The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, July 28, 1898, Page 6

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, THURSDAY, JULY 28, 1898. THURSDAY JULY 28, 1808 7JOHN D.V SPRECKELS, Proprietor. Address All Communications to W. S. LEAKE, Manager. s R R e S S e PUBLICATION OFFICE Market and Third Sts., S. F. Telephone Main 1868. EDITORIAL ROOMS..........2!7 to 22| Stevenson Street Telephone Malo 1§74 THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL (DAILY AND SUNDAY) Is served by carrlers In this city and surrounding towns for I5 cents a week. By mall $6 per year; per montd 66 cents. THE WEEKLY CALL OAKLAND OFFICE.... NEW YORK OFFICE Room 188, World Building | DAVID ALLEN, Advertising Represcntative. | WASHINGTON (D. C.) OFFICE ..-Riggs Houee C. €. CARLTON, Correspondent. CHICAGO OFFICE... ...Marquette Building One year, by mall, $1.50 .908 Broadway C.GEORGE KROGNESS, Advertising Representative. WRANCH 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 until 9:30 o'clock. 615 Larkin street, open until 9:30 o'clock. | 1941 Mission street, open untll 10 o'clock. 2291 Market } street, corner Sixteenth, open untll 9 o'clock. 2518 | Mission street, open untll 9 o'clock. 106 Eleventh | street, open untl. 9 o'clock. 1505 Polk street, opem until 9:30 o'clock. NW. corner Twenty-second ane Kentucky streets, open untll 9 o'clock. AMUSEMENTS Tivoli—"The Beggar Student.” Orphe The ¢ Vaudeville. Zoo, Vaudeville and Cannon, the €13-pound Man. oating, fishin; g, every Sunday. i AUCTION SALES. . July 28, Groceries and ady Store, at 952 Market By Wines, By H street, events State is vicinity has soil by ration t 1ad been crea ce app STORM CENTER OF MAGUIREISM. L CAREFUL a sis of Democratic [\ and their cau: 1s far in the campaign in- dicate that the storm center of Maguireism in located somewhere in the of 3 h uire idea originated in resolutions sed by the Cou Committee of that county. | hereupon Cha Alford of the State Committee, | n Tulare, came north and appointed a to settle factional difficulties in this | i ounted all obstacles by ap- nittee of one hundred and investing it | er to act. | be perceived that Maguireism took its it rapidly spread Ithough Mr. Alford sought passing through the at the committees ed only in the ed upon the ttee has adopted a resolu- Maguire, and sub- int 154 delegates from e interest of the Congressman's am- to a decided to appc The Tulare County tail may thus be said to be wag- the Democratic California dog. ty inspira- ring been obtained from that region, of course ntly proper that political action should But it may with consider- | d, What has Tulare County in the gubernatorial aspirations Judge Ma The county is agricultural in character. Do rs of Tulare desire the adoption of the single tax th It ought not to be necessary to 1g emir t in th same quarter. interest e propriety be | of uire? ory? | remind m that that theory contemplates placing all the bu s of maintaining the vernment on land. | Judge Maguire’s idea is to destroy the fee-simple and | downers to hold their estates subject to the demands of the tax eaters. the farmers of Tulare desire to pro- feud of the Democracy with the ¢ Company. But if they do why are | g Maguire's gubernatorial aspirations? | ft ng scheme will not come before compel © Or, perh mote the an South Huntin the Cal ia Legislature. If their purpose is to thwart the multifarious schemes of the railroad mag- nate, the mers of Tulare, instead of putting up a job to appoint a convention for the nomination of ige Maguire as Governor, should petition that gen- tleman to continue in Congress. On the whole we see no reason why Tulare County | should be the storm center of Maguireism. Yet the | facts of the Democratic situation indicate that it is. D There are many saloons in this town at which a copy of the Bulletin is given to each buyer of a drink. Leaving aside the fact that this is a pretty mean trick to play on a man who may be under the influence of liquor, there is a natural curiosity to know whether the twilight journalists count these yift cmcrprise] copies when they are making up a list of circulation to which to swear. Birdie Sanders of Idaho, a teacher, was attacked by three men and, drawing a pistol, sent two to the morgue and the other to the hospital. That young woman ought to be able to teach the young idea how to shoot all right. aasiiol L ey ‘Since the man who shot Soapy Smith has followed him, owing to wounds inflicted by the dying gambler, it can only be hoped that Soapy has been so thor- “oughly reformed that there will be no renewal of the trouble between them. EREI . Confidence in General Shaiter is so well established that when he calls the Governor of Santiago a pre- suming rascal there will be no doubt but that is ex- actly what the Governor is. Possibly young Leiter had $3,000,000 worth of fun out of his little wheat experiment, but his father had the bill to pay, and it is not easy to see where the old man’s fun came in. St Cubans are pleading for self-government, but the best way for them to get it is to prove that there is something to them besides appetite. According to Sagasta Spaniards “die but never surrender.” For the first word read “lie” and a flood of light is thrown on the situation. Rumors are heard that Cervera intends to go to Boston to live. Perhaps he feels boun. to do pen- ance for having lost his fleet. SREE R, Captain Sampson of the navy has met no Delilah 2 with shears, but a number of people seem to be after him with knives. o _-.Corrcspondents who are trying to stir up trouble in Cuba ought to be given space in a cemetery at regular rates. ‘judge, jury and prosecutor. S | authority.” | you most sincerely upon this great victory of V\'i‘th California boys at the front, this State regards ‘Manila as good as a fallen city right now. GOULD @S d KALSOMINE ARTIST. S a whitewash expert there is probably none fl rising superior to Frank H. Gould. He realizes the necessity of a coating to hide the real character of himself and his associates, and with lavish hands he daubs it on. To knock off a few flakes of the deceptive exterior becomes a duty, and if some skin peel with it the fault is Gould's. The Agnews investigation has gone far enough to demonstrate the purpose dishonest, the method far- cical, and the result, all arranged in advance, to be the inevitable glossing over of faults so grave that they have made the asylum reek with scandal. At- taches are afraid to speak. Outsiders are not per- mitted to tell what they know. The fear of Gould has closed the mouths of subordinates, and the creatures of Gould aid him in keeping silent those who would be glad to speak. The way in which the investiga- tion is being hampered is in itself a plea of guilty. | | Were the institution run honestly and properly, the personnel respectable, everybody concerned would be eager to have the fullest light turned upon its internal affairs. Instead of this, those against whom charges have been brought assume the role of witnesses, It could hardly be ex- pected under these circumstances that the truth would be encouraged. Gould sloshes into the whitewash bucket, and, as far as his brush can reach, plasters his environment with the bogus emblem of purity. Doubtless Sponogle, a man of ill repute, and the weakling associates of Gould will emerge from the ordeal snowy as alabaster images, walking monu- ments of virtue. Gould has a faculty for holding office. He is the gentleman who recently made report to Governor Budd on the condition of building and loan associa- tions, and afterward made a second report for publi- | cation, conflicting with the first, explaining that the first came from him as an official, and the second as an individual. Here is a delicate distinction. the official or the individual did either the official or the individual had no right to do. Just where the two entities merge is known only to | Gould, and while he is in the whitewash line he would better give each of them a dab. It was Gould who while Speaker of the Assembly in 1803 presented a bill for services at $18 per day, which an honest Controller did not let him get. A member of the Assembly is allowed $8 a day and the Speaker $10. According to Gould's figures he was | entitled to both salaries, and he had the nerve to press the claim even after it had once been thrown to understand. That was only another instance of his dual existence. can be an officer and an individual, neither entity having anything in common with the other, surely he could be an Assemblyman and a Speaker, two dis- tinct personalities, but with one pocket. However, the record does not look well, and a coating of white- wash is needed there, too, if any be left when the Agnews comedy is over. Imagine such other Speakers as Frank L. Coombs or Morris M. Estee trying so knavish a trick. out. His course is now ea In the news columns the shameful tale of Agnews | has been told. The conditions prevailing there are a reproach to the State. There is no disposition op the part of Gould to clean out the place; it would be hara-kiri. A cleaning would oust his brother and other friends, bounce Sponogle and Hale and leave Gould himself standing pensively outside the walls and marveling what had struck him. Governor Budd has devoted much time to State institutions, particularly those having to do with the care of the poor and afflicted. He owes it to himself now to devote special attention to Agnews. If he desires to go from office with honor he will have to see that Gould and the Gould gang go first. SAMPSON’S REPORT. AMPSON'S report of the destruction of the Spanish fleet off Santiago was well worth all the space it occupied in the news of the day, | and all the time given by the public in reading it. While it added nothing to what was already known of the conflict, it possessed the peculiar eloquence that ever lies in the words of those who “speak with It was official, and in the sedate language of a formal document confirmed every essential detad given by more picturesque and glowing writers of the great victory. Some regret will be felt that the rear admiral did not in his report give special mention and honor to Commodore Schley, who was in actual command of the squadron during the battle. This would have been the more graceful on his part because in reporting to the admiral the commodore had said: “I congratulate the squadron under your command.” The opportunity thus afforded for an interchange of congratulations was so good that a mistake was made when the ad- miral allowed it to pass without profiting by it. Californians will note with proud satisfaction that our home-built battleship, the Oregon, receives from the admiral higher praise than that accorded to any other ship in the fleet. In narrating the events of the fight as they occurred, the report says: “The Brook- Iyn and the Texas had at the start the advantage of position, and the Brooklyn maintained this lead until the Oregon, steaming with amazing speed from the commencement of the action, took first place.” Later on, in summing up the performances of the various vessels and awarding due praise to each, the admiral says: “The fine speed of the Oregon enabled her to take a front position in the chase, and the Cristobal Colon did not give up until the Oregon had thrown a thirteen-inch shell beyond her. This per- formance adds to the already brilliant record of this fine battleship and speaks highly of the skill and care with which her admirable efficiency has been main- tained during a service unprecedented in the history of vessels of her class.” There was nothing invidious in this praise given to the ship that so fitly represents the ship-building work of the Pacific Coast. That it was merited and deserved has been attested by all who watched the fight intelligently. In fact every report that has been made of the battle has given special honor to the Oregon, and the official report of the admiral has done no more than confirm the glorious records of her performances in the action that have been al- ready published. The admiral’s report was®accompanied by the re- ports made to him by the various commanding offi- cers of the fleet. All of these are documents which our people can read with a jistly founded pride. It is notable that the commanders without exception speak in highest praise of their seamen and give to these unnamed heroes full credit for their share of the great victory. Captain Evans (Fighting Bob) sums up their conduct in a characteristic phrase: “So long as the enemy showed his flag they (the crew) fought like American seamen, but when the flag came down they were as gentle and as tender as American women.” Courage in action and generosity in vic- tory could go no further, nor the highest chivalry be better exemplified. r—— Why did the Post announce that the ex-Queen is a victim of cancer? There are so many truths to tell that fiction seems superfluous. Either | something which | If he | THE NEED OF FOREST PROTECTION. T HE Brooklyn Eagle refers in somewhat severe terms to the destruction of Western forests, even in the Federal reservations, as a result of with- drawing troops to serve in a foreign war. We are glad that the interest of the whole country in the forests of a part of it is receiving attention, even though the treatment of it may be partial and incom- plete. The forests of a country are perhaps its most im- portant and valuable physical feature. They bear a relation to the precipitation and distribution of that moisture upon which the fertility of the soil de- pends, for which, in the regions which they dominate, there is no possible substitute. Their destruction is an artificial interference with the ways of nature, which is sure of punishment, in a dehydrated soil and a loss of fertility. This statement of the relation of forests to fertility has been contradicted by some superficial observers, who cite the prairie States of the Upper Mi Valley as an example of the non-concurrence of for- ests with moisture and fertility. The contradiction is only apparent and is not real. Those prairie regions differ in their physical features from the region of high plateaus, mountains and val- leys west of the hundredth meridian. In the prairie country nature provided a substitute for the forests as an agent in the collection and dis- tribution of moisture. The prairie States have but few altitudes greater than 600 feet. In their primitive | condition they were threaded by sloughs, drainage | channels with but little fall, where the shed waters | moved but slowly, and evaporation during most of the year was not rapid. Here accumulated a vegetable mold many feet in depth from the roots and the de- cay of the hummock grasses, which held water like a sponge. These sloughs were reinforced by swamps, marshes, ponds and small lakes, all serving as catch- ment basins for the rainfall, and most of ~them de- fended against evaporation by the overgrowing grasses. The moisture for the whole region evaporates from the surface of the great lakes, from Superior to Erie. Falling upon the prairie watersheds, this moisture found its way to the natural catchment basins and | supplied local evaporation, in the hot summer, for the seasonable thunderstorms by which it was distributed | to moisten the crust of the earth, refresh growing | crops and find its way to storage in the clay subsoil to be drawn up by capillary attraction, and to give life Within a quarter of a cen- | to the deep roots of trees. tury grew up a rage for draining these sloughs, Congress un- swamps, marshes, ponds and lakes. | wisely passed “swamp land” laws, which permitted | the cheap alienation to private ownership of these natural catchment basins. They are plowed fields, underlaid with drain tile. The spongy character of the soil, so well calculated for retaining water, has | been destroyed by cultivation. The usual percentage of moisture, derived directly from the great lakes, | falls every year, but finds no resting-place. Tt is | drained quickly through the former catchment basins, goes speedily into the watercourses which have be- | come torrential, and passes down them destructively, deepening their narrowing channels, and is lost to | its former useful purpose of supplying the summer | showers and being by them distributed for moistening the crust of the earth. The melancholy results are beginning to appear. Along the watercourses, and for a considerable distance on each side, there were for- | merly fine bodies of timber. On the river benches, or intervales, this timber consisted of willow, cotton- wood, linn, sycamore and soft maple. Next there l'were fine growths of white and black walnut, white and black ash, hackberry and hickory. Then on the clay hills were found white, black, red, burr and pin oak, shagbark hickory and hard maple, among which lumbermen recognized the most valu- able hardwoods on the continent. These riparian forests have been too indiscrim- inately cut away and wantonly destroyed. But what fire and ax spared is being rapidly swept away by drainage of the sloughs and natural storage reser- voirs. The failure in distribution of moisture from them has dried the crust of the earth so that all trees of the hickory family, the genus Carya, are dying. They are tap root trees, and, the earth having dried out below their roots, they get no moisture and dis- | appear. So far the trees which spread their roots near the surface manage to live on the small quantity of moisture supplied by direct precipitation, but their doom will come soon or late. In that prairie region, then, we see that drainage of natural reservoirs is in all respects equivalent to | the deforestation of a timbered region, and that it car- | ries with it a gradual destruction of the tree-producing | capacity of the soil, which naturally bore timber, just | as in the timbered region successive fires destroy that capacity. This whole subject of nature’s way of lifting mois- ture by evaporation from the bosom of the lakes and seas, carrying it inland on the winds in certain sea- sons when their direction was favorable and there storing it, either in soil sheltered by forests or in sloughs, swamps and marshes, either to be distributed by percolation into streams from which it might be artificially diverted for irrigation, or by the same means lifted up for distribution by the varying winds of summer when the great currents from their orig- inal source have ceased, is of fascinating interest to the student of physical economics. It requires to be studied and that the conclusions reached be practically applied, or our fertile regions will one day be as blear as the sands that drift over the ruins of Persepolis, where— “The lion and the lizard keep The courts where Jamshyd gloried and drank deep.” | | | | | now Commander Wainwright is not a handsome man. This fact is a pleasing relief. There is a photographic fad for making all naval officers almost too pretty to do anything but sit before a camera in their best clothes. The gentlemen who sent from Washington mis- information that the various States were not re- sponding to the second call for soldiers should now be sending a series of apologies to the various States. Perhaps it will comfort little King Alphonse, now wrestling with a dose of measles, to learn that several gentlemen at our own Camp Merritt have had a sim- ilar experience. There will be no surprise at additional evidence that the Oregon is the best battle-ship in the navy. It was built with the idea of being something of the kind. SCPTY e If people who are certain there will be a great opening at Manila would only go there and. fall into it, one of the horrors of war would be mitigated. _ California has turned out the best battleship in the navy, but believes that a better one is a possibility, and that it ought to be named California. It is strange that Sampson could be near any en- gagement and escape getting his bump of caution struck. issippi | VALMORE'S WO HERE is {n this city at present a young man who is billed in large letters “The Human Brass Band.” The gift he has is unique, its cul- tivation wholly self-taught. There are others able to imitate one or two in- struments, but this young man imitates them all. With equal facility he is the bassoon, making the alr tremulous with the depth of notes which seems below any possible range of the voice, and the next instant he gives the quivering melody of the violin, rising higher and higher, true as if drawn by a bow in the hands of a master. Valmore is the most unassuming of mortals. He is rather under the average size, a decided blonde, with a suggestion of strawberry tint. In conversation his | voice is light and delicate. There is noth- Ing about {ts apparent quality to indi- cate its wondrous range and power. Val- more cannot explain the source of his strange faculty. He simply knows that he has it, and is making the most of it. He is one of a family of sixteen, and neither his brothers nor sister share with him in any measure the tendency to be a brass band. While yvet a boy he real- ized that he could reproduce sounds, and in his school days often did so for the amusement of his playmates, who would erect a tent, charging a pin for admission, and under the tent Valmore would be the entire show. As he grew older the de- sire to imitate various Instruments as well d \i«\} \ \ v — Sawing Wood Comes Easy. as vocal peculiarities grew stronger, and he practiced {t, with no thought of going :fln the stage until flve years ago. At that time he became a professional, and his success has b rked. He i{s now under engagement for a three years' tour abroad. | As interesting as Valmore is on the | stage he s seen and heard to best ad- | vantage among his frienc To them he glves some exhibitions in which he does not yet regard himself as sufficiently per- fected to try on the public. As in rapid succession he accomplishes feats of vo- cal gymnastics which excite marvel, he explains how he has tried and retrled certain acts or how the idea came to him. He has that absolute lack of self-con- sclousness which is the truest modesty, and achieverments which cause astonish- ment to the witnesses appear to him to be a matter of course. ‘“‘Oh, I'll do better than that,” he say ‘after a little more practice.” On a recent evening after the regular performance Valmore met a few ac- | quaintances, and that he afforded them a delightful hour any of them will attest. He did not confine himself to musical subjects, for the first imitation was that of the phonograph. There was the pre- He Mimics the Phonograph. liminary “buzz-z" and the whirr, followed by the squeaky voice which is only heard in this mechanism, and then the sudden click announcing the end of the message. One listening with closed eyes would have sworn to having listened to NDERFUL VOICE. the real thing, so complete was the illu- sion. He imitated the clamor of a dog| fight, wherein canines of every degree | barked and snarled. He became a saw and the rending of the wood was exact- Iy the noise made by the genulne opera- | tion. Then he gave the grunt of a Dig. carrying it through the various stages, | | VALMORE, the Vocal Prodigy. and reaching the climax which may be | obtained by kicking a porker in the short | ribs. Several gentlemen who in earlier days had been farmers were observed to look under their chairs. They thought somebody had smuggled a pig into the apartment. All this, however, was merely strange. | Tt did not rise to the dignity of being ar- | tistic. But when Valmore sayed the | reproduction of music his s was | none the less marked, and it was thor- oughl He gave the intermezzo from lleria Rustican: ul melody, and he gave it with the utmost tone faithfuln He seemed to be pla ing now the 'cello, now the violin, and again there would be the two, th merging in rmony. Yet the w! fort vocal, the chords with which Valmore's throat swell doing it all. He | was In turn a cornet and a bagpipe, a calliope and a banjo. All at once he be- transition, which Anthony Sherman, then 9 vears of age, told Wesley Bradshaw the story of Wash- ington's dream, which he said ‘was in the words of Washington as told him at Val- Jey Forge. In that dream he saw_Amer- ica involved fn war three times, the sec- ond one being one of a divided nation and the third being at the close of the cen- tury. The following words were made a.dible to Washington in his dream, as told by Sherman: “Son of the republic, what ye have seen is thus interpreted: Three perils will come upon the republic. The most fearful is the second, passing which the whole world united shall never prevail against her. Let every L:hllfl of the republic learn to live for his God, hig Jand and the Union.” Then V added: *“With these wor vanished and T started from that T had seen a_ vision {S(En shown me_the birth. progress and destiny of the United States. In uniog she will have her strength; in disunlog her destruction.” MINT AND POSTOFFICE—A. O. S, City. Unless you are nominated for a position that requires confirmation by the Senate of the United States, vou cannot in el o United secure a position In either the States Branch Mint or the Postofiice without passing a civil mina- ffice ther one & tion. In the Pos! exception, name 9 master or chief assistant and one in a first-class office, who may pointed without examination. be ap- A RETOUCHER—A. O. S., City. A re- toucher in an art gallery must be pos- sessed of the art of painting and colors. AROUND THE CORRIDORS. J. Monsarrat of Honolulu is at the Cal- iforna. John W. Mitchell of Los Angeles is at the Palace. H. Silver, a banker of Los Angeles, 1s at the Palace. Judge J. W. Hughes of San Diego is at the Palace. L. A. Johnson, the cattleman of Visalla, is at the Russ. B. F. McCullough of Crows Landing is at the Grand. Professor O. B. Jenkins of Stanford is at the California. V. S. McClatchy of the Sacramento Bes is at the California. Rev. Danfel G. MacKinnon of Stockton is at the Occidental. J. G. Taylor, a cattleman of Lovelock, Vev., is at the Russ. Jlwood Bruner, an attorney of Sacra- mento, s at the Grand. George A. Smith, a we of Cortland, Is at the G George M. Weldler, a lumberman of Portland, is at the Occidental. B. Suzuki of New York, on a tour around the world, is at the Russ. E. S. Valentine of Fresno has just re- turned from Honolulu and is at the Russ. Ithy land owner CORC DL The came by mysterious T seemed casy to him, a whole circus band. | % e e He was drum and horn and clashing 4 4 o cymbal. The spirited “time” brought to | £ HE LOST L Columbia ‘{ na each a vision of the sawdust ring and the HIS $fe other GReiefilose spreading canvas of youth. Wkhen he' late stirring war % PATRIOTISM. gflmm“ i fod for the presence PROLOEB RO 0oy yyve ana genuine soldiers among the supernumer- aries. When the Columbia-Frawley man- agement undertook to put on the play it canvassed the military market and brought to bear all the influence at hand to secure a number of men from Camp Merritt so as to have a background more realistic. Through the kindness of one of the brigadier generals a few squads volunteers were loaned to the Company for the allant Surrende In order to make the soldiers as happy The night supper every night sion of the performance. ley management exerted the vast influence which | neighboring restaurate proached, and after mu was persuaded to sup with supper without ¢ he olunteers ge—the motive, unalloyed patriotism. ¢ night the company of bhuecos into the coffee house. There wa dly num- ber of them, and the prc blood felt a sudden chilling. St could not repudiate his contract, though he might have pleaded on Tuesday night he began to grieve and his patriotism went out with the time. “Mein Got,” he sald, “vat vill dose sol- diers not do to me? I am atriotic American and I vill gif dem all the coffee and sinkers they can eat, but, Gimini Christmas, I didn’t dink a minute dere vere twenty big, hearty fellows. But T guess I got to stand it now.” Violin Solo Without a Violin. | | added to the programme the hula-hula, as played on the concertina, everybody felt an impulse to dance. One of the most difficult feats of the evening was an imitation of a vocal quar- tet. There were the four separate parts in their proper relation, and then the four blent into one as the supposed sing- ers joined in a swelling ohorus. In this | effort the power and volume of Valmore's voice was demonstrated notably. He | seemed- to sing with the force of four strong singers, and at no point did he do violence to the laws of harmony. Nevertheless he does not claim to be a singer, and asserts that his sole accom- plishment in this direction is in repro- ducing what somebody else has done, | | A few hours later the boys came in for their nocturnal rations. The proprietor bid them a smiling welcome for about ten seconds. One after the other they filed in.” There were twenty the night before but there were twice twenty in this new lot. The smile of the coffee and dough- nut dispenser soon faded, giving way to the most awful and mournful expression imaginable. *“Goot Got kill me righd avay, I don’'d vant to live anoder minud,” he cried out: ““Vat vill bekom of me? I never said I vould feed an army. Am I a commissary sergeant or a million- aire? There vere twenty last nighd. Vil eighdy kom to-morrow nighd? Ask me dat, vill you?’ The soldiers are a sociable and a hospitable class; they simply invited their friends. L. T. Garnsey. manager of the Redondo They set a pattern; he does the rest. He F“”‘m“d of fhs Augues, I st s 0K takes pride in doing it well. No subter- | S ranean basso can baffle him, and with | B- T. K. Preston, secretary of the School of Industry at Ione, is at the the spires. Nothing in his natural voice would indicate the least talent in the for- mer direction, a fact which renders the truth all the more amazing. “‘Oh, no,” said Valmore, “I never get tired. My vocal chords are used to it, for I practice every day, and I enjoy it. I make my living from it, and it is a pleas- ure to me at the same time.’ He looks forward to the time his boy, now a lad of four, shall be able to under- | take similar work. The youngster has | an aptitude for it, and his chief joy is to | try to do what mis father does. Val-| more has faith that he will do it. This | boy is the apple of the father's eye, for the child's mother and sister have been taken by death. The light-hearted, care- | less Valmore, laughing through the | world, has known a share of its sorrows. | equal ease he can pursue a tenor beyondi | ANSWERS TC CORRESPONDENTS. GERMAN—Reader, City. la\lfihl in the cosmopolitan schools of tne Public School Department of San Fran- cisco. TWO CANALS—J. B., City. Both the Panama and the Nicaragua canals have had considerable work done on them, but work is suspended on each at this time. THE HEIGHT—L. A. W., City. The height of the Capitol building at Sacra- mento, Cal., is 240 feet. The heirht of the Claus Spreckels building is 327 feet. VISITING GERMANY—Inquirer, Sau- salito, Cal. If a natlve of Germany leaves his country after having performed mili- tary service or has received a certificate permitting him to emigrate, and subse- quently becomes a citizen of the United States, he can return to his native coun- try at any time after having acquired citizenship without fear of molestation from the Germany Government. If he left his country witnout having per- formed military service, and becomes a citizen of the United States, he may, in time of peace, return and visit his native country for a period not exceeding four months, by courtesy of the German Gov- ernment, but if he overstays that time he is liable to arrest and impessment in the army. e SR PHILIPPINE ISLANDS—F. H., San Jose, Cal. When the Americans take charge of the Philippines some intelligent man will make a survey of the islands and tell Uncle Sam how many there are in his new possession. At this time it Is impossibie to state positively how German is many there are in the group. The En- | cgclnpedln Britannica, ninth edition, says that the number is said to exceed 1400; Longman’s Gazeteer for 185 says 2000 and Johnson’s Universal Encyclopedia, -re- vised to 1867, says that the group has in it 400. Ome authority says the aggregate area 18 114,326 square miles, while another says the conjectural area is about 130,000 square miles. The group is divided into forty-three provinces and the population is estimated at from 700000 to 9,000,000. Data in regard to these isiands is not as complete as many would desire. FIGHTING BOB EVANS—S. A. M generally known as “Fighting Bob Ev- ans,” was born in Virginia. He was placed in command of the Yorktown :nd uentt to Valparaiso. He anchored in ront of the water batter the city. The Chileans htadhf n(zl%%rg‘“:)% torpedo boats with long arms, on which City. Robley D. Evans, now of the Iowa, | Grand. F. W. Ledbetter, manager of the Co- lumbia River Paper Company, is at the Palace. Dr. J. S. Lassidy of Lexington, Ky., and J. G. Lassidy of Salt Lake City are at the Palace. F. S. Winston and family are at the Palace. Mr. Winston is a very wealthy lawyer.of Chicago. General Passenger Agent Goodman of the Southern Pacific will leave for Chica- go to-night to attend the meeting of the Interstate Commerce Commission. The following arrivals on the Mariposa are stopping at the Occidental: N. Reid and Irwin McDowell of Chicago; W. J. Bennie of Glasgow; M. Ogilby and W. J. Walker of Ookala: Miss ‘fempleton, Mys. Laura Wright and Miss Wright of Hono- lulu; M. H. Van Bergh, wife and family of Rochester, New York; C. H. Lewison of Sydney; E. R. Adams, Rev."A. Mack- | intosh and P. High of Honolulu; L. F. | Brown, H. Smith, Clerk of the Supreme | Court of Honmolulu, and wife, and G. R. | Ewart of Kanal. — e Cal. glace fruit 50c per Ib at T®wnsend's.® —— e | Spectal information supplied daily te | business houses and public men by the | Press Clipping Bureau (Allen's), 510 Mont~ | gomery street. Telephone Main 1042. ¢ | —_—— i IS IT A COMIC PAPER? “We are glad,” says El Tiempo of the City of Mexico, “that the arrogant Yane kee is at last about to receive a lesson he so richly deserves. The hereditary en emy of Mexico is at last to be chastised, and the ‘Gringo’ will once more be taught torpedoes were placed. The boats were | his proer place. being maneuvered In an unpleasant and | threatening manner for some time. Ev-| Mexico will be avenged for the humiliations forced upon it by th, overbearing Yankees. i El Tiempo must ans watched these movements until they became unbearable. He had the guns of the Yorktown loaded and the ship cleared for action, after which hé got into his cutter and went to the commanding gen- eral, told him he wanted the torpedo boat business stopped and gave him half an hour to take them out of the harbor. ‘Whether right or wrong, his request was complied with. It was there, from the stand he took, that he gained the name of “Fighting Bob.” He it was who told Secretary Herbert that it would please him to make Spanish the prevailing lan- guage in hell for the next flve years. WASHINGTON'S DREAM—B. P. N., Haywards, Cal. On the 4th of July, 18, | be a comic paper. ——— Rates Are Cut To Bed rock. Call at new ticket office of the Santa Fe route at 628 Market st. Very low rates to all Eastern citles, will pay you to investigate. ————— In the Cuban swamps a bottle of Dr. Slegert's Angostura Bitters will do wonders to keep your digestive organs in order. —————— ACKER'S DYSPEPSIA TABLETS ARB sold on a itive guarantee. Cu?el heart Faising of tne food, distress after eating or any form of dyspepsia. One little tablet gives immediate relief. At No Percentage