The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, June 27, 1898, Page 4

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, MONDAY, JUNE 27, 1898, MONDAY ...JUNE 27, 1808 JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Proprietor. Address All Communications to W. S. LEAKE, Manager. Wt DU SR Ot “ Lol 3 U PUBLICATION OFFICE......Market and Third Sts., S. F. Telephone Main 1863. EDITORIAL ROOMS..........2I7 to 22| Stevenson Street Telephone Main 1874, THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL (DAILY AND SUNDAY) Is served by carrlers In this city and surrounding towns for 15 cents a week. By mall $6 per year; per month 66 cents. THE WEEKLY CALL.. OAKLAND OFFICE.... NEW YORK OFFICE.... Room 188, World Building DAVID ALLEN, Adver & Representative. WASHINGTON (D. C.) OFFICE. Riggs House C. C. CARLTON, Correspondent. CHICAGO OFFICE... «#....Marquette Building C.GEORGE KROGNESS, Advertising Representative. One year, by mall, $1.50 +eeee-n..808 Broadway SRANCH OFFICES—527 Montgomery street, corner Clay, open until 9:30 o'clock. 387 Hayes street, open until 9:30 o'closk. 621 McAllister street, open until 9:30 o'clock. 615 Larktn street, open untll 9:30 o'clock. 1941 Mission street, open untll 10 o'clock. 299! Market | street, corner Sixteenth, open until 9 o'clock. 2518 Mission street, open until 9 o'clock. 106 Eleventh street, open untli 9 o'clock. 1505 Polk street, open untll 9:30 o'clock. NW. corner Twenty-second ana Kentucky streets, open untll 9 o'clock. Columbia—*Fort Fra Baldwin Californla: cle Tom's Cabin.” 1 rick the Great The Gossoon clo ideviile. cs’ Pavilion—Red Cross Benefit, Tuesday evening The Chutes—%00, Vaudeville and Cannon, the 613-pound Man. Olympla—Corner Mason and Eddy streets, Specialties. tro's Baths—Swimmin El Campo—Mausic, dan. Oakland Racetrack—R: - boating, fishing, every Sunday. AUCTION SALES. Geo. F. Lamson—This day, June 2 Market and Seventh streets, at 2 immense Library, at 50 P. M. OUR DOLLARS AND GUNS. naticn in the world. Europe is regarding us with an astonished and askant eye. The Orient coes not know what to make of us. Within a twelve- month the Yankee nation, which had hitherto been 1C8 "‘[“HE United States is to-day themost conspicuous arded as a rich and progressve republic engrossed in the planet, has suddenly loomed up on the horizon as the coming dominant power of the world, just as Rome rose, several thousand years ago. Its fields are feeding Europe, its fleets are sinking and battering down everything that'stands against them, its armies ng across s to invade foreign countries, and its bankers are getting rid of some of their sur- plus gold by loar This same Yankee nation has suddenly become an enormous factor to be considered in all future calculations of diplomacy, and the question is now being ireely asked, Where will America stop? The foregoing is suggested by a significant para- graph in the weekly commercial report of R. G. Dun & Co,, as follows: “Very little of the new business seen, in proportion to the aggregate, has been caused by the war. Not any, discoverable by ordinary tests, has been prevented by the war. Neither has the col- lapse of the wheat speculation caused the excessive relative decrease of shipments, for exports continue remarkably large. Gold comes or does not come, as we want it, the world’s markets being evidently at our command. An offering of bonds by the Govern- ment brings out at the start bids for more than three times the amount offered, while the popular subserip- tion already for three-quarters of the amount exhibits in strong light the confidence of the people.” This paragraph tells the story of our marvelous commercial rise. There is probably no other nation in the world which could carry on a foreign war with so little internal disturbance. In fact, there is no dis- turbance. As far as the humdrum stability of trade is concerned, there is no war. The industries are main- taining their production with surprising continuity. The great agricultural regions are calling upon the factories for enormous quantities of implements, fencing, cars, building material and railway equip- ment. The seaports are exporting vast quantities of wheat, corn and provisions. The railways are re- porting earnings considerably in excess of any pre- vious year. Gold is being sent into the country from Europe faster than we want it, and we are glad to loan it back to keep down the surplus. And so it goes, all along the line. The great staples show no particular change from Jast weck. Wool continues quiet, with a steady under- tone, however, which presages a possible revival later Cotton manufacturing has considerably improved, but the iron trade is quieter. The country’s bank clearings show a gain of 17.4 per cent over the same week last year. The failures exhibit an increase, being 285 for the week, against 216 for the same week in 1897, this being the only unfavorable feature in sight. The exports of wheat from Atlantic ports for the week were 3,246,000 bushels, against 1,446,000 last year, and of corn 2,573,000 bushels, against 1,661,000. The world still needs our grain, and the exports thus far this year amount to 213,820,000 bushels of wheat and 207,317,000 bushels of corn, far more than was ever before exported in one year. Against this flat- tering exhibit, however, is noted the increase in fail- ures before remarked and a quieting down of the distributive trade in some parts of the country. But then it must be remembered that this distributive trade has lately been abnormally large. The crop prospects continue fine, but previous extravagant es- timates of the-size of the grain crop are not main- tained. The local situation is bright. San Francisco mer- chants generally look forward to a fine fall trade, basing their expectations upon the relative condition of crops and prices. The fruit-growers, as already remarked, are doing well, fresh fruit bringing better returns than for some years, and the dried fruit out- look being brilliant. Even at this early day Europe is cabling for our views as to possible prices for apricots and prunes, but the growers, confident of a good year, decline to name any quotations. The can- ners are scouring the interior for peaches and apri- cots, and are paying good prices with refreshing cheerfulness. Prices for hay and grain are above the normal for some years back, and though wheat has been very depressed of late, a reaction is confidently expected by the shrewd ones in the trade. Cattle, sheep and hogs are bringing good prices, and hogs have risen to a figure where local dealers are impelled to import dressed hogs from the West. Provisions are in steady demand at profitable quotations, and the inquiry for hides is brisk. In short, almost every- thing produced by the farmer is selling well at prices which enable him to make a good living off his land, and as long as this condition of affairs continues the State will be prosperous. se ng it to Europe. on. raising hogs and wheat away off in one corner of | CRITICISM THAT HURTS. S a rule Republicans can regard with compara- /[\ tive indifference the criticisms made upon the policies and performances of their party by Democratic opponents. These policies have proven | so advantageous to the nation, and the performances have so far fulfilled all platform promises, that in the main the Republican position is unassailable. In the | lack of legislation for the purpose of promoting an American merchant marine, however, one point of | weakness is found, and that point has been so ex- | posed of late through the difficulty experienced by the Government in obtaining transport ships that an at- tack upon it is extremely harassing. The abler and more aggressive organs of the Dem- ocrats have been quick to spy out this weakness in | the Republican position and turn their batteries upon it. All along the line the great free trade journals of the East are harping upon the Jack of transports, charging the Republican party with responsibility for our deficient merchant marine and vigorously de- nouncing the majority in Congress for not providing la remedy for the evil. | The attacks of course are unfair. Like all Demo- | cratic criticisms upon Republican administrations, ‘lhey are largely made up of misrepresentations, and not infrequently they so distort the facts as to vir- tually amount to falsehoods. Nevertheless there is | a sufficient element of truth in them to make them | effective weapons in political discussion. | The New York Times is right in saying: “The most urgent need of the Government now is trans- | port ships. Our military operations are delayed, our | brave men are endangered and perishing daily because re-enforcements of troops and material are held back for want of transports.” Equally right is the Phila- delphia Record in the statement: “It is a very slip- shod and shortsighted beginning in a policy of colo- nization and in#erialism to be seizing islands—near and remote, in the Atlantic and Pacific—and to be hammering down forts, while at the same time we are unable to find the means of transporting our sol- diers to occupy the territory we have seized or to fight for its retention.” It is no effective answer to these charges to say that the Democrats when in power did no more for American shipping than the Republicans have done. It would be a sad state of affairs indeed if Republican performances were to be measured by Democratic standards. The party of protection to all American industries can never justify itself for neglecting one of them by asserting that the opposition party has done no better. | The Republican platform of 1896 declared: “We | favor restoring the early American policy of discrim- | | | | | inating duties for the upbuilding of our merchant | marine and the protection of our shipping in the | foreign carrying trade, so that American ships—the | | shipyards, sailing under the stars and stripes and | manned, officered and owned by Americans—may | regain the carrying of our foreign commerce.” ' product of American labor employed in Americanj | On that platform and upon that pledge the people elected a Republican President and a Republican Con- Up to this time, however, not a single step | has been taken to foster and promote our merchant | marine. Now the nation needs transports, and be- | | hold it has none. We have been compelled to grant | American registry to foreign vessels in order to embark our troops to Manila and to Cuba. It is not | to be wondered that astute Democrats have chosen this point for attack upon the Republican record, and | it is safe to say they will continue it until they are | silenced by legislation in fulfillment of the pledge. | | gress. IN EUROPE. " THE ELECTIONS | E have been so much engaged with war 1 W matters of late that we have given but little | attention to affairs in Europe outside of reports }of possible European interference with our control | | of Manila. Much, however, has been goiné on there | | that is worthy of notice and even of study. This is | | particularly true of the recent elections in France and | Germany, where the results have been widely different from what might have been expected by persons who have thought only of wars and international compli- | cations. In both countries the elections have shown that the | people are thinking a great deal more of home affairs | than of any territorial or military expansion. They | | show, moreover, that the drift of public sentiment in | both countries is toward economic and social re- | forms. The Radicals virtually triumphed in France | and the Socialists made larger gains than any other party in Germany. There is of course a wide differ- | ence between French radicalism and German social- ism, so far as their political programmes go, but the spirit among the people which animates the move- ment in the two countries is essentially the same— that of discontent with the existing order of things and revolt against its authority. The election results in Germany have been, it is said, highly irritating to the Emperor. His aggres- sive foreign policy carried out in China and his ap- peal to the warlike spirit of his people through the in- crease of the navy has apparently not affected the popular mind in the least. They voted on local issues without regard to imperial policies, and elected so many Socialists that the Emperor is quoted as hav- ing said, “It is time to stop persuasion and try more drastic measures, or these fellows will destroy all.” It is clear that both in France and in Germany the people are at this time more intent on providing a remedy for wrongs at home than upon acquiring glory abroad. In neither country are the majority of citizens so devoted to the army as reports would sometimes incline us to believe. This attitude of the public mind in two such powerful nations may be an augury of a long peace, but it may also be the oppo- site. Governments have been known in times past to go to war simply to distract the attention of their people from local affairs. If the Germans persist in talking of socialism despite the Kaiser’s bluff at war in the Orient, he may some day be induced to try the effect of a real war. That would probably seem to many of his counselors a safer means of checking the home revolt than his suggested drastic measures of suppression. Some of those rioting women up in Wisconsir ought to be drafted for service in Cuba. Then the Spaniards would never stop running until they had jumped into the bay. Grsilet oy Apparently every man under 4rms who gets the least chance to show that he is a hero straightway takes advantage of the chance. While there is every likelihood that Havana lacks both ammunition and food, Blanco’s typewriter hasn’t acknowledged it yet. No apology has appeared in the Examiner for the bogus Hobson letter. But then, the apology would have been a fake, too. : SRR T It is now too laté to talk of any compromise peace conditions. The Spaniards must simply pack up and | who contemplate matrimony is THE PROGRESS OF THE WAR. URING the past week the land fighting in D Cuba began vigorously on the part of our troops and was met by a guerrilla resistance on the part of the Spaniards. A contest resulted of suf- ficient importance to be heralded as the first land battle of the war, though when measured by the mighty conflicts of our civil strife it would hardly have been noted as a skirmish. The advance of our troops was checked for hardly more than an hour and we now have Santiago invested on the land side as well as blockaded by sea. According to the reports, the advance of our ‘roops was largely aided by the forces of the Cubans. They co-operated with considerable effect and managed to hold the attention of a large number of Spaniards, thus preventing a consolidation of the entire Spanish force against our advance guard. These reports of Cuban activity are encouraging, for however ineffi- cient the insurgents might be in an open pitched bat- tle, it is unquestionable they can be of vast service in watching and harassing any Spanish movements of a bushwhacking or guerrilla character. From the events of the week it seems clear the Spanish generals do not intend to risk anything on a battle in the open. The resistance made to ouradvance could hardly have been designed to stop it. The aim of the Spaniards seems to have been to take advantage of the ground to ambuscade our troops wherever pos- sible, to kill as many as they could without great risk to themselves, and then fall back the moment their | positions became subject to our attack. This means of course that they will hold all their trdops for the defense of Santiago, and make their sole determined | fight behind the entrenchments of that city. It is announced that General Shafter, aiter driving | the Spaniards into Santiago, will not make a deter- | mined effort to capture the place until the arrival of | his artillery, which has been delayed. In the mean- | time there may be severe skirmishing almost every day with the Spanish forces in the suburbs. It has ceased to be wholly a one-sided contest. We no longer get reports of conflicts ending with the an- nouncement ‘“No loss on our side.” Mourning and grief are now to be heard in American homes as well as in those of Spain, and the war is on in earnest. Reports from Madrid are encouraging to the hopes | of an early return of peace. The Ministry is going | to pieces. The war party is said to have lost prestige | and the prediction is made that even if Sagasta main- | tains his position as Premier he will within a week | make every effort possible to put an end to a conflict | in which Spain has no hope of galning anything. | Too much confidence, however, should not be placed | in these reports. The Spaniards are a stubborn peo- | ple. The war is not costing them very much. Their | fleets are resting quietly in port. Their troops are already in Cuba. It entails no great expenditure to maintain them there, and the chances are they will not | surrender to us either Santiago or Havana until we | have compelled them by forc: of arms. A BOOK FOR LOVERS. ENATOR STEWART, as is well known, has S long been in the habit of loading his speeches on financial questions with quotations from what he calls “eminent authorities.” They are now telling a story in Washington to the effect that at the close of a lengthy extract read by Stewart in a recent speech Senator Hoar inquired from what book the Senator from Nevada had been reading. “It is an analysis of the functions of money, by William M. Stewart, United States Senator,” was the reply. This book, which places Senator Stewart himself among the eminent authorities who have written on financial subjects in a manner agreeable to the fiat money theorists, has now been received at this office, and since it comes to us direct with “the compliments of the author” it is entitled to something more than | a mere book notice. It is a small volume of only ninety-four pages and affords a proof that the Sen- ator, although unwearying in speech, is not so ex- | haustless with the pen. Compared with his usual | financial utterances, what he has written might be de- | scribed as a booklet rather than a work. | The volume is dedicated to “the young men and women of the United States who are contemplating matrimony with its inevitable responsibilities.” It may be regarded, therefore, as a book for lovers, to be read in dimly lighted parlors where the gas is turned low, rather than for statesmen or politicians to study in the full blaze of fierce political con- troversies. The reason why the volume is dedicated to those explained by the author. He says: “The families and friends of young women oppose their marriage with young men otherwise worthy on account of the fear that it will be impossible for the united efforts of both to save them from poverty and want. The author believes that a careful study of this book will enable the people through the intelligent exercise of the elective franchise-to restore the conditions enjoyed by former generations when happy homes were established throughout our vast domain.” The volume is in effect a cAmpaign document di- rected to those voters who are contemplating matri- mony and desire good times as well as a honeymoon. It opens with a long quotation from Aristotle con- cerning the functions of money and proceeds to argue from the Aristotelian dictum that money is not a commodity but a creation of law. The fact that the number of men in high official station and of pro- fessors of political economy in American colleges who hold the opposite view is increasing does not affect the Senator in the slightest. He says: “The conten- tion maintained by the fading intellectual capacity of | economists, or by the selfish cunning of money get- ters, that gold is money must be regarded in the same light as the contention that the world is flat, or that witcherdft was a well-known device of the devil.” The chief end and object of the book is to show that as money is a creation of law, it will be as easy for Congress to make it out of silver as out of gold. This contention has been argued over so much in this country in recent years it is not worth while to go over it again. We would be glad if Senator Stewart’s book should encourage matrimony, for marriage is a good thing, but we advise nobody to marry on a fiat basis and hope to support a family by voting for free silver. T ——— When Roosevelt's Rough Riders get into action there seems to be no distinction between the cowboy and the rich young man supposed to be of the kid- glove brand. Announcement is made that Madrid does not “like the signs” to be read in the vicinity of Santiago. Occasionally even Madrid can display indications of temporary sanity. French statesmen seem coy about going into a Cab- inet where their one effective act would be that of resigning to avoid being kicked out. . Sometimes an unworthy suspicion arises that Sampson’s reduction of Spanish forts is the reductio get out. - |ad absurdum we read about. . . ‘ F 8 EDITORIAL COMMENTS ON THE WAR. -NO MACHINE-MADE WARRIORS. So with machine-made armies and navies. They can be bullt up into splendid masses, they can be taught bravery as a mechanical habit, and even heroism as a matter of obedience. But no magnificence of manufac- ture can equal the creation animated by its own spirit. Intelligence—the mastery of mind over matter—is bound to be a controlling factor in the world’s destinies, and the soldier who feels while he fights—who knows that he is part and not a tool of the whole—who willingly makes himself a ma- chine for another to work with, because he understands the causes and aims of such subordination—such a warrior is bound in the end to overcome all foes. The American idea is that of many In one, as opposed to the foreign principle of one in many. A high standard can be set and kept in the me- chanical limit. Its strength without the hold of its creator is like the speed of an engine whose engineer is not at the throttle—great, but wild, danger- ous, full of mischievous possibilities—following blindly what is to its dark- ened powers of perception, a blind fate. But where the human element is recognized and fostered, this blind submission of matter is not ppssxhle. As perfect a system of discipline as rigid and stern in its requirements as any in use in Europe, is possible under our institutions. But it can never be so machine-made, for in each man, it is enlightened by intelligence, fostered by sympathy, and its vital springs of action lie in appeals to both head and heart.—Baltimore American. MAY STIMULATE POETS. That our literary sense may be greatly stimulated before we get through is surely possible. Our poets may mature with the war. But we should not expect the benefit to be confined to one only of the belligerents. Spain has a literary tradition that casts ours into the shade; she has a large body of respectable contemporary writers. They should certainly feel the quick- ening and fructifying influence of war, if Sir Walter Besant is right. But Senora Emilia Pardo Bazan, speaking for them in the last number of the Revue des Revues, says that the war has brought them to a kind of sterile despair. “When a nation finds itself at the edge of a precipice,” she writes, “it is forced to withdraw its attention from its writers. Letters require a tranquil spirit.” We are bound to believe that the Spaniard, tasting the bitterness of war, is nearer the truth than the Englishman, knowing it only as a spectacle.—New York Evening Post. ENLISTED MEN OF THE NAVY. The splendid behavior of the enlisted men of the navy in this war is in perfect harmony with the most cherished traditions of the service. It may not be possible to excel the devotion, the patriotism, the heroism of the sailors of the Union in former wars, but it settled beyond doubt that the crews of our modern ships are equal to any emergency, are unsurpassed in bravery and efficiency by the best of their predecessors in the United States service, or any of their contemporaries under other flags. The men of Dewey’s squadron, the men with Sampson and Schley, the crew of the Ore- gon, all display those great qualities without which the best ships, the finest equipment and the most capable commanders would be less likely to win victories than to encounter defeats; those qualities with which good ships, under capable commanders, are practically invincible in any fight in which they have a possibility ‘of victory. Congress and the country used to be officially informed annually that the crews of our warships were chiefly composed of “the refuse of foreign navies.” It was, perhaps, an exaggera- tion, yet therg was too much truth in it. But “we have changed all that.” ‘The sailors of foreign birth are as reliable, capable and patriotic as their messmates who are native born. In the navy, as in the army and in civil life, native and adopted citizens display equal loyalty to the Government, equal zeal in defense of the flag, equal and unsurpassable heroism when vol- unteers for daring, dangerous or even desperate desds are called for.— ‘Washington Post. GENUINE AMERICAN UNITY. Now the interests of the country are one. The division is only history. No power of guns can keep the Supreme Court from making any decisions it pleases, within the constitution and laws, as to States’ rights, and such decisions must affect all the States equally. There is absolutely no division now, nor is any division on the lines possible in the future. There is no more reason why Grant and Lee may not be considered, without prejudice, as great characters in American history, than why Cromwell and Prince Rupert may not be so considered in English history. The supporters of the King were expected to submit, not resent, while Cromwell was Protector. The supporters of Parliament were expected to submit, not resent, when the Stuarts returned to the throne. There is room for genuine American unity on the same basis now, and the proposition to return the Confederate flags is an invitation to union on this basis. There can be no doubt of the result, for the invitation has been accepted long ago, and American pride in the achievements of Dewey, once of Vermont, and Hobson, once of Alabama— both now of America—will cement the unity of feeling that community of interest has long demanded and banish all present feeling of hostility from the recollection of the antagonism of the . past.—Florida Times-Union and Citizen. ENTANGLING ALLIANCES. Twelve vears after the father of his country admonished us against “en- tangling alliances,” Robert Fulton first practically demonstrated the propo- sition of the propulsion of ships by steam. Eight years later James Steph- enson built the first steam locomotive with a speed of cix miles an hour. Fifteen years later a speed of thirty-five miles an hour was attained by the builder of the first locomotive. Not until 1841 was the pratical application of the screw propeller to steamships demonstrated. This, too, was done by an American. Wedged in between these developments is the subjugation of the subtle electric force to the uses of mankind. This, again, was done by an American. All of these marvelous inventions that have wrought such changes in the physical, political and social world have been made since Washington wrote that “at this great distance from the northern parts of Europe we hear of wars and rumers of wars as if they were the events or reports of another planet.” We had a full account of the battle of Manila a few hours after it occurred four thousand miles further from our shores than are the northern parts of Europe. The father of his country might have modified his advice to his beloved nation against ‘“entangiing alli- ances” had he known that so soon after his death we were to stretch our domain across the continent; that we were to make the most distant parts of the earth next door neighbors; that we were to store up here in the nat- ural process of development a national energy, intelligence and wealth such as the world has never seen.—St. Louis Republic. HEROES OF THE STOKEHOLE \ At Manila, off Havana, before Santiago, in storm or in quiet seas, the true heroes are those in the stokehole. With hatches battened, far down below the water line, knowing nothing of what is going on, it may be to go down with the boat without hope of escape, with death in horrible forms threatening on all sides, the men in the fire and engine rooms serve their country and serve it well. On the deck, behind the guns, the compar- ative freedom and openness of the conflict stimulate; down below it is the grimness of duty with nothing to relieve the tension and the surround- ings that make for physical depression if not mental despair. Here is a bit of the log of the Oregon: “On the morning of April 30 weather was scorching hot; down in the fire and engine rooms the temperature reached 160 degrees Fahrenheit. The Oregon plunged ahead at a speed of fourteen and a half knots, with only natural draught. For ten hours she ran at this speed. In this run James McGaragle, first fireman, was prostrated by heat, but in a few minutes re- covered, and insisted on being taken back to his post. At no time, it is said, during the ¢ntire voyage was the temperature in the engine room ever be- low 125 degrees.” This but fairly pictures the facts. They can with difficulty be realized by those who find n temperature of 98 in the free air, and with the breeze in their face, oppressive and maddening. And yet the heroes of the stoke- hole stand this and more; even when the body gives way the mind still re- mains steadfast to its indomitable purpose to do and dare all. With the names of those who, on deck or in turret, on a fair field, riding rough, charging with set face, meet glory, should be set on high, above them, the | Cal heroes of the stokehole.—Philadelphia Press. NEWS OF FOREIGN NAVIES. Russia is now bullding six first-class battleships, one second-class ° battleship, one coast defense ship, one armored cruiser, three second-class protected criisers, three gunboats, seventeen tor- pedo boat destroyers, and ten torpedo boats. The Russian admiralty has offered a prize for the best composition for coat- ing the bottom of ships-of-war to pro- tect the hull from fouling. Experiments are now in progress In tropical waters with upward of 100 different kinds sub- mitted for tests up to last February. The French battleship Charlemagne has passed through a number of steam trials, which were apparently satisfactory. With 14,300 horsepower she made 17.7 knots in a run of four hours, and with only one of her three screws in operation she de- veloped a speed of 83 knots with only 1500 horsepower. ‘Vickers, Sons and Maxim recently test- ed a thirteen-pounder quick-firing gun. The shell weighed thirteen and a quarter pounds, and twenty-seven rounds with charges of sixteen and a half ounces “ballistic” gave a velocity of 1850 foot seconds. Fifteen rounds were fired in sixty-seven seconds, or at the rate of thirteen and a half rounds per minute. ‘With careful sighting the rapidity of fire was ten rounds per minute. The Highflyer, sheathed cruiser of 5600 tons, was launched at the Fairfleld yard, on the Clyde, June 4. She is one of twelve vessels built from the same de- sign, some of which are yet on the stocks. They are expected to make nineteen and a half knots with 10,000 horsepower. Im- proved Belleville boilers are being intro- duced in most of these ships, and ex- periments at the Fairfleld yard show an increase of evaporative efficiency of 33 per cent over the ordinary Belleville boiler. Rear Admiral Arthur Khyvet Wilson, controller in the British admiralty, won his Victoria Cross in the following man- ner: In 1884 he was In the Soudan cam- palgn, and was with the naval brigade at El Teb. At the most critical moment of the actlon a gap was made In the British square, and half & dozen Der-' vishes rushed at it to break in. Cap- tain Wilson, who was near the spot, moved out alone to meet them. His sword broke in cutting one man down, but Wilson held his ground, knocking the Dervishes down one after the other with his fist. He escaped practically un- harmed and the square closed up and rescued the gallant officer. The “Queen’s barge,” which was last publicly employed in conveying the body of Nelson from Greenwich to ‘Whitehall, was built about 1725. The length is sixty- four feet, and beam six feet eight inches. She was double banked, manned with twelve oars, and her cabin had room for twelve to fourteen persons. The boat has been laid up for many years at Depr- ford, and In 1842 narrowly escaped being sold out of service. Two still more an- clent boats, known as Queen Elizabeth's barges, are also preserved at Deptford. They were built somewhere about 1700, and were used for many years in water pageants on the Thames. Fifteen battle and coast defense ships in the French navy are undergoing rn.;t- cal changes in thelr refits, which con- sists in taking out the ordinary marine boilers and replacing them with water- tube boilers, and Substituting guns of smaller caliber but greater power. The secondary batteries are likewise im- proved, gun positions altered and super- structure reduced. The sum of $5,200,548 has been voted for this purpose to be expended by the year 1900, up to whicn time the following ships will have been modernized as far as possible: Formid- able, Courbet, Redoubtable, Admiral Bau- din, Hoche, Marceau, Devastation, Nep- tune, Admiral Duperre, Magenta, Cal- man, Requin, Terrible, Indomptable and Furfeux. The Admiral Baudin will have twelve-inch guns in turrets, instead of as at present, 14.6-inch in barbette, The failure of the Terrible to steam from Gibraltar to Portsmouth under 15,000 horsepower was due to defective engines. The ship ran for twenty-four hours under 15,000 to 17,000 horsepower, when it was discovered that one of the high-pressurs cylinders showed signs of glving way and the power was at once reduced to 7000 horsepower, under which she limped along at the rate of fifteen knots. There 18 no trouble with the boilers, but the ens gines will be opened out and defects made good before further trials are made. In the Powerful it was stated that one of the engine foundations had settled, throw- ing the machinery out of line. Whatever the causes may be, structural weakness of hull or defective machinery, these two monster ships are far from coming up to ‘expectations. The Powerful, in her present condition, is only good for twelve knots, the Terrible for fifteen knots, and both of them are credited with twenty- two knots and over. ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. NERS—J. F., City. Pagc Commissic of Golden Gate ark were on June 20, 1898, Joseph Austin and A. B! Spreckels. 11;1,!2.\'1(111 D., City. There is a pyieq Lalled Blenheim in San Mateo coun- iles s reached by rail and team. Nine teans to Colma and then twenty miles by CUBAN, NOT CUBIAN—Call Cal. A native of T 4‘.,;"“ is called a Cuban, " a is ‘pronounced if written Ku-ban il it written & , with the sound of BATTLESHIPS Reader, . S, City. Of the first-class battleships, the trial obtained the Orégon was 16.78, the Towa 17.09, Indiar chusetts 16.2. FRACTIONAL CURR Oakland, Cal. The only currency for which a is a crisp new note of edges perforated like Notes of that character mium of 85 cents. FIRST WHITE CHILD lejo, Cal. The first chil¢ rents born on the soil of States was Virginia Dare oke Island, N. C. She daughter of John White the colony August 18, 1 HOMESTEAD—J. L. 5545 and the Massa- CY-L. E. C, nt fractionat remium is >t first is: B the G The date of her birtn W., EIk Creek, An individual who has once used his homestead rights, everything having been favorable and he having obtain patent, cannot take up a second stead. There are cases where the being unproductive the homsteader ha ing been forced to relinquish, he may make application for a second entry. CHARTERED VESSELS—M. 8., Ci The vessels that the Government h cured for the transport of troops to the Philippines and other points have I chartered for such time as the Ge ment shall require them. As the ( ernment will have more troops to s on after the departure of the third e pedition the City of Peking and ot will be hastened back here o0 as to take away the remainder, if there should be need to send them to the Philippines. THE CHINA—In the answer published in the issue of Sunday as to measure- ment of the steamer China the figures given were as taken from the reg but it appears that it was not th: ticular steamer China that the co spondent wanted to be informed a The one he wished to know about is the China that was until recently sailing under the Hawailan flag, but is now ing the American flag and used as a transport. The measurement of that ons is: TOSS register, 4697 tons; net, 2401 length, 440.4 feet; breadth, 45.1 feet, and depth,’ 82.8 feet 3 IN THE PUBLIC EYE. The first woman appolated by the Gov- ernment as superintendent of nurses in the Civil War was Miss Dorothea Dix of Worcester, Mass. The Chartered Compan¥ at Cape Town is now paying for the education of the three sons of the once great and dreaded chief of Matabeleland. The statue of President Kruger, to be erected at Pretoria, is to be topped off with a “‘stove-pipe” hat, a decision which is causing shivers and horrors in artistic circles, and even among artists who them- selves wear similar hats. Among dug-up things about Admiral Dewey is an impression of his hand taken by Dr. C. L. Perin, a palmist of Washing- ton, two years ago. Dr. Perin’s reading of the hand tells many things which the Spaniards would have found useful If they could but have had it in time. Captain Charles V. Gridley, who com- manded Admiral Dewey's flagship, the Olympia, at Manila, is a native of Indi- ana and a graduate of Annapolis in 1863 He was made a captain in Marc! f last year, He saw service in the Civil War, notably in the battle of Mobile Bay. —_————— Cal. glace fruit 50c per Ib at Townsend's.* —_————— Giving up business, genuine eyeglasses 15c to 40c. 65 Fourth street, next bs T, also Sunday till 2 p. m. \J ———— Celebrate the Fourth with California fireworks. Buy direct from makers. Cal- ifornta Fireworks Co., 219 Front st. * —_———— Special information supplied daily to business houses and public men by the Press Clipping Bureau (Allen’s), 510 Mont- gomery street. Telephone Main 1042 ¢ gl ot ke The “elephant beetle” of Venezuela 's the largest insect in the world. .. fulls grown one weighs about half a pound. Excursion to the Yellowstone Park. A personally conducted excursion will leavé this city July 12 for the Yellowstone Park, via the “Shasta Route” and Northern Pacific Rall- way. Tourists will be accommodated in firste class Pullman cars; tickets will be &old, ine cluding berths, meals and trip througt the Park. Send for circular giving rate and itiners ary to T. K. STATELER, General Agenf Northern Pacific Railway, 638 Market st., S. R\ —_———— “Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup* Has been used over fifty years by millions of mothers for their children while Teething with perfect success. It soothes the child, softeng the gums, allays Pain, cures Wind Colic, rege ulates the Bowels and is the best remedy fof Diarrhoeas, whether arising from teething o@ other causes. For sale by Druggists in everg part of the world. Be sure and ask for Mre Winslow’s Soothing Syrup. e a bottle, —— CORONADO—Atmosphere is perfectly drg, eoft and mild, being entirely free from the mists common further north. Round-trip ticke ats, by steamship, including fifteen days’ board at the Hotel del Coronado, $65; longer stay, $250 per day. Apply 4 New Montgomery st. 8. F., or E. S. BABCOCK, Manager Hotel ded Coronado, Coronado, Cal. —_—————————— The Santa Fe Route will run second excufe slon to Grand Canyon of the Colorado, Arizongy on Thursday, June 3. Noted scientists will a0 company the party. A pleasant and profitable trip. Get full particulars at No. 644 Market st. ——"——————— ADVERTISEMENTS. A BEAUTY SCREEN Your shirt front will prove to be wken it is laundered at the U. S. Laundry. A man feels like somebody when he can esconce himself behind a shirt front that looks like new, every day in the week, or don a collar or cuff that is ag perfect as if bought that cCay, every time he arrays him: If in linen “dons up” here. Our laundry work is perfect, United States Laundry, cffice 1004 Market street. Teleptane South 420. )