The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 12, 1898, Page 6

THURSDAY...... ...MAY 12, 1898 JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Proprietor. Address All Communications to W, S. LEAKE, Manager, PUBLICATION OFFiCE......Market and Third Sts., S. F. Telephone Main 1868 2 EDITORIAL ROOMS..........2(7 to 22| Stevenson Street Telephone Main 1874 THE AN FRANCISCO CALL (DAILY AND SUNDAY) !s served by carriers In this city and surrounding towns for 15 cents a week. By mall $6 per year; per month 66 cents. THE WEEKLY CALL...... NEW YORK OFFICE.~ Room 188, World Building DAVID ALLEN, Advertising Representative. WASHINGTON (D. C.) OFFICE...............Rigge Houee C. €. CARLTON, Correspondent. CHICAGO OFFICE.... ..Marquette Bullding C.GEORGE KROGNESS, Advertising Representative. ....... One year, by mail, $1.50 +seees-..908 Broadway 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 Misslon street, open until 10 o'clock. 2291 Market street, corner Sixteenth, open until 9 o'clock. 2518 Mission street, open untll 9 o'clock. 106 Eleventh street, open untll 9 o'clock. 1605 Polk street, open until 9:30 o'clock. NW. corner Twenty-second ana Kentucky streets, open untll 9 o'clock. — AMUSEMENTS. Baldwin—«Tn Old Japan.” Columbia—~Monbars " California—"The Ensign.” Alcazar—"Niobe Morosco's—"The Prisoner of Alglers.” Tivoli—Ship Ahoy." Orphen Vaudeville. Mechanics' Pavilion—Masonic Festival Sherman, Clay Hall—Paloma Schramm, Saturday afternoon. Sherman, Clay Hali—Kneisel Quartet, Monday, May 16. Metropolitan_Temple—Testimonial to Fritz Scheel, Sunday &ftern con, May 15. The Chutes—Zoo, Vandeville, and “Visions of Art. Olympia—Corner Mason and Eddy etreets, Spectaliies. Central Park—Dog and Pony Show. Sutro Baths—Swimming. E] Campo—Music. daneing boating, fishing, every Sunday, California Jockey Ciub, Oakland—Races to-day.i AUCTION SALES. day , May 12. Furniture, at By Frank W. Butterfie urniture, at 250 Turk street, 631 Post street, at 11 0'clock. at 2 o'clock. SACRAMENTO’'S ‘“OLD WOM@N.” T‘HERE is in Sacx;amemo a well understood habit is Also, F' of referring to the Record-Union as the “Old Woman.” That this title is an unmerited re- | flection upon age and upon the sex we delight to | honor nobody who has experienced the sorrow of | ding that paper will think of denying. The Record- Union is a senile old woman if a woman at all. Upon its editorial page it showers the evidence of its dotage. It has occasionally been led so far from the path of intellectual integrity as to assail The Call. The latest grievance of the Old Woman (we use the term not with unqualified approval) is that this paper has shown the water drank in Sacramento to be unfit for such purpose. For having done so the | reward is a lack of appreciation amounting to actual | abuse. It has been necessary to demonstrate that the | water furnished the capital city is unfit for use, that | it contains the germs of fever, that the pollution | comes from a specific source. For having performed Call is subjected to various Yet every all ion it made in connection matter is true, every warning based upon a The Record-Union is aware | | a simple duty The epithets. with the knowledge of the facts. It admits the facts, but it objects to the cir- cumstance that a journal not printed there should | have presumed, for the good of Sacramento, to set | tions which it was the bounden duty of | the Sacramento papers to set forth themselves. In the article abusing The Call this Old Woman, | growing garrulous, seems unaware of the fact that 1its every assertion among those which have | It even enlarges of this. forth con oused its ire to be true. upon | them. For instance it says: ¢ has two great, immediate and pressing clear, pure water supply and completion of the sew 'stem, that the abominable cesspools may be | abandoned, and the storage of filth under the noses of every household be done away with. | Until this people rise to the level of these'great needs | and order them supplied, we must expect to be subject to such smirching as the sensational press has given us. We must expect cleanly people to speak ill of us; we must expect seasons of abnormal sickness, and when | ilence comes into the State we must expect it to find »ugenial home among us. a Such is exactly the position taken by The Call, and for having taken it the Old Woman abuses this paper in the same article. Verily the Old Woman needs looking aiter. Possibly she has indulged to excess in catnip tea. THE FEAT OF THE WINSLOW. GALLANT dash of the American torpedo boat f\ Winslow into Cardenas Bay on Monday brought on a contest with three Spanish gun- boats, which resulted in another demonstration of the superiority of the gunners of our navy over those in the Spanish service. Though the Winslow was at one time within 1500 yards of the gunboats she was never touched by shot or shell, while, on the other hand, her fire was so accurate that the enemy was compelled to retire to the protection of the forts, carrying with them one of their boats in a disabled condition. In this contest the superiority of numbers and weight of guns were overwhelmingly on the side of the Spanish. A single gunboat ought to be more than a match for a torpedo boat in a fight at long range. Three gunboats against one torpedo boat was therefore an instance in which the odds against the torpedo boat were so great as to make the contest on her part seem as one of bravado or desperate daring rather than a well-considered feat of war. The result showed, however, that the American commander had not engaged in any foolish or reck- less adventure for the mere sake of showing valor and winning a reputation. The Spaniards fired ac- curately enough at first, but imn ediately afterward their shots were wild. According to the reports “they seem to have been firing at the wide, wide world” rather than at the little Winslow. Very different was the fire of the American gunners. The accuracy of their aim improved a; the fight went on and they acquired a better knowledge of the range. It is evident from this that the excitement of battle and the presence of danger drives the Spaniard wild, but steadies the American to his work and gives him a precision of eye and hand he could hardly attain in peaceful target practice. This difference between the manhood of the crews more than counterbalances any possible superiori - ships and guns the Spaniards might be able to bring against an American fleet or ship during the war, We can therefore await the result of every approach- ing contest with an even greater assurance of victory than we have hitherto felt. The Spaniards may be brave, and their- ships may be strong, but in these days of long range guns neither courage nor strength _will avail a nation whose soldic's grow wild and lose their heads at the very time they most need cool brains, clear eyes and steady hands, | :‘build such a monument as will forever honor THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, THURSDAY, MAY 12, 1898. THE VICTORY OF MANILA BAY. MERICAN fighters have always been noted f\ for the keenness and courage of their initia- tive. A British officer who watched the storming of Chapultepec and the entry of Scott’s little army into the capital of Mexico said that in self- reliance, courage and initiative it had no equal in military history, That final action of our war with Mexico was commemorated forever. General Scott levied a fine upon the City of Mexico which was used in founding the Soldiers’ Home at Georgetown, in the Dstrict of Columbia, which is to this republic what the Hotel des Invalides is to France. It shelters the spent and homeless soldier in his old age and perpetuates the memory of gallant action on a foreign soil. The American faculty of initlative has just been il- lustrated again in the victory of Manila Bay. Dewey, nearly 7000 miles away from his base of supplies, with 2000 men under his command, the deck under foot and sky overhead, sailed into a fortified port and, moving between the fire of land batteries and that of the enemy’s fleet, poured hot broadsides into both until the fleet was destroyed and the batteries were silenced. The action in Caesar’s military career which stands most prominently in front in the his- tory of his campaigns was his initiative when engaged in the siege of a walled city in Gaul. With all of his force occupied with the enemy protected in his front by strong and high walls, he was suddenly at- tacked in the rear by a superior force that had marched to raise the siege. If he faced the new dan- ger a sally from the city would attack his rear. In- stantly he ordered a new formation by making his army face both ways. The siege went on, and at the same time the battle in the open fields was fought, and the walls were breached at the moment th: army of relief surrendered. These land tactics were never reproduced on the water until Dewey fought the land batteries on one side and the fleet of Montijo on the other and destroyed both. Though the gallant action was 7000 miles away its purpose was the defense of San Francisco. If Montijo's fleet had survived it would have ravaged our coasts and possibly this city might have been put under tribute. In no part of the world was news of the battle more anxiously awaited than here, and no- where did the flags ripple in the breeze with a higher thrill than when every halyard shook its bunting out in celebration of our delivery from dangzer and in honor of the victory of Manila Bay. That victory should have lasting memorial ‘here. In this seaport city, where the wealth and commerce of our Pacific Coast have ti.eir highest and most per- manent expression, there should be kept in everlast- ing memory this battle at the antipodes, fought and won for us. On the Spanish fleet are guns and armor enough to the American navy and the commander and men who have placed our self-reliant spirit and dashing initia- tive in advance of the world. Let the transport ships which sail soon for the scene of this action in the far Philippines be directed to bring back to San Francisco such guns and other permanent material as may be desirable as trophies from the Spanish fleet, to be wrought into a monu- ment that will tell forever the story of Dewey’s vic- tory. AFTER THE IS OVER. T was apparent in the beginning that the real bur- den of responsibility assumed by the United States would appear after our account with Spain is WAR settled. We have to do things during the war that impose peculiar responsibility. The Spanish fleet in the Phil- | ippines had to be sought out and destroyed to make our Pacific Coast safe. But when we did it we de- stroyed Spain’s power to protect the civilized people | of the Philippines from massacre by the insurgent descendants of the Malay head-hunters. Talk about a republic in those islands is like talk about a Sioux or Apache republic in Dakota or Arizona. Not only are those eight millions of mongrels ignorant of self- government, but they know nothing of any govern- | ment and respect none except one stréng enough to restrain by force their disposition to murder and rapine. They are Malays crossed on a half dozen aboriginal tribes which were lower than any of our red Indians, and this interesting result has been mixed | with Chinese, Portuguese and Spanish blood until there are millions of mongrels who are at once the despair of the ethnologist and the statesman. Sev- eral members of Congress speak of planting the stars and stripes permanently over those people and extend- | ing to them our institutions, and no doubt a strong party will appear in advocacy of such an outcome. The fitness of that people to receive our birthright will have been tested, meantime. Their alertness in regarding the overthrow of Spanish authority as in- tended to give them a chance to sack hospitals, steal military stores and enter upon a career of loot and murder should satisfy any one as to their fitness to receive Anglo-Saxon institutions. It is highly probable that when we land troops at Manila these head-hunting savages will see in them simply the representatives of orderly government and will attack them as they have the Spanish forces. In our ardor we are too apt to treat all revolutionists as the analogues of our forefathers, who were English gentlemen, trained in the science of government and wise in the ways of legal order. Turning from the Philippines to Cuba, we have more of the mongrel class to deal with. Maceo, the first insurgent chief, was a half-negro, and his suc- cessor, Gomez, is bred the same way. It is already apparent that Gomez has great expectations. A few days ago he stated the simple principle on which he conducts his campaign by saying, “It is a war of ex- termination,” and now he is reported to have notified the President that our troops should not be landed in Cuba, but that we should furnish him with arms and ammunition—of course to continue his war of exter- mination. It will be necessary to teach Gomez and Aguinaldo, the Philippine rebel general, that we are not engaged in the business of furnishing savages the means of carrying on a war of extermination. We have set out to do an unplcasant duly in the case of Spain, and when that is done we may have upon our hands the task of exterminating the Cuba exterminat- ors and quelling the Philippine head-hunters. e e e The Denver man who threw a stone into a can of nitro-glycerine for the fun of seeing an explosion did not remain in the vicinity long enough to fully grasp the impressiveness of the merriment he was creating. The Coroner, however, is conscientiously trying to find him. Dewey is being praised by the English press. We sometimes quarrel with our British friends, but it must be acknowledged that they do like a fighter. Aside from being another style of cufthroats, the Philippine insurgents seem to be about of a piece with their onoressors FINANCES OF THE CHARTER. fl FEW days ago The Call published a financial statement compiled by Auditor Broderick, in which it was shown by figures that the pro- posed charter, unless the limit on taxation is sus- pended, will create a deficit of $r,121,788 the first year it is put in operation. The answer of the char- ter organ to this is that the Auditor’s figures are “misleading” and inspired by the sugar trust. No attempt is made to refute Mr. Broderick’s conclusions nor—except in a few immaterial instances—to modify his estimates. The charter organ relies entirely upoa its allegation that the Auditor is an enemy of gocd government and working with the sugar trust to prevent the creation of a Czar Mayor in San Fran- cisco. Yet it is susceptible of proof that the Auditor’s es- timates of increased expenditures under the charter are exceedingly modest. He figures that the increase in the Board of Public Works, which is designed to succeed the Street Department system, will amount to but $65,000 annually. The charter organ says “the only salaries fixed in this department are $12,000 for the three Commissioners and $1800 for the sec- retary.” And then it adds: “The compensation of all other officials in the department is fixed by the Commissioners, but the total is absolutely fixed by the charter not to exceed the amount to be appro- priated by the Supervisors.” Here, then, is the joker. The Board of Public Works may fix the salaries of the clerks, superin- tendents, inspectors, engineers, surveyors, deputies, architects and workmen whom it is authorized to employ under section 3 of chapter 1, article VI. The only check upon its expenditures for this purpose is the forbearance of the Supervisors. How would this forbearance be expanded, after the adoption of the charter, if the Board of Public Works should pro- | pose to let the Supervisors name about half its em- ployes? It is notorious that discretion as to fixing salaries always results in high salaries. Take the present Board of Health, for instance. Its statutory inspectors receive $100 a month; its additional in- spectors, whose salaries are fixed by the board, $200. It is safe to say that under the system outlined | $250,000 would not meet the increased requirements of the proposed Board of Public Works. The Auditor’s statement shows that there are upon the face of the proposed charter increased expendi- tures amounting to $750,400, and decreases amount- ing to $156,065—a net increase of $503,435. Unless there is an increase in the value of real and personal property beyond what the Assessor now returns as its cost value there can be raised under the charter by taxation only about $3,460,000. The revenuefrom other sources will yield not over $1,300,000. Adding an appropriation for the parks of $242,200 and $60,000 for the interest account and sinking funds, and the amount that can be raised under the charter for con- ducting the government is $5,062,200. The appropria- tions for the year 1807-08 aggregate $5,400,553 Add to this the estimated deficit for this year, $100,000, and the net increases provided for by the charter, $503,435, and the total amount required is $6,183,088. There will be, therefore, unless the charter limit is ’suspended, an annual deficit of $1,121,788. This is not taking into account the salary fixing abilities of a Board of Public Works in combination with a Czar Mayor and a hungry ring of Supervisors. These figures cannot be dismissed with light and airy allegations about sugar trusts and an iconoclastic Auditor. If they are reliable the adoption/of the charter will be in the nature of a financi: calamity. It ought to be somebody’s duty to demonstrate their incorrectness—if they are incorrect. — THE LOS ANGELES WATER FIGHT. LTHOUGH less than ninety days remain for /E\ the Councilmen of Los Angeles to arrange for the purchase of the improvements of the water company and thus regain for the city the valuable water rights leased out for a song in the days when Los Angeles was a hamlet, next to nothing has been done to accomplish that purpose. Up to this time the water company has not even made a statement of the value of its improvements, and until that is done everything else must wait. By way of making at least a pretense at recovering the property, the Council at its last mecting passed a resolution demanding a statement from the com- pany. Such a resolution has a businesslike sound, but then equally strong and full sounding resolutions have been passed before. The water company has ig- _nored those of the past, and it is a fair assumption it will ignore this one also. Something more than a formal resolution of demand will be necessary to bring that cunning corporation to time. The game now being played by the water company in Los Angeles is the boldest that has ever yet been put up by a water company anywhere in California to enrich itself at the expense of the people. The feat recently accomplished by which water rates were raised in Oakland is one of mild-mannered modesty in comparison with the grat in the City of Angels. The Oakland water companies own the property out of which they are to make exorbitant rates, but the Los Angeles corporation aims to rob the people not only by high rates; but of the water property itself. It is high time for the people of Los Angeles to bestir themselves in defense of their property and rights. The Councilmen may be well meaning, but they are certainly not acting with the force required to baffle the greedy and unscrupulous men who are planning to hold the leased water rights as if they were private property. Ninety days is a short time in which to make estimates of the company’s im- provements and arrange for purchasing them. The company has been fighting for delay all along and will continue such tactics to the end, for to it delay means victory. The people must move in or- der to win. The Council having now passed once more the usual resolution demanding a stztement from the company, the people should see té it that this time the resolution has vigor behind it and that the demand is enforced. Only a few days ago a learned contemporary ex- plained and extolled the wisdom of the Government “in not giving Captain Sigsbee a new command. Mean- time Captain Sigsbee is on the high seas as com- mander of the St. Paul, a circumstance showing that either the Government or the contemporary needs a guardian. Neither did Secretary Long waste any words in sending orders to Dewey. His instructions constitute a model of brevity, and the ultimate effect of them shows that they were about right in other respects. Yellow journalism is engaged in committing hara-_ kiri. The spectacle of its last agony is not pleasant, but, considering how seriously yellow journalism was in need of killing, can be endured. — New York society men who have joined Roose- velt’s “rough riders” will find the difference between chasing an aniseseed bag in time of peace and chas- ling a live Spaniard to be considerable. “RETURNED ON ACCOUNT OF THE WAR. El Internacional, a St. Louis magazine. has the distinction of being the first publication re- turned by the United States Postoffice be- cause of war. lation abroad, and a refused for this reason. This paper has quite a circu- part of its mail was The above is a fac-simile of one of the envelopes returned by Postmaster Carlisle. COLLECTED IN THE CORRIDORS D. R. Cameron of Hanford is registered at the Lick. Brigadier General M. W. Muller of Fresno is at the California. Dr. A. M. Porter and family of Spring- field, Ohlo, are at the Grand. E. 8. de Golyer, a wealthy- mining man ot Los Angeles, is at the Palace. J. R. McKinne and family of Colorado Springs are staying at the Palace. L. G. Lautzenhiser, a wealthy iron manufacturer of Denver, is at the Grand. C. W. Beale, a mining man of Wallace, Idaho, will be at the Occldental for a few days. George R. Carson, with his wife and daughter of New Almaden, are at the Oc- cidental. J. P. O'Brien, an attorney of Sonora, any J. Grover, a merchant of Colusa, are at the Grand. Captain Charles H. Dasher of the First Battalion, California Volunteers, regis- tered at the Baldwin. A. Gartenlaub, a prominent merchant of Fresno, and Datus E. Smith, a real es- tate man of Pasadena, are stopping at the Occidental. Adjutant Gen- 0000000000 e © eral Barrett told o PLAYED o & good story at ° THE o the banquet giv- en to the Cali- O SAME GAME. © fornia Volunteers o O Tuesday night. 0000000000 The time was during the civil war, the place the siege of Vicksburg, and the chief actor the general himself, who at that time was a private in the service of the Union army. It was at dead of night, and both ar- mies were encamped within a short dis- tance of each other, and although hostili- ties had temporarily ceased the crack of a rifle from the sharpshooters on the op- posing sides resounded now and then, and the intense darkness did not always in- terfere with the unerring accuracy of the death dealers. About 1 o'clock in the morning Private Barrett happened to espy a dead tree at a distance of 500 feet from his camp, and the thought of what a beautiful vantage place to kill off some rebels from behind that fallen log when the dawn would ap- pear flashed through his brain. He im- mediately proceeded to carry his idea into effect, and with his rifle he cautious- ly approached the defunct tree. The dan- ger of this act must be apparent when it is known that even the rustle of a leaf would attract the deadly aim of a score of sharpshooters, but Barrett was young and full of an ambitious desire to “pick off” a few “Johnnies” in return for simi- lar compliments extended to some of his unfortunate companions. He had crept on all-fours to within about fifty feet of his objective point when he stopped to put a chew of tobaceo in his mouth, prob- ably to give him more courage. This lit- tle act, insignificant as it may seem, no doubt saved his life, for at that moment, in the stillness of the night he heard a Volce from behind the fallen tree say, “Won’t we give those Yankees fits in the morning?’ Two of the rebels had con- celved the same idea as Barrett and were there before him. The moment was a critical one, but Barrett’s nerve was with bim and he quietly retraced his steps and breathed a sigh of relief when he was safe on his own ground once more. As soon as dawn appeared two “John- nies” were sent to the great beyond by the bullets of fifty rifles simultaneously leveled at them by the same number of Yankee sharpshooters, many of whom are alive to-day simply because Barrett chewed tobacco on that eventful night. Cy Mulkey of Napa is at the Grand and is making arrangements to go to Alaska to inquire into the mining future of that country. George F. Flat; a wealthy hat manu- facturer of New York, James S. Phillips, TU. 8. N., of Mare Island, and F. H. Har- ris of Newark, N. J., are at the Palace. Mrs. George W. Gardiner and Mrs. John C. Hutchins of Cleveland, Ohio, and Mrs. Fdward B. Mason of Brunswick, Maine, a party of tourists, are at the Baldwin. Colonel J. R. Howell, Horatio 8. Man- ning, J. O. Reis and 8. B. Carleton have gone East, the last named on a business trip, the others to attend the session of the Grand Lodge of Elks. ¢. R. Clow, a well and favorally known merchant of Chicago, and F. W. Brainard, superintenderit of the time ser- vice Western Union Telegraph service, after a visit of several days here have returned to Chicago. B, L. Bartlett, the Los Gatos capitalist, is at the Lick. He has come to this city to be treated for his eyesight and hear- ing, both of which have been sadly fail- ing for some time past. He s accompa- nied by his nephew, Starr Lee. ——— THE WOMAN'S AUXILIARY. Fditor of the San Francisco Call: Nei- ther sleeping nor dead is the Woman's Corps Auxiliary to the Grand Army of the Republic. Quiet we have been, in that Way preferring to make practical demon- stration that it's work, not words, that tells. As we have worked for the poor, the matmed soldiers of our last cfvil war and their families, even at this late date having more calls upon our charity than ever (as they are all more advanced in years); as we have tended to their tem- poral comforts and have given our sym- pathy in thelr spiritual needs, so stand we all now, thousands of patriotic women auxiliary to the G. A. R., ready to do all in our power for Old Glory and its de- fenders “on land or sea, by sea or shore™ —command and we obey. We, the moth- ers; do you think? We, who gave of our bodies to your life; we, who nursed you in childhood; we, who noted the first growth of your soul; we, who stand ready in sick- ness or in health; we, who take you for better or for worse; we, who smooth your pillow in babyhood, who worship and love ou In manhood; we, who minister to you Kl failing health, until at last parted by death still strew flowers up?g {our grave. Dd you think? Now his comin; you in wo: le, we are not with ahd Seed? " Thimk! T8 it Rossible that"we, o Jo5 R e B een o , even in 3 sake you-—never! “‘Ask and ye -‘h‘;?l °n-F cetve. st, our Lord, commands, 1 “and it shall be given yow.” Do not ‘when nof “the d ‘offers of limb ife, given by sons, ers, S- ds, fathera gar!-nmw the i ge g‘:um resel lorce, .the 800 LA rrent, the great mo‘&:- mn't t wonderful element, that grand, strong force for good, the mother love ‘‘deep, deep as the sea and as white as fits foam.” Many know it to be, and some are still “entertaining angels unawares.” Be that as it may, our record in the past as auxiliary to the G. A. R. proves the statement correct that when the hour etrikes and honor calls we are ready to respond for the glory of Old Glory, for the comfort of our fellowman, and with full asurance that our cause is just, and that *“‘truth is mighty and must prevail.” Yours in F. C. L., ALMA E. KEITH, Menfigar&ol Lincoln Woman's Relief Corps ALMA E. KEITH, GOD BLESS THE YANKEE TAR. Oht See cur Yankes ssflor, with Hayana en hiy He s nursing little Cuba and soon will make er free: He has heard her cry for Freedom, as it rolled across the sea, For peace upon her shores. He has heard the clank of fetters, locked by cruel parent Spain, Upon the souls of little ones, who writhe in mortal pain; ‘Who, famished, gaunt, with bloodless lips; mark the wake of 'Weyler's train, As he marched across the sea. He has heard the groans of w me Dressed, faint and sore, | o ‘Who have iabored on without reward to fill the tyrant's store. While Spain looked on with haughty mien, de- manding more and more, great her lust for greed. He has heard the pravers of women as they cried to God for bread, For the babes they to their bosoms pressed, tho' long since cold and dead: He has heard their death ery bittér, as the and leond ‘within hi walls, Entrance is only to be obtained through well-guard- ed gateways, from the lower ' batteries and the mole, while sentinels stand vlgi- lant on every parapet. It is only by stealth that photographs can be taken of these grim gray walls, the S| ish offi- cials seeming to think that they are 8as effective for defense as in the days they were first built, two or thres hundred years ago. The port, according to an American who has recently left that place, is In a fair condition of defense, and will be able to hold its own for some time against our fleet. The town was originally protected by a wall of stone, which completely en- circled it. This has to some extent dis- appeared, but is still good on the sids next the sea. The wall 18 of stone, thirty feet thick at the base and some twemhy at the top, and is about forty feet high. It is considered invulnerable except frm:n the heaviest guns. The Spaniards have recently erected some fifteen or sixteen ten-inch guns in modern batteries, and he.ge alsodplanted the harbor with mines and torpedoes. The fleet could not conceal itself in the harbor, however, for, although our ships might not be able to reduce the batteries, they could, nevertheless, sink the tor- pedo-boats lying at anchor at long range. San Juan is a sickly city In the summer season, as it expects, and invariably re- celves, a visit from Yellow Jack, who takes his vietims mainly from the un- atclimated classes. The houses of the city, too, are crowded together after the manner of those in the older portion of Havana, while the -narrow and filthy streets are reeking reservoirs of corrup- tion and disease. Notwithstanding this, however, there is a fine residential class here composed of native and Spanish stock, and if the stranger brings good letters of introduction he will be hospit- ably recelved. That is, according to Spanish ideas of hospitality, which by no means approach the English sta.ndard{s' and consist of an invitation to a cafe (one Invitation), and, perhaps, as a great favor, another to the cock pit. —_——— ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION—J. W. U., Ukiah, Cal. For information about the Indian civil service address John T. Doyle, Secretary of the United States Civil Service Commission of the United States, 2104 Wyoming avenue, Washing- ton, D. C. RELIGION—J. G. J., Oakland, Cal. As there is no record kept of the religion of the officers and emploves of the city and county of San Francisco, ‘from the Mayor down to the street Sweeper,” the question as to how many belong to one religion and how many to another can- not be answered. NAVY YARD—W. B., West Berkeley, Cal. It is impossible to state what chances thers are at this time for an apprentice at Mare Island. The party desiring to become an apprentice should file an application with the head of the department in which he would like to serve. A PRIV. B MATTER—A. M., City. The question asked about a person being a partner In a certain private business is one that does not come within the line of answers to correspondents. It is & pri- vate matter and not one of general inter- coward’s bullets sped, est. You can ascertain for yourself by Even women to destroy. examining the records of partnership at He has girded on his armor and has salled Pachy el -~ wnn SSE0SS, the sea, MARRIAGE AT SEA—S. F. S, City. 1e pefore his mighty fronclad proud Span- | There is no law that authorizes a mar- “Cuba Libre” is his watchword and his cannon | Fiage at sea, and if a man who has ob- thunder ‘Free Are you from Spanish rule.” Soon he'll land and ““Old Glory’s” stripes will float o’er Cuban shore, And fts white stars shine more brightly than they ever shone before, And our noble bird of Freedom shriek as the scene it hovers o'er. Yankee tar! WAR NEWS BY WIRE. The San Francisco Call has done this community a valuable service since war became certain ‘with Spain by furnishing news bulletins every day. de from ving the news, the bulletins serve to eep a whole lof of people busy watch- ing for the next 'omona Times. Through the generosity and enterprise of the San Francisco Call the rea’)le throughout the country are supplied with war bulletins free of cost. To fully real- ize the enormous cost of these bulletins, it is only necessary to say that the ex- pense for the line from Reno to Alturas alone amounts to $150 per month. Nothing which The Call could do would be so highly appreciated by the people gene- Tally as these gratuitous news bulletins, and that paper is deserving the thanks | and gratitude of our people.—Alturas Plain aler. We must again refer to the war bulle- tins sent here with such rare manifesta- tions of enterprise by the San Francisco Call. They have kept the city well in- formed as to the progress of affairs at the front, and while one or two have turned out to be unfounded, still this was not the fault of the newspaper. It would seem that in the mass of news from the front an occasional unfounded report must creep in. The Cail must be given credit for its enterprise, and we are free to say that much of the war news now engaging the attention of the American people has come to us through its buile- tins. On some days the bulletins have reached as high as fifty. The Call more- over is printing the best account of the happenings at the front, as witness its publication of the bombardment of Ma- - tained a divorce in California goes out on a tugboat outside of the jurisdistional limit of the State, and ‘“marries” a woman within a year after the divorce has been granted, both he and the woman wi.l discover that they are not married. Such a method to beat the law will not place either party in a favorable light. If the man wants to marry again he must wajgthe full year. THE VIRGINIUS AFFAIR—H. W. H., City. The Virginius, a merchant vessel, was captured on the high seas near Ja- maica by the Spanish man-of-war Tor- ando, October 381, 1873, on the ground that .. intended landing men to assist in tne Cuban_ insurrection then in progress. Four Cubans, found among the passen- gers, and Captain Fry, the master, were executed, as well as a number of others. Accounts of this affa.r will be found in the daily &exs of the earlv part of No- ;r‘eamber ol at year and in subsequent ues. RBELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS—C. F. J., City. What are called religious sta- tistics of the world are only estimates. According to the estimates of Fournier de Faix, who has devoted much time to this subject, the Christian religion of the world Is divided as follows: Catholic church, 230,866,533; Protestant churches, 143,237,625; Orthodox Greek churches, 95.- 016,000; Church of Abyssinia, 3,000,000; Coptic church, 120,000; Armenian church, 06%9‘3.000: Nestorfans, $,000; Jacobites, 70,% ‘The other religions are given as fol- lows: Worship of Ancestors and Confu- cianism, 256,000,000; Hindooism, 190,000,000; Mohammedanism, 176,834,372, Buddhism, 147,900,000; Taoism, 48,000.000; Shintoism, 14,000,000; Judaism, 7,056,000; Polytheism, Cal. glace fruit 50c per Ib at Townsend's.® —_———————— Special information supplied dally to business houses and public men by the Press Clipping Bureau (Allen’s), 510 Mont- gomery street. Telephone Main 142, ¢ e ————— Tanzas ahead of the other San Franelsco| ... p=o m~ ool morning papers. Its enterprise is greatly Frenechmen,, AA € or = ) pplies, says the appreciated by our people.—Anaheim | p Ti the . Danfon Gazette, —_————————— FACTS ABOUT PORTO RICO. It may be that the heavy fighters of Admiral Sampson’s North Atlantic squad- Yon are now plowing their way full- steamed to Porto Rico, about 1100 miles from Key West, which they left Wednefi- orning. And, in that event, It fln?; ;ne tha.t‘.‘ ‘before the end of the week, news will come of the fall of San Juan, the capital of the island, and of the total submission of Spain’'s easternmost pos- session In America. Porto Rico is the fourth in size of the Antilles. It lies southeast of Cuba and is separated from the island of San Do- mingo by a strait sixty-two miles wide. The island forms an irregular parallelo- gram 108 miles long and about thirty- seven miles wide, having an area of 3530 square miles. : From east to west it is traversed by a range of hills. The highest district is in the Sierra de Loguillo, near the south- east coast, where the peak of El Yunque rises more than 3600 feet. The island s watered by about 1300 streams, of which nearly fitty are considerable rivers. The hills ‘are pretty generally covered with forests. The island was declared a province of Spain in 1870 and is divided into seven de?mments or districts. The principal ea "ate San Juan de Porto Rlco, fhe capital, with a population of about 24,- M. Ponce, the principal seaport town, G German, popula- opulation 13,000; , and Guayama, opulation’ 37,515: San glan 31,000; Mayvaguez, Arecivo, population 11 gopulatlon 5500. The seaports are: an uan, Ponce, Mayaguez, Naguabo, Faj- ardo, Aquidilla and Viequez. The total population of the island is about 830,000, of which more than 300,000 are negroes, only a few Asiatics being among thé peo- le. The majority of the inhnbftn.nts are oman Catholics, but other religions are tolerated. The Gibaros, or small land holders, and day laborers of the coun- try districts, are a curious old Spanish stock, h\riely modified by Indian blood. The harbor is one of the best in the West Indies, having a comparatively unobstructed entrance. Along the wharves the water has a depth of 10 to 13 feet at low tide, and 11% to 143 feet at high “tide. M:xnzuex. on the west coast, is also situated several miles inland, and is separated from its port by a river. The island is governed b: sembling those of the mother country. It is under the command of a Governor Captain General, appointed by the crown., and assisted by a junta of mflltag of- icers. The Captain General is the Presi- dent of the Royal Audiencia or Assembly of the island. There are the usual Pro- vincial Assembly, Court of Claims. In- tendency, one Chief Engineer of Public ‘Works, one Chief Engineer of Mines and minor_functionaries. ~ The island elects three Senators and fifteen Deputies to the ish Cortes and twenty-seven Provin- clal Deputies. The chief city of the island, although not the largest, is S8an Juan, on the north coast, with 25,000 inhabitants. It is built on an island connected with the main by a bridge and causeway, and a magnificent highway connects with the city of Ponce "on the southern coast. San Juan is one of the most co' act of cities, built on a peninsula term aated by a great fortress conesxondent of Chronicle, to Algeria, which the chief of Jew-haters i{s now stumping. As a mat- ter of fact, excluding soldiers, there are only 4000 Frenchmen in the city of Al- glers, which contains about 9,000 inhabi- tants. The statistics show 20,000 Span- jards and 15,000 Maltese—who are nat- urally British subjects. Arabs and Moors make a total of 20,000. The Italian popu- lation is 10,000, whilst English, Belgians, Germans and Swiss reach 5000. The hated Jews, who are naturalized, figure at 6000. Of the 4000 born and bred Frenchmen 2000 are functionaries. ————— e ‘Excursion to the Yeliowstone Park. A personally conducted excursion will leave this city July 12 for the Yellowstone Park, via the “'Shasta Route” and Northern Pacific Rail- way. Tourists will be accommodated in first- class Pullman cars, and tickets will be sold, including berths, meals and trip through the Park. Send for clrcular giving rate and itinerary to T. K. STATELER, General Agent Northern Pacifio Railway, €35 Market street, San Francisco. —_— e NO SAFER OR MORE EFFICACIOUS REMEDY can be had for Cough s, or any trouble of the throat than ,'Brown’s Bronchial Troches.” —_—————————— No well regulated household should be with- out DR. T. G. B. SIEGERT & SONS' ANGOSTURA BITTERS. Unequalled as an appetizing tonic. —_————————— A QUICK FIGHT TO A FINIS.L We must win and the sooner thé better. War is dreadful, but the United States is in it now, and there is only one thing to do, and that is to go through it and finish Up'the business as quickly and thoroughly as possible. Spain is the open enemy of this country, and there is just one way to treat a state of war—that is to carry it through to a state of peace.—Hartford Courant. ADV _EETISEMEN‘IS.