The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, January 18, 1899, Page 6

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 1809 JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Proprietor. ss All Communications to W. S. LEAKE, Manager. Addre: PUBLICATION OFFICE......Market and Third Sts., S. F. Telephone Main 1868. EDITORIAL ROOMS......... 217 to 22| Stevenson Street Telephone Main 1§74, THE 6AN FRANCISCO CALL (DAILY AND SUNDAY) Is served by carrlers In this city and surrounding towns for 16 cents a week. By mall $6 per year; per month 65 cents. THE WEEKLY CALL, 16 pages OAKLAND OFFICE... .One year, by mall, 81 ..908 Broadway NEW YORK OFFICE.... Room 188, World Building DAVID ALLEN, Advertising Representative. WASHINGTON (D. €.) OFFICE... Riggs House C, C. CARLTON, Correspondent. CHICAGO OFFICE . Marquette Bullding C.GEORGE KROGNESS, Advertising Represcntative. BRANCH OFFICES—527 Montgomery street, corner Clay, open until 9:30 o'clock. 387 Hayes street, open unti £:30 o'clock. 621 McAllister street, open untll 9:30 o'clock. 615 Larkin street, open untll 9:30 otlock. 1941 Mission street, open until i0 o'clock. 2891 Market street, corner Sixteenth, open until 9 o'clock. 2518 Mission street, open until 9 o'clock. 106 Eleventh street, open until 9 o'clock. 1505 Polk street, open untll 9:30 o'clock. NW. corner Twenty-second ana Kentucky streets, open until 9 o'clock. AMUSEMENTS he Wedding Day.” ‘Lady of Lions."” Ellis streets, Specialties. e Steeplechase. Races to-day. e Helmont, Violinist, this after- NO NAMES ADDED. ire The Call can announce that heretofore published. erday had the courage, even if any » go to the company of Jilson and 15 as c nce, but they have failed abjectly, the State hope they will con- The list is as follows: SENATORS. Bettman, San Francisco. Burnett, San Francisco. Hoey, San Franciscb. Laird, Shasta. Leavitt, Alameda. Shortridge, Santa Clara. Wolfe, San Francisco. ASSEMBLYMEN. Arnerich, Santa Clara. Barry, San Francisco. Beecher, Shasta. Cobb, San Francisco. Devoto, San Francisco. Dibble, San Francisco. Henry, San Francisco. JILSON, Siskiyou. Johnson, Sacramento. Kelley, Alameda. Kelsey, Santa Clara. Kenneally, San Francisco. Lundquist, San Francisco. McKeen, Alameda. Miller, San Francisco. Pierce, Yolo. Rickard, San Francisco. Eugene Sullivan, San Francisco. WRICHT, Alameda. These are the men who vote for Burns. The fact is A BROKEN DEADLOCK. worth remembering. HE deadlock heretofore maintained between the TPu‘xcc Court and the Police Department over the arrest and prosecution of the pool-sellers engaged in violating the municipal ordinances has been broken by the issuance of warrants by three of the Police Judges. The deadlock arose over the re- fusal of the Judges to issue warrants, and was pri- marily due to a disagreement between them as to which particular Judge should decide the cases. The matter has been settled by a division of the business, and it is presumed that the work of prosecution will now go on uninterruptedly. It ought to be said at this juncture, however, that the mere issuance of warrants and the arrest of the poolroom proprietors will not of themselves suppress the evil. If the Police Judges do not perform their duty when these violators of the law are brought be- fore them there will be a practical indorsement of the evil. A powerful influence is always exerted to perpetuate these dens of iniquity. They are money- making contrivances. Their proprietors are politi- cians, and in robbing the fool public they are sus- tained in a measure by the political classes. But there is no apparent reason why their pulls should be po- tent.in the Police Court. The Judges of that tribunal are elected to mete out justice without regard to the personal influence of culprits, and if they permit the pulls of the poolroom operators to enter their courts they ought to be made subjects of inquiry by the Grand Jury. The evil inflicted upon the community by the pool- room nuisance is greater than any that is exerted. by ordinary gambling devices. The poolrooms corrupt fiot the practiced gambler, but the youth and inno- cence of the town. They are deadfalls, into which the unwary are enticed and in which messenger-boys and women are encouraged to cultivate a spirit of gam- ling. ’ No mercy should be shown the owners of these dens, and in dealing with them the Police Judges may well disregard all mitigating circumstances. A man “who establishes a poolroom for the sale of chances on horse races goes deliberately into the business of cor- rupting the community, and there is but one way to deal with him, and that is with all the severity allowed by law. i We hope the Police Judges will sustain the Police Department in enforcing the anti-poolroom or- dinances. If they will follow up their warrants with genuine prosecutions, in which all the evidence against the poolrooms is brought out, they will earn the gratitude of the law-abiding portion of the com- munity and lay up capital which will benefit them hereafter. Nothing can reflect so much credit upon them as a genuine attempt to co-operate with the Po- lice Department in this matter. LET NO GUILTY MAN ESCAPE. T is a subject for sad reflection that a son of the l President who in his incorruptible maintenance of justice warned the officers of the law on a noted occasion to “let no guilty man escape” is now himself involved in a scandal the investigation of | which must be undertaken and carried out in the spirit of those memorable words. Justice, however, is no respecter of persons, neither does it turn aside for sentiment. It demands of the investigating commit- tee at Sacramento that no man guilty of violating the laws of the State be allowed to go unpunished. It was a maxim of old Rome, “The Judge is con- demned when the guilty are absolved.” So will it be | with the investigating committee if it go about its work in a formal and merely perfunctory way; if it show any sign of trying to shield any one, high .or { low, from the consequences of guilt; if it hesitate in | the path of duty; if it permit evasions or quibbles, or | technicalities, to be pleaded successfully as bars to the disclosure of truth. The members of the committee may as well under- stand that they as well as the accused Speaker are on ‘What they do will be noted throughout the nor will anything they may leave undone in trial. State; the performance of duty be overlooked. The people demand a comprehensive and thorough investigation of the offenses that have been disclosed by The Call and confirmed by evidence collected by other journals of the State. The Speaker of the Assembly stands| charged of gross violations of law, and prominent v candidates for high office are involved with him. The | issue is not one that can be huddled over. The evi- derice cannot be hushed up. There is no ground for compromise. The committee must condemn the guilty ? or be itself condemned. | There is no desire on the part of the people to per- secute any person. No injustice is aimed at-any legis- given out it appears that four steamers are, under this contract, to be built for the Chinese and Japanese ser- vice, to be of not less than 6000 tons and equal to those of foreign nations in every respect, their plans to be approwed by the Admiralty, and to be running respectively by October 1, 1899, January 1, September 1 and November 1, 1900. The steamers to be con- structed for the Australian line are to be not less than 5300 tons and also equal to those of foreign na- tions in every respect and subject to the approval of the Admiralty. All the ships are to be built in Ger- man yards, and German material is to be used as far 2s possible, all Admiralty requirements to be carried out in them, putting them into condition in which they can readily be utilized for war purposes when | necessary. The trade of the Pacific Ocean is well worth the high price the Germans are bidding for it, and the exercise of all the energies they are putting forth. Recently issued statistics from British sources esti- mate there is a foreign trade amounting to $205,000,- 000 in the Dutch East Indies, of $32,500,000 in the Philippines, of $25,000,000. in Hawaii, and of about $300,000,000 inr all the islands combined. The inter- | national trade of Australia, Tasmania and New Zea- land amounts to $680,000,000 annually. The foreign commerce of treaty ports of China and Hongkong is estimated at about $416,500,000; of Burmah and Brit- ish India, $1,000,000,000; of Japan, $200,000,000, and with Korea, Eastern Siberia, Siam, French Indo- China, Straits Settlements and the Malay Peninsula the foreign commerce of the Asiatic Pacific reaches the enormous total of $2,145,000,000. -As a great manufacturing and exporting nation the United States have-a large interest in the .Pacific Ocean trade. As a matter of fact we are the greatest of Pacific Ocean powers and ought to dominate its commerce. We will never do so, however, as long as we rely upon foreign ships to carry our goods for us and make no effort to build up a merchant marine of | our own. The Germans have set an example which we will follow if we are wise. There would be no waste of money in building up a large fleet of merchant steam- ers on the Pacific Ocean. From the activity of Euro- | pean nations in striving for the trade it will be seen there is little time to lose. The issue is urgent, and lator, candidate or lobbyist. There is no demand for a scapegoat. Indignation has been aroused by the disclosures made, but it has not affected the popular judgment. The people are capable of giving an im- partial consideration to the subject and will weigh the | evidence calmly, but they demand that all the facts be brought out fully and fairly. They wish the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. They look to the investigating committee to accomplish | that, and will be satisfied with nothing less. | | | | | | { | EXPANSION AND THE CONSTITUTION. HILIP THE GOOD of Burgundy, not long be- | p fore his son, Charles the Bold, had entailed | upon the Netherlands what Motley calls “the | curse of a standing army,” succeeded in strad- 1 dling an awkward dilemma. Having substituted his‘ elastic conscience for the ancient constitution and privileges of the country, he dispossessed his grand- daughter, Jacqueline, of three provinces, and estab-} lished at Bruges the Order of the Golden Fleece, | which represented at once the staple production of the Netherlands and the Christian h\_xmility of the twenty-five emperors, kings, princes and nobles who were the original or charter members. Af!eri having proclaimed our disinterestedness and our strict integrity in declaring war against Spain, if we should not only violate our official pledges but cast | aside our constitution like a wet rag in order to hold Asiatic dependencies and reduce nine millions of Filipinos to serfdom or graft them into American citizenship by military power, wé ought to perfect our resuscitation of the fifteenth century and by some invention vindicate the consistency of our theories, antagonized by our practice. If we desire to occupy the same relation toward the Spanish colonies that Spain occupied toward the Netherlands, doubtless we can found an order composed of at least twenty-five generals and politicians, who will fairly illustrate our imperialism on the one hand and our Americanism on | the other. Constitutional inhibition of course will not | stand in the way, and it might not be inappropriate to include a few of the journalists who have a “national | policy.” If these contradictory attitudes can be suc- | cessfully maintained we can spread the new hybrid | of American imperialism over other territory not oc- cupied or within the “sphere of influence” of Euro- pean powers until we can complacently announce that “as one gathereth eggs that are left, have we gath- ered all the earth.” An accurate but shallow view of the existing situa- tion would encourage the pessimists who deny the capacity of the American people for self-government and who predict a speedy disruption of the Union, through causes generated within itself. But our na- tional history contradicts and falsifies these gloomy anticipations. In every emergency, while the people | were slow and apparently apathetic at first, settled public opinion, expressed through the ballot-box, has | turned out right in the end. It took nearly five years | to secure a national guarantee for the abolition of slavery and the perpetuity of the Union, and much | longer before sectional discords were annihilated and political unity developed into a universal sentiment as well as an accomplished fact. In the elections of 1896 and 1808 hard sense conquered passion, aroused by real evils, and by theories that were captivating to restless and uninstructed minds. And now, in the press, in colleges and universities, by conservative statesmen and great thinkers, in the halls of legisla- tion and among the toiling masses, who . represent muscular and mechanical industry, the - reaction against the drift toward imperialism has begun, and, day by day, grows more intense and demonstrative. It is not likely to recede, and both. capital and. labor will probably realize that our own continent supplies abundant fields for enterprise, that there is no dis- content nor suppressed energy at home that-demands cutlets abroad, and that our great republic may safely retain its distinctive features, preserve its unity under the constitution, and, through educated and discip- lined citizenship, work out to its final results the most beneficent and the most logical plan that has ever been devised for the benefit of the. human race. THE TIME FOR ACTION. l a bill to promote our merchant marine were needed in addition to that furnished by the de- mand for ships to carry our increasing expart trade it would be found in an official report to the Treasury Bureau of Statistics of a recent subsidy agreemént by which the German Government proposes to pay more than a million dollars a year for a fifteen year term for the establishment of steamship lines between German ports and those of Japan, China, Australasia | | F any argument in favor of the prompt passage’ of and certain ports of Oceanica. _From a summary of the report which has been | ramento shotld get is a cathode ray.’ THE FLAG AND TRADE. should be dealt with at this session of Congress. URING our Revolutionary War the Continental D Congress made with France a commercial treaty offensive and defensive, pledging amity and comity and promising certain exclusive trade rights and a military-alliance, with the use of our ports and prize courts for France in maritime warfare. That treaty put our flag alongside that of the Bour- bons. It brought to us the French allies, who re- mained fighting by our side down to the final surren- der at Yorktown. Four years thereafter we organized our government under the present constitution and elected Washington President. We were not long in discovering that trade did not follow the flag nor the treaty. The people of England, from whom we had just separated ourselves, proved to be our best cus- tomers, and, in .violation of our solemn with France, trade overrode all diplomacy and re- mained in its natural channel. This continued in spite of our second war with Great Britain. It was demon- strated that neither prejudice nor friendship affected trade in the least. It followed its natural cleavage. Gratitude made no impression upon it, and it%was | equally insusceptible to passion and revenge. So it has continued to this day. ,Abuse of Great Britain has affected our politics and been a controlling factor in electing more than one President. The surest sesame to the sympathy and applause of an American audience has always been an impassioned appeal against Great Britain. Political campaigns have turned on the charge that “British gold” at- tempted to influence them. Yet trade has gone on with Great Britain entirely. uninfluenced by these fer- ments in politics and these appeals to national hatred. It is somewhat strange that with this example con- stantly before us there should be heard the foolish talk about trade following the flag! We are asked to expend hundreds of millions of dollars in “nailing the flag” to various parts of the world that trade may follow it. We are told that an annual expenditure of a hundred and fifty millions on an enlarged army and navy to nail the flag and keep it nailed on certain tropical islands is necessary to nail trade where the flag is nailed. Up to the close of the fiscal year ending June 30, | 1808, we had not nailed the flag anywhere, and had not turned our backs on the humanitarian professions we made when we declared war against Spain. Great Britain, on the other hand, had at that date been en- gaged for two centuries in nailing her flag in nu- 1 crous islands, continents and archipelagoes all over the world. She had it that moment nailed to a thousand battleships and a countless fleet of mer- chantmen. If trade refuse to follow anything but a flag Great Britain should have had seven-tenths of the world’s commerce. But Mr. Ritchie, president of the British Board of Trade, says that while the imports of Great Britain had increased to $850,000,000 over her exports, the latter had declined. Since 1891 the ex- ports of France had increased 24 per cent, with her flag nailed to very few places. The exports of Ger- many, Holland and Belgium had grown 127 per cent, with no new flag-nailing at all, and very few old jobs of that kind. The exports of the United States had at the same time increased 18 peér cent, while those of Great Britain had decreased 5 per cent. In our ex- port relations to Great Britain for that period we had therefore gained on her 23 per cent, had overtaken and passed her, and had seen her countermarch and increase the distance between .s. All this was done without the sacrifice of a life to the ambition to nail the flag anywhere. No fever-smitten man had closed .his eyes for the last time under a vertical sun to ex- tend the trade of his country by lifting the flag in strange-regions. No penny of extra taxation had been laid on American labor. . Trade, following its natural path, at its normal pace, blind to all flags and thrilled by no standard, saluting no battle banner, asking no battleships to convoy it and no army to protect it, had gone on and leit Great Britain so far in the rear that she will not overtake us unless we lose our senses and go into flag-nailing at the expense of our legitimate business. There is about as much connection between the flag and trade as there is between chewing gum and the precession -of the equinoxes. Ulysses Grant Jr. should remember that his father obtained the honors of his country by deserving them, and:not by putting money where it would do the least good. When the Grant managers started in with money to burn, they never dreamed that the smell of the smoke would raise such a stench in the State. If Eagan gets his deserts he will be drummed out of the commissary department by the hind leg of an army mule. RSEVES S The first thing the investigating committee at Sac- treaty | JANUARY 18, 1899. {RUIN"STARES MANY PEOPLE IN THE FACE The Death Blow to the Cigar Trade. INTERNAL REVENUE LAW SMALL MANUFACTURERS CAN- "NOT GET ANY TOBACCO. A Ruling That Appears to Have Been Made in the Interests of Those Who Would Monopolize. The recent ruling of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, by which dealers in tobacco are prohibited from selling the article in broken packages or small quan- titles, promises to- make lots of trouble for those who are unable to purchase in original packages. In fact, it now appears that it is “all up” with the hundreds of small manufacturers of cigars and several thousands of cigar-makers who have di- rectly or indirectly been making a fair living under the old system. In times past small manufacturers of cigars in this city purchased their material from the to- bacco dealers in such quantities as the trade demanded and their means permit- ted. In this way they were able to get a few pounds at a time, give work to one, two or even half a dozen cigar-makers, make their sales and buy more for anoth- er lot. The rullng of the Commissioner the other day made this impossible, the or- der being that tobacco must be sold by the dealers in the original packages. As these packages, cases and bundles cost from $200 to $600 and several different kinds are sometimes necessary to effect desired blends capital amounting some- times to several thousand dollors is re- Quired. As may be expected the small makers in this city were greatly alarmed and at once took such means as lay in their power to call the attention of the Com- missioner to the injustice done them and the disastrous resuits that would follow. The officers of the Chamber of Commerce, the City and State Boards of Trade, the Manufacturers’ and Pro- ducers’ and Merchants’' associations at once became interested, for they had rea- lized that to throw 2000 cigar-makers out of employment would be to drag three times that number of persons dependent upon that business down to the lowest stages of poverty. The thought of the community having to provide for the dis- tress of such a number was so appalling that the commercial people at once placed themselves in communication with the powers that be at Washington to see if the unjust ruling could not be modified. An examination of the statutes convinced them that there was some hope, as shown by the following dispatch that was sent last Saturday by the presidents of the bodies mentioned: SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 14, 1899. To the Honorable Commissioner of Internal Revenue, Washington, D. C.—Sir: Treasury decision No. 20,872, prohibiting the sale of leaf tobacco in quantities less than a bale, case, etc., seems to be in conflict with the follow- ing language contained in subdivision 6 of section 3244, Revised Statutes: *‘Provided it shall bt lawful for any licensed manufacturer of cigars to purchase leaf to- bacco of any licensed dealer or othéer manu- facturer .in quantities less than the originul packages for use in his own manufactory ex- clustvely.” In considering the matter your attention had probably not been directed to this clear and unambiguous statutory provision, and conse- quently it must have been overlooked. Would you please re-investigate the question as speed- ily as possible, and in the meantime order a suspension of proceedings on that decision? We call your attention to the fact that the remaining in force of your ruling will virtu- ally destroy the clgar manufacturing industry in this State, and entail great distress upon thousands of employes and their families. Their hopes were dashed to the earth yesterday by the receipt of a telegram from headquarters which shows that the ruling must have been made in the inter- ests of the wealthy manufacturers of cigars, who in the past have done all in their power to monopolize the cigar busi- ness. Ths is the dispatch: Mr. Hugh Craig, President Chamber of Com- | merce, San Francisco, January 16, 1889: Section 69 of the act of August 25, 184, repeals in part subdlvision 6, section 8244. Increased rates of tax on tobacco products enforces a more care- ful supervision over the sale and disposition of leaf tobacco. Treasury decisions 20,260 and 20,39 afford manufacturers ample opportunity to purchase from other manufacturers, under special permit authorizing sale, small ‘quanti- ties of unstemmed, stemmed, resweated or booked leaf tobacco. G. W. WILSON, Acting Commissioner. The clause to the effect that the small manufacturers may secure all the tobacco they want from the large manufacturers might as well never have been inserted, for it is not at all likely that the larger makers of cigars will furnish the smaller makers with the material with which to compete for trade in the open market. The former cannot be compelled to sell, and there is nothing for the unfortunates to do but close up shop, unless the entire business communities of this and every city in the Unfon unite in a general de- mand for the repeal of the Commission- er's unfair ruling. It is stated that to throw the small cigar-makers of United States out of employment would cause more distress than has been experi- enced for years and extend over more territory. AROUND THE CORRIDORS. C. R. Scott of Portland is at the Occi- dental. P. L. Young of Humboldt is a guest at the Grand. J. K. Iverson of Salinas City is staying at the Grand. ' H. S. Richards of San Diego is a guest at the Palace. Dr. C. R. Burr, U. 8. N, is a guest at the Occidental. Ben Mock, a prominent citizen of Han- ford, is at the Lick. G. F. Payne of British Columbia is a guest at the California. R. D. Crittenden, a miner ‘Wrangel, Alaska, Is at the Lick. Ex-Assemblyman T. A. Rice of El Rio, Ventura County. is at the Palace. ‘Willlam C. Geiger and Donald McMulta, U. 8. A; are registered at the Palace. Colonel F. M. Munger, retired, U. S. A., of Augusta, Me., accompanied by his wife, is at the California. Mrs. E. Goodwin, Mrs. Van Nostrand and A. S. Goodwin of Greater New York arrived at the Occldental yesterday. —_————— CALIFORNIANS IN NEW YORK. NEW YORK, Jan. 17.—E. D, Scribner of San Francisco is at the Holland. George H. Davis of San Francisco is at the Im- perial. Mrs. M. Friedman of San Fran- from and wife of San Diego are at the Fifth Avenue. —_———— Clear Weather. Professor Hammon said yesterday after- noon that everything pointed to clear weather for to-day. The wind—and there was very little of it—was nearly dead T A A north all afternoon. The temperature h: risen somewhat and the m%w ‘w:g n%%i The Hearst Libel Case, melting so much on the mountains as it was Monday. There were light showers yesterday at ' Fresno and north of that point. Dlace did a quarter of an inch fall. The | would positively render it ' the | cisco is at the Empire. Galusha R. Grow Compan; Claus Spreckels againat W, R, At no the Examiner, bu? He nti 'l‘lm*ie‘ :‘t‘ :.‘ aturday. e e continued warm weather is an excellent condition to insure good crops, as t‘)_:e ground is drying very slowly and the molsture is consequently retained long enough to accomplish the best results. i T MINERVA’S INSTALLATION. New Officers Inducted Into Office in the Presence of a Large Assemblage. The officers of Minerva Parlor, Native Daughters of the Golden West, were in- stalled on last Monday night in the pres- ence of more than two hundred persons in the banquet hall of the Native Sons’ building by District Deputy Grand Pres- ident Mrs. Theodore Lundstedt, a.sslsged’ by Grand Marshal Mrs. Lena Bee Mllls} and the following acting grand omcers:. Miss C. Creigh, past grand president; Miss Fenstermacher, first vice grand pres- ident, and Miss Thierbach, grand secre- tay. The officers for the current term are: Mrs. Margaret Gauselle, past presi- dent; Missy Kate Curran, president: Miss | Lucy Roche, first vice president; Mrs. M. | Blakeley, second vice president; Miss M. Creigh, 'third vice president; Miss M. Wynne, financial secretary; Miss Annie L. Donaldson, recordingsecretary; Miss Mary | Dempsey, treasurer; Mrs. M. Shade, mar- | shal; Miss Minnie 'Wall, inside sentinel; Miss M. Sericano, outside sentinel; Mrs. | M. Gordon, Miss Ida Benton and Miss Le | na Wilson, trustees; Miss Lena Wall, or-| ganist. The work of installation was performed with that degree of perfection which has gained the installing officer an enviable reputation in that line. After the officers had been Inducted into office there was presented for the entertainment of those assembled a short programme of musical and literary numbers, after which there was dancing until midnight. DR. O’BRIEN RETURNS TO HIS CIVIL DUTIES | THE GALLANT SURGEON OF THE FIRST AT HIS POST. Resumes the Position of Health Offi- cer After Meritorious Service at Manila—Dr. Gallwey’s Self-Sacrifice. Dr. A. P. O'Brien will resume his duties | as Health Officer of this city this morn- ing after an absence of eight months. | When President McKinley called for volunteers last spring Dr. O'Brien was | among the first to respond, sacrificing | much for his country from a material ONE VEAR'S RECORD OF ~ PROGRESS SRR Views of Mr. Craig on Current Events. THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE INSTRUCTIVE SUGGESTIONS AT ITS YEARLY MEETING. The Retiring President Believes the Semi-Centennial Exposition Will Be a Grand Event. The annual meeting of the trustees of the Chamber of Commerce was held yes- terday, at which the old board of officers retired and the new trustees whose names were published at the election took their seats. E. Scott was re-elected by the board to the position he has filled so well for the past year or more. W. M. Bunker stated that he is about to visit Siberia over the projected line of the great Siberian rail , and he was elect- ed as a special commissioner to repre- sent the chamber. The retiring president, Hugh Craig, presented - a long report showing the work of the chamber during the past year and the general condition of the city and State. ' Special mention was made of the condition of the crops of the present year and those of the past two seasons. Also the amount of exports of cereals to all parts of the point of view. He went to Manila last | May and rendered distinguished service, | for which he has been praised by the | highest authorities. Notable among his | humanitarian acts was his work in the | smallpox hospital. He braved the dan- gers of the dread disease, and upon his assumption of control the list of fa-| talities commenced to grow rapidly less. This was but one of his achievements in | the far away Philippines. | Upon his arrival here he applied to the department at Washington for his dis- | charge. Contrary to expectations an im mediate answer was received to the effect | that a leave of absence would be granted | him until February 15, at which time he | would be honorably discharged. Few men | have been granted discharges under these | conditions, and it is believed the heads of | the army were aware of the distinguished | service rendered by Dr. O'Brien, hence their action upon his application. During his absence his office has ‘been | ably filled by Dr. John Gallwey. He as-| sumed the duties ei~ht months ago this | morning, and has been unremitting in his attentions to the demands of the office | ever since. He accepted the office upon the condition that the salary which at- | taches, $250 a month, should go to the| family of the absent officer. At times the | demands of his own extensive practice and | the other duties he had assumed seemed more than he could master, but he ful-| filled all his obligations to his patients | and to the l;;ubuc, and proved his loyalty | to his friend. BETROTHED TO A NOTED BELLE George W. Boy& to- Wed Miss Myra C. Noyes of Washington, D. C. An interesting ~engagement that has| just been made public and which will | shortly be followed by a magnificent | Eastern weddfng is that of George W.| Boyd, general passenger agent of; the | Pennsylvania Railroad, and Miss a | Noyes, daughter of Crosby C. N owner ‘and editor of the Star of Washing~ | ton, D. C., and sister of Mrs. Frederic'W. | Hale of Oakland. | Miss Noyes spent last winter in Cali- fornia, the guest of her sister, Mrs. Hale. The young lady, who is one of the most popuiar belles in the Capital city, is a dainty, petite demi-blonde, talented and affable. Mr. Boyd is a gentleman of con- siderable merit and an exceptionally clev- er rallroad man. 3 Miss Zelda Lewis and Michaelis Glaser, whose engagement has been announce will receive on Sunday, January 22, be- | tween the hours of 2 and 5, at 919 McAl- lister street. — e WAS ILLEGALLY IMPRISONED. Supreme Justices Mak: an Important Decision on Homestead Law. The Justices of the Supreme Court have given the Judge of the Superior Court of Sonoma County some interesting law to ponder upon. The case in which this in- formation was given was that of John J. Silvia, who made application for a writ | of habeas corpus. A divorce case is pend- ing in Santa Rosa between Silvia and his wife, and the Judge ordered the hus- band to give the wife $205 alimony and counsel fees. Silvia failed to obey the order, claiming that he had no money, whereupon the Judge insisted that the money could be raised by the husband selling or putting a mortgage upon home- steaded land that he held. Upon the ad- vice of his attorney Silvia declined to do 80, and he was adJudgcd to be guilty of | contempt of court and to be imprisoned | in the County Jail until he complied with | the order. A petition for a writ of habeas corpus followed, which was de- | cided by the court in _bank ordering Sil- via’'s release, Justice McFarland dissent- ing. The court says: “In this case the first order of imprison- ment did contain a recital that the peti- tioner was able to pay the alimony in question, but upon a subsequent proceed- ing in habeas corpus before the same | court, in which his ability to pay was the | principal question to be determined, the | order remanding him, and under which he is now held, falls to show that he is | able to pay without selling or incumber- ing his homestead, and the question is presented whether a man can be com- pelled by duress of imprisonment to sell or incumber the homestead which under the constitution and laws of the State is exempt from forced sale except in certain enumerated cases, of which pay- ment of temporary alimony is not one. “In our opinion this cannot be done. The grlsoner having no means aside from_ his homestead in a legal sense has not the ability to pay the alimony, and his continued imprisonment is unlawful. It is ordered that he be discharged from custody.” —_————— BRIDGE CONTRACTS LET. | Directors of the Valley Railway Ap- prove Two Important Contracts in the San Joaquin Valley. The board of directors of the San Fran- cisco and San Joaquin Valley Railway at | their regular meeting yesterday approved | the letting of the contracts for the draw- | bridges and the plers for the same to be | | built across the San Joaquin, Middle and Old rivers. The contract for the bridges was let to the Keystone Bridge K of Pittsburg, Pa., and the hu!l’r‘l. ing of the piers to the Thompson Bridge | Company of this city. The cost of the br_l%g) will be about $25000 and the plers | $15,000. The bridge across the San Joa- qfin River will be 233 feet long, that | across Middle River 202 feot, with a | sixty-foot upgmnrh span, and that acroas Old River 202 feet, with a forty-foot ap- proach span. Judge Mogan yesterday had aghin to | postpone hik decleion in the libel sase of | and weather_ bure globe. The business of the banks, he said, is entirely Of the class known as farm borrowers the report says: This class of debtors during 1897 paid interest equal to the amount accruing in one and half years, thereby clearing up arrearage great’ degree. In 1593 they; as a class, h their own, some localities wiping out old_ bal- , while others ran behind again. Small borrowers are paying interest promptly rule. veral other matters of interest Mr. views were expressed as follows: Trans-Pacific Cable—We may confidently ex- pect a movement toward the c« this much-d s much older States is very as'a the vear The President of the United xious that this shall be ac- compiished, to Hawali, Immediate Nicaragua Canal—It would appear at t writing as if the long-desired passage-way between the Atlantic and Pacific for the pro- tection of the commerce of the two coasts of the United States is now fairly within reach. Legislation in favor of the Immediate con- struetion ‘of the canal should be well forward, it not an accomplished fact, before the Fifty~ fitth Congress expires on March 4. Cable to the Farallones—Every effort shos e made to securing this most desirable the convenience of our shipp: au. The Secretary of Agri- culture has favorably reported as to cost and practicability, and our delegation at Washing- ton is alive to the necess Mr. Craig made special reference to the manufactures of fron, the success of this city in supplying the army during the late war, pure food laws, raiiroad trans- portation, prompt delivery of ocean ails, the Philadelphia museum, the Pre- dio 'Reservation, conservation of water and the preservation of the forests of the State and current affairs in general. Of the semi-centennial exposition of the State he sald: In the year 1900 we will have reached the semi-centénnial anniversary of statehood. Cali- fornia is the leading State in the Pacific ter- ritory. of the United States. A celebration of California’s fittleth anniversary will be heart- y cdoncurred in by other States and Terri- toriés lying wwst of the Missourl River. The occasion is one which should be accentuated in a fitting manner. The Government of the United States has, up to the present time, ap- propriated the sum of $5,600,000 in aid of ex- positions of the material resources of the TUnited States and of the various sections of the country. The most recent instance of its munificence In this regard relates to the Trans- Mississippl Exposition, just A grand exposition of the resc Pacific Coast, to be known as the Pacific Ocean Exposition, £hould be held In San Franciseo, and on. its behalf. Government aid should be eolicited, while the city and the State should make liberal appropriations on its behalf. b quisition for Cal. glace fruit 50c per Ib at Townsends.* _————— Special information supplied daily to business houses and public men by the Press Clipping Bureau (Allen's). 510 Mont- gomery street. Telephone Main 1042 ¢ PR — With a View to the Future. The provident mother in Paris: “Est-ce qu'il sera riche?” ot «Alors fats-tof ecrire beaucoup de lettres —C'est le pain de nos vieux jours!"—Town Topics. o R “Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup” Has been used over fitty ~ears by millions ot mothers for their children while Teething with perfect success. It soothes the child, softens the gums, allays Pain, cures Wind Colic, reg- ulates the Bowels and is the best remedy for Diarrhoeas, - whether arising from teething or other causes. For sale by Druggists in every part of the world. Be sure and ask for Mre. Winslow's Soothing Syrup. 25c a botile. —_—————————— HOTEL DEL CORONADO—Take advantaga of the round-trip tickets. Now only 38 by steamship, including fifteen days' board at hotel; longer stay $250 per day. Apply at 4 New Montgomery street, San Francisco. ACKER'S + DYSPEPSIA TABLETS - ARE £0ld on a positive guarantee. Cures heartburn, Taising of the food, distress after eating or any form .ot dysgepsia. Onme little tablet gives im- medlate relief. At Owl Drug Co. NEGLECT of the halr brings baldness. Use PARKER'S HATR BATSAM and save your hair. HINDERCORNS) the best cure 1or corns. 15 »:x Farmer's Boy—Pop, the corn husks in this field are very thick. Old Farmer—That means we're going to have a hard winter. Boy—But the corn husks in that other field are very thin. Farmer—Hum! I. gat that seed from th’ Agricultural Bureau at Washington, an' 1 _shouldn’t wonder if it was fool enough to go by the Government Weather Bureau.—New York Weekly. ~ ANNUAL CLEARANCE SALE GUMP’S ART STORE IS NOW ON. 20% Discount on every article. 118 Geary Street.