The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 25, 1897, Page 6

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 25, 1897. SATURDAY ... JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Proprictor. “Address All Communications to W. S. LEAKE, Manager. PUBLICATION OFFICE. -Market and Thira 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 carriers in this city and surrounding towns for IS cents a week. By mail $6 per year; per month 65 cents. THE WEEKLY CALL. One year, by mail, $1.50 OAKLAND OFFICE .. ..908 Broadway Eastern Representative, DAVID ALLEN. NEW YORK OFFICE.. Room 188, World Building ‘WASHINGTON (D. C. OFFICE Riggs House €. C. CARLTON, Correspondent. BRANCH OFFICES--52T7 Montgomery street, corper Clay: open until 9:30 o'clock. 339 Hayes street; open until 9:30 o'clock. 621 MoAllister street; open until 9:30 o'clock. 6I5 Larkin street; open until 9:30 o'clock. SW. corner Sixteenth and Mission streets; open until 9o'clock. 25I8 Mission street; open until 9 o'clock. 143 Ninth street; open until 9 o'clock, 1505 Polk street; open until 9:30 o'clock. NW. corner Twenty-second and Kentucky streets; open until 9 o’clock. AMUSEMENTS. Baldwin—*"The Jucklings Colum “A Milk White Flag. California—"The Railroad of Love.” Alcazar— The Girl I Left Behind Me.” Morosco's—The War of Wealth.” nd Sunday nights Orch i 8’ Mi v at Oakland unday, 11 A treets. Li ide Coursing Par} —Corner Buker and Fel DEMAGOGUES AND THE CHARTER. F THERE were no other reason for recommend- ing the people on Monday next to vote solidly against the Board of Freeholders nominated by the Phelan Charter Convention, one would be found in the character of the “arguments” which are being used to promote their election. These “‘arguments” ¢ demagogic in the extreme, their main principle being personal abuse. In behalf of its candidates the newspaper organ of the Czar Mayor combina- tion avers that every man who does not agree with them upon the one-man power question is a rascal or a fool, and in equally as general terms it berates the corporations and the tax-eaters for their alleged opposition to a one-man charter. A plaintive cry for “reform,” an incessant howl about bossism and a miscellaneous charge of munici- pal corruption and dishonesty is the stock-in-trade of purists everywhere. The cause of real reform, if not the cause of good government generally, is being discredited all over the country by the dema- gogues who, like those now seeking to attain power through the Committee of One Hundred, resort to misrepresentation, slander and the presentation of false for the purpose of hoodwinking the people. There is no excuse for denouncing the Free- holders nominated by the regular party organiza- tions as the tools of the bosses awd corporations. There is not a scintilla of proof to sustain any such allegation. In fact, the charge is put forward for gudgeons, and every person who believes it, and who is tricked into voting the ticket of the Phelan demagogues thereby, will be simply drawn .away from his duty to himself and to his fellow citizens. The fact that the campaign of the Phelan Free- holders is one of misrepresentation, slander and bun- combe, that it is being promoted by blackmailers, demagogues and political factionists, that its success depends upon making people believe that our city is a hotbed of corruption and a resort for political thieves, and that no charter framed by men elected under such influences can be adopted, should be suf- ficient reason for defeating the entire ticket. The election of a single candidate upon it will be a quasi indorsement of demagogy and campaign chicanery. To that extent the true interests of the city—which are always promoted by honest politics and a truth- ful press—will suffer material damage. While considering these propositions and deciding the question as to whether or not The Call, in ad- vancing them, is proceeding on correct political lines, the voters may as well inspect the following ticket. It comprises the nominees of the regular party organizations for Freeholders. The figures opposite the names are the ballot numbers. These gentlemen are opposed to one-man power, to demagogue politicians, to experiments in munic- ipal government, to political bossism, ¢o blackmail- issues ing newspapers, and to buncombe politics. They should be elected by a large majority: REPUBLICANS. I3. GEORGE @I. DOW, proprietor PDow Steam Pump Works., 17. JOSEPH D. GRANT, merchant. Murphy, Grant & Co. 24. REUBEN H. LLOYD, attorney. 33. GEORGE M. PERINE, contractor. 39. A. W. SCOTT, of Scott & McCord, hay and grain dealers. 42. GEORGE D. SQUIRES, attorney. DEMOCRATS. 25. W. E. LUTZ, secretary building and loan associations. 26. JOHN McCARTHY, thy Bros., spice merchants. 35. W.M.PIERSON, attorney. 36. JOSEPH ROSENTHAL, attorney. 43. C. B.STONE, manager breweries. 44. PATRICK SWIFT, capitalist. POPULISTS. 7. THOMAS V. CATOR, attorney. 18. W.N. GRISWOLD, physician. 22. THEODORE H. HATCH, commis. sion merchant. of McCar- Some of the gentlemen engaged in marking out the course of the navies in the European war they have decided to have need to study two branches of science. Geography will show them that the scheme of traveling in a straight line from one point to any other may be fraught with natural difficulties, and naval a‘chitecture will make tolerably clear to them the fact that ships are not yet constructed so as to sail across mountain ranges nor even to speed safely upon dry land, however level. Even the Texas, which loves to skip ashore, has always stopped within sight of water. Besldes, the Texas is the pride of our own navy and not to be taken into consideration in the promised rumpus. Little wonder that the powers are getting uneasy over the partition of China. They have every reason 1o believe that the proverbial honor supposed to exist among thieves is absent in this particular case. In all that has been said against the Chinese sol- fiers there has been no intimation that as sprinters hey do not hold the record, and the ability to teen it 1 of alien planters. FARMERS OPPOSE ANNEXATION. UR RURAL population knows its needs and O its rights. It is awake to the situation and demands that the interests of the American farmer be placed above the interests of a handful Charity begins at home, and it will go hard with a Congressional representative, elected by farmer votes, who sacrifices his constit- uents upon any plea whatsoever. The issue is an American sugar industry versus Hawaiian planters and that issue cannot be obscured by the frantic waving of Old Glory and flamboyant appeals to national pride. That is the voice of the American Sugar Growers’ Association which is organized in more than half the States of the Union. Its purpose is the addi- tion to the profits of American agriculture of more than $100,000,000 annually, now sent abroad for sugar. Its determination is to produce this sugar at home, on American farms, by American labor, that supports American families, sends children to school, goes to church Sundays, and lives on the American scale of comfort and intelligence. The addition of sugar to the crop rotations of the Amer- can farmer gives him a palpable stake in the pro- tection of American industries. Hiy interest in pro- tection has been heretofore reasonably doubted. The remarkable propagation of the idea of an export bounty on the surplus product of American farms to be paid out of the Federal treasury s due entirely to this doubt. This idea and its supporting doubt Lave been promoted by a citizen of California, and granting it to be a chimera, its widespread adop- tion is indisputable testimony to the feeling among American farmers that they are not getting fair play. Given a chance at a market for $100,000,000 an- nually, of manufactured products, does any one sup- pose that our American manufacturers would per- mit any Congress or any administration to throw it away for the ‘benefit of some tropical islands, swarming with Asiatic coolies and smitten with lep- rosy? We all know that such foreclosure against American interests would immediately cast out of power the party that would attempt it. It is not possible that when the farmers of the country have an interest of equal volume they are going to sleep on their rights, and be lulled by im- passioned rot about manifest destiny. Within the last fortnight the country has heard from the organized labor of the republic against annexation, and organized agriculture now adds its voice. It is time for commerce to begin thinking upon the same subject. No civilized country can boast of a significant and permanent commerce when the interests of labor and production are the victims of unfriendly treatment. No State in the Union has a greater stake in this issue than Cali- fornia. None has greater need of diversification of its agricultural industries. The producer here sui- fers from carrying all his eggs in one basket. The land will soon suffer from lack of profitable rotation in crops. The 300,000 tons per year of sugar production in the islands comes in direct competition with the sugar product of California. It is nearest us. The line of transportation is shortest here, and here fall hardest the effects of cheap coolie labor on the plan- tations. : Capital is movable property. If it does not find profitable employment in one "place, it is cheaply transferred to another. Capital invested In com- merce has the whole world in which to pick and choose for the earning of profits and for spending them. It is not so with agriculture. The farm is fixed and immovable. If the farmer is denied a chance to raise and rotate profitable crops, by un- wise political policies, he cannot transfer his farm te a new place, where the necessitied of ~limate and public policy help him to cheap coolie labor. Nor can he transfer his investment in his land, for its value falls with the absence of opportunity and he cannot sell it except at a crippling sacrifice. He is the man who must be considered. He must stand in his tracks and take what comes, and it will be well for the politicians to put a little sugar on his pill. We are convinced that this State on a straight vote will defeat annexation two to one, and we have the same belief as to Oregon and Washington. The farmers of California should assert themselves to their Senators and Representatives in Congress. If annexation is accomplished by the craft of the island planters, such assertion will be too late. We will need next year the impulse that the State will feel from the growth of our sugar production. It will be reflected in the prosperity of our domestic commerce and in the rescue of farm values from the depression that has borne so hard for several years. B Judge Campbell has been called upon to adjust miany delicate matters, but anybody having an idea that an emergency rattles him is at liberty to ask the Judge about it and be apprised of error. A recent case, however, must have made the Police Bench luminary think. A man was brought before him charged with the use of vulgar and profane lan- guage in the presence of a woman, she making the complaint. There was no doubt that the man had sworn with much the vim and volume of the army in Flanders. Indeed, he did not deny it, pleading in justification that he had been swearmg not at the woman, but at his dog, and as the canine made no formal charges the Judge, after a pull at his whis- kers, let the prisoner go. Now anybody who wants to swear in the presence of a woman has only to bring a cur into the situation. The cur will not have him arrested, and the vicarious sufferer can stuff cotton in her ears or go away from there. But only a Campbell could have thought out a scheme so logical and astute. There is much merit in the plan of making public the names on the pension roll. Certainly nobody who draws a deserved pension has any reason to be ashamed of it, and exposure is what the other bene- ficiaries ought to have. For the country to know the rich men who draw special pensions they do not need would be particularly interesting. It is to be regretted that missionaries sent to Korea to spread the gospel should have taken to politics. Missionaries have made the same mistake before, and no good has ever come of it yet. When religion and politics are thrown together an analysis of the compound shows hardly a trace of the former. Even if the members of the Hawaiian Cabinet are ready to “sacrifice honor” in order to bring about annexation, it is possible they have not enough of that article in stock to make a very impressive spec- tacle. e While there is an inclination to sympathize with Phil Armour over his loss of $1,000,000 the fact may be recalled, as a ray of consolation, that some- body else must first have lost this same money or Armour would not have had it. 2 Ay CHRISTMAS ASPIRATIONS. EACE ON earth, good will to men, was the psong the shepherds on the old Judean hills heard the herald angels sing at the birth of Christ nearly 1900 years ago, and through the long- drawn centuries the world has waited for the ful- fillment of the promise of that divine harmony. The old song will be heard in our churches to-day and the old aspiration will be felt by !l kindly hearts. The salutation of “Merry Christmas” will derive most of its fervor from the deep desire for “peace on earth, good will to men.” We are far from the attainment of peace. ~War ravages to-day one of the fairest islands of our hem- isphere. and throughout the whole length and breadth of the Old World the nations stand armed and ready for battle that seems imminent and threat- ening. We are far from the attainment of good will. In every land and in every community are envies, jealousies, hatreds, and all manner of un- charitableress even among those whose purely seli- ish purposes could be best served by harmony and iriendship. To another generation than ours is postponed the fulfillment of the promise of the angel song. For us there is nothing but to wait and to work in the faith that men grow better year by year, and that in the fullness of time both peace and good will will be realized on earth. We have a thousand evidences that “through the ages one increasing purpose runs.” The history of civilization is a record of the upward movement of hvmanity toward the attainment of tne great aspira- tion for a justice among nations that will put an end to war, and a kindliness among men that will re;iove animosities and wrongdoing. Compared with former centuries ours has been one of marked humanity. Compared with the eariler years of the century the close is one of splendid accomplishment. Never were nations slower to war than now. Never were international disputes so frequently ad- justed by reason rather than by conquest. Never L the great mass of men so well rewarded for work: never did the laborer get so full a proportion of the products of his toil; never did the common people have so much control of their Government and their destinies; never was charity more abund- ant; never were the innocent so often succored from never were the guilty more free from ex- cessive punishment; never were the rich more im- pressed with a sense of the duty wealth imposes, and | never did the race have surer reason for the faith that is in it of a better time to come. We can recall to-day all the aspirations of our faith without doubt or despondency. The menace of war ir the East need not disturb the hope of any | one who remembers that events which mercly:’ threaten war to-day would have been actual war in a time not long past. The agitations which disturb the relations between labor and capital cause no anxiety to those who note how closely the two are bound togethet in the existing social order, and how slight are the grievances of either class to-day when compared with what prevailed in past generations. All the forces of the time tend to the improve- ment of the world. Nations, classes nd individuals | have their faces to the light and are moving forward. | Progress may be slow, but it is sure. We may this | morning with sincere voices wish our friends a | merry Christmas, and respond with glad hearts to the chorus, “Peace on earth, good will to men.” s e THE GOLDEN JUBILEE. OR CALIFORNIA and the whole of the l:grcatcr West, the most important event of the | winter will be the exposition of mines and min- ! ing to be held in ‘this city as a part of the celebration of the jubilee of the discovery of gold. The best | efforts of the city and the State will be required to accomplish results worthy of the occasion, and to that end the thoughts and energies of many public- spirited citizens are now directed. In order to promote the great undertaking by every means in its power, The Call will issue on Sun- day, January 23, a grand special edition devoted to mines and mining, and to an exploitation of the rich mineral resources of the great West. The edition is already in preparation and every portion of it will | be in charge of a man of known ability and emi- nence in his line of work. { The success accomplished in the publication of the | New Era Edition of The Call is a guarantee to the | public of what the quality will be oi the forthcom- | ing Jubilee Edition. Care will be taken to make it | thoroughly reliable and valuable to miners as well as entertaining and attractive to the general reader. It will be the most complete review of the conditions of mines and mining ever issued, and will have an important usefulness not to California only, but to the whole mineral region of this section of the Union. It is certain the exposition will be largely attended by mining men from all parts of the world. The fame of the Klondike placers will draw to the Pa- cific Coast this winter a great host of people who in- tend to make their way to the new goldfields next | spring. The mining exposition will attract the great | majority of them to this city, and the result will be probably the largest gathering of mining men in the history of the world. Tt is to that large special audi- | ence as well as to the normal one of its home readers, | the Jubilee Edition of The Call will be addressed, and in every respect it will be made as notable in its way as was the great New Era Edition of 350,000, which has just been published. Teachers of the city are complaining of the course of Superintendent Webster in cutting down their holiday vacation one-half. They are required dur- ing the year to do a certain amount of institute work, but the habit has been to sv apportion this among the several terms to make it easy for the teachers. This time, however, the Superintendent has decreed that there shall be a week of the regular vacation devoted to institute work. One result will be that many teachers will defy the order and re- main away enjoying the vacation to which they con- sider themselves entitled, and the rest will perform grudgingly the prescribed duty, and enter upon their next term with a distinct idea that they have been robbed of a chance to rest. If there is a possibility of Webster's making a mistake he could almost be accused of having made it this time. REC A chap named Kirk, and renowned for the great quantity of things he does not know, announces that he is to head a party of men to the Klondike, each member of the expedition having paid him $2000 for the honor of going under his distinguished guid- ance. To believe this story involves the necessity of thinking not only that fools are not all dead yet, hut that Kirk has succeeded in rounding up a job lot of the extreme type. Word was received from Chile Thursday that a new Cabinet had been formed, and as no tidings of its overthrow have been reccived, it is safe to say that Government affairs inthat country have | C | 8. Graham, San Jose; Charles W. Pike, | a knowledge of sc | ion that science and art are compleme reached a stage of peculiar stability. PERSONAL. Dr. and Mrs. W. Head of Chico are guests at the Grand. James T. Meagher of Meaghers Cove arrived at the Grand yesterday. R. B. Stephens, a prominent attorney of Los Angeles. is at the Grand. ‘William Northrup Cowles arrived the city yesterday from New York. Major J. H. Simpson, a well-known ho- tel man of San Mateo, is in the city. A. C. Bilicke, proprietor of the Hollen- beck of Los Angeles, is at the Palace. George Kriehn, professor of history in Stanford University, is at the Palace. G. W. Boggs, a grain merchant of Tracy, is at the Lick, with his daughter. H. C. Myers of the chemistry depart- ment in Stanford University, is at the California. M. Harterey, a well-to-do farmer of Modoe, is registered at the Russ with Mrs. Harterey. H. E. Diggles, a Nevada wine man, is in the city for the holidays. He is stay- ing at the Palace. C. P. Higgins of New York, one of the chief men of the Babcock Boiler Fac- tory, is in the city. Mr. and Mrs. A. L. Whitney of San Mateo returned yesterday from New York and are guests at the California. Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Robinson, a bridal couple from Fargo, N. Dak., arrived at the California yesterday from Montana. T. A. Graham, district passenger agent of the Southern Pacific at Ta- coma, Wash,, is in town on a holiday visit. F. E. Curtis of Los Angeles, who has several railroad station eating houses in Southern California and Arizona, is at the Grand. Ike Hermann of Portland, Or., con- tracting freight agent for the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway, is in town for the holidays. Ed Duffy, traveling freight and pas- senger agent of the Denver and Rio Grande Railway, with headquarters at Portland, Or., is in town. A. D. Charlton, assistant general pas- senger agent of the Northern Pacific Railway at Portland, Or., will arrive here Tuesday with his family to spend a week in this city. Ensign Harry Eaton Smith, U. S§.-N., is at the Palace, accompanied by Mrs. Smith, formerly Miss Hayes, only daughter of the late President Ruther- ford B. Hayes. Ensign Smith is station- ed aboard the Baltimore. H. N. MacGregor, formerly traveling passenger agent of the Canadian Paci- iic, with headquarters at ‘Tacoma, Wash., has been transferred to Califor- nia, with headquarters in this city. He has exchanged places with Arthur B. Calder. Willard T. Barton, a progressive man of business affairs who composes popu- lar songs in his leisure, came to town from New York yesterday, and received a warm greeting at the Bohemian Club. All of his melodies are enlivening, but none are ribald, and that is what wins him so much admiration in the Lyceum circles of New England. Among his pop- ular songs are ‘“Razzle Dazzle” (words by Gillis), *“The Young Dude, Foster- heimer,” “Imogene Donahue” and “Ta- ble d'Hote.” —_ e CALIFORNIANS IN CHICAGO. CHICAGO, Dec. 24.—At the Palmer— Francis Brown, San Francisco; owker, Los Angeles; Leland—L. in A, San Francisco; Auditorium—Mrs. F. M. Schumacher, San Francisco; Great Northern—Mrs. M. B. Hart, Saa Fran- cisco. —_———— CALIFORNIANS IN WASHINGTON. WASHINGTON, Deec. 24{—Henry E. Walton of Los Angeles is at the Shore- ham; Miss Oxnard and Miss M. B. Ox- rd of San Francisco are at the Nor- mandie. —_———— POETRY AND SCIENCE. It is so commenly assumed that poetry and science are antagonistic that an address delivered by the poet laureate, Alfred Austin, at the opening of a new school of science and art last week, de- serves a wide publicity. Macaulay, with his well-known love of antithesis, once endeavored to show that as civilization advances poverty almost necessarily de- clines; and taking science as one_of the most important factors in the civilizing process, the inference is that a poet with entific facts labors un- der a disadvantage. Now, however, we are able to give a poet laureate's opin- tary to one another and not rivals. Sci- ence, said Mr. Austin, is exact knowl- edge—that and nothing more. But ex- act knowledge is the foundation of all the arts, and no man ever achieved real greatness in any of them who did not have the firmest grasp of the permanent facts which underlie them. Music, the most intangible and fantastic of the arts, cannot move one step nor excite a single emotion without submitting to the se- vere discipline of numbers. Finally, the matter of a poet's verse is not of much account unless it be animated by the scientific spirit of close and wide obser- vation and of loving accuracy. It must be obvious to any one who has read the “Divina Commedia” that the greatest poet of the middle ages, than whom there was none greater in any age, was thoroughly familiar with all the science or exact knowledge of his time; and Leonardo da Vinci, who might have equais but had no superior in the realm of painting, was not more fasci- nated by artistic conceptions than by what are called scientific problems, and at these he labored indefatigably. Alike, therefore, by necessity and choice, art exhibits a sympathetic kinship with science. The scientific spirit, far from | being hostile to the artistic spirit, is an- cillary to it, for, as Dryden sald, “Genius is perfected by science.” The noblest manifestations of both have always oc- curred in one and the same epoch. Ath- ens produced Euclid as well as Praxi- teles; the vigorous old age of Michael Angelo overlapped the precocious youth of Galileo, and Bacon was the contem- porary of Shakespeare. And though the y now drawing to a close has been pre-eminently a scientific century, the locomotive and the telephone will not be | more enduring than the verse of Byron and Tennyson or than the pictures of Turner and Watts. The reasoning in- tellect is the foundation alike of science and of art; but, concluded Mr. Austin, while reason alone suffices to science, art is reason transfigufed by emotion.— Nature. Shoste e tinrt o THE UNION PACIFIC PACE. Some more fast train running is re- ported from the Union Pacific road—an ecastbound passenger train making the 102 miles from Cheyenne to Sidney in 97 minutes, and the 114 miles from Sidney to North Platte in 117 minutes. The same train on another part of the line went at the rate of 78 miles an houl. That is time which would make a two-hour train from Springfield to Boston seem slow. And the Union Pacific roadbed and ge eral equipment are hardly to be col ared with those of the Boston and Al- hbany. But there is the olement of grades and_curves still to beconsidered.—Spring- field (Mas: Republie; ——— A NOTABLE EXCEPTION. The finding of gold and silver &nd money orders to the amount of thous- ands of dollars, which Mr. Spofford of the National Library had put in an old desk and forgotten, accounts largely for the recent inability of that gentleman to balance his accounts. No one ever dreamed that he was dishonest in the af- fair, and though the recent revelation may not stamp him as a thorough-j business man, according to conventional standards, it is not altogether unpleas- ant to occasionally find a man who can forget money long enough to be en- grossed in higher considerations and in- terests.—Boston Transcript. S e Cure your cold with Low’s Horehound Cough Syrup; price 10c. 417 Sansome street. . NZIW STORY OF LINCCLN. Senator Mills has a new story about Lincoln, says the Washington Post. It was told to him by a son of John L. Helm of Kentucky, who lives in Cor- sicana. “Old John L. Helm,” said the Senator, “was a famous character in Kentucky. He was, if I remember rightly, a Gov ernor of the State, but at any rate hi: position was a most prominent one. ‘When the Civil War came on Helm was a rabid secesslonist. He could not praise the South too highly, and could not heap cnough abuse upon the North. He was too old to go into the war with his sons, and remained at home, doing all he could to help the Confederate cause and harass the Yankees who invaded the State. Fin- ally he became so obstreperous that the Federal General who was in command near Helm’'s home put him in prison. The old man’s age, the high position which he occupied in the State, his wide connection, and especially his inability to do any actual harm, were all pleaded in his extenuation and he was released. Instead of profiting by the warning, the old man became more persistent than even in his course. Once more he was clapped into jail. This happened two or three times, and finally, while he was still locked up, the matter was brought to the attention of the Federal authori- ties. Even President Lincoln was ap- pealed to, and asked to commit the ar- dent Southerner to an indefinite confine- ment in order that he might be curbed. “Lincoln listened to the statement of the case with more than usual interest. Then he leaned back and began to speak with a smile upon his face. ‘You are talking about old man John Helm? Well, did you know that I used to live, when 1 was a boy, in Helm's town? He was kind to me. He used to like me as a boy, and he never lost an opportunity to help me. He seemed to think,’ said Lincoln, with another of his most pa- thetic smiles, ‘that I would probably make something of a man. Why, when I went out to Illinois, poor and un- known, that man gave me the money to pay my way and keep me up until I got a start. John Helm? Oh, yes, I know him. And I know what I owe to him. 1 think I can fix his case.’ “And then,” said Senator Mills, “Lin- coln went to a desk and wrote a few words. The bit of writing is treasured in the Helm household to this day. This is what the President wrote: “‘I hereby pardon John L. Helm, of Kentucky, for all that he has ever done against the United States, and all that he ever will do. “*ABRAHAM LINCOLN." ™ NOTES ABOUT NOTABLES. Lord Mansfield has been a member of the London Carlton Club continuously since 1832. Gladstone joined the club in 1833, but left it in 1850 for political rea- sons. ‘W. F. Aldrich, who is contesting the seat of Mr. Plowman for the Fourth Dis- trict of Alabama, proves his faith by works. He has moved his family to the capital. Herbert M. Lord, Secretary of the Ways and Means Committee of the House of Representatives of Congress, has the reputation of being one of the finest tenor singers in the State of Maine. In a letter to Senator Lodge, Labor Commissioner Carroll D. Wright insists that the taking of the last census would have cost $2,000,000 less if the appoint- ments in the bureau had been made un- der the civil service rules. Sir William Harcourt is tne son of a clergyman and the grandson of a Bishop. He was trained for the bar, and after a considerable time in practice and some service as Solicitor-General became pro- fessor of international law at Cambridge. In the little town of Friendsville, on the northern border line of Pennsylvania, there are twenty persons over %0 years of | age; and five, Mrs. Mary Cullen, John Gelson, William Derby, Mrs. Ellen Garcy and Mrs. Phillancy Gollen, have passed | the century mark. Henry W. Walters of Baltimore, son of | the late Willlam T. Walters, the art col- lector, has received the twenty silver | and bronze medals which he had made in Europe in memory of his father. Ome | of the medals has been presented to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the others have been or will be presented to | members of the family and personal triends. —— . FLASHES OF FUN. “Go to the ant, thou sluggard!” ex- claimed the quotation monger. “Well,” replied his indolent relative, | “I don’t see the ant getting up early on | cold mornings to start fires and sweep | autumn leaves off the lawn.”"—Washing- ton Star. My dear, how is it that the beefsteak is always cooked too much now? Bridget | used to broil it so nicely. Mrs. Gaswell—I know she did, but since she got a bicycle she has become an in- veterate scorcher.—Pittsburg Chronicle- Telegraph. “Are you going to send your mother- in-law a Christmas present?” “Alas, no! I wish I could enjoy that privilege.” “Why can’t you? Surely you can afford it.” “Yes, yes; but I can't send it. She’s at our house.”—Philadelphia Bulletin. | | Mr. Gaswell (at the breakfast table)—I | | He persisted in using a fragment of his | broken slate, much to his teacher’'s dis- gust. “Why don’t you tell your mother you broke your slate?” she asked. “I'm sure she'd give you a new one.” “Course she would,” replied the boy, “and she'd call it a Christmas present. T'd ruther wait till next term before I | ask for it.”—Chicago Evening Post. Fuddy—I never so anybody so gone on a place as my wife is on Boston. She | says it's just heavenly. Duddy—Well, there is a resemblance. | In heaven the streets are paved with gold, and in Boston they seem to be, judging from the way somebody or other is always at work digging them up.— Boston Transcript. —_———— THE PENALTY OF WIT. There is no more unhappy man than he who is described by injudicious friends as ‘‘extremely witty.” Better for that man if he be subject to the charge of parricide. For gradually he becomes conscious of his reputation and tries to live up to it. If a man of true wit de- livers himself of one good speech a month he is doing admirably, and the | potentiality of his speech will be a con-| stant source of amazement. Few are willing to be thus self-contained. They wish to strike twelve every ten minutes, They fail to see the necessity of a bac! ground of seriousness. They degenerate quickly into asgressive monologists. They are peevish, if laughter is not a hair-trigger affair. And if there is no more unhappy man there is no greater bore than your wit of the first magni- tude. When you see Mr. Dazzler work- ing his mind in a cornes at the club, sit | in anether room, or go home; there will be no chance of conversation—which be- ing interpreted means that you will have no opportunity of exploiting your own ability.—Boston Journal. —_——— REFLECTIONS OF 4 BACHELOR L?ve is the only real contradiction in it- self. Men make more mistakes than women, but women e the same mistake oftenest. | When a woman goes to get a check cashed she always acts as if she was buying something and wasn't sure whether she liked it. When a woman goes to a party, when she isn’t wondering whether the men like her, she is wondering whether the women like her dress. The pleasure the average woman gets out of getting Christmas presents is gen- erally balanced by the fear that she may not be able to find out just what some of | eveglasses, specs, THE CHRIST CHILD. BY C. A. CRUX. Hail! the day that saw his birth! Hark! the shouts of rapturous mirth! Lo! the Child hath come to earth. Banish every doubt and fear, To your Lord, oh, men, draw near; He is holding out his hand To the men of every land. Bring not spices, costly, rare— How can these with love compare? Rather to the needy go; Dry the bitter tears of woe. Incense sweet are deeds like these, Wafted upward on the breeze To the King of Lands and Seas. L ————— ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. AN AUTHOR WANTED.—A corre- spondent wants to know who is the author of “I own to one true church, of all true souls.” ARGUMENTS.—J. G., Sonoma, Cal. The arguments on behalf of the people in the Durrant case were published in the Call of October 25, October 3l and November 1 and 2, 18%. NOT A DIME—G. S., San Rafael, Cal The coin you have cannot be “a dime of the United States of 1739,” in view of the fact that such were not coined until 179%.” If you will send a description of the coin we will try to furnish ananswer. EARL OF ROSEBERY.—A. 8. S, Suisun, Cal. Archibald Philip Primro Earl of Rosebery, was married in 1§78 to Hannah, only daughter of the late Baron Meyer de Rothschild, who died in 1890. Since then the Earl has been a widower. DEBUT—Subscriber, City. Debut is pronounced f written da-bu, with the sound of a as in fate and the sound of u as that letter is pronounced in French. Debutante is pronounced da-bu-tont, the a and u as already stated and the o in the last syllable as in the word song. FLIES AND SUG —H., city. The oft-used expression, “It is easier to gar,” is one that like “‘Age befor, beauty” is not not recorded in the book: of reference, and it is doubtfu: if there is any record of who first used it. TWO AND ONE HALF DOLLARS—A correspondent writing from Chicago calls attention to the fact that in an answer published on the Sth inst. there appeared the statement that 32 50 gold pleces were not coined until 1896. The answer w; written 1796, but the error of composi- tion was not corrected. OLD FORTS.—A. S., Watsonville, Cal. Your letter of inquiry does not state if the information desired is as to forts that are garrisoned or those that are no longer used for purposes of defense; -onsequently it is not possible to give an ver. on is made more be furnished. GREATEST FORTIFICATION.—A. S, Watsonville, Cal. ‘“Which is the great- est fortification in the world?” is a ques- tion that those who have given much time and attention to the subject hesi- tate to answer. 1f by the question meant the best fortified city from a mod ern standpoint, then the answer is, Stockholm, Paris, Berlin and Gibraltar are types of great fortifications. PACIFIC MAIL STEAMERS-T. F. M., Sacramento, Cal. The first propel- lers for the Pacific Mail steamships were the Acapulco, Colima, Colon and Grana- da—vessels from 2572 to 2905 tonnage. They were placed in service in 1873, the Acapulco and Colon running between New York and Aspinwall and the Colima and Granada between Panama and San Francisco. CORN AND WHEAT.—C. F. C, San Jose, Cal. In the commercial sense but one crop of wheat and of corn is raised in California. There are no statistics as to the corn crop of California. The San Francisco Produce Exchange has made several attempts to obtain such, but has not been able to do so. The United States Department of California giv the corn acreage for California for 1896 at 96,529, with a yield of 3 bushels. QUEENSBERRY RULES.—A. S., Marg Island, Cal.. The Marquis of Queens- berry rules do not say that “pugilists are not allowed to strike one another in, a clinch, and can only strike when one is upon by both contest- 2 says: ‘No wrestling or hugging allowed If parties agree to box according to consent as to matters that are not laid down by the Marquis of Queensberry, they are not boxing ac- cording to his rules. SURVEYORS.—C. E. L., Peachland, Cal. There is no examination for United | States Deputy Land Surveyor, as there is no such office. When the Government wants certain lands surveved it lets a contract to parties, who give proof of competency. There is such an office as Deputy Mineral Surveyor. Such may take an examination at a United States Land Office or may be appointed upon recommendation of competency. To ob- tain a State license as Surveyor applica- tion must be made to the State Sur- veyor-General. —_—e———————— No walting at Townsend’s. Cal. glace fruit, plum puddingandcandy; aliready.* — e * Best Xmas plum pudding. Townsend’s.* —_—— corn—loose, on_ strings, and in Po] 4 Townsend’s, 627 Market, Palace. ® balls. A handsome Christmas gift,a basket of Townsend's Cal. glace fruits; 50c Ib. .* Special information supplied daily to manufacturers, 'g:slness houses and pub- lic men by the Press Clipping Bureau Allen’s), 510 Montgomery street, San rancisco. Telephone, Main 1042 - Open Sundays till 2 P.M. 33 4th. Finest 5c.: free exchange. ————— “T thought you told me your English cousin was such a plain-spoken man— that he always called a spade a spade.” “Well2”® “Well, I find he doesn't. spyde.”—Ram’s Horn. —_—————————— FOR IRRITATION OF THE THROAT caused by Cold or use of the voice, “ Brown's Bronchial Troches” are exceedingly beneficial He calls it & —_——————— MANY causes induce gray hair, but PARKER'S HATE BALSAM brings back the youthiul color. HINDERCORNS, the best cure for corns, 18 cis. Sy S Ry e CHRISTMAS and New Year's Tables are incom- plete without a bottle of DR. SIEGERT'S ANGOS- TURA BITTERS, the exquisitely flavored appe- tizer. Beware of imitations. CEUEE G @ MISTAKEN NOTION. All that can be expected of govern- ment is conditions which will insure ev ery man a field for his efforts. To t all will agree. Still there are those who act upon the assumption that govern- ment can and should give all who desire forty acres of land and a mule—Indian- apolis Journal. NEW TO-DAY. The Royal is the highest grade baking powder known. Actual tests show it goes one- third farther thaa any other brand. Absolutely Pure ROYAL PAKING POWDER CO., NEW YORK. them cost. catch flies with sugar than with vinek s )