of the Fifth Regiment, N. G. C., came up from San Jose last night and took a room at the Lick. George H. Appel of Los Angeles, gen- eral agent of the Continental Fruit Ex- press, arrived in town last night and is at the Palace. C. M. Colgan, secretary of the State Board of Equalization, s in town from Sacramento, accompanied by Mrs. Col- gan. They are at the Lick. C. W. Tozen, a mining man from Ari- zona, a resident of Visalia, and formerly 1s | associated with Charles Lane of the Utica mine, is at the Grand. Colonel J. T. Harrington, a Colusa banker and one of the directors of the State Home for Feeble-minded Children at Eldridge, is at the Grand. John J. Byrne, general passenger agent of the Santa Fe Pacific Rallway, with headquarters at Los Angeles, will arrive here this morning for a few days’ visit. | Mr. and Mrs. Walter L. Vail of Los | Angeles are guests at the Palace. Mr. | Vail has the distinction of having been | bitten by the alleged fatally poisonous Gila monster. Thomas R. More of Santa Barbara,who arrived here several days ago on his way north, departed last night for Seattle, where it is said he purposes to perfect some business ' plans for an Alaskan | scheme next spring. | R. H. Schwarzkopt of New York, a stu- dent of Stanford University, who is pre- paring there for the profession of medi- clne, arrived at the Lick yesterday with his bride, who is also a student at Palo | Alto. After the honeymoon, which will | be spent in this city during the holiday | vacation, the bridal couple will return to | the university to resume their studies. | ————————— CALIFORNIANS IN WASHINGTON. ‘WASHINGTON, Dec. 21.—J. M. Under- wood of San Francisco is at the National | Hotel; P. J. Forsyth of Los Angeles is at the Shoreham; the Misses Cabell of California are at the Raleigh Hotel. —_——— FREE TEXT BOOKS. To the Editor of The Call: In Mon- day's issue of your valuable paper Is | given a vivid account of the distress of | the Van Buren family, reduced to the verge of starvation, the infant dying and the bread-winner deprived of his liberty to earn. In answer to the con- cluding sentence will you allow me to say, Yes, there is such a thing as the brotherhood of man, the unity of all life. This should find expression not alone in giving the necessaries of life to this family, but in making business pos- sibilities such in our city that similar cases would be impossible. Such cases have become so numerous as to show to the dullest mind that a radical change is lm%eerative If our free institu- tions are to sustained. In the same issue of The Call, under the heading ‘‘Free Text Books,” 'we are told that one ticket of freeholders will advocate text books free to all children in public schools. This is in the right direction, a long step. It is earnestly hoped The Call will lend its valuable columns and give its support to this matter of free text books, for, as it says, rather than humiliate their chil- dren’ by begging for books, parents will keep them at home. This is no ‘wonder. Poverty s hard enough to bear without forcing one’s child to parade its neods It was not the intent of the board that it should be known who received fres books, but the cases are surely dis- covered and children taunted with' it. It is difficult to learn the number of “‘our children” not in any school. It is large, far too large. When a little one is out a term, or a year, he goes back into a lower class with those younger and smailer, and it kept out occasionally for lack of books or decent ciothes, or to work at home or outside, he becomes ashamed to be In a class of thoss who attend steadily, have help in studles at home, dress prettily, and are bright and | perfect success. A COLOR SCHEME. Who is it says Santa Claus was but & pagan myth? ‘ith all your manuscripts and books; S dnd isms that you puza le with, yhur lengthy sentences and solemn looks. Science oft has been misled, And_there's evidence in sight That old “Santy” is a patriot stanch and true. For the holly berry's red, And the mistletoe is white. And the fir tree in the forest glimmers blue! In a land of peace and plenty at a time oJ hope and cheer. Shall such ungenerous moods the gladness mar? Shall we relegate the old saint to an alien atmosphere When his colors are so plainly flung afar! Let_us cherish him instead. For the way he read aright Our_feelings centuries before we knew; For_his holly berry red, For the mistletoe so white, . r tree in the forest glimm e —Washington Post. —_——————— SOMETHING TO BOAST OF. San Franciscans who assoclate with New Yorkers hear a great deal of brag- ging about the tall buildings of Gotham, and the people of all large Eastern cities are disposed to boast in a similar way. But the San Franciscan can always re- mark, without fear of successful contra- diction, that we have here the handsom- est tall building in_the country. There is nothing in the United States to com- pare with the Spreckels building, at Mar- ket street, for beauty and perhaps noth- ing to compare with it in costliness, size for size. The tall bullding is hard to handle from the architectural point of view. Those of the East have, as & rule, as much beauty as a long box, stood on end and plerced at regular intervals with rectan- gular holes. The Spreckels building is graceful from the sidewalk line to the lantern that surmounts its richly orna- mented and well-balanced dome. The eye is carrled up the whole great dis- tance with the greatest ease owing to the cleverness of ‘the. architect and. the freedom with which he was allowed tb ornament the exterior. The idea of column, such as the tall building real is, is finely carried out, with pedestal base, shaft and capital, so that the sense of dizzy height is not felt in gazing at the structure and all trace of monotony is removed. When the building was ablaze with light last Saturday evening from bottom to top, it was a most im- pressive and lovely sight, such as no other city could show. ut at all times, in all atmospheres, it is a thing of beauty that the city may be proud to ‘have strangers see; and it will be so for many a generation—-a monument to the public spirit, enterprise, taste and generosity of the good citizen who raised it.—San Francisco Report. —e—————— NEW ERA IN JOURNALISM. The elghty-page Call of yesterday was a beauty. Like the building in which {t was published it was a model in design and towered far above f{ts contempo- raries. Tt was aptly named the ‘New Era” edition, and as it marks a new era in its own life so let it be hoped that it begins a new era in journalism on this coast—an era to be marked by unpreju- diced news reports and unbiased editorial comment. An opportunity lies befora The Call on the lines of clean journalism, which is almost unprecedented. Let it ba hoped_that that opportunity will be im- proved to the utmost.—Alameda Encinal. ———————— ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS COMPTCHE — 8., Cuffeys Cove, Cal. Comptche, the name of a place in Men- docino County, {s Indian, and means “Little round hills.” NATIONAL HOLIDAY — *National,” City. The answer to a correspondent in regard to national holidays in the United States appeared in Answers to Corre- spondents in The Call December 1, 1897. ABOVE BASE-] City. The ex- treme top of the Claus Spreckels build- ing on the corner of Market and Third streets is 462 feet above the base line. There are several points in the city high- er than that. The intersection of El?lr and Day streets is (20 feet above base: B ey Cal.glace fruit 5c perlb at Townsend's, e e Hundreds of cabinet and Paris panel frames at Sanborn & Vail's. Open even- ings. . ————— Special informatien supplied daily to manufacturers, business houses and pub- lic men b?' the Press Clipping Bureau (Allen’s), 510 Montgomery street, San Francisco. Telephone, Main 1042. %, ———— Holiday Packages Called for and delivered. Morton hS‘peclal Delivery, 408 Taylor street and 630 Market street. . —————— GOOD ALL THE WAY THROUGH. We hereby acknowledge the excellence of The Call's holiday edition. It excels typographically and as to the timeliness of its contents. Nothing more interesting have we read in many a day than the history of The Call itself, and the sketch from that veteran journalist so long iden- tified with it—George K. Fitch. The Call was a monster number yesterday, but it was good all the way through.—Alameda Argus. 4 ————— ““Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup” Has been used over fifty years by millions of mothers for thefr children while Teething with It soothes the child. softens the gums, allays Pain, cures Wind Colle, reg- ulates the Bowels and is the best remedy for Diarrhoeas, whether arising from teething or other causes. For sale by Druggists in every part of the world. Be sure and ask for Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup. e a bottle. CORONADO.—Atmosphers is perfectly dry, soft and mild, being entirely free from thi mists common further north. Round-trip tick. ets, by steamship, including fitteen days' board at the Hotel del Coronado, $65; longer stay, §2 50 per day. Apply 4 New Montgomery street, San Francisco, or A. W. Bailey, mane ager Hotel del Coronado, late of Hotel Colo- rado, Glenwood Springs, Colorado. —————— ( AS 8 dressing and color restorer, PARKEWS HAIR BALSAM never falls to satisfy. HINDERCORNS, the best cure for corns, 15 cts. ———————— ABLY PLANNED, CLEVERLY EXECUTED. The Call's first Christmas number un- der the new management sets a lively pace for its contemporaries. The liter- ary features are ably planned and clev- erly executed and the number is a good one throughout.—Oakland Tribune. NEW TO-DAY. “ SOLID—not Lg’ wid!l” Do not confuse “Cola this” and ““Kola that”” with Dr. Charcot’s self-assured. These many cau - prive those most in need of lt‘o‘fut!;.e ?& struction offered through public funds In this way we are rearing a ‘class” of ‘un}‘ulned &ounx people, who come to eon:g g‘;xg:)n ose better cared for as their ere is a brotherhood of m: - ing all, and the policy is .mné‘x‘d::{m::gt allows our children to live in want, in ignorance,-in fear, and to lose self-re- spect and the assurance that each one is an integral its pros, gty. part of the whole city and Provide text books funds furnished by all! San Francisco, Dyec. free forEn.u fro; e Ten cents for a bottle of Low's Hore- hound Cough Syrup. 417 Sansome. * made upon the prescription of the test doctor the world has ever known, Jean Martin Charcot (Paris). These tablets positively banish Nervousness and make the user ““all nerve” with “no nerves.”, 60 cents and f“Loo a‘Box. 1t you cannot secure th d.nlm‘ . e will send them to you direct Write ror PROOFS OF CURES, Eureka Chemical and Manufacturing Cos . La Crosse, Wis, _ ¥