The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, September 25, 1898, Page 6

‘'THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1898 < .SEPTEhlBER 25, 1808 7]OHN D. SPRECKELS, Proprietor. dress All Communications to W. S. LEAKE, Manager, . PUBLICATION OFFICE......Market and Third Sts.. S. Fe Telephone Main 1868, EDITORIAL ROOMS.....,...-2I17 to 221 Stevenson Streed Telephone Main 1874, THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL (DAILY AND SUNDAY) !s gerved by carrlers in this city and surrounding towns for 15 cents @ wesk. By mall $6 per year; per montlh 65 cents. THE WEEKLY CALL..... ...One year, By mall. $1.50 OAKLAND OFFICE....... tireeriaceiresceness.908 Broadway NEW YORK OFFICE.........Room 188, World Building DAVID ALLESN, Advertising Representative. WASHINGTON (D. C.) OFFICE. --Riggs Houss C. C. CARLTON, Correspondent. CHICAGO OFFICE. . .-Marquette Building C.GEORGE KROGNESS, Advertising Representative. BRANCH. OFFICE6—527 Montgomery street, corner Clay, open untll 9:30 o'clock. 387 Hayes street, open until | 9:30 o'clock. 621 McAllister ‘street, open untll 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 until 9 o'clock. 2518 Mission street, open until 9 ‘o'clock. 106 Eleventh street, open until 9 o'clock. 1506 Polk street, open untll 9:30 o'clock. NW: corner Twenty-second and Kentucky streets, open until ® o'clock. —_— AMUSEMENTS Baldwin—*An Enemy fo the King,” to-orrow night Columbfa—+'Ih Alenzor—*“ Lend Me Your Wife and “The First Born." Morosco’s—~The, Const Gua Tivoll—"The Queen of Sheba. Orpheum- Vandeville. New Comedy Theater—* What Happened to Jones.” Alhambra, Eddy and Jones streets—Vaudevilla The Chutes—Pictro Marino, V deville and the Zoo. Uympia—Corner Mason and Eddy streets—Specialtios. tuiro’s Baths—Sw - Lecreation Park—Baseball 1his afternoon. Coursing—Ingleside Coursing Park. herman-Clay Hall-Durward Lely, Monday, September 28 Rosentha! oming in February. A “HEFTING” WATCHDOG. N esteemed nmrhing’contrempomry criticises Dr. /L\ R. Beverly Cole for describing Mayor Phelan in a speech before the McNab convention as a “watchdog of the treasury.” This idea is scouted as ridiculous, and our contemporary broadly intimates that Dr. Cole's remarks constitute a case of sarcasm, | for it is unable to see how his statements can be | reconciled with the facts, especially while the trial of ex-Treasurer Widber is in: progress. “How in the name of common sense,” says our contempor: “is it possible to pay a man the ¢om- pliment of saying that he is a zealous guardian of the interests of the public, when it is notorious that the defaulting Treasurer owed his opportunity to rob the State to the lax manner in which the Mayor .per- | formed a duty imposed upon him by law?” | We do not hesitate, however, to take issue with our contemporary upon this point. It is quite true that had Mayor Phelan “seen” and counted the money in the treasury, as the law requires, Widber would never have been able to steal $115,000. But this es- teemed critic forgets that Mayor Phelan is not a “seer” and “counter,” but a “hefter” of coin. As a “hefter” it is well known that the Mayor bears a reputation second to none in the State of California. The Finance Committee of the Board of Supervisors, shortly after Widber's defalcation, declared in a sol- emn report that the Mayor had been thoroughly edu- cated in the art of “heiting” hogs while at college, and that he could tell to an ounce by that process commodity, whether money or the weight of any meat. Instead of counting the money in the treasury once | a month, as the law directs, Mr. Phelan naturally re- sorted to his favorite method of “hefting” it. He lifted the bags of coin and pronounced them correct. As a matter of fact they did weigh exactly what the labels called for, thus proving that the Mayor's tem of “hefting” . But Mr. Phelan never | thought of silver dollars and washers being substi- tuted for the gold in the bags. It never occurred to him that a washer weighs very nearly what a $5-piece weighs, and consequently he did not open the sacks. But this not the fault of his system of “hefting.” He w: ply made the victim of a fraud which might have been practiced upon the best “hefter” that ever lived. We think Mayor Phelan is entitled to the designa- tion, “watchdog of the treasury,” but he is a “heft- ing” watchdog and not a watchdog who “sees” and counts the coin. This is a distinction our contem- porary ought to draw in its criticism-of Dr. Cole. I that gentleman's speech be amended by ‘inserting the word “hefting” before the * word “watchdog” where it occurs, the description of the Mayor will be entirely accurate. As to the question whether a “hefting” watchdog is as good a watchdog as one who “sees and counts” the treasury funds, we have nothing to say. As we un- derstand, that point is riot in issue in this campaign. OUR COLLEGE OF COMMERCE. ISS FLOOD’S munificent gift of millions to /\/\ the State University comcs to the tegents as a most timely aid in the upbuilding of the College of Commerce, and the establishment of that college in turn is most timely to the needs of the ad- vancing welfare of the State. That such an institu- tion has been created by the regents and that Miss Flood has furnished it with ample means for the ac- complishment of its vast work are therefore matters over which the people of the Pacific Coast cannot too much congratulate themselves. Statistics of the commerce of Pacific Ocean coun- tries recently published by the London Statist fur- nish an illustration of therich field for endeavor and study ‘that lies before the students of the new college. According to these figures the trade of the Pacific Coast States of the Union-amounts to about $150,000,- 000 annually; that of British Columbia to $8,000,000; that of Mexico, Central and South American coun- tries on the Pacific to approximately $307,000,000; the islands of the ocean have a foreign trade aggre- gating $206,250,000; the international trade of Aus- tralia, Tasmania and New Zealand amounts to $680,- z he foreign commerce of the treaty ports of China is estimated at $437,500,000; that of Burmah and British India at $1,000,000,000, and that of Japan at $200,000000. When to these sums are added the figures for the trade of Eastern Siberia, French, China, Siam and that of the Malay Peninsula, the total reaches the vast sum of $3,586,250,000 annually. That is the amount of trade now heing carried on upon the ocean of which San Francisco is the natural metropolis. It is,” moreover, a rapidly increasing trade. Its richness has attracted the energies of all the great nations of the world. It is surely a field sufficiently vast to arouse the emulation of our pro- gressive youth, and to tcach students how best to master it and profit by it will require the fullest use of all the means which the State or munificent patrons + can place at the disposal of the college. 3 s reliable Bryan says he’s dammed, and we have to take for granted that this is the way he spells it. . | ship many small holders, who live an tracts of orchard | try is the true question at issue and will be the only | joy. all the benefits and protection of Government LAND CONFISCATION. ; S Judge Maguire has locked his mouth on the fl subject of land confiscation, it is somewhat difficult to get at just what form he purposes to give to that policy when he gets an official oppor- tunity. ¢ 2 o In his speeches in Congress he has always de- nounced private ownership of land as a monopoly, a special privilege, and as robbery, that must be pun- ished by confiscation of the land. In his speeches to Single Tax clubs this form of statement is also followed, and he has not hesitated to use such hot condiments of language as to imply a set prejudice against land-owners. In his speech before the Delaware Legislature, urging the calling of a convention to amend the con- “stitution of that State so as to confiscate land, he said: “All revenues for the support of all govern- ments, Federal, State, county and municipal, are to be raised by a tax on the unimproved value of land; all ‘other taxes, tolls,. duties and licenses being abol- ished.” But this statément is vague. What is “the unimproved value of land?” He would seem to mean that all land shall be taxed to its full value in its un- improved state. 2 Later on in the same speech he said: “The test of the value of land is the amount of rent that the owner could get annually for the use of it.” This rent is to be taken by the State for taxes.” The characteristic industries of California have invited into land owner- and vineyard and garden of from twenty to -sixty acre: Their industry has made present the latent fertility of the soil. Their labor has demonstrated its value. They have picked the stones from the soil, have leveledits inequalities of surface,and have coaxed its capacities into demonstration. These small hold- ings in the foothills through which railroads run, as in Placer County, present a delightful picture of rural life, where ‘a few years ago was a rocky waste, bearded with manzanita and chemisal. The change came under the stimulus of private ownership by men who had earned the money for their landinvestmentas mechanics, small tradesmen,and not a few as unskilled laborers. THeir labor and enterprise have given !o; their land a rental value. In some parts of El Do- | rado.and Placer counties this rental value is from $10 | to $15 per acre. By Judge Maguire's definition of this | plan this ground rent is to be taken for taxes, and | the owner of twenty acres would have to pay from | $200 to $300 per year taxes; the owner of forgy acres from $400 to $600, and of sixty acres from $600 to $900. As the land in its raw state had no rental | value at all, and its capacity to earn rent is the fruit of labor, it must be seen that the single tax is a penalty put on labor when devoted to the improvement of land. In the same speech Maguire said: “It may be said that the present owners purchased their lands upon | the faith. of existing laws maintained by the people, and that they were even encouraged to invest in lands | by the manifest policy of the laws thus made and | maintained by the people. They say that, having thus purchased under the sanction of the public laws, it would be a hardship on them to change the laws so as to destroy their investments.” . He then proceeded to argue that those who hold on to private ownership of land “in spite of the warn- ings that are involved in the progress of this move- ment” will have only themselves to thank for what- ever hardship comes. He also denied that any vested | right in land deserved consideration, but only the | effect of land confiscation “upon the general happi- ness of the whole people of the State or of the coun- question considered when the people are prepared for the final contest which is surely and rapidly ap- proaching on this great issue.” The land-owmners being in a minority, to despoil them of their investments is to contribute of course to the joy and happiness of the owners of personal property, who are in the majority, and who will en- | while paying no taxeg for its support. It requires the brain of a fanatic to see in the land- owners a privileged class, and not in the owners of | tax-free personal property. Personal property is the | product of labor and so is the rental value of farm land, and neither should be privileged to enjoy the protection of government without paying taxes to support it. THE POPULARITY OF EXPOSITIONS. ESPITE the excitement of the war, which very D largely distracted public attention from the affairs of peace; and notwithstanding the ex- treme heat of the past summer, which rendered the people of the Mississippi Valley indisposed to the ex- ertions of sight-seeing, the Omaha Exposition has thus far proven to be a financial as well as an in- dustrial success. It has furnished another proof of the fondness of the American people for such dis- plays, and shown that when well managed they are profitable as well as popular. According to the latest financial report of the ex- position the receipts were then more than $38,000 in excess of the expenditures. There was a balance in bank of $15.000 over and above expenses and obliga- tions of all sorts. The original cost of buildings and the plant generally being thus made up, and no further expenditure being required other than that of running expenses, the managers of the fair have the: assurance of a good-sized surplus to look forward to. As the remaining time during which the exposition will be open will be pleasanter for visitors, the out- look is very bright, and Omaha is congratulating her- self. - One of the effects of the success at Omaha is the stimulus given to movements for holding expositions in other cities. The press and certain capitalists of Baltimore are discussing the advisability of holding one in that city next year. New York has already laid plans for an exposition in 1901 to follow that of Paris. ¥ Philadelphia proposes one in 1902, and St. Louis plans something extraordinary in 1003 in cele- bration of the anniversary of the annexation of that section of country to the United States. It will be seen that there is activity in the way of providing for expositions in the near future in every part of the Union except in the Far West. ~ There has ‘never been at any time a comprehensive display of what American civilization has accomplished on this side of the Rocky Mountains. Moreover, it is safe to say no such display will ever be provided until San Francisco takes the lead and does the greater portion of the work required to accomplish it. The project of holding one is certainly worthy of consider- ation. All other sections of the Union are moving forward in such matters, and the Pacific Coast should keep up with the procession ey s Oakland thinks it has a murder mystery, and prob- ‘ably it has. When the body of a man with five bul- let holes in the breast is discovered, the theory of suicide has difficulties- with which to contend. It must be remenibered, however, that in the case of a man shot twice through the brain with a single- barreled pistol, either shot of necessity instantly fatal, the ;San_Francisco police decided on the certainty of self-destruction, and as the murderer never turned up, they have stuck to it. l |.Columbus. THE HAWAIIAN TRflDE. MEMORIAL from tne Chamber of Commerce flto the Hawaiian Commission requesting the immediate application of the-coastwise naviga- tion laws of the United States to the trade of the islands has been strengthened by similar petitions from associations of Eastern ship-owners. The issue, therefore, has been presented in a way that calls for prompt action on the part of the authorities, and it is hardly likely there will be much if any delay. It is not -easy to see why any question should have arisen in the matter. Under our navigation laws the coastwise trade is reserved exclusively for American shipping. These-laws cover the shipping trade be- tween American and Alaskan ports as well as that along the coast of the United States proper. It would seem, therefore, that as soon as the Hawaiian Islands became a part of the territory of the United States the existing laws would at once go into effect and govern the trade regulations between our ports and those of the islands. There is, however, a considerable foreign interest engaged in the Hawaiian trade, and that interest is desirous of continuing to employ its shipping in carrying goods to and from the islands and this coun- try as long as possible. It is claimed on the part of the alien ship-owners that their right to engage in the trade should not be abridged until Congress meets and enacts laws expressly for the purpose of regu- lating the commerce with Hawaii. The existence of this opposition furnishes ample cause for the me- morials and petitions that have been addressed to the commission. The issue is one that should not be involved in any doubt. Our trade with Hawaii is large, and conse- quently the ‘interests at stake are considerable. A proclamation that trade between our ports and those of Hawaii is in the nature of coastwise trade and sub- ject to the same law should be made promptly. OUR GROWING MUSICAL CULTURE. R EVIEWING the outlook for the coming musi- cal season in that city, the New York Tribune gives a list of announced operas and classic concerts which is' extraordinary iic its variety, guan- tity and high quality. In the list are included seventy-six representations of grand opera, sixteen concerts by the Philharmonic Society, ten concerts by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and a long se- ries of mixed social and artistic functions at the Waldorf Astoria which, we are told, will “imitate the court concerts of Europe.” To carry out this elaborate programme of music the best artists of the world have been engaged. There are to be concerts by Sauer, Blanche' Mar- chesi, Cecile Chamiade, and probably Paderewski, and as for vocal artists their name will be legion. The Tribune says of them: “Our gilied cage has never housed so numerous a company of the world’s best songbirds as it will house this winter, and neither London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, St. Petersburg, | Madrid nor Bayreuth ever saw so famous an aggre- gation of Iyric artists.” For an understanding of the full significance of this rich musical programme it must be remembered that it is only a few years ago when New York as a musi- cal center was hardly accounted as a rival of Boston. A few operas were given every winter at the Academy of Music, and a few rare singers were brought over from Europe from time to time, but people went rather to see them as novelties than to hear them as singers. : From that time to the ‘present, when New York looks forward to a winter more brilliant with. the highest music than is expected-in any of the capitals of the Old World, the progress of musical taste’and culture in the United States has gone forward with giant strides, and is notable not only in- the me- tropolis, but throughout the count-y. The people of the United States are now expend- ing more money for high-class musical entertain- ments than any other people in the world. The ex- penditure, moreover, is not a mere ostentation of wealth. It is made for the purpose of supplying a genuine public demand, and is as lavish in proportion to their wealth in the smaller cities as in the larger ones. One feature of the growth of high-class musical entertainments throughout the country is worth at- tention. The number and the quality of the musical events in any particular city have been in a'large measure dependentupon the quality of the halls and opera-houses provided for them. When Boston had the finest music-hall in the United States the music of the nation:centered there. When New York erected her Grand Metropolitan Opera-house, and Chicago provided the magnificent Auditorium, they in turn went ahead. We have seen in San Francisco what has been accomplished for us by a musical theater so comparatively small as the Tivoli, to which fashion and society do not like to go; and it is an easy conclusion that if we had a grand opera-house well located this city would soon rank among the foremost in the world as a musical art center. BONES BF THE DISCOVERER. APTAIN GENERAL BLANCO, Word C Painter, Dictator to the Typewriter, and Son of Thunder generally, has issu:d an order as to the transfer from Cuba to Spain of .the bones of This is an impertinence. Blanco should have no power now to issue any order more impor- tant than for his own dinner. - He represents a con- quered people. He lingers-in a territory where his presence is tolerated by the conquerors, but where he should have no vestige of authority. § ‘We did not send troops to Cuba for spoils, there:is no intrinsic worth to the osseous remains of Colum- bus, and yet to permit them to be disturbed would be a sacrilége for which there is neither occasion nor excuse. Spain has no claim upon them: She did Columbus the honor to permit him to die in chains, and the deference to be given his bones could more fittingly come from the great people whose then mys- ferious, habitat his eye of faith discerned, and be be- stowed in the land he found as he voyaged into an un- known world. We protest against the proposed removal, It is a matter purely of sentiment, and yet sentiment sways the human mind and the destiny of the race. To let the Spanish depart from the island they for centuries oppressed, the island where their very presence was a disgrace, and take with them anything they choose, would be a mockery of justice. Let them go with “honor” and side-arms. For some reason they place a value on the former, and with the latter they are incapable of doing damage. But Blanco does not seem to realize that he has been subdued, that he represents a lost cause, that every concession made to him is a distinct and wholly undeserved favor. To permit him to desecrate the tomb of Columbus would be a shame. Blanco should be allowed to take away his own bones, together with the fatness thereof, but the bones of the dead discoverer must be considered outside his jurisdiction. The course of the Spanish since their surrender has been grossly presumptuous. They want to make all the terms. THe stars and stripes fly over Havana now. The incident seems to have escaped the notice of Blanco. B RSN E R AR EREENRNRRRERRR T WITH ENTIRE - FRANKNESS. By HENRY JAMES. BRI RRRNS BB One of my ainbitions is to see a lot of lawyers of a certain sort sent to jail. Of course there are many respectable lawyers. This makes more surprising the fact that there are other lawyers who are scamps, scoundrels, bunko steerers, who know nothing of law ex- cept to evade it, who have clients only. to fleece them. Are these precious con- fidence operators under the. protection of the Bar Association? If so, what is the claim of this association to dig- nity and standing? I am led to ask these questions by a news item con- cerning Burnette G. Haskell, attorney at law. Perhaps Haskell has beén mis- represented. I do not pretend to say. But if he has not, he should be prac- ticing at the jute mill. - The item sets forth that Haskell undertook a case for a woman; that the case was declded by default against her, and that Has- kell then sent word to the contrary, and that he must have $2 50 in order to enter the successful judgment. = The woman sent him the money, at least 80 her allegation sets forth, and-soon after swore to a complaint for his ar- rest on a charge of petty larceny by trick and device. I have observed nothing as to the serving of a warrant, but if the charge is true, society is wronged so long as Haskell remains at large. The legal fraternity owes to Itself the duty of freeing its ranks from the presence of black leg shysters. Has- kell may not be one of these, but there are others. The Police Court practi- tioners who prowl about the City Jail looking for prey are morally on a lower scale than the drunks and vagrants whom they rob. They ought to be ex- terminated. . There has grown up a bad habit of speaking ill of the Tennessee soldier in general. That there is no warrant for this is ynderstood by all who have been brought into personal relations with the men of that regiment. For in- stance, here is a short storv: The other day a lady entered a street car. When she came to pay her fare she was em- barrassed by the discovery that her smallest coin was a twenty-dollar plece. The conductor, unable or un- willing to change it, told her that she would have to leave the car. He gave the information rudely. The lady blushed and prepared to obey the or- der. Up rose a soldier who had been sitting in the corner. He smashed that conductor just once, because there was no necessity of doing it a second time. The gripman rushed in, and in turn the soldier knocked him into a'state f comparative grace. Then the victor tipped his hat to the lady. ‘“I'm a private in the Tennessee regiment,” he said with that Southern accent which falls so pleasantly on the ear, “and I'm very glad to have been here just now. I would take it as a favor, madam, if you would permit me to pay youah fare.” He extended : the lady the necessary nickel, tipped his hat once more and left the car. The conductor and gripman revived, and business was resumed. s s e Captain Barnes of the Iighth Regi- ment has for several years had as serving man a negro known as Sam. Since the captain has grown so stout that he cannot lace his own shoes, Sam has been a necessity. As a rule he is obedient, but the other day he re- belled. *“Sam,” said the captain, “get on my horse and ride down to the Ten« nessee camp, give my compliments to Colonel Smith and tell him I will be glad to join him at lunch.” Sam rolled his eyes. ‘‘Mistah Bahnes,” said he, “I'se ben a faithful man, and I'se en- deavohed, sah, to do my full duty. But rathah than go to that Tennessee camp, sah, I throws up my job right heah.” The captain reflected a moment, and then sent a white messenger. . e e Perhaps I bring myself into contempt by it, but I confess to admiration for the Indiana Sheriff who came here for a prisoner, and having secured him stole him out of the State by means of a special locomotive. Of course the Sheriff might have stayed indefinitely while the customary monkey business of the law was being enacted, but he thought of a better way, devoid of technicality, delay or flubdub. The prisoner had committed a crime and sought refuge in California. This is not properly an asylum for rogues. Ex- tradition papers had been signed, and after all, up popped a lawyer with in- tent to beat the purpose of the statute. It was a vain effort, thanks to a Sheriff not given to foolishness. T e There is no utility in overpraise of & man even if he is dead. I have in mind the late Carl Smith, a valued member of the Chicago Récord stgff. He was drowned a few days ago while on the sort of a vacation a liberal pa- per grants to its overworked men, and during which they are required to write a column a day. Of Smith an admirer has written: “The name of Carl Smith will never be forgotten, but will live to he an inspiration so long as youth, intelli- gence and virtue shall dare to achieve honorable distinction in the face of dif- flculty and disadvantage.” All this shows a friendly spirit, but it is nonsense. 'The name of poor Carl will be forgotten before his successor shall have warmed for a fortnigh: the chair Smith filled so well after Field had been called away. The time to appreciate a man, even if he labor un- der the hardship of being a hirved scribe, is when he is llving. It ic a re- cognized fact that so far as attairing rermanent fame through newspapar writing is concerned, such an ambition is an 1dle dream. I do not hesitats to say that a young man entering jour- nalism with no capital but his brains his education and his hop2s runs a g1ave chance 6f wasting his ysars and his energies. He recelves, except in the be¢ginning, no adequaie recom- pense; he grows old while in another profession he would be in his prime, and when his powers begin to wane he is thrust aside. Nothing he does is remembered for a day. It may bring him bread, perhaps butter; it does nothing more. I knew Carl well. He was a boy when we first worked to- gether, His wag not a winning per- sonality, but he could write, and often in his work there was the touch of genius. He devoted himself to his ‘profession. What was the result? He reached the proud position where a wealthy paper consented to pay him perhaps half what his services were worth, to give him a vacation, provided he would tofl while resting. I hope that paper is grateful, that it will un- derstgnd when it shall secure its next Gene Field or its next Carl Smith that juch men are deserving of more than . 8 8 8 8 8 8 2 their salt. To affirm that the name of Carl Smith will never be forgotten is mere foolishness, inspired by the kind- liest motives, but unregardful of pre- ‘cedent. He dedicated his life and his talents to a task that gives no return, not even that of remembrance. o e With all respect for the members of the W. C. T. U, I am bound to say they might be in better business than rush- ing into print and hysterics at the pros- pect of the breaking of a bottle of wine over the prow of a ship. In California people drink wine. A bountiful Provi- dence has connived at clothing the hills with vines, and the press runs red with the juice of the grape. Wine is a cheap, wholesome and harmless bever- age. If it is not fit to swallow, let us make a statute against the grape, vote the viticulturist an outlaw, and benef- icent nature a corrupter of morals. There remains to the good ladies who shudder at the existence of wine the blessed privilege of letting it alone and tanning their correct insides with tea. SR General Barnes is now on the stump and silvér tongueing full tilt There is none who' can do it more effectively. Yet if the elonuent general would pluck a few flowers of speech and throw them away before presenting the bouqist to the muiltitude it seems to me the re- sult would be pleasing. In campaign times people want to stay on the earth. An_occasional excursion among the stars may be all right, but plain Ameri- can citizens cannot hobnob with the ‘“torches burning im-~-tal in thé mid- night sky” all the time. s If Frank Murphy was the driver of the patrol wagon which passed along Third street, between Market and Mis- sion, Tuesday night at about half past 11, returning a few moments later, he is unfit to hold a position in the Po- lice Department. I am told on what seems to be excellent authority that Murphy was the man. At that hour a band of enthusiasts were holding an open-air meeting. Attracted by their singing a throng had collected, a quiet, well-behaved =athering, - listening re- spectfully to the words of earnest men and women. The patrol wagon ap- proached on its way toward Mission street. There was ample room for it to pass without disturbing the meet- ing, but the driver guided his horses directly into the crowd, swearing at them and denouncing them as ‘“bums.” In a short time he returned and the operation was repeated. There was not in either instance the slightest ex- cuse for this exhibition of brutality. No underling of the police force guilty of it should be tolerated. This fellow deliberately disturbed the peace, used indecent language and put himself on record as a hoodlum. Had I the neces- sary influence with the Supervisors, his tenure of office would have an extreme limit of fifteen seconds. & TN, Following the example of Governor Budd, the Czar of all the Russias has reaped his royal whiskers. Since then he has sat for his.photograph and obeyed the photographer’s .adjuration to_look pleasant.. As revealed with a beardless face, the Czar logks like an ordinary mortal, and most likely ha¥is. He has a plain, honest face and might well be taken for a back county citi- zen in his best suit of hand-me-downs. But it is marvelous to reflect that this young man is the ruler of millions, an autocrat with more powér than «ny other in the world; that when he speaks civilized nations listen, and though they may not believe what he says, give respectful attention. s s . Never having learned to dance I have no active interest in the rules laid down by the professors of the art, but do feel a curiosity at the information that hugging has been eliminated from the waltz. I cannot help wondering what the waltz is for now. s s e It would be a generous course for women to do their shopping in the morning, provide” they have not faith enough in the old man to give him a list of the things they want and let him brave the bargain counter. They have a habit of coming down town in the afternoon, and the result is that the masculine element of society rides h.me swinging from a strap, because the shopper jame the car with her be- neficent presence. Before the dinner hour she could have the car all alone, but she prefers a seat which has been yielded by somebody probably as tired as she is. It is not that she is selfish. It is simply a way she has. s e A surprising announcement comes from Nilgs, Mich., that fifty-five per- sons have been poisoned by eating canned beef at a church social. The details of a church social as a func- tion are unknown.to me, but I never supposed that among the delicacies was to be numbered canned beef. Some- how, the idea jars. Why not bacon? . s s A . Philadelphia newspaper writer says: ‘“Some men have been so fool- ish as to bet that they could eat g brofled quail a day for thirty days.” I think the foolishness comes in on the part of the fellow on the other side of the wager. A man with an ordinary appetite could eat a broiled quail every day not only for a month, but for a year, and the belief that he could not is the merest superstition growing out of one of the old tales told by Rabelais, When ' a laborer eats bacon every breakfast he ever has, or a soldier subsists on hardtack for weeks, it is nonsense to suppose that a broiled quall, small and delicate and nutritious, is going to balk the human stomach, * s . Why girls of good breeding should desire to go on the stage has always been a mystery to me. It is no place for them. Here are two recent addi. tions, Lilllan Young and Olive Snider, reported as quarreling like a pair of fishwives over the osculatory favor of the leading man. In private life, even had they permitted a man to kiss them, I have no doubt they would have courted no publicity in the mabter. ‘Once on the stage, showever, it is dif- ferent. I do not see why. Of course kisses are necessary in theatricals, but they are supposed to be perfunctory, in fact, professional. It seems this this is not the case. They are of the burning sort known to the ordinary mortal, the only difference being that they constitute part of the show. s e o It has never been my duty to write of the Delta Muser save In praise. ‘When the country has really got its policy of imperialism into full swing and begins, as it were, to put on dog,l there will be need of a poet laureate and naturally the Muser will be the man. But it is better that while ix training he should follow out the lines suggested by his own genius, and not permit himself to get down to the lével of a mere Bryant. I cannot forbear quoting a recent gem of the Muser’s, givén to the world under the caption, “The Melancholy Days."” The leaves and trees and grass assume A faint and faded color And e'en the skies, it seems to me Are dally growing duller. I think perhaps Bryant touched this thing up well enough. Besides the painful indication that the Muser Iis running to pessimism is so clear as to be distressing. While he has the heaven-given faculty of making the little birds sing and the morning beams kiss the meadows, it is wrong for him to envelop his personality in gloom. Surely he is not pining because plebeian intellects are camping on his trail and vainly endeavoring to snatch pinions from the wings of his sustain- ing muse. THE LAW AND THE CULPRIT The world is full of madness, deceit and crime. The law of love is no lenger the law of liberty. Human ne- cessities increase with advancing civil- ization and ambition to rule leads men into excesses and crime until all re- formatory and penal institutions are crowded with eriminals. The administration of law is so un- certain that it has but little terror for the offender. Crime is on the increase. There is little protection to virtue and no reward for honesty. This condition is most lamentable an& cannot be changed, nor will the ma- Jjesty of the law be respected until the guilty are punished and public moral sentiment is spared a cruel suspense. Then justitia flat might, with propri- ety, be placed upon the canopv over- shadowing the court. The difficulties attending court pro- cedures so often witnessed do not ap- pear to be alone occasioned by the de- fects of the laws, but, rather, depend upon the maladministration of the laws and defiance of justice. In such cases the “punishment named in the law as a penalty for crime is set aside by spe- cious pleadings or perhaps intentional errors which appear in the briefs, and crime laughs in the face of justice and defies the law. A promise that is not kept creates a distrust in its integrity, and a case which fails to make an application of its penalty should be taken from the code of criminal procedure, as it en- courages the crimes it was made to prevent. What can be more plain in a forensic debate before the court than the scholarly dignity which carries con- viction to the minds of the jury upon the side of justice in accordance with the spirit of the law? When, however, eminent pleadings are made for the purpose of securing delay in accordance with the assump- tion of law—aut scriptus aut non— then the people rise and declare vox populi, vox Dei, and then follow the dangerous proceedings _of summary punishment. It would be better to have ten guilty persons hanged. than to have one innocent person suffer; but the law says differently. ‘When ¢ne commits a homicide whils drunk,- as in the case of Rosser, and enters the plea (of “not guilty,” and claims to be unconscious of the act at the time-it was eommitted, the ques=i* tion of responsibility will be taken sub Jjudice .and occupy much of the val- uable time of the court at a great ex- pense to the State. This is wrong in all ordinary cases of drunkenness, for it is only after a prolonged debauch, while one is suffer- ing from delirium tremens,- that he fails to realize what he has done and makes no effort to escape; but when one commits a homicide in a moment of acute drunkenness he at once at- tempts to get away, and if arrested will show an unconscious condition of his mind. Should it be made to appear to a jury that while drunk one is uncon- scious of what he is doing or has done and,is ignorant of the law, then the old maxim, “Ignorantia legis neminem excusat,” should apply to him until the penalty of the law shall prevent a rep- etition of his offense. Even for his drunkenness he should be punished for misdemeanor, for no one has a right voluntarily to make himself unconscious of any unlawful act he may commit. Public morals re- quire. a consclous rectitude of action at all times, and the man who becomes indifferent does not always-become for- getful of his duty to the public and always knows the difference between the bar and linch table and never goes to the latter for his drink. Then, why should the courts be tri- fled with upon so simple a proposition as mental alienation in cases of homi- cide during a fit of intoxication, ex- cept in known cases of mania a potu, and why should public sentiment be made to feel the injustice of the pro- ceedings in so many of the cases of criminal prosecution? At times the ermine of the court seems dragged in the mire and justice weeps and retires before eloquent fo- rensic pleadings. No experts need be called to tell the court and jury of the responsibility of the man who is drunk; common intel- ligence and daily observation are bet- ter interpreters of the effects of alco- hol upon the mind than many of the books that are written upon the sub- Ject. It has often occurred that a witness has been upon the stand as an expert upon mental diseases who has never had any practical experlence and who knew far less of the subject than the court, ‘and possibly than some of the jury. Such a witness, on whichever side he may testify, does more to defeat jus- tice than to promote the execution of the law, for his mistakes are formu- lated into spurious arguments to con- fuse the jury so as to give the defend- ant the benefit of a doubt. To avold this error in the proceedings of crimi- nal cases there should be aspedal com- mission appointed, consisting of five prominent members of the medical pro- fession,- who, besides having supervi- sion over the State institutions for the insane, should be known as “State ex- perts,” whose duty as State officers should be, when notice is served upon them, to attend all trials when the question of mental unsoundness is oc- cupying the attention of the court. Then the criminal and the legatee would have a much fairer chance of be- ing dealt with in accordance with the spirit of the law. Then there would be no malingering in “‘made-up” cases of epilepsy. and the courts would not be interrupted by any. undignified and puerile attempts to prove madness; justice would be done and public sentiment would indulge in the refrain, “Vox populi. vox Def!” WASHINGTON AYER. Cal. glace fruit fc per Ib at Townsend's.s i LUl AR hsnecml information smp"ed d!‘-:l! fltlo . usiness houses and publlc men o - Press Clipping Bureau (Allen's), 519 Mont. gomery ctreet. Telephone Main 1042, ¢ —_———————— ALUMINUM L%‘UNCKES. The expedition of Major Gibbons, to -cross. Africa from Capetown to Calro, will have aluminum launches that may be separated into sections for carrying. B — Only the best for the best only. Among the Barrels, 863 Market st. e