The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, March 17, 1898, Page 6

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, THURSDAY, MARCH 17, 1898 THURSDAY..... JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Proprietor. ..MARCH 17, 1808 Address All Communications to W. S. LEAKE, Manager. ..... .Market and Third Sts., S. F. Telephone Main 1868. EDITORIAL ROOMS. 217 to 221 Stevenson Street Telephone Main 1874, THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL (DAILY AND SUNDAY) Is served by carriers In this city and surrounding towns for I5 cents a week. By mail $6 per year; per month 65 cents. THE WEEKLY CALL.. OAKLAND OFFICE.. Eastern Representative, DAVID ALLEN. NEW YORK OFFICE.........Room I88, World Building WASHINGTON (D. C.) OFFICE.. Riggs House C. C. CARLTON, Correspondent. BRANCH OFFICES—527 Montgomery street, corner Clay, open until 9:30 o'clock. 339 Hayes street, open until 9:30 o'clock. 621 McAllister street, open until 9:30 | o'clock. 615 Larkin street, open until 9:30 o'clock. 1941 Mission street, open untll I0 o'clock. 2291 Market street, corner Sixteenth, open until 9 o'clock. 2518 Mission street, open until 9 o'clock. 106 Eleventh street, open untll 9 o'clock. 1505 Polk street, open untll ©:30 o'clock. NW. corner Twenty-second and Kentucky streets, open until 9 o'clock. PUBLIC. One year, by mall, $1.50 +eeeees-..908 Broadway AMUSEMENTS. Baldwin—* Mysterious Mr. Bugle.” Columbia—Primrose and West's Minstrels. Calife *Town Toples.” The District Attorney.” “The English Rose " Orpheum—Vaudeville. Metropolitan Tempie—Illustrated Concert. Metropolitan Temple—Lecture on Phrenology. Friday night. s streets—Recitals of Scottish arch 21. on and Eddy strects—Specialties. iita and Vaudeville. THE BAR_fifipiTHE BAR. ONCERNING the duties of lawyers any advice | C from outside the profession, as any lawyer will ' state without exacting a fee, is presumption. | The legal mind has a sincere belief that it thinks in | terms so different from the common mind as to ren- der it impossible for the two to get upon a common mtellectual plane. However, there are some propo- sitions so clear that there seems no possibility of a divergence of judgment. It is safe to affirm that a | lawyer appearing in court in behalf of a client with | so valuable a possession as his neck at stake should | not be drunk. It not only impedes the even flow of justice and wrongs the prisoner, but it excites un- pleasant comment. It reflects upon a profession which all men delight to honor when they get the chance. In a case in progress at Napa the Judge strongly intimated that the attorney for the prisoner was drunk. This would necessarily be a serious matter, | but as the prisoner is on trial for his life it is far | more grave than had the issue been less. But the attorney for a chicken thief would deserve to be ex- pelled from practice if he were to come into court under the influence of liguor. No man can success- fully devote himself to two bars at once. The instance cited ought not to be allowed to rest as it is. Either a lawyer has appeared in a murder trial while intoxicated or he has been done an in- jury under which no man of decent honor could af- ford to be silent. FIVE NEW DiYDOCKS. NOTHER good result has come from the stimulus given to Congress by the crisis which threatens war with Spain. The House Committee on Naval Affairs has decided by a vote of seven to three to recommend the construction of five drydocks, each of which shall have a capacity | sufficient for receiving the largest ships of the navy. | The need of these docks has long been known. | Efforts to bring about their construction began years ago. Congress, however, seem-d incapable of under- standing the urgency of the matter, and for one rea- son or another refused to vote the appropriation re- quired to provide them. The same policy of neglect and indifference concealed under the guise of seem- ing economy would probably have continued indefi- nitely had not the present emergency arisen and aroused members of all parties to a truer conception of what economy is and what the naval equipment of the nation requires. It is to be regretted that the members of the Naval Committee were not unanimous in making the re- commendation. The opposition in the committee presages an opposition on the floor of the House, and the moral effect of a unanimous vote so notable in the passage of the bill appropriating $50,000,000 will be lost. There is, however, no reason to doubt that the appropriations will be made. A majority of seven to three in the committee is a fairly good guar- antee of a majority in the House sufficiently large to pass the bill promptly as soon as it is brought up. A feature of the recommendation which is particu- larly gratifying is the decision of the committee to recommend that one of the new docks shall be lo- cated at Mare Island. A spacious dock in that loca- tion is almost a necessity to the effective use of the navy on this coast. Without it the naval station here has been inadequate and inefficient even in times of peace, and would have been more so if war had come with a naval power strong enough to operate aggressively along the coast between here and Puget Sound. Fortunately the long fight for the new docks is about to end in victory. With the present feeling in favor of all forms of national defense and naval equipment Congress may be relied oh to grant lib- eral appropriations for the work and make them im- mediately available. In that case construction will soon begin, and in a few years we shall have dry- dock accommodations proportioned to the greatness of our needs. Once more the rumor that the Maine was blown up as a result of a Weyler plot has been revived. As it carries with it the statement that the guilty are to be executed it is impossible not to hope that it may be verified. And yet there is reason to fear that the opportunity for saying good-by to Weyler is painfully remote. —_— Sacramento has a chance to show who is running it. The gamblers think they are and do not propose to be dislodged. If the young Chief of Police is not equal to convincing them of their error he should give way to a faro dealer and the present force be re- placed by a lot of shell and pea men. There is no great probability in the theory that European nations will intervene between the United States and Spain. It is no violation of confidence ta remark that the European nations have troubles of their own. Since a local sheet has taken down its sign, an- nouncing itself as an American paper for American people there is some curiosity to know both what it is and what it is for. THE HEROES OF ’'98. HErrefrain, “Who fears to speak of ‘982 Who Tblushes at the name?” rings out this day with special significance and responsive thrill at celebrations of lreland’s national festival all over the world. These words recall to Irishmen a struggle for lib- erty which, although from start to finish a forlorn | hope, because the odds were tremendously. on the | other side, was yet glorious, for they have reason to admire the pluck and fighting qualities of their coun- trymen who sacrificed everything on the altar of patriotism. . “Ninety-eight” followed close upon “*Seventy-six.” The glorious results of the American Revolution fired the hearts of Irishmen and turned an unde- | fined sentiment into a purpose and a passion. The coast of Ireland facing the Atlantic was swept by privateers bearing the flag of the united colonies of America. Around many an Irish fireside the thrill- ing deeds of Paul Jones and “Saucy Jack Barry” were recounted to enthusiastic. listeners. Ireland was ready for battle. The seeds of revolu- tion had already been sown. Dean Swift and Moly- neux had done the work of reason and logic and fervid appeal which Thomas Paine did in the early days of the American Revolution. Patrick Henry was the prototype of Henry Grattan. The words of the former, “Give me liberty or give me death,” be- fore the Virginia Assembly in 1775 were re-echoed by the latter in the Irish Parliament of 1782 when he declared, “I am ready to lay the shattered remains of my constitution on the floor of this House in de- fense of the liberties of my country.” As the clash of resounding arms at Lexington gave force and practical effect to the words of Patrick Henry, so did the tramp, tramp of the Irish Volun- teers in St. Stephen’s Green fructify the eloquence of Grattan. In wealth, population, resources, military and naval strength Ireland was no match for Great Britain. Her fight was like that of Patrick Henry, that “the god of armies would raise up friends to fight her battles for her.” Ireland’s most insuperable obstacle at successful revolution is her proximity to Great Britain. As John Bright well said, “if Ire- land could shift her moorings 2000 miles to the | westward she would quickly throw off the yoke of England.” Wolie Tone recognized Ireland’s inherent weakness against such a mighty power as England. He sought and procured the aid of France, and when the gal- lant men of Wexford made Vinegar Hill almost a second Bunker Hill a French expedition landed in the west of Ireland. It came too late, however. Like the Spanish Armada in the time of Queen Bess, old Neptune fought on the side of the flag of St. George, and General Hoche did not win in Ireland the laurels which Lafayette won in America. Heroes and patriots, however, should not be measured by the rule of success. And so Irishmen of to-day can well pay patriotic tribute to the memories of William Orr and Wolfe Tone and Robert Emmet and Lord | Edward Fitzgerald and other heroes and martyrs | of "o8. THE ELECT OF THE FLEECED. HE situation of all the people who render trib- Tute to corporations in San Francisco is exceed- ingly cheerful, but none have more reason to be congratulated upon the hilarity of their corporate relations than the consumers of gas. These persons are not only forced to pay a good round price for an inferior article of carbon monoxide, but they are compelled to deposit money as a guarantee of their irtegrity and discharge all bills promptly whether they have burned any gas or not. People situated thus | | certainly have no occasion to feel that Providence | in his inscrutable wisdom has overlooked them, for even as they sleep the gas companies may be picking | their pockets. | Buc as if this condition were not sufficient to pre- duce in them the intoxication of cheerfulness, the | Almighty has provided the gas companies with an | entirely distinct method of taking their money with- | out due process of law. According to ex-Supervisor | Burling, formerly secretary of the Central Gas Com-‘ pany and an expert in the manufacture of the illu- | minant, all the carbon monoxide corporations ncedi do when shy a dividend is to pump air into their pipes. Mr. Burling says this makes the meters ll | over town jump up like cash registers and brings in a crop of bills which at once closes the dividend gap. Mr. Burling does not charge the gas companies with increasing their receipts in this way, but he positively declares that the thing can be done without arousing the slightest suspicion. As we understand it air is used by the gas com- panies to pruduce pressure. That is to say, that un- less the carbon monoxide is forced a little it will not run through the meters at all, or so weakly as to show a small profit. The corporations, therefore, have a machine to make the gas “lively.” It is this machine to which we understand Mr. Burling refers. Without subjecting our imaginations to any undue strain we may place the following dialogue before our gas-consuming readers as within the possibili- ties: Interior of a gas house; men in the dis- President light company (Scene: tance wheeling out smoke. writing at desk.) President (rings bell and summons superintend- ent)—Say, Smith, we are a little short on a dividend this month. I observe from the secretary’s report that our deposits only amount to $160,000 and our re- ceipts from bills $2,250,000. What is the matter? Superintendent—The air has been a little weak this month, my lord. President—What do you mean by that? - Light? Superintendent—No, sir. It is heavy enough, but I was afraid to put on too much. Many families are out of town, you know, and it ain’t a good idea to make the meters jump too much during their ab- sence. President—Oh, never mind that. You're too squeamish. We mustn’t pass a dividend. Put on the air and raise all bills north of Market 10 per cent. ‘We'll let the people south of Market off this month. And we can imagine the President comforting himself with the reflection that he is a genuine phil- anthropist who works unseen and asks no public recognition of his generosity. Yet if Mr. Burling is to be credited not only is such a dialogue as this pos- sible, but extremely probable. Hence we say that of all people who pay tribute to corporations in San Francisco gas consumers have most reason to be cheerful. True, they may be pay- ing for air most of the time, but they can never say that they are not the elect of the fleeced. Not only should they be cheerful; they should be proud. e —————— Secretary Long seems to have an idea that for an executive officer to be drunk on duty aboard ship is a breach of propriety, and perhaps he is right. Naval commanders in an emergency ought always to make a point of being sober, and emergencies are likely to arise at any time. / : . | is one of the first considerations of statesmen who | COLNON’S EVASION. ARBOR COMMISSIONER COLNON, through an interview published in his paper, the Stockton Mail, and probably written by himself, has undertaken the defense of the commis- sion for authorizing the change in the construction of the flooring of the new ferry depot whereby a| flooring sustained by expanded metal was substituted | for the flooring sustained by terra cotta arches which the contract called for. The defense is a simple one. Mr. Colnon says the flooring adopted is sufficiently strong for the purpose. Simpleness is often used as an equivalent for silli- ness. Mr. Colnon’s simplicity of defense is of that character. The charge made by The Call is that the flooring accepted by the commission cost the con- tractor many thousands of dollars less than the amount he was allowed for the flooring the contract called for. He contracted for a high priced flooring, was permitted to substitute a cheaper one, and was then paid the price of the first. By this means the contractor gained a large sum of money, estimated by experts at about $40,000. To reply to this charge by asserting that the floor- ing accepted by the commission is good enough for the purpose is not to make a defense of the com- | mission, but to evade the issue. Itmatters notso faras | this question is concerned whether the flooring ac- cepted is good, bad or indifferent. That is a separate and distinct issue altogether. The point now under consideration is not one of construction, but one of finance. It is not whether the floor is good, but whether the commission did not let a contract for a | high priced flooring and then accept a less expensive { flooring, which it paid for at the rate agreed upon for the first. Other charges as serious as that in regard to the manipulation of the flooring contract have been made by The Call, but these Mr. Colnon ignores. That fact is significant. If there had been any form | of defense possible or any conceivable means of eva- sion the defense would have been set up or the eva- sion would have been attempted. As Mr. Colnon, | who was so glib on the subject of the solidity of the | * flooring, was silent on all the other evidences of crookedness pointed out by The Call the conclusion is inevitable that as regards them he can say nothing whatever. Silence under such circumstances is con- fession. Sooner or later the Commissioners and all others who are in any way responsible for the work on the | ferry depot will have to meet the charges made by} The Call and explain the intent and purpose of all | the changes in the contracts whereby cheap materi:fll has been accepted for high priced material without | any reduction being made in the price agreed upon for the work. It is no palliation of such offenses to say that the material used is good enough for the purpose. 1f Commissioner Colnon has no better de- fense than this to urge, or if he can devise no means | more cunning to evade the issue, he had better en- | gage help at once. His championship has but ex- posed the weakness of his cause and revealed the fact | that the commission is without any defense that can be made in plain and open hanesty. C——e T —————— WAR AND THE FOOD_SUPPLY. i situation of the immense emergency and de- fense funds of the United States, Great Britain | and Russia suggests the great increase in the cost of war that is due to modern armament and conditions. But there is another element in the modern situa- tion which returns the nations to the primitive con- ditions which existed before the use of gunpowder, when armies fought with catapuits, spears, bows and short swords and carried shield and buckler. Then the food supply of armed legions was of prime | importance. Now that supply, not only for armies, | but for the people of the nations which support them, | "I“HE sudden projection into the international | talk of offensive and defensive preparations. It is probable that of the great powers only Russia and the United States can count on the ability to produce their own bread while they fight. In a struggle involving many nations only those that can feed their own people without the risk of | having their food cargoes captured at sea can now | survive in a supreme fight to the finish. | The navy of Great Britain is as much to defend her invasion and her colonies from conquest. | The United States are independent of all risk of | that kind. We live not from hand to mouth. We are | not in dread when gales or war are abroad upon the oceans lest famine follow the loss of fleets bringing | food to our people. Our annual surplus always more than carries us over to the next season’s production, and our borders are so wide and our climates so | varied seed time and harvest are in some part of our | vast domain so going on at each solstice and each | equinox that we are even independent of unpropi- | tious weather, that cannot be so pervading as to bring universal failure or even inconvenient shortage. Our railway and inland lake and river transportation system is so complete that the surplus of favorable season and favored section so fills the vacuum leit by | scarcity in any part that to our people the pinch of | famine is unknown. The rest of the globe may fail | to produce a single cental of grain, but plenty isi with us. = In war our table is spread in the presence of our enemy, and we have but to count the cost of defense and offense in lives and cash. As is well under- stood abroad, herein lies the vastness of our strength in war. If the other nations grapple our surplus must feed them while they fight. In war and in peace this | country is the world’s granary and meat barrel. | They may not like our policy, our manners, or our | progress. They have to like our food, for without it they cannot set a squadron in the field in war nor feed their workmen in peace. . Let no one think that having this strength we ever | Bn propose to use it with the unreason of a giant. 1f | we give or take a challenge to combat it will be for reasons justifiable to God and man that will be vin- dicated in our time and in history. RN Sy No meaner form of swindling is known than that which by holding out to working people a false pros- pect of employment cheats them of their last dollar. A concern accused of doing this is now on trial in this city, and, if proved guilty, deserves to be sent to the penitentiary. This, however, would be a hard- ship upon the burglars and horse thieves already there. —_— “Spain’s credit wanes” announces a line in the cur- rent news. True enough, but where is another nation able to show such a wealth of discredit? Inquiry from Madrid as to why this country has been buying battle-ships was a delicately disguised piece of impertinence. R ST The vigilantes who are trying to regulate the morals of Skaguay either lack the proper spirit or are short of rope. s £ ANTLIVISECTION Lof gratitude for the calm and |@eeesoo000000000000 TO EDGAR OF NILES. “WAS YOU EVER A BOY?" P009000000000066066@ [Principal Edgar of Niles has forbidden the boys of the public school to play mar- bles for “keeps,” on the ground that it's gambling.] @ @ @ & R TR ORO) @ I say, Mister Edgar, Just tell me what joy There's in playing for fun? Was you ever a boy? To play “fats” for fun! Why, our game you'd destroy. I say, Mister Edgar, Was you ever a boy? If a chap can't play “keeps™ The thing’ll soon cloy. Tell me, Mister Edgar, Was you ever a boy? Where's the good, Mister Edgar, No kids to annoy? Play “Boston” for fun! Was you ever a boyl D'ye take us for sissies, So shy and so coy, Who play “holey” for funt Was you ever a boy? Might as well be a baby, * That can’t use a toy. “Three-hole py” now, for fun! Was you ever a boy? There’s one thing I tell you— It's surer that poi Is to Sandwich Islanders— If you was a boy You'd suffer for this; Your face I'd destroj If you was my size And you was a boy. g3 o SAUGERTIES, N. Y., March 9, 1838. Editor San Francisco Call: I notice in vour issue of February 13 an item which speaks of vivisection being used in the writing of books as an {llustration. This is surely a good thing, because so many people are ignorant of the subject, and it is well to call their attention to it in all possible ways. Perhaps you will make room in your paper for the following: ‘We often find those who object to all forms of cruelty except those which have for their aim the benefit of mankind. Such people disapprove of vivisectional experiments intended to demonstrate already known facts, and yet they speak of the “actions of Lister, Koch and Pas- teur,” as needing no justification. If this be so, why is it that they carefully try to justify them by the somewhat exploded theory that the end justified the means? If a man be so much better than a dog that by force he may subject the helpless | beast to incalculable agony in the attempt | to benefit himself, in what does his vaunt- | ed superfority lie? Surely not in justice, nor in self-sacrifice, nor in tenderness, nor ! in any of those qualities which we have been wont to look upon as the crown and glory of mankind. But allowing, for the sake of argument, that man with his firm hOfie of a future | existence may lawfully make the present life (which is genera“f’ supposed to be all | a beast will have) a long nnfu sh to the brute, simply to give himself less pain— | allowing this, we may yet well ask, Are the “actions of such men as Lister and | Koch and Pasteur” actions that "need no justification?” Have the means they em- ployed gained any end but death and filth contamination? From the Pasteur institutes of Buro) almost 400 patients discharged as ‘“‘cured” have returned to their homes—for what? | To develop rabies and dle from the effects of that disease. Many noted physicians in Euro‘re and in our own country elaim that hydrophobla has never existed unles: artificially induced. Others of great ex- | perience believe that hydrophebia is such a rare malady that it has never been found in this country, and that only a few | cases are on record. If, then, rables Is so seldom met with, how did so mahy ple in such a short time develo& it? {mply from the so-called ‘‘preventive inocula- ons. Koch diseased people till the German Government stepp in to forbid his slaughter. And Lister? Noted physiologists are coming out in defense of the microbes he has taught doctor and patient to dread, and these scientists claim that the tiny living things set forward and nelther hinder nor_prevent recovery. Let us throw off all these barbar- ous méthods, which in truth not only “need justification,” but which can nowhere find it, and let us seek in the clean, wholesome and undegrading study of sanitation that advance which will be truly scientific as well as really beneficial to mankind, JOHN vmnnznv'lhn. President New York State Anti-Vivisec- tion Society, Saugerties, N. Y. —— s A STEADY PILOT. The country owes our President a debt dignified way in which he has borne his official responsibilities. He has not for a mo- ment forgotten himself or his duty of setf-control. A demagogue would have seized such an occasion to play before the country; but he has acted without a sign of bluster or excitement. He has gone about his duties with a quiet com- posure, a firm grip of the situation, a calm balance of judgment that ha steadied the nation and commanded its confidence. He has been tested and has proved that clamor and excitement can- not swerve him from the line of patient, reasonable conduct which he marked out for his administration.—New York Inde- pendent. COLLECTED IN THE CORRIDORS. A. N. Jenson, U. 8. N., is at the Palace. F. Monahan of Needles is a guest at the Grand. J. M. Ledgewood of Chicago is at the Palace. John C. Callin of Sacramento is staying at the Lick. Andrew Jaicks of Chicago is a guest at the Occidental. A. Hilbron, a cattleman of Sacramento, is at the Grand. M. H. Foley, a contractor of St. Paul, is at the Palace. Solomon Jewett of Bakersfield is regis- tered at the Lick. A. Woods of Wheeling, W. Va.,, is a guest at the Palace. J. P. Gabbitt, U. S. dental with his wife. W. Castle Steuvart and wife of New York are at the Occidental. Mr. and Mrs. I. N. Peyton are registered at the Palace from Spokane. G. A. Penniman, a fruit grower of San Jose, is registered at the Grand. Captain Worral registered at the Occi- dental yesterday from Port Costa. John H. Sheehan of Utica, N. Y., iIs at the Palace, accompanied by his wife. A, ts at the Occl- D00000O0O0O0C The hotel clerk is o 3 O a much abused o THINGS HE o and thoroughly o SHOULD o misunderstood adjunctof alarge O HAVE KNOWN © hostelry. His o O shortcom ings, 0000000000 manner of dress, freshness and independence nave been made the subfects for laughter for the English speaking world through the me- dfum of the comic papers, yet the trials he is put to and the strain that his pa- tience dally endures from the thousand and one foolish questions that are put to him and which he is compelled to an- swer in a polite and agreeable manner are seldom, if ever, mentioned. The other day a gentleman was leaning against the desk of a well known house, wh : approached the desk and said: tell me where the White House i “Yes, madam,” answered the clerk; is at the corner streets.”” “How do you get there?” “Just go across the street to the junction of Post and Market, directly opposite the hotel entrance, and walk up Post one block.” “I am sure I shall never find it in the world.”” “L will send a boy with you to show you the way.” “But suppose the boy don't know?” *“We'll get an- other boy.” “How many boys has the hotel?” “I'm sure I don’t know, madam.” “Well, alnt you, supposed to know?” “We are not all perfect.” *“Well, bring the boy.” The boy came and the woman started to follow him, when she turned and came back to say: “By the by, we were discussing your city at breakfast this morning, and can you tell me how many hills there are here?” “I am un- able to tell you,” repiied the unfortunate clerk, and the woman joined her com- panion, remarking that an owl was bright compared to that particular clerk, and that she intended to complain to the management. Just as the gentleman who had heard the conversation turned to g0 away he heard a little girl ask the still unruffied clerk to please tell her where the tide went to when it went out. it of Kearny and Post T. B. Dillon, a mining man of Amador, is one of yesterday's arrivals at the Grand. W. B. Willlams, a large wholesale merchant of New York, is at the Cali- fornia. M. J. Canning of Portland arrived in the city yesterday and went to the Occi- dental. George Baker of Providence, R. L, is at the Palace. Mrs. Baker accompanies her husband. W. B. Middleton and E. C. Maurice are two English travelers who arrived at the Palace last night. J. T. Brooks, vice-president of the lines west of Pittsburg on the Pennsylvania Ratlroad, is at the Palace with his wife and family. His visit to the coast is purely one of pleasure. R. R. Cable, president of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Rallroad, ar- rived yesterday in his private car from the southern part of the State, where he has been for some time past endeavoring to restore the health of his wife that has been shattered by a serious iliness. He registered at the Palace, but left last night for his home in Chicago. Mrs. Cable has been very much benefited by her trip. D —— GRATIFYING EXHIBITS OF EXPORTS Our exports for the seven months end- ing with January were $706.569,711, an in- crease of nearly $65,000,000 over the same period of the previous year. As was to be expected under the circumstances of good crops here and poor ones elsewhere, most of the increase was in agricultural prod- ucts, in which there was a gain of nearly $50,000,000; but it s gratifying to know that there was also an increase of $6,000,- 000 in American manufactures. That we can feed the world s an old story. That our manufactures are beginning to go abroad in large quantities—$156,541,049 in the period mentioned—is more of a pleas- ing noveltv. If we keep on at this rate the American people, seeing that their 0ods are so well liked think be delphia Ledger. country’s may presently come them themselves.—Ph 5% 2 = HONORTO ST, PATRICK & 8 3 & s |BBBURRE 3 88 %3 %2, O-DAY throughout the length and breadth of this broad land, and in every nook and corner of the world inhabited by Irishmen the great Saint Patrick, the patron saint of the E 1d Isle, is duly honored; and closely associated with the honors accord- ed him is the shamrock, which is some- times called the trefoil. The shamroc has been especially dedicated to St. Pat- rick because the old tradition sa that the saint in teaching the doctrine of the Holy Trinity made use of the_tre in explaining the great mystery. Be this as it may, the shamrock has been the na- tional emblem of Ireland for many cen- turies, and no enthusiastic Irishman would be willing to appear on the 17th of March without his sprig of trefoil, so em- blematic of the Emerald Isle and the gres “renchman who converted it ta Christianity; for St. Patrick was born under the sunny skies of Frdance and assed much of his early life in that coun= There have been many disputes as Ty | to” the particular plant which St. Patrick used in _explaining the Three in One doc- trine of the Blessed Trinl However, the plants which are generally sold as tha national emblem in London and Dublin on St. Patrick’s Day are the Dutch clover and the black nonesuch, Many writers, however, claim_that the wood sorrel, which whs called in olden times shamros, and which was formerly much eaten by the Irish, was the plant used by St. Pat- rick in explaining the mystery of the Trinity. In art St. Patrick is often repre- sented holding _the trefoil in his hand Sehien 1s called by Irishmen the cross of St. Patrick. In the early part of the Vic- forian reign the shamrock replaced ths fleur de 1is in the royal crown of Enge land. —_————— ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. A DOLLAR OF 18%4—S., Napa City, Cal Dealers In coins do not offer any pre mium for dollars of 1894 TWENTIETH CENTURY-—W. L. F., Oakland, Cal. The twentieth century will commence January 1, 180L BARREL OF FLOUR—A. 8., City. Ace cording to the United States standard, a barrel of flour weighs 196 pounds. THE CAR LINES—A. 8., City. The aggregate of miles of routes traveled by the streetcars of San Francisco is 326%. COLUMBIAN HALF-DOLLAR—E. M. C., City. Columbian half-dollars were made_a legal tender the same as othef half-dollars. GENERAL WOOLSEY—J. T. City. General Woolsey, commander-in-chiet of the British army, was born near Dublin, Ireland, on the 4th of June, 1833. DIME OF 1894—W. E. C., Los Angeles, Cal. A dime of 1894 does not command a premium unless it is one of ithe twenty- four coined at the San Francisco Branch Mint. TWO OLD COINS—M. 8., City. A 25- cent piece of the coinage of 1831 may be purchased for 50 cents, and a dime of 1523 for 25 cents. Dealers do not offer a pre- mium for either. VIRGIN CHIMES—S., City. By “Vir- gin Chimes” is meant the first chimes rung after 12 o’clock on Christmas eve. Also the first chimes rung on a peal of bells newly consecrated. COPPER'CENTS—E. M. C., City. Cop- per cents of the United States are a legal tender in any amount not exceeding cents. If a conductor on a streetear should refuse to accept five copper cents for a fare and should eject a passenger from the car, the company would have to stand a suit for damages. ENGLISH POSTOFFICE—W. H. B., City. The expenditures for the London tal department were: Postoffice, £7.- packet service, £750,147; telegraph, receipts from sale of stamps, 00,651; £191,73¢ collected in cash for ges and letter: £422.275 for poun age and postal orders; £3,357,611 for tele- grams, of which £365,162 was returned to the cable companies. METHODISTS—CATHOLICS—W. H.B. City. The latest figures show that ther are in the United States 5,121,666 Method~ ists and 7,501,439 Catholics. These figures are based upon the number of communi- cants in the churches of each denomina- tion. It is impossible to give the true number of each denomination as there is no register of the creed of each indi- vidual in the United States. —_— ee————— A handsome present for your Eastern friends, Townsend’sCal.glace fruits0c 1b.* — e information supplied daily to the ont- . pack: Special business houses and public men b Press Clipping Bureau (Allen’s), 510 gomery street. Telephone Main 1043 el i A ROCK OF SAFETY. Every American citizen who has any powers of observation knows very well that Mr. McKinley is not going to em- bark upon a war policy until the moment comes when a policy of peace would bs a greater national calamity than a policy of war. Such a President is a rock of safety.—New York Times. —_——————— It you lack appetite try half & wine glass of ANGOSTURA BITTERS half hour before @inner. Made by DR. T. G. B. SIEGERT & SONS. — co———— FOR BRONCHIAL AND ASTHMATIO COMPLAINTS « Brown's Bronchial Troches” have remarkable carative properties. Sold only in boxes. THE GOLDEN * TIDE. Gold will buy war ships and gold is just what we happen to be importing at pres- ent. Some $2,350,000 more of the metal was ordered from London for New York yesterday, bringin, the total for two weeks up to $9,800,000—New York Mall and Express. ———————————————— e ADVERTISEMENTS. Joseph Ladue, the famous trapper and miner, and the present owner of Dawson City, and for many years the agent of the Alaska Commercial Company, gives a hint to persons going to Alaska, and pays great compliment to a well-known article. He writes:— “I have always used the Royal Baking Powder in Alaska and Northwest Territory, as no other gave equal satisfaction in that harsh climate. always insisted on having that brand.” I also found my customers Feb. 18th, 1898.