The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, April 11, 1898, Page 6

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, MONDAY, APRIL 11, 1898. Yie MONDAY. JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Proprietor. Address All Communications to W. S. LEAKE, PUBLICATION OFFICE......Market and Third Sts.. S. F Telephone Main 1868 EDITORIAL ROOMS. 217 to 221 ste‘enson Street Telephone Main 1874, ' THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL (DAILY AND SUNDAY) Is served by carriers In this city and surrounding towns for 15 cents a week. By mall $6 per year; per month 65 cents. THE WEEKLY CALL . OAKLAND OFFICE e NEW YORK OFFICE ..Room 188, World Building DAVID ALLEN, Advertising Representative. WASHINGTON (D. €.) OFFICE ..-Riggs House C. C. CARLTON, Correspondent. CHICAGO OFFICE . . Marquette Building C.GEORGE KROGNESS, A ng Representative. One year, by mail, $1.50 908 Broadway dvertisi BRANCH OFFICES—527 Montgomery street, corner Clay, open until 9:30 o'clock. 387 Hayes street, open until 9:30 o'clock. 621 McAllister strect, open until 9:30 o'clock. 615 Larkin street, open untll 9:30 o'clock. 1941 Mission street, open until 10 o'clock. 29291 Market street, corner Sixteenth, open until 9 o'clock. 2518 Misslon street, open until 9 o'clock. 106 Eleventh street, open untll 9 o'clock. 1505 Polk street, open until 9:30 o'clock. NW. corner Twenty-second ana Kentucky streets, open until 9 o'clock. AMUSEMENTS. Baldwin—"A Stranger in New York" Columb; hore Acres " ‘0ld Lavendar.” “The Strange Adventures of Miss Brown.' —“Pavements of New York. Sinbad the Satlor.” 7 ille. Y. M he Passion Play." The Chutes—Zoo, Vaudevilie, Wallace, “Untamable Lion.” Olympia, corner Mason and Eddy streeis—Specialues. Sherman & Clay's Hall—Paloma Schramm, Wednesday after- noon. April 13. California Jockey Clup, Oakland—Raccs to-morrow. Tivolt AUCTION SALES. By Killip & Co.—Tues avenue and Marxe: orses. atcorner Van Ness THE COMMERCIAL SITUATION. "] HE feature of last week was a sensible diminu- in the demand for staple goods throughout the country. This decrease was due, as' far as | B 1 be seen, to unseasonable cold weather and to the discouragement of new business by the_general expectation of war. The West, which for some weeks has been the center of mercantile activity, reported that the heavy rush of spring business was about over and that current orders for goods are to complete broken The South reported a good | enough trade, though the export of staples was ex- cc assortments, hibiting a check on account of the raising of marine insurance rates consequent upon the disturbed for- eign outlook. There has also been a great frost throughout the East and South which has played | oc with t it crop of both sections and like- | wise dam the tobacco crop of the latter. The | Northwest ned to report a good business, there was no faliing off on the Pacific Coast as far as | could be seen Still the country is considerably ahead of last year, ording to the bank clearings, which showed a | gain last week of 26.3 per cent over the corresponding weck in 18)7. The commercial failures were 220, against 232 for the same week last year. These fig ures do not show any falling off in business, but, on the contrary, an increase. The diminution the e, therefore, is simply a slackening iu" ary movement of merchandise which has characterized the past few months and which has r than ever before known in the United | As for Wall street, that interesting mart, we in volume of tr: the extraord been gr States. are told, has undergone about all the liquidation it is It has sh trouble, the public have gen- n out, and it is said that stocks are now in likely to see for the present, war or no war. discounted the Sy erally dra strong hands and closely held, so that the floating is ) £ is means that somebody is going to make money in Wall street before long, and that somebody is not the public. The leading staples are about the same as last week. The iron trade is still doing a rushing business, but it is bec 1g evident that it is on previous orders, and that new business is small. Dry goods are dull, y about taking hold until they know better how the with Spain is going to turn out. Wool, hides, leather and the other important staples are equally quiet, and for the same reason. The grain trade keeps up well, the exports from Atlantic ports last week being 50 per cent larger than for the same week in 1897. The feature of trade in San Francisco last week was the sensational advance in cereals at the close owing to the dry weather. Nobody in the trade now expects large crops of anything. Tt is too late. There will be plenty for the usual local consumption and a surplus for export, but that surplus will be small compared with the ordinary year. High prices will probably rule the balance of the year in conse- quence, and that farmer who gets a crop will make money. Wheat went up to $1 55@1 6o for the com- mon shipping descriptions and $1 63 for extra choice. Flour advanced 25 cents per barrel. Barley soared to $1 35, with lively trading on call, where the longs, seizing their opportunity, gave the shorts an unmer- ciful squeezing. Oats, corn and rye went up with the two leaders, and there was a general advance in mill- stuffs. Hay continued its upward course, with ex- cellent prospects for a further rise. This staple will be an article of luxury this year unless all current signs fail. The prosaic bean, too, caught the fever, and on Saturday there was a general advance, par- ticularly in Limas, which were affected by the de- creased acreage and the dry weather. The reported partial destruction of the Eastern crop by frost cre- ated another factor in favor of better quotations for canned and dried fruit later on in the season, but this far the market has made little or no response to the bullish conditions which have recently risen in the fruit trade. Tt will probably respond further along in the season, however. The present year is bound to be an interesting one to the farmer. He who gets a crop will be in clover, and he who does not will have to accept the situation with the best grace possible. The State will doubt- less average up well enough, thanks to its wonder- fully diversified climate. . It is one of the beauties of California that the very conditions which damage one section of the State produce successful results in sev- eral others. Merchandise is meeting with the usual demand on local and export account, and fluctuations are about average. Sugar has advanced, coal has declined and several other staples have moved about somewhat. The money market remains undisturbed, funds being in abundant supply at the usual rates of interest. e ———— There is no probability. that the report of McKin- as buyers are wa W ley’s intention to dismiss his private secretary has a word of truth in it. Mr. Porter has evidently gone so far as to offend a yellow correspondent by declining 4a axhibit the personal letters of the executive, AWAITING THE MESSAGE. Y the great mass of the American people the President’s message to Congress on the con- troversy with Spain is awaited this. morning with an eagerness in which there is no feeling of anxiety. On all sides there is confidence that the President will uphold the honor of the nation in all its just demands, and that whether the issue is peace or war the course of our Government will have the approval of civilization and humanity. It is everywheré wecognized that we are on the verge of war. Some hopes may still exist that Spain by yielding to the rightful claims of the United States on terms that we can accept may open a way for the continuance of peace, but such hopes are not founded on any substantial basis. They are the offspring of sentiment rather than of reason. Even those who cherish them because of an innate abhorrence of war hardly expect to see them realized. Throughout the country the impression prevails that the argument has been exhausted by diplomacy and that the issue now must be leit to the dread arbitrament of the sword. Moreover, if war is to come at all it will in all like- lihood come immediately. Congress will probably act upon the message as soon as it is received. The majority in the Senate and in the House have long since made up their minds upon the controversy and upon the course the nation should pursue. There will be of course some speech-making, but not much. The chances are that if the President’s message shows that Spain is still resolved to deny the justice which we demand action may be at once taken in both houses. Before this day closes, therefore, war may be declared and the battle begun. The cause of the United States is one which we can willingly submit to the judgment of any tribunal the conscience of man recognizes. Our right to demand redress for the wreck of the Maine and for the ter- mination of the horrors of war in Cuba is justifiable by the law of nations, the dictates of civilization and the instincts of humanity. Whether we have the sym- pathies of other countries or not in the contest counts for nothing. The right and the might of the quarrel are under the flag of the Union, and we can go for- ward careléss of what may be thought or said in other lands. There may be hostility in some quarters of civilized Europe to-day, but as sure as that truth | and justice are honored in the long run, our course will eventually receive the commendation of his- torians and good men in all countries. How long the threatened war is likely to last is a question few Americans have thought it worth while to seriously discuss. It is significant that with the exception of the stock markets in Wall street hardly any American industry has been affected by the men- ace of the war. The general trade and business of the people have gone along as undisturbed as if a war with Spain were a matter of no moment. This sanguine feeling may be one of over-confi- dence, but it shows at any rate the attitude of the nation. We are confident not only of our cause, but of our strength, and the President’s message, even if it leads to immediate war, will still be welcome to the | country. It is in that mood that Congress and the and ; people wait this morning. Whatever duty the issue | imposes will be met with courage, patriotism confidence. and WAR AND FINANCE. AR will speedily disclose the vexatious con- dition of our financial system and call the country’s attention sharply to the need of re- form. and civil administration concurrently out of current revenues. The Morrill tariff of 1862 was pressed and passed as a war measure to approximate revenue to expenditure, but in that respect was a failure. As in the war of 1812 and that with Mexico, the treasury was compelled to issue evidences of debt and to borrow on bonds. The Senate having recently affirmed by resolution that our bonds now outstanding may be paid in sil- ver at the option of the Government, and that de- claration being based on the existing law authorizing the issue of bonds, it will be seen that a Government call for a loan, under such law, is adumbrated by the | Senate’s action. As a borrower the Government is no more than an individual. Its ability to raise money by loans is limited by the same conditions. Among these is the ability to contract for the pay- ment of the loan in the same value as that which it receives. If war continue for a period which makes a bond issue necessary, the whole financial issue will be pre- | cipitated. It is probable that the Government yill not be able to borrow on a gold basis without prom- ising to pay on the same basis. Then Congress, if not in session, will be convened to effect the needed change in the law and provide for gold payment if gold is borrowed. This will test the patriotism of the silver members. War cannot be waged without money. With the country’s honor at stake, with our navy at sea and our land forces in action and revenues all devoted to the civil administration which must be maintained at home, we will see what the advocates of the silver standard will do. k They will probably attempt to compel recourse to ue similar to the greenback emission. Such an i issue, however, would be affected by the ability of the | Government to redeem it in the par money of the world, and as its volume increases so would its dis- count, and we ‘will go back to the foot of the ladder, where we stood in 1868, when resumption was undertaken by the funding of the greembacks and liquidation of the floating debt left by the Civil War. Out of it all the country may learn that prosperity in peace and power in war are alike dependent upon sound finance. If this probable issue arise within the next few months we will see who will be found standing by the administration and who will be against it by put- ting upon it the most serious embarrassment that can come to a nation engaged in a military struggle. The taxpayer is the final party in interest. He must provide out of his substance the money that pays armies and navies and fights battles. An issue of credit notes, like the greenbacks, which fall below par, increases the cost of war in exact proportion to its discount. If it be 50 per cent below par it means that, purchasing in that medium, the Government has to pay a double price for every shot fired and every ration issued, for it is bound to redeem its credit at par, as it did the greenbacks when they were funded. These details may be outside the daily knowledge of the busy taxpayer. but he gets knowledge of them in the form of increased taxation, which always fol- lows an unsound system of national finance. Terms mentioned by Spain as the only ones upon which she will consent to put into operation the justly celebrated armistice seem only to embody fresh insult to this country, There can be no ground for making an arrangement which for its integrity must in any measure depend upon the honor of Spain. perience proves that no nation can carry on war | “ESPEREN VOLVERNOS.” HE departure of Consul-General Lee and Vice- Consul Springer from Havana was made the occasion of an exhibition of studied insolence on the part of General Blanco and of open insults on the part of his subordinate officers and the Spanish popu- lace. Every indignity short of actual violence which rage could prompt mean and cowardly natures to commit was thrown in the face of the representatives of the United States. The general refused to see them, the lesser officers of the Palace sneered at them, the mob howled and hooted, and as a last taunt the Alfonso XII swung round at her anchor in the har- bor and showed her menacing guns to the Fern as the American ship started on her outward voyage. All this array of insult, insolence and threats was borne with dignity but not without wrath on the part of the Americans. From the deck of the Fern they sent back to Blanco, Havana and to Spain words of defiance that will be echoed throughout the United States wherever the news is read this morning. Brave, manly words they were; fitting answers to the coarse epithets and offensive insults with. which the Americans had been assailed. “You may tell Mr. Blanco for me,” said General Lee to the pilot, “that the Fern will be the last ship of the American navy that will ever go out 8f Havana harbor while the Spanish flag flies over Morro.” The farewell of Consul Springer was more laconic still. He sent back to the mob the phrase “Esperen volvernos” (await our return”). The American people will take these words as if uttered by themselves. The two phrases will furnish the war cry of the nation. Let Blanco and Havana await our return. It will not be long. Such insults to the representatives of the United States, made at | the very spot where cowardly treachery sent to death a crew of American seamen, adds the last spark needed to explode the wrath of the people into swift and terrible action. American warships will return to Havana. They will go there prepared to meet the guns of the Al- | fonso XII and all her consorts of the Spanish navy. They will go there, moreover, to stay until the Span- | ish flag is-hauled down from Morro. The prophecy | of Lee shall be fulfilled, and Blanco and all his black- guards shall speedily have occasion to remember the “esperen volvernos” sent back as a farewell message from the Fern. ZOLA AND THE FRENCH. T is gratifying to note from the European press : MUST I GET OUT? From the New York Herald. fegegeogrgaFeFagalal In yesterday's Examiner Ambrose Bierce had a sermon of “warning,” the text being our possible war with that there is already observable in Paris something | Spain. No ecritic is due more deference | * of a reaction from the violent antagonism aroused | ©n such matters than he, for not only | against Zola during his recent trial. Since the judg- | ment against him has been set aside on appeal the reaction will serve him in good stead if he should be brought to ‘trial again, and might possibly lead to his acquittal and possibly to a reconsideration of the case against Dreyfus. The Westminster Gazette in reviewing the case states that an evidence of the reaction is to be seen | in the comparatively large subscriptions which have | been collected to defray the cost of Zola’s defense, | and also in the responses that have been made to an appeal to the women of France to unite in a petition to the Government to undo the wrong done to Drey- fus. It is further noted that signs of popular feeling against the Jews are decreasing, and final’y the Ga- zette says: ‘It may yet be possible that the prisoner of the Tle du Diable will have a chance of vindicating himself in some way which will be in greater harmony | with uncoerced justice than the proceedings of the | Zola trial.” Whether the reaction will ever reach the extent which the friends of Zola so confidently expect may | be questioned, but that it will go far is not inherently improbable. The French are not an unjust nor vin- | dictive people. Their rage is sudden and furious, but | it has none of the elements of lasting and ineradic- | able hate. Their civil wars have been as fierce as any in history, but when once the passion of battle had spent its force the members of the contending fac- tions soon fraternized again. Catholics and Huguenots ceased to cut one another’s - throats in France long before rellgious animosities died out in other lands, and royalists and republicans that raged for each other’s blood during the Revolu- | tion harmonized to a great extent a few years | after, and many of them served as comrades in the |legions that bore the eagles of Napoleon over all ‘Europe. ; It is in French nature that there should be a re- action from the fury that broke out against Zola be- cause of his defense of Dreyfus, and it is to be hoped there will be an equal reaction from the rage against | Dreyfus himself. That evidences of the changed feel- | ing are so soon apparent is in itself a good sign. The whole civilized world is interested in this remark- | able controversy and will be glad of an outcome which will not only do justice to the two victims of Parisian wrath, but will show that Paris herself is capable of atoning for the wrongs she commits as | soon as she has the calmness to listen to the yoices of her better nature. Spain’s Embassador to England says that war be- tween his country and the United States would last for years and perhaps ruin both. There are reasons for | believing him in error. In the first place the diffi- | culty of ruining a ruin is obvious. It is analogous to | the old and unsolvéd problem of spoiling an egg well | advanced in decay. Of course America might be | ruined, but so might the earth be wiped out by the swish of a comet’s tail. There is no use in worrying about remote possibilities. Senor Quesada of the Junta keeps on saying what that body will and will not consent to as to the future of Cuba. He might as well accept the existing fact that affairs have progressed to such a point that the Junta is no longer playing first fiddle. That dis- tizguished body must inevitably accept whatever may be tendered after the bariners of Spain shall have left the island. — It is getting a little late in the game for seamen to desert on the pretext that there has been nothing done to avenge the loss of the Maine. People, view- ing the active war preparations, might ascribe ex- actly an opposite motive. —_— G The patriots who burned the boy King of Spain in effigy might easily have been'in better business. = Al- most any business short of robbing clothes lines would come under this head. Rev. Edwards Davis ought to return from his evan- gelistic tour long enough to convert his old flock irom the idea that while guiding them he misguided the funds of the church. LT R Perhaps it is not a violation of confidence to remark that Steve Elkins as a Presidential adviser is not up to the Hanna standard, and that confidence in Hanna is less than unanimous. The “musical wonder” is becoming'so common that soon the only child not to be regarded as a wonder ‘will be the one who isn’t “a wonder.” | | is he an able writer, but he is familiar with his subject, having had the very consider ble advantage of being a staff officer in a great war. Members of the staff of a commander in action learn much more than others of the force have any chance to. Yet I venture to disagree with Mr. Bierce in his ideas as to what it is likely will occur if we war with Spain. To begin with he says: ““The last word has not been spoken in the ship market, and it may well be that by secret purchases Spain has reduced the disparity; not all the purchases of warships are bulletined.” 1 dissent. Spain sees as clearly as we that war s imminent, and she knows, too, that no great power will permit any juggling in the turning over of war vessels to either of the combatants four hours or so before hostilities commence. The consent of the Government for which a warship is being, or has been, built, is necessary before a sale is pos- sible by the constructors, for they, much like other business men, wish to keep customers: when they once have them. I quote again: “If” (the value of the torpedo is great) “the disparity between the naval strength of the United States and that of Spain, as they stood before the present activity in purchase of ships, is not nearly so great as is complacently afiirmed.” No doubt the torpedo boat question is a serious one, but it seems to me that a torpedo flotilla is not nearly such a bugbear as most people imagine. These tiny craft have no coal endurance, and detached even a couple of hundred miles from their port of refuge they are much at the mercy of a skilled naval tactician who has cruisers at his command. I do not wish to be mis- understood; I am talking of the weak- ness of a torpedo flotilla for offensive purposes. The value of a dozen torpedo boats or destroyers attached to a squadron of battleships and cruisers. is another matter. Then they must be carefully reckoned with in- dubitably. Alone, a “mosquito fleet” does not constitute a very serious men- ace, although it’is pretty evident that the administration has insisted on Spain keéping hers at the other side of the Atlantic. B In diagonal opposition to this capa- ble writer I am inclined to think our superiority on the sea is much greater than we are accustomed to say it is. Truly it could be wished that the crews of all our ships were two-thirds Ameri- cans, but the fact that they are splen- didly officered makes up in great meas- ure that weak point. The discipline ob- taining in our navy is excellent; it is not equaled in any marine branch of national service excepting, possibly, those of Germany and Great Britain. It has been my fortune to see much of navies of many countries and I know of none except the Turkish where dis- cipline is more lax than it is in the ships of war of Spain. And Mr. Bierce to the contrary notwithstanding, disci- pline wins more battles than collective courage. It breeds confidence, and that is the prime factor in the decision of all struggles. Spain’s particular weakness, both in the army and the navy, is in her officers. ‘Where that unfortunate country got her 100,000 troops in Cuba, “fully one- half of whom are veterans,” or where Mr. Bierce got the notion that she had them, I am unaware. The ‘‘veterans’” Spain has in Cuba are principally raw récruits, badly drilled and not well of- ficered. (I am not making this state- ment idly; it would be confirmed by anyone who has seen the Spanish army in Cuba within a year.) Mr. Bierce further says: “If it please ‘whatever gods may be’ to raise up against us on the sea a Spanish Nelson, denying us one of the same sort, there will be lamentation in the land— a lamentation that even the chin-thunder of talking Bob Evans cannot drown.” So far as the possibility of the rising of a great genius is concerned that sav- ors much of the “Lucky shot” of Mr. Irving M. Scott, which this gentleman with whom' I controvert so mercilessly satirized when war .cith Great Britain over affairs Venezuelan was in the air. A writer in this paper once said, “It is essential to face the situation as it is; not as we dream it might be.” That is clearly true, and it is scarcely sensible to estimate our chancea of succeeding OUR CHANCES WITH SPAIN. BY WILLIAM C. BOYNS. o x| o el g e | in our war whilst counting possible | Nelsons and Napoleons. We are quite | as likely to develop them as is the en- | emy; indeed, it is more reasonable to suppose that we shall, for having had | somewhat extensive opportunities of | viewing men and things I -m imbued With the idea that the average Ameri- can brain is usually more capable than the Spanish—it is more fertile in ideas; and therefore the probabilities of evolv- | ing a genius are greater. | This trouble is not similar to those | which bred the cries of “On to Rich.- | mond!” and “A Berlin!” ries of the combatants in each of these instances were contiguous. The foes in the former instance were nearly on equality, but Spain’s only equality in this dispute is in the number of ships she possesses. Incidentally the cry of “A Berlin!” might have had its echo in reality but for the character of the French officers, and in that one point | alone we have an advantage which the Spanish will find cannot be easily over- come. ! In conclusion this is quoted: | ‘If we must make war let us make it * * remembering that it is a three- | handed game, Chance being the third | player. He is sometimes the strongest of the three and gives his assistance to the weakest.” The man who goes into a fight with a | heart so weak that he imagines he may | be “knocked out” by “Chance” is half- | defeated before the first blow is struck. | I see no possible “Chance” in the out- come of this war. Of military opera»i tions, in all shuman probability there will be scarcely any, and our advantage | on the sea is so great that we may with | well-placed confidence assume that the | naval warfare will be short, with vic- | tory for us as its end. The immense advantages of docks, coal and general supplies easily available, as well as ships and well trained men, are ours,and | they certainly outweigh any Nelson of | the imagination—even when so great| as that of Mr. Bierce. | As a patriotic citizen I hope we may | yet avert war, and so do all senzible people. The horrors,of even the small- est struggle between nations are far more dreadful than can be imagined by those who have not seen the actuality, but if it must come I can see no reason for believing but that we shall conquer quickly and easily. e NEWS OF FOREIGN NAVIES. Three torpedo-boat destroyers are com- pleting at Genoa for the Itallan navy. | They are of 260 tons displacement and 200 feet in length, calculated to make &8 knots. They bave been named the Ful- mine, Peliicano and Condor. The "armored cruiser building at St. Nazaire for the French navy is to be com- pleted by June, 1901. The vessel is 9710 tons displacement, 433 feet 4 inches™length on water line and 59 feet 7 inches beain. The total cost is estimated at $3,094,000, of ‘which hull and fittings amount to $1,821,- 740 and the boilers $331,000. Reports recelved at the British Admir- alty are rather unfavorable on the Belle- ville boilers in the Powerful. The ship consumed 8300 tons of coal making the passage from Plymouth, 49 days’ actual steaming. Her average speed was oaly 11% knots per hour, or 276 miles a day, and she used 65 tons daily to make this distance. In addition the auxiliary ma- chinery copsumed 40 tons daily, bringing the total up to 105 tons. The consumption reached the extraordinary figure of 2% pounds per horse power per hour, about double what it ought to be. An Atlantic liner of like size would not use over 40 tons daily to steam at the rate of 114 knots ana the auxiliary machinery woula not require more than one-fourth of tha coal used for like purposes in the Power=- ful. The territo- | The keel of the Formidable, British bat- tle-ship of 15,000 tons, was laid March 21 at Portsmouth dockyard. Its dimensions are 400 feet in lehgth, 75 feet beam and 26 feet 9 Inches mean draught. She is ‘0 have engines of 15,000 horse-power, calcu- ‘ated to give a speed of 18 knots. Ther2 will be expended $2,329,00 upon her con- struction during the present fiscal year, and will probably be completed in less than two years. A Japanese armored cruiser named Asama was launched at Elswick, March 22 The ship is 408 feet in length, 67 teet breadth and displaces.9750 tons on 2 mear draught of 24 feet 3 inches. She has an ali-around water-line belt of 7-inch Har- veyized steel and transverse steel armcr tulkheads 6 inches thick. The battery consists of four 8-inch wire-wound rifles in two barbettes, fourteen 6-inch quick- firers, twelve 12-pounders, seven 3-pound- ers and five submerged torpedo tubes. A speed of 21% knots is confidently expected. Of the forty-five million doliars assigned by the Czar for the increase of the navy eater part will be applied to the ;‘:x?ldflg of armored ships, cruisers, tor- pedo-boat destroyers and a torpedo-buat flotilla. Nearly all the new vesvue'ls al'; to be built in the yards of the Neva m; only a small part of the orders will be given to the French. The visit of Ch:u‘le? Cramp to St. Petersburg at the present time is somewhat mysterious, and not a word has been said by him explaining why he should be in Russia. The larga pr&specti ve shipbuilding ardgrs may have some connection with Cramp’s trip, nnohs branch yard at St. Petersburg under t Y Cramp syndicate management is not u.;l probable. Palmers in England run the Spanish dockyard at Bilbao, and 't e Armstrong Company at Elswick have - shipyard and armor plant in the Bay o Naples and a shipbuilding plant in Japan. The Russian armed fleet in Aslatic waters consists at the present time of two battle-ships, Sissoi Veliky and Na varin, of §8%0 and 9746 tons respectively, also the following armored cruisers: Rurik, 10,923 tons; Rossia, 12,130 tons; Ad- miral Nachimoff, 7782 tons; Vladimir Mousmach, 579 tons, and Dimitri Dons- kol, 5833 tons. The cruisers and gunboats number thirteen, with an aggregate dis- pincement of 18,312 tons, making a total Aect of 20 ships of 79,462 tons. COLLECTED IN THE CORRIDORS. L. M. Grant of Salinas is a guest at the Grand. F. Koltchoft of St. Michael, Alaska, Is a guest at the Russ. J. A. Vandegrift- and wife are at the Palace from Pittsburg. C. C. Merriman, a fruit man of Fresno, is a guest at-the Grand. . C. C. Royce is one of the late overland arrivals at the California. Andrew Brown, a merchant of Kern- ville, is staying at the Grand. George Miles of Boston is one of yes- terday’s arrivals at the Occidental. Mr. and Mrs. J. Boardman Cann, of New York, are staying at the Palace. Armand Latigue, a traveler from Dijon, France, is registered at the California. . H. Thorp of Sacramento and J. T. Cox of Folsom are both registered at the Grand. State Senator E. C. Voorheis has come down from Sutter Creek and is a guest at the Palace. E. A. Rockwood of buffalo, N. Y., is at the Occidental, accompanied by his wife and son. Registered at the Occidental are J. B. Morhead of Franklin, Pa., and J. D. Freeth of Honolulu. Mr. and Mrs. C.'S. Cook of New York and R. W. James of Washington, D. C., all arrived at the Lick yesterday. B. W. Dodge of New York is at the Lick House with his bride. He is mak~ ing a honeymoon tour of the coast. Norman H. Ellingworth'and D. H. El- lingworth are two young Englishmen wha arrived at the Palace last night on a tour of the world. George F. Tilton, the intrepid whaler who came over the ice from Point Bar- row, is at the Russ with his Esquimaux companions, Mr. and Mrs. Ticky. Mr. and Mrs. Joseph H. Cass and fam- ily of Tyrone, Pa. and Mr. and Mrs. John Carlile of Napier, New Zealand, are among the late arrivals at the Palace. “Buck” Balley, the best known of the Puget Sound tugboat captains, is regls- tered at the Baldwin from Port Towns- end. *“Buck” arrived yesterday with the Corona, which he toweéd down to this port from tiae Sound. “Buck’ commands the Tyee and is known to every seafaring man who has sailed into any of the Sound ports during the last twenty years. ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. FORTRESS—S., City. The largest fort- ress in the United States is Fortress Mon- roe, at Old Peint Comfort, Va. CENTRAL PARK—Mrs. H., City. There is no hotel in Central Park, New York, but there is a restaurant and re- freshment place that is known as the Casino. CANDLES—Enquirer, City. Ornamental candles are frequently used for decorative purposes_on tables at banquets and pri- vate pafties in all parts of America. Lighted candles in candelabra are sel- dom used at this time. TWO TALL BUILDINGS—The Claus Spreckels building at Third and Market streets is 327 feet to the top of the bird cage on the tower. The City Hall dome is 419 feet six inches to the top of the platform on which Igsts the wingless angel. ANGLO-SAXON —A. L. J., City. The term Anglo-Saxon is applied to the Eng- lish race; to all persons in Great Britain and Ireland, in the United States and their dependencies, who belong, actually or nominally, nearly or remotely, to the Teutonic stock of England. In the widest | sense it is a%plled to all English-speak- ing or English-appearing people. Cal. glace fruit 50c per Ib at Townsend's.* Special i:formation supplied” dally to business houses and public men by the Press Clipping Bureau (Allen's), 510 Mont- gomery street. Telephone Main 1042. * —_———— House and floor, paints, stains,” var- nishes, gold paint, liquid glue and paste in small cans for family use in_ Artists’ Material Department at Sanborn & Vall's. . —_———— The will of the late Isaac A. Sheppard, a stove manufacturer in Philadelphia, contains provision for the payment of a sum equal to two weeks’ pay to each per- son who bad been in his employ two years or more. e DU “‘Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup'’ Has been used over fifty years by militons of mothers for their children while Teething with perfect success. It scothes 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 Syrup. 2%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, $5; longer stay, $2 50 per day. Apply 4 New Montgomery st., S. F., or A. W. Bailey, mgr. Hotel del Corona- do, late of Htl Colorado, Glenwood Spgs, Colo. —_—————————— Twelve million silk hats are made an- nually in theé United Kingdom. ADVERTISEMENTS.