The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, April 16, 1899, Page 6

THE SAN - FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, APRIL 16, 1899, JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Proprietor. Address All Communications to W. S. LEAKE, Manager. PUBLICATION OFFICE Y.A.Markret and Third Sts., 8. F. Telephone Main 1862. EDITORIAL ROOMS..........217 to 23 Stevenson Street Telephone Main 1874 DELIVERED BY CARRIERS, 16 CENTS PER WEEK. Bingle Coples, 5 cents. Terms by Mall, Including Postage: PAILY CALL (including Sunday Call), one year. DAILY CALL (including Sunday Call), 6 months 3.00 DAILY CALL tiu all), 3 months. 1.50 DAILY CALL-By EUNDAY CALL On WEEKLY CALL, One Yea All postmasters are authorized to receive subscriptions. Sample copies will be forwarded when rsquested. OAKLAND OFFICE..... . .....908 Broadway NEW YORK OFFICE. ..Room 188, World Building DAVID ALLEN, Advertising Represcntative, WASHINGTON (D. C.) OFFICE.........Welllngton Motel C. C. CARLTON, Corrcspondent. CHICAGO OFFICE . .......Marquette Baullding C.GEGRGE KROGNESS, Advertising Representative. BRANCH OFFICEG—52T Montgomery street, corner Clay, open until 9:30 o'clock. 387 Hayes street, open until ©:30 o'clock. 62! McAllister street, open untll 9:30 o'clogk. 615 Larkin street, open untll 9:30 o'clock! 941 Mission street, open untll 10 o'clock. 2291 Markey 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 until 930 o'clock. NW. corner Twenty-second ane Kentueky streets. open until 9 o'clock. AMUSEMENTS. “Roh F Hot Old Time" »pera He **Queen’s La Vaudeville. 1 H g."" Tivpli—*Beautiful Golden Locks." Chutes Zoo and Fres Theater—Vaudeville every afternoon &nd evening. morrow night. ce Handkerchief.” ason and Ellis streets, Specialties. use—Sauer Recitals, Wednesday afternoon, April 19, Grand Opera House—Rose Hall — I fternoon, April 25. afternoon, ha Interstat , Market street, near Eighth—Bat- e tle i eball Coursing to-day. res, Monday, April 17. sort. Amusements every t 10:3¢ 2. m. and 2:30 p. A FIGHT FOR DECENCY. s been won. ographic pictures in local phono- have to be turned toward first of the proprietors of nents to be arrested by reason of this ir vile exhibitions, has been 1se, and Acting Police Judge Barry om the bench that his next offense of would be visited with the extreme pen- A similar fate, he said, would over- for decenc ow-panderers of this particular form ¢ yosed on Carroll was altogether inade- te to the offense, but the court explained that it 1 of $10 not with the idea that the 1 at the atisfied wit h a penalty, but that, the prisoner’s first offense, he might have f what he might expect in the future. In t no exception can be taken to the court's took n concerning the style of i by The Call entence upon Carroll, Judge Barry In it he bore out ev ement published by this paper concerning th of the phonograph parlor as it had been con- dt up to tt of the raid following the expose. tively immoral,” he said, ildren to be schooled in the payment of a nickel. It is even “The pictu “and it thing for c 1 for adults, and is opposed to the good the comn Neither the fine 1 the lecture seemed to have much effect on Carroll, but it is-safe to say that he will not care to take a second chance of a violation of the law JUDGE MOGAN'S CHARGE. T}Hi CALL'S criticism of Judge Mogan’s charge to the jury in the Jones case was founded upon a report in a morning paper which purported to contain a synopsis of one of its paragraphs. We re- luctantly amed its truth, for Judge Mogan has not previously given us any ground for believing that' he would deliberately deliver a charge calculated to effect the acquittal o accused in this case. We there- fore cheerf note what he says with reference to the matter interview with a Call reporter yester- day. Undoubtediy, as he avers, a defendant hasia right to request the court to deliver certain instruc- tions, but the right of the court to refuse to deliver instructions w will prejudice the case in either direction is also undowbted. When the evidence shows that an accused person is guilty a. criminal Judge has no moral right to accept instructions which, if heeded by the jury, will cause his acquittal. Judge Mogan in his judicial robes is supposed to be a stern and unrelenting minister of justice. He is not placed upon the bench of the Police Court to act as a dummy for any attorney, that the proof in a specified case’establishes the guilt of a person charged with crime, it is his duty to main- tain the law with such severity as he may think the case demands. Ve credited the report upon which our criticism founded more because of the result in the Jones e than because we thought Judge Mogun had de- liberately attempted to acquit the accused. The evidence was clear that Jones had committed _the offense of gambling at the Ingleside racetrack. 'Yet the jury stood ten to two for acquittal. It seemed to us that unless the jury was composed of men avowedly in sympathy with racctrack gambling such a result would be impossible. If the Ingleside gam- blers are fixing juries in Judge Mogan's court it is his duty to put a stop to the practice, We are not disposed to hold Judges to a too strict accountability, for we know that their powers are limited and that the wool is frequently pulled over their eyes by the tricky lawyers and officials who sur- round them. But Judge Mogan is a capable man, who thoroughly understands his business, and it is to be hoped that he will keep his eyes open when the cases of these Ingleside gamblers come before him. What we have said will do him no harm if its effect shall be to arouse him to renewed vigilance. He will be judged finally according to the whole record, not by the result'in a specified case. and when he perceives | THE SAMOAN DIFFICULTY. ON BULOW, the German Minister for Foreign Affairs, in his statement of the Samoan ques- tion, made to the Reichstag, said: “Regarding the history of the complications in Samoa, I have made a statement to the budget committee and have | particularly pointed out how, since the coming into | force of the act (the tripartite treaty) disturbances and frictions between the representatives of the | powers have not been lacking.” Looked at in a spirit of calmness, irom the stand- point of American interests, one is compelled to won- | der that such an agreement as that with England and { Gérmany s ever entered into at all. The three na- | tions are there, on terms of treaty equality, to oversee | and direct the tribal government of about 40,000 na- | tives, who have been divided into parties and factions | for many years. Their divisions have been accern- tuated by the missionaries of different Christian | creeds, and their later rivalries and riots have been :embmcred, beyond even those of the cannibal days, | by this new factor of confusion. The kingship of | those people is something of but small importance to | the outside world. It in no way influences the crop of | cocoanuts and its conversion into copra, which is | about the only product of the islands capable of being | put in condition to find the distant markets of the world. German, English and American planters have | plantations there and raise cocoanuts and ship the dried pulp as the raw material of an oil that is used in making fine soaps. But, as far as known, the rights of these planters have usually been as well respected ::\; the rights of miners and land-owners are in other | parts of the world. A consular officer or commercial agent of the three Governments located at Apia, with | instructions to prevent the sale of firearms and fire- water to the natives, would be able to protect all the | interests of the three nations. The climate is tropical, | white labor cannot be employed, and permanent { white colonization is impossible. The natives will 'pcrfonn only the crude labor of bursting cocoanut- [s]lc”s with a club gnd gathering the pulp when it has tdried in the sun and separated from the shell. They | wait with patience for the nuts to fall and have a | capacity for rest that is admirable. Armed only with their primitive weapons, their political feuds might be | fought out with no more danger to the few white v | planters and storekeepers than is incurred by the | audience which yells at a football match from the safe | distance of the bleachers. | “There have been some ridiculous adventures in | government before, but hardly any equal to the one undertaken by us and our two partners in Samoa. Great warships of the three nations swelter and shine payers annually as much as the value of the entire | trade of the islands secured by each country. The three representatives of the three partners, having nothing else to do, indulge in native politics. When Germany shuts out our pork or refuses our dried peaches in fear of the San Jose scale, our representa- | tive in Samoa feels it his duty to incite evil among the natives against the representative of our German partner. When German jealousy looks with verdant eye upon our feats in the Philippines the representative of the Kaiser whispers hatred into the particular | Samoan ear that he controls. So, the jealousies and | rivalries of the three Governments, their trade de- | vices, polici and competitions, are focused and | compressed within the narrow borders of Apia and the natives are converted into enemies or partisans of the American hog and dried peach. No wonder that Von Bulow has taken the budget committee into his confidence in the matter of these -frictions and | difficulties. | As for the Samoans, they are suffering from being governed too much, and would gain greatly if left to themselves, with the sole injunction that they must not eat each other. They have as much right to in- dulge in dynastic battles as the English had to luxuriate in skull-cracking during the Wars of the Roses, or we to have our quadrennial mud-slinging in | a Presidential campaign. It is to be hoped that Ger- | many is tired enough of the business to propose that | all three pull out of it, for it is likely that the United | States and England would be glad to do so. | It should be noted that we are falling into the com- sion habit as the result of these outside complica- ‘tiuns. ‘We have had a Hawaiian Commission to re- | port a government for those islands, and its report |is sleeping on the files of the last Congress. We {have a large commission in the Philippines waving ithc olive branch over a desolation created by our | great guns. Commissioners have gone to the West Indian islands, and now a Commissioner is on his way to Samoa, there to meet the Commissioners of Eng- land and Germany, under instructions to be unani- mous or nothing. The Samoan business has brought us as ncar to | war with Germany as we were to war with Spain two years ago, and Mr. Hull, chairman of the Military | Committee of the House, has announced that the }pcop]e out in Towa have a thirst for German gore. It is to be hoped that common sense will prevail and that the three great countries will at least show as much self-control as the Samoans. |m OUR STATE LEGIS—LATURES. \ A R. SYDNEY WEBB, who is now delivering a /\/\ course of lectures at the London School of Economics and Political Science on the work- ing of the American constitution, has been giving ut- terance to some very decided opinions upon our State governmen* nd a brief review published in the London Chronicle of one of his lectures on that sub- ject contains much that will be interesting, if for no other reason than that of showing what an intelli- gent foreign critic thinks of them. ¥ The lecturer notes in the first place that American | State governments are more obscure to foreigners, and to a considerable number of home people, than almost any other civilized governments known to po- litical science. He attributes this obscurity to the custom of establishing the State government not in the metropolis of the State, but in a small provincial- town where people rarely go. The executive offices are therefore hidden from the public. Then the Leg- islatures are restricted in all sorts of ways by State constitutions, and in most States sit but once in two years and then for a limited time. Speaking of the effects of these conditions Mr. Webb went on to say that although the American States nominally deal with many ofthemost important departments of government, such as education, fac- tory legislation, sanitation, the criminal code, the police, and practically the whole law of property and contracts, they are rapidly shrinking up and occupy- ing an ever-dwindling share of public interest. There are, speaking broadly, no distinctively State politics. The result is that the State Legislatures are even less under public control than Congress. State elections are often hotly contested, but invariably as part of the general Presidential campaign, never on local issues. Under these circumstances results the most extensive exhibition of legislative futility that the world has yet seen. The forty odd State Legislatures ‘solemnly go on grinding out new laws, but, except in one or T two States, these are so badly drafted and so chaotic that even if they are not declared void the first time they come before the courts they are for the most part not enforced. While objections might be urged to some of the points of that arraignment, the justice of it generally cannot be denied. Despite the great importance of the subjects of legislation reserved for them to deal with, it is unquestionably true our State Legislatures come very near deserving the reproach of being “the most extensive exhibition of legislative futility the world has yet seen.” It is of course to be regretted that such should be the case, for; motwithstanding the restrictions placed upon them, it is within the power of these legislative bodies to be of vast usefulness in promoting the wel- fare of the commonwealths they serve. Mr. Webb is in error when he attributes the futility of the Legis- lature in any great degree to the fact that State gov- ernments are established in small towns. Thetruecause of the evil is the quality of men who serve in the Legislature. Whenever the American people develop such a true loyalty that the best citizens will be will- ing to serve the State in the Legislature, then the age of futility in State governments will pass away and a new era of activity and usefulness begin. OUR BOYS IN THE PHILIPPINES. AR in the Philippines is no longer what it was Win the early days of the contest with Spain. We have no longer a nation great in history for a foe, and there is no chance for another thrilling and spectacular victory like that which Dewey won in Manila harbor. The romance and the glory of | the contest are over, and we have now reached that stage of war where there is nothing but weary marches, daily fighting with an ambushed or flying foe, and a continuous exposure to conditions that breed disease and threaten death. Just for the reason that there is no longer any glory in the war, the campaign which Otis is now waging is a far more trying test of the stuff our sol- arms that destroyed the Spanish fleet in the Orient that the United States have become a world power indeed—one to be reckoned with in all questions of supremacy at sea, having not only great ships great guns, but the courage and skill required to use them with efficiency in battle. The men who are driving the followers of Aguin- aldo from the jungles and the marshes of the island of Luzon are fighting under the most adverse con- ditions. Indian, and even more cunning. If he were anything like a good marksman he would in his rice fields and canebrakes be one of the most formidable barbarians boys have before them. It is going to be more diffi- cult to whip the Filipino than the Spaniard, and | there will be no glory in it when done. The campaign against Aguinaldo has been con- ducted with untiring energy and with conspicuous valor. The natives have been taught the difference between Americans and Spaniards, and the effect of the lesson cannot fail to be wholesome. There has been no halt in the swift pursuit of the flying enemy. The end cannot be far off. Before the rainy season sets in the island of Luzon or at least all the culti vated districts will probably be cleared of the armed bands of Aguinaldo who have been levying tribute on the inhabitants and rendering industry well nigh impossible. The country can watch with pride the manner in | which her volunteers are bearing themselves under | the tropical sun and the harassing burdens of this wretched war. They are showing not only valor on the field of battle, but a steady discipline in the camp and on the march, which proves them to be worthy of the best traditions of the armies of the republic. The whole course of the Philippine campaign could indeed be regarded with national pride and satisfaction were it not that it entails a sacrifice of brave men for the sake of a victory that will be worth nothing to this or to any other generation. ANTI-NEWSPAPER LEGISLATION. HE Evening Post of this city—or rather the TSmnhcm Pacific Company through the agency of the Evening Post—has hastened to defend the Southern Pacific Company against the accusation of The Call that the railroad was the sponsor, agitator and defender of the anti-newspaper legislation which was adopted at the last session of the Legislature and which was made operative by the signature of Gov- ernor Gage. The Post asks The Call to submit the proofs of its accusation. § It seems like carrying coals to Newcastle to answer the request, but if the Post is seeking information it is referred to the author of its own editorial, which tice of the anti-newspaper laws, and to the recent con- ference between William F. Herrin and C. P. Hun- tington. At that conference the campaign against independent newspapers was planned. The editorial request of the Post is one of the first skirmishes of the Southern Pacific Company in the fight to silence honest newspaper criticism. It is understood that Colonel Schwartzkoppen and Colonel Panizzardi have become involved in the Dreyfus affair. In an exchange of civilities these gentlemen might become embarrassed. In hostilities they could hardly use anything more deadly than ‘their names. They might choke to death before they could fight. seio i Governor Gage's statement in a recent interview, “I have tried to free myself from the cares of state and to prepare myself for the future labor my office imposes,” raises a question as to what are the duties of his office for which he can prepare himself by free- ing his mind from the cares of state. George J. Denis, whom Governor Gage will ap- point a Code Commissioner, says, with some em- phasis, that he is not a lackey of the people of Cali- fornia. If the gentleman continues in this lofty strain he may find that his name is Mud and not Denis, The story that Kaiser William intends to raise his brother, Prince Henry, to the rank of King and be- stow the Chinese province of Shantung upon him for a kingdom is a good enough yarn for Oriental uses probably, but it won’t wash in this climate. Should Secretary Wadham of the Eureka society insist on arresting for vagrancy any more two-year- old infants like Baby Aubray it might be well to arm the policemen with nursing-bottles instead of clubs. John F. Carroll, Croker's lieutenant, testified the other day before the Mazet committee that “what Mr. Croker says goes.” 1It's a pity that the boss could not have put in a word for the Keely motor. The women of Santa Clara County interested in equal suffrage have expressed their disappointment at Governor Gage. There are others, } diers are made of than was that splendid feat of naval | and aroused the nations to a recognition of the fact | and ! The Filipino is as savage as the Amcricani in the world. It is, therefore, no easy task that our | denies raiiroad responsibility ane insists upon the jus- | To the Editor of the San Francisco Call—8ir: Please permit me to answer a letter recently published in your paper in opposition to the extension of the park panhandle. The letter was written by a man who owns a house and lot on the line of the projected improvement, to which he is therefore opposed. He does not want to move out of the way. He takes a short view, consulting his own Interests. We want men in San Fran- cizco who are capable of taking broad views and who desire to give to this Western c/ty as much beauty and com- fort as the hundreds of thousands of Americans annually seek {n Europe. Paris, Vienna, Berlin and London have within the last thirty years hewn down solid blocks of buildings at an enormous expense in order to beautify their cities by making parks and boulevards. They bring their parks by spacious avenues Into the very heart of these cities, and as a result there is not only a happy and contented population, but there are my- rlads of visitors making homes in places which consider the pleasant side of life and the happiness and health, as well as the commerce and trade, of its people. How many men of your acquaintance do not go to the park because of the difficulties of getting there? They want to be able to drive or ride or bicycle or walk from as near their homes and places | of business as possible. Encouraging the use of the park would confer health upon the hard-workers of the great city. The poor man will be lured by the beautiful picture, trees and lawns, to walk where he now rides. Instead of ‘“destruction of beautiful property,” according to your correspond- ent, it will be the improvement and bet- terment of property, which has no great value nor beauty, and which is used but in part—large sections of it being un- occupied. Instead of abandoned carhouses, rook- eries, and an occasional dwelling, there will be a public common for the benefit and use of all. Your correspondent says that the benefits will accrue, instead of to the public, to ‘‘contractors and builders and to their followers.” There is much truth in this. These people will derive benefit, but who are they? They are the laborers and mechanics of San Fran- | cisco—carpenters, plumbers, material | men, cabinet-makers, furniture-makers and all employments and vocations hav- | ing to do with the construction and fur- nishing of a house. He shows his ignorance by saying that another class who profit are those who have the “handling of the Phebe Hearst | donation for beautifying the city.”” There | is no such fund. Mrs. Hearst is merely golng to provide a plan and the money | will afterward have to be raised. He | says it is only for “those who can afford to drive out for pleasure.” If this gentleman goes to the park on a holiday IN FAYOR OF THE PANHANDLE. or Sunday he will see from the class of vehicles that it is the middle classes and not the rich who drive out for pleasure, and that everybody and all classes ought to be encouraged to drive out for pleasure, which not only gives them health but gives. employment to carriage makers, horse raisers, stable men, blacksmiths and all kindred employments. He says it will take nine millfons of dolalrs. The answer to that is that it is assessed for a million and a half, and that recent sales indicate its value to be about three mil- Tion and a half, and four millions would be a liberal price in which the city would get the worst of the bargain. Your corre- spondent seems to be purely selfish, and protests against the “worry, trouble, ex- pense, wear and tear, time and break- age” of moving across the street. Private convenience must give way to public rights and benefits. The future of San Francisco must not be side-tracked be- cause it is too much trouble for your cor- respondent to move out of the way. the same kind of a man that for many years stopped the opening of Van Ness avenue to the bay; but the public' rights then triumphed and he was compelied to move after making himself a conspicuous nuisance in the community. If San Fran- cisco issued its indebtedness for 8541000.000, which is the limit, it would be in the same position as several California towns. It is only asked now to spend five or ten millions for park extension, necessary schools, outfall sewer and the City and County Hospital. Next year, under the charter, we will want another issue of bonds for public utilities. The latter pay for themselves and are not a burden. The other things are an expense; but now is the time to get to work. This land can be acquired now, and the clty is willing to pay a fair price for it. This is the city’s opportunity, but it is also the property owner's opportunity for this reason—that the park panhandle extension between Fell and Oak streets, once having been projected, will never down. If it is de- feated this year it may prevail next year; but in the meantime nobody will buy this land. The future of the park requires for its comipletion and perfection this, ex- tension to Van Ness avenue and Market street. The property owners must sell to the city, and they had better make ready to move where there is such an abun- dance of unoccupied land north and south of the park. The movement of this popu- lation (there being over two hundred in- dividual owners of land) will make a stir in the building trades, giving employ- ment to labor, open up outlying territory, and give the city, as the Art Association has expressed it, a “worthy approach and entrance” to the greatest park in the world. now accessible only by back streets, around corners, amid dingy surroundings, and over bad roads, slippery in winter and corduroy in summer. Respectfully, FRANK J. FALLON. | 'With all of its ugliness and its hor- rors war remains the finest and most | effective of theaters for the display of | heroism. Under no other circumstances nd with no other backgreund do valor | and fidelity show so brilliantly to the | imagination and appeal so thrillingly | to the sympathies of the heart. An in- | cident of the fight made by a small | force of American and British marines | against the Samoans who had en- | trapped them in an ambuscade on April | 1 strikingly illustrates the fact, and the | story merits as many repetitions as it is likely to receive. ‘When Lieutenant Freeman of the royal navy was killed Lieutenant Lans- dale ‘of the United States navy took command, and he in turn was soon brought to the ground by a ball which shattered his leg. The next to take charge of the detachment was Lieu- tenant Cave, who, perceiving that his men were exposed to a galling fire and that the one effective weapon of his force, a Colt gun, was out of order and could not be used, gave orders to re- treat. Five wounded men were carried | with the retreating troops, but Lans- dale was left on the field with Free- man, the supposition being that both were dead. One man, Seaman Hunt of the British ship Porpoise, did not re- treat with the others, but stayed with Lansdale and defended the wounded American until he himself was knocked senseless by a blow on the head. Hunt did not succeed in saving the officer for whom he showed himself so willing to give his life, but his action was none the less meritorious because it failed in its purpose. - There is a genuine heroism of the highest kind in that seaman who stayed to face the savages in an effort to save an officer not of his navy, nor of his nation. The scene of Hunt’s struggle with the horde of infuriated Samoans over the body of Lansdale would make a good picture; even as the right telling of it would make a good poem. It is gratifying to know that he escaped alive. It is also gratifying to remember he serves a na- tion that never fails to reward such service as he has rendered. His chance of getting the coveted Victoria cross and a pension is so good that many an officer in her Majesty's fleet would be glad to change places with him - when the Porpoise goes home to report to the “Widow of Windsor.” If this were a campalgn year, when political thrusts are justifiable in the daily intercourse of life, the recent Jef- fergsonian banquets would afford much amusement to the public, since in the wide chasm between the Jeffersonian- ism of the New York feast and that of the Milwaukee frugal repast there is scope and opportunity for many a ver- bal stab that would reach our Demo- cratic friends in the short ribs and make them writhe. This, however, is a season of po)itical peace. The toma- hawk is buriéd and the scalping knife sheathed. Throughout the polite world there is a desire to say the pleasant word to such Democrats as are met in good company and to talk of these banquet dissensions as if they were not dissensions but modes of harmony. Such being the case it is worth while to direct attehtion to a precedent which, if followed, will enable any one to talk politics to Democrats without being offensive to either faction. ‘When Artemus Ward went to Boston to see the sights some of his warm- hearted hosts took him to a certain venerable-looking old house and as- sured him it was the birthplace of Ben- jamin Franklin. Next day another set of entertainers, equally warm-hearted, showed him a building in quite a dif- ferent part of the city and with posi- tiveness asserted that to be Franklin's birthplace. Having thus been made aware of the civil war in Boston on that subject the genial humorist did not take side with efther party; neither did he offend both by declaring the place Jf Franklin's birth to be in doubt, l i+ EDITORIAL VARIATIONS. | é BY JOHN McNAUGHT. 3 ROXOROAOKOAROKDROAOXOAOHOHOKOAOKOAOXOAOXOUOX VA OROH D% S O OXOROUOR VK OAOXDAOR DK OHOKOHOKOKONOK DK OH DX O ONOX DK OHOXOXD O ROXOXOXOADX He frankly accepted both statements as correct, and in writing of Boston sald: “Benjamin Franklin was a twins, having been born in Boston in two dif- ferent houses, simultaneously at the same time.” It will not be too much of a strain to follow that precedent and humor Democratic friends by conceding the validity of the claims of both Jefferson banquets on the ground that Thomas Jefferson was a twins, having pro- claimed and supported two opposing platforms of political principles ‘‘stm- ultaneously at the same time.” A short time ago W. C. Morrow, doubtless encouraged by the favor with which his literary work has been re- ceived in the East and in London, de- termined to put his talents and his fortunes to the supreme test; to cut loose from the occupation in which he has been engaged and to devote him- self to the production of literature; making it not the mere avocation’ of his leisure hours, as in the spast, but his vocation in life—the business that is to engage his working days and have the service of all his energies. It has since been announced that Ambrose Bierce has determined upon the same course, and it is to be hoped the re- port is correct. In the noises of busi- ness and politics and the flutter caused by the miserable wars in the Philip- pines and in Samoa, the actions of these two quiet literary men will be almost unnoted, and yet such is the value of literature it is probable that foreign nations and future generations will give more attention to this change in the nature of their work than to any other event of the year in California. Up to this time America has pro- duced but two literary men possessing sufficient creative power to bring forth work having the quality of a primal element—something not built up out of existing material, but created, as it were, from the infinite itself and fash- foned into form by the divinity of orig- inal genius. One of these men, Haw- thorne, was of New England; the other, Poe, was of the South. Their environ- ments were diverse and the processions of their lives were in no respect alike; yet each turned away from the com- monplaces of outward existence to study the things that are hidden. Each in his own way revealed the abysses in which the soul lives and depicted the grisly terrors and phantoms that haunt it and fight it there. Their in- fluence has been more profoundly felt abroad than at home. At the present time there are but two men in America who, while not in any respect imitators, carry on the work of Hawthorne and Poe, and develop still further that liter. ature of the unfathomable abyss which is originally and distinctively Ameri- can. These are the writers who have now determined to give themselves seriously to literary work—Mr. Morrow and Mr. Bierce. Each has already pro- duced genuine literature of such excel- lence that his new departure can hard- ly be regarded as an adventure, They but set sail to the mysterious isles where they have often voyaged before, The only ‘difference is they now pro- pose to settle there, and the well- plowed fields of journalism are to know them no more. ‘While I have a genuine admiration for the genius and the exquisite literary skill of Hawthorne and of Poe, and also for the same qualities in the work of Mr. Morrow and Mr. Bierce, and some- times indulge the belief that I can ap- preciate them at something near their .true value in the world of letters, 1 have never had a full sympath their work. ' I have never begn ldydi::;ll; to the weird. ‘I have never had, nor desired, that penetrating Insight which sees quite through the flesh that covers mortality and discerns the skeleton Wwithin. 1 prefer ‘humanity with the flesh on and the skin over it, and the rosier the complexion the better I like it. Nevertheless whatever may be in. 1t is | dividual tastes all Californians must feel something of gratification in the report that two such artistic writers are going to make the production ‘jf high literature the serious work of their lives. When all is said and done nogh!ng else produced by a communxty\:i of such permanent and precious value as its literature. It is full time Ca}llfornla were adding more to the world’s stock of this pure gold of the intellect. '1_‘he degradation of the American magazine to advertising has closed that avenue which was once open to the advance of true literary workers, and the only -vx';'!y now for the writer who has an artistic conscience is to turn to the pracglce of the old Grub-street days—get h)ms(:lf to a garret, live on a crust, write books and appeal from the publisher to the big public. Mr. Morrow and Mr. Bierce have chosen well and a wide constitu- | ency will wait with impatience trw forthcoming of the first fruits of the new labors of each. Chinatown is not only corrupt itself but the cause of corruption in other It is something like a municipal vermi- form appendix, and it might be worth while to subject the city to a surgical operation and cut it out. For the whole week the Examiner has been reiterat- ing the charge “that the sum of not less than $2500 is raised weekly in Chinatown for the purpose of bribing the police department to permit the carrying on of gambling games and lotteries.” The display of knowledge of this secret corruption should not subject our contemporary to unworthy suspicions of sharing the spoils, for the very intensity of its language is proof that it is getting none. Whil2 tha cor- ruption fund is generally known hush money, it does anything but hus! It has been squealing for wez=ks like a baby at the dead of night—is deaf to lullabies and won't take soothing syrup. & In all this racket my sympathies are with the police—with both factions of the police—and with any individuals ‘of the police who may belong to neither faction and cherish a desire to run both of them in. In a community so admin- istered as this, what can the police do to suppress iniquity and fill the city with sweetness and light? With jude: on the bench who make a jest of law and turn test cases into comic operas; with Police Commissioners who if th do not violate the law are at least re- puted to do so and are certainly not much above their reputations; and with angry journals hunting for the needle of depravity in Chinatown and over- looking the haystack of vice all around it—there is hardly anything of genuine virtue the police could do short of clubbing everything in sight of the City Hall and arresting all who protest. The cause of the fire which burned the “palatial cottage” of Idle Hour, where the high contracting parties of the Vanderbilt-Fair alliance were spending their honeymoon is reported tg be a mystery. There are some who think it started by an incendiary burg- lar, and there are some who regard it as the result of a defect in the heating apparatus. There is another theory worth consideration—the building may have been fired by the happy pair themselves. It is fairly reasonable to suppose that a rapturous couple, hav- ing dazzled the world by a display of a million dollar’s worth of ostentatious wedding presents, may have thought it appropriate to cap the climax by an- plying the torch to the honeymoon hall and showing the Astors that the Van- derbilts have palaces to burn. Before public interest in the grand wedding passes away and is lost from memory along with the vanishing smoke from the ruins of Idle Hour, it is worth noting that while the press gave so much of its energies and its space for weeks to the gorgeous event it overlooked one important thing—a thing so very interesting indeed that its omission from the pictures of the vari- ous features of the scene can be ac- counted for only upon the suppositién that every newspaper in New York is guided and managed by a journalistic paresis club. It was stated that Mrs. O. H. P. Belmont presented the bride with a quantity of gold plate blazoned with the Vanderbilt arms, and yet not a single journal, yellow or legitimate, published a picture of the arms to satisfy the eyes of a gazing world. There will be more Vanderbilt cere- monies in the future and it is to be hopgd that omission will never occur again. Tt is not easy to understand the mo- tives that have prompted either the actions or the talk of Governor Gage of late, for the workings of a mind like his can be discerned clearly.only by those who are practiced in micro- scopic examination. I think, however, he was aiming at economy and desired to impress upon the commission an- pointed to erect an executive mansion at Sacramento that it need not go to great expense for him. If so he was successful. From the record as made up, it appears that to provide an ample home for Gage the commission wil} have only to bore a gimlet hole in the first convenient post, put a roof over it and tell his executive excellency to move in. ANTWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. AN EIGHT-HORSE TEAM-S., City. In an eight-horse team there are first tha wheelers, then the pointers, then the swingers and then the leade: THE CENTENNIAL—F. W. A., City. The transport Centennial, which sailed from this port for Manila February g current year, carried mail to that point. NOT SO RARE—B. H., Flagstaff, Ariz. A half dollar of 1824 is not such a rare coin as to command a premium. Such can be procured from dealers for 9 cents, DAVID COPPERFIELD—F. City. “David Copperfield” is v conisidered by far. the grentest eacil guently the best of the works of ‘Charles IN THE TWENTY-SECOND—0., Gote. ta, Cal. To ascertain if a m. iste in the Twenty-second Iummn?"ra&‘;fih? inquiry should be made by letter to the ‘War Department at ‘Washington, D. C. THEIR POLITICS—A. S., City. Schiey, Miles and Dewey have not made house. top proclamations of their i is generally understood thz?tm.lfilefié\})is a Democerat and that M cwey Eimicn files and Dewey ure ————— Cal glace fruit 50c per 1b at Townsend's." —_—— W. A, Speclal information supplied dafly t afly _ to guslnen houses and public men by the ress Clipping Bureau (Allen’s), 510 Mont- gomery street. Telephone Main 1042 * The lawyers than the doctors sgg rtender lal;]ger bills, e few are heirs to property, ‘While all are heirs to HF& —Detroit Journal. 7 —————— THE CALIFORNIA LIMITED, Sante Fe Route. Three times u week; 3% days to Chicago, 4% days to New York. Handsomest train and most b‘fl:fl;t‘- service, Full particulars at 628 Mar- et