The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 18, 1898, Page 38

EMBER 18, 1808 JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Proprietor. Address All Communications to W. S. LEAKE, Manager. PUBLICATION OFFICE ......Market and Third Sts., S. F. Telephone Main 1868, EDITORIAL ROOMS.. 217 to 221 Stevenson Street Telephone Main 1874. THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL (DAILY AND SUNDAY) Is served by carrlers In this clity and surrounding towns for 15 cents a week. By mail $6 per year; per month 65 cents. THE WEEKLY CALL DAKLAND OFFICE.. One year, by mall, $1.50 908 Broadway NEW YORK OFFICE.. Room 188, World Building DAVID ALLEN, Advertising Represcntative. WASHINGTON (D. C.) OFFICE. .-Riggs House C. C. CARLTON, Correspondent. CHICAGO OFFICE i Marquette Building | C.GEORGE KROGNESS, Adver! ng Representative, BRANCH OFFICES—527 Montgomery street, corner Clay, open until 9:30 o'clozk. 387 Hayes street, open until 9:30 o'clock. 621 McAllister street, open untll 9:30 o'ciock. 615 Larkin street, open untll 9:30 o'clock. 1941 Mission street, open until 10 o'clock. street, corner Sixteenth, open untll 9 o'clock Mission street, open untll 9 o'clock. 106 Eleve street, open until © o'clock. 1506 Polk street, open untll 9:30 c'clock. NW. corner Twenty-second ana Kentucky streets, open untll 9 o'clock. fore the War.” , Vaudeville and the Zoo. d Eddy streets, Specialties. Ingleside C Park—Mt! fon k—R; m in_December. INSTANCE OF DEGENERACY. AN BOUT the man Dunning, who appears as a witness with intent to place a rope about the neck of Mrs. Botkin, there hovers a shadow of odium through which he may be discerned, a pitiful end repellent embodiment of moral degene That he should be here as’a witness is not in itself | reprehensible, for th uty of throwing every possible | light upon the tragedy is one fi h he could not well escape. But, if governed by normal impulses, | there must be ever before 1 a series of pictures in | which the prisoner and himself are central figures, as rioting in an environment of shame. If the woman is guil he is not alone in her | guilt. If she planned and carried out a diabolical | murder, she drew inspiration from the companion- > of one who was in honor bound to be the com- | hother. - Dunning may swear | uinot swear to an easy | s own innocence. When | me had showed pri- nurtured by affection- | -d no inclination to | 1ed here, al- | les lay between him and (hc‘\ n mary signs of growth. n. Her an evil ate letters break awa; nds of m wretched woman whose love he had won. 1‘ | the unhappy episodes which make up the som- ber s , that potent pror crime. Its fascinations first led Dunning | to be recreant in his trust as an employe, and broke up a where had been affection and content. | »mestic restraints, he eas Left w y formed an | ith this shallow Botkin creature, and to- | sought the races. In their relations all | ropriety was cast aside, and their gross of- 1 to the eyes of the little under world fending was op ar- | in which they ved. It seems that even when ated they would not give each other up. While writ- | ing to his wife, he was also writing to his mistress. In the heart of the latte cording to present under- | standing, devotion to the man became colored by | hatred for t i the man. She tried to bring | about divor , projected murder into the | situation—; and recklessly planned for | nnocent. ! shocked, but he zed tha 1 to him, yet he does not act | the probable Doubtless D indi was, part as one burdened of soul ying of many At ion. orary, spe that to he would be so cast down that he would give his tes- PRIMARY ELECTION LAWS. /[\ of the ef- | mary election law which will be constitutional, | surface, appear of good intention—provisions that purpose either by running counter to the organic law | framers of primary legislation fail score either This is exactly the situation, expressed in ex- mostly politicians who do not understand the subject timony knowing it to be not more an accusation than | MORNING conte now being made to frame a pri- | remarks that “it is always an easy matter in framing | when the law comes to the test may defeat its whole | or by providing a masked loophole for its evasion.” through design or ignorance, or inability to under- tremely courteous language. The fact, more roughly at all. Instead of making a thorough examination of Were he an ordinary man | a confession. fort that i a bill of this sort to insert provisions which, on the | The idea, as this commentator puts it, is the stand the mind of the Supreme Court. stated, is that the framers of primary clection laws are the statutes, the de ns of the courts and similar laws in other States, they sit down and draw up bills | which they think will best conserve their own inter- ests. They insert in these measures everything that occurs to them without reference to system or legal | theory. Adfter the bill is passed and somebody con- tests its constitution: they appear to be astonished because the Supreme Court holds it to be unconstitu- tional. This was exactly what happened with the primary faw enacted by the Legislature in 1897. That meas- are was declared unconstitutional upon grounds which any law student could casily have evaded had he given the subject a day’s study. What the committee now having in charge the con- coction of a primary law should do is to put all its work together and then employ a competent lawyer . for a reasonable fee to thoroughly examine and an- | notate it. This lawyer should not be a practical poli- tician, but a man who stands high in his profession and whose name and character will be guarantees that he will conscientiously discharge the duty of inform- ing the committee what the law actually is. This process might cost something, but it would produce a bill which would probably stand the test of the:Supreme Court; or it would demonstrate that no practicable statute can be framed under the constitu- tion--which is a point worth ascertaining. e enare, i No session of the Board of Education will ever be complete without the appointment of a referce. | con R | enue bill so‘as to eradicate certain defects which ex- | of making the law clearer are SETTLE THE CURRENCY NOW. N the present confusion of glad sounds and the l touch of high spirit and feeling, there grows a | % negative sentiment as to the need of completing immediately the financial and currency reforms which the country expects and to which the party in power i< pledged. Men who have not in memory our recent finan xperiences, through having been outside | their influences, and politicians who are buoyant in anticipation of great things to come out of our con- quests abroad, are saying that there is no need to do anything with our finances. Meantime public’ atten- tion and curiosity are directed to the regulation of | distant islands, and men are keeping tally of the new offices created; the officers of the army are asking Congress for 50,000 soldiers to keep order in Cuba, while stability is crystallizing there, and for an equal number in the Philippines to domesticate civil free- | dom among the Malays and mongrels. While our Civil War was in progress wise men foresaw what was to come through the emergency measures which had financed the nation’s struggle for life. The legal | tender had been degraded. The Government’s prom- | ise to pay had been imposed as a legal tender between individuals. The operation of natural law had driven | specie out of the country. But the majority of our | people, occupied with the enthusiasms, the speculations | and the politics of the war, had no time to consider the day of atonement for violated financial prin- | That day came, however, and | quences, its compromises, its makeshii and complexities are with us yet. To their elimina- | tion the attention of Congress is directed, by the re- | | comi ‘ | ciple peated pledges of the party, which the Fifty-sixth | Congress will represent by a majority in both branches. The immediate issues of our Spanish war will soon | rass. They will leave us with far higher taxes than | before, with the military spirit dominant in the Gov- crnment, with a great army and navy to support, and ten dollars to spend-out of the treasury in governing our conquests to one dollar that they will return to it in revenue. When those days come we will again know by experiment the need of a sounder and safer financial system. Borrowing money and spending it | is always easier than paying the debt at maturity. | Pa; Why not fortify the country | now | | | | approaches. ¢ the appeal that it will bring for further al debasement and discredit ? If the Fiity- Congress do not give us the pledged reforms the ill not. If this be not done in a special sion, held in 1899, it will not be done in | the regular session of 1900. ¥ The administration was stronger in 1898 than it will | be again. Faith in the intention of the Republican party to redeem its pledges of 1896 1898 was stronger in this year's campaign than it will be again. The need of the redemption of those pledges will be | 1ally greater in the future than in the past. Financial faults and disorders never correct them- They never grow less. They never stand still. They propagate like microbes in a culture pan. The greater our commerce, the higher our taxes; the more expansive our governmental responsibilities, the greater the need of sound finance. Napoleon found this out. He took France in the midst of the wild financial theories of Robespierre and Marat, who believed that a statute of the Assembly could dethrone God something out of | { fina | S and selves. and make nothing. His genius krnew the existence of natural | law in finance, and he struggled with his Ministers | agents to get France on a sound basis. - That this | was only partially accomplished by a makeshift which | lasted from 1803 to 1876 was probably due to the with- ; drawal of the Emperor’s attention from civil to mili- | ry affairs, made necessary by the marching of | France in the same path of military glory that is just" now so alluring to the American people. | Let us be warned by so many examples. Let us re- | member that sound finance a nation’s omly sure foundation in peace or war; that it is always neces- nd that when it is not provided the people are always paying the penalty. This view is taken by the press of the Middle West. The leading public men in those States, which have | been held in the Republican ranks only by the party’s sound money pledge, agree that there must be an extra session of Congress for financial legislation, | we are well assured that indifference to this now | bring consequences of the most unpleasant na- and will ture. STAMP TAX QMENDMENTS. EPORTS from Washington are to the effect that 2 number of internal revenue officials have suggested to Congressman Dingley the ad- visability of amending the stamp taxes in the war rev- perience has shown to exist in the law. Whether Con- gress will amend the tax during the short session is | doubtful, but it is fairly certain an effort will be made in that direction, for the law as it stands is in some respects unjust and in many particulars uncertain and confusing. Among the amendments proposed for the purpose two of indisputable merit. One of these proposes to amend the para-| graph imposing 1 cent on telegraphic dispatches so as to make it definite and certain who is to affix and pay for the stamp—the telegraph company or the per- son who sends the dispatch. The other provides iori an cqual definiteness of statement in the law as to | whether the shipper or the company shall pay for | the stamps required on freight and express receipts, | or bills of lading. These two questions have caused a great deal of ir- | ritation in the public mind by reason of the action of | the companies in shiiting the burden of taxation upon | the public, a considerable litigation has resulted, and | | possibly it may be long before the courts decide the { issue.” It is not easy to see how the language of the | law in this respect can be made much clearer than it | | is, but since the corporations have been able to raise | a question on the subject, it would be just as well for | | Congress to put an end to the controversy by amend- | ing the law so as to declare in set terms that the cor- | porations and not the already heavily taxed public | shall be made to pay these taxes. Other suggested amendments propose to remove | | the stanip tax on mortgages on the ground that’as | there is a tax on promissory notes, the mortgage. tax | is double taxation and falls on the debtor class; to | strike“out the provision taxing brokers’ notes or { memorandum of sale of goods or property of any ! | kind, the argument being that if brokers pay the | special tax required that should be sufficient; a re-| peal of the tax on “certificates of any descriptjon re- | quired by law,” because of the difficulty of determin- | ing what certificates are taxable; and an amendment | of the paragraph relating to the tax on parlor and | sleeping car tickets so as to provide a penalty for | failure to affix the stamps, as it seems that under the | law as it stands no penalty is provided by reason of | the fact that the tax is not imposed under schedule A, | where it properly belongs. At the time of its enactment the tax was supposed to be simply a temporary measuré for raising a war revenue. It now seems likely to remain on the statute books for some years to come. It is therefore impor- tant that the defects nam’ra_lly resulting from hasty \ legislation should be eradicated as soon as possible, Congress would undertake the work of amendment at the presént session. QJ confirms what has often been said concerning Democratic politicians, namely, that with sin- gular fatuity they seek for the gause of their defeat in fields and regions where the sane and well.bal- anced never think of looking. Judge Maguire be- lieves, according to his letter, that Father Yorke de- feated him, that gentleman having influenced, he says, 10,000 thoughtless and unreasoning Democrats to vote against him on election day. He figures that it required 10,000 votes to defeat him, and he places the reverend father’s following at just that number. For the purpose of reaching this conclusion, Judge Maguire ignores all the facts of the late election and every scrap of phenomena by which its results may be explained. He thinks that no one voted against him on account of his free silver tendencies, rior because he is a single taxer, nor because his political advance- ment is a menace to property, nor because he was the nominee of a convention which had been packed by a San Francisco ring of bosses, nor because he is a sham reformer and office-seeker. On the contrary, every man of the 10,000 required to defeat him was influenced by Father Yorke. The weakness, if not imbecility, of these premises becomes apparent the moment an attempt is made to analyze them. Father Yorke opposed Mayor Phelan as well as Judge Maguire and Dr. Clinton. Yet Mr. Phelan carried San Francisco by as many votes as Maguire lost it. Where were the 10,000 thoughtless Democrats when the Mayor's name appeared upon the ballot? Father Yorke's attack upon Maguire was mild compared with that upon Phelan. In fact, as we all know, he singled the latter out as an especial mark for his shafts. Reduced to its constituent particles, Judge Ma- guire’s letter is the familiar yawp of the defeated poli- tician—the gasp of a “reformer” who can conceive no motive for the opposition except a corrupt and un- worthy one, and no possible cause for disaster except “fraud.” No office-seeker of the Maguire type was ever defeated by anything except “fraud.” It is im- possible to imagine a people who would deliberately shake Judge Maguire clear of the public udder. He believes there was a frantic determination on the part of the masses to give him another office, but that they were defrauded by the timely but corrupt interference of Father Yorke—a politician possessing a priest's in- fluence. Crediting Judge Maguire with the common attri- bute of sincerity, this is all quite singular. It may be that Father Yorke influenced a few people to vote against the Democratic ticket, but it is out of all rea- son to assume that the number was 10,000. If that rumber followed him, how is Phelan’s triumph to be explained? The truth is, Judge Maguire was de- feated because the people are tired of him; because they are weary of his incessant hunger for an office; because they have concluded that he is a sham re- former and a destroyer rather than a constructor of public measures; because he is a single-taxer, a faddist, a socialist, a disturber and a Democrat. Ma- guire could not have been elected had Yorke and all his friends been active in his fight. Cxs . e TELEPHONE PROFITS. VIGOROUS movement has been started in New York to obtain from the Legislature some means of ‘compelling the telephone monopoly to abate its extortions in that State. The agitation has become so considerable that the whole East is affected by it, and the press of the neighboring States is discussing the subject almost as earnestly as that of New York itself. For the purpose of showing the enormous profits of the monopoly the New York Herald recently pub- lished an elaborate table giving in detail the balance sheets of the company for the last eighteen years. By JUDGE MAGUIRE'S PLAINT. UDGE MAGUIRE'S letter to Father Yorke this table it was shown that upon an investment of | | but little more than $600,000 the Bell Telephone Com- pany has in eighteen years made a profit of more than $43,000,000. The Philadelphia Ledger, in reviewing the subject, reduces the detailed statement of the Her- ald to this summary: Actual cash capital National Bell Tele- phone Company in 1879.. 4 .............. $110,000.00 Actual cash capital American Bell Tele- phone Company in 1880.................. 643,100.00 Present capital stock American Bell Tel- ephone Company, estimated, about Price per share, last auotations... Earnings of the Bell Company for eight- 380,000,000.60 280.00 42,903,680.00 Average dividends (about). 18 per cent Can pay dividends of 6 per cent on...... 90,000,000.00 Actual cost of a long distance telephone in open market, lots of one dozen....... . 7.50 Royalty exacted by Bell monopoly for each instrument used in its exchanges, DL BRI K Ve hii. 623 s sieevad snsie Ao peied 14.00 Cost of unlimited use of telephone to business men in Detroit, where there is competition. 36.00 Cost of unlim to business men in New York, where there is no competition...........ccooieiiiis 240.00 Expense account yearly of Bell Company for proteztion.......c...eeteises cesasossas 2,000,000.00 Contributions to two political committees in New York, 1888.......0...c...c000 ceene 100,000.00 In this statement it will be noted that the expense account includes $100,000 as “contributions to two po- litical committees in New York, 1808,” and a further item of $2,000,000 as yearly expenses for “protec- tion.” In the absence of any definite information as to where and how the Herald obtained these figures, the subject is one that invites legislative investigation, and it is hardly likely the investigation will be con- fined to New York. If there is a monopoly in the country paying out $2,000,000 anually for protection, there are solons in more States than one who would like to know where the money goes. |\ It is further to be noted that the monopoly that has made such enormous profits upon its invested capital is one of the corporations that has refused to pay the taxes imposed upon it for war purposes and has shifted them upon the public. Its avarice has degen- crated to a petty greed of the meanest kind, and it has practiced petty larceny upon the pockets of its patrons in every city in the Union. Under the . cir- cumstances there will be a widespread interest in-the struggle in New York, and if the Legislature of that State can devise some means of compelling the monopoly to be honest with.the public, the whole country will rejoice and every State will profit by the lesson. The author known as “Old Sleuth” has passed away, leaving half 2 million and the record of 135 books, none of which was worth- reading and every | one of which made money for him. Literature is a great calling. elieae In Rosser’s store of good luck is the fact that he had been discharged from the army. According to military etiquette wanton slaying is an offense. If Uncle Sam is to auction off the Philippines, per- haps he is ready to listen to a bid from Aguinaldo. . An anti-scalping bill is a good thing. Any railroad official will say so freely. % THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1898 00000000000000000080000000000000006060 and there would be a good deal of gratification if.| ¢ WITH ENTIRE FRANKNESS. E 0000‘000000 00.0000000000000000000000’0000 The editor of a Denver paper, a lady of distinction, remarks with pride that two women, Queen Victoria and the Dowager Empress of China, rule over about half the population of the world. She might have added that the Queen is an amiable person who has about as much to do with affairs of state as with the phases of the moon, and that the Chinese she-tiger would be but moderately recompensed for her in- iquity if boiled in oil; but this would have destroyed all the force and beauty of the point. * Sl SIS No Chicago Aldermen were hanged on the eventful night of last week when ropes were ready for them, because they had seen the ropes and taken warning. Fad the iniquitous bill against which the people were fighting been passed every official voting for it ‘would have deserved the promised fate. It is time to quit trifling with the thieves who get into public position only to abuse it. Students of social economy observe the spirit of discon- tent, the murmur of disapproval, and prate 0f anarchy. They do not seem to think for an instant of the long se- ries of robberies which the people have patiently endured, of the mockery of justice when the larcenists have been brought to bar; the possibility of vub- |- lic servants being less corrupt, as a legitimate contribution to reform, does not seem to occur to them. They only moan that the citizens who pay the taxes and see their money scattered by a set of consclenceless rogues should presume to demur in the only effective way. The threat at Chicago was enough, and happily so. It is far bet- ter that the rascals should have been scared into decency than noosed into it. I would not like to see the lamp- posts of San Francisco decorated with the carcasses of members of the Board of Education, and yet to be thus util- ized would serve some of the members rightly. They have been false to :very trust, have sneered at justice, stripped the schools of needed funds, leaving the teachers to wait indefinitely for salary and the children to shiver because there is no coal to warm the buildings. Of course, to hang them iwould be a tem- porary disgrace, but to tolerate them and allow them to go unpunished would be a permanent disgrace. ® e . A gentleman writes from Santa Ma- ria for advice as to the disposal of a pet coon. The letter has been referred to me, as the coon editor is on a vaca- tion. If the animal is attractive enough to fit the description, I do not see how the owner can bear the thought of part- ing with it. Why not take out adop- tion papers and keep it in the family? Besides, I cannot discover that there is a market for coon on the hoof. F TR ‘Whether Spain has got into a frame of mind to be grateful for the loss of the Philippines is a question, but the inevitable second thought will bring this about. Spain had learned to lean too nuuch upon its colonies. Instead of developing its great home resources it had chosen to squeeze the colonist, to his distressful undoing, and its own. Spain is big enough to assume a greater im- portance now ‘than before stripped of its islands. Whether a stronger nation than Spain can take these same islands and not have occasion to repent of the bargain remains to be seen, and gives rise to natural doubt, but for Spain it is a certainty the islands were a clog. Spain should brace up now, and grow. It has an area of 196,000 square miles, a population of 17,000,000, while France, with 204,000 square miles, has 38,000,000 people. There will no longer be excuse for sending soldiers from Spain to die in the tropics. They can stay at home and cultivate the fields, for Uncle Sam seems to have soldiers to burn under the ‘‘vertical sun” to which The Call editorial columns contain oc- casional allusion. It is surely better to thrive within a limited space than ta die all over the globe, as France is try- ing to do and Spain was in danger of doing. . “It is more correct to write the full word Christmas, instead of the much- used Xmas.” Thus remarks an ex- change cqnecerning a crime heretofore denounced in this column. However, a conscientious man cannot indorse the expression ‘“‘more correct.” If a thing is correct it cannot be more so. Still, as the expression conveys) the idea meant to be conveyed, much may be forgiven. ‘While tolerably free from a tendency to toot a personal horn, I must confess to a thrill of pride at reading some lines written to me, the fact of dedication be- ing announced in large letters. Corre- spondents do often send pleasing mes- sages, but few of them fall into poetry. Probably if they fell into the kind which swells my estimate of myself they would not know what had hap- pened to them anyway. The following are the lines: I look with pity on the man ‘Whom nature's given gall; But, heavens! how I scorn the chump ‘Who thinks he knows it all. RO Editor Glider of the Century thinks people should read great poems instead of the newspapers. He does not carry this belief to thé extreme of pub- lishing poems of the sort he professes to admire. Indeed, some of the prose in his magazine is a puzzle, the chance to guess being as to what the stuff is for. e Ay .. There comes this week a long letter from a good woman. It rebukes gent- ly for certain views which have ap- peared here. I would not enter into an argument on the subject with any view- to shaking the faith which is eviuced through every line of the mis- sive. In the first place, the attémpt would be futile, and in the second place I would not assail the belief of any conscientious person. To state my own is merely to show there are two opin- jops, not that mine is-the correct on This lady takes up the idea that the defeat of Spain, the subjugation of the Philippines, the destruction of the fleets, was all directly the work of G-d. Perhaps it was, but it doesn’t appear to me so. There was much suffering and death, and before this a series of crimes stretching over the centuries. ‘With the human judgment given me, I cannot see why a Supreme Being inter- ested in mundane affairs should not have accomplished all the results in some less dreadful way. It must be remembered there is ascribed to Him a limitless power, It must be remem- bered also that the Spanish sdldiers dying in the trenches or in the sea were Jjust as subject to pain as our own; that life was to them as,sweet as to our A boys, and that on‘t?e hills of Castile there are to-day houses of mourning. Nor is it a certainty that the results are to be desirable. If we keep the is- lands, all of our tradition and theory of government falls. If we let them go, the swinish nations of the Old World will fight for them. If, unrestrained, the natives attempt to control them the last state of those islands will be worse than the first. Therefore if the work is directly under divine control there are many responsibilities from which the brightest finite intelligences would be glad to be relieved. As to the com- forting belief that the fall of each spar- row is noted from on high, I have no word of dispute, only remarking that the sparrow falls just the same. ‘“All the injustice and brutality in the world is undoubtedly the devil's work,” adds the correspondent. Perhaps so, but if so that horned bu=aboo is extremely busy and has a greater pull than (again this human judgment) ought to be accorded. There are many other points in the letter, but all tend to one conclusion. I have the greatest respect for the unknown writer, but neither of us could convince the other, because from the same set of circum- stances our deductions have diverse trends. I am much obliged for her kindly solicitude. The statement is made that in New York the supply of school teachers is not eaual to the demand. If the same is true of School Directors, San Fran- cisco has some that it would be a pleas- ure to ship on the first hog train, and all expense would be gladly prepaid. &S * It is not strange that the publisher of the Chicago News and Record should continually be in trouble with some of his employes. His papers are more profitable than a nair of gold mines, but at thought of acceding to a prop- osition to pay a decent salary to any of the men who help him make $hem so, he would fall dear. « . . Almost every newspaper man is asked by the ambitious for counsel as to the feasibility of undertaking the work. The choice of a calling is a difficult matter to advise about. Much as in getting married, the questioner listens, and then marries whom he pleases, pro- vided she is willlng and the old folks consent. To become a newspaper man one usually begins as a reporter. The work is hard, the hours long, but as compared with other work the pay is good. But there are limitations well defined and passed by few. The report- er has little time for domestic or social life. He is exposed to many tempta- tions, and his proneness to waste his salary is proverbial. In a few years he is apt to get into a rut, and having done 80, only gets out by dying. There is an army of men who have devoted years to newspaper work, and who wonder, as the first gray hairs appear, why they ever began. It seems to them that had they been farmers or architects, doe- tors, lawyers, preachers or carpenters they would have had more to show for their efforts. But in all probability the other fellows entertain similar feelings as to thelr own vocations. s se Opposition to Christian Sclence is growing in England as the science be- comes more fatal. If the devotees of it were to confine their ministrations to those of their own faith there would be no particular harm done, but of late their tendency has been to try the pol- icy of prayerful neglect upon people to whom life is sweet and whose mental faculties have not been warped. When a man acquires the smallpox he needs a doctor, and with the microbes of fever in his circulatory system he must have cine or die. This thing of curing disease by a trustful attitude and an invocation is unduly swelling the mort- uary list. .l Fifty-eight people who have reached the age of 80 or above have lately been telling how. they happened to do it. The outcome Is as usual. Each of them has some fad of diet, or abstention, or sleep, some ascribing longevity to an abund- ance of slumber and some to a moder- ate amount. The primary cause of long life is, of course, a good constitution. Beyond this it is impossible to explain, for the result {8 reached apparently by opposite courses. Life is in every phase a mystery. It is not to be explained why people are old more than it is why of two babes in a cradle one is seized of a fatal malady while the other, escaping, becomes a grandparent. These things happen, and at this point for the pres- ent there is an end of knowledge. s TR That the city cemeteries should be closed may now be regarded as a cer- tainty. Bierce says they shouldn’t. R Somebody asks what sense there is in the solemn declaration at the wedding ceremony that the happy couple have been made “man and wife.” I cannot discern a trace. The same legal pro- cess which converts one into a wife cer- tainly makes of the other a husband, and if he lacked the qualities of man- hood when he faced the official referee, he still lacked them after the decision had been handed down, the fine paid, and the minister had kissed the bride. The ridiculous side of the matter would be made clear if some jolly tier of nup- tial knots were to pronounce the couple “man and woman.” However, the term “man and wife” certainly demonstrates there is a husband in the case, but it seems a slight to the woman. She is the important and by all odds the more interesting figure in the combination. PRe e Apparently recent remarks concern- ing Sunday laws have failed to con- vince certain of the ministers here- abouts. Therefore I shall take early opportunity of extending them, for the radical Sabbatarian is in need of regen- eration. He needs the touch of an in- ward charity, and would improve by mental expansion. But he is an anti- expansionist. 3 z . s s When indiscretion has led a young couple into the shadow of disrepute, and they have made such reparation as lies in legal marriage, I think this should shield them from comment, and am ready to quarrel with the enterpris- ing nose for news which projects itself into their affairs and causes the publi- cation of details. e R As to the acquittal of Rosser, this pa- per has given editorial expression, to ‘which I have no inclination to take ex- ception. There was no feeling that the young man deserved the gallows, for | there was no premeditation in his act, but there was a feeling that he should be punished. Ho..ver, the trial was turned into a travesty and the verdict was a shocking and cruel farce, alike a disgrace to the jury, the -rosecution, the defense, the great State of Califor- nia and a reproach to the court. But the subject brings up a question heretofore cursorily mentioned as to the province of an attorney. Every man accused of crime has a right to a fair hearing, al- though “the presumption of innocence”, is almost necessarily a fraud. The very fact of arrest on mere suspicion impairs this presumption, and when the crimin- al act has been observed, utterly de- stroys it, leaving nothing to be decided but the degree of guilt. That Rosser killed Hilderbrand, and that the deed was reprehensible, there was no doubt. There is nothing in the statute nor in common sense which could make it a matter to be passed over. Yet it has gone without rebuke, anA Rosser is free to take another drink and choose a new victim. I believe that a lawyer who de- liberately devotes his talents to the balking of justice, secures by the trick of tears and the device of oratory, or other equipment of his calling the de- feat of the law, is not a good citizen, and that he could with as little blame have passed to the prisoner a file wherewith to saw to liberty. I believe a lawyer who would steal the skull of a murdered child for the purpose of con=- cealing evidence should forever be dis- barred. The fraternity has sunk to a low estate when it dams the current of the law with technicality or bridges it with a structure of deceit so that a criminal may cross to unmerited safety. AROUND THE CORRIDORS M. H. Foley of St. Paul is at the Palace. James Simpson of Eureka is at the Lick. R. Fatham of London is at the Occl- dental. J. D. Biddle of Hanford is a guest at the Grand. . F. E. Curtis of Louisiana is at the Grand. James F. Lord of Chicago is at the Palace. Willlam J. Baxter, U. 8. N., is at the Oc- cidental. C. Ruster of New York 1s a guest at the Californfa. Lee Chun of Homolulu is registered at the Grand. J. H. Brown of Denver is a guest at the Occldental. J. M. Wills of 8t. Louis {s staying at the Palace. John J. Seymour of Fresno is a guest at the Lick. Charles Clark of Portland is staying at the Occldental. Attorney F. M. Chittenden of Fresno is staying at the Grand. L. W. Fulkerth, District Attorney of Modesto, is at the Grand. Judge Andrew Hamilton of Albany, N. Y., fs registered at the Palace. John C. Brown and D. E. Spenser of Stanford are at the California. Charles T. Henshall of New York is among the guests at the Palace. W. Heathcote of Petaleabrough, On- tario, is staying at the California. A. J. Hull of Napa and W. H. Hutton and W. A. Downer of Modesto are at the Lick. C. B. Nicolson, E. R. Cowles and Charles J. Quinn of New York are at the Palace. —_———— CALIFORNIANS IN NEW YORK. NEW YORK, Dec. 17.—Miss dlora Grace Dean of San Francisco fs at the Nether- land; Edgar Wallace of Yreka is at the Hoffman; A. W. M. JE ‘m nell, N. F, Tho ani fe, of Francisco, are at the Imperfal; Oréstes Plerce and wife of Oakland are at the Manhattan; B. F. Brooks of Riverside and F. M. Bradshaw of Los Angeles are at the Marlborough. —_————— HELP THE SOLDIERS. Editor Call-Dear Sir: Having read In Thursday’s Call the letter of Nurse Shaefer describing the awful condition of our boys In Manila, it has given me a shock that should rebound from one end of this nation to the other, and I want to ask through the columns of your paper, Can nothing be done to relieve them, an . is there no way of insuring them, sick and dying as they are, nourishment enough to resist the ravages of those awful diseases? Must the mothers of this nation sit still and know, as hundreds of letters testify, how their boys are treated and not be able to lift a helping hand? In humanity’s name this nation called for volunteers, and in humanity’s name our boys responded and nobly they did their duty, and now must lack of nourishment and death be their recompense! Cannot some one pause in the mad rush of life to send succor to those sick boys, and those who by disease have become sad wrecks of their former selves? Since be- ing a subscriber to The Cafl I have noticed that your paper was always foremost in any emergency that needed prompt ac- tion. Now, in the name of all that is good and humane, can you not find some way of relieving our boys? It been known for three months that their condi- tion was awful, and yet Tie latest news brings a sadder state of affairs. Ships go out almost weekly. Could there not E. ent plenty of condensed food, such as éeetrl lelxtracl. malt milk, Some one to ses that they recelved it? sending a Christmas box to my son in Ma- nila, instead of sen him goodies, I sent him beef extract and a small medicine chest, which no doubt will be needed by him and his comrades; but, of course, that is only a drop in the bucket. Hoping you may arouse some action in this matter, al ‘s _respectful I remain yourms_pcn X, Box 56, Santa Crus. ———— Postage on the Holiday Edition of The Call will be. Domestic, 3 cents; Foreign, 6 cents. —_——ee—————— Ready for a Repetition. The rush for German steins was so great last year that it seemed almost impossible to meet the demand. This year Nathan, Dohrmann & Co. have al- most doubled the quantity they import- ed for last year's holiday trade, and holiday buyers will this year find no difficulty in finding something that will appease the longing of those who drink, or who would appreciate one of these beer mugs as a bit of decoration. Prices on them are from 60 cents up. —_————————— Closed Sundays, Townsend's, Palace. ® ——— e Look out for 81 4th (nr. grocery), best eye- glasses, specs, 10¢ to 40c. Note No. §1. ¢ Celluloid albums, collar and cuff boxes, handkerchief and glove boxes, shaving ts and tollet cases make especiall 0od Ehristmas presents. Sanborn, Vail i Eo. ox —— “Yes,” said Adam to his grandson, “I know I brought on all this trouble by eating an apple, but what would you do now, If a woman dared you?"—Cincinnat! ‘Enquirer. IR S S R ‘The best Xmas present: Townsend’s Cal- ifornia Glace Fruits, 50c, In fire etched boxes or Japanese baskets. 627 Market st., Palace Hotel building. . —_————— Bpecial information supplied dally te business houses and public men by the nmerg street. Telev‘}:éfi%& ! Thousands of packages in %, 1, 2, 8, § and m"rp“?an% of '{:'mg‘- California lace , 50 cents a pound; read: LR Xy Market street, Palace Hotel. F «