The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, August 7, 1898, Page 25

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, AUGUST 7, 1898. 2NN e [ Z presumed that in time natural growth of the shell would en- tirely efface this. A clay marbl , was found half inch in diam- six months to be S entirely covered; the top half showing fnends 1d he | some color, while the bottom portion B a (had been “hilled up” to meet the di- ameter, thereby solidly embedding the whole. Another g shell and be method is to drill a hole where the object is to be placed, and then corking or cementing the open- But the drill point ruptures the and the pellet drops into th ody of the animal, where it becom t, or is forced out while the is feeding. To produce a good marketable pearl t 3 s. When this is ned in the way S in of “ground” sand ins . and of this kind has a rough surface and causes a rapid de- antl le as 0 not arketable ced by in- . and shell | Washington dispatch to the Sunday figures of | recelve smokel A rical disks [ lrl 1s possib brand Libygthell e st Veil | . plostve will be necessary. e, with i : L ND so Spain is our schoolmaster g = after all. She bought up to date S rifles and smokeless powder, while s | our great government, controlled 1s, from | by hide bound experts a;nl(? fat wn zo! contractors with a “pull,” was e | fighting inventors and driving them out atil the | country. is why forelgn governments—an “effete concern” like Spain, for in- »—have had us at a disadvantage. were handicapped because of smokeless powder and superior es. Every American gun fired threw a cloud of smoke, showing the Span- xactly where to shoot to hit a up At the battle of San Juan “the Sev- enty-first regiment boys,” sald Richard ‘were mowed down by panish being aided in ve work by the use of okeless powder, thus puzzling our their attempts to locate th2 remy. ¢ )f}lhfl seventy-five men who started up the hill in the face of a destructi sh fire fifty-three are now dead rald dispatches, July 4 and 13. ti “fixed"” , they are bayou, that On the return of the wounded by the b nter. amer Olivette to New York, Private x months, Smith said: will have | Iy trouble was that when the t r foreign | men fired their old Springfields they 1 that | raised such a smoke they drew a rain er bullets, and for this reason to the . ; the shell. Us- qu Ma nirds of the object | they had to be withdrawn from | pe | enough to have a 1 put in. It also,moves around consid- erably through having a large quan- tity of this fluid to move in. This uses it to become almost absolutely spherical and very light in colo: It also follows that as the nacre is de- ited all over the grain of sand in- stead of on one side only it ta longer to get on a coating of a certs thickness. After a year there will be a pearl about the size of a birdshot and at the end of three years it will be large arketable value. Pearls from fresh water, hov e n not bring the high prices th: water pearls do. They are never as bright nor as strong in color, but have more of a leaden appearance. This is caused by the different action of salt water and fresh water on the lime of which pearl is principally com- posed. But it is difficult for any but ' an expert to tell the two kinds of pearl 0CO00R0000000000000C0000000000C00C00000000000000000000000000000000000000090 1oara o LESSONS THAT SPAIN HAS TAUGHT US IN THE WAR. A INASHELL. apart unless they are placed side by |side. It is also said that pearl divers about Ceylon have a habit of inducing pearl growth in this same manner, although it is a dangerous industry. - Only a diver of the most expert kind |dare attempt it. These men have cer- tain outward signs by which they can 1muke a good guess as to the pearl- | producing quality of oysters. They |claim that oysters with very rough |shells, having a certain kind of “whorl” to the grain of the shell are capable of producing the best pearls {and the largest. | Of course a perfectly appearing oy- |ster may not contain any pearls, and {f it is once removed from its clinging | place on the rock all hope for the fu- {ture is destroyed. In order to be |sure of a pearl the pearl diver inserts |a grain of sand between the shell and the mantle and then waits for it to | BTOW. But the act of inserting the grain of sand is not quite as simple as might appear. There are several reasons for . the principal one being that the yster is likely to keep closed as long as there is anything unusual going on. To overcome this It Is necessary for the diver to watch his chance. This ! means that he must stay near the oy- ster as long as his breath will permit |him and wait for it to cpen its shell. This may not happen in a hundred trips to the bottom, and it may hap- pen the first time the diver sees the | oyster. ‘When the diver does find the shell open he quickly inserts the plug and then goes to the top for a breath of air. His next work is to insert the grain of sand, which is done with a pair of tweezers. The piug is then withdrawn and the oyster left to de- | velop the pearl. After this is done the diver devotes his efforts to watching that particular pearl oyster. He makes it a business BY HUDSON MAXIM. Call—*""All naval ships in the future will To American volunteers will also be supplied as rap- of explosive for their ips now in commission and the has estimated that it least 2,600,000 pounds of the ex- The department has made every larms. To fill the attle-ships under con- effort to procure trenches. Even then I saw some of their men turn and run back to the firing line.” Private Thomas, of Company E, Six- teenth Infantry, shot in the thigh, and Private Glugg, shot in the hip, of Com- pany C, Sixth Infantry, both agree that the only trouble was with the smoke of the Springfield rifles, which made it necessary to withdraw the regimert after it had suffered terribly. For years the inventors of these im- proved war implements have vainly bombarded the government at Wash- ington. The objections against Ameri- can devices were thicker than Spanish barnacles at Santiago. Hiram Maxim, an American, born in Maine, was forced to sell his famous rapid fire gun in Europe. With other gk‘]:\‘rrnmenls Spain bought a lot of t 5 n. Twenty years ago the ‘“barbaric” Bashi-Bazouks and Turks mowed down the Russians with Henry and Winches- ter rifles adopted from an Ameri pattern which the Government refused to buy on the ground that the gun s too complicated. But for its vast ar- mies Russia would have been defeated because of its Inferfor arms. It shows ignorance or dishonesty to say that American guns, used by bagbarous Bashi-Bazouks and Indians with terri- ble effect, are too complicated for American soldiers. The history of smokeless powder in this country reflects severely on the Government. In 1884 the Navy Depart- ment practicallv pronounced it a fail- gl PEARLS PLANTED ° fi 25 STG PEARLS IN SELECTED OYSTERS IN EAST INDIAN WATERS. to see that nobody else finds it. This is dome by covering it with sea weed and keeping it from sight as much as | possible. His next work is to keep it supplied with food. He hangs what he thinks the oyster will like just in front of it, so that when it opens its shell the food will almost fall into it Scientists declare the oyster does not eat this stuff, but the pearl diver holds a different opinion. And when the period for the pearl’s development is up the pearl diver breaks the oyster from the rock, takes it to the surface and breaks it open. Perhaps he may be disappointed, per- haps he has a fortune. There are innumerable instances to prove both cases. It is authenticated that a pearl | diver at Ceylon, after “fixing” an oy- | ster, found on breaking it open that |1t contained two other pearls, larger | than the one he had given so much | time to developing. All were magni- | ficent gems and the diver spent the rest | of his days in luxury. A diver who | has failed In this feat seldom tries it a second time. There is no reason why pearls should | not be artificially induced in the oy- | sters that are found along the Pacific | Coast. Some of those from Mexica | have yielded splendid pearls and occa~ | sionally one is found in the vicinity | of San Diego. ‘ ‘While the oysters from San Francisco Bay occasionally yleld small pearls it is next to impossible to induce them by artificial means. It has been tried | frequently and has always resulted in | disappointment. The cause for this is | the water, which is neither salt nor |fresh. Wind and tide cause the water | of fhe bay to constantly change, so | that one day it may be nearly all salt {and the next day nearly all fresh. Or- | dinarily it is mixture of both. This of course prevents an even deposit of lime so that it cracks and peals and eventually becomes only a ridge on the shell. [~ ok X XxXv] i 20990000000000000000000000000000000000000000OO&‘JOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO smokeless powder, even golng 8o far as to purchase a supply abroad. “Although the Army Ordnance Bureau has a reserve supply of fifty thousand Krag-Jorgensen rifles, it is not proposed to will retain the Springfi 0 has demonstrated the vital importance of powder.” 'hese troo unteers, owder cartridges. with smokeless “The campaign against Sunlmfi equipping all our troops with smokeless ure for war use. The inventor was driven out of business. A few years later an “improved” half breed, alleg- ed smokeless powder, the product not of the original inventor, but of a Gov- ernment powder sharp, was proclaimed excellent for small guns, and it was hoped that it would be soon adopted for cannon. This explains why the United States had non. when the war burst upon the country. Spain was well provided with the posder that Washington experts had declared a failure. Hudson Maxim, inventor of smoke- less powder, and formerly associated with his brother Hiram, the gun inven- tor, said to a Call correspondent yes- terday: “I sent Sampson some smokeless powder several years ago. It lay at Indian Head, and he would not use it because he said it contained nine per cent nitro-glycerine. But the navy is now using cordite on the New Orleans which contaius <o per cent of nitro-gly- cerine. ,“The Spaniards have used smokeless powder with terrible effect. When our ships opened on the forts they fired a while and then had to retire for the smoke to clear away.” The cost of our war with Spain above what it would have been had we been prepared is difficult even of approxima- tion. I doubt if there would have been war had Spain believed we were ready. Spain and other European countries thought she would have the best of the fight for a time. The world has been H)lflc(: tham in the hands of the vol- eld rifies, but they will be supplied taught a lesson, not only by a reminder of the fighting qualities of the Ameri- can character, but that with the Amer- fcan patriotism comes first and poli- tics afterward, with the country united against all comers. We have also our- selves been taught a lesson which the country ought not soon to forget—the “It is a crime for a nation not to be abreast of the times in arms and equip- ments. Improved guns and ammuni- tlon are but means of saving life. The fort is as humanitarian in its nature as the lighthouse, and the seacoast gun as much an implement of mercy as the gun that throws the lifeline to a strand- ed wreck. “Had our troops before Santiago been fully equipped with automatic machine guns, Mauser rifles, with smokeless powder, and siege guns throwing high explosives, the loss would probably not have been more than one-tenth as great as reported. “For soldiers to go into the filed in this mechanical age with single-loading guns, like the Springfield rifle, of short range and high-angle fire, throwing big slugs of lead, with black gunpow- der, is an outrage against every man who fights. For Americans, who lead the world in inventions, to be forced to use obsolete armg and face Spaniards with Mauser rifles and smokeless pow- der is a crime. “In many ways American officials are more responsible for the loss of life at Santiago than the Spaniards. If it has been the fault of the Army and Navy departments then Coneress can do its duty now and remedy the evil by mak- ing its repetition impossible. Blame cannot be brought against the inventor. At least 75 per cent of all the inven- tions in guns and ammunition, war ves- sels and fortifications, high explosives, tdrpedoes and gunpowder now used by the best-equipped nations have been in- vented by Americans. The struggles of inventors with the Government to get recognition are part of the country’s history. “Had Congress or the War and Navy departments fully appreciated the ex- tent to which American improvements are being utilizéd by other nations the necessary appropriations could have doubtless been secured to keep our in- ventions at home. There is something radically wrong when a country which leads the world in the number and value of its inventions should be the slowest in accepting them. The most notable of all devices which have revo- lutionized warfare are American inven- tions. As a rule they have been driven to foreign governments and developed in foreign hands before being accepted at home. “The vast sums recently squandered for anything and everything in the shape of vessels, arms and equipments for war are but a price paid for inex- cusable neglect. ““This is a subject for the serious con- sideration of every taxpayer. The navy is the property of the people. The peo- ple pay for it and should have the best products for their money. “The Holland submarine boat has demonstrated all that is claimed for it. It has shown itself capable of ap- | proaching unseen and striking a death- | blow to any battleship afloat. Why should not Holland boats, instead of battleships, be built? This invention still rests on the anxious seat, where other inventions have rested until | bought by Europe. There is now 1o | Merrimac destroying our fleet to fright- en the Government into giving the Hol- l land a chance. “There is something radically wrong somewhere. Congress should create a or commission, with new and sufficient powers, made up of the most progressive men of the army and navy, and of civilians of the necessary knowl- edge of mechanics, electricity, metal- lurgy, chemistry, ete. Let such a board be created to investigate Inventions promising to be of service to the coun- try. Let the board study the needs of the service and work with Congress for the necessary appropriations to develop and utilize such inventions as it may recommend. The president of such a board should be a man of courage, who believes in progress and dares to be progressive—a typical man like General Miles, commander-in-chief of the army. Because he is pro- gressive he meets the same opposition experienced by in- ventors. The evils of this one fact have been far reaching and disastrous in ef- fect. “No soldier serves his country more than the in- ventor, and the in- ventor does the sol- dier greater serv- ice than any other man. The treat- ment inventors have recetved from the United States Government, if known to the peo- ple, would arouse general indigna- tion. How many inventors have ever made money from thesaleof aninven- tion to this Government? “Inventors and the friends of invent- ors would have enough power, if united, to exert a salutary and healthful in- fluence. Inventors should unite to se-‘ cure justice from the Government and | better treatment from the Patent Of- | fice. Inventors suffer because there is no political organization of inventors. | There should One should be created. be an organization to secure the co- operation of all political parties.” In closing, Hudson Maxim said: shall be glad to hear from inventors, manufacturers, promoters, politicians “x or others on this subject. My address is the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York City.” A‘ FISHING FOR OYSTERS ON THE NEW FREE OYSTER BEDS, OFF THE SHORE OF BAY FARM ISLAND, ALAMEDA. FREE OYSTER BEDS ON THE ALAMEDA SHORE They Were Accidentally Discovered MONG many other blessings California can now boast of a public oyster bed. Absolutely free to everybody. Go over and help yourself. You will find the bivalves as fine as any you ever tasted and be perfectly sure that they are fresh. This oyster bed is about two or three miles below Bay Farm Island on the Alameda shore. There are two ways of reaching it. One is to take a boat and row around Bay Farm Island; the other is to cross the creek in Alameda, walk down the road a few hundred feet and then cut over the marsh to the bay shore. There will be no trouble about find- ing the place, provided you get there at low tide, for the surface of the water will be covered with people, all bent on obtaining the luscious shell fish from its resting place on the bot- tom of the bay. The existence of this oyster bed has only been known for about two weeks and during that interval it has been most liberally patronized. It was “dis- covered” by a small boy who went out in that direction to dig clams. It so happened that he was sent out on the day of the big low tide and consequent- ly could go farther from shore than usual. Of course he found plenty of clams and then wandered far out in search of larger ones. In a pool about twelve inches deep he unexpectedly spied a “bunch” of shells. At first he thought they were clams and proceeded to raise them. On succeeding in this he was more surprised to find that they were oysters and of a good size. . by & Small Boy Hunting for Clams, and Now Hundreds of People Are Grappling There for Oysters. It is needless to say that he threw away his clams and filled his bucket with Oysters. This was an easy mat- ter at the time, as the tide being so | very low he had only to pick them up | from the puddles. When he got to Alameda with his oysters he found on counting them that he had nearly 200. The next day he and another boy went out together and brought back about 400. The boys sold these and told people where they got them. Then the “rush” to the free oyster beds began. At first a number of people were in- clined to look upon the oyster beds as entirely natural, forgetting that the bivalves were much too large to be of the native California variety. Investigation, however, showed that many years ago the same company that now has oyster beds at Alvarado attempted to grow them off the shore of Bay Farm Island. For some rea- son the venture was not a success and after a loss of several thousand dollars spent for Eastern oyster “seed” the beds were abandoned. It was sald at the time that the larger portion of the young oysters died in a few days, and that the others absolutely refused to grow any bigger than a 10-cent piece. It was impossible to find any reason for this, as the beds only a few miles farther away did splendidly. One Eastern expert gave it as his reason that the proper nourishment was lack- ing in the water. Which may or may not have been the reason. At any rate, there are plenty of good oysters over there now that-are not much trouble to get. A number of the oyster fishers who have gone there recently have been fully prepared for the work, even to a genuine oyster grapple. Thus equipped 1they have only to sit in their sail boat | country, _ and at their leisure work over the sides. The greater number of people, how- ever, fish with all sorts of things. On the average the oysters lie beneath from eighteen to twenty-four inches of water. Since large numbers of people have been fishing the latter figure is the more nearly correct. And it nat- urally follows that the oysters will be taken from the shallow places first, so that the average depth will constantly increase until it will be impossible to obtain any without the proper equip- ment. One day last week there were at least 200 people fishing for the mollusks on these public oyster beds. Some came in row boats and some in large sail boats. These were anchored in conven- fent places and produced a most ani- mated effect as they bobbed merrily about on the surface of the waves. Some of the fishers used fire shovels, some used hoes and a number put the garden rakes into service. These lat- ter proved most efficacious in removing the bivalves, but had the disadvantage of crushing the shells and so ruining large numbers. Without the proper oyster grapples or tongs it is next to impossible to fish from a boat. As a consequence most of the people wade around in water about waist deep, and after tearing the oysters loose from the bottom with a stick or hook reach down. with their hands and lift them out. Of course this, is a wet job, but those who go after oysters do not mind it. In fact, they rather seem to enjoy it, as at low tide the water is warm and not at all unpleasant. And, besides, they are getting the oysters free of all cost from what is, most like- ly, the only public oyster bed in the