The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 22, 1898, Page 6

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, MAY 22, 1898. .MAY 22, 1808 JOHN D. SPRECKEL: Address All Communications to W. S. LEAKE, Manager. PUBLICATION OFFICE......Market and Third Sts., S. F. Telephone Main 1868. EDITORIAL ROOMS..........2I7 to 221 Stevenson Strest | Telephone Main 1874. THE 6AN FRANCISCO CALL (DAILY AND SUNDAY) Is served by carrlers In this city and surrounding towns for 15 cents @ week. By mall $6 per year; per month €5 cents. THE WEEKLY CALL........ .....One year, by mall, $1.50 OAKLAND OFFICE...ccoccvercnenen veeesess..-908 Broadway INEW YORK OFFICE Room 188, World Building DAVID ALLEN, Advertising Representative, WASHINGTON (D. C.) OFFICE... Riggs House C. C. CARLTON, Correspondent. CHICAGC OFFICE ...Marquette Bullding C.GEORGE KROGNESS, Advertising Represcntative. Proprietor. BRANCH OFFICES—527 Montgomery street, corner Clay, | open until 9:30 o'clock. 387 Hayes street, open until | 9:30 o'clock. 621 McAllister street, open untll 9:30 | o'clock. 616 Larkin street. open untll 9:30 o'clock. 1941 Mission street, open until 10 o'clock. 2291 Market street, corner Sixteenth, open until 9 o'clock. 2518 Misslon street, open untll 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—*In Old Japan." 1 “The Face in the Moonlight " Moths " “Young Mrs. Winthrop * Moroeco's—*The Corner Grocery." Tivoli—Ship Ahoy." Orpheum— Vaudeville. The Chutes—Zoo, Vaudeville, and “Visions of Art."’ Olympta—Corner Mason and Eddy streets, Spectalties. Sutro Baths—Swimming, Recreation Park—Baseball to-day. Coursing—Ingleside Coursing Park. Coursing—At Union Coursing Park. Ei Campo—Music. dancing, boating, fishing. every Sunday. AUCTION SALES. By Bell & Co.—Monday, May 25, Furniture, at 1125 Geary strreet, at 11 0’cloox. By D. A. Curtin—Monday, May 28, Restaurant, as 109 Third street, at s 0'clock HOLIDAY TO HONOR THE SOLDIERS. EFORE Dewey met and annihilated the fleet of | B he Spanish a great danger threatened California. Had the tide of battle turned the other way no earthly power could have kept the ships of the foemen from our coast. It is fitting that there should be an acknowledgment | of the feeling of gratitude which thrills the people. | But when this peril threatened and there was a call | for volunteers, who made the response? Brave and | gallant boys from every State. In the far East the vol- unteers naturally went toward Cuba, where also there was need. But in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, in the wilds of Wyoming, among the valleys of Utah— | everywhere tt side of the Missouri—men sprang | to answer the call to arms. They had no fear for their | own, they lived where the menace of no foreign foe could reach, but they were ready. The honor of the flag had been assailed. The shadow of the flag is over all. Thousands of these soldiers are here. Let them know that the sacrifice they made is appreciated, that | the patriotism inspiring them is a common heritage. | Extend to them all courtesies. They have severed family ties, thrown their prospects to the winds, ‘to tattle for their country, for our country. The least that California can do will be to make a legal holiday | when they shall sail away. Then the schools should | be closed, business suspended and the populace be out | with flags, with music and with cheers to give the boys a godspeed. Then the national colors should | wave from every building, be worn by every citizen; | the hours devoted to the soldiers. Many an hour and | day and dreary month will they devote to us. Some will never more see the land of their birth. Let them know that they go from it with the love of all they | leave behind. There is a long voyage in prospect, in the far-away Philippines a hostile reception. San Francisco’s farewell must be a time of music and | flowers and cheers. There is no doubt that the Gov- | ernor will declare a legal holiday. Nothing less | would be commensurate with the stately solemnity of | an occasion when for the first time in the history of the nation its defenders will go to a foreign shore, there to maintain the flag even at the cost of life. RESPECTFULLY SUGGESTED TO STREET RAILWAY COMPANIES., W HILE the soldiers are in this city, honored visitors from every part of the West, the street car lines are certain to reap a vast profit. Thousands of civilians will daily visit the camp grounds. Does not this fact involve extra profit enough? The Call suggests that to grant the soldiers them- selves the privilege of riding free would be but a gracious act, in keeping with the spirit being dis- played by citizens, merely a tribute to the patriotism of which the boys in blue are the tokens. The uniform they wear would be good for a passage over any line in San Francisco if the companies felt as citizens feel. No such demand can be made as a right. The plan is mentioned as one according with the popular sen- timent. The corporations could lose nothing in the end. A course so kindly and considerate would create toward them a feeling of regard which is in some in- stances absent now. If the soldiers in after time, telling of their expe- rience here, were to say, “Why, even the street car lines would not take a nickel from us,” it would but show the world the sentiment existing here. We want the boys to enjoy themselves, to have the freedom of the city, and are ready to believe that the street car companies need no more than this hint to be induced to practically indorse this suggestion. Our new sol- diers are not rich. Their Uncle Sam has not lured them into service by the promise of gain. Men and women work gladly to add to their comfort. Will not local corporations add their mite? If the Cubans join with the Spanish against * the Americans they may be sure that above the stable government Uncle Sam intends to establish in the jslands there will float a flag of which stars and stripes are prominent features. There is no support in law for thumping a man who reviles the flag, but just at this time the citizen who does so will probably not be heavily fined. S A Spanish paper remarks that American victories do not look very big in cold type. Well, in cold Spanish type they don’t. —_— Anybody who does not like the sort of war news that is coming has the blessed privilege of doubting it. . . R Any Indian tribe which shall seize the present op- portunity for an uprising must be wiped out, | plaints. | cism is patriotism, and will apply it with a patriotic PATRIOTISM AND CRITICISM. OME members of the Seventh Regiment of the S Iilinois National Guard who enlisted in the Volunteer Army are reported to have been so discontented with the provisions made for their en- campment as to have become quite outspoken in their complaints. Whereupon, according to the Inter Ocehn, Colonel Marcus Kavanagh said to the whole | regiment: “Any man of the Seventh who doesn’t like | the way the War Department does business had better go back home at once. When once we are enlisted we | will belong to that department for two years, or until | the end of the war. We had best begin to like their | style right off. The men who think they can’t learn | to like it should go home, and may God go with them.” It is scarcely necessary to say the speech was re- | ceived with cheering. { It silenced the fault-finders in the ranks. | Since then the men of the Seventh Illinois, like their comrade volunteers of other regiments, have accepted the War Department provisions with as much cheer- | fulness as they will accept its orders to march to battle, whether the command takes them to Cuba or to the Philippines. That is the spirit of the American volunteer. That is the quality which makes him the sure reliance of the nation in its hour of need and | enables the republic to meet whatever foe may come | without fear of any lack of loyal hearts and strong arms to maintain her cause. 3 This unhesitating readiness on the part of the vol- unteers to accept without complaint the way the War Department does business imposes upon those in authority the responsibility of more than ordinary care in providing for the troops. Where complaints are permitted it is easy to discover abuses and to trace | the cause of them, but when every man’s lip is sealed | by a sense of patriotic devotion it will be difficult for | those in command to find out when things go wrong. It was for that reason Napoleon encouraged his veterans to complain to him of the commissary and | quartermaster departments. If his troops were not well fed or well equipped he wished to know it, and | he owed much of his success in war to the fact that he | did know it whenever it happened, and knew also how to providé a remedy with promptness and effect. | That the management of the business part of the | war has not been fully efficient is evident from what | is going on under our eyes in San Francisco in the preparations made for sending troops to Manila. The Call pointed out yesterday that the arrangements made for the transport of the volunteers on the City of Peking were of such a nature as to constitute an | outrage, and that was by no means the only instance of abuse brought about by blundering or parsimony on the part of some one in authority. The volunteers will not complain of these abuses, but the country will. The hearts of the people are with the soldier boys. They know that true patriot- ism does not consist in being silent when the brave men in arms are made to suffer by reason of negli- gence or incompetency on the part of high officials. They are aware that under such circumstances criti- fervor. @N AUXILIARY NAVAL FORCE. It put an end to the com- | ROVE THINGS? WOULD IT IMP HE main argument relied upon by the pro- moters of the proposed charter is expressed in the phrase, “Well, the document is an improve- ment upon the present system.” This was the burden of the speeches made at a new charter meeting held on Friday evening. the literature with which the advocates of the charter are now flooding the city. It is not contended that the instrument is perfect—in fact, some of its defects are frankly admitted—but it is declared to be an im- provement upon the present system, and on that ground the people are asked to vote for it. It may be doubted, however, whether this argu- ment can be maintained. As a general thing it must be admitted that it is better for the people to endure the evils with which they are familiar than to fly to uncertainties which may involve them in expense and trouble. A sufficient number of legal questions has already been raised in connection with the proposed charter to swamp the municipality in litigation. There is nothing plain nor direct in the instrument. tax system will undoubtedly prove a failure. The street improvement system is a mass of contradiction and incongruities. All power has been taken from the legislative branch of the government and lodged in an official called Mayor. There is no question whatever that this latter will result in multiplying | abuses without number. The charter is too long and too complex. It is not a grant of power, surrounded with restrictions and capable of easy interpretation, as the organic law of a city should be. In many respects it conflicts with general laws, and portions of it will undoubtedly be declared unconstitutional. An attorney who was interviewed the other day concerning it expressed the opinion that more than half of it would be annulled by the courts. 1f all this is true—and the charter promoters admit a portion of it—can it be considered wise to adopt the proposed instrument? We are willing to concede that the present charter is about as bad as any that could be devised. It has been made worse by mingling general laws with a special law system. But are we going to benefit ourselves by adopting a charter which introduces entirely new methods of govern- ment and which is to a great extent experimental? What reason have we for believing that this city abounds with men who in the office of Mayor can be trusted to administer its entire government? | Under the consolidation act for forty years there has N adopting on Friday the House joint resolution providing for the organization and enrollment of an l amendment providing that the enlistment for the force shall not exceed 3000 men. As Rear Admiral ¥rben, who has general charge of the coast patrol, recently estimated that it would require at least 3600 | men to properly attend to the work, it appears that | in adopting the amendment the Senators were ani- | mated by the old desire for parsimony rather than by | an earnest will to provide our long reach of seaboard | with a suitable guard. The object of the auxiliary force is to provide the | coast with what naval tacticians call “a second line | of defense.” The battle-ships and cruisers form the outer line, which may be thousands of miles from the coast, as in the case where Dewey protected the | | Pacific seaboard from assaults from Spanish ships by | destroying those ships in the far off harbor of Manila. The land batteries and forts form the inner line. Be- tween these is the intermediate or second line, which is maintained by an offshore patrol whose duty is to operate in conjunction with the coast defenses, keep the forts and‘bat!crics warned of the approach of hos- tile- ships, and pursue and capture any adventurous cruisers of the enemy that might be found scouting off the shore. This work is now being done by a few of our lighter cruisers in conjunction with such vessels as the Harvard, the Yale and the St. Louis. The field of operations, however, is so wide that a further force 13 aims to establish a corps of men who can be drawn upon for the work whenever necessary. The naval | auxiliary would probably be made up from the present naval militia of the various seacoast States just as the Volunteer Army has been made up of the National Guard. Such an organization would render the naval mil the men who compose the militia would be more val- nable for the inner line service than they are likely | to be for manning the heavy sea-going ships. The importance of the patrol is made evident by the needs of the coast in the present war with Spain, and it is easy to see how imperative such needs would be in a war with a naval power of the first class. is therefore to be regretted that the Senate has seen fit to limit the force to so small a number of men. The perfection of modern machinery applied to | shipping enables us to construct vessels so fleet that a small number can patrol a considerable extent of ocean, and vyet it is doubtful if 3000 men could effect- ually keep watch over the whole coast line of this country on the Atlantic, the Gulf and the Pacific if the enemy had ships as fleet as our own and were enterprising and bold in operating them. e —— Under a Chicago date comes a telegram detailing “secret information to the War Department.” Of course the information which follows is purely fake, but it is unusually kind for the papers printing it thus to brand it. —_— Pennsylvania’s crack regiment will come to San Francisco. If it is as good as it is reputed to be Mer- ritt ought to feel as gratified as though he had been given an equal number of regulars. o= Tt is not easy to see how Spain can hope to ar- range for a European alliance. Spain, appended to any international combination, would be as useful and ornamental as a sore thumb. It is pretty mean business for a School Board to rob the teachers, but that is what the people may ex- pect when they elect Ragans and Wallers. Possibly some of the ships watching for the Oregon merely want to know in which direction to run to avoid her e necessary, and the bill now under consideration | a more effective, and according to naval experts | It | auxiliary naval force the Senate subjected it to an | | men. been practically no stealing. Will the individual re- sponsibility system yield a similar result? It is our opinion that the present is the time to go slow. Better that a hundred charters should be de- feated than that one calculated to promote corrup- tion and put a premium upon political combination and extravagance should be adopted. TALK IS CHEAP. ~HE Senators who are pressing financial fads as amendments to the war revenue bill all take pains to profess support of the administration in | carrying on the war, while by their acts they are loading the President with every possible embarrass- | | ment. An immense and costly expedition must go to the Philippines. Vast camps of raw civilians must be drilled and hardened into soldiers. Cuba must be in- vaded, soon or late, by an army of probably 300,000 Arms, ammunition and commissary for these | great masses of men must be provided. All the ex- penses of the Government are increased by the war, and yet up to this hour Congress has made no finan- cial provision for all this expense since its first vote of $30,000,000, which was mostly exhausted in getting a navy together. . The administration is at this moment practically carrying on a foreign war on credit. Its income is less than a million a day, and its war outgo alone is three millions a day. As is always the case in war, the usual revenues will decline. Imports are less, and consumption falls off. The people, faced by higher taxes, are forced into economies. Special taxes must be provided, located where economy cannot evade them, and, in the nature of things, these are inade- quate. The administration must have money, and in its stress Senators profess the intention to support it and hold up the revenue bill to make speeches to the country about free coinage and greenbacks! They might as well be discussing why a dog’s nose is cold. Pretending to support the administration, they op- pose a measure which they know has the administra- tion’s support, and they go further, not scrupling to ascribe vile motives to the framers of the bill. Rejecting a bond loan at 3 per cent, which would be taken at a premium on twenty years' maturity, they substitute for it a one year stock at 3 per cent, | which will not command an equal premium to the other because of its short maturity. Every one that thinks sees that this is whipping the devil round a | stump. When the 3-1 loan matures in a year the treasury will have no money to meet it, and it may run indefinitely, or finally be funded in a long bond. But these Senators who are striving to make home politics while the President is making foreign war desire to make capital out of what prejudice can be created against bondholders. Yet their greenback scheme will cost the people more than bonds, and their 3-1 plan will cost as much as the 3-20 bond. While they palter and mark time the President, without a war chest, is using credit to send the great- est force that ever left our shores to the support of Dewey, 7000 miles away, and is preparing the invasion and delivery of Cuba. When these things are done it is highly probable that the war will have only commenced, and they may be done before the fiat Senators get done trying to conjure something out of nothing. e A lady in Soledad believes herself one of the heirs to a $300,000,000 estate. She is certainly in luck, and is counseled to get from this belief all the joy there is in it. Similar beliefs have brought pleasure into many a humble home, and are worth cherishing so long as this may be done without advancing any legal fees. When the United States Government has interfered with the partition of China it will listen perhaps with some degree of patience to Russia’s dictum as to the Philippines. Until then Russia will be granted undis- turbed the boon of attending to its own business. Evening papers state that the Spanish have made a “fatal mistake.” Tt is indeed strange how many mistakes of this sort a Spaniard can make and sur- vive. When the war is over the American public will re- member the packet line which sold its ships to Spain, nor will the people forget to travel by some other line. People who declare that the war must be made short, sharp and decisive forget that there are two sides to every battle The same idea runs through all | 8 8 3 8 Immediately after the death of Rem- | enyl a lawyer named Kowalsky rushed forward with a tender of his services. There was not much to be done in be- half of the silent musician, little, in | fact, but to take charge of the precious violins, from one of which the last con- scious act of Remenyi had been to draw a note of melody. Upon the | more valuable of the two instruments there had been placed an estimate of $6000, the other being rated at $1000. | According to my understandingof such | matters, possibly meager, there is a | public official whose duty it is to as- | sume temporary contrcl of the prop- erty of a decedent. This official’s name is not Kowalsky. It is far from | easy to discern in the Kowalsky rec- The | ord anything stamping him as fitted | | for a position of trust. Perhaps the Remenyl violins are worth $7000, but a | fear arises that the violins to emerge from the tender custody of the legal gentleman will be worth a different figure. To the inexpert one violin looks much like another. Impelled by no de- sire to reflect upon the Kowalsky char- | acter, a character whose luster no sim- ple words could tarnish, but rather, | feelihng an impulse to protect the widow, I would advise her to have the property of her late husband carefully inspected before giving a receipt for it or inditing to Kowalsky a note of thanks for his thoughtfulness. Per- haps the honest administration of es- tates is Kowalsky’s specialty now, but | such $6000 fiddles as T may accumulate will never get into his hands unless for the purpose of playing a joke on un- worthy heirs. o Ceiille Stephen Crane and Harold Frederic | are engaged in scratching each other's backs and purring in beauteous har- mony. Each is certain that the other is a genius, and confident that the opinion of the other on any subject is final. Such mutual admiration is | sweet to see, and to disturb it would be a sin. But I am unable to entertain a high opinion of anybody who regards | Crane as a genius, or who says he | does, even for the laudable purpose of | being called one himself. Crane is to | letters what Beardsley was to art. He | wrote one story which to me seemed | good. Some military men admired it, while others denounced it. However, “The Red Badge of Courage” was a wonderful product for a mere boy who had never seen battle, and had just laid aside the toy gunwithwhich youth pursues the errant cat. But Crane’s “poetry” is imbecile. There is about it no redeeming quality. To term it drivel is to pay it a compliment. Much of the rhyme sent to me is bad, sense- less, silly and crude; beyond all print- ing. Yet the worst in the lot is better than Crane’s best, for concealed in some line buried in slush there will be a gleam of beauty, a tender touch, the evidence that a soul has sought the expression of lofty emotion and has wandered near to the finding of it. At newspaper writing Crane was a fall- ure. He never rose to the grade of | work which would .insure a reporter a weekly wage of $20. Yet there can be no harm, save to Frederic, in thinking Crane a genius. . I do not know who named the Board | of Strategy “the Board of Lethergy,” but whoever he was, he has performed | the great act of the war thus far with | the exception of Dewey’'s feat at Ma- nila. When honors shall be distrib- uted as mementoes of the conflict, if he fail to.secure a large medal there will always be a feeling that entire jus- tice has not been done. i Conviction that the Gridley Herald, of high esteem, was not breathing a fraternal spirit when it denominated | myself and other writers hacks, forces itself upon me. If we are hacks, when | the Herald man’ jumps us for a ride | he must not grumble if full fare be ‘exacted. He objects to the circum- | stance that I good naturedly exploited the general style of a Pike County pa- per, and gives me no credit that I over- looked Gridley and went clear to Mis- souri for a subject. This seems to me neither reasonable nor kind. Next, he disavows approval of what he con- ceives to be my habit of finding fault with the English used by varifous con- tributors to the press. That any such habit is indulged in extensively here no regular reader of this column will afirm, except at peril of his soul. Be- sides, others find fault with the English used by me and do it with such blessed pointedness that for a moment I am almost persuaded that they are right. But the critic might have let the poetry alone. I assure him it was not meant for the serious minded. Nevertheless I am told that it was swiped from some B. C. source, probably Sappho. This information comes from a man Wwho builds advertisements for the Southern Pacific and who has thus been trained to shudder at the mere presence of a He. I trust the Gridley critic will learn to curb his ferocity. This is, by common admission, a vale of tears at best, and he should not wear out his pen in trying to goad the lachrymose into fresh bursts of grief. It isn’t right. Tt is with surprise I read that a re- porter named James has been assaulted by the ecltizen-soldiery of Missouri, beaten, kicked, stepped upon and cast out of camp. In that State his name should have been a protection. I had an idea that in the average Missouri household there was a shrine to the honor of the most {llustrious among the sons of the State, that the name he bore was little less than sacred there. It jars me to have the illusion dis- pelled. Mr. James, the thumped re- porter, has my sympathy. This, how- ever, will be withdrawn if the fact de- velop that he belongs to the yellow wing of journalism. and went about his business under the title of “speciai commissioner.” . My sympathy goes out to the widow of the late Senator Mahoney. It seems that the cholce friends who gravitated toward her hvsband in the days of his power had a habit of making a gentle touch. This expression is a modern and approved method of explaining that they pulled his leg, a term gen- erally understood, but necessarily barred from these refined columns. Now Mrs. Mahoney is trying to get back some of this money and threat- ens in case of non-success to expose certain political and personal secrets. I hope she will get the money to the last cent, with liberal interest, but that lin doing so she will be begulled by s e BRUBUIVIIIBIBREN BRERBBIRIVRIRIR WITH ENTIRE FRANKNESS. -_ By HENRY JAMES. 8 ELEEEEE LT L E -0 0oty BRI BIN s 2 8 8 e some sharp lawyer into letting go the secrets anyhow. A woman in litiga- tion is at serious disadvantage in that she is apt to bring into the contest a conscience, while the opposition in this instance is not similarly handicapped. I have heard much of Kelly and Ko- walsky and Baldwin, the latter called “Lucky” because a strange and too benign Providence has kept him from being killed, but I have never heard a syllable of good concerning any of them. I would take the unsupported word of the widow against the solemn oath of the lot. . Senor Du Bose, who once had the questionable honor of association with Minister Bernabe of Spain, has been lecturing in Canada on the Cuban question. The lecture as printed in the Toronto papers lacks all the elements of meekness and most of the elements of truth. Of some mild men it is said that butter would not melt in their mouths. Butter in the mouth of Du Bose would have been sputtered over the audience hissing hot. I judge that his eyes emitted flames and that his words were accompanied by clouds of sulphurous smoke. Most of his utter- ances were not worth consideration, being thoroughly Spanish—verity elim- fnated and fiction fairly afloat in venom. But when he got after Hearst and told the shameless course of that editor's papers he reared a solld super- structure of fact upon a broad founda- tion of the same. The only fault to be found with him as to this point is that he left the Canadians to infer that the miserable rag upon which he vented his greatest wrath was a fair sample of the American paper. However, I have not the space to follow Du Bose through his warm discourse, but if he emerged from its delivery without the smell of fire on his garments he must have been clad in asbestos for the oc- casion. I would advise Du Bose to quit the rostrum. He could be of great- er service to his country by going home and permitting himself to be worked up into ammunition for quick-firing guns. . The telegraphic columns announced a few days ago the marriage of Mary Alice Adams of Kern County to a per- son familiarly addressed as Jim Hitch- cock. Since then I have been watching for an account of the lynching, and re- gret to record here a sense of disap- pointment. Therefore it becomes neces- sary to congratulate Jim, not upon his marriage, but upon the circumstance that he has escaped the hanging which he deserved as the first step in the honeymoon. These congratulations may also be taken as embracing the fool father-in-law, who should be swaying in the breeze, suspended from a limb close to that occupied by Jim. The man who issued the license and the man who tied the knot could be | given by means of a life sentence to a lunatic asylum, a sufficient testimonial of their worth. Having hanged the husband and father, thoughtful neigh- bors should buy the orphan and widow a box of candy and a doll and place her in some respectable family to be rear- ed. Mary Alice is only 10 years old. To permit her to assume the position of wife was to ruin a life and make a mockery of a sacred rite. in violation of written and unwritten law, an insult most gross to decency. 1f the people of Kern County shall per- mit the crime to pass with no more notice than an idle word of condemna- tion they will leave upon their commu- nity a brand not soon to be effaced. . s 0w Last week I demanded that a certain cat and dog conflned in a cage with a collection of monkeys be released. I have since learned, with a sense of jus- tifiable pride, that they had been ré- leased two weeks before the article ap- peared. Great is the power of the press. The evangelists who plan to go to Cuba and to Manila with the armies are doubtless impelled by the loftiest of motives. If they go prepared to grab a gun when emergency arises, or under the noble badge of the Red Cross to aid the sick and dying, the more of them the better. There are times when the importance of dis- tributing tracts is dwarfed by the necessity of placing a cup of cold water to the lips of suffering. Between drinks the tracts can do no harm. However, the tract can never again fill the office it has been known to serve in wars of the past, when jammed in fragments into the old muzzle-loader it has been effective as wadding. e e It is a strange circumstance that the mines lately placed in New York har- bor are being deliberately dragged out by the masters of trading vessels, who are too lazy and too near a state of treason to try to avoid them. I know nothing about mines except that they occasionally blow up and work serious inconvenience to their environment. It was natural to suppose that even to drag them from their moorings would be a process not devoid of danger. I hope this supposition is correct and that the next wanton offender will be blown so high that his descending remnants will besprinkle the sea in particles so small that the tiniest fish will not be denied the gustatory joy of participating in the benefits. . s e There is a Connecticut boy on his way to the front who. must have in- herited his Americanism from his mother’s side of the hoyse. His rich father forbade him to enlist on penalty of being cut off as an heir, a threat which had an effect in accelerating the boy’s speed in the direction of the re- cruiting office. When the son was mus- tered in the father made good the threat, whereupon the young soldler petitioned for the right to change & name he justly regarded as a dis- grace. Perhaps the old man feels sat- isfied with himself now, but I doubt it. There is better blood In the bass- wood ham, from the propagation of which his fortune probably sprang, than runs in his velns. PR I note with pleasure that the Exami- ner offers to act as banker for people desirous of investing in Government bonds. Not only is this fortunate for the people who, without the interven- tion of the Examiner, could not get in touch with the Government that paper 18 running so well, but it must be a so- lace to the Government itself, demon- strating that the abuse the Examiner heaps upon it but represents friendship infiicting a salutary wound. I think if I had money to invest in bonds (Which heaven forbids) an irresistible impulse The act was | . ico, would seize me to rush to the Examl. ner and turn the cash over to the man- agement. There are people who think Hearst’s promotor of gayety a déceiver, but it does not deceive anybody. So open, palpable and regular are its lles that they are nelther believed nor pub- lished In the expectation of being be- lieved. Moreover, the Examiner has proved itself a safe custodian of money. Such as it has been able to collect from the public by some of its ingenious bunko devices it is thought to have yet. « = Mr. Hearst’s paper makes bold to term C. P. Huntington a fugitive. It should, out of consideration for Its absent owner, have employed some other term. Hearst has been a fugi- tive for so long that the novelty has worn off. Nobody could well blame Huntington for leaving. For days he had been pestered by a lot of small fry who eould not in a year have urged any information from him. They wers wasting time which doubtless was of value to him, and causing his anger to rise, a dangerous operation to the aged and stout. So he went away, acting on the natural and, it seems to me, proper impulse to escape useless inqui- sition. Why should the paper to which he has paid various sums of money make such moan over his going? He could have told much about its cor- ruption, and chose not to betray It There should be from that source grati- tude Instead of reviling. ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. BOOTH—S. P. C., Cl!Jy. 11. ;!V!lkeq as the son of Junius rutus g‘o’gg: avrvld a full brother of Edwin Booth. KALAKAUA—C. H., ty(.i I(fl‘“d‘ixtm- 2 of the Hawallan Islands died in San e O o January 2, 1891, of Bright's disease. BLACK WARRIOR- B. G., Gold Beach, Or. An_ account ot‘ 1tlha lack rarrior selzure by the Spanish was pub- Pl‘siall;d on the editorial page of The Call of April 21, 1598, GOODS TO DAWSON—H. C., City. Goods taken to Dawson pay duty on the value of the goods as appears from the invoice. If the duty is ad valorem tha value must be fixed according to the Tnaricet value of the goods in the country where obtained. EL PASO—Eureka, Cal. There is a city named El Paso in the County of W ford, Ill., thirty-two miles east by north ria. There is also El Paso, in El o e ey, Texas, on the left bank Paso del Norte is in Chihuahua, on the right bank of the Rio G opposite El Paso, Texas. PARTNERSHIP — Subscriber, Cal. El Napa, In the State of California a partner cannot make an assignment of the prop- erty or any portion thereof to a creditor or to a third person in trust for the bene- fit of a creditor or of all creditors. Part- herehip effects belong to the partnership and not to the individuals, and it has been $ela that one partner cannot borrow money on the property of the partnership without the consent of the other partners. FLEET-SQUADRON—W. H., City. A fleet is twelve or more ships of the line or vessels of equal military quality; dis- patch boats, transports, etc., are mnot counted. A naval force of less than twelve line of battle-ships or vessels of equal military value take the name of spuadron or division according to numerical strength. A fleet is divided into three di- Visions of one, two or three squadrons each, each squadron comprising not less than' four vessels. POISON OAK REMEDY—A corre- spondent from Auburn, Placer County, writes as follows: *“With regard to poi- son oak remedy I have had twenty vears’ experfence and trial with _everything, without suecess, until I tried a mixture of soda and lard mixed into a stiff paste. Let_the afflicted try it, it costs -almost nothing. One or two applications wili effect a cure. If a person wil wash the hands within twenty minutes after hand- ling poison oak, there will not be any effects of the poison. SIGNAL CORPS—A. 8., City. The bill for the organization of a signal corps requires that the members thereof shall be experts at telegraphing, chemistry, be expert electricians and experts in si ing. It is probable that the bill wil be- come a law, and in view of the fact that Captain Lawrence, commanding the Sig- nal Corps of the First Brigade of the National Guard of this State, tain Perkins, commanding t Brigade Corps, have been named lleutenants for the Signal Corps probable that young men po: the qualifications named will have an &ortuni(y to enlist in the California ¢ ngent. ————————— A handsome present for your Eastern friends, Townsend’s Cal. Glace Fruits, 50c 1b., in fire etch boxes. 627 Palace Hotel. * on- —_——————— Spectal information supplied dally to business houses and public men by th Press Clipping Bureau (Allen’s), 510 Mont- gomery street. Telephone Maln 12 * —— “That,” exclaimed the Spanish general, as he mopped the perspiration from his brow, *“is one of the narrowest escapes I have had for some time.” ‘What is the matter?” inquired his aid. See this typewritten page? I-sald In dictation that I was ‘seeking light’ d the amanuensis got it ‘seeking fight! Washington Star. —_— e Excursion to Grand Canyon of the Colorado. A select party of educators and scientists will leave San Francisco Monday, June 6, for the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, in charge of Professor Emory Smith of Palo Alto. Very low rates have been made, and a pleasant and profitable trip ls assured. Full particulars at Santa Fe office, 644 Market st. ADVERTISEMENTS. 90006 vertised until ‘Tapestry ‘Brussels, good 'eu-«-.54c endless variety 200000000000 PEIEESEEOEES SALE will continue June Ist. ing, rich colorings. 62(: Best quality of X MACKAY'S at prices ad- CARPET DEPARTMENT. Tapestry Brussels, el borders to match, all muu<477c urers ..o 8! Heavy Veivets, Stinson's make, Q4 ¢ borders to match.. AT ABOVE PRICES. SEWED, LAID AND LINED. MOQUETTE RUGS. 1836, SBe. 27x03, $1 75, 36x72, $2 B3, Japanese Linen Warp Matting. . ', Heavy Chinese Matting LA i .12 1-Ze and FURNITURE. Solld Oak Extension Tables, massive legs, pol- ish finish ... Solld Oak Dining Chairs. Solld Oak Center Tables. Flegant Upholstered Cor- duroy Couch, tufted top and fringed. . abe $6.65 We scll exactly what we adver- tise. No excuse to scll you some- zl\ln clss. No trouble to show 8. ALEX. MACKAY & SON, 715 Market St. I g PP OOVOPO @POIVOPOPOVVIVVPOVID Y9IV VIVIVI P PVOEVOVV V0P O0S-