The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, October 10, 1898, Page 4

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, NDAY, OCTOBER 10, 1892. The MONDAY... .....OCTOBER 10, 188 JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Proprietor. IS Address All Communrcangeh PUBLICATION OFFICE......Market and Third Sts., S. F. > Telephone Main 1868. EDITORIAL ROOMS.. ...21T to 22| Stevenson Street Telephone Main 1574, THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL (DAILY AND SUNDAY) ! cerved by carrlers In this city and surrounding towns | for I5 cents a week. By mall $6 per year; per month 65 cents. THE WEEKLY CALL.. “One year, by mall, $1.50 OAKLAND OFFICE.....ccooveiannnn weeersesss.-908 Broadway NEW YORK OFFICE Room 188, World Building DAVID ALLEN, Advertising Representative. WASHINGTON (D. C.) OFFICE....... ceenanes Riggs House C. C. CARLTON, Correspondent. CHICAGO OFFICE.. .Marquette Building C.GEORGE KROGNESS, Advertising Representative. BRANCH OFFICES—527 Montgomery street, corner Clay, open untll 9:30 o'clock. 387 Hayes streat, open until | 9:30 o'clock. 621 McAllster street, open untl! 9:30 | o'clock. 615 Larkin street, open until 9:30 o'clock. | 194i Misslon street, open until 10 o'clock. 2291 Market street, corner Sixteenth, open until 9 o'clock. 2518 Misslon street, open untll 9 o'clock. 106 Eleventh | street, open untll 9 o'clock. 1505 Polk street, open until 9:30 o'clock. NW. corner Twenty-second ana Kentucky streets, open untll 9 o'clock. —eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee AMUSEMENTS e Dancing Girl"” zabeth, Queen of England.” wite The Lights o Londen-” The Signal of Lidberty.” ay Jones streets—Vaudeville. Pietro Marino, Vaudeville and the Zoo. son and Eddy strecis—Specialies. e Chutes—. aturday, October 15. . Aud pcert next Saturday afternoon. thal—Coming in February. A THE PARTIES AND THE NATION. illustration of the striking contrast between the attitudes of the two great political parties of the country was given recently in the re- ports from the East, one containing the letter of Roosevelt, who speaks for the Republicans, and the other the plank of national issues adopted in the plat- form of the Democratic State Convention in Massa- chusetts. Mr. Roosevelt, after pointing out that national problems are paramount this year, and that “it is not more possible to conduct a State election now with- out regard to national issues than it was possible so to conduct one in 1861 or 1863, went on to say: “The issues for honest money, for protection to American industry, for the upbuilding of a merchant marine adequate to carry our commerce with the world, and to form a naval militia in times of war, are as vital this year as they were in the great cam- paign of 1806. Moreover, we must strengthen our navy and build up our army so that they may be equal to meet every demand made upon them.” In that statement is outlined a broad and compre- hensive scheme of national policy. It is a platform that appeals to patriots. Its purposes include the grandeur of the nation and the welfare of industry. It is addressed to no mean passion or prejudice, nor is it designed to excite class antagonisms. On the contrary, its promises are for all the people and for all sections of the Union. All loyal hearts can respond to it and loyal votes be given for it. Now note the contrast in the sentiments of the opposite party. The Democrats of Massachusetts in their State platform declare: “The military adminis- tration during the recent war has been a stigma on the history of the republic and a disgrace to civiliza- | tion. The army which sprang into existence has been | made the prey of incompetents and favorites, who have fattened on the sorrows of the American sol- diers. The brave men who fought our battles in the | West Indies were leit without adequate food, medi- | assistance. cine or surgical In that declaration there is nothing but f;\l:elmodi and folly. At the very time it was being prepared for | submission to the Democratic convention General TRADE OTHING could be more auspicious than the | opening of the crop year of 1898-99. The early irequently recurrent rains have started the | d all over the northern part of the State and | ous rainfall later on, though it is too | predictions. California | an prediction, and it is | IN GOOD CONDITION. N green promise a cc early yet to winter weather is beyond b the longer a man lives in the | make rash s he knows about the weather. But thus | far the 1ditions are brilliant. True, some grapes have be spoiled and some drying iruit has been | he wet here and there, but the 2 caught out in sgre- | gate benefit greatly outweighs these scattering draw- backs. There is a feeling of confidence ail over the State. Stocks of all kinds of farm produce are light | and prices are good, and the lightness of supplies al- | most assures profitable returns for the coming sea- s output. Country credits are accordingly on a| sound basis, the farmers have lately regained much of the ground lost during the past four or five years, and the State seems to be entering upon a period oi prosperity which bids fair to last for at least a y:dr“ longer. General trade, however, is not especially active, | though it cannot be called actually dull. The bank | clearings of San Francisco, as frequently mentioned c , have been running behind for some weeks, though the decrease has been small. As an offset to this, however, the failures throughout the State have een few, and as a rule confined to small at the usual rates of in- v old scores have been wiped ng the past year. reduce the farming indebted- | It is this condition more | it creates the widespread feeling of i above. We are essentially a | 1g State thing that benefits the farmer | increases the commercial activity of all the cities and towns in the State. It is this condition upon which ing. lile the feeling in State produce, both rural rm, the outward movement of produce | concerns. v is in abundant suppl and a good m. rmers du Another we are now apparently ent But w and ur] and merchandise is rather slow. Canned fruits active and going to the East and Europe in large quantities, but cer: , dried fruit and wool are slug- gish. Wine is doing rather better of late, and hops | are selling well at prices which net the grower good | The local manufactories are running their average force and p goods at a fair profit on the investment, as shown by the uniformity with which the monthly dividends are declared. Trade, therefore, is in a normal condition, and bids fair to continue so for some time to come. The greatest activity, however, is exhibited by the farmers, who, encouraged by the early rains and the high prices for this y areas and getting them in early. Generally the farmers are apt to overdo a good thing, but this danger is hardly probable this year owing to the extreme light- ness of stocks, which almost insures practically bare markets next spring and summer. In the East the conditions are tame and uninter- esting. The weekly commercial reports sing the same old song of smaller failures, fluctuating bank clearings, a lively iron market, extreme depression in the wool trade, low-water prices for cotton, a brisk distributive trade in the West and Northwest, | and an unsteady market for wheat. A gradually ex- tending yellow fever quarantine in the South has checked business more or less in that section. Still, the general aggregate is favorable, as the bank clear- ings show a small gain of 4.7 per cent over the same week last year. Wall street is having a period of ups and downs at present. Speculation in railway shares has fallen off lately, notwithstanding the increased earnings re- ported by most roads. The growing ease of the money market has stimulated purchasing of bonds, but neither this nor the continuance of gold imports seems strong enough to revive the flagging spirits of the speculative community. The industrial stocks, notably tobacco and sugar, ruled soft all the week. A noteworthy feature at present is the failure of the colonial boom to pan out as expected a few weeks ago. It may be that the public are cantious about un- duly rushing into investments in Cuba and the Phil- ippines, but at any rate not much is heard about either of these propositions now. It takes vast amounts of money to exploit these colonial schemes, and perhaps the public have found it out. To be sure, many Antillean enterprises have been floated, but not to the extent anticipated during the war, when the excited American imagination pictured a wholesale rush to Cuba and Luzon immediately after the cessation of hostilities. Tt may be, however, that capital is waiting for the consummation of actual peace, for it must be remembered that the present sit- uation is merely a cessation of hostilities and that peace itself yet remains to be declared. So the ex- pected rush may occur later, though there is cer- tainly very little enthusiasm shown about it at the moment. are | returns. of ing out the usual amount ear’s produce, are seeding vast | the War Investigati B | get his party and its leaders into decent shape. | [ the danger to the nation and the disaster to his own | Wheeler was in Washington giving testimony before Commission and saying that the stories of suffering were exaggerated, there had been no neglect, that the hardships had been only | such as are inevitable in a campaign hastily made, and that the spirit of the army was such there was no | disposition to complain. The issue before the people is whether the affairs | of the Government shall be committed to the charge of a party with a broad national policy, or to men | who have no policy save that of denouncing and maligning the administration and the army. Are we to have statesmen in Congress or a wild set of | v howlers? P ] TEACHING HATRED. AILEY of Texas, House of Representatives, has | g the campaign and has { apparently started out to stump the Union. It seems | from the tenor of his speeches that he is by no means satisfied with the v things are going, and is hurrying all around the country in an endeavor to | | the Democratic leader in the | been making himself very busy durin One of the things to which he objects most stren- uously is the tendency of the time to align political parties along lines of sectional interests and class an- tagonisms. Thus he is reported to have said in his speech at Indianapolis: “My countrymen, no crime is greater in this beloved country of ours than the crime of those narrow and bigoted politicians who testify their love of country by trying to teach their countrymen to hate each other.” The language of the statement is somewhat strong, but there is no questioning the soundness of the sen- Mr. Bailey is doubtless well aware that it is | timent. his own party, or who are most persistent and most outrageous in their efforts to arouse class antagonisms. As a full feport of the speech has not reached us, | we cannot be certain to what particular set of poli- | ticians Mr. y was referring when he made it, but it sounds very much like a condemnation of the | whole B ite clique who took possession of the Democratic party in 1806 and are now running it as a species of Populism without the sincerity which animated the original Populist movement. If Bailey had made his speech in California the pas- sage quoted would have been recognized at once and | a rebuke to Maguire. That candi- most conspicuous | 2t least its chosen representatives, by everybody as date of the fused factions is the representative on this coast of the class of “narrow | and bigoted politicians who testify their love of coun- try by trying to teach their countrymen to hate each other.” He is the man who, in this community, next after the Examiner, is the most persistent force tend- ing to stir up strife between what he and the Exam- iner call “the classes and the masses.” Tt is gratifying that the leader of the Democratic | party in the House of Representatives has perceived party that exists in that form of campaigning. It is to be wished he will have the courage to live accord- ing to the new light that has dawned upon him. If he made his Indianapolis speech with any intent of heading off Altgeld and other agitators of class strife, we fear he has entered upon a forlorn hope; but if it is to be construed merely as a sign of his own re- pentance, he may yet prove to be a useful member | of Congress, not to his district only, but to the whole Union. | THE SCHOOL LUMBER STEAL. HE Grand Jury is said to have satisfactorily es- Ttablished the fact that certain contractors, act- ing by authority of the Board of Education, have succeeded in stealing 500,000 feet of lumber from the School Department. Or, to state the case in more technical language, that the board has paid for that number of feet which was never delivered— a method of stealing adopted by the contractors as m-re convenient than actually hauling the lumber to the schoolhouses and then carting it away. But the jury is unable to indict anybody. It knows the names of the guilty parties; it can, in fact, put its hand on the School Directors who are responsible for the theft, and it could at a moment’s notice hale the rascally lumber dealers into court. The District Attorney, however, advises that while the evidence upon which the jury might act shows malfeasance in office or conspiracy to defraud, no indictment can be found because both these offenses are misdemean- ors and not punishable by indictment or information. So the Grand Jury is going to content itself with a report to Presiding Judge Belcher in which it will “roast” the culprits. - At this juncture it cannot fail to occur to an out- sider that an important question remains to be an- swered. If the lumber thieves of the School Depart- ment cannot be indicted or prosecuted by informa- tion, what is the matter with somebody arresting them for misdemeanor? Malfeasance in office is cognizable by the Superior Court, and a conspiracy lto defraud may be tried before a jury. Why pause | wants no more. at a report which can result in nothing but smoke? The School Department ring will laugh at such a fulmination, while a warrant in the Police Court might turn its humor into consternation. The offense committed by the conspirators of the School Board is especially grave because it has been consummated in the sacred name of education. These men have stolen money devoted by the pub- lic to the education of the children of the people, and they have committed the crime while discharging a trust which ought to bring with it the highest moral responsibility. They are, therefore, worse than or- dinary thieves. Indeed, stopping stages is respectable business compared with stealing the money of school- children. 1f the Grand Jury knows the names of the villains it should swear out warrants for their arrest at once. It would be some satisfaction to land them, if only for a few minutes, among the fleas and cockroaches which infest the City Hall police station. Their “pull” would probably soon get them out, but the mark of disgrace would be placed upon them. That might not trouble them much, but it would perhaps discomfit them for a few minutes at least. ELECT REPUBLICAN SUPERVISORS. HE men named by the Republicans for Super- visors have the peculiar advantage of not hav- [ ing been selected by Phelan, or any other boss. They are strong, clean men, such as would be above | forming “Solid Eights” or “Solid Nines” for the loot- | ing of the city. They have also for the most part the added advantage of not having been indorsed by the Non-Partisan partisans, a clique of the dis- gruntled too cowardly to make open war, and given to stabbing in the back. They can be serenely secure in the knowledge that the Phelan-Fitch sideshow management has not presumed to trot them out as exhibits. To this circumstance they owe a part of their strength. The fact cannot be brushed aside that the present Board of Supervisors is made up of men selected by Mr. Phelan. That it is a rotten and incompetent body there will be no denial. Even the maker of it became disgusted and tried to oust it. It has read- ily adapted itself to every opportunity to create a scandal and line its pockets. The few good members are over-ridden by the bad. Against the reputation of Lackmann there has been no word. He has met the opposition of the Mayor. For once the potency of the executive failed. So loud was the clamor for the re-election of this gentleman that the Mayor had to consent to his receiving a place on the ticket. Thus he appears on the Republican list and both the Dem- ocratic lists. It is as a Republican he will be elected. The Democrats merely want to steal thunder. When there is nothing else in sight, they will steal thunder. Voters should follow the plan of making a cross | after the name of every Republican nominee for Su- pervisor. There is too much at stake to admit of any scratching. The city has had one Phelan board. It Tt must display regard for its reputation, as well as for its purse. ~ (J recent review of the many serious objections to the annexation of the Philippine Islands di- rected attention not only to the incapacity of the mongrel races of the islands to administer their own affairs, but to the evil effects which would result from the attempt to apply our system of boss politics to the government of such races. In the course of his review he saild: “Imagine our own old ‘ring’ or the worthies of the ‘Anti-Civil Ser- vice‘.cague' set to rule over millions of poor, ignor- ant, half-savage Malays thousands of miles from home and with no one to either discover or punis their enormities except the same politicians who had BOSSES AND MONGRELS. HARLES J. BONAPARTE of Baltimore in a | given them their places in return for dirty work! Such an administration would constitute a veritable political Sodom, fit to call down fire from heaven. And yet no one can reasonably doubt that such men and none other would be chosen to govern any such dependency. A little island like Guam, a wilderness such as Alaska was, might be allowed by Congress to | have for a time a purely military and therefore fairly honest and efficient government, but it would be an idle dream to think that our ‘statesmen’ could keep their eager fingers out of such a dish as the patronage attendant on the government of eight or ten millions of people! To expect this would be as absurd as to hope for a Congress of honest men.” The soundness of that statement is beyond dispute. | Once the Philippine Islands are under the control of | the United States it will not be possible to keep them long under the supervision of the army as military colonies. The spoilsmen of politics will demand | that the offices in the islands be included among the spoils that go to the victor. The Philippines would become a place where the bosses would put up the most pliant of their push and pull. The government would be a mixture of ring- sters and mongrels, and the result would be a cess- pool of corruption in comparison with which any- thing produced by boss rule among our own commu- nities would be like the sweet fields of Arcady. Hopeful Barry, wiping the honest expectoration from his countenance, remarks that the new-born labor papers are to be shunned like so many rattle- snakes. The allusion to rattlesnakes is unfortunate. Not very long ago the same gentleman said the militia of Pennsylvania ought to be killed like rattle- snakes. A little later, when these same Americans passed through this city on the way to Manila, no- body manifested any desire to slay them, and even the Barry hand was stayed. When they made a gal- lant stand under Spanish fire the idea that they ought to be killed failed to flash through the American mind. In fact, when Barry has snakes he should not put his tremens on exhibition. The spectacle tends to show that he is as well equipped for service in Con- gress as a cow for skating. —_— It is thoughtless of the Star to say the city is being bunkoed in the matter of the lease of a cyclery for police purposes. The entire deal has been engineered by sundry gentlemen whom Mayor Phelan insisted must be placed on the Board of Supervisors and the School Board. The gentlemen arranging the peace banquet at Chicago have generously excluded California wines, but unless watched closely they will manage to work in a course of local bacon and decorate the tables with cubes of pressed beef bearing the brands of lead- ing citizens. —_— Barry says Phelan has made an ideal Mayor, and Phelan thinks Barry would make an ideal Congress- man. The beautiful manner in which these opinions dovetail is one of the most pleasing coincidences of the campaign. —_— Spain might as well conclude now as later that the United States Government has no intention of pay- ing for territory which it has gone to the trouble to win by force of arms. It cannot afford to-have any more. | IRRIGATION OF ARID LANDS SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 9, 1898. Editor San Francisco Call: I received with my mail at my home last Sunday a copy of The Call of the 27th of Sep- tember marked “X,” which I was glad to get, as it contained the editorial, “Better than Imperialism,” comment- ing on the enormous benefits that would result from the irrigation of the arid lands of the West. I almost al- ways get The Call, but sometimes when I am away in the interior I miss it, and I would esteem the favor very highly if you would have a copy sent to me containing any editorial matter relat- ing to irrigation. It occurred to me In reading this edi- torial that it might perhaps have es- caped your notice when you said ‘“‘the proposition of course does not come within the domain of practical politics,” that it really does in this campaign in California, and I have been rather sur- prised that so little attention has been given to this great subject in the cam- paign. only one which has pledged its repre- sentatives in Congress to a national policy which would result in the con- struction of Federal storage reservoirs and the utilization of the wasted water supplies of California and the reclama- tion of the arid public domain. A few days ago I received a letter from Dr. Clarke Gapen, now of Madi- son, Wis., who was formerly for a num- ber of years the superintendent of the Illinois Hospital for the Insane at Kan- kakee, 111, and while there made some very successful experiments on quite a large scale to show the increased production of lands in the humid re- gions by what he calls the supplemen- irrigation. In his letter to me he Less than a year ago I was asked by the principal of one of the schools of Chicago to look over a group of children afflicted with varifous forms of nervous disease. A more pitiable spec- tacle I never looked upon, and what made it especially so was the fact that | in the whole group there was not a sin- | gle case which was not due to lack of air and food. Not a single one of the ca could be helped in the least with- out fresh air and good food, and these were both impossibilities to these poor creatures, innocent of all misdoings for which they could be said to be responsi- ble. We can never justly claim to be civilized while these things be. The Government ought to make habitable the present aste places and put thou- sands of those poor sufferers on them. the thousands we are spending on alien races? 1 believe in uplifting charity to all mankind, but home is a good begin- ning place.” GEORGE H. AXWELL. THE UNITED LABOR PARTY To the Editor of The Call—Dear Sir: In the issue of The Call of even date here appears an article headed, “Ticket Refused Filing.” It refers to an at- tempt made by one James Smiley, to fmpose upon Registrar Biggy. The simple truth is that this alleged United Labor party as represented by Smiley has no existence in fact, but was en- deavoring to usurp the rights of an- other party which has labored hard and long in the interests of labor, and has been recognized throughout the State for more than a decade. As you have given so much space to the Smiley episode we beg leave to make reply so that our nominees and the main body of the voters may fully understand our true status. The United Labor party of Califor- nia has filed its State ticket and con- templates the filing of its municipal ticket at an early date. Permit me through the columns of your paper to say that Mr. Smiley has nothing to do M | with this organization nor had he any authorization to act from our State or “ounty Commitee. It will be danger- yug for another faker to undertake a similar trick. Futhermore, in this morning’s issue of your paper appears an official draft of the State ticket to be voted at the coming election in No- vember. By what I take to be a typo- graphical error the name of P. B. Gal- lagher appears as the nominee of the Socialist Labor party for Superinten- dent of Public Instruction. P. B. Gallagher is the nominee of the United Labor party for the office named, and has received no other nom- ination or indorsement. WILLIAM P. GRACE. Chairman State Committee United Labor varty. San Franeisco, October 9, 1898. AN ISSUE IS WANTED. Editor of The Call: “Wanted by the Democratic party—An lssue for this cam- paign.” | "The above, signed by the Democratic | State Central Committee, should be in- serted in all the public prints of Califor- nia from now until election day. It is very evident that the Democracy of California is without an issue, and perhaps by the means above suggested some Democratic Cromwell or Joan of Arc may bring forth that which James G. Maguire and the Examiner have beea endeavoring to manufacture. Maguire and a host of other Democratic- Populist, Silver-Republican and any-old- thing spell-binders, as well as the Ex- aminer, have been circulating about the State felling the people that the single tax question is not an issue in this cam- pd[gll. All right, it isn’t. Now as to the railroad question. Mr. Maguire says that is an issue. For the sake of argument, I will admit that. As if to prove the fact, the Examiner laces before its readers, in black type as if to make up for the common sense which it lacks) a long article on the ques- tion. Notwithstanding the fact that Senator John T. Morgan and other eminent Dem- ocrats have declared that the refunding bill has been satisfactorily disposed of, the Examiner finds it necessary to devote half a page of its space to the same old anti-railroad, anti-Huntington cry, and, as if to clinch the argument, the article says: “Suppose Maguire were defeated and a Legislature elected to send a Hun- tington man to the Senate, how about San Pedro harbor?’ Too bad. The writer of that article should be Informed that the San Pedro harbor matter was settled in a manner satisfactory to the people of California at the last session of Con- gress. Toward the end of this article the writer says something about anarchy in the event of Maguire's defeat. I would | advise the gentleman that the less said in a Maguire paper about anarchy the better it will be for Maguire. Truly, the fusion job-chasers are sadly in need of an issue. Be charitable, Mr. Editor. Have the first sentence of this communication printed among your want V. L'lggstRSTREET‘ ads. W Berkeley, October 6, A NON-PARTISAN MAKES REPLY To the Editor of the San "Francisco Call—Dear Sir: Under date of October § there appeared in the columns of The Call a communication headed *“A Non- Partisan Piece Club” and signed “A For- mer Non-Partisan.” A few words in re- ply. The convention just closed was the fourth since the Non-Partisan party was called into existence, at which time both national parties were dominated by cor- Tupt political bosses. It Is a well-known fact that the gentlemen composing the Non-Partisan convention are men with established reputations, many of them men of wealth and heavy taxpayers, to whom it is most ridiculous to apply the epithet of “Piece Club.” Your correspond- The Republican party is the n we not do this as well as to spend | to have been an active member of the organization, should know these facts from assoclation, What mo- tive induces him to distort the truth and vilely insinuate and apply the term “Piece Club” to an organization whose members not only give their valuable time for the sole object of improving the political condition of our municipal af- fairs, but in addition assess themselves to pay the expenses of conventions, meeting promptly all clai. an_accurate record has been preserved and is open for the closest inspection by any citizen_who has an interest in doing so? The Non-Partisan party stands for ent, cla.lmlng e the best interests of this city. It is not dominated by any man or set of men. Every member is his own ‘b Wi simply make use of the American pri lege of meeting and associating for clean politics, using no undue influence, but leaving to the good judgment of voter to approve our recommendation: The motive, therefore, of your corre spondent cannot be other than a vic one, having for its origin some personal grievance. The attempt to belittle the writer by slurring insinuations is be- neath my notice. am Interested in_church work, moral re- form and good government 1_plead guilty. C. B. PERKINS. San Francisco, October §, 1893, —— | AROUND THE CORRIDORS. J. Well, a merchant of Sanger, is at the Grand. Frank 8. Boggs Jr. of Stockton is at the Palace. Rev. D. Maher of Forest Hill is a guest at the Baldwin. State Senator Thomas FTint Jr. is regls- tered at the Palace. C. A. H. Warfleld, Sheriff of Merced County, is at the Lick. 8. Morris, a mining engineer of Chinese Camp, is at the Lick. C. H. Schively, a mining man of Oro- ville, is at the Baldwin. J. C. Ericksen, a cattleman of Humboldt County, is at the Russ. Frank S. Christie, a mining man of Sanders, B. C., is at the Grand. 0. A. Tillson, the well known lawyer of Modesto, is a guest at the Lick. Captain Frank Barret, the ofl man of Los Angeles, Is a guest at the Lick. E. J. Louis, a member of the San Diego Board of Education, s at the Palace. Charles Ericksen, the railroad contrac- tor, and his wife, are guests at the Grand. W. T. Solomon, W. G. French and D. Stark of New York are guests at the Pal- ace. E. 8. Harrison, a merchant of St guest at the Russ. T. A. Sauder of Sacramento, & grand protector of the Knights Ladies of Honor, is a guest at the G W. N. Marshall and O. 8. Osborn, min- ers who have struck fortunes on Minook Creek, have just returned ) dike and are guests at the Baldwin. Al hesidind i e NEWS OF FOREIGN NAVIES. past and rand. Vickers Sons & Maxim at Barrows have got a contract from the Japanese Government to build a battle-ship of 15,000 tons for $4,650,000. Ttaly will use Belleville boilers in the ships under construction and will also in- stall them in some of the older vessels in which the old boilers have given out. The Almirante Brown, armored ship of 200 tons belonging to Argentina, and built in 1880 by Samuda at Poplar, near London, was the first armored ship built of steel and also the first vessel in which steel-faced armor was placed. The military fighting top on ships-of- war appears to be going out of fashion. *In the French navy the tops have been removed from tweny-five ships and low- | ered in seven. In the British navy there | have been thirteen removals and nine low- erlngs. Italy has discarded the tops in four ships, Russia has done likewise in two vessels, and in the Japanese and Spanizh navies the tops have been lowered from their elevated heights down to on a | line just above the conning towers on two and three ships, respectively. | According to Lord Brassey's statement | the number of trained seamen In the Brit- jsh navy, exclusive of reserves,.is 106,000 | France has 3,000, Russia 32,000 and Ger- | many 25.000. prateice in the British navy: GUNS. 10 of 16.25 inch or I 12 of 12 inch 23 of 8.2-inch. 124 of 6-inch q 94 of 6-inch quick-firers converted. 19 of 4.7-inch quick-firers..... The averages appear very falr, but the absence of conditions and distances nnder which the hits were made are some- what unsatisfactory. M. Lockroy, Minister of Marine, is greatly pleased with the Tesults of the tar- get practice of the battle-ships Brennus, Jeaureguiberry, Charles Martel and Ma- genta and ,the cruisers Chauzy and Gali- lon. The old floating battery Arrogante, built of fron in 1864, protected with 4% inches of iron, served as a target at a dis- tance of about two miles from the firing ships, and was sunk in less than fifteen minutes. The French squadron fired five hundred projectiles, ninety of which were of 13%-inch caliber. The total number of hits were 30 per cent, a very high percent- age, and M. Lockroy claims that the skill of French naval gunnery is superior to that of the Americans, as In the battle off Santiago only 3 per cent were hits. The comparison under such dissimilar condi- tions is hardly fair, for In the Santiago affalr it was a running fight with varying distances and a return fire from the flee- ing enemy. At Toulon the distance was known to exactness, and the firing was at an inanimate object and the skillful gun- ners on the six ships had no occasfon to get nervous, as there were no return shots. It is nearly two years since the British crusers Terrible and Powerful passed through their steam trials. The latter ship steamed to China and failed to make a record, and it is only quite recently that the alleged troubles with her engines have been remedied and she is claimed to be as yet had a foreign commission, but has been undergoing overhaulings and passed through trials since January, 1867, and is now at last claimed to come up to the an- ticipations of the admiralty. The trials have been quite severe, including sixty hours at sea under 15.000 horsepower, sixty hours under 18,000, eight hours under 22,000 and lastly four hours under 25,000 horse- power. The eight-hour trial on a mean draught of 28 feet 6 inches, or eighteen inches over the normal draught, resulted in 23,053 horsepower and a speed, by log, of 20.7 knots. The boilers carried 235 pounds of steam and the revolutions worked up to a mean of 104.3. Two days after—Septem- ber 15—the ship passed through her four hours’ trial in the channel under full pow- er. Unfortunately a heavy fog interrupted the trial, and on the second attempt she was equally unfortunate. It was, how- ever, thought expedient to take the means of the results of the two interrupted trials, which gave 25,112 horsepower and a speed of 21.9 knots by log. The steam was at 235 pounds and the revolutions 108.57. The ship was down to a mean draught of 28 feet 115 inches, making her displacement nearly %0 tons over the normal draught capacity. As compared with the results in January, 1897, the ship was then down to 27 feet, the engines developed 25572 horsepower and the speed was logged at 22.41 knots. The recent performance shows a falling off of 460 horsepower and a re- and of which | the | To the charge that I/ Helena, accompanied by his wife, is & | from the Klon- | The Naval and Military Record gives | the following results of recent gunuery | SRBREIMI uD g in | lee, which took place last month off Tou- | fast as Intended. The Terrible has not as | duction in speed of .31 knots, the latter being probably due to the Increased dis- placement of the ship or, perhaps, to the vagaries of the log. While the two mon- ster cruisers cannot'be termed as failures, vet it is entirely unlikely that they will | be duplicated & | = e NEWSPAPER WAIFS. said the man in cell 71, “time 'was when I was admitted to the very best houses.” ‘And what brought vou here?’ “They caught me coming | out.”—Tit-Bits. “Here s _my pi T |Eden.” ” “Why. man, you're |is a winter scene.”” “Of course | a picture of the Garden after Truth. “What a precoclous child that boy of TV oS 1oh exclaimed the cross-grain- | ed citizen. “Why, it sits for hours with- out saying a word.” “I know it. T&nc s more than its mother can do.”—Washing- | ton Star. She—You never did care for me. You only married me for my money. Heo Now vou are not only cruel but absurd. 1 should like to know how I could have got your money any other way !—Bston Transcript. Why He Refused Him.—Young Poet— ‘hy do you refuse me as & son-in-law? Is it because I lack merit? Paterfamilias Z0h, no; It 1s simply on account of lack of space. We are really crowded for room here now.—Judge. *Yes, sir,” cture—‘The Garden of crazy! This it is—that's the fall.”’— “Grandpa,” sald Kathleen, very seri- ously. 1 want to ask your advice.” “Yes, darling; what is 1t?” asked the old gentle- man. ‘I want to know what you think it will be best for you to give me on my birthday.”—Tit-Bits. Mr. Floody—Now, Franklin, my SO have at last made the great fact of m, I the evolution of species clear to you, have not? Franklin Floody—Oh, yes, papa: I understand! Before I was born you and Truth. mamma were monkey Guest (in restaurant)—Did you wait on me_yesterday? ‘Waiter—Yes, sir. You ordered a medium sirloin steak. Will you have the same thing again to-day Guest—Yes, I guess you may as well bring it to me again if it isn’t in use. it mise ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. REPUBLIC/ CLUB—O. T. R., City. There is a Republican club in the Thirty- fourth Aasxm)lyfib! triet. TEMPERANCE—Q., City. The first temperance society in the United States organized in Saratoga County, New York, in 1808. POPULATION—C. G., City. figures as to the population of the Ger- man empire are those of 159, which are 5.5 The latest | | 52245.5%9, and those of France are those | of 1896, and are l i | CONSOLIDATION ACT — Subscriber, | City. The consolidation act was approved April 19, 1856, and is entitled “An act to repeal the several charters of the city and county of San Fr: to establis the boundaries of the city and county of | San Francisco and to consolidate the §ov- | ernment thereof.” That act and acts sup- | Dlementary thereto can be found in_the | reference room of the San Francisco Free | Public Library. ELECTRICIAN—E. McL., City. To be- come an electrician you should apply yourself dfligently to the study of elec- | tricity and its uses, as there are many { books on the subject. If not able to mas- ter the science by yourself attend a spe- | cial school where it is taught, then offer your services to some electrical com- | | | | The pay at first is a matter of ar- ment between the company and the applicant, depending much upon his knowledge and ability as well as inclina- | tion to work. GOLD IN CUBA—G. W. F., Oakland, Cal. Gold and silver have been found on the island of Cuba, but the natives never brought out any in paying quantities. There is, however, no telling what Ameri- can enterprise may do in the development of the mining industries of that country. Traces of auriferous sand have been found in the Holguin and Essamby rivers, and specimens of fine gold have been dis- | covered in Agalum and Sagua la Grande. Silver and copper have beeri found in | Villa Carra, the product of silver being about seven ounces to the quintal. There | are rich copper mines twelve miles from | Santlago de Cuba. NATIONAL HYMN—A. S, City. The most distinctly German national alrs are | the Emperor's hymn, by Havdn, enti- | tled “Gott erhalte Franz der Kaiser” | (Goa save Franz, the Emperor), the na- | tional hymn of Austria, and “Die Wacht | am Rhein” (the Guard on the Rhine). Sic George Grove in his ‘“Dictionary of | Music and _ Musicans” says: * ‘Die Wacht am Rhein’ is a German volkslied, which during the Franco-Prussian war of 187071 was so popular as to become a national song.” “De Wacht am Rhein” is the compan- jon of the famous Rhine song, “Sie sol- | 1en thn nicht haben, den frien, Deutschen | Rhein,” and it leads the German na- | tional songs. | PRE-EMPTION AND HOMESTEAD-— | Subscriber, City. The pre-emption laws of the United States can be found in the | Revised Statutes at the Free Public | Library, reference room: and in the same | volume are the United States Homestead | laws: The pre-emption laws provide for vesting the title to parts of public lands— not more than 160 acres to ne person—in such settlers as inhabit and improve the same, upon payment of a nominal sum. The homestead laws prov by which a citizen or an a declared his intention to b | zen of the United States may enter upon not more than 160 acres to one person—in priated public lands, and who by com- plying with certain requirements may af- ter five years acquire title to it by patent. | TRON AND STEEL—A. S., Crescent | City, Cal. In 1874 the world's product of pig iron was 13.260,000 tons. Of this the United States produced 18 per cent, Great Britain 45 per cent, Germany 12 per cent | and France 10 per cent. In 189 it was 25,000,000 tons. The United States product was 30 per cent and Great Britain's 33 per cent. In 1895 the United States pro- duced 32 per cent, Great Britain 27 per cent, Germany 19 per cent and France 7 per cent. The United States at this time leads in the production of iron ore, Great Britain comes next, then Germany and France. From 1886 to 1895 the United States pro- duced 4,909,128 tons of Bessemer and 1,137,- 182 tons of open hearth steel. In the sam period Great Britain produced 153,225 tons of Bessemer and 1724737 tons of open hearth steel. In 186 the United States produced 5,366,518 tons of all kinds of steel, and Great Britain produced 4,199,531 tons, while all other countries to- gether produced but 8,015,082 tons. Cal. glace fruit 50c per 1b at Townsend’s.® —_—— This week; best cyeglasses; specs; 150, 40c; 65 Fourth street; look out for No. 6. * —————— Special information supplied daily to business houscs and public men by the Press Clipping Bureau (Allen’s), 510 Mont- gomery street. Telephone Main 1042, —_————— Stationery and Printing. Marcus Ward's and Hurlburt’s fine writ« ing papers. Irish Linen and Venetian Bond in ream goods. Writing tablets, pa-~ eteries, Koh-1-Noor pencils, Waterman ountain pens, etc. Visiting Cards and Invitations a specialty. Sanborn, Vail & Co., 741 Market street. . —_—e——————— The Belfast Irish News has declared a dividend of 12}; per cent, and that in a city where in previous years no National- ist grgan was ever able to make ends meet. “Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup” Has been used over fifty years by mothers for their children while Tectning yior perfect success. It Soott~s the child, softens the gums, aliays Pain, cures Wind Colte, reg- ulates the Bowels and is the best remedy for Diarrhoeas, Whether arising from teething or other causes. For sale by Druggists in every part of the world. Be sure and ask for Mrs. ‘Winslow's Soothing Syrup. 2c a bottle. —_—— HOTEL DEL CORONADO—T: of the round-trip tickets. No;hnnfim; steamship, Including fifteen days' board at hotel; \‘05‘21' stay $250 per day. Apply at 4 New ontgomery street, San Francisco. ———————— SICK HEADACHE ABSOLUTEL permanently cured hyc using Moki 1‘;‘ o D Pleasant herb ‘drini. = igestion. makes you eat, sleep, work and happy. Satiafaction guaranteed. money back. At No Percentage Pharmacy,