The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 19, 1898, Page 7

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, THURSDAY, MAY 19, 1898. VRLLOW How the “Circulation” of the Examiner Goes Up Crematory Smoke, HOW MERCHANTS ARE SWINDLED. Wagon-Loads of That Paper Printed, Only t0 Be Burned Almost as Soen as 0ff the Press, | | 2-E-8-0EeNS0 cubic yard. this yellow sheet is force to deceive the public and tion of the community. culation. and on this ciaim bases i leave the pressroom unt they are printed. The B-m-2 E0BE®REERER-EEEEEees ey N-E-E B2 28 E B2 of its large circulation ; swearing to it the Ex to specify that it se: of copies to the garb- tory. These, being counted circulation, give it that swoller ect in which the yellow tail of Fak In boasting dom, taking pride, wags itself joyously. There can be no fault found with the that the Examiner is treated as fact garbage. If the process were only sweeping and complete it would repre- sent an absolute virtue. But some coples are permitted to escape the puri- ing fire and such as do get carted away as trash are seriously reckoned THE EXAMINER ABOUT TO BEGIN ACHIEVING ITS DAILY CIRCULATION. [From a Photograph Taken Specially for The Call] The secret of the Examiner’s alleged circula= tion has been uncovered. of the papers struck off by the Examiner’s presses at 4 o’clock in the morning are burned in the garbage crematory before noon of the same day at a cost to the paper of 20 cents per Evidence of these facts herewith for the purpose of revealing to the pub- lic the shameless—and costly—subterfuges which Oath is regularly made to the Examiner’s cir- It is guilty not alone of swindling by methods everywhere condemned as dishonest, but becomes a direct violator of a law enacted several years ago at its own solicitation. claims to reach thousands more than ever see it, ing medium and boasts of its infiuence. has been brought to light that many Examiners are printed only to be burned; that they never an ash cart and taken to the garbage crema- torys that they are printed solely to swell *‘cir- culation,” and that they are burned the day does not even dare dispose of its surplus papers by weight, but insists that they be utterly de- stroyed and that everybody concerned operation maintain the strictest secrecy. From one to two tons -@-B-B-8-58 is given d to adopt in itsattempt bunko the business por- It ts value as an advertis- The fact il they are dumped into ] ® » " ' a B " B ] 5 " " e = Examiner management g| [ ] in the " L B E-E-E-E-E B8 uH be permitted to detract from the main | point. The main point is that a large part of the circulation of the Examiner | circulates through the medium of an ash wagon. It is not to be supposed that the | driver of the wagon was communica- | tiv He frankly stated that he dare not be communicative. He did not loosen up as does the Prince of Wales when ap- | proached by a “special commissioner.” He was far more reticent than the! Queen Regent when she was requested by the same special commissioner to lay bare her inmost thoughts 80 he | 0 { array of bundies, wrapped in heavy pa- | the furnace and been surprised to ob- | had the papers photographed. The pic- | was left and went on his way. | tist got a useful snapshot or two at | though in per, compact; to the practiced eye plainly containing newspapers folded in the shape they are turned out by the| press. Yet this was not positive evi- | dence. Supposing the Examiner were to claim that the bundles were of waste paper, the natural accumulation of a printing office, that they were made up of exchanges and of returned copies. The moral certainty that the Examiner had been engaged in a wanton case of swindling was not enough. It was de- sired to make the conviction beyond cavil. Therefore the contents of a bun- dle had to be seen. Valin efforts were made to purchase a bundle. The driver had his orders neither to sell nor to open a package. It had been ascertained from a gentle- | man who shall be nameless that the bundles contained Examiners, treshi yellow Examiners. He had seen a bundle opened as it was on its way to serve that the papers it held were of the date of the day the bundle fell un- der his eye. In other words, papers | turned off the press one morning are in | ashes by noon of the same day. The investigators desired to know if this was the ordinary rule. At this point | there seemed only one course. It was | violent seizure and quick escape. There | are no apologies to be offered for this; | the end justified the means. It was far different from the Examiner style of | stealing a paper from the press-room | of a contemporary for the purpose of | taking the news from its columns. ! So one of the reporters rose to the | dignity of special commissioner and | borrowed from one bundle about fifty copies of the Examiner. The use of the term ‘“borrowed” is deliberate, for the papers may be had back for the ask- ing. No newspaper man would take fifty Examiners with any serious idea of keeping them. Yesterday was May 18, 1898. It was the noon hour when the papers were secured. They all bore date of May 18, 1898. For fear some question might arise about this The Call thoughtfully | ture is presented herewith, together | with others which have a bearing on the situation. While the driver manifested proper signs of displeasure at the disappear- ance of a small part of his load, and | audibly expressed regret, he took what | He was followed to the crematory, and an ar- the wagon still piled high with Ex- aminer circulation. A reporter saw the circulation dumped into the immense receivers Just over the furnaces. There was no mistaking the bright hues distinguishing the first page of | the sheet. There had been some other | debris in the bottom of the wagon, but | all emptied in one mass, through it all gleamed the tell-tale colors, showing every paper to be the | same date. ! Then the reporter paid a visit to the | long passage-way beneath the re-| ceivers, where nine men were raking | the dumpings into the yawning holes | leading to the furnace. Examiners went in by dozens, scores, hundreds. So rapidly did they disappear that no estimate of their number could be made. Thus is circulation acquired, | | | il when figures are being made up for the delusion of an absent proprietor and bait to the advertiser. Therefore an exposure of the methods of the confi- dence game has been undertaken in a dispassionate effort to protect the pub- lic. To digress pleasantly, may not the" burning of Examiners at the crematory account in large meagure for the nox- jous smell which has wrought grievous pain to the Mission nose? This sug- gestion is thrown in for what it is worth, and it may be worth something. The incineration of foulness is certain to produce fumes not of Araby the blest. That the E:aminer is foul there is no question. That it is being regu- larly incinerated there will hereafter be no question. However, even if this phase of the subject be of scientific in- terest it is a side issue and must not | could get space rates on them. But he did admit that he hauled the papers every day but Sunday, and on Monday got a double dose of them. Necessity arose for finding out the exact truth. Strict orders had been given the drivers to say nothing. They all knew that to reveal the secrets of their calling would be to lose a job. which, while it involv- ed the task of handling the Examiner and other offal, still meant an honest living. So the drivers were not pressed to tell. Representatives of The Call were de- tailed to find the truth, and they found it. Knowing that a garbage wagon stopped at the Examiner building daily and there obtained a load of sworn cir- culation, they waited for the wagon. They waited a long time, but at last were rewarded. The wagon came, and out of the basement began te rise an and the fires of the reduction works fed. The foreman was asked for a bundle, but he was as firm as the driver had been In not giving it, ex- plaining that such an act would be against the rules of the company, but he suggested that the superintendent be seen about it. The superintendent was seen. The important position of superin- tendent is held by F. E. Sharon. He listened to the request and refused point blank. “We are paid for burning those pa- pers,” he said, “and I would be betray- ing a trust to give you any. If you were to offer me a dollar apiece T would not let you have them. If the Exami- ner people wanted to sell the papers they could get a good price for them, but they want the papers burned so as to prevent their being scattered about the country.” L = 15 BUSINESS METHODS, T00. B-E-E-E-5 00 RE00u-88-E-5-E0EEE-EA8 the Excminer became a law: Section 538 of th fornia: meanor. On 1his particular phase of sity for comment. " ¢ AN ANSWER T0 A QUESTION. This 8 a copy of a statute which mainly through the efforts of MISREPRESENTATION OF NEWSPA- PER CIRCULATION A MISDEMEANOR. Every proprietor or publisher of any hews= paper or periodical who shall willfully and knowingly misrepresent the circulation of such newspaper or periodical, for the pur- pose of securing advertising or other pat- ronage, shall be deemed guiity of a misde- Any reader can ask whether the proprietor or publisher of the Examiner is or is not a criminal by the terms of this statute, and can answer the question. panying exhibits might have effect in aiding to a correct conclusion. : e Penal Code of Cali- the matler there apfears no neces- B—E-E-R-E e e e e e B A glance at the accom- Asked what he received for the de- struction of the papers he replied that that was a private business affair be- tween the newspaper and the corpora- tion he represented. however, that 20 cents per cubic yard was the regular charge. “How irany cubic yards wagon hold?” He answered that it held about eight, but qualified this by adding that it had only part of a load—about half a ton. “If the Ex:miner people wanted us to dispose of the papers in some other way,” he said, “we could sell them readily at $6 per ton.” Circulation by the cubic yard. Circulation by the ton. And all sworn to. And the superfluous papers not to be did that sold. An incinerated yellow daily tells | no tales. It was recognition of this truth which impelled the capture of some of them before they had lost their power to give information. It was learned at the works that they had been burning Examiners there ever since they were open for business, this information merely confirming that which had already been found out from other sources. There ‘s now the possibility that the Examiner, caught in the act, will as- sert that the material burned was something else, but the claim will be idle. paper in every ] blishing offlice, but it goes out in bulky bales very different from the neatly tied bundles which leave the Examiner office daily. It is true that there are a certain number of “returns,” but they do not reach to the thousands seven times a week, and moreover, the sworn statement of the Examiner sets forth explicitly the amount of *“returns.” The evidence that the Examiner has deliberately deceived the public for the purpose of getting more of the public's money is incontrovertible. The duty of exposing its rascality has been un- dertaken because one purpose of a re- spectable journal is to protect the com- munity. Much has been borne from yellow journalism. It has lied in large type greatly to the common annoyance. But the public has not suspected the true deeps to wh this form of crime has fallen. It has sometimes wondered that it could claim an increasing cir- ~ulation. It did not dream that the cir- culation was being acquired for the ex- pense of white paper and the burning of it at 20 cents a cubic vard. Experts are now trying to figure out how many Examiners are printed daily for the purpose of being sworn into the circulation and then carted to the fur- nace. The task is one of difficulty. To estimate circulation by the cubic yard, or even by the ton is a process in which | few have had experience. However there is hope of a definite result before iong. One man who formerly drove the cir- culation ash cart stated that he some- times had to make two trips a day to get all the papers the Examiner desired put out of the way. Supposing the wagon can safely hold a ton, here's two tons of circulation. No wonder the | totals rise to the magnificent. If white new charter. BB 08085 P-E0E88EERuEn He did admit, | It is true that there is waste | | paper holds out and the crematory con- tinue in operation it may be expected that the Examiner will shortly claim to have reached the 200,000 mark. In- quiry develops the capacity of the crematory to be equal to the consump- tion of this many, and at 20 cents a cubic yard there would be money in it. | EXAMINER STEALING. | | It Palmed Off a Map of the Klondike as Its Own and Is Sued for the Theft Since the Examiner, after a notable ex- posure, quit stealing copies of The Call | from The Cail's press rooms for the pur- | pose of cribbing the news, it has satisfied its predatory instincts by stealing the | news in other ways and from other sources. Latterly it has appeased its pi- ratical instincts by pirating maps of the Klondike diggings and the approaches thereto. Yesterday A. L. Mcionald of the publishing firm of A. L. McDonald & Co. began suit in the United States Dis- | trict Court against W. R. Hearst of New | York and elsewhere to recover $82,729, as damages for mrrlngemenl on a copyright held by the plaintiff. The complaint is terse and comprehen- | sive. It recites that the plaintiff has brought the action for the Government as well as for himself, the damages being | equally divided between the Government | and himself. The allegation is made that the plaintiff obtained a copyright for a map of the Yukon gold belt, and that the defendant, | through his agents, “reproduced and pi- s HERE IS THE WAY EXAMINER CIRCULATION BECOMES GENERAL. [From a Photograph Take n Specially for The Call.] composed of three divisions. sided over by Thomas Eagan 2 by Henry Spear, and No. 3 by Timothy Sul- livan, New divisions will be organize The members of the league are strenu- ously opposed to the new charter an propose making a strong fight & t it. Prominent speakers will address the meeting. The Marble Cutters and Polishers’ Union is indignant at a statement in the Examiner to the effect that it had deter- mined to vote as a body for the charter. charging firearms within the city lmits. Shewbridge, with other jovial compan- ions, was In a saloon at the corner of Seventeenth Mission streets, when for some re: n not vet ascertained he discharged his gun. The report was heard at the station, and Officers Crackburn | and Connclly were sent out by Acting | Lieutenant Heggerty to ascertain the | cause. They returned with Shewbridge | and locked him up. The pistol was warm | when found in his pocket. Z e -~ = THE BUNDLE RESCUED FROM THE FURNACE, SHOWING THE DATE. [From a Photograph Taken Specially for The Call] rated” the map in the Sunday edition of | the San Francisco Examiner on August | 22, 1897, and s0ld copies of the same to the great damage of the business of the com- plainant. Labor Against the Charter. Union Labor League will hold a mass | meeting at Scottish Hall next Saturday | evening at § o'clock for the purpose of | passing resolutions against the proposed The league at present is James McCarthy said on behalf of the union last night that the matter had not been formally discussed, but that from personal observation he believed that the members unanimously distrusted the in- strument. —_——— Shewbridge Had a Pistol. Peter Shewbridge, a blacksmith, was locked up in the Seventeenth street sta- tion last night, charged with carrying a concealed weapon and also with dis- A ONE OF THE LOADS OF JOURNALISTIC GARBAGE_ENTERING THE CREWATORY. [From a Photograph Taken Speclally for The Call.l - ONE RIDE TO OLD OCEAN. Electric Cars Soon to Run From the Ferry to the Cliff House. The last steel rail for the new eleotric car line of the Market Street Rallway Sys- tem, connecting the ferries and Fourth and Townsend streets with the Clff House, was laid yesterday, and within the next ten days or two weeks the manage- ment hopes to have cars running to the ocean beach. The railroad company has been delayed in changing from a steam to an electric road that part of the line from Tenth to Fourteenth avenue, on Haight street, as the city Is putting in a six-foot sewer. Beyond this point to the ocean terminus a double track of sixty-five-pound st -el rails is already laid, the track partly ballasted and in excellent condition. As soon as ths sewer 1s laid a second track will be con- tinued to Stanyan street, where one track Alrefldg connects with the down town car line. Over 180 workmen are employed in he reconstruction. The work is being one under the supervision of Superin- tendent of Construction H. H. Lynch and General Foreman Thomas FKagan, who have rushed it along in a most creditable manner. The five new stations, made from the old walting room at the Haight street en- trance to Golden Gate Park, are all in their new locations along the line and resplendent in new coats of paint. Each bhas an individual name. The first sta- tion after passing the Haight street en- trance to the park is at Fourteenth ave- nue, the foot of Strawberry Hill, and is called “Huntington Falls.” The second station, at Twenty-fourth avenue, is “Lite tle Lake;” the third, at Fortieth avenue, is “Chain of Lakes;” the fourth, at the curve near the ocean beach, is “Observa- tory,” and the fifth, at the south side of the tunnel and close to the United States Life Saving Station, is “Boulevard.” These stations will be regular stopping places for all who wish to get off or on. For the purpose of hn.ndlini!lhe hea Sunday traffic to the CIiff louse an ocean beach three of the heavy observa- tion cars formerly in use are being fitted up with ¥ower(ul electric motors, and will be used to haul three or four trailers, as the traffic may require. It is expected that the time from the ferries to the ocean will be made in forty-five minutes, There will be no cinders with the electrie line. Near Observatory Station at the ocean beach the South driveway leaves the Ocean boulevard in Golden Gate Park and pasees through a wide tunnel under the electric tracks to the beach sands. ———— Columbia Concert Hall ‘Will reopen at 215 Montgomery avenue this evening, under the management of Irvin Baruch. Thoroughly refitted as a. first-class family resort. The attractions will consist of a ladies’ orchestra, How- ard and Burdock (direct from the Or- Bl e S Tt 3 ever- M. Fedalma and others. e