The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 7, 1898, Page 5

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1898 HONDAY.. ; JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Proprietor. Address All Commumcatwons to W S. LEAKE, Manager. PLBLICATION OFFIC! Mcrke\ and Thlrd Sts. S. F. Tulephvne Main 1868. EDITORIAL ROOMS.... :.2I7 to 22| Stevenson strzet Tel whone ‘v‘Ian 1874, THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL (DAILY AND SUNDAY) Is served by carrlers n this city and surrounding towns for 15 cents a week. By mail $6 per year, per month €5 cents. THE WEEKLY CALL OAKLAND OFFICE... Eastern Representative, DAVID ALLEN. NEW YORK OFFICE. Room 188, World Building One year, by mall. $1.50 ..908 Broadway WASHINGTON (. C. OFFICE ..........oc0uen Riggs House C. C. CARLTON, Cox-re-pondent. BRANCH OFFICES- 527 Mor:tgomery street. eorner Clay open until 9:30 o'clock. 339 Hayes street: open untll 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 € o'clock. 2518 Mission street; open untll 9 o'clock | 06 Eleventh st.. open until9 o'clock, 1505 Polk stree: cpen untll 9:30 o'clock. NW. corner Twenty-second and Kentucky streets; open until 9 o’clock. P AMUSEMENTS. Baldwin—“Gir] from Parfs.” Callfornia Theater—Black Patti's Troubadours. leazar—“Charley's Aunt." Morosco's—"The Unknown." Tivoli—“The Pearl of Pekin." Orpheum—Vaudeville. Tlvoli—Concert Thursday afternoon. Bush—Thalia Germa rew Opera Co. Olympia, corner Mas: Eddy streets—Speciaities. The Chutes—Chiquita and Vaucerille. Mechanics' Pavilion—Mining Fair and Klondike Exposition, ybeck Cycle Skating Rink—Optical Illusions. lfiornia Jockey Club, Oskland Racetrack—Races to-day. | AUCTION SALES. | By Easton & Eldridge—This day, February 7, Turkish Rugs, at 625 Sutter street at 2:3) and 8 P. M, By Frank W. Butterfilell—This day, February 7, Rugs, at 116 Sutter street, at 11 A, M. and 2'and § P. M. Turkish OUR POCKET FULL OF GOLD, HE feature of trade at the moment is decidedly | Tnovcl. We have suddenly blossomed out as | money lenders to Europe. Continental bankers | have entered the United States for funds, and it is | estimated that New York, Boston and Chicago banks | have thus loaned out, chiefly on German account, something like $80,000,000 or $90,000,000 at from 4 per cent to 4} per cent, as far as the rate of interest is known. The American banks are more than will- | ing to encourage these foreign loans, as they prevent | a glut of gold which has lately threatened this coun- | try. d it was only a little over a year ago that the | party headed by Mr. Bryan was frantically proclaim- | ing all over the land that the free coinage of silver | was necessary because gold was getting so scarce and | high that it would soon disappear altogether from | circulation and that everybody and everything in the country was going to perdition as fast as its palsied I legs could carry it. And to-day we are only too glad | to loan $90,000,000 in solid gold coin to Europe to | keep our plethoric supply of gold down to a manage- { able point. Comment is unnecessary. Of course a country which is loaning money can- not be otherwise than prosperous, and the usual fig- ures exhibit this prosperity in letters of red. - The bank clearings in January were the largest ever known for that month, and the railroad earnings beat | all previous records. And, as if this were not suffi- | cient, we are informed by the mercantile agencies, | which keep the statistics, that the failures in that | month were the fewest of any similar month of which ’ there is record. There is no section of the United States to-day which cannot get all the money it wants to carry on legitimate business and at rates of inter- | est which are certainly reasonable, as rates go in this country. The distributive trade of the country was never better. The recent cold snap in the East has checked | it in some places and stimulated it in- others, so the | average remains undisturbed. The bank clearings last week showed a gain of 40.6 per cent over the same week last year, and the failures were 293, aginst 305 in 1807 and 333 in 1806. The principal lines of manufacture exhibit no particular change from the preceding week. Iron and woolen products continue active, and the improVement in cotton, al- ready noted, holds its own. The exports of cereals from the Atlantic ports, though showing a falling | off for the week, were still far ahead of the same week in previous years. And thus it goes on all along the | line, a noticeable feature at the momient being the active demand for new railroad cars. i Pacific Coast trade is without especial features, if we except the uncertainty caused by the light rain- fall, which keeps everything in the farming line on the ragged edge. The light showers which happen along every day or two keep the coast sufficiently moist, but the great interior valleys are dry and need several inches of rain to put them into good shape. Of course as long as this uncertainty con- tinues business will be unsettled. As it is, wheat is | fast becoming a local rather than a general proposi- tion, barley is weak one day and firm the next, oats and corn partake of the general doubtfulness, con- sumers of hay do not know where they are and buy only from hand to mouth, and so on down through almost the whole list of farm produce. The bean corner rises superior to all weather conditions, how- ever, and the cornerers advance prices every day or so. All meats share the common doubt, and the average stock man is at a loss to know whether hisw‘ market is weak or firm, though prices hardened at the close of the week. Provisions are livelier than ever before known, and several descriptions have gone up again. Hides have also advanced, and re- ports from the East say that the scarcity there is be- coming serious and that the whole country is being dragged with a fine-toothed comb for hides. This, of course, affects leather, which is stiff, and the price of boots and shoes has recently gone up. Dried fruits are still dull, and in fact there is no business whatever. Sugar is unsettled, coal is scarce and high, and rice has been going up of late, but otherwise there are no important fluctuations in mer- chandise to report. Local merchants report a good demand for Alaskan account, and there is some dis- cussion as to.whether we are getting our full share | of this business or not. It depends largely on the line. That we are doing a good trade in something or other is evident, for the local bank clearings show a steady gain week after week with cheerful monét- ony, and if anybody is complaining of dull times his voice is so faint that nobody hears it. There may be some satisfaction in attaching Dun- ham’s estate, but it is far less than would be in- volved in attaching a rope to the gentleman him- self. I S Clark of Napa, in his intention of pleading “not guilty,” seems likely to raise a question of veracity with himself. | means a pleasant thing for the American people to such offenders in the future. SWINDLING IN WAR SUPPLIES. HE discovery that fully 50 per cent of the shrapnel furnished the artillery at the Presidio for the new field guns is defective is by no face. It casts suspicion upon all other classes of mil- itary material and raises a fear that corruption may have seriously impaired the efficiency of our small army by providing it with equipments that would prove worthless if war should come. The affair is the more exasperating because of the recent frauds in armor plate supplied to the new ships of the navy. One swindle of this kind following an- other so rapidly naturally gives rise to a belief that there may be other swindles going on which have not yet been exposed. Since armor plate full of blow- holes can pass the supervision of naval inspectors, and a lot of shrapnel of which 50 per cent is defective can pass the inspection of army officers, it is clear we cannot be sure of anything until it has been tried. Of all forms of swindling that which is carried on in military and naval supplies is the most danger- | ous, the most pernicious and the most extensive in the scope of its possible disastrous effects. It is, in fact, a species of treason to the nation since it weak- ens the means on which the nation relies to defend itself from any foes that may attack it. In the war with Germany France furnished the world an awful illustration of the direful results to a whole people of dishonesty on the part of military contractors. The armies of France arrived on the scene of battle against a terrible foe to find their arms inefficient, "their ammunition Iargely worth- less, their equipments of all kinds poor in material and badly made. They marched to slaughter rather than to war. Thousands of brave men were sacri- ficed because the Government of Louis Napoleon permitted dishonest contractors to grow rich by fur- nishing the army worthless supplies. he United States is in no danger of war. The worthless shrapnel rfow in our military stores will not lose us a battle nor cost us the life of a single soldier. Nevertheless the men who furnished such ammunition ought to be punished so severely that the offense will not be soon repeated. That there is no danger of immediate war is no proof there will never be one, and in order to make sure that our contractors will furnish good matestal in times of | war it will be well to get them in the habit of doing so in times of peace. If there is at present no speedy way of bringing to punishment the parties guilty of the fraud now ex- posed Congress should provide one for dealing with The swindler in war supplies is something worse than the ordinary dis- | honest manufacturer who sells worthless goods to the general community. He imperils the lives of brave men, he endangers the defense of all, and on his guilty head retribution should come with military sternness, swiftness and severity. AMERICAN fl to promote the shipping interests of the country, and to give to American industry on the ocean the same protection that is given on land. There is apparently no great difficulty in the way of providing the desired legislation. The Republican party is not divided on that issue as it is on the money question. A majority in the Senate favors it as well as a majority in the House. It is even prob- able that several Democrats from the seacoast States would support it. Every prospect of the situation is therefore favorable for the enactment of a compre- hensive measure of the kind, and there will be a widespread popular disappointment if the session closes without one. There can be no questioh that next after the settle- ment of the currency the protection of American shipping is the most important work to be done by Congress. The currency issue cannot be settled now. All that can be done is for the House to pass a bill drawn on the lines recommended by Secretary Gage and send it to the Senate, so that its rejection by that body may make up a definite money issue to be sub- mitted to the people. There is no occasion for a long debate on the subject. It could be speedily got out of the way and time left for the consideration of the desired shipping bill. Our manufacturing as well as our farming industry has reached a point where foreign commerce is ne- cessary to its maintenance. Our shipments abroad last year were the greatest in the history of the re- public, and they will probably be greater this year than last. The commerce of the nation is growing, but the growth under present conditions is for the benefit of foreign ship-owners. The highly subsi- dized steamship lines of Great Britain, Germany and France carry our products across the seas and we pay the freight. In the aggregate the amount of tribute paid by the United States to foreign countries for ocean ship- ping is enormous. According to the estimates of experts on the subject we are at present paying at the rate of $300,000,000 a year for such transportation. As our exports increase the freight will increase, and a large proportion of the profits of our expanding industries will thus be carried to foreign lands de- spite the protection given to them by the tariff. The issue is one on which the boards of trade and chambers of commerce throughout the country should act. Petitions should be sent to Congress urging the enactment of such legislation at this ses- sion. American ships, manned by American sailors and flying the American flag, should carry American goods to the nations of the world. It is folly to pay to foreigners an enormous tribute when by develop- ing our shipping industry as we have developed other industries we can save the money for the enrich- ment of our own people and the increase of the com- mercial prestige of our mation. INTERESTS. SHIPPING MONG the measures the people have a right to expect of this session of Congress is an act A murderer under sentence of death in Kansas, after escaping, surrendered himself to the Sheriff. At first glance the act may seem brave, but in Kan- sas the death sentence is a solemn judicial bluff, no- body being hanged there, and jail life is rather to the taste of some people who do not want to earn a living. It is not surprising that Senators should debate the Hawaiian question at great length. There is nothing to limit them. Opponents of annexation have.a vast array of facts, and advocates of it are absolutely un- hampered by facts. Lot e A woman once notorious here for having shot a man has had a teamster arrested for eruelty to ani- mals. Tt is woman’s right, however, not only to mur- der occasionally, but to be inconsistent whenever she feels like it. e e Garbage-men who insist upon dumping refuse where it is a menace to health should be dumped in jail for a season. In the conduct of its relations with Los Angeles the water company seems to have thought of almost every plan excepting. that of being honest. GRAND JURY WORK. EMBERS of the present Grand Jury are by /\/\ no means to be classed among the unem- ployed. They are not.compelled to go about seekmg for something to do. Almost every day sees a new job demanding their energies. They have only to perform the work which has been presented to them in order to accomplish results that will well nigh break the record of Grand Jury work in the his- tory of the county. Official scandals are about as thick in San Fran- cisco at this time as wild geese in the tules. In the affairs of the School Board, the pound and the issue of permits for boxing contests there have been made direct charges of bribery with a good deal of circum- stantial evidence to support them. Then there are rumors of corruption in connection with the long delay in providing fenders for the street cars, and evidences of violated law in the disclosures now being made in regard to certain contracts by the Harbor Commission. With so much game in the wind the Grand Jury can hardly miss if it fires anywhere above the ground. In fact, even if it should deliberately shoot into the ground it would probably hit something that has run to earth and is hunting a hole. All that seems to be required of the jury is honesty of purpose and vigor of action. If out of all these scandals now exposed it does not find some indictments that will stick it will be either very careless in its work or badly out of luck. It is hardly necessary to remind the members of the jury that the people just now are in no mood to overlook official offenses or to condone the wrongs of guilty parties. The vigor of the protest against de- lay in the equipment of street cars with safety ap- pliances is a proof of the increased earnestness of the public spirit of the people. Popular sentiment has reached the point of determined resolution, and the demand of the time is for thorough investigation of all charges against officials and a vigorous prosecu- tion of those who are guilty. Although The Call, in pursuance of the work it is now doing for good government throughout the State, was the first to publish the charges of official | misconduct in connection withthe management of the | pound and the issue of prize fight permits; first to ex- pose the scandals involved in the delay in equipping the street cars with fenders, and in the conduct of the Harbor Commission, it does not at this time pro- nounce judgment as to the guilt or innocence of any | of the accused. All the parties attacked are entitled to a hearing, and The Call has freely granted space to whatever they desired to say in their defense. It is clear, however, that many of the charges can be rightly investigated only by examination and cross- examination in open court. It is, therefore, the duty | of the Grand Jury to see to it that the accused par- ties come into court. This is a good time to undertake the task of poli- tical reform. It is an election year, and the vigorous | prosecution of suspected officials, followed by the | conviction and punishment of the guilty, would have a most beneficial effect in determining the sort of men who would be elected next fall. D Agrarians of Germany are not only urging upon the Government a rigid exclusion of American farm products from the empire, but have | recently addressed a petition to the imperial Chan- cellor requesting that no commercial treaty be ar- ranged with the United States unless our tariff on German sugar is reduced 20 per cent from the present rate and assurances given that no other country will be more favorably treated. If these representations have weight with the Ger- man Government California in the matter of com- mercial relations with that country will be between two fires. If we ask free admission to the German markets for our fruits we will be asked in return to grant free admission to German sugar. In one or the other of these industries we will have to suffer if we negotiate on the German basis, and some such basis may be accepted unless we are vigilant in guarding against it. There is abundant opportunity for trade between the people of the United States and Ger- many on a basis of reciprocity that would not sac- rifice either our fruit or the sugar industry, and such arrangement would probably be acceptable to the great mass of the German people despite the clamors | of the Agrarians. _ Another danger to California in reciprocity treaty making is disclosed in the report from Washington that the Canadian Government is making earnest ef- forts to obtain a reduction in the duties now imposed on lumber imports. Under the Wilson tariff the Canadians did an enormous trade in lumber with the United States, and our lumber industry was almost ruined. It is natural they should be loth to lose so valuable a market for the product of their. forests, and they are now trying to arrange some means of recovering it. The lumber industry is none too highly protected ac present, and the Canadian competition is that which is most disastrous to it. We could afford to grant concessions to the Canadians on almost any- thing rather than on lumber, and it is perhaps just for that reason the Canadians insist on that article. It is also certain they will have a strong support in the East to help them obtain it. Large areas of Cana- dian forests are owned by American eapitalists who would be glad to have the double advantage of cheap labor in Canada and high prices in the United States. California \is not opposed to the principle of re- ciprocity, nor to the practice of it as carried out by Secretary Blaine in arranging treaties with South American countries. By those treaties we gained markets for our products by admitting tropical prod- ucts that did not compete with home industgy. From that policy the treaties to be arranged under the new tariff should not widely differ. We freely consent to support a system of protection which amply guards the welfare of the manufacturers of the East. and have a right to expect of them an equally willing support of the protection needed by the fruit, the sugar and the lumber of the Pacific Coast. RECIPROCITY TREATIES. ISPATCHES from Berlin announce that the Much amusement has been caused by the Exam- iner’s frantic efforts to excite a belief that it has some credit due in the Belew matter. Simply because it was beaten is no excuse for resolving itself into a spectacular farce. Modesty and small type is what good taste would suggest for it just now. The Illinois lad who, because he is a Christian scientist, refuses to study physiology is exciting con- siderable interest. Every new, particular kind of a chump naturally does. The citizens of a Georgia town have boycotted the postmaster because he is dark-skinned. The matter cannot be very serious. Such citizens, for the most part, probably do not know how to read. If Delany believes he is honest there are many peo- ple convinced that he is cherishing a delusion. | stored in the brain of a frog. [:3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3=1:} NDIVIDUAL THOUGHTS, BY A MODEST CRITIC. (-3=3-3-§-3-3-3-§-3-3-§-3-3-3-3 -2 =1/ The most important contribution to contemporary diplomatic history in English within fifty years is “An Eng- lishman in Paris.” Its intelligent au- thor appears regularly in the Illustrat- ed News in a column under the cap- tion, “Anecdotal Europe.” He regently voiced his opinion of the German Em- peror in a manner that makes gladden- ing reading. Throwing to the winds the English criticisms of the young monarch, he writes in respectful vein of the love of, and the capability for, work which the Kaiser displays, and of his kindness as father and husband. That is writing with reason and with- out bias. Those who cavil at monarchs (and we all do that on occasion) are rarely built of such stern stuff as is this young German. At an age when few appreciate what a mind is, he was compelled to face a situation that made even “Bismarck the Great” feel un- easy, and, despite the kaleidoscopic changes in what foreign correspondents call “the European situation,” the first sign of quail has not been seen in him. That the continued peace of Europe is greatly due to his level head (the English “William the Sudden” to the contrary notwithstanding) is true, and the courage of the writer of “Anecdotal Europe” in speaking truthfully of this crowned head when “all the world and his wife” were employed abusing Wil- helm is additional verification of a sin- cerity as a critic that is highly valued by those who are able to take an in- telligent interest in foreign affairs. feg=g=Fu3ge] feg=gageg= The Chronicle’s strategic expert has given the Chronicle-reading public a trifle more of his ‘condensed igno- rance.” This is from his “gifted pen": (He is talking of making Pearl River Harbor impregnable.) “The problem of torpedo defense is a very simple one.” By my troth it is! In two words, it is no defense. write about “submarine mines” and torpedoes know about them could, with- out inconvenience to the animal, be A tor- pedo explodes only when its “nose” (or business end, so that the reader may comprehend) Is brought into violent contact with some other object. A tor- pedo will not explode when the impact is slight. the dreamers who talk in their sleep of the possibility of sending a fleet of ships “to the bottom” by anchored tor- pedoes at the entrance ofaharbor know nothing whatever of marine warfare. The idea of an attacking fleet.steam- ing into a harbor at full speed is chi- merical to a degree. ‘Were 500 torpedoes stretched across the bar of this harbor it 18 within the range of possibility that one ship out of a hostile fleet of a dozen attempt- ing entrance might be injured—and possibly sunk, but even that is un- likely. Torpedces do not float “right side up with care,” no matter how placed and no matter how ballasted, and until we find a method of ruling | the waves we shall be unable to make them. To talk of firing these engines | of destruction by electricity from the shore is absurd, too. Any one having the slightest knowledge of triangulation is aware that no particular hundred square feet of sea space can be accu- rately charted from a position a mile away, no matter whether in sight of land or out. A torpedo exploded a hundred feet from its object if in the water is not 4 matter for very serious alarm on the part of the object. A torpedo fired from a vessel at a vessel is, of course, a very different matter. If discharged with intelligence it will usually mean destruction. All this is reminiscent of a somewhat amusing incident. A party of astrono- mers were going to Southern Africa to observe, I think, an opposition of Mars. As is not unusual, time began to hang a trifle heavily after a week or two of endless seascape, and Wwits were searching for anything that might re- lieve the monotony. The position of the ship at noon on each day was con- spicuously placarded, but the com- mander (like the Chronicle’s mariner) had not learned that no greater ac- curacy than a quarter of a mile—on one side or the other of the truth— can be assured by solar or stellar ob- servations at sea, a never erring time- keeper being thrown into the bargain. Nevertheless the captain, with an en- ergy that might have been expended on a more useful cause, “worked out” to a few square feet each day what he supposed to be an accurate statement of where he “was at.” The abilities he supposed he had as a navigator, too, were given .audible utterance with frequency. One day one of the party, on humor bent, looking at the placard, said, .“Captain, may I ask you what that means?” ‘With no small show of asperity came the reply: “It is the position my ship was in at apparent noon on this day.” “Yes, I understand that,” was the re- tort courteous, “but will you kindly tell me as to what part of the ship it re- fers? Is it the funnel?" ‘Who is there that has sworn there is nothing new under the sun? Listen to this from The Examiner: “The pos- session of Hawaii would require some- thing of a navy in order to keep open the communications in case of war; but on the other hand, Hawaii would protect the navy even more than the navy could protect Hawall” Truly that is an eye-opener! The land pro- tects the sea force! Men have been landed on the soll of a hostile nation under cover of fire from ships, but the idea of land defense coming to the aid of a navy is so deliciously novel that it charms by its utter folly. Fertile imagination of that sort is surely due increased pay, and it is suggested. The only practical defense against a navy is a navy. That lesson should be taught The Examiner’s naval expert before he is permitted to venture on further lore marine. To proceed with the editorial from which I have quoted: “It would of course be necessary to fortify the ports of the Islands to such an extent that they could protect them- selves and such of our ships as we sent thither.” This is disposing of the na- tion’s funds with a hand that is gay and free indeed. The most elementary knowledge, of the cost of fortresses properly equipped teaches one that Pearl River harbor and Honolulu can- not be protected at a less expense than a cool hundred millions of dollars. I belfeve it would take twice that If it were to-be done effectively. In any event, if we uttempt this to'fiy in any From this it is apparent that | What these people who | | attack them? way, as pointed out before, an increase in the standing army is unavoidable. In last Monday’s issue of this paper, in this column, this appeared, “Guns (expect in the mind of the Bulletin's artillerist) are not loaded, aimed, fired and sponged automatically. Pos- sibly it is in his mind (?) that we shall keep the (necessary) garrison (of the Hawaiian Islands) at home till war breaks out, and then dispatch it, to be sent to another world on its way to our land of coolies and coal.” What follows is a morceau from the Chroni- cle’s strategic attache, appearing, as it did, on the same day: “In the event of war we would be able to rush enough troops to the islands to hold them against any foe. * * * For us to use transports for this purpose (what else in the name of Caesar can we use “for this purpose”?) would be safe, for, having a strongly defended harbor as a refuge, they would be assured of safety at the end of the run from the Pacific Coast.” To be able to assure a | vessel carrying troops safety at ‘‘the end of a run” is not, it is pointed out, what is desired most. The safety en route is what is vital. It is an unpleasing duty to write of the fenderless cars—to point to truth about the death of the little Johnson child. There are some things in the world though, that are more worth | striving after than popularity as a writer; one of them is a reputation for | 1 honesty. The Examiner, wading in the | blood of this poor infant in order that it may pose the more effectually—that it may “play to the gallery’ more suc- cessfully, willingly diverts its atten- tion from the carelessness of the mother who permitted her offspring to wander unprotected where, she must have known, dcath was possible at any | moment. To invite notice of this fact in its columns would spoil the poser’s sensation, and sensation it will have even though it be comrelled to get it through a baby’s corpse. If I have any ability as a mind-reader, the mother’s grief to-day is most acute becaure of the reckless way in which she allowed her little one to play, and it probably does not exceed that of the unfortunate motorman who was the unwilling puni- tive agent in this regrettableinstanceof imprudence. The Examiner's nosition in this incident is that it distorts facts in order to earn nickels by appealing to the weak-minded of the newspaper- reading world. Decency it wots not of. ‘Why the various street railroads should be compelled to pay bribes to Supervisors for placing of fenders and brakes on cars possibly the Examiner knows. Given an opportunity, in se- cret session, there are some people who will remark that they ought to have “a little something.” Mr. Hearst has al- ready had “a little something” from Huntington, but evidently it is not enough. If it is neglect and criminal fault on the part of the Market-street Rallway Company to be running fen- derless cars there are other corpora- tions equaliv to blame. Does the poser If not why not? He knows there is. no chance of being placed on their pay-roll probably, at any rate all the indications point that way. Its hypocrisy in swearing to a warrant for the arrest of a man thou- sands of miles away, when the general manager of the company is here and much in the flesh, has been abundantly shown in the local and editorial col- umns, The shamelessness that will use a child’s death for advertisin- -ur- poses is contemned by each upright in- dividual—each one of clean heart, even though the scorn bring additional pain to a misfortunate and a robbed moth- er's throbbing heart. Mrs. Rix who is yclept Alice, some time ago succeeded to the delicate po- sition in yellow journalism erstwhile held by “Annie Laurie.” She has re- cently informed a few people through the “Examiner” that she might have been wondrously humane or something else, if she had not “gone in for let- ters.” When Mrs. Rix went in for let- ters problemetical, but if Providence has permitted her to emerge she has evidently come out empty - handed. Literature and the writing of sensation are not allied; they are in no way alike; they have naught in common. There was a time when Mrs. Rix “touched with her finger tips the ivory gates and golden” of good sane writ- ing, but never for the sensationalist do the hinges of the gates of thought turn. When he or she approaches, the portal is found securely locked and the key is at the bottom of the ocean of Impossible Recovery. If this journal- ist will cease writing sensation, and seriously attempt the reformation of a brain once capable, that sea may yet give up the sesame that is precious be- yond all price. The ambition is worthy in any event; an ambition to excel as a sensationalist is distinctly degrad- ing. COLLECTED IN THE CORRIDORS George Peck, a large manufacturer of Cincinnati, is at the Occidental. Rev. H. M. Baker, the eloquent Los Angeles divine, is a guest at the Grand. W. E. Duncan Sr., a wealthy mining man of Oroville, has registered at the Lick. 0. W. Meyesenberg, one of the most prominent merchants of New York, isat the Palace. Attorney Frank H. Short, one of the big legal lights of Fresno, is at the Pal- ace for a few days. John Hill and J. B. O'Meara, two well known, wealthy and popular business men of St. Louis, are at the Palace. H. M. LaRue, the Railroad Commis- sioner, has come down from his home in Sacramento and is at the Occidental. J. W, Mahon and Alvin Fay, two large ranch owners of Bakersfield, are in the city on a vacation, and are staying at the Baldwin. oooooooooo ‘When Reuben Green of Siski- o o A CASE OF o you registered at o MISINTER- a prominent ho- tel one day dur- ° PRETATION. © ing Jubilee week he brought with 8oooco0000 him an umbrella | which had been presented to him at Christmas by his devoted wife. She ex- pressly enjoined him not to lose it while he was away from home, and he prom- Ised to be very careful. No such um- brella had ever been seen in Siskiyou nor for that matter in any other locality, it being a gorgeous creation in brilliant green, like its owner. He was extremely solicitous for the ‘welfare of that umbrella until he left the ferry at the foot of Market street, but after the hotel runners had surrounded him and well nigh driven him to distrac- tion Reuben was so rattled that by the time he had reached his hotel he did not know whether he was afoot or on horse- back. So when he started to write his name on the register he stood the um- brella up alongside of him, for the mo- ment forgetting all about it and the ad- vice of his wife. That moment was fatal, for while he was busily engaged in putting down his signature some vandal who probably had been irresistibly at- tracted by its dazzling splendor purloined it from the unsuspecting Reuben and in- continently fled. When Reuben at last turned around and found his wife's gift had taken wings his indignation knew no bounds, and he raised a great hue and cry, but no trace of the thief or his ill- gotten property could be found. Leaving the hotel to report his loss to the police he thought he would walk out Market street and keep an eye on all um- brellas in the hope that he might see his own. He was feeling very disconsolate over his loss when on looking into the show window of an umbrella store his face suddenly lit up with joy at a sign displayed therein. Going into the store he grasped the hand of the first attend- ant who came forward to minis wants, at the same time sayin, darn it, I'm mighty glad I ran across yer. I want yer to find my umbrella that some sneaking robber stole from me, and I want yer to find it quick, too, because I'm: going back to Siskiyou to-morrow, and my wife Mariar will half kill me if 1 come back without it."” The surprised attendant replied: “Why, my good man, we do not find umbrellag here; we only sell them.” “You don’t find umbrellas here?” said Uncle Reuben. “Well, what do you mean by that sign that you have in the wine dow, ‘Umbrellas re-covered? " L. R. Vance, a well-known politician of Vallejo, is registered at the Occidens al. Charles C. Wren, a mining man and politician of Grass Valley, is at the Grand spending his vacation. J. W. Watkin, a clever journalist of Ma« dera, is in the city on a visit of pleasure, He is stopping at the Lick. E. D. Lamme, one of the foremost law- vers of Los Angeles, has come up ta the city on a short business trip. He is ay y the Palace. 300000000 “You may talk o O about your o o snake doctors, o B b o vyour bug doc- EXTRAORDINARY. tors or your pills . E R0 doctors,” said & O an old traveler Ol 0 ©. 0000008 st te Brctlc seas in theofficeof the Californiathe otner day, “but from the patent medicine faker to the medicinal Biule pounder, who pro- fesses to cure by means of power Te- ceived from on high, there is not one of them in it with the Siberian Shaman when it comes to making faith take the place of flaxseed. “I remember an occurrence which toog place some ten or twelve years ago when I was on a Government vessel lylng in the harbor of St. Lawrence on the coast of Siberia. We had been there several days, and the natives had flocked off to us in their skin omiaks by the hundred to trade and beg, bringing with them in some cases their whole families who, after once getting on board, sim- ply camped on the deck day and nignt, taking in with their curious gaze every- thing that was going on and rustling con- tinually for stray bits of hard bread, sait pork and other fo’castle delicaci “I was sitting in the wheel house one morning, when my attention was attract- ed by a terrific pow Wow in progress on the quarter deck. Hurrying down to find out what was the matter I arrived just-in time to see the ship’s surgeor has- tening to the assistance of a woman who was suffering from a terrible hemorrhage of the lungs. As he stooped down over her he was rudely thrust aside by some of the natives standing next to him and his place was taken by a dried-up look- ing old fellow who I learned was the Sha- man, or spirit doctor. That individual first placed the woman in a sitting pos- ture, and, after muttering some sort of an invocation to the accompaniment of a couple of skin tom toms, or drums, in the hands of his assistants, pushed her head to one side and whistled a peculiar sort of a wild bird call in her ear. “Naturally I looked on this rather un- usual course of treatment with some sur- prise, but my first astonishment was nothing to the sensation which I exper- jenced when I saw the bleeding suddenly stop and the woman get up and walk away in apparently perfect health and with her vigor quite restored.” John R. Renton, A. H. Renton and Miss Renton of Hawaii are at the Pal- ace. John Hale, one of Marysville's leading business men, is at the Lick with his wife. E. M. Graves, the manager of Tod Sloan, is at the Palace, where he ar- rived last night from the East. H. R. Benard, ex-secretary of the Pres- ton Reform School, is to be seen at the Grand during the next few days, John F. Brooke, the well-known, good looking and popular paying teller of the First National Bank, who has been con- fined to his home for some time past, suf- fering from a severe attack of illness, has entirely recovered and is once more at his post. Rbeumatism cured. No pay until cured. Dr Gordin’s Sanitarium, 514 Pine,nr.Kearny,S.F.,Cal, —_—— Cal.glace fruit 50c perib at Townsend's.* —_——— Special information supplied dally to business houses and public men by the Press Clipping Bureau (Allen’s), 510 Mont- gomery street. Telephone Main 1042. —_——— Trunks Moved 25 Cents. Furniture moved. San Francisco Trans- fer Co. Office, 12 Grant ave. Tel. M. 505.* —_——— M. Berlier, a well-known French en- gineer, has a plan for running a tunnel under the Stralts of Gibraltar, connecting the Spanish mainland with Morocco. Time Reduced to Chicago. Via Rio Grande Western, Denver and Rio Grande and Burlington railways. Passengers leaving San Francisco on 6 p. m. train reach Chicago 2:15 p. m. the fourth day, and New York 6:30 p. m. following day.- Through Pull- man Palace Double Drawing Room Sleepin, Cars to Denver with Unlon Depot change a 9:30 &. m. to similar cars of the Burlington Route for Chicago. Rallroad and sleeping car tickets sold through and full information given at 14 Montgomery st. W. H. Snedaker, General Agent. —ee——— “Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup Has been used over fifty years by millions of mothers for their children while Teething with perfect success. 1t soothes the child, softens the gums, allays Pain, cures Wind Collc, reg- ulates the Bowels and s 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. %ic a bottle, —————— CORONADO.—Atmosphere is perfectly dry, soft and mild, being entirely free from the mists common further north. Round trip° tickets, by steamship, including fifteen days' board at the Hotel del Coronado, $6: longer stay, $2 50 per day. Apply 4 New Montgomery street, San Francisco, or A. W. Baliley, mana- ger, Hotel del Coronado, late of Hotel Colo- rado, Glenwood Springs, Colorado. —_———— E. St. Vrez of Chicago, representing the two leading Bohemian papers in this country, is in Mexico, investigating con- ditlons there in order to inform Bohe- mians as to the advisability of making a settlement. ADVERTISEMENTS. The haking pow- der that will equal Royal in leaven- ing power and purity has yet fo bhe compounded. y |