The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 31, 1898, Page 6

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1898. e .DECEMBER 31, 1808 LEAKE, Manager. Address All Communications to W. S. PUBLICATION OFFICE ......Market and Third Sts., S. F. Telephone Main 1868. EDITORIAL ROOMS ...217 to 221 Stevenson Street Tel THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL (DAILY AND SUNDAY) Is served by carriers In this city and surrounding towns | for I5 cents a week. By mall $6 per year: per month 65 cents. THE WEEKLY CALL, 16 pages ..One year. by mall. s OAKLAND OFFICE . ...908 Broadway NEW YORK OFFICE.........Room 188, World Building DAVID ALLEN, Advertising Representative. WASHINGTON (D. C.) OFFICE.. ....Riggs House €. C. CARLTON, Correspondent. CHICAGO OFFICE . . Marquette Bullding C.GEORGE KROGNESS, Advertising Representative. BRANCH OFFICES—527 Montgomery street, corner Clay, open untll 9:30 o'clock. 387 Hayes street, open until 930 o'clock. 621 McAlllster street, open until 9:30 | JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Proprietor. | | the common heritage of the American people. | soldiers of the South and of the North met and fought | and died, like men, each for a cause and an idea. EX-CONFEDERATE PENSIONS. HE recent Southern tour of the President Tbrought out the hearty feeling of nationality in that section and gave a needed sense of the ab- | solute security of the Union and the passing of the | lost cause forever. | Men who have chosen to rise above the influence | of prejudice have long desired that the martial inci- dents of our civil strife should be placed in history as The Each proved the courage and fighting resources of the | race, and their strife notified the world that, united under one flag and for one cause, the men of the two sections could beard the embattled nations and for- ever defend their country against the joint armies of the world. 1t is pleasant now to have all this recognized, and to | have a Northern man able to say it without being taunted as a rebel sympathizer, and a Southern man without being hounded as a traitor to the lost cause. Out of this agreeable situation that has been cre- ated by the skill and address of the President has issued the Quixotic proposition that Com’ederatp vet- erans be admitted to the national pension roll on o'clock. 6i5 Larkin street, open untll 8:30 o%lock. 1941 Mission street, open until 10 o'clock. 229! 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 until 9 o'clock. | e — ANMUSEMENTS | 1 Jubilee. | Dwart.” White Squadron.” ville. ce of Coon Hollow." ! Man, Vaudeville and the Zoo. “orner Mason and Eddy streets, Specialties. | ursing Park—Coursing To-day. | 7 Masquerade Ball. lechase. Recreation Park—Easeball. | —Mission Zoo, ‘Sunday. S | Hall—Rosenthal Piano Recital, Tuesday even- | | Tra. GUILTY A4S CHARGED. JURY made up of representative men has de- clared Cordelia Botkin guilty of murder. The verdict will receive approval. Justice will be | satisfied with the fixing of the penalty at imprison-l i rent for life. While morally on the plane with one the other sex, and as a defendant, equal before | aw, there is an irrepressible tendency to show | the deference to a woman even though the blood of inno- cence be on her head: This is in token of a senti-| mentality inborn, and the advocate of capital punish- | would pause before consenting to its violation. | Therefore the community, weary of travesty, impa- | tient of the immunity of the transgressor, will say to | the jury that it | mer done well. Aiter the preliminaries relative to possible extradi- | th tion, the trial from the first moved with remarkable | There was little wasted time save that de- | voted to abusing witnesses for the State. The attor- | neys for the prisoner must have felt that they had al hopeless fight, or different tactics would have been | adopted. They would not have devoted -hours to | points which could avail them nothing unless by con- | fusing the twelve in the box, and the twelve were not of the material to be confused. | Among assassins the Botkin woman is almost unique. Apparently shallow, there was shown to be i her compesition a depth of guile hard to compre- | hend. With the gallows looming up before her, she | seemed to be frivolous, unconcerned, at times for- | giving. She lied with a nonchalance meant to be winning. She posed as everything she was not; she | was innocence, virtue, kindness. No evil thought had entered her mind. Yet all the time she knew | unblemished victims of her plot, a plot as dia- | bolical as ever directed by the fury of thwarted lust, lay dead in a distant State. She i a monster, devoid of conscience, of sympathy, of the nobler impulses. Her egotism has crowded out the good there may have been in her. To others it worked death, to her it worked a ruin far worse than death. To have permitted this social viper to escape would have been a new shame upon the fair fame of the ate in which justice has received many a blow in the house of its friends. There will be in the end | of this evil doer a salutary lesson. No crime can be so cunningly devised that the criminal may not be | hunted down. An idle word may lead to exposure, a | guilty conscience betray. The most despicable, de- | liberate and cowardly murder possible is that in which | poison is the chosen instrument. There will be no sane pity lavished on Mrs. Botkin. She challenged fate and it has overtaken and overcome her. fl claims that the United States intends to ab- sorb Canada. It heads its shriek, “Canada on the Brink,” but could more properly have termed it, | “The Editor Takes a Drink.” | Canada is in as much danger of absorption by this country as she is of being snatched up in a chariot i fire. Uncle Sam has his hands so full that the s of his own government have to be held in his | teeth. He has Porto Rico, Cuba, the Philippines, Guam, and here and there some isolated speck which formerly belonged to somebody else, and the truth | must be confessed that he does not know what to do | with them. It is not simply a case of having enough; he Las too much. Let Canada possess her troubled soul in peace. There is no aspiration to sever the | revered apron-string which binds her to her grand- mother land It seems that General Wilson made a speech at Ifacon in which he permitted the ecagle to soar. He wanted the “starry flag to float everywhere, from the ozen north to the sunny clime of Central America.” The Canadian editor observed the sentiment, and | straightway acquired a case of jimjams. He shouldn’t have w'nded General Wilson.” The General was dulging in a patriotic figger of speech. We don’t nt Canada. We are not bent upon wiping out the dividing, line. We used to have some domestic di- viding lines. wiped tliem out, and are satisfied. celer ier © ““CAN@DA ON THE BRINK.” TORONTO paper in a fit of hysterics pro- in- s e e Cubans seem to think that they have a right to par- ticipate in the events marking the evacuation of | Havana by the Spanish; and if this conntry invaded (uba in good faith,-on behali of the Cubans, as was set forth at the time, the Cuban contention is right. AR TR, In the construction of the ferry depot the State lost only $70,000, and the fellows who caused the State to Jose it not only got the money, but escaped punish- ment. There seems to be an opportunity for con- gratulations all around. 4 SIS S e It is cheering to notice that the cruiser Buffalo has broken a record. Heretofore it had broken noth- jng more than its own machinery. Senator Butler of North Carolina must already be- terms of equality with the Union soldiers. Senator Butler of North Carolina, who is not a Confederate or any other kind of a veteran, has introduced a bill tc that effect. ¢ There has long been a feeling that the pension list, | which now requires nearly our whole income from customs duties to pay it, is on a scale too extrava- gant for even our great resources and tax-paying power. Politicians have gone on inventing new classes of pensioners until the immense appropriation for that purpose has become a menace to many other interests. Twenty years ago, when General Garfield reported the pension appropriation bill, which cailed for thirty- eight millions, he said to the House that he was aware that it would startle the country, but that he was able to say that in that bill the pension appropriation had reached high water mark and from that point would progressively decline. Instead of declining it has ad- vanced .to one hundred and forty-eight millions a | year, and is still increasing. Up to this time no mem- ber of Congress has dared propose a remedy. None has had the courage to attempt a restoration of the original idea and purpose of a military pension. Originally the system was provided to make good a soldier’s seli-supporting capacity to the extent to which it had been impaired by wounds or disease suf- fered in his country’s service, and to care for depen- dent parents, widows or minor children deprived of their support by the loss of life or capacity caused by military service. There is every reason to believe that if this idea were restored the pension appropriation would -decline to less than fifty millions a year. When Garfield made his pledge to the country that idea was still the spirit of our pension laws. But it is now no longer considered. It will easily appear, then, that instead of admitting Confederates to our pension roll we should purge it of thousands who are not in physical need of the bounty. Acts of amity and forgiveness are praiseworthy. But expressions of that spirit_should not be accom- panied by demands for money. It is unfortunate that Senator Butler has attempted to turn a friendly and patriotic situation to such uses. There is, however, a2 modified proposition that is deserving of support. The nation has many Soldiers” Homes to which the decrepit and disabled Confeder- ate veterans may be properly admitted to be cared for. The first of these homes was founded at George- town, in the District of Columbia, by the tribute which General Scott levied on the City of Mexico when it surrendered to his assault. Northern and Southern soldiers fought there side by side, and their common valor won the endowment of that home. The disabled veterans of the Confederacy surely may find there a shelter to which they have a hereditary | right, and, if there, why not in any other of these homes in which there is ample room and where their presence would be beneficial and proper? We note with pleasure that the G. A. R. posts are | petitioning to have this done. There is not a Union | veteran who, on the battle-field, would have refused to | share the water in his canteen with a wounded Con- federate with whom he had just been in death-dealing conflict. To share with him also the protection of these homes is simply an extension of that gallant spirit of humanity, and it ought to be done. A KANSAN COMPLICATION. ANSAS is once more bleeding, and this time K the dripping gore seems to be in the nature of a bloody sweat. She has in her penitentiaries fifty-nine convicts under sentence of death for murder, while in the office of Governor she has a bland phil- anthropist who, being opposed to capital punishment, refuses to sign death warrants. Moreover, her newly elected Governor is of the same mild philosophy, and which she will collect and store up murderers in her prisons unti] she has a collection unrivaled for ifs number and variety. Kansas, however, desires no such collection. She is not a faddist on the subject of murderers, and that is why she bleeds. Her Legislature is now engaged | in trying to force the Governor to sign death warrants or get out of office. A bill to that effect has been in- troduced into the Assembly, and there is reported to be a strong probability of its passage. The bill de- prives the Governor of his option with respect to the execution of persons sentenced to death, and makes it mandatory upon him to sign warrants for execu- tion. A report from the center of the disturbance at Topeka states that the Governor has declared his will- ingness to sign the bill if it passes the Legislature, because he will be out of office before it could go into effect, and he, therefore, will not be cailed upon to sign the warrants. That duty would devolve upon his successor. From this it appears that the Governor is not opposed to the execution of murderers, but only to signing the warrants for their execution. If he can shift that work upon some one else he is per- | fectly willing to see the death penalty enforced. Here is a curious case of casuistry. A man has scruples of conscience against the death penalty and will not sign warrants for that purpose, but, knowing that his successor in office has similar scruples, he is willing to approve a bill which will compel that suc- cessor to sign the warrants or to get out of office. As a matter of fact, the Governor's approval of the bill before the Legislature is virtually equivalent to signing the death warrant of the whole collection of murderers now in prison. He is willing to sign that, but not willing to sign a single warrant. Clearly a conscience so delicately adjusted as that is enough to make Kansas bleed and howl. _With all due respect to the conscience of the pres- ent and that of the incoming Governor, fifty-nine per- sons under sentence of death at one time is too many for a State of the size, population and general cul- ture of Kansas. To have to put them all to death at gin to be sorry that he spoke. one swoop is to require her to.enact something like Kansas sees before her another series of years during | refuge a massacre, and yet if she does not consent to the massacre now it will have to be a holocaust later on. The collection is increasing too fast. WONDERS OF SCIENCE. TO question the verity of announcements made of discoveries in science ill bec.mes the lay mind. Some recent discoveries were only a few months ago scoffed at as impossible. Thus when an extraor- dinary statement is made the wisdom of the un- believer is shown in the holding of his peace. In the first place, medical research made clear that diseases were due to the presence of germs. Phthisis, fever, stomachache, baldness, senility and sin are each represented in the human system by a set of minute and malicious organisms. Cure, of course, consists in wooing these from their living habitat and expelling them into an outer and uncongenial en- vironment, where they perish miserably or hunt out a new victim. Ever since the finding of these bacilli science, full armed for war, has been upon their trail. Now it claims to have caught up with the festive destroyers of health and happiness, and to be prepared not simply to expel but to slay them. At the touch of the force which is to be his undoing the baifled bacillus will curl up and die so quickly as never to know what struck him. It is a cheering pros- pect. Farewell to pain, to potions and to pills. Good-by to wickedness and woe. We will live forever and be always young. Chief Lees will renew his youth. The potent force, as any one may surmise, is elec- RANCH AND RURAL LIFE. The experience of stock men in this State for the last year will give a great impetus to the raising of alfalfa. The losses in live stock which come in a dry year, and could be averted by artificial production of forage, will have a tendency to put thousands of acres of grain land into alfalfa wher- ever that crop can be irrigated. The keeping quality of alfalfa hay is a great recommendation. It stands in the stack for years with its nutritive quality unimpaired. The outside will weather and turn gray, but a few inches under this the hay is as green in color and as sound as the day it was stacked. The extension of alfalfa acreage will check the spread of vineyards and orchards in the irrigable valleys, and so have a conservative effect by repressing the fear of overplanting of trees and vines. A new domestic industry is springing up in California in the manufac- ture of chutney sauces. The peppers and spices used in these famous BEast !ndian sauces are produced here as well as there, and the product is making its appearance through the Woman's Exchanges. It is estimated that all the merchantable pine timber east of the Mis- souri River will be harvested and marketed within the next fifteen years and that the supply on the Pacific Coast will be exhausted in forty years. As far as California is concerned there is no need of ever exhausting the supply. By intelligent care the crop of forest timber can be reproduced and grown so as to keep pace with the demand. If the people will get it into their heads that timber should be treated as a crop, they will no more think of abolishing that crop by wasteful harvesting than of cutting their orange and peach orchards to harvest the fruit. The first thing to be done here is to protect our forests from fire. If it will take forty to chop them down, fire can destroy them all in ten years at the pr rate of destruction. Our ranchers who have to consider the value of a variety of fleld ¢ for rotation should give more attention to broom corn. There is a Iz importation from the East. In Iowa, Illinois and Kansas this crop is bring. ing this year $70 a ton. The seed is taken off and used for poultry feed, for which purpose it is the equal of wheat or Egyptian corn. The United States Weather Bureau publishes a ‘table of the weight of water per acre by inches of precipitation. This table should be preserved for reference by every rancher in California, whether he depends on irri- gation or the clouds: tons | 2.25 inches. tons SPAIN'S FLAG 10 BE LOWERED IN THIS CITY HavanaCeremonies to Be Repeated Here. MARTIAL MUSIC AND ORATORY WILL BE FEATURES. The Cuban League and William H. ‘West’s Entire Minstrel Company to Participate in the Celebration. Evacuation day will be fittingly cele- brated in this city to-morrow morning by the Cuban League, aided by William | o H. West and his entire company and ool 2_22 gg}::: 108" lvand, with martial music, patriotic tons | 3.00 inches. forl speeches and booming cannon. tons | 4.00 inches. tons Mayor Phelan has ordered the stars and tons | 5.00 inches. tons stripes raised over the City Hall in honor 1.75 inches tons | 6.00 inches. tons of the day, and ceremonies of an impres- 2.00 inches.. o tons sive character will be inaugurated in Union-square Park, corner Stockton and In this reckoning 200 imperial gallons are estimated at one ton of 2000 - pounds. The average rainfall for this season for the whole State is 3 inches; the average per acre therefore is 339 tons, or 67,800 gallons. As each inch of water is 22.600 gallons, an irrigator can estimate the amount in-gal- lons and tons he is putting on ais land. Mr. Roberts, an Inyo County dairyman in Round Valley, has built a sub- stantial stone silo for the storage of ensilage for green winter feed for his herd. If equal foresight were shown by dairymen in other parts of the State and less reliance on the varying seasons for forage the State would need to import less dalry products than now. STATE NOTES. The Record Union says that a considerable crop of oranges was raised at Folsom this year and sold for $3 25 a box in San Francisco. Truly the all-California orange is coming to the front. We import largely from China the cumquat preserve. It is made of a small mandarin orange put up in a heavy syrup. These small oranges grow and fruit well here. The tree is only about five feet in height and is an ornament when full of the tiny, yellow fruit. We can make our own cumquat. Oakdale, San Joaquin County, reports a large and excellent orange crop. Next. The fruit canners and driers, who pit their product, have been at a loss what use to make of the tons of pits they accumulate. There has been a limited legitimate market at the nurseries for planting for grafting stocks and an illegitimate trade in peach, apricot and nectarine pits to the con- fectioners, who use them as a substitute for almonds. But now the Pasa- dena Star says they have come into use as fuel. Peach pits sell for that pur- pose at $6 a ton and apricots at $5. At canneries it will be found that these pits will supply the fuel needed in operating the machinery, thus effecting a considerable economy. Well-Fargo shipped 1500 packages of celery as presents to its employes. The celery, was grown in thé peat lands south of Anaheim. The citric acid factory at North Ontario has been closed. The reason glven is that the lemons carry a lower percentage of the acid that limes, from which it is usually made. This is rather strange, because citric acid is profitably made in the BEast from imported lemons that are decayed and unsalable, and there are factories at National City and La Mirada, in San Diego County, that are running profitably on cull lemons. Serapian Brothers, at Fresno, have so improved the curing of California figs as to get nearly the price of the imported article. They are Armenians and followed the fig trada in Greece. They propose next year to operate largely and will buy the fig crop on the trees. W. F. Burlingame, National City, gets $250 an acre for the peas raised between the rows of trees in his young orchard. That is the answer to the question, “What shall I live on before my orchard bears?” The San Diego Union says that Mr. Dixon’s pineapple plantation at Point Loma and Mr. Sheldon’s fields are covered with lath sheds-or thin cloth, to equalize the temperature. The shedding costs about $500 per acre, and an acre grows ten thousand plants. A six-pound pineapple brings 75 cents. AROUND THE CORRIDORS Ralph Dean of New York is at the Occi- week, to say nothing of a hair cut once a month.” The president adjourned the club with- out any remarks, and the members silent- ly shook the hand of the stranger and departed. Post streets, under the auspices of both organizations. The lowering of Spain’s flag, which has floated for many centuries over Cuba’s oppressed people, and the raising of the national emblem will be an important part of the celebration. The important ceremony that will be enacted in Cuba’s capital at 12 o’clock on the important day is to be reproduced in its entirety in this city to-morrow morning. A special wire will be placed on the platform, and.the moment the Spanish flag is lowered a telegraphic signal will announce the fact, and it will be repeated here. A salute of twenty-one guns will accompany the rais- ing and lowering of both flags. It is probable that this picturesque ceremony will be performed at 9 o'clock sharp, a3 the difference in time between here and Havana is about three hours. ' A committee of the Cuban League of San Francisco, which is a branch of the famous organization formed in New York before the beginning of hostilities, has been working hard to make the occasion |a memorable one. Superintendent of | Streets Ambrose gave the committee per- | mission to use Union square for the cere- monies, and Mayor Phelan granted the members of the league permission to fire salutes. % Mayor Phelan, Samuel M. Shortridge, Colonel Eddy and other distinguished ora- tors are scheduled to deliver addresses. Patriotic music and singing will be a big feature of the programme. The leading soloists of Mr. West's company will ren- der national melodies. > The Cuban League of San Francisco was formed in this_city -on the 1Sth day of December, 1896. Its object was to gain the sympathy of residents of the entire State in behalf of the natives of Cub whe were suffering from Spanish mi rule. In this they were entirely succes ful, as a petition sent throughout the State, asking Congress to recognize the starving Cubans, was signed by arl 25,000 people. This was sent to Congr man Morgan, who presented it with ap- propriate resolutions to the lower house. The following well-known citizens are active members of the organization: % essor_Brown, Joseph Mayor J. D. Phelan, Professor Brown, Joseph t, Thomas H. Caswell, A ik FPORnis; Rovere' Ferral, @ Peck, Major W. Fahey, Ed W. Joy, G is, G. Tittenbach, D. . Richardson, H. L. Barhes, Willlam M, Bunker, James H. | Barry n Duzer, F! Ames, E. | Highton, T. B. Cunningham, A. ‘McCoglan, R. P. Clement, Daniel Hutton, F. Doolittle, Henry B. Livin olonel Charles L. T Colonel Taylor, v Orndor! amuel Shortridge, dental. — | r Banker J. H. Barber of San Diego is | D. Lustig, W. D. ward J. C. Sims of Santa Rosa 1S a guest at | registered at the Grand & | B 3 Gltner, 1.3, Truman, & ~ N 3 | 1. Whelan, 3 roezinger, the Lick. E. Macintosh, a mining man from Sac- | Charles W. F. M. Brooks of Butte is registered at | ramento, is at the California. s officets are: John ¥, Jones, : Faust E. Mascherini, secretars the Grand. Levi Woodbury and wife of Washing- | lement: treasurer. The e Peter J. Shields of Sacramento is at | ton, D. C., are at the Palace. oo T composed of the {ollow D i D hannon, G. Almagia, the Grand. R. E. M. Strickland, a miner from Spo- | i e Retiliam CIark, T. A Dr. H. L. Pace and wife of Tulare are | kane, is registered at the Palace. ney, W. R. ("nnrllmn.n E r'l.j Pah‘merll‘, L—l? | : V. Di Cunningham, C. T. shan, e at the Palace. ‘terrteo& - {.‘;\.(?msmor'e of San Jose regls- | QYUY AT Gty V. Tomanovich, G Edwin Mayo of Canton, Pa., is a guest at the Occidental yesterday. piede, H. J. Osthiemer, Arthur W. Cills, at the Palace. H. Z. Osborne, a néwspaper man of | H. Jordan, A. Serafini, G. T. Gaden, A. Jones, Charles Shortridge. State Senator J. H. Seawall of Ukiah Los Angeles, is at the California. is at the Grand. from Concord, is & guest at the Lick. J. F. Burch, a prominent railroad man tricity. One million volts are to be turned loose in the ailing human frame, going through it like a streak of greased lightning and slaughtering bacteria at every jump. Whether it is to be captured as it emerges and utilized again as a curative agent or employed to run the engines of the world has not been revealed. There is also but a shady inkling as to how the human frame, wont, as it is, to wither when accidentally re- | ceiving a dose of 2000 volts, is to be fortified against the presence of a superior quantity. If the concen- trated million volts were to fly the track while mak- ing its tour of a patient and attempt a short cut to the exterior there would in all likelihood be mischief wrought to that patient so marked that the bacillus would have the laugh on him. These speculations, however, are almost frivolous. Science has accomplished great things, and as there were some leit to be accomplished nobody at the present stage has the right to say she has not been adding to the record. There may be doubt, but to express it would be unseemly. We would go no further than to suggest that when this million-volt re- juvenator is first turned loose it be tried on an un- worthy person under sentence to electrocution. Then il the mechanism slip a cog and the bacilli and the tissue nurturing them are snuffed out simultaneously, no harm will be done d@ POOR COMPROMISE. T a joint meeting of the Committees on Health fl and Police, Licenses and Streets of the Board of Supervisors on Thursday it was decided to amend the ordinance regulating the height of ad: vertising billboards so as to impose a license of 3 cents per square foot upon all of them which rise over twenty-two feet above the sidewalk. Thus changed, the measure will be reported to the board with a favorable recommendation. This is a compromise of the original proposition and is eminently unsatisfactory. If the billboard owners think that any such arrangement is going to satisfy the public they will Jater on find themselves mistaken. They may succeed in getting their ridicu- lous ordinance through the Board of Supervisors, but even if Mayor Phelan signs it—which is not prob- | able—the whole subject will be ripped up in the next board and new legislation proposed. The demand in this case is for shorter billboards, the elimination of every kind from certain localities and a license tax upon all. Nothing less than this will satisfy anybody except the billposters. The high billboards are a dangerous nuisance, and, sooner or later, like the Chinese, they will have to “go.” There | are portions of the city where they never should be permitted at all. If an ordinance such as we suggest were now upon the statute books the unsightly nui- sance which is certain to inclose the Baldwin Hotel for menths would be forbidden. As for a license tax, that has been argued again and again with but a single result. We agree with an | evening contemporary that justice demands the impo- sition of a license tax upon billboards. These adver- tising devices pay nothing toward the support of the government, yet they are more profitable than many | lines of business which are heavily taxed. They give | practically no employment to anybody, and besides | beirg dangerous in many cases, they are always a | rank and horriblé offense to the eyes and senses. | There is not the slightest excuse for exempting them from taxation. Another point justifies their regulation.and taxa- tion. They compete with all forms of legitimate ad- vertising and draw their revenue from lines of busi- ncss which are licensed and heavily taxed. It is an unjust discrimination to pass any such ordinance as is under discussion. Business men and taxpayers | generally have a right to protest against a system which taxes them and exempts almost entirely from the burdens of government a profitable industry. | The public demand for an equitable ordinance will not be satisfied with the puny thing reported by these committees. Therefore it is idle to pass it. The Su- pervisors will do well to throw it in the waste-basket. e rmecns s e The mere fact of having been a witness in the Bot- kin case was insufficient excuse for the insults heaped upon those so unfortunate as to have been called. | To term a spectacléd woman who works for a living “a goggle-eyed pot walloper” was not a proud achievement, nor one to be defended on any ground. The San Luis Obispo constable who arrested three | innocent boys on a charge of horse-stealing is now under arrest himself, but says he does not know why. At least he can understand how the boys felt. Perish the thought that a man whose motives are so pure as Dennery's and whose methods so above reproach should wickedly be deprived of a seat to which admiring constituents elected him. The political future of ex-Governor Merriam of Minnesota seems to hang on the whim of the wife of Cushman K. Davis, and the dirty linen of Both fami- lies to hang on the line in full view. Now the Board of Supervisors has an excellent chance to get into contempt and then into jail. This is the first semi-respectable opportunity afforded it for getting behind the bars. BN ‘Without wishing to be too sanguine, we venture that this country will be able to endure even the hos- tility of the French press. In Iceland there are no prisons. Iceland might | chant and an ordinary reporter. laws of the club provide that when the | F. F. Plowden of Portland is registered | at the Occidental. State Senator C. M. Simpson of Pasa- dena is at the Grand. H. A. Jasto of Bakersfield, chairman of the Board of Supervisors, is staying at the Grand. Lester L. Morse of Santa Clara, a prom- inent citizen of that place, is a guest at the California. J. A. Foshay, Superintendent of Public | Schools of Los Angeles County, is regis- tered at the Lick. J. B. Roby of Detroit is at the Palace. Willard H. Brownson, U. S. N., and family are at the Palace. 4 J. W. Warrack, a prominent railroad man from Sacramento, is at the Ocei- dental. i J. W. Adams of the Chicago and Alton Railroad, who was recently injured in a wreck on the Canadian Pacific, arrived at the Occidental yesterday. The members of —0——0———2— the Sazrac Lying THE Club are in dis- SAZRAC LYING ¢ grace. This well CLUB known and very unique social or- ganization meets every night at 11 o'clock in the grillroom of the Palace. Its membership is limited to six, but it can be safely said that six more princely liars were never banded together for the purpose of escaping the truth. Its mem- bers consist of four prominent mining | men, one wealthy wholesale cigar mer- club is in session no member shall tell the truth without being fined, and that every member shall to the best of his | { ability vilify all other members. An- other strange law of the club is that every member, whenever the organiza- tion is in session, is addressed by some ridiculous nickname more or less appro- priate. A member of the club is always permitted to bring with him to these nightly gatherings a friend, provided that friend is rated as a second class liar. Last night at the session of the Sazrac President Highballs introduced a travel- ing man from Oshkosh, who is staying at the Palace. It so happeved that the sub- jdct of pictures and the cost of the same was under discussion. Finally, when the liars had concluded and were about to adjourn, the stranger sald: “Gentlemen, I have listened to vour remarks with much pleasure, and while I am not an art critic, yet T have in mind a certain portrait that was painted some years ago that cost more than any of The by- | { Dr. 8. J. Call, of the United States steamer Bear, is a guest at the Grand. D. T. Davies, who is interested in coal mines at Carbonado, is at the Palace. Major George Goodfellow of General 'Shnf!cr's staff arrived in the city from | the East vesterday. He was the surgeon | in charge of Santiago after the surrender. Miss Ada Gilmore, daughter of Super- intendent Gilmore of the Missouri Paci- fic Railway, returned to the Palace yes- terday from a visit to Del Monte and San Diego. She will be here for ten days. el e e | CALIFORNIANS IN NEW YORK. NEW YORK, Dec. 30.—Arthur Steel of San Francisco is at the Grand. Miss A. | Livingston of San Francisco is at the Hol- |land. V. P. Blair and R. J. Terry of San Francisco are at the Gerard. e e ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. OREGON VOLUNTEERS—S. E. M., San Francisco it is stated that the First and Second regimedts of Oregon Volun- teers went to Manil FARMS—E. B., City. The information asked for in relation to the number of farms of various kinds in the State of | Calfiornia is not to be found in tabulated | form,” but could be obtained from the | office of the Secretary ploying some one to e: | of the Assessors of the several counties. | RED CROSS NURSES—A. 8. G., City. | The Red Cross nurses wear the dress that is usually worn by trained nurses, generaly black, or, if the temperature requires, light colored calicoes, with w cuffs, apron and cap. The on istin 8 badge they wear is the brassard, which is a red cross on a white ground. | THE VOLUNTEER ARMY—A. S., San | Jose, Cal. Licutenant J. J. Keppel and | wife have left the Salvation Army and | have gone to the Volunteer Army. Lieuy- tenant Keppel is in charge of the Middle West, which embraces Ml | Ohio "and Kentucky. In San Francisco | the army has a membership of about | forty. EHELA | VIRTUE OF GEMS—Helen, City. | Germany turquoise is the favorite for | the engagement ring. It is supposed to | prevent dissension between man and wife | and warns them when danger approaches. The diamond is an antidote for tempta- | | tion by the evil one. Ruby imparts brav- | ery in the wearer. The topaz is a pre- ventive against poisons. 'he amethyst |is a preventive against drunkenness. | turquoise is also credited with the | to counteract the evil eye. | is both a curse and a blessing. Oakland, Cal. At army headquarters M | of State by em- | amine the reports | chigan, part of | In | he | ower | The sardonyx | | Watch Night Services. An old time watch meeting will be held at Starr King African Methodist Episco- pal Church, on Stockton street, near Sac- ramento, beginning at 9 o'clock to-night. The meeting will be under the direction of the pastor, Rev. T. Brown, and will consist of a special New Year's revival, with novel features and the singing of old time song: o e ———— Sarah Thorne’s Will. The “missing will” of Sarah Thorne, in accordance with an order issued by Judge | Coffey, was produced and filed yesterday. The contest of Sarah L. Phillips, a niece of the deceased actress, to the application | to admit a subsequent will to probate is now ready to proceed. —_——e——— Our famous broken candy, 3% 1Ibs., in handsome Jpnese bskts, 50c. Townsend's.* ——————————— Soft baby cream, 15¢ 1b. " Townsend's.*® P e —— Townsend’s California glace fruits, 50c Ib., in fire_etched boxes or Japaneso bas- kets. 627 Market st., Palace Hotel bldg.* —_—————————— Special information supplied daily to business houses and public men by the | Press Clipping Bureau (Allen’s), 510 Mont- gomery street.. Telephone Main 1042. * —————— 0Old Gentleman (dictating an indignant | tetter)—Sir: My stenographer, being a lady, cannot take down what I think of | you. I, being a gentleman, cannot think it; but’ you, being neither. can easily guics. my thoughts.—Philadeiphia Public Ledger. ————————— No New Years table is complete without a bottle of Dr. Slegert's Angostura Bitters, the great South Ametican tonic of exquisite flavor, —_——————— ACKER'S ENGLISH REMEDY IS BEYOND question the eatest of all modern remedies. ft will cure a cough or cold immediately or money tack. At Owl Drug Co. ———————— Didderson—Did you attend the lecture of Professor Hardhead on “Grip, a Mal- ady of the Imagination?” Biddercau—He did not lecture. “Why not?” “Down with Weekly the grip.”—New York Baking Powder MadeE pure those that have been mentioned. It is a | - - ploturo of my grandfather. He was a | CENSUS—Subscriber, City. Census farmer back in Missouri. One day a | marshals for the public schools are ap- cream of tartar. traveling sign painter came along, and | pointed on'or prior to the first of May of being short of cash offered to paint my | each year and the work of taking the cen- | grandfather's picture if he would give | sus commences shortly after the date him a meal. My ancestor jumped at the | iven. There is no census of the city bargain and the picture was painted. That and county of San Francisco other than hat taken at the time th was fifty years ago, and since that time | nited States census is faken. F’f%irxalce?nf that portrait has cost the family several | sus is taken every ten ‘vears. Who will Safeguards the food against alum. hps a half dollar, but such an artist was naturally be looked upon by Dan Burns as a haven of lfly have to have it shaved three times a that sign painter and so natural was that thousand dollars. Its real value was per- picture of my grandfather that the tm-l have charge of the United States c in San Francisco is not known at this ime, nor will it be known until the United States census marshal shall have been appointed to take the census for 1900 and he has appointed his subordinates. powders are the greatest of the present day. Alum menacers to ROYAL BAKING “OWDER 00., NEW YORK.