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THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, FRIDAY, APRIL 8, 1898 : 6 ¢ ?% SOMETHING TO INVESTIGATE. MONGERS OF DOUBTFUL NEWS. | A £ LR | e L8 5 e &,‘4 !j‘z 4 &,M @a’l HERE' is a Senate committee empowereq to T is impossible not to have a feeling of contempt o e 2 nvestigate State institutions. It was appointed | | for G F. Tilton and the newly developed tribe of FRIDAY for the purpose of determining whether the avaricious mongers of doubtful news of which he JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Proprietor. Addrass All Communications to W. S. LEAKE, Manager. PUBLICATION OFFICE.. Market and Third Sts., S. F Telephone Main 1868. EDITORIAL ROOM 217 to 221 Stevenson Street Telep e Main 1874, THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL (DAILY AND SUNDAY) Is by carriers In this city and surrounding towns 5 cents a week. By mall $6 per year; per month j. 65 cents. | THE WEEKLY CALL.. OAKLAND OFFICE.... ...908 Broadway NEW YORK OFFICE Room [88, World Building | DAVID ALLEN, Advertising Representative. One year, by mail, $1.50 | WASHINGTON (D. C.) OFFICE Riggs House | C. C. CARLTON, Correspondent. CHICAGO OFFICE . It C.GEORGE KROGNESS, Adverti ..Marquette Building sin g Representative. BRANCH OFFICES—527 Montgomery street, corner Clay, | open untll 9:30 o'clock. 387 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 10 o'clock. 2291 Market street, corner Sixteenth, open untll 9 o'clock. 2518 Misslon street, open untll 9 o'clock. 106 Eleventh streét, open untll 9 o'clock. 1505 Polk street, open | until 9:30 o'clock. NW. corner Twenty-second ana | Kentucky streets, open untll 9 o'clock. —_— AMUSEMENTS. The B —Va ! 23— The Zoo, Vaudeville and Caninc's Leopards. on and Eddy streets—Speciaiues & Clay’s Hall—Paloma Schramm, Wednesday after- ~Music. daneing boating, fishing, every Sunday, ub, Oakland—Races to-aay. Lis day, April 8, Furniture, at April 12, Horses. atcorner Van Ness | s.at 10 o'clock. A BRIGHTENING PROSPECT. ] HILE the recent rains have not been very | \\/ profuse, they have served to freshen the soil over wide areas of the State and brighten the prospects of a considerable number of rural indus- tries. The outlook, therefore, for those whose crops were not destroyed by the frosts is decidedly better than it was a short time ago, and we may now rea- sonably entertain a hope for fairly good returns for the n. It seems conceded that the peaches and aprico!s‘ of a large portion of the State are dead. The prune- owers, on the other hand, have been more fortu- nate. With the exception of localities where the trees blossomed unusually early, the prunes have not | been seriously injured, and even where the effect of | vas felt among the prunes it is believed | t destroyed wiu amount to no more than | a desirable thinning of the crop. | 5 ng and hay-raising portions of the | rain was of course a benefit of great value. Every drop of it was precious. It carried hope and | the prospects of safety to the interests of many a | 1 whose herds have long been living on short It enables them to hold out for a time, at and may prove to be sufficient at least in e localities to carry the stock along until arrange- 1ents can be made for removing them to better pas- tures. the frosts hat the f cattl rations. e, It is still some time yet before the regular dry sea- | son sets in, and there is a fair assumption that the | owers may be succeeded by others that will | be still more bountiful and beneficial. If this should be so, the general orchard product of the State will not be so far below the average as has been feared, and our cattlemen may manage to pull through de- | te the refusal of our neighbors to permit Califor-| nia stock to be taken to their States for pasture. In California bad times are never altogether bad. | The dry winter may yet be followed by a spring rainy enough to bring many of its diverse crops to a | profitable fruition, so that when the yearly balance is | struck the State will make a showing not inferior to that of any other in the Union. | quurcr is the first to come to us with the cx-! pected editorial on the recent earthquake,and it [ contains exactly what expectation was prepared for. The Inquirer pronounces the California temblor to be worse than the multitudinous storms that afflict the E It says: “We can guard against the light- ning and the floods, and, to some extent, meteorology has been able to warn against the coming of the tor- | nado or the cyclone. But an earthquake, as James‘ Whitcomb Riley has said in one of his dialect poems, ‘would yank ye out'n yer grave.’” Furthermore the Philadelphia critic will have it that the shock felt here was too great to have been merely a local agitation. It says: “The fact that there was also a huge tidal wave in the harbor of San Francisco may suggest that there had been a serious seismic disturbance or cataclysm in the Far East of which we may yet hear.” It is in the expectation of hearing of such a cata- clysm that the East is now holding its ear to the ground, and the expectation may not be wholly in vain. A suggestion is as good as a news item to yel- low journals, and while the Inquirer would scorn to perpetrate a fake itself, there is something more than a chance that the idea of a serious seismic dis- turbance in tlfe remote Orient having been advanced may prompt some saffron space writer to get up a dispatch from the Emperor of China or the Ahkoond of Swat announcing a shake-up in his kingdom that transformed valleys into mountains and mountains into holes in the ground. The Inquirer concludes with the assertion that “the people of California, who have been free from such disturbances for quite a time, will now have their old fears revived, and those of San Francisco will look to the better and surer construction of their build- rece: AS WAs EXPECTED. F our Eastern exchanges the Philadelphia In- After the references to the huge tidal wave and the seismic cataclysm in the East such a conclu- sion is something of a mild anti-climax. How- ever, it will do. The Inquirer will please take notice that Californians have revived no old fears, nor have they originated any new ones. Moreover, they are well satisfied with the construc- tion of their buildings so far as private edifices are concerned, and such desires as they have for better and safer construction o the part of public buildings are due not so much to earthquakes as to boodle— Jess to any possible seismic cataclysms in the Far East than to the manipulation of Colonel Mazuma at home. | ment have been discovered will doubtless in time be | | be overlooked, an institution which has been marked | by fraud, wastefulness and scandal; in which the money funds for the maintenance of these institutions are being properly applied or being wasted. The com- mittee will report at the next session of the Legisla- ture, and there are reasons for supposing that it will have considerable to report. It has visited asylums of every kind, reformatories and prisons. That all the concerns it has looked into are faultlessly conducted is not believed, and that shortages and mismanage- made known in the proper way. But there is one State institution which should not | voted by the people has been misapplied, the ac- cepted plans ignored for the benefit of contractors, inferior. material used at the price of good material, and in which altogether the men entrusted with the periormance of a public duty have shamelessly be- trayed the public. It is true, they have Leen exposed, but not by any person or persons having authority to more than call attention to the manifest shortcom- ings. It is almost needless to add that reference is had to the ferry depot. To erect this building the State voted a large sum. That the amount would be ample there was not the slightest reason to doubt. No calculation was made upon the circumstance that the Harbor Commission- ers might divert some of the money from the pre- scribed channels. It never entered the mind that specifications were to be altered to suit bidders after their bids had been accepted, and that instead of an edifice sound and honest from the foundation to the tower there was to be a structure a very monument of fraud. The Call has shown conclusively that the ferry depot is a false pretense, that in almost every department it is a swindle, that the taxpayers have been deliberately and systematically cheated. It has laid bare the facts and has not nesitated to name the culprits. But however much a paper may do to arouse sen- timent, it cannot apply the penalty. It can show how the law has been outraged; it has no way of bring- ing the offenders to bar. If they are dead to shame and the proper officials, clothed in the legal right, do not arraign them, then is the effort of the paper gone for naught. Therefore The Call suggests that the investigating committee pay the depot a visit, that they look over plans, make note of changes, the influences producing them and of the sorry result. Let them listen to President Colnon and Architect Swain and weigh the words of the pair against the in- disputable record. Let them have experts to assist them, so the suavity of the accused shall not mislead, and if they shall not find the depot a rotten job, for which the responsible parties ought at least be dis- missed in disgrace from the positions they have abused, there is no merit in figures and no virtue in immutable truth. The committee having in store the performance of this important duty includes General John H. Dickinson of Marin, J. J. Boyce of Santa Barbara, C. M. Simpson of Pasadena, E. W. Chapman, and W. F. Prisk of Nevada. Here are five well-kflown gentle- men, each having had some experience in public life, each aware that there are serious derelictions subject | to correction by them. It should be the business of every member of the committee to make individual effort to ferret out the crimes of which evidence has been laid before them, and which, unrebuked and un- punished, would be a lasting reproach to the State. ANOTHER FALLACY EXPLODED. URING the campaign of 1896 there were two D assertions which the free silver advocates were never weary of uttering. They declared over and over again, through the press and on the stump, that the price of wheat was inseparably allied with the price of silver and that gold could never be depended on to supply the nation with money in time of war. Gold, they shouted, is a coward. When war comes it flies the country. The slightest disturbance of peaceful conditions, they maintained, would be suffi- cient to cause the withdrawal of gold from the chan- nels of trade and send it into hoarding until peace returned. If events had been planned in advance by the sup- porters of sound money to refute these starements of the silverites by the resistless logic of facts they could | not have been arranged to do so more opportunely and potently.than has resulted from the natural evo- lution of our affairs. First came the rise of wheat, accompanied by a continued fall in the price of silver, and now comes a steady import of gold into the United States during weeks of excitement caused by the approach of what appears to be inevitable war. Since the current movement of gold from Europe and Australia to the United States began there has already come into the country more than $40,000,000, a sum far in excess of the entire amount imported during the whole of the last calendar year, and the movement has not yet reached its limit. So far from flying the country because of the danger of war, gold is coming in as if.it was expected to make a profit out of it. The importations have led to a large increase in the proportion of gold paid into the treasury for customs duties. They have also led to an enlarged use of gold as a circulating medium in the East. There is in fact the very opposite of a gold stringency in the money markets of the country. Some financial authorities even look for an excessive amount of it, and the Philadelphia Record recently stated that if the New York holders of long bills of exchange on London should continue the present practice of trans- mitting the bills to London for discount instead of holding them for maturity, “gold would speedily be- come almost a drug in the domestic financial market.” The free silver men may not adopt a new platform and a new issue for the next Presidential campaign, but if they do not they will certainly have to invent a new set of assertions to carry on the old fight. More murders of reconcentrados are reported from Cuba. This is the sort of thing the Junta big guns say they will endure rather than have the United States intervene except upon terms the agitators may prescribe. But, come to think of it, the Junta fel- lows have not been notably assassinated, nor is it of record that they have missed many meals. Their fortitude might be termed a false alarm. FEANSEETE Havana papers say this country seems determined to “eat the pear,” the evident assumption being that we regard Cuba as fruit. As a matter of fact|there is no desire to possess Cuba; only a strong desire that Spain shall not possess it, We are getting particular as to the kind of neighbors we have. L g o It would be a patriotic act for the people to pause long enough amid the clamor of war preparations to ride Rubens of the Cuban Junta out of the country on a rail 3 1 may be taken as a specimen. Tilton was an officer of one of the whaling vessels ice-bound in the Arctic. Concerning the fate of these there has been much speculation and concern. At the instigation of the press a relief expedition was sent in search of them, and since this expedition disappeared on its errand of mercy into the wilds of Alaska no word had come from it, and none could reasonably have been ex- pected. Tilton left his vessel and by an overland trip of extmord'inary length reached civilization. done so would in all likelihood have perished by the way. Yet Tilton will give no information as to the condition of the whalers, will not tell whether he left them in fear of starvation, whether the relief can get to them in time to be of service, or how fared the party he met. Before he will open his mouth he wants a large sumof money. There could hardly be in- gratitude more base. Thousands of dollars had been freely contributed by people who could have no self- ish interest in the hope of saving Tilton and his com- rades. A decent respect for the consideration shown would have prompted Tilton to an opposite course. He would have been glad to tell the world what he knew of the Arctic prisoners and would have scorned to place a price on his information. He is like the messenger from a beleaguered city coming to the friendly army and seeking there to be bribed. The actions of Tilton have been such as to dis- credit any story he may fow choose to tell. By as- suming the air of a man possessed of great and won- derful secrets he has directed against himself the sus- picion of being a faker. His arrival, unfortunately for his hopes, was close to that of Jack Carr with a bogus and silly Andree story it was sought to sell. Nor is it forgotten that after a wreck along the north- ern coast not long ago a petty officer covered himself with odium by refusing to tell who had been lost and who saved unless the question was accompanied by a fee. There are getting to be too many of the Tilton variety. They constitute = a nuisance, their stories are apt to be hazy and they to have an ex- aggerated idea of the worth of them if true. There is a cheerful probability that by his display of swin- ishness Tilton has lost the chance of getting even a modest and appropriate price for his article. It is supposed to be made up of his own history, and this could not be of special worth. WHITHER DO WE DRIFT? ERSONS who keep track of current exposures poi political corruption catnot have failed to notice that for a long time past an unaccount- able moral lethargy seems to have had possession of the people. The Germans have a word which signi- fies “think lazy.” The stolid indifference with which many recent official disclosures have been received by the masses must be attributable to some such mental condition as that. Upon subjects of moral turpitude, no matter how grave, the people appear to have be- come too tired to think. During the past six months The Call has exposed political corruption in half a dozen of the highest places in the State. It has proved that the State Prison Directors have for years been systematically cheating the people in prison-made jute goods. It has exposed a conspiracy to steal the water works of Los Angeles. It has produced facts and fig- ures to show that the Harbor Commissioners have defrauded the State in the construction of the new ferry depot. It has uncovered frauds in street work in this city, a water steal in Oakland, bribery in Sac- ramento and the embezzlement of public funds at San Jose. Yet we have still to hear of a Grand Jury finding an indictment or of a District Attorney pre- senting an information. There must be some reason for this. It is impos- sible that the facts published by this journal are dis- credited by the officials entrusted with the adminis- tration of the law. In most cases they have been es- tablished by confession. Oakland’s boodle Council- men do not deny that Colonel Mazuma persuaded them to fix water r'atcs, the San Jose Justices of the Peace acknowledge their shortages, the water works scandal crookedness of Los Angeles was openly ad- mitted, and the perpetrators of the street frauds of this city are proud of their thievery. If Harbor Com- missioner Colnon is not amused by the record he has made it is because he still cherishes regard for some of his former friends. Under normal conditions, at the present time the jails of California ought to be full of political thieves. Yet it appears that not a single one has even been in- dicted. What is the cause of all this? Have the yel- low papers with their poster type and brilliant ink so blunted the understanding of the masses that they are no longer able to distinguish the difference be- tween right and wrong? Or have the political “re- formers” howled so long and so loud that their sanity has become a serious guestion? What is the matter with the District Attorneys and the grand juries? The laws are plain and ample and brimful of penalties. In some cases The Call has reproduced the statutes and linked them to the .crimes against which they are directed. Yet the door of no jail has been opened and the political thieves are everywhere laying their plans for the coming campaign. Some of them will undoubtedly soon be running for office. All this is very strange. We confess our inability to explain it. One interesting question only remains. Whither is this public indifference to political crime leading? Are we upon the verge of an era in which robbing the people and stealing their taxes is to be- come a sign of good breeding and an evidence of respectability? e It has come to light that the straw bondsmen de- tected in swearing falsely to the possession of prop- erty, and denounced mildly yesterday morning as de- serving to be in jail, are also on the bonds of some- body else. The decision of yesterday must be amended. The fellows deserve to be in two jails. Some of the Madrid correspondents have a won- derful command of language, but at this point their ability ends. There is no way of ascertaining whether they try to command an occasional fact, but if so the fact is invariably guilty of insubordination. Perhaps France may not release Dreyfus, as rumor intimates to be possible, but in justice to herself she ought to take him out of his cage. There is nothing dignified in a nation’s running the show business. Accarding to a dispatch from Paris the Spanish Consulate at Washington has been wrccked. This shows at least the wisdom of going away from home to get news of a really startling character. There can be no objection to the President’s hoping for peace. The only possible dissent must arise as to the manner of securing it. . a While | coming out he met the relief party, and had he not | | EASTER NUMBER E° THE SUNDAY CALL. L 4 A R all be If you would Easter hat? through them. described scribed in Who are the most beautiful women? opinion about this. of a big war. beauty, life, gladness and hope the glorious day Everybody loves to hear ow all about the Easter hat. the milliners’ art will be fully described. well-":nown actresses wearing these bewutiful suggestions of spring time. And while the subject of Easter hats is uppermost, do you remember your first ‘Well, no matter, some of the most prominent ladies in the State are in San Francisco? adjuncts of the day. RE you interested in Easter? Of course you are. is not even though the nation is in a turmoil over the possibility But Eastertide has nothing to do with war. and if you want to know all about READ NEXT SUNDAY'S CALL. 'Thi NEXT SUNDAY'S CALL. Some of the most prominent divipes in California have views of their own about Easter. rection and the lesson of hope that it teaches. or not you will surely be interested in these Easter sermons. They are men who think and love th IN NEXT SUNDAY'S CALL. NEXT SUNDAY'S CALL. It is entitled “Hosanna,” and was written by EdwarA Granfer. have never heard it before you will enjoy it more than if you have, perhaps, but you are sure to enjoy it in any event. READ NEXT SUNDAY'S CALL remember theirs and have gladly told all about them. will be printed in NEXT SUNDAY'S CALL. Do you know thct some of the finest church windows in the United States ‘Well, they are and they will be one of the most prominent features of the day when the glorious Easi~r sunshine gleams Just where they are and what they look like will be fully IN NEXT SUNDAY'S CALL. Out at the old Mission Dolores one hundred years ago there was an Easter celebration. kept that tell all about how the Padres looked after their flocks and showed them the beauties of .the resurrection morn. Of course none of us were there, bu NEXT SUNDAY'S CALL. To the minds of the rising generation Easter would not be Easter if it were not for Easter eggs. IN NEXT SUNDAY'S CALL There will be a whole page devoted to telling all about these bright-colored You can find out how to color them and also how to cook them. There will also be a number of Easter receipts especially in- tended for the end of the Lenten.season. All during the past week The Call camera artist has been out making snap shots. they will all be reprod: He got uced in half-tone IN NEXT SUNDAY'S CALL. beauty in France, England and America read Then there will be a thrilling story of Alaska entitled “A ‘Duel in the Alr,” and pages and pages of special features, all beautifully illustrated. So be sure and R. NEXT SUNDAY'S CALL. READ NEXT SUNDAY'S CALL. Easter bells, but few people have a chance of seeing them. The great painter Blashfield saw a peal of them once and they gave him the inspiration for an immortal picture. of art will be reproduced in half-tone and take up a whole page in This wonderful creation of There will also be photographs of All this will be fully de- Of course you have your own The eminent artist, Carolus Duran, who has painted more beautiful women than any other man living, is certainly qualified to give a public judgment. If you want to know what women are his three ideals of Who is there that It is all s magnificent work e story of the resur- ‘Whether you go to church They will The glorious Eastertide has furnished the theme for thousands of musical compositions. No doubt you have heard many of these, but there are some of the highest merit that are seldom rendered outside of the place where they were written. One of these will be reproduced in I¢ you Just what they said t records have been some good ones and PEReY] ¢ E X: . Y5 COLLECTED IN THE CORRIDORS. C. C. Beckwith of New York is a guest at the Palace. George Lingo, a cattle raiser of Birds Landing, is at the Grand. - E. P. Stacey, a large fruit buyer of Minneapolis, is at the Grand. James Toohey, the Sacramento horse- man, is a guest at the Grand. Dr. and Mrs. C. A. Williams of Chicago are registered at the Occldental. Dr. A. Farenholt, U. S. N., is one of yesterday's arrivals at the Occldental. Frank B. Meyers, a large manufac- turer of Cincinnati, O., is at the Grand. ‘W. P. Thomas, an attorney and politi- cian of Ukiah, is registered at the Grand. W. L. Honnold and wife of San Andreas | are at the California, to remain for a few days. J. A. Phillips and wife of Ottumwa, Towa, are two of yesterday’s arrivals at the Palace. James Collins of Seattle and J. A. Brooks of Los Angeles are both guests at the Russ. Jose H. Rico, a coffee planter of Maz- atlan, is staying at the Palace, where he arrived yesterday. P. A. Stanton, a newspaper man of Los Angeles, is a guest at the Grand, where he arrived yesterday. Colonel A. W. Jones, president of the prospective Monterey and Fresno rail- road, is a guest at the Lick. DO0O0OOOOOOOO A lady attired 2 ©O in deep mourning o A WIDOW o was going along P AND o Kearny street . toward Market O # SOMEWIND: & 0 vesterday after- o 2 2 t sh 0000000000 hoon That she was a widow was evident from the rather knowing beam in her eye, and that her grief at the loss of her vanished half was excessive was made evident by the length of the crepe stringers that were attached to her chic little bonnet and that hung nearly four feet down her back. All went well with the little lady until she reached the cor- ner of Market street and started to turn into that thoroughfare, then her trouble camealong in the shape of a gust of wind, which catching her attestations of sor- row, whirled them around just as an old gentleman was passing whose tall silk hat they roped and pulled off his head. The old gentleman sald something to him- self which, though spoken sotto voce, was evidently in the nature of a severe crit- icism of womankind in general and of the pretty widow in particular. The widow, overcome with embarrassment, turned to make an apology, when the end of her crepe struck a horse in the eye and the animal started to beat an elec- tric car down Third street, pursued by his driver, who in turn was chased by a policeman with threats of capture and subsequent incarceration for breaking the law prohibiting bad language. The lovely cause of all this disaster, leaning against a post, watched with a quiet smile the hurried departure of the horse and the two-legged animals, and when they had vanished in a cloud of dust started to continue her way. Her friend, the wind, however, had not fin- ished its joking. While she had remained stationary it had been busily engaged in wrapping the bonnet stringers around the post. So, with the first step she took, the dainty bit of head gear was yanked from its golden pedestal and, falling to the pavement, was pounced upon by a stranger dog, who made off with his prize at a gait that was considerably acceler- ated by the howls of the dozen or more street gamins who had been attracted by the scene with the horse, and who started | in wild and joyous pursuit, The widow waited for no new develop- ments, but, going into the neighboring telephone office, gave way to tears and lamentations, recelving from the girl in charge sympathy and hairpins. Colonel and Mrs. Fred Smith of Peoria, 11, are registered at the Palace. They are touring the State for pleasure. T. H. Metzner of San Jose and C. A. Cutter, a fruit man of Fresno, are two of the late arrivals at the Occidental. Lionel A. T. Johnson and Mr. and Mrs. T. B. Dwyer, all of London, are among the late arrivals at the Occidental. C. T. boal of Chicago, accompanied by his wife and their two daughters, is at the Palace, where he arrived last evening. W. L. Benham, western freight agent for the Great Northern, is at the Cali- fornia accompanied by his wife and child. T. I. Phelps Jr. and B. F. Darling are two naval officers who are staying at the Palace. Mr. Darling’s wife and children are with him. Lieutenant H. E. Parmenter and Dr. W. E. Taylor, U. S. N., are both registered at the Baldwin. Dr. Taylor is accompan- fed by his wife. Edward Harrigan, the famous comedian ot the Harrigan-Hart combination, who is to open at the California in “‘Old Lav- ender,” arrived on the overland last night from New York. The illness of Teight Traffic Manager ‘William Sproule of the Southern Pacific is more serious than was at first sup- posed. He has ruptured one of the large blood vessels in his leg, and it will be some time before he is sufficiently recov- ered to resume the duties of his office. —_— e CALIFORNIANS IN NEW YORK. NEW YORK, April 7.—Dr. Wm. Fitch Cheney of San Francisco {s at the Mur- ray Hill Hotel; L. Shillinger of San Fran- cisco 1s at the Netherland Hotel. *LOOKIN’ BACK Wathers o' Moyle, an’ the white gulls flyin’, Since I was near ye, what have I seen? Deep great seas, an’ & strong wind sighin’ Night an' day, where the waves are green. Struth-na-Moile, the wind goes sighin’ Over a waste o' wathers green. Slemish an' Trostan, dark wi’ heather, High are the Rockles, airy-blue. Sure ye have snows in the winter weather, Here they're lyin' the long year through. Snows fair in the summer weather, Och, an’ the shadows between are blue! Lone Glén Dun, an’ the wild glen-flowers, Little yeo know if the prairie Is sweet! Roses for miles, an’ redder than ours, Spring here undher the horses' feet. Ave, an’ the black-eyed gold sunflowers, Not'as the glen-flowers small an’ sweet. re ‘Wathers o’ Moyle, I hear ye callin® Clearer for half o' the world between. Antrim hills, an® the wet rain failin’ Whiles ye are nearer than snow-tops keen. Dre“xln the night, an’ a night wind callin' ‘What s the half o' the world between? —Moira O'Neill in Blackwood's Magazine. THOSE GUILTY COMMISSIONERS. To the Editor of the San Francisco Call— Dear Sir: Your accusations against the State Board of Harbore Commissioners have excited quite a lot of comment in these parts, the people feeling that it is a State matter and that they were more or less foolish for voting State bonds for Central Pacific improvements at the start, and especially if they are to be swindled in the use of the proceeds. Might I not ask, Is there no officer of the board who is supposed to possess suf- ficient ability, either in a mechanical or intellectual way, to ‘“check up”sthe plans and specifications and see that the State is not robbed? If such officer, or engineer, or super- intendent accepts material so_entirely in- ferior i‘m‘:fl‘itnoin ‘u‘llgée or %oes he mnot possess. y OW | ? ours truly, INQ‘{JIR ER. Oakdale, April 6, 1898. [The Call has the name of the author of the above communication, and it may be observed that he is a bona fide resi- dent and taxpayer of Oakdale, and one of the prominent citizens of that com- ™ 1 munity.—Ed. Call.] ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. TOO POOR TO PAY—E. H. L., City. It a mother is too poor to support her two children she ought to lay the facts of her case before the Society for the Preven- tion of Cruelty to Children. The officers will, on a statement of the facts, give her ‘advice. WAR—A. S., City. When there is a declaration of war between nations neithir waits for formalities to make an attack. SALISBURY—H. C. McG., Bodega, Cal. The biographical sketch of the Marquis of Salisbury does not make mention that “he ever owned and conducted a sheep ranch in Australia.” FROM THE HEBREW-T. A. P., Rich- land, Cal. Lesser, the best translator of the Hebrew Bible, translates Genesis d1:17 just as it appears in the American Bible Society’s edition. —_—_—— For Easter novelties try Townsend's. * S ————— Solid cream Easter eggs, 5c. Townsend® —_—————— Cream Klondikers, 10c. Townsend's. * —_———— Speclal i.formation supplied dally to business houses and public men b; Press Clipping Bureau (Allen’s), 510 gomery street. Telephone Main 1042, —_—————— CRAZE FOR EXPLOSIONS. St. Louis Globe-Democrat. France and Russia are tryi to up the Chinese loan. No(hlngnsls sagol‘; thege bubbling times of international dig- cord. the onte . —_——— ““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 Colic, 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 Syi %c a bottle, + CORONADO—Atmosphere is perfectly dry, soft and mild, being entirely free from the mists common further north. Round trip tick- ets, by steamship, including fifteen days’ board | at "the Hotel del Coronado, $63; longer stay, §250 per day. Apply 4 New Montgomery st.. S. F., or A. W. Balley, mar. Hotel del Corona. do, late of Htl Colorado, Glenwood Spgs, Colo, ~ DOUBLE FINANCIAL DRAIN —— Indianapolis Journal, The people of this country are jus; submitted to a double fnancial desin ey which they may thank the Spaniards With their taxes they are buying ammus nition to Kkill the persecutors, if neces. sary, and with their charity they ara sending food to the victims. Tt ‘would take a clever and adroit judge to decide which expenditure is made the more cheerfull; Deligious Biscuit, Griddle Cake and Doughnut