The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, April 4, 1899, Page 6

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, TUESDAY, APRIL 4, 1899. JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Proprietor. ions to W. S. LEAKE, Manager. ;Cnucu'los OFFICE ......Market and Third Sts., S. F. | Telephone Main 1865. EDITORIAL ,ROOMS..........2IT to 291 Stevenson Street | A Telephone Main 1874. Address All Communic: PRESSURE OF A CZAR. R. C. P. HUNTINGTON displays bravado to a degree unequaled by any other Ameri- can capitalist. He has the courage not merely: of his convictions, but of his interests. He has ar- rived in San Francisco with his vestibule train and with his retinue of ten servants, and has instantly assumed a tone of arrogance that no conqueror of ancient times or Oriental despot of the present cen- tury could have excelled. He stigmatizes the people DELIVERED BY CARRIERS, 15 CENTS PER WEEK. Eingle Copies, 5 cents. Terms by Mail, Including Postage: DAILY CALL (including Sunday Lall), one year. DAILY CALL (including DAILY CALL tincluding Sunday Call), DAILY CALL—By Single Month. BUNDAY CALL One Yea WEEKLY CALL. One Year. All postmasters are authoriz Sample copies will be forwarded when requested. OAKLAND OFFICE .908 Broadway NEW YORK OFFICE.... Roonr 1SS, World Building DAVID ALLEN, Advertising Representative. WASHINGTON (D. C.) OFFICE.........Wellington Hotel C. C. CARLTON, Correspondent. CHICAGO OFFICE. e . ..Marquette Bullding C.GEORGE KROGNESS, Advertising Representative. BRANCH OFFICES—527 Montgomery street, corner Clay, open until 9:30 o'clock. 387 Hayes street, open until 930 o'clock. 621 McAllister street, open untll 9:30 o'clock. 615 Lark!n street, open until 9:30 o'clock. 1941 Mission street, open untll 10 o'clock. 2291 Market street, corner Sixteenth, open until 9 o'clock. 2518 Mission street, open untll'9 o'clock. 106 Eleventh street, open until 9 o'clock. 1505 Polk street, open until 9:30 o'clock. NW. corner Twenty-second anq Kentucky streets. open until 9 o'clock. AMUSEMENTS, ra—'‘Mar . Zoo and Free Theater—Vaudeville every afternodn er Mason and Ellis streets, Specialties. r — lan Maclaren, Wednesday evening, COMPETITION IN LIGHTING. ¢ meeting of the Supervisors’ Street Com- | ursday it was decided in the near a plan for fostering competi- streets, public buildings, stores and ty. the city. Dr. Perrault introduced a reso- of the board a few weeks ago for placing all competitive companies f equality. It grants every lighting privilege of erecting poles outside s and .enacts that all wires within the be placed underground forthwith. ittee decided to request representa- | " Association to meet it in joint liscussion of the subject, and such ill be held to-morrow afternoon at 2 he be generally known, but it is a fact | hat no franchise is necessary for the i operation in this city of lighting constitution lays down the proce ter: Section 19 of article XI reads | | | | ss in In any city where there are no public works | ¥ 1 and controlled by the municipality for sup- | with water or artificial light any | any company, duly incorporated for | under and by authority of the laws under ths direction of the Super- | s, or other officer in control there- | nd under such general regulations as the mu- ty may prescribe for damages and indem- age have the privilege of using the | and thoroughfares thereof, and of lay- ing down pipes and conduits therein and connections | with, so far as may be necessary for introduc- | and supplying such city and its inhabitants h gaslight or other illuminating light, or water for domestic and all other pur- | upon the condition that the municipal govern- | hall have the right to regulate the charges or Perrault’s resolution is the general reg- | ulation which the sbove section declares shall be | prescribed by the municipal authorities. But whether | it is necessary or not is an open question. Judge | Seawell has decided that under this provision of the | organic law no restriction can be placed upon com- | petitive lighting companies by the Supervisors. Un- | doubtedly if the board should fail to prescribe the | regulations referred to competing concerns could goi on and prescribe them for themselves. No Board | ci Supervisors or Common Council would have the | power to defeat competition in lighting by failing | to act. | These things are interesting in view of the recent | organization in this city of an independent electric | light company. That concern will have nomdifficulty whatever in introducing a competitive plant. We doubt whether, under a fair construction of section} 19, the Board of Supervisors could forbid the erec- | tion of poles so long as poles are used for any electric | wires, telegraph or telephone. The purpose of the | constitution is to reduce lighting to a competitive | basis, and we do not believe that process can be pre- | vented by stifling competition as has been done here- | tofore. Some of the soldiers who were brought back from | Honolulu to be discharged and are still here make what appears to be a reasonable complaint. They | say they were denied travel pay on the ground that | Honolulu is in foreign territory, and are denied the .extra pay allowed for service in foreign territory on the ground that Honolulu is as thoroughly do- mestic as Milpitas. Uncle Sam ought not to set up a surething game like this. It was hardly necessary for a Coroner to hold an | inquest over a man at Antioch who had died after liv- : ing ninety-three years. The suspicion of old age wasi so well founded that it required no official confirma-| tion. Easter Sunday in many parts of the East was; marked by a blizzard of more than ordinary severity, and the bonnet of the day will have to go over for a month and make its debut at the May day picnics. Vanderbilt has a right to give his son $10,000,000, of course, but there are many worthy American fathers who decline to bestow such wedding gifts, and yet the young people get along all right. South Dakota can be proud of its soldiers living and its soldiers dead. No finer body of men went | through this city on the way to war, and none more valiantly ever met the foe. & 2 Los Angeles has something the matter with its musical ear. Not even for the sake of boosting art by the display of good clothes would it attend the opera. There is no doubt of the right of William Waldorf Astor to be a citizen of England if he desires, and if there is to be objection let it come from the other side. There is much sympathy felt for Brandes, but his W | well. | does come, and whoever can take in his sail during of the State who resisted and defeated his proposal to fund the Central Pacific debt for a hundred years, at the rate of 2 per cent per annum, 2s “turbulent,” and defiantly announces in relation to the debt itself that “it is from the patrons of the road, largely Cali- fornians, that the money must come, as the road has no other means of earning it.” The fact was antici- pated, but not that it would be presented in the form of an edict or a ukase. The funding bill, as originally proposed, was beaten not by a small faction, but by the almost unanimous action of the people of California. There was a strong desire, which still exists, for peace and | co-operation with the railroad, if consistent with the preservation of our liberty and our independence, and but for the treacheries of the last campaign and of the closed legislative session an era of harmony might have been already inaugurated. There is still, as there has always been among citizens who repre- sent industry, enterprise and capital, no inclination to prolong the strife that unquestionably does play into the hands of demagogues. But the dogmatism and the dictatorial expressions of Mr. Huntington appear to indicate that he no longer recognizes the right of the inhabitants of California even to call their souls their own. It is a pity that this venerable railroad capitalist, who has impressed his individuality upon every en- terprise with which he is connected, should abso- lutely fail in ordinary respect for his fellow citizens and should seriously regard himself as the Czar of California, if not of the Union. It may be true that the patrons of the Central Pacific will have to pay its debt, but it is also true that the collateral proper- ties and the private fortunes that the railroad people have extracted from the toil and sweat of our citizens, and that, too, by diversions of revenue and appro- priations of capital and income that would not be sanctioned in any honest court of equity, would cover at least six or eight times its amount. It is barely possible, though not probable, that this coun- try may drift into imperialism, and that Mr. Hunt- ington and those who act with him may acquire in | law the position they now usurp in fact. But unless | this deplorable transiormation of our institutions oc- curs the time is near at hand when effective ways and means of resisting railroad exactions and railroad tyranny will be devised. The successors of Mr. Huntington at least are likely to pay some attention to the voices of American communities. THE SYNDICATE MANIA. HILE the press, the statesmen of the country and, to a large extent, the general public have been more clamorous and moré em- | phatic than ever in denouncing trusts and condemn- ing their operations, the creation of such combina- tions has been carried forward to an extent unparal- leled in any other age or in any other land. The en- terprises of Hooley and other promoters in Great Britain are insignificant in comparison with what has been accomplished here. The center of activity in the movement has been of course in New York, but most of the combina- tions have been organized under the lax laws of | New Jersey and are nominally corporations of that | State. It is stated that in 1898 the companies author- ized there and in West Virginia aggregated a capi- talization of only a little less than one thousand mil- lions of dollars; and the Philadelphia Manufacturer says the indications are that this year the New Jersey | authorities will authorize corporations or syndicates whose shares will at par value aggregate six times that enormous sum. In fact, the organization of syndicates, or trusts, to control the manufacturing industries of the country has become a mania among Eastern capitalists, and many of the more conservative journals of that sec- tion of the country believe it has been carried too far. The fear is that the shares of many of these great combinations have been sold at speculative prices owing to the large amount of idle money in the financial centers, and that sooner or later there will come a collapse which will be injurious not only to the speculators but to the country at large. ,From a compilation of the opinions of the financial and industrial press on the subject recently made by the Literary Digest it appears there has been no lack of words of warning to the public. The Finan- cial Chronicle is quoted as noting that in January and, February of this year there were definitely formed new combinations having an aggregate capi- tal of $1,106,300,000, and saying: “When the end will come no man knows definitely, but that it will come everybody of any foresight realizes perfectly He knows, too, what the end will be when it the next few months will be a‘wise mariner.” Bradstreet stated several weeks ago: “It would seem that in a good many cases the common stocks represent more or less water. For the time being, however, the financial public seems to be infatuated with the movement, and though even a cursory ex- amination of the situation does not fail to develop the fact that it possesses elements of weakness, there is nothing to negative the presumption that, like everything of the kind, it must run its course.” It is to be regretted that this mania for speculation in syndicate stocks has broken out among the capi- talists of the East just at a time when the country has every natural prospect of an era of unexampled pros- perity. If the men of the East would use their sur- plus capital in exploiting and developing the vast rich regions of the West and South they would confer an immense benefit upon the country and reap a rich profit for themselves. Moreover their ventures, if made with ordinary sagacity, would be safe from risks of disaster. There would be none of that dan- ger which thoughtiul men now see impending over ‘Wall street and its speculators. * Fortunately, the appetite for battle news, whetted by the Philippine campaign, does not suffer from famine during the lull in Asia. The Chicago cam- paign keeps up the supply of gory news, with a larger percentage of fatalities than in the Philippines. The Carter Harrison faction is doing most of the benevolent assimilation. There are disadvantages attached to fame. Corbett and his wife cannot have a quiet little family row lawyer has the pleasure and duty of feeling it all. - Lwithout news of it being flashed across the continent. | [ | | | labor and wages. THE LAW AND THE GAMBLERS. HEN the Supervisors in response to the de- \/\/ mand of the public enacted the ordinance for- bidding gambling at Ingleside, the track man- agers, the poolsellers and their touts were loud in their boasting of a pull with the courts that would enable them to defy the law. They are less boastful now. Their pull has been found wanting. The courts have upheld the law. The opinion delivered by Judge Murasky in dis- solving the injunction issued to restrain the police from entering the racetrack, and which was pub- lished in The Call on Sunday, merits more than a passing notice. It is a clear exposition of the law governing the point in controversy and emphatically upholds the right of the police to enter the grounds of the racecourse and arrest law-breakers who may be found there. . After pointing out that the plaintiffs in the case (the gamblers) assert,their innocence and allege that the action of the defendants (the police) is damag- ing to their business; while the defendants allege that the plaintiffs are wrongdoers and violators of the law, Judge Murasky said: ‘Where greater injury will be inflicted upon plaint- iff than upon the defendant by the dissolution of an injunction pendente lite, the injunction should be maintained until the final hearing. Where the con- | trary result will occur the injunction should be dis- solved. If the plaintiff’s allegations are true it will suffer much loss, unless defendants are restrained, and defendants wiil suffer none by the injunction. If, however, the allegation of defendants is true; that plaintiff is a law-breaker, then the injury to the municipglity from the continuance of the injunction would be greater than any that can be compensated by money, and therefore greater than, any the plaintiff can suffer. That statement of the law is in accord with reason and justice. The injury that' may be done to the gamblers by the police is as nothing in comparison with the wrong done to the community by the pool- sellers. As the Judge well said, the latter injury would be “greater than any that can be compen- sated by money.” The injunction therefore was dis- solved. 5, | Commenting upon the decision, Attorney McEner- | ney is quoted as saying he believed the de_cision of | Judge Murasky ended the controversy. As the right | of the club to seek relief in a court of equity rested | solely, according to the opinion of the court, upon a | question of fact, which was easily established in favor of the police, there is no escape for the club under the anti-pool ordinance, and it must either refrain | from further selling or suffer the consequences. | There can be little or no doubt that this opinion | will prove correct. Racing, poolselling and track | gambling of the kind that have been so pernicious | at Ingleside have been driven from the great cities | of the East, and it is not to be supposed that Cali fornia law is less effective than that of her sister | States. l nese Minister at Washington and the Chinese ! Consul at Honolulu is to the effect that a new treaty with China is made necessary by our appear- | ance in Hawaii and the Philippines, and that therein | the strict exclusion features of our present treaty will | be softened and relaxed. During the discussion o Hawaiian annexation The Call declared that this | policy would be inevitable if we acquired tropical | possessions with the expectation of getting commer- cial value out of them. White men cannot work in the plantations of Hawaif. The climate bars them out. Without coolie labor there, the production of | the islands will decline to the zero where it stood | when reciprocity made sugar of sufficient value to | warrant the importation of Asiatic coolie labor. | When annexation occurred it was given out that ourl Chinese exclusion laws would be extended and our | non-contract and other labor laws would speedily | follow, so that equality in the kind and cost of labor | would exist between the islands and the continent. ,‘ It is evident that this policy collides with the com- i mercial expectations which induced annexation, and that it is withdrawn and the planters are to have lib- 1 eral treatment in respect to their labor supply, so as | to avoid that lack of laborers which would first cause | a substantial increase in wages, to the lowering of profits, and finally the disappearance of a consequen- tial surplus of production. | Our practical homogeneity of climate and physical | conditions has heretofore simplified the problem of There has been a fair equality of hours, rights and wages in all parts of the United States. As we enter the tropics this condition ceases. Our people demand commercial advantages to offset the cost of conquest and government. Commerce cannot be without the surplus productions of labor. Therefore tropical commerce depends upon that form of labor suited to the climate, which must be in some | way servile. Our home labor laws cannot apply to | servile labor, for with their application its servility | ceases and without servility its usefulness and profit to the employer cease. These facts give color to the report of a new treaty with China, which will be a novelty because it will continue restriction as to our continental possessions, but relax it on our newly acquired islands. Therein will first appear the inequality of law required by in- equality of physical conditions, and it will be official ! notice served on American labor that it has no place | in the tropics, Other departures from our domestic system will of necessity occur in quick succession. It is evident now that the influence of the Hawai- ian planters put the code of laws for those islands to sleep on the files of the last Congress. They de- sire to entren¢h coolie labor in a new Chinese treaty, which can be easier ratified by the Senate than a law to secure the same end can pass both homses of Con- gress. The victory so far is distinctly with those who | want cheap labor. They refuse to submit to equality of law and wages. In the logical development of the issue their competition with the products of our do- mestic labor will finally cause its employers to clamor for equality. As the employers in our tropics hold the whip hand and refuse to permit their labor and wages to be leveled up, will not the final result be that our domestic labor and wages will be leveled down? In popular government inequality is odious and finally yields, as slavery did to freedom, which be- came the universal law of the republic. Now there is a change of ideals. That was an age of senti- ment; this is one of commercialism, and. will its spirit permit a higher level of labor and wages in.the tem- perate than in the torrid zone? PO0PO0POPO0PO0PO0P0POPOPOPOSOSO QO@O@B @020 9090409000¢ OOOQ:;@O@O@O $0P0 S0P 0P0POPOP 0POPO POPOPOPOP0 POS0VO0POP0P0H0P0H0G [ | RELAXING EXCLUSION. ’ T is reported that communication between the Chi 2ReReRNeN e RN e RN+ R e NeRNLeBeNIRNIReZ RN eRIN NG W e N e RNy There are reasons for believing the insurrection in? the Philippines has been virtually broken, but now a new strife appears between the Turks and the Bul- garians, and the war chorus continues to hold the stage. kel e Huntington's statement that the Southern Pacific Company had nothing to do with the Senatorial con- test at Sacramento imposes upon Herrin the duty of explaining what he was doing there. S H®090£0©0460 & 0$0H0&0909090H0 ©0H0P0090 & 00000@000@000@2 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE ATHERTON Call. imbecilit -, terview to the press. to make regarding it. terest as Mrs. Atherton. none of her books. a novel. tions and several other things. as I say, T have never read one. and nothing else. notes. Mrs. Atherton says: ination.” memory in this respect. not been made by her. and a few other matters of that sort. me were exactly what she said. correspondence with a lady public. The fact is that Mrs. might have been. to be my first experience. signature. Very truly, Some three or four weeks ago an interview with Gertrude Ather- ton was obtained by the representative of a reputable Eastern syndi- cate ‘and ‘'sold to the leading papers of the United States, including The For some reason, known only to herself, the authoress repudi- ated parts of this interview and said it was garbled and attributed to her ideas and words which she had never utterel. afternoon paper published in this city gave this repudiation to the pub- e, plecing it out with sentences that betrayed ts own spitefulness and In due time this reflection upon the truthfulness and ac- curacy of his work reached the gentleman who gave His reply, which is here given, is in many re- spects as interesting as was the interview that caused it to be written: Editor The Call, San Francisco, Cal: In reference to Gertrude Ather- ton’s statement, as printed in the paper you sent me, T have to say that her assertions are not based on facts. Why she selects The Call to discharge her venom upon, T do not know: for the New York Journal printed the mat- ter, by mistake, on the Thursday previous to its publication in The Call. in- stead of on the same date, and the Philadelphia Press and Chicago Tribune simultaneously with The Call's publication. T was in correspondence with Mrs. Atherton subsequent to the publication of the interview of which she complains, and she had no criticism whatever Her statement that she wired me for a proof of the interview is made from whole cloth, as the records of the telegraph offices will show if any one cares to look it up. I enclose you the second article, which Mrs. Atherton refers to as a “dull jumble of words.” The editor of the Saturday Evening Post of Philadelphia, who printed it, was kind enough to write me that he considered it the work of a master hand. I fancy the Post is as good a judge of English ard of in- Now, as regards the interview in detail. previous to the meeting in Washington. I noticed a statement in a New York paper that she was making a study of the United States Senate for the purpose of writing I wrote her that I would like to talk to her about her observa- I did not refer to one of, her books, because, I went to the boarding-house where Mrs. Atherton lived in Washington with the distinct and understood purpose of talking with her for publication Mrs. Atherton well understood this, because she was kind enough with her own hands to bring a table to me upon which I might take “In order to make a spicy article he made me say things regarding the Senate and members that came straight out of his imag- I am sorry to say that Mrs. Atherton seems to have a very failing T should not have made the statements if they had Had it been my desire to make a spicy article, as she states, T might have included therein her marital experfences, her reference to her husband as the late ‘‘unlamented,” In referénce to Washington society Mrs. Atherton’s strictures as given by I realized the importance of absolute accu- racy, and made no statement whatever which was not hers might possibly have included Mrs. Atherton’s criticisms of the society she met in the place in which she lived, or of. the callers to whom she denied herself while T was there, but that seemed to me unnecessary. Referring again to my second article from her, T have to say that about the only statement she makes which is correct is that T sent a proof to her. She returned that proof with full permission to me to publish it, and the only correction she made was in the heading. This proof and the letters which have passed between Mrs. Atherton and myself on the matter can be pro- duced if necessary, though I must confess I have no inclination to make a In conclusion, the situation seems to me to be this: between Mrs. Atherton and myself. The greatest point of difference is that I can prove what I say, while Mrs. Atherton has thus far confined herself to a tirade against newspapers in general and me in particular. Atherton’s criticisms of Washington society and of several of the Senators have furnished food for discussion, and that.some of this discussion has not been as altogether pleasant to Mrs. Atherton as it The refuge she takes in denial has been sought by others who have talked for publication and been criticized. Personally, this happens It is the first time I ever interviewed a woman. I am inclined to think I will end the chapter as I began it—with Mrs. Atherton. You are at liberty to publish any or all of this, if INTERVIEW A venomous little the Atherton in- 150 Nassau Street, NEW YORK, March 29, 13%9. T had never seen Mrs. Atherton T must confess that I have read \ remarks concerning her own verbatim. I A question of veracity you care to, over my CHARLES CULVER JOHNSON. ®0®090P0PO0HOHO0POE0P0®0P0P0H0PO0H0PO0POHO0P0P0P0L0P0L0PO0H0EDOHPOP0 POH0 H®OH0PO0POHOP0PO0P0 $OPOHO SOP0O ®OP0P®OS0H0® 0O G We090809040 & 0204604090409 0%40 #090204040 & 0208000906 0606H | BB+ RN e N+ RN R 42NN e N e N e N e NN NN DAN POLK SELLS . NAME AND FAME D sold his name. lars (320 00). President’s descendant. self. Musical Artists.” perfected by Danfel. ment. hails*from Kansas City. it is Polk and paid for. Dan still intact. boudoir invitations. + Wefietiofetio N e N+ R oNNINeU e LoNe RN N+ Ko BRI R4 %] AN POLK, banjoist, Bohemian, brother to the only Willis, lineal de- scendant of James K. Polk, one time President of these United States, and well known in club, society and musical circles of this city, has Sold not only his name, but his fame as well. Together they were knocked down for the unprincely sum of twenty dol- Think of purchasing a Polk, a pedigreed virtuoso of the fjrst rank in ban- jodom, for one beggarly, yellow double eagle of the reaim! smoker's vision, and yet it is true—sadly, incontestably true. Dan, the pet plunker of the swim and the vaudeville's pride, has sold out. And now another long-haired youth of smotes the banjo that Dan used to smite, looks the languishing looks that Dan used to look, receives the flowers and salary and matinee motes that once were Dan's, and wears in print and in private the proud name of a The once prominent Polk is now probably an evasive Jones, lost in the shadew of a new name and the building of a new reputation, The new Polk who separated himself from a score of honest dol- lars to become the same, is at the Orpheum. Read the programme for your- There, in tall, stout type, is emblazoned “Polk and Kollins, Celebrated Polk and Kollins are the names of the famous banjo team founded and It was known and respected the length and breadth of the vaudeville world for well-clad, parted-in-the-middle umphant technfque on the five staccato strings of America’s national instru- But Dan, eccentric Bohemian that he is, wearied of the opulent fortunes of a vaudevillain, of a name historic, of a publicity national, and sold them all out for the price already mentioned to an ambitious pupil of his who What the purchaser's name used to be nobody seems to know—but now The same old Polk and Kollins lithographs decorate the cigar stands and deadwalls of the city, with the hair and features of But a new boy, who only partly lives up to the beauty of the posters, plunks where Dan once plunked and receives Dan's dinner and & 2 It sounds like a nimble fingers and dreamy eyes ambiguous Smith or an gentility and tri- 2202002005005 ¢ 20N+ RRNININIRNENI e +RNINIRNINI NN+ N+ RNeNe%RG% | MODERN MACHINERY FOR | A. M. HUNT GOES EAST TO STUDY BEST METHODS. ‘Work of Laying Underground Wires ‘Will Commence in a Short Time. A. M. Hunt, the well-known electrical engineer, left this city on the 6 o'clock train last night for an extended tour in the East. Mr. Hunt's mission is one of interest to the people of San Francisco, and, as San Francisco is the business center of the State, incidentally to the whole State. Mr. Hunt has been com- missioned by the Independent Light and Power Company, incorporated March 29 by Claus Spreckels and others, to make a | general Inspection of electrical plants throughout the East. Regarding his jour- ney Mr. Hunt says: “It will be my mission to investigate light and power plants everywhere and select the best methods from each of them. In this way we can safely promise that San Francisco will have the finest plant in the world. The great trouble with most plants is that they grow from small beginnings. Wherever such is the case you will find a piece of antiquated machinery running side by side with the newest and most improved. The inevit- able result of this is an‘increase in the cost of production. “Take the local plant, for instance. It started a number of years ago on a small scale. Of course all the machinery it put in at the time was the most modern, and, as a matter of fact, all the machinery it added as the plant grew has been modern, but all the old, cumbrous machinery must be taken out and an entire new plant put in before they will have an up-to-date lant, as greater strides have been made fn the lines of electrical machinery than any other. “The new_concern will not start small and grow. A complete plant of the new- est machinery will be put in, and this will enable us not only to give better service than the older companies, but we will be able to do it cheaper. ““I have not yet made any definite plans as to what cities I shall visit, but I will stop off at Chicago. then probably go on to New York, Philadelphia, Boston and other cities. I will first make a study Lof the underground system of distribu- - tion, as we intend laying the wires first. There are several such systems now in use, chief among which is the Edison | system, where the wires are laid in rigid | ducts and a system of loose ducts. With the Edison system it is necessary to tear up the streets to replace wires. but with the other system old wires can be taken out and new ones substituted from regu- lar stations without a pick being placed in the ground or a paving stone moved. I am somewhat favorable to the latter system, but I desire to make a complete | and thorough investigation. | “As soon as an_underground system | has been chosen work will begin. Weo | will employ an army of men tearing up the streets and laying wires. Of course | this is the most tedious work, and we | eéxpect that by the time the lagt foot of | wire has been laid the plant will be fully | established and the wheels ready to turn In fact the people will be surprised to | learn In what a short time a plant can | be established and put in operation, | “It will be necessary to buy all the | electrical machinery in the East, as thero is practically none manufactured in this | State. All ‘the supplies sold here are | products of Eastern houses handled by iocal agents. This being the case, I will | simply select the very best goods, and | When two or more concerns can furnish the same article they Sl be invited to | . contract wi Ve pe audaha to; 1 be given to the ————— ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. | SUCCEEDED HIMSELF—J. W. D. City. J. C. Burrows succeeded himself an United States Benator from MInLIIL 24 ENLISTING IN THE NAVY—W. J. W., Oakland, Cal. To enlist In the United States navy at this point, make applica- tion to the naval authorities at Mare Island. OAKLAND'S CHIEF—W. S., City. Wil- liam Fletcher is the Chief of Police of Oakland. He was captain of police ten years ago under the old system, when there was no Chief of Police in that city. SELLING HARDWARE-O. K. 0., Redwood City, Cal. If you desire to go through the country soliciting orders for. hardware and sell by sample you will not need a license. If you intend to go from place to place to peddle hardware you ‘will have to secure a license in each coun- ty through which you travel. THE PESTHOUSE—D. G. 8., City. The responsibility for the condition of the Pesthouse of San Francisco rests with the Board of Supervisors. The Call drew attention of that body to the terribie con :]tlltl:fl'; of tgi!tt lnst:;utlun. with the result at immediate action was tak - edy the eyil. S . »en.m Fe J | sible to make a room. | time. | about six weeks ago | He fitted out a number of | gomery street” GRAVE CHARGES AGAINST THE GIRLS' HOME Alleged Cruelties to Inmates. DARK CELL AND HANDCUFFS LAURETTA HALL COMPLAINS TO THE SHERIFF. Many Serious Accusations and a Plea for Release From the Al- leged Chamber of Horrors. Sheriff Martin was made the reciplent vesterday of a very serious complaint against the management of the California Girls' Training Home at 147 Natoma street. The complai or rather the charges, were made by one of the inmates | of the home, a young girl named Lauretta { Hall, whose father and mother are now on trial in the Superior Court on charges of embezzlement. She is 16 years old, of good character, and her presence in the home is due to circumstances connected with and growing out of the arrest of her parents and not because of waywardness. The girl declares that the inmates of the home are subjected to treatment that would not be permitted or tolerated in any penal institution in the State. She says they are given insufficient and poorly cooked food; that It is coarse in gquality and so unpalatable as to be nauseating. She also avers that the inmates, who are all young girls under 18 years of age, are not permitted sufficient alr and exercise to keep them healthy. It was in connection with the punish- ment given those who break the over- strict rules governing the conduct of in- mates of the home that Miss Hall had the most ‘serious charges to make. For any slight infraction of the rules of the place the guilty one. is given what is called a “check.”” When the girl has six of these checks against her she is made to eat her meals standing in the presence of others who are seated at the dining room table. The meal so eaten consists of plain bread and water. According to Miss Hall's statement a room, known as the “punishment room,” | is set aside for those found guilty of more serious infractions of the rules. The windows of this room are boarded up, leaving the interior as dark as it is pos- There is no bed in the apartment, those who are thrust in there having to be content with a soil- ed mattress, which is thrown upon the floor in one corner. Those who are put in this room are fed on bread and water and are kept there several days at a Miss Hall says that the more re- fractory wrong-doers are frequently handcuffed in order to make the dark- room punishment more severe. She cites one instance in which the unfortunate cul- prit, a girl named Mabel Morris, remained handcuffed for three days. When she was finally released her wrists were badly | swollen and discolored and she was un- able to use her hands for days afterward. When Miss Hall was sent to the home she weighed 131 pounds. She now weighs 105 pounds, and declares her bellef that she will soon die unless she is taken away from there and placed where she can have light and air and proper food. AROUND THE CORRIDORS Dr. E. C. Buell of Los Angeles is stay-~ ing at the Occidental. W. 8. Abell, a merchant of Montezuma, Wash., is located at the Rus B. F. Shepherd Jr., a prominent busi- ness man of Fresno, is at the Grand. L. O. Henderson of Carson City is at the Palace with his wife and child. John W. Mitchell, the Los Angeles poii- tician, will be at the Palace for a few days. B. F. Bhoecraft, a mining superintendent of Nevada City, and L. H. Garrigas, a Sa- linas attorney, are registered at the Lick. W. E. Bail auditor of the Santa Fe | Pacific Railway, with headquarters at Los Angeles, arrived in town yesterday on a brief visit. Dr. J. H. Tebbetts of Hollister and Geo. F. Herr, ticket agent of the Southern Pa- cific Company at Los Angeles, are at the | Occidental. Hugh Murchn, superintendent of the Nevada City Water Works, is in the city for a few days and is registered at the Ramona on Eilis street. Dr. C. G. Cargill of San Juan, who rep- resented his district in the Assembly, and Henry J. Ostrander, a Merced business man, are guests at the Russ. Donald McNeil of Brooklyn, ) Y., who | is largely engaged in the shipping busi- | ness in the Empire State, is here on a pleasure trip and is a guest at the Palace. transports which left the port of New York for the Government, and counts four hundred men in his employ. His brother, James McNeil, the capitalist, of Santa Cruz, came up to meet him on his arrival. —_— ee———— 3 Cal. glace fruit 0c per 1> at Townsend's.* —_————— Printing, engraving, stamping, visiting cards and wedding invitations at San- born & Vail's, 74l Market street. . — Special information supplied daily to business houses and public men by the Clippin; ureau en’s), 5. jont- Py tireer- ‘Talephone Main 1045, Spoilea by Cooking. “My life was spoiled, lady, said the | traveler, “by my wife's cooking.” ““Was it so very bad? “No, lady; it was good. So good taat my friends ate me out of house cnd home.”"—What to Eat. —_————— The most efficacious stimulant to sharpen the appetite is Dr. Siegert's Angostura Bitters. See that you get the genuine. ———— They Were Not Allowed. Yeast—Did your lawyer take any excep- tions in the case? Crimsonbeak—No; but I did when his onkers Statesman. Baking Powder MadzE pure Safeguards the food against alum. ' e et it ROYAL BAXING POWDER 0O., NEW YORK. A K,