The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, October 16, 1898, Page 6

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1898 ‘ not been given. Probably the Journal The SUNDAY OCTOBER 16, JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Proprietor. 1893 Address All Communications to W. S. LEAKE, Manager. PUBLICATION OFFICE...... Market and Third Sts., S. F. Telephone Main 1863, EDITORIAL ROOMS.......... 217 to 291 Stevenson Street Telephone Main 1874, THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL (DAILY AND SUNDAY) Is served by carriers in this city and surrounding towns for 15 cents a week. By mall $6 per year: per month 65 cents. THE WEEKLY CALL.... OAKLAND OFFICE... vers--908 Broadway NEW YORK OFFICI Room 188, World Building DAVID ALLEN, Advertising Representative. WASHINGTON (D. C.) OFFICE Rigdés House C. €. CARLTON, Correspondent. CHICAGO OFFICE. ...Marquette Building C.GEORGE KROGNESS, Advertising Representative. One year, by mail, $1.50 BRANCH OFFICES—527 Montgomery street, corner Clay, open until 9:30 o'clock. 387 Hayes street, open until 9:30 o'clock. 62! McAllister street, open untll 9:30 o'clock. 615 Larkin street, open untll 9:30 o'clock. 1941 Mission street, open untli 10 o'clock. 2291 Market street, corner Slxteenth, open until 9 o'clock. 2518 Mission street, open until 9 o'clock. 106 Eleventh | street, open untll 9 o'clock. 1505 Polk street, open | untll 9:30 o'clock. NW. corner Twenty-second ana | Kentucky streets, open until 9 o'clock. e e e e et . | ENTS *“The Signal of Liberty.” eville. . Vaudeville and the Zoo. Ities. October 22. y streets—Sy Saturday, First Heinrich Recital Tuesday | | | i Jctober 17, Real Estate | | THE RESISTLESS TOURIST. UT a short time ago Omdurman was a strong- hold of the wild Dervishes of the Soudan, be- vond the pale of civilization and hardly known made it | famous a few weeks since, and now we learn it is | about to become a fashionable resort, a place where weary Eur B to the polite world. Kitchenér's victory >eans will go in search of winter sunshir bys of social life. | describing the de- by the blase who, wearied of all the old resorts, are now desirous of a new one, and the The W gree of interes ister Gazette in taken in the place re seekers in London crowds of pl says: to become the Soudanese hionable resort as we “Omdurman is not only Bi 2 An energetic society is already planning out a casino for the banks of the Blue Nile, with a cricket and football ground, and an aquarium for the crocodiles, while the inevitable public-house will soon be up at the street corners. To make the picture complete, the Salvation Army has, it is said, decided to send out | a detachment to look aiter the morals of the freshly civilized. There will, of course, be an-organized po- lice force. Happy Soudanese!” ‘ The proposed rush to the Soudan for a pleasure ground is nothing new under the sun. have had many ilustrations in America of the use- fulness of tourist travel in building up out of the way places. It was that class of people in the Northern States who discovered and built up South Florida, and to a large extent Southern California and many | parts of Colorado and Montana. They may yet prove | to be more potent than the gold-seekers themselves g Alaska. dern tourist is, in fact, resistless. g in his desire for novelty. him. ngham, it is to be a | | i new | We | He is | No amount of | travel He has money to burn. If| he were sure of a good hotel, a lawn tennis court and | a golf field at the end of his journey he would alter- | nate willingly between the North Pole and Hades | from winter to summer in search of amusement. He'| is one of the adventurous pioneers of civilization in our epoch, and the world of trade and industry can well afford to wish this fleeting idler success in his plan for making a winter garden and a place of beauty out of the blood-stained desert around Om-" durman. fatigues TRAIN-ROBBING AS A DISEASE. 'l“HERE is an old familiar ring to the announce- ment that Jesse James has come under su picion of having robbed a train. Possibly this will tend to elevate him in local esteem, for there are reports that in variofis back counties of Missouri the | picture of the original Jesse hangs above the mantel, | and youth are trained to look upon it with awe, much as the infantile American is wont to gaze at the por- trait of the father of his country. However, train-robbing has its serious aspect, and young Jesse may find a paucity of roses along his pathway, whereupon it®will behoove him to make a defense. 'Why can he not set {* -th, to the great edi- fication of a sympathetic jury, that train-robbing is an inherited taste? Having established this, he could not be held culpable. When a man commits murder he has only to make clear that he received from his ancestors some peculiar bent, and then everybody says “Poor fellow, innocent as a lamb.” Thereupon justice gives him his clearance papers into the wide world, the spectators drop appreciative tears, and the next case is called. It cannot be contended that train-robbing is a laudable form of industry, but it certainly is as good as murder, and Jesse is entitled to as much considera- tion as an assassin. Whatever the outcome, Missouri will mourn. The idea that a Jesse James should have been concerned in the holding up of a train, the epi- sode being devoid of dash or heroism or a big haul, will tend to dim the halo above the pride of the State, the boss highrailwayman of the whole lot. B — Yesterday's execution at San Quentin was not a pleasing spectacle. The fact should impress those who are contemplating the commission of murder, as well as the morbid who have a habit of yawping at the foot of the scaffold on such somber occasions. According to the classic Gallagher of the Board of Education, the recent judicial decision against that body in the Kilpatrick matter was the rottenest ever rendered in a California court. We suspect Gal- lagher of bias. Perhaps Policeman Kenville can demonstrate that his club flew out of his pocket when he wasn’t look- ! Maguire born 1853, ing, and of its own volition struck a small boy. Gomez needs to be impressed with the idea that the eruel war is over, THE MAGUIRE OF RECORD. UDGE MAGUIRE has presented himself as d one who learned sympathy for the poor as a toiler and mechanic himself. We have hereto- fore said that he quit work very young and went at once to holding office and drawing a salary, and has stuck to it since with a zeal and constancy that, mark him as the champion place-holder and pap-sucker of California, not excepting John P. Dunn, who has flitted from office to office, like a honey bee from flower to flower. Judge Maguire began at the age of 19 as clerk to E. F. Preston (Republican), appointed as attorney to collect delinquent street assessments. Maguire held this office and drew down $75 a month until January, 1876, when, having got another office as member’ of the Legislature, he went to Sacramento and drew down a legislator’s salary, mileage, etc., for the months of January, February and March, 1876. When he returned with his salary in his pocket he stepped back into his old office of attorney's clerk, John B. Weller having meantime succeeded Mr.: | Preston in the coliection of delinquent street assess- ments. In 1878 the office of Attorney was abolished and Maguire began practicing at the law, with no conspicuous success. In 1882 Buckley nominated and elected him to the Superior bench, where he sat six years, drawing a salary of $24,000, and most of the time abusing the man who made him Judge and bolting the party on whose ticket he was a candidate. He left the party in 1887 and the bench in 1889, and lived on his accumulated safaries until 1892, when he came back to the party and was elected to Congress, and has held office and drawn salary ever since. No man has been more conspicuous for using a party for selfish ends and treating it with disloyal contempt than Maguire. He has lived on office since he was 19 years old and has never hesitated to bolt, desert and defeat the party to which he owes his bread and the butter that spreads it. No office-holder ever returned less ser- vice to the people for the salary they have paid him. He has drawn his salary in gold and paid for it in words, words, words. The following is a correct list of his offices held and salaries drawn since he was 19 years old: Jlerk to Preston 1 S ture, January, February and March, 1876... s . 900 Clerk to Weller, April 1, 1876, to April 1, 1878... 1,800 Superfor Judge, January, 1883, to January, 1889 . 24,000 0 March, 1899. 30,000 16,560 Total .. .$76,860 Maguire is now 45 rs old. His official salaries, therefore, amount to exactly $1708 per year for every year that he has lived. We challenge the record for any other man in Cali- fornia who has been paid a salary equal to $1708 a year, or $142 33 a month, or $4 75 a day, ever since he was born. The account stands: old in 1898, $76,860 00, Maguire 45 yea Maguire's salary . Per year, 45 years Per month, 540 months 142 33 Per day, 16,200 days.... 47 What service has he rendered for it? He has come high, and what has he returned to the people for a salary of $4 75 for every day since he was an infant mewling and puking in his nurse’s arms? o e s e ASSESSOR SIEBE. Y the fierceness of the attack made by the Ex- B aminer upon Assessor Siebe, the public can estimate the extent to which his honest admin- istration of the office has thwarted the schemes and desires of the boodle organ. Since Mr. Huntington cut the Hearstlings from the payroll of the Southern Pacific they have been hungrier than ever to levy tribute upon other corporations. As Assessor Mr. Siebe has refused to aid them in exacting blackmail, and they are therefore fighting him more viciously than any other candidate for office of the Republican ticket. The Hearstlings concede that Mr. Siebe's admin- istration of the office of Assessor has won for him throughout the community the honorable reputation of being an official of distinguished honesty. The word rankles in the minds of the Hearstlings. = By styling him “Honest John Siebe” they endeavor to weary the people with the phrase, as of old some of the baser sort of Athenians were weary of hearing Aristides called the just. They would have Mr. Siebe defeated for re-election simply because he is known to be an official of unassailable integrity. John D. Siebe has now administered the office of Assessor for eight years. During the whole of that time there has been in the office no scandal; not one act of commission or omission has given rise to a suspicion or even to a rumorof wrongdoing. His assessments have been made with business-like fair- ness, accuracy and efficiency. He has aimed to pro- portion the burdens of taxation imposed by law with an impartial equity upon all classes of citizens. He has neither exempted the rich from their share of public burdens for the sake of courting their favor, neither has he threatened to cinch them by unjust as- sessments for the purpose of compelling them to buy justice by paying tribute either to himself or to dis- reputable newspapers. The records of the Assessor’s office during Mr. Siebe’s administration show that he has performed faithfully the duties imposed upon him. He has not made in any one year a radical or excessive increase in the taxation of banks and corporations, but dur- ing the whole term of his administration there has been a steady upward rise in the proportion of rev- enues raised from that class of property-owners. Thus while the personal property assessment of 1800, the year preceding Mr. Siebe’s accession to office, amounted to $66,082,372, and in the present year is $68,605,110, showing an increase of but $2,612,738, the increase in the assessments of banks and fran- chises of corporations having special privileges was during the same period $11,365,085. On that showing the people can understand the animus of the attack of the Hearstlings. It is clear the managers of thel Examiner feel something. must be done to make up for forfeited subsidy from the Southern Pacific. Spanish papers express surprise that the repmsenlé-‘ tives of the United States are unwilling to leave the decision of terms to arbitration. That thight have been done before the war. There is nothing left to arbitrate. —_— While a railroad man was having his toes ampu- tated at the City Receiving Hospital he requested the surgeon to “stop tickling his foot.” Such a sense of perception is worth cultivating. It would perhaps not be a bad plan of the Non- Partisans to drép the prefix. To a casual reader it might be musleading. IR -Barry and Kelly of the Fourth do not speak as they pass by, but the thinking they do is something tre- 1 mendous, THE DEAD NON-PARTISANS. T a recent meeting of the so-called Non- fl Partisan candidates it was decided to levy an assessment of 10 per cent of the salaries in prospect upon all who have received the stigma of a nomination by the Democratic sideshow, except School Directors, who were asked to contribute $20 each to the cause. This exception was due to the fact that School Directors receive no compensation. How they are going to get back their money in the event of election is therefore problematical. It is interesting to note that the nominees of Mr. Phelan’s sideshow have taken this action. It is in the nature of a Non-Partisan revival. The party dis- appeared so completely after the adjournment of its convention, and the disrepute which followed it into retirement was so blinding and overwhelming, that we were actually beginning to believe it had gone into permanent eclipse. But here it is again assess- ing candidates, concocting street banners, arranging for a card distribution, and preparing to make-a wild charge upon the offices. However, activity upon the part ~of this Demo- cratic sideshow, we are convinced, is entirely super- fluous. Being a tail to Mayor Phelan’s ticket, it is not in a position to deceive anybody, and in the aatural order of things it cannot, while operating un- der its present domino, get more than a thousand votes, if it does that many. It is a safe wager that “Dave” Barry, chief of the first “Solid Nine” Board of Supervisors, who is running for Supervisor in the Sixth Ward on a petition nomination, will poll more votes than Deacon Fitch’s fraudulent band of-assist- ant job-chasers. It is really too bad that this should be so. As a moral reform party, as an influence for producing good government, as'an example in local politics and a distributor of platform pledges, the Non-Partisan party occupied an important position in the political affairs of San Francisco. As a Democratic bunko- steering apparatus, however, pledged to get votes for the candidates nominated by a wealthy and arrogant boss, it is a distinct source of evil and corruption. We, are, indeed, sorry that the Non-Partisans have fallen so low. We do not object to their assessing their candidates, but it is a pitiable spectacle to see a once proud band of local patriots calling public at- tention to their hideous condition by making public report of the fact. In our judgment the Non-Partisans would do well to revoke this assessment and disband. That course would rescue their self-respect from the filthy pool into which Phelan has plunged it, and at the same time a substantial public duty would be discharged. TOO MUCH POWER. S which proposes to authorize the people of counties in this State, through Boards of Free- holders, to frame charters for their own government, should be carefully scanned by voters at the coming election. The principle upon which the amendment has been drawn is good enough. Beyond question the power to legislate for counties should be taken away from the Senate and Assembly. Those bodies have abused their privileges heretofore and will prob- ably continue to do so in the future, yielding, as they constantly do, to the demands of the politicians and tax-eaters, whose interests are ordinarily inimical to those of the people. But the amendment gives the counties more home rule than they can reasonably ask, and certainly more than on principle they should possess. For instance, it is proposed to confer upon the Board of Freehold- ers which may be chosen to frame county government charters the right “to prescribe the manner and method by which all elections by the people shall be conducted, and may in addition determine the tests and conditions upon which electors, political parties and organizations may participate in any primary election.” Since the amendment provides that the charters so framed shall not be subject to general laws upon the same subjects, the clause quoted would authorize the County Boards of Freeholders, as to their counties, to repeal the Australian ballot law or any general primary act which might be passed by the Legisla- ture. We doubt whether the people of the State will generally sanction any such grant of power as this. So far as San Francisco is concerned, it has no in- terest in the amendment, and unless there is some sort of an expression from the people of the interior with respect to this feature of it probably they will vote for its adoption. It is to the interest of the counties, therefore, that they should inform us at once of their desires in the premises. Ballot laws and primary laws ought to be general. It would be absurd to have fifty-seven different ballot and primary systems in California, yet Senate amend- ment No. 10 throws the door open to such a condi- tion. If a particular Courthouse ring of a particular county should desire to return to the straight ticket system all it would need to do would be to capture a County Board of Freeholders and get the matter before the people. The latter might not be persuaded to adopt the change, but amid a multiplicity of issues there is always danger of losing sight of many im- portant ones, and the grant of power might lead in many cases to turning back the hands of progress. The Australian ballot system is now well rooted, and it should be permitted to bear its full fruit. —What- ever good there is in it can only be got out of it by enforcing and developing the system which it has established. Home rule for the counties is an excellent thing, but in our judgment the framers of Senate amend- ment No. 10 have given them too much of it. The counties do not for their own good government re- quire authority- to control the manner of voting within their limits at general and primary elections. Legislation on that subject may safely be left to the State, which is required to pass general and uniform laws. | D —————] From Kansas comes the story that the bite of a common red ant has proved fatal. The correspond- ent who sent it should have accompanied it by a sworn certificate as to his own standing for veracity, and the ante-mortem statement of the ant. for un- doubtedly the insect was captured and subsequently interviewed. ENATE constitutional amendment No. 10, A woman who habitually played the races in the East has been arrested for robbing a pool-seller. She ‘has not yet made her plea, but may set forth that she | regarded turn about as fair play. ke —_— A large proportion of the hell projected into the late military situation by the active representatives of the Hearsts and Pulitzers has been put out by a well directed torrent of facts. Paris newspapers would be glad to settle the peace negotiations, but the fact that they want them settled on the basis of a Spanish victory wi!l be regarded as rendering them ineligible. e Concerning the condition of the Chinese Emperor there is getting to be as marked an uncertainty as characterizes the whereabouts of Charlie Ross. . i, Perhaps some of the anonymous criminals who write to me think their effusions go amiss because unnoticed. I beg to state to the set of ruffians, cowards, cranks, blackguards and de- generates addicted to the offense men- tioned that the waste basket bulges with their effusions as the Jjail ought to bulge with their carcasses. . s e It is not clear to the lay and conse- quently but partly enlightened mind how the Rev. John Hemphill can sup- port his contention that the Philippines are ours by divine decree. Thére is not apparent fairness in ascribing to divine decree responsibility for everything which happens to please, and ascribing the undesirable phases of life to cir- cumstances beyond control. If, for in- stance, the acquisition of the Philip- pines had seemed to the gentieman un- wise, to what agency would it have been accredited by him? If divine de- cree may be viewed as a specific cause when an effort is observed to be satisfactory, to exonerate it when the effect is of a contrary nature would seem to be an acknowledgment that there is some potent agency In conflict with the divine will, and as visible ef- fects are more often bad than good in this wicked world the evil force is hav- ing greater influence than it merits. ¥ v An Ttalian has perfected a process of marbleizing the dead so that bodies tenantless of soul may be preserved for an indefinite period. They are said to resemble carved images, and the mourner is supposed to have the priv- ilege of gazing on them and thus keep- ing grief fresh and interesting. Possi- bly when the grief shall at last have passed away the marbleized deceased can be utilized as a Sutro Heights style of ornamentation. Yet there is diffi- culty in discerning the usefulness of preserving the dead in the shape of bogus statuary or anything else. The mortal frame from which disease or in- jury has induced the spirit to vanish is not left in a condition of attractive- ness. Some people even decline to look upon their beloved dead, preferring to remember them as they appeared when blood was coursing in their veins and a light shining from their eyes. When a body has served its term as the abode of a soul it should be permitted to re- turn to dust, and all processes em- ployed in its treatment ought to be in the direction not of retarding but hast- ening the process. For my part I ap- prove of Poet Miller's funeral pyre, and could name a number of persons whom I could cheerfully observe contributing their ashes to the winds which sweep Miller’s home. Science is wasting time when it makes marble out of the hu- man cadaver. Let it rather try the demarbleization of hearts which still beat, but that rattle against the en- vironing ribs like a stone in a barrel. PRpRa o An interesting feature about the charge' that on the transport carrying Colorado soldiers Red Cross supplies were sold is that it is not true. In proof of this Colonel Hale has made an extended statement. As further and final proof, the fact may be cited that the charge was made in the Examiner. In support of its allegations the paper printed July 17 Manila letters bearing a date of July 16, indicating that the | letters in the absence of a cable had come from the Philippines at cable- gram speed. The absence of news never balks yellow journalism, but it sometimes causes a smile. So practiced a faker as the sheet mentioned ought by this time to be able to manufacture information and print it without stamping it all over as fictitious. R G. W. Steevens, an English corre- spondent who was at the battle of Om- durman, told to the werld the best war story it has read for many a day. The slaughter of the Dervishes as related by him becomes to the reader an actual spectacle, full of life and death. One seems to hear the roar of guns, the clashing of steel, to see the clouds hanging somber above the crimsoned hills where natives fight to the last gasp. The ferocious courage of the fanatics is portrayed by Steevens as no writer could have portrayed it without the wine of war hot within him. Yet it would be unfair to compare the work of this correspondent with that of American special commissioners in Cuba during our recent scrimmage. There were opportunities for good work, mostly neglected it is true, but there was no magnificent finale to be described In sonorous phrase, each as impressive as a battle hymn. Yet it may justly be said this country has no such war correspondent as Steevens, or if it has, that he has been kept from the scene. I cannot even make an ex- ception of Hearst, but may add that England has no such correspondent as Hearst, either. . Perhaps my view of the matter is wrong, but I confess to a total lack of sympathy with persons who stick their heads in the mouths of lions and have the same bitten off. Such an incident occurred recently in a Virginia town. The man In the cage yanked open the jaws of the beast and stuck his smil- ing countenance within. Just then the jaws came together. Details may be omitted. Enough to say the perform- ance was spoiled, and the lion got a generous taste of the performer. I never could understand why anybody should try to gaze down the throat of & lon, knowing the prejudice of the owner against a vegetable diet. No self-respecting lion would stand such an indignity, and no head with any- thing in it would be caught in such a snap. T Ak PR This paper has an old-fashioned no- tion that its mission i8 to print the news. Therefore it refrains from starting contests to determine the most popular tamale peddler, gives away no bags of popcorn, nor essays the bunko puzzle business. However, individual- ly, I will offer a prize, and try to smuggle the scheme past the eye of the management. were clipped from a contemporary: Some day, my friend, both you and I In some deserted spot will le. The prize will be for the one to first give correctly the identity of the poet. The nature of the prize has not been decided on, but probably it will be a collection of the fugitive verse of the poet in question, neatly bound in ham canvas. All answers. must be in by Christmas of : t year. . s . v If that bright writer, “Bach,” whose work shines in the Fresno Watchman, is to continue discussion of subjects which he thinks it indecent for mixed @ By HENRY JAMES. - L L L L L L L LR LTI LR B The following lines: Sflfifififififiufifisfifi83535833888838358883888388.-8389% 5 WITH ENTIRE FRANKNESS. 3 ; 2 2 £ gatherings of intelligent men and wo- men to touch upon, where, as some of my personal detractors would remark, is his own consistency to get off at? As a matter of fact, there are subjects which do not need to be discussed, nor laid before the readers of a paper. Sub- scribers have as much right to protec- tion as people who go to a convention where a lot of theories are advanced, each theory producing a series of blushes, a wave of disgust, but having no other effect. While “Bach” is treat- ing of delicate topics he would be wise and kind to employ some of the foreign languages, living or dead, which he in- timates are about as familiar to his un- derstanding as the English he uses so admirably. . Not long ago the Visalia Times con- tained a letter from J. H. Morton. It was headed, “A Warm Communica- tion,” and the heat thereof was per- ceptible even to the casual observer. Mr. Morton neglected to state that the letter had appeared -almost word for word in Brann's Iconoclast, and that for writing such stuff Brann has re- tired frgm the turf and reposes under it. Perhaps, however, Morton did not know. Instances of unconscious cere- bration multiply. The Times itself cannot be blamed. All it said about the letter. was to set forth its warmth, while it could have been pronounced actually hot without causing the spirit of veracity any distress. Fomh e Indications increase that the sort of peace commission to deal satisfactorily with Spain ought to consist of 100,000 men, each carrying a rifle. There is something unspeakably irritating in the calm assurance of licked and humili- ated Spain that the privilege of nam- ing terms rests with her. The forma- tion of a peace commission was, in the first place, a scheme to salve the wounded feelings of Castile. = President McKinley sitting in the White House could easily have drawn up a bill of particulars and made the Dons accept it. To be chased out of Cuba at the point of the bayonet would serve rightly the cheeky Blancos of opera- bouffe war. Perhaps American troops may yet be sent to Havana to impress upon the vanquished that between tri- umph and defeat there is an apprecia- ble difference. . e It may have been observed that after the estate of the late Jacob Davis had been settled according to the will of the deceased and the decree of the court, up bobs a set of heirs from the South with a declaration of war and hands extended for the swag. The mat- ter is none of my business, nor yours, for which reason we naturally take an interest in it. There is much injustice done in the making of wills, perhaps, but it is small compared with the injus- tice involved in the breaking of the wills. When a man has secured a for- tune by industry or luck it has always seemed to me there should rest with him some right in disposing of it. If a man has wife and children he is re- sponsible for their welfare and in honor bound to provide for them as best he may. The wife probably assisted him in ‘acquiring wealth, and the children appeared on the scene quite without solicitation on their part. But what- ever is true as to the wife or direct de- scendants, I do not see why cousins, aunts and remoter connection have any claim. The Southern aspirants for the Davis dollars are said to be children of a brother. Davis was, I hope, in no manner responsible for them. While he lived to have supported them would have been charity and made of them paupers. Now that he is dead I can- not figure out how they sustain any more intimate relation to his fortune than they did before. . . . - There is a plan for putting Professor Schenk’s system, as the fad is known, on the market in this country. If it be carried out I hope sincerely that every cent invested in it will be lost. As the human race increases the exact propor- tions of the two sexes, this system de- clares, can be regulated. I do not be- lieve it can, and hope that it can’t. Na- ture has done fairly well so far, and there seems to be behind it a degree of wisdom to which not even a Schenk’s intellectuality can rise superior. e e It is war upon Shafter. Yellow jour- nalism has gone to such lengths that the absurdity of the method defeats it- self. In a recent number of a paper published in this city there appeared something purporting to be a conversa- tion between that general and Breckin- ridge. Shafter was represented as beg- ging his subordinate to take command, and the subordinate as declining partly on the ground that Shafter had planned to retreat. The conversation is not only impossible but is actually silly. That it or anything resembling it ever took place no sane person would for an in- stant believe. The fake is most clum- sily contrived. The man who wrote it has not enough sense to write properly o line of English. The only acceptable thing he could write would be a resig- nation. . While the Cubans are wildly demand- ing independence they should pause and reflect, if they possess the appa- ratus by which reflecting may be ac- complished, a matter concerning which there is room for doubt. If the Ameri- cans were now to withdraw from the islands, with the Spanish still there, the war which this country stopped at some cost of life and treasure would be resumed. As the Spanish do not seem inclined to haste away, they would be less inclined were the only opposing troops the disorganized and ineffective Cubans. Another serfous consideration appealing to the followers of Gomez will naturally be that the sustaining American ration is for the present about the only method of keeping com- fortably distended the erstwhile flap- ping stomach of the insurgent. Cuba has been promised a stable govern- ment, and an early move in this direc- tion would be to take arms from the Cubans and make them go to work. They have been out of practice now for a long time, but other people eat bread that has been earned in the sweat of the brow rather than that donated and undeserved. The Cuban ought not to be pefmifiea to be an exception. There is no evidence that he is any better than the rest of the world. ¢ o e The National Advertiser, noting the methods of the New York Journal, and citing a few of them, asks: “How can a paper which resorts to such petty | swindling expect to if it tell the truth?” - believed, even has no expectation of being believed, at least in testing the matter it has not gone to the length of disguising its fabrications. b When a scoundrel invades tha: sphere of life known as “society” the is great ado, and properly, if he ch 0 to be discovered. But there are expos- ures every day almost of villainy in official ‘life and nobody seems to care. The difference between a swell func- tion and politics is considerable, and yet society at large, not the little clique which takes in washing ‘f-jr one generation and uses a crest on its sta- tionery the next, but the whole people doing business, rearing families, spe ulating, building _ churches, schools, railroads and sewers, is much more vi- tally concerned about politics than pink teas. Nevertheless, men known to be corrupt are given office. Supervisors steal the city blind, Boards of Educa- tion go into the industry of larceny, millions of dollars are worse than wast- ed for street improvements which never materialize, the Harbor Commissioners permit the State to be robbed. o times the case is so flagrant that ad- verse comments are heard, but they are absolutely without effect. A Mayor lects the men who shall constitute the various governing bodies in the de- partments; these prove to be deep-dyed rascals as to an overwhelming major- ity, the honest among them being smothered. Yet the Mayor coming for- ward for re-election ‘‘points with pride” to his record! People have sim- ply become accustomed to being victim- ized. They accept as a duty of citize ship the experience of having unc political hands thrust into their p ets. I do not understand why o should cherish resentment toward a burglar, why the highwayman should get twenty years, when an official who is as dishonest as either and has great- er opportunity goes unmolested, but it is even so. Please consider these re- marks as general. It would not be fair to point out any single administration, since about the same grade of rottenness seems to permeate the lot. Surely the time has come for a change. There should be an efforteto create the im- pression that a political sandbagger is as bad as any other, and that one who attacks society as a whole should be corrected and driven out, just as the polished blackguard who invades the home of wealth with intent to despoil. A5 e an A St. Louis paper maintains a de- partment which is termed “Aunt Mary’s Advice.” It is adorned with the picture of Auntie, who resembles much in facial charm the venerable Susan B. Anthony. The resemblance does not extend to the intellectuality, for Mary seems to be several sorts of a gibbering freak rolled in one. Young women ap- ply to her for advice as to love affairs. They wish to understand the propriety of permitting the bestowal of a chaste kiss, the relative merit of the long and short engagement, if they should accept presents before having promised to wed. In fact, there is no fool question in the query box of the love-lorn which is not dragged forth and fired at faith- ful old Mary. All of them are an- swered. There is never one worth an- swering. When a girl wants to know if she can properly declare her affection for a man, explaining that she has reached the age of 16, and knows she will never love another, Aunt Mary tells her patiently that the declaration ought to come from the¢ =in, to wait and not give up hope. i suspect Aunt Mary of not beigg genuine. She prob- ably wears pantaloons, smokes a cob pipe, takes a drink at the corner gro- cery, is known as Tom or Jim, and pos- sibly is a good fellow. She ought to be ashamed of himself. THE AMERICAN BOY. I wonder if the boys and girls Who lived in olden time Were like the boys and girls we knov In our age and clime. I wonder if the girls had dolls, Or did the boys play ball, Or daid good little Samuel Know how to play at all! I love the sweet Babes in the Wood, And, oh, how my heart grisses To think they slept upon the group? With cover made of leaves! I love the Princes in the Tower In curls and ruffles fine. I hate their wicked uncle, too, I'm glad he isn’t mine! I wonder if they laughed and talked Or were they always sad. I'm sure I should be if I had An uncle half so bad. ‘With my brave company of boys 1 wouldn’t take one hour To capture him, and rescue botk Those Princes in the Tower! O_children of the olden time, I read of you in books, I see_your pictures on the walls, And love your gentle looks. Your sad eyes seems to follow me About where'er I play, As if you longed to have the fun ‘We children have to-day! —J. Zitella Cocke, in the Youth’s Com- panion. “Yes, my wife and I have separated.” “Indeed! What is the trouble?” “There isn't any now.”—Indianapolis Journal. Caller—Is your father at home? Boy—No, sir. He's employed on a coun- try contract. Caller—Well, I am glad to hear he has work. What's he doing? Boy—Six months and costs.—Chlcago Daily News. e “Do you take any part in the produe- tion yourself?” asked the Interviewer. “Only a subordinate one,’” said the new manager. “I merely pay salaries.”—In- dianapolis Journal. ! “How in the world,” inquired the elder physician of his youthful partner, “did you happen to leave that patient without first giving her a prescription?”’ I know it was unprofessional, but, Ty as I would. I found it impossible to re- call the Latin for boneset tea.”—Detroit Free Press. “What did de editor say -erbout yer jokes?” “He consigned dem ter hades an—" “Well, dat's carryin’ a joke too far,"— Philadelphia Inquirer. —_————————— Cal. glace fruft 50c per 1b at Townsend's.* —_— Special information supplied daily to business housc3 and public men by the Press Clipping Bureau (Allen’s), 510 Mont- gomery street. Telephone Main 1042, + Mrs. Dix—Don’t you think your hus| is_rather headstrong for an lnvalld‘.’band Mrs. Hix—Yes, and the doctor's to blame for it, too. 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