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THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, (8} NDAY, JANUARY 17, 1898 ~ JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Proprietor. 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 stres Teleph THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL (DAILY AND SUNDAY) is served by carriers in thls city and surrounding towns for 15 cents @ week. By mail $6 per year; per month 65 cents. THE WEEKLY CALL. OAKLAND OFFICE ... Eastern Representative, DAVID ALLEN. NEW YORK OFFICE . Room 188, World Building WASHINGTON (D. C. OFF|CE7 .. Riggs House €. C. CARLTON, Correspondent. BRANCH OFFICES--527 Montgomery street, eorner Clay: open until 9:30 o'clock. 339 Hayes street; open until 930 o'clock. 621 MoAlllster street: open untll 9:30 o'clock. 615 Larkin street; open until 9:30 o'clock SW. corner Sixteenth and Mission streets; open until So'clock. 2518 Mission street; open until 9 o'clock. 106 Eleventh st open until9 o'clock, 1505 Polk street cpen until 9:30 o'clock. NW. corner Twenty-second and Kentucky streets; open until 9 o'clock. One year, by mall. $1.50 908 Broadway AMUSEMENTS. Al Morosco's—"The B! Tivoli— Brian B Orphenm—Vaudevilie. The. Chutes—Chiguita and Vaudeviile Lybeck Cyele Skating Rink—Optical Illusions. California Jockey Club, Oakland Racetrack—Races to-day. By Kfllip & Co.—Tuesd: Ness avenue ana Market sts. By Wm. G. Layng & Co.— Horses, at Oc: 1 Horse E evening, January 20 Tehama st. ae MARKED IMPROVEMENT IN TRADE. HE spring demand for merchandise has al- Tready set in, we are to judge by the bank clearings of the country, which gained 37.6 per cent last week, the largest gain for a long time. This is all the more encouraging in that it is not often that this demand sets in so early. It us- ually makes its appearance about the first of Feb- ruary, and for several years has not appeared at all. There is evidently a general disposition to go into business much more heavily than usual, which in- dicates confidence the future. Indeed, Brad- street’s Financial Review says that “Both specula- tion and investments have been active during the past week. The best feature of the market has been the very heavy dealings in bonds at generally higher prices, both for the high grade and new and more speculative classes. Transactions, rising as they have to $34,000,000 or $35,000,000 of bonds on the Stock Exchange, with the trading distributed among an unusually large number of different is- sues, would indicate a large demana for invest- ments and the growth of confidence in regard to the position and future of the market.” One of the leading reasons for this augmented business on the New York Stock Exchange is the marked increase in railroad earnings, which were over $43,300,000, in December, a gain of 10.5 per cent over 1897, and which, in fact, were the largest earnings in the history of American railroads. The iron furnaces also report an increased output, and orders in this branch of trade are unusually large for this time of the year. The woolen manufacs turers are also buying wool heavily and have a rush of orders to fill from now on. The cotton manu- facturers, the contrary, have been overloaded by excessive production, and find no increase in the demand or gain in prices. The commercial fail- ures continue to decrease, those last week being 323, against 479 for the same week in 1897 and 412 in 1806. Wheat exports have fallen off, owing purely to the usual holiday dullness in Europe, and not to any decrease in the demand itself; but corn ex- ports have increased 1,000,000 bushels during the past week. The distributive trade throughout the country is good, and whatever tendency is exhib- ited in prices is upward rather than downward. The local situation shows no parvicular change, if we except the demand for merchandise for Alaska which has now fairly opened and is steadily increas- ing. We are getting our share of this business up to date, and will probably continue to get it with the exercise of ordinary commercial enterprise. It is too rich a plum to be allowed to slip through our fingers. It is not a transient, but a permanent trade, and if properly fostered by our local mer- chants will increase the wholesale business of this port by millions of dollars annually. The erratic character of the rains keeps local trade very unsettled. Showers are succeeding each other with sufficient rapidity, but except along the imme- diate coast they do not amount to much. The pro- tracted cold snap has kept back the growing grain and the outlook for a large crop is not as bright as it might be. Still, with a fair precipitation from now on an average harvest will probably Be secured. The cereal market reflects the uncerrainty, and the different grains are becoming very sensitive. Wheat remains about the same, but barley is steadily ad- vancing and feed has now got up to $1 per cental, which is.over the average price of late years. Oats, too, are rising, and hay moves up a notch every few days. If the present lack of moisture continues there is no knowing where hay and the local grains will go. But good rains would keep them down to reasonable values, and here is where the uncer- tainty comes in. The same conditions are affect- ing merchandise, as country dealers are cautious about laying in heavy stocks until they have a fair idea of how the crops are going to turn out. The matter will probably be settled one way or the other shortly, when values will become better defined. But a short grain crop this year will not prove as serious a calamity as in some former years. Timed are now so improved that a deficiency in the crop is certain to be made up in greatly enhanced values. if in on However, from present indications, there will be no serious shortage. Naturally the courts are puzzled as to what to do with three youthful footpads who proclaim their guilt and seem to glory in it. They are too tender of years to be sent to prison, and would have a bad influence at a boy's reformatory. There seems to be nothing to do but regret that the man whom they robbed failed to suddenly reform them with a pistol. el Sy It is not to be assumed now that the United States will be forced to take action as to the affairs of Cuba. The probability that Spain will sail into Key West and proceed to annex Florida, or even that it will storm the City Hall of New York, is happily remote. Nothing less radical would be apt to arouse Uncle Sam to a sense of outraged dig- nity. KEEPING FAITH. our New Era issue we announced certain prin- l ciples which it seemed to us should govern those who control newspapers and command the pub- licity which goes with such control. The policy announced was one of fairness and justice and truthfulness toward all Interests and all individuals. 2 Many who read and approved this declaration were skeptical as to the realization of such a policy. 4 They believed, in the first place, that the public taste had been so trained up to the rank and the raw in journalism, by the yellow and sensational press, that a paper which gave the minimum of news space to the ignoble doings of ignoble pevple, and the maximum of legitimate literature and news and edi- torial opinion and encouragement of what is clean and manly and womanly in life, would not get ade- quate support. It was also insisted that the busi- ness community was subject to so many blackmail schemes laid by the sensational press that it had lost courage by having no paper ready to defend it against misrepresentation and robbery. In proof of this was cited the repeated exposures of one morn- ing paper in forgeries, ‘in sophisticatton of news, in the printing of letters which were never written to it upon subjects of current interest, raising the pre- sumption that in all things it was equally false and unreliable. Events have turned these doubts. The Call has kept on the course set for itself. We said that in this State the interests of the producer must be con- sidered. Our exposure of his unfair treatment in the manipulation of prison jute bags is in line with that declaration. We impute no criminal intent to the prison directors. The jute law was drawn by a farmer, in the interest of prison discipline, of free labor and of the farmers. Prison discipline is a hopeless problem if convicts are not furnished occu- pation. Any form of manufacture that outputs a prison product in competition with the product of free labor is objectionable. The Ostrom law was in right line with penological science and econo- mics, and while these were served the farmer was made the beneficiary. Farmers take so little bene- fit from statutes and other ciasses take so much, that this law may be characterized as a stroke of genius, for what benefit it gave the farmer was not at the expense of any one else. The directors seem to have misapprehended this high purpose of the statute, and as a result the producer has been treated uafairly and benefits intended to reach him have been arrested, midway, and absorbed by a class no? | comprehended in the law at all. In tolerance spirit and temperance of language The Call simply kept faith with the producers of the State, a2 it proposes to do with all classes, interests and in- dividuals. It is pleasant to know by the accumus lating experience of each day, that this fidelity iv appreciated and rewarded by the business com- munity. N The Call will be given to the public. It is to consist of forty-four pages, will be pro- fusely illustrated in the highest excellence of news- paper art and supplied with brilliantly illuminated covers. It will contain a record of the mining in- dustry of the Pacific Coast from Mexico to Alaska and will be the most comprehensive and accurate compilation ever made on that subject. A notable feature of the edition will be the number of mining experts and established author- ities on mining matters who will contribute to its columns. It is not to be a paper made up of the careless productions of hack writers, but a sympo- sium on mines and mining by accompfished special- ists, each of whom will write on departments of work in which he has had practical experience as well as scientific knowledge. The edition is designed to serve as a journalistic accessory to the Golden Jubilee and the mining ex- It will cover both the history of mining in California which the Jubilee celebrates, and the conditions of the industry throughout the Coast, which the exposition will exhibit. It will there- fore serve the general public as a species of elabor- ate textbook on each of these subjects and will be valuable to ail who desire to obtain an intelligent understanding of what mining was in 1849 and what it is to-day. The fact that the edition is to be devoted to min- ing only, instead of trying to cover all the indus- tries of the State, will add to its value as an issue pertinent to the time and the opportunity. At this juncture the whole country is excited on gold mines and gold mining. The Call's special edition will give full information on every branch of that great industry. Placer, quartz and hydraulic mining will be treated comprehensively by men who under- stand them, and all who wish information up to date concerning gold mining on any part of the coast from Alaska to Mexico will find it in the Jub- ilee edition of The Call next Sunday. of THE GOLDEN JUBILEE EDITION. EXT Sunday the Golden Jubilee edi on of According to an evening paper only one out of four celebrated murderers of this city has succeeded in escaping in the last twenty years. The qualifying adjective utterly spoils the beauty of this record. Just what characteristics a murder must possess to make it “celebrated” is not a matter of common knowledge. But the fact remains wunshaken that during the period named scores of murderers have escaped either through avoiding arrest or through turning the courts for the nonce into farcical tribu- nals apparently designed to shield crime. Two sample instances may be cited, both recent. One was the murder of Ware and the other that of Policeman Grant. The first assassin never came to light and the second might as well never have been caught, as the trial amounted to an expensive and elaborate process of letting him go again. —_— It was a mean trick for a contortionist back East to cultivate the faculty of throwing his hip out of joint and then keep involving himself in railway ac- cidents so that he could do this to the despoliation of some innocent company. Yet there is some com- fort in the thought that the railroads have knocked many a hip out of joint and not put up a cent. It was a neat idea for an actress in Chicago 1o have a Spanish sympathizer shoot at her. She is appearing as a Cuban heroine, and nothing could be more fitting than that hot Castilian blood should do a little spectacular boiling. Besides, the cost of blank cartridges is a trifle. One could better afford to buy them than to lose even paste diamonds. It is an interesting fact that a confidence man who was sent from Kansas City by the police turned up in Greater New York, where he at once became a politician. It was while acting in the latter capacity that he got into jail. This simple incident shows that when a confidence man starts on a downward 1 course he may expect trouble. has |- THE WEEK OF PREPARATION. WEEK remains in which to prepare for the flGoldcn Jubilee. It will be a time of cease- less activity on the part of all who are charged with the responsibility of any feature of the great festival, and so far as the public can give assist- ance in the way of work or money, it should be cor- dially and liberally done. San Francisco cannot afford to fail in any part of this undertaking. The festival has been adver- tised far and wide, and hosts of visitors with great expectations will be in the city to share in the pieasures of the occasion and enjoy the glories of the pageant. It therefore behooves all who have any feeling of civic patriotism and pride in Francisco to co-operate in the task of decorating the streets and adding to the splendid beauty of the entertainment which is to be provided in cele- bration of the golden day. The programme of the festival has been well ar- ranged. It contains many features of interest to all classes of persons. It will be the most notable pa- rade ever given in the State and the most magnifi- cent. It will be accompanied moreover by sports and games, by floral fetes and by balls and enter- tainments. San Francisco will be In gala attire and joyous, mood, and virtually the whole week fol- lowing Jubilee day will be given up to pleasure and the business that pleasure entails. One of the most promising features of the pro- gramme of entertainment is that of the floral carni- val at Union Square. It was a happy thought on the part of the ladies who designed it. Among all the attractions of San Francisco none are fairer than those of her midwinter flowers. In the mul- titude of bright blossoms that adorn the gardens of the city we have the most beautiful and most con- vincing witnesses of the mildness of our January air and the geniality of our climate. It is right and fitting that these flowers should have a promi- nent place in the festival and it is to be hoped that profuse contributions will be made to the display that is to beautify Union Square and make it ra- diant “for all the world to see. While so much is being done in the way of public work for the celebration, much remains for private enterprise and individual taste to do. ivery build- ing along the line of march should be made brilliant | with banners and gay festoons. The occasion is one on which each citizen may vie with his neigh- bor in generous emulation to see which can design and achieve the most striking and gorgeous effect. A week remains- for tfe work, but the time will pass Begin the preparations to-day. rapidly. UBLIC indignation aroused by the many acci- pdcnts caused by the almost criminal carelessness with which the street cars of the city are run, demands an immediate remedy for the evil. Such demands when made in the past have been ignored, because the people did not persistently urge them. This time the demand is serious, earnest and per- sistent. It cannot be overlooked nor neglected. As a matter of course a reasonable time must be permitted for the selection of proper fenders and properibrakes. No one expects the Supervisors to compel the companies to take the first things of the sort that are offered. This does not mean, how- ever, that the companies may dally along making trials and experiments forever, and leaving their cars still dangerous to the safety of every person who crosses the streets. A reasonable time under the circumstances cannot | be justly construed to mean a long time. The issue is not a new one. It has been under consideration in every city in the Union where trolley cars are operated, and even in this city itself the subject has been discussed for years. Many tests with fenders and brakes have been made and a large amount of information as to the merits of various appliances is immediately available. It ought to be easy there- fore to decide upon the adoption of some remedy within a comparatively short time. There can be no doubt that if the proposed safety devices were of a nature that would make the opera- tion of the roads more economical and more profita- ble to their owness, the managers would not take months of experiment and other months of dis- cussion before adopting them. It does not take business men a lifetime to make a change methods of work when there is money in the change, nor should it take the street car companies a lifetime to adopt safety appliances on their cars when lives are at stake. Both the street car companies and the Supervisors might as well understand at once that the present demand for a remedy will not pass away and be for- gotten in a few days because of popular interest in other things. They may as well understand also that the people cannot be put off much longer by promises of compliance at some future time, nor by making a show of testing new devices in fenders. If neither the companies nor the Supervisors can devise a means of protecting citizens from the reck- less methods of operation now in use, perhaps the Grand Jury might find some way to quicken their wits a little. It is not a regrettable fact that a scorching bicy- clist is in jail. He did not intend to kill anybody— no scorcher does so intend—but he was entirely willing that the world afoot should take its chances. He conceived it to be the duty of the pedestrian to dodge, but failed to make allowance for the aged and infirm. Therefore he is locked up to await a demonstration of his power as a missile. If his vic- tim die the scorcher will learn that his sort do not make up the whole world, a bit of information which may cause him to lead a better life and promote longevity among the wheelless. —_— Somebody in the East has gone to the trouble of suggesting Van Wyck for President in 1000. The gentleman might be an excellent one, but as he has | yet to prove that he is equal to being a good Mayor for Croker there seems no occasion for haste. How- ever, the people of this country will hardly be ready to accept Croker as their chief executive, no matter how the complacent New Yorker may feel about it. P S—— Japan has done this country the honor to fine the sailors’' who amused themselves by killing some tars of the American navy. Complaint is made that the pupishment is not severe enough. Yet the fact must be remembered that an assassin in this coun- try is seldom even fined. He is simply tried, and the people foot the bills, or, in other words, pay the fine. The Seminoles did not go on the warpath, but they could be excused if they were to do so just long enough to secure the scalp of the liar who sent out a report that they had. Spain, says an exchange, is ripe for revolt. This is probably true. In fact, Spain shows some symp- toms of being over-ripe. in | = INDIVIDUAL THOUGHTS. = FE o f= o BY A MODEST CRITIC. ped [“R=3=3=2:3:3=2:3-3-F=FF=3=3:3=2=1+] A distinguished jurist asks me to show that the Hawalian Islands, “in- stead of being strategically of value to us, will be a tonstant source of weak- | ness.” I regret that the request came 80 late. The space at my command is limited, and it is a matter that cannot be treated in a few lines. Neverthe- less, with gladness the courtesy shall be extended next week. The chairman of the Senate Com- mittee on Foreign Relations has said— if we may rely on the telegraphic re- port—that the possession of the Sanc- wich group, in case war, ‘“would be equal to elght or ten battle-ships.” This seems almost incredible; but assuming | 1t to be true, in what way, may I ask this distinguished gentleman, does he see this wondrous value? Does he imagine that territory fights—that the possession of land is war, material? As pointed out by Mr. Josenh Cham- berlain, one of England’s ablest states- men, the other day, the acquisition of territory implies its protection. We can protect these islands after annexine them in two ways only: We can for- tify them and make the largest of the group impregnable at an expense of two or three hundred of millions of dol- | lars; we can build ten battle-ships at | an expense of fifteen or twenty million dollars, and they can be detalled to | watch our precious territory, our own | coasts being unprotected. Both plans are so evidently foolish that it fatigues to even think of them. But one of them must be adopted if we insist on this an- | nexation scheme. | Mr. Reed has explained lucidly enough that ‘“empire can wait.” He | should have gone further. Until we can protect our coasts efficiently em- pire MUST wait. | | Freely translated, there is a French proverb which reads, “Those in need of succor hide in curious holes.” The Examiner is an example. Driven to despair on the ever present question of | Hawaiian annexation, it now vows that | the scheme is advisable on humani- | tarian grounds. What next? This Is | exactly what it says: | “The Hawailan Islands have a ca- pacity for becoming one of the mo: productive spots on the earth. That they have not achieved this results solely from their lack of development in the methods of Western civilization. They have made some advance of late years, but it has been slow and labored | compared with what it will be under the free institutions of this country. The annexation of the islands is a duty thbat is the highest of all duties—a duty owed in the name of humanit The execrable English may be over- looked, but where, it is asked, did this nation get its mission to provide for humanity generally? The annexation | of the whole of the South Sea Islands logically follows if we make the Sand- wich group an integral part of this | Union on humanitarian principles. It | is casting pearls before swine to point this out to the “yellow fellow,” though. | He is a poser—not a logician. A couple of interior papers have ob- Jected to the broad statement that “to admit Mr. Charles E. Naylor's right to talk on pilotage is absurd.” Both clear- ‘ ly think it needs con“rmation, and as Mr. Naylor has been good enough to supply the necessary indorsement, there seems to be no good reason for with- | holding the publicity which the Over- | land could not give. In that magazine (the current number), Mr. gues for “A Federal Pilot Service.” think I know what he means by tha but those who read English critically might doubt. Mr. Na lor evidently wishes Congress to enact a law which will place the services of pilots—the coasts over—under Federal supervision, It has ever been the avowed object of our Government to get as far away from paternalism as p ssible when prudent. And it is not only prudent, | but undeniably sensible that States | should keep as direct control of ‘heir pilots as they do of their wharfin-ers. Mr. Naylor sees in the words, “Until | made by Co aylor ar- I | further provision is | gress,” an idea that the national legis- | lative bodies seriously intended to in- | | terfere with what is, of course, merely a local matter. The phraseology occurs more than a score of times in the Re- vised Statutes. At the time when sec- tion 4235 was enacted the Union was | scarcely on a firm basis, and none of | us knew exactly what was going ml occur next. The wisdom of the provi- sion is admitted, and the fact that Congress has declined again and again to interfere in the matter of local pilotage is fair proof that the present system is best. | o | If the same conditions obtained off | Sandy Hook as off Lime Point; off | Fortress Monroe as a few miles below Astoria, there might be some shadow of sense in the proposal. Mr. Naylor cheerfully substitutes a tug for a pilot, having forgotten, presumably, that there are such things as steamships. He would apparently have a vessel with a fair wind near the Farallones take in her sail and employ a tug to do what she could easily do herself! Real- 1y, Mr. Naylor does amuse. Not to dis- miss him too hurriedly, I note that in order to demonstrate his ignorance of | this subject very thoroughly he sees in floating ice in Boston harbor something which requires the skill of a pilot to avoid. There is no reason why this pa- per should pay for the instruction of | Mr. Naylor, but little is lost by being generous. The value of a pilot’s knowl- | edge, I explain to him, has no reference | to seen danger; it is on account of in- visible danger that he is employed. A club of medical men has deemed it cation the treaty of “leprosy and loot.” bor Commissioner Fitzgerald: work under a penal contract; I have 9090090009000 00P00000 * 100000000000‘0000000000000000000.000000.0‘ | he should be freed. | cidental. . COPPP0PC00000000000000 0009000000000 00809 THOSE HAWAIIAN SERFS. New York World. To-day Senator Davis will ask the Senate to consider with a view to ratifl- There can be and there is no doubt in the mind of any patriotic and disin- terested citizen whose mental operations are governed by the laws of reason that this Hawailan scheme is a tissue of iniquities, past, present and future. ‘Wherever you look at it you find the same warp and woof. Fc the San Francisco Call directsattention to this extract from the report of La- “My investigations through the Hawaiian Islands have brought to my at- tention many new conditions and phases of labor, the most important of which is the Aslatic hordes which now infest the islands and predominate in num- bers upon the plantations. I have seen 20,000 barefooted laborers, half of whom ‘when they violated their contract and deserted the plantation, with their num- ber printed across their photograph in convict style.” Such are the normal and practically universal conditions of labor in this remote group of islands which is being *jammed” into our Union. wise not to expel Dr. Hirschfelder, who sensibly believes that diseases of the lungs can be guarded against. The conclusion was wise, but the exclusion of Dr. @'Evelyn from the same club is not explicable. Dr. d’Evelyn has dis- covered—or thinks he has—a method of inoculation which will destroy the love of aleoholic tranquillity. If he has not, his efforts have been very dis- tinctly praiseworthy. Moreover, it will not be very surprising if his theory of alcocytes turns out to be quite accu- rate. What may I ask is the ethical difference between finding a remedy for phthisis and alcoholism? Grover Cleveland of unhallowed memory has exhibited his lack of “bal- ance” again. He is now in evidence pleading to the Governor of California for mercy for Salter D. Worden. He urges it with no more reason than could have been uttered on behalf of Durrant, who, it is cheering to know, has been “heard to cease.” If Worden is guilty of the crime charged, hanging is his just due. This is not an instance in which the behavior of the Southern Pacific Company can be considered in any way. That has no bearing what- ever on the justice of the sentence if the man be guilty. In cases of this sort it is irrational to talk of the “high- 1y inflamed state of the public mind,” of the suggestion that “he was the tool of others” and last, but not least, that he was “drunk” when he committed the crime. These and a half dozen other halting excuses have been made | in this man’'s behalf. Whoever removed the fish-plate which caused the derail- ing of the train which sent brave men to death chose a spot where he knew full well fatal results would ensue. Had the attempt to wreck that particu- lar train been made where there was at any rate a possibility of no lives be- ing lost, the action (vile though that | would have been) might perhaps tem- \ per justice with mercy; but the spot | chosen for the wreck clearly shows the | mind of a fiend. Threats were freely | made by the strikers that any train | leaving Sacramento could never reach | Oakland in safety. It is said that care was taken to have this information cir- culated among the United States troops well as due diligence being exer- cised to let each engineer and train- hand know what was intended. ‘Whether the poor fellows who met | death in the wreck expected it or not | it is impossible to say, but it is prac- tically certain that they knew their peril to be as great as was that of the Gordon Highlanders about whose hero- ism, when in the fire zone, we have | heard so much recently. The United States soldiers who sac- | rificed their lives on that occasion lie buried beneath a shaft which says | “Murdered by strikers.” T respect the | moral courage of the man who ordered the inscription, and still more do I ad- ‘ mire the determination that kept the truth on that shaft when personal vio- lence was openly threatened if the ob- | noxious words were not erased. | On Worden’s behalf it has been promised again and again that he| would reveal the men who were actu- ally the instigators of this crime. The | promises have never been kept. He | stands to-day in the identical position that he did when tried. If Worden is guilty he should hang; if he be innocent | 'COLLECTED IN ; THE CORRIDORS | | C. F. Bliss, a lumber man of Carson, 1s | in the city on his way to Alaska. He is| staying at the Palace. | W. Simmons, a well-known resident} of Santa Barbara, Is at the California for | a few days. John C. Mohlan, a prominent busmess‘ man of New York, is registered at the Grand. Mr. and Mrs. M. J. Kaufman are at the Palace on their honeymoon. o Kirby, U. 8. N, is at the Ocel- dental from Mare Island. A. M. Buchanan, one of the leading men of Cleveland, Ohio, is at the California. Hon. D. N. Withington, a prominent politiclan of San Diego, is a guest at the | | Grand. pos It looks very 3 much as if the NO SURVEYS ! proposed surveys FOR THE of the Yukon riv- er this spring will have to be de- ferred until the snows of another winter have added their waters to swell the current of that famous stream. The | Government at Washington, at the be- ginning of the rush to the Klondike gold fields, declded to appropriate enough to have the river thoroughly surveyed, and | the gratitude of those having business in that part of the country was accordingly great, but with the usual rapidity with which the mills of the governmental gods grind, the necessary formalities were not accomplished until the opportunity to| carry the proposed scheme into effect was passed. Lieutenant Helm of the McAr- thur was placed in charge of the matter, but when his orders arrived he found that all the shipyards of the coast had so many orders for river craft of various kinds that it was impossible for them to fill any government orders, consequently there will not only be no survey of the river, but the revenue cutter that was in- tended to patrol the river next season will have to wait another year before making her initial trip. However, the McArthur is expected to go north in the early spring and survey the coast around Cape Van- couver in order to see if there is not an- other easier and more southern entrance to the Yukon. J. O. Allen of the Chicago and North- western Railway is reglstered at the Oc- YUKON. E. Erickson, a railroad contractor of Jamestown, is at the Grand. B. V. Sargent, a lawyer of Salinas, is at the Occldental. Mrs. E. Miller has come over to the city from Oakland and is staying at the California. J. H. Jenkiens, a well-known merchant &6 For instance, seen rewards offered for their arrest PPP000900 000000000 O0HOES | Jone: | breakwater and two of Valley Ford, Grand. A. L. Levinsky, one of the foremost at- torneys of Stockton, is at the Palace. Ex-State Senator William Johnston of Courtland is at the Grand. W. N. Noyes, the big grain man of Livermore, is a guest at the Occidental. Judge J. H. Craddock of Marysville Is staying at the Grand. F. B. McGovern of New York is at the California for a rewrftys. is registered at the “I was reading in The Call a few eseccssosoccen AN days ago of a UNCOMFORT- } boy'stelephoneup ABLE HITCH- up at Altamont,” \ d Mr. Seemer, ING POST. 1 280 afnent rai: reeeeseesessses 0 manwho ar- rived in the city a short time ago, “and the article brought to my mind an e rence that took place in- the vicinity of Devers, a small town in the lowlands of Texas, while I was there. Some miles out in the country a storm had bl:m‘n don‘;x;: dozen telegraph poles and the manage- moent of mi u!;:e, not knowing the extent of the damage, sent only one man out l:o repair what they thought was one 0[’1"?!9 customary small breaks in the wire. The fellow got out to the place of the acci- dent and sizing up the extent of the dam- age realized that it would take about a week to repair it, during which time the line would have to remain tied up. IHe accordingly ran leaders from the two poles at the extremities of the break to an adjacent wire fence, and after prop- erly connecting everything, went on his way rejoicing. The line remained in this manner for about two weeks, and as the land thereabouts was of a wet and mpy nature the cattle men in the | neighborhood had all kinds of curious ad- ventures. A fellow knowing nothing of the current that was running along the fence, would ride up and tie his horse to it, and when he and the animal came out of their fit they would be undecided as to whether they had been struck by a pass- ing train or had run afoul of a traveling cyclone.” CALIFORNIANS IN NEW YORK. NEW YORK, Jan. 16.—H. Alexander of San Franelsco is at the Hoffman House. J. Wollner of San Francisco is at the Hotel Savoy. Lieutenant S. E. Adair of San Dlego is at the Gerlach Hotel. CALIFORNIANS IN SHINGTON. VASHINGTON, Jan. 16—Frank A. > R. Gormlin, San Francisco, Wil- lard’s Hotel; L. D. Semple, Los Angeles, Riggs Hou: NEWS OF FOREIG NAVIES. The French Admiralty contemplates large expenditures upon its naval sta- tions abroad. At Bizerta, in Tunis, a drydocks, costing from $3,000,000 to $3,500,000, are to be built. In Corsica the naval authorities propose to build a boom in the port of Ajaccio and the army department to put up two batteries as a defense for what is in- tended as a shelter for torpedo-boat At Dakar, Madagascar, the sum of $50 000 is to be expended on works in contem- plation. The Don Alvaro de Bazan, a gunboat recently launched at Ferrol for the Spanish navy, is a somewhat fu:nbitious naval design. The vessel is 236 feet 3 inches in length, 27 feet 1 inch beam and displaces only 828 tons. Her two triple- expansion engines are calculated to give 4600 horse-power under forced draught and a speed of 20 knots. The armament is composed of two 4.7-inch quick-firing guns, four 1%-inch, two machine guns and three torpedo tubes. The usefulness of the vessel will be extremely limited, owing to the small quantity of coal she is able to carry. The Kostroma of the Russian volunteer fleet, which ran on the Elba reef in the Red Sea last November, had up to De- cember 17 not yet got afloat. Great ef- forts had been made by the steamer Petersburg of the same fleet, aided by a steamer from Port Said and a British torpedo-boat destroyer, to pull the Kos- troma off, but without success, and as a last resort the torpedo-boat was arrang- ing to blow up portions of the reef. The stranded steamer is a single-screw of 7975 tons displacement and 14 knots speed, and was built in England in 1888. The gathering of naval vessels in Asi- atic waters will be of such a magnitude as will long be remembered. On Decem- ber 14 there were thirty-elght Britisn war ships of all classes, and since then the Powerful has arrived from Singa- pore and the Edgar and Arrogant are due within 2 month. Seventeen Russian ships were hovering about the coast of China, and the armored cruiser Rossia of 12,130 tons, just completed, left St. Petersburg for the long voyage to the Orient. The seven French war vessels will be fur- ther increased by the Isly and Alger, due in one month, and’ Germany’s fleet of six vessels will have added to it the cruiser Kalserin Augusta, which was at Singa- pore December 15, and the battle-ship Deutschland and cruiser Geflon, both of which left Kiél December 16. The United States squadron of five ships will also be re-enforced by onme or more vessels, and within two months there will thus be no less than eighty-three ships-of-war under five national flags. These, with the representative ships of Japan’s navy around the disputed territory in Kiao- chau Bay, will make a magnificent naval show, equaled only by that at Spithead last June. Cal.glace frult 50c perlb at Townsend's.s —_————— Asthma (bronchitis), cure guarant'd. Dr. Gor- din’s Sanitarium, 514 Pine, nr. Kearny, S.F., Cal —_——— Special information supplied dally to business houses and public men by the Press Clipping Bureau (Allen’s), 510 Mont- gomery st. Tel. Main 1042, > —_——— Mexican carved belts, pocketbooks, chatelaine bags, ete., at Sanborn & Vail's, 741 Market street. . ———————— The beautiful Countess of Warwick, formerly Lady Brooke, has written a life of Joseph Arch, president of the British Agricultural Laborers’ Union, Methodist preacher and advocate of labor reforms. “Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup Has been used over fifty years by millions of mothers for their children while Teething with perfect success. It soothes the child, softens the gums, allays Pain, cures Wind Collc, 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. #c a bottle. CORONADO.—Atmosphere {s perfectly dry, soft and mild, béing entirely free from the mists common further north. Round trip tickets, by steamship, including fiftesn days’ board at the Hotel del Coronado, $6: longer stay, §2 50 per day. Apply 4 New Montgomery street, San Francisco, or A. W. Bailey, mana- ger, Hotel del Coronado, late of Hotel Colo- rado, Glenwood Springs, Colorado. . ——— Mrs. Jessie Palmer Weber, daughter of General John M. Palmer, late the Sound Money Democratic candidate for Presi- dent, has been appointed librarian of the Illinois State library. NEW TO-DAY. The U. S. Government Report shows ROYAL- Baking Powder to be stronger and purer than any other.