The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 14, 1899, Page 6

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, MAY 14, 1899. JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Proprietor. Address s to W. 5. LEAKE, Manager. T Market and Third Sts., S. F. e Main 186, .2I7 to 221 Stevenson Streel e Maln 1874 RS, 15 CENTS PER WEEK. fee, 5 cents. 1 x Postage: day Call), one year. inday Call), § months Communication: | uthorized to recelve subscriptions. arded when requested. GAKLAND OFFICE... 908 Broadway NEW YORK OFFICE ...Room I88, World Bailding DAVID ALLEN, Advertising Represcntative. WASHINGTON (D. C.) OFFICE Wellington Hotel C. C. CARLTON, Correspondent. CHICAGO OFFICE . -Marquette Building | C.GEORGE KROGNESS, Advertising Represcntative. | BRANCH OFFIC! 27 Montgomery street, corner Clay, lock. 387 Hayes street, open until McAllister street, open untll 9:30 6l5 Larkin street, open untll 9:30 o'clock ssion street, open untll 10 o'clock. 2991 Markel | street, corner Sixteenth, open until 9 o'clock. £5I Kission street, open untll 9 o'clock. 106 Eleventh L open untli 9 o'clock. 1505 Polk street, open | tii 930 o'clock. NW. corner Twenty-second and | Kentucky strasts. apen untll 9 o'clocks | AMUSEMENTS. On and Off. The Little Tycoon. pera I ese Wife." se Theater—Vaudeville every afternoon | | son and Eills streets—Specialties. 2a Co., Market street, near Eighth—Bat- | wimming Races, etc. ‘ | | every | - bay resort. Amusements a, Berkeley—Commencement Exer- ianoforte Recital, Thursday Bvening, Nlay Hall—Kn sel Quartet Concerts, Friday even ;&UC’I‘ION ”SAL‘ES. fleld and T. Vincent—Monday, May 15, at 751 Sutter street. | E Tuesday, May 15, Real Es- | HOW TO SUPPRESS PUBLIC GHMBLING( ore the efforts of the police to procure | nviction and punishment of the pro- tor of a saloon where poker game gam- | ed on have failed. The jury in the Horn- reed, there being but one juror for con- eleven for acquittal. trial, following the ill convictions, i success of former at- s undoubtedly a sub- tle regret. It makes clear the fact that Police Court jurors whose sympathies | I rs are such that anything will serve them as a doubt on which to base a reason for re- It once more reveals to the public ock in the way of the police, and have to contend with in nances. of the courts, however, does not ex- the law in such matters. The Po- e authority to refuse a license keeper who maintains a place where the abetted or connived at. That au- the case of all keepers are openly carried on. | of license would soon | n end to the kind of gambling that has been too | ited in some of the most noted resorts of | thorou 1g to learn in the meantime that the | tion of the persons arrested in the recent raids | It may yet be | ) obtain a jury that will convict, and even | { | | ker dens will be continued. one case of severe punishment will be a salutary les- | son to the gang. Under any circumstances the law ers should never cease to pursue the gamblers as | as they continue to violate the ordinances of the city and meck at morality. C eement between Great Britain and Russia with respect to China comes the news of the | ratification by the French Chamber of Deputies of the Anglo- convention regarding the Nile and Niger territory. Thus the dangers which threatened British interests and the peace of the world in Asia and in Africa have been avoided for a time at least, | isbury has given another proof that his | SALISBURY’S DIPLOMACY. LOSELY following the announcement of the rench and Lord diplomatic skill has not been weakened by advancing | age The convention agreed upon between Great Britain and France with reference to the disputed territory in Cent ca is ofi the face of it, so far as re- ported, a triumph for France, but the result is very | to be to the advantage of the British. By the convention Great Britain is confirmed in possession | of the Nile from the sea to the lakes, but France is | to have full rights of iree trade up and down the river and throughout the Soudan. The right of un-| restricted trade is what French diplomacy has gained, oubtful if French commence will be able to | with British sure but it is profit by it in competition not only rivalry but with that of the rest of the world, for of | course the British policy will be to open the country | to the commerce of all nations. | The real benefit to France from the treaty is thef settlement of the c y without war. France | sion of a larger domain in | Africa than is held by any other power. It opens on the Mediterranean and on the Atlantic, and in extent is a giant empire. It does not, howeyer, touch the Nile. Great Britain is in a position to so extend her African possessions as to control a route for Cecil Rhodes’ projected railway from the Cape to Cairo. nce has the more land, but the British have. the 1de avenues up and down the continent, and it can be doubted which will be the dominant power in Africa a hundred years from now ntrov: is confirmed in poss t hard A dispatch from Santa Barbara announces that Dreyfus stapds in the way of Huntington. The date line is the only thing that saves one from the sus- | picion that the old railway king had seized Devils Island in pursuit of his policy to grab everything in sight. Local Democrats object to-a blanket ticket at their | coming primary election.” They hdve a shuddering | recollection’ of the blanket' that ‘fell on them at' the last election. 3B AT | ernment demands that | freedom of speech or of the pres | sorship. MILITARY HEN property to the value of $300,000 was lown up by dynamite in Idaho by a large number of persons claiming to constitute a Yliners’ Union The Call denounced the outrage and demanded that the authorities use all the force that might be necessary to vindicate the law and to sup- press violence. It is evident that the fundamental doctrine of legal equality under a constitutional Gov- no licenses to perpetrate crime, whether by the rich or by the poor, whether in South Carolina, in Idaho or anywhere else, should be recognized. But The Call did not suppose, when the Governor of Idaho called for military assistance from the Fed- IMPERIALISM. | eral Government, that under the pretext of suppress- ing riotous demonstrations the Federal and the State constitutions would be substantially trodden under foot and a practical illustration of imperialism fur- nished within the limits of an autonomous State. The manner in which the difficulty was handled by General Merriam and the Governor combined was almost as illegal as the violent conduct of the rioters them- selves. It was in effect the unnecessary substitution cf military for civil government, of despotism for ireedom. The opinion of General Merritt that the constitution has been ‘“outgrown,” his eulogy of Secretary Alger, with his peculiar methods, as greater than the world-renowned War Secretary of our inter- necine conflict, sounded harshly to the ears of edu- cated Americans, loyal to their national institutions. But the conduct of General Merriam and the chief executive of Idaho brings home to the country with realistic significance what imperialism actually means. The ninth section of article I of the Federal con- stitution declares: “The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.” This great writ of right cannot be sus- pended by the President himself, except under the authority of an act of Congress, as has been repeat- edly decided by the Supreme Court of the United States. Yet, according to the news dispatches, when his command, and without even a temporary neces- sity, nominally under State authority but as the re- sult of an agreement with the Federal General, the writ was suspended and martial law declared. Again, the first amendment to the Federal constitution de- prives Congress itself of the power of “abridging the " Yet Gneral Merriam assumed the right to establish a press cen- And, still further, miners as well as capital- ists are legally authorized to unite for their own pro- | tection and to exert the power of combination to maintain the rate of wages. But, unless the news reports are false, this elementary principle has been repudiated by General Merriam, and the condition for the resumption of work at Wardner enforced that | no member of the Miners’ Union shall be employed. These manifestations of practical imperialism have been virtually unrebuked by the annexation or im- perialistic press. The advocates of a colonial system abroad cannot well denounce arbitrary misgovern- ment at home. The Call has held rigidly to the American system and has insisted upon the suprem- equality among all citizens on every foot of land that belongs to the United States. It has supplied full and unanswerable arguments and illustrations show- ing the vital necessity of maintaining our system and derived from law-writers, from cases, from the Fed- eral records and from authentic history. Journals that support imperialism have not found and cannot discover any logical or truthful answer. They limit themselves to the endless repetition: of manufactured falsehoods, and do not even pretend to assign any reason, beyond some ridiculous “national policy,” for departure from established principles and from land- marks hitherto consistently upheld by statesmen, by jurists, by military and by naval officers, and by the mass of the American people. We have looked in vain for any intellectual or moral appeal, resting upon truth, to the minds or to the hearts of American citi- zens, in favor of the revolutionary and treasonable policy that has been blatantly advocated for the bene- fit of speculators and of incipient Napoleons, uncon- scious of their own limitations. The spectacle in Idaho is an experimcntal example of the effect of imperialistic tendencies that can | scarcely remain unnoticed. AN INVIOLATE REPUBLIC HE more European complications are. studied Tlhe more complete becomes the justification of the founders of this republic in confining govern- ment within its legitimate sphere and the more inde- fensibie the efforts of American imperialists to impress European ideas upon our tested and successful insti- tutions. The problem before the thirteen colonies when re- sistance to the exactions of George III became not merely indispensable to their security but a duty to the human race was most complicated and most em- barrassing. Some converging point upon which they could unite had to be discovered. They were per- vaded by deeply religious but diverse and clashing sentiments, and by hereditary descent and by the uni- form pressure of European education and practice they had been familiarized with the interpenetration of politics and religion. There had been isolated and not unirequent approaches in most of the colonial administrations toward the removal of restraints upon religious and political activities, but for two centuries or more the reconciling life that the world awaited struggled in the womb of indefinite expectancy. The great Americans of the eighteenth century solved the problem and achieved their purpose. They struck the tocsin of ephemeral despotism and the key- note of durable government when, by the Declaration of Independence, they proclaimed the inalienability of the natural endowments of men, and when, by the Federal constitution, they divorced church and state, restricted political interference with personal liberty to the minimum, stamped intolerance and bigotry into | the dust, inoculated a nation with the moral principles and rules in which civilized men concurred, and swung before the astonished eyes of mankind a Union of autonomous States, where all men were free and equal in opportunity and before the law, and which were held to their glowing center as the planets to the sun. For a hundred and twelve years the American Gov- ernment, stripped of perplexing complications and religiously neutral except in the realm of universal morality, has proved its superiority over all previous and contemporaneous plans for the protection of lib erty and the development of orderly society. It has attracted and unified the best strains of blood in the human race. It has illuminated a continent with edu- cation and with progressive intelligence. Without sacrificing principle it has enlarged its domain by the erection of new States. It has multiplied every form of wealth “beyond the dreams of avarice.” It has steadily gained in strength, in discipline and in power. By its self-concentration it has avoided the entanglements of erudite and artificial diplomacy. By its adherence to a simple but wonderfully harmonious | constitution it has lightened the burden of humanity of the constitution and the laws and upon legal and allowed the freest play to those soaring faculties that, for thousands of years, were repressed by the superincumbent weight of institutions that falsely as- serted a divin® origin and inspiration. This majestic progress would have been impossible under imperialism, and, even under a democratic system, would have been quickly checked, but for the complete elimination of the elements of dogmatic con- troversy and the rclegation of every issue that did not affect man in his earthly and in his political rela- tions to the sphere of private life and of those organ- izations that train the soul for its final destiny. The American theory embraces all the simplicities and all the unities of civilized mankind, but leaves the un- fettered spirit to its own associations and to its own aspirations. Where the diversified phases of religious life begin the function of government ends. The British tendency is toward disestablishment, al- ready perfected in Ireland. In other parts of Europe the same inclination is perceptible. But generations must pass away and perhaps centuries elapse before the rooted complexities of the past can be disen- tangled and a harmonious separation and adjustment of ecclesiastical and political jurisdiction effected. Meanwhile, unless internally convulsed through cor- rupt ambition and civic apathy, unless dragged back from our high ideals and yoked to the prowling mon- sters of despotism, unless our young manhood turns away from its trained Americanism, scents the blood of racial inferiority and joins the rush of nations for the plunder of torrid disintegration, this mighty re- public will rise and spread, through the leaven of American civilization, until the earth shall be filled with its glory as the waters cover the sea. MORE TROUBLE BREWING. l the inspiration of Mahomet overthrew the Greeks in that country it has been under Mahometan | domination and has long formed a part of the Turk- | ish empire. . It is now announced that a Syrian junta has been formed in New York, representing the Syrian immi- T is a far cry“from New York to Syria.. Since “A Box of Monkeys,” Tuesd: ven- | ¥ 3 | 3 5 iti i syt Ay esday €VeN | General Merriam had an overwhelming force under’| 8rants who have become citizens of the United | States, which has been gathering means to begin a | Syrian revolution against Turkey. The president of | this junta decldres that they intend to proceed on the | lines followed by the Cuban junta, to work up Ameri- | can sympathy and support, and by means of secret \organiznions in Asia Minor to start a widespread | outbreak, in the expectation that the Armenians will !risc at the same time and put Turkey-between two j ires. i Until recently it was an exhibition of Americanism | worthy of applause to express sympathy with any peo- | ple anywhere who were willing to fight for liberty | and self-government on the soil on which they were | born. It was this genuine Americanism that inspired | the Spanish war to give civil order and self-govern- | ment to the subject peoples of that kingdom. In | view of our record in the Philippines it is becoming | somewhat hazardous for an American to amy more imanifest such sympathy. But, leaving consistency one side, is there not room for doubt as to the pro- | priety of permitting this country to be made the | breeding place of foreign revolutions? Turkey is one of the family of nations. We are at | peace and on terms of amity with her. While | American interests there are not large, they have | some significance and should be thought of. | But when we encourage a revolution in Turkey | there are other things to be thought of than the im- | mediate effect upon that country. Every Govern- | ment on the globe is interested in the tranquillity of | the Mahometan world. There are nearly three hun- dred millions of that faith in the world. Two mil- lions of them are in the Philippine Islands. When | the faith of the Prophet was but a grain of mustard seed, compared to the millions who professed Chris- tianity, Islam nearly overran Europe. It has been said that if the armies of the Caliphs had not been driven back over the Pyrenees at the battle of Tours, where Martel overcame Abderraman, the world would now be Mahometan and the Koran would be ex- pounded in the universities of Germany, France, Eng- lend and the United States. No one admits that Mahometanism can do in the dry stick the mighty things done in the green, but it is a fighting faith and has the power to disturb the world by bloodshed unequaled in modern times. The | crait and courage which once ruled the world, from | the Pyrenees to the Himalayas, set up the empire of | the Moguls and spread to the islands that mark the eastern boundary of the Indian Ocean, are by no means exhausted. In spite of her errors of internal administration, Turkey, standing to the modern mind | as the representative of Islam, has held her own by dint of fighting, and her army, for its size, is the finest in the world. If the United States permit the brewing of this Syrian revolution we are permitting to be lighted a torch that will start a conflagration to profoundly dis- turb the world. The Sultan is not the spiritual head of the Mahometan faith. That office is held by the Shiek ul Islam, a descendant of the Prophet, who alone by unfurling the green banner has the power to | declare a holy war. If the provocation come from a Christian nation, the most appalling results may fol- low. The six hundred millions of Asiatics and Afri- | cans, of other non-Christian faiths, who are by no means enamored of Christian imperial methods, may easily ally themselves with Islam, and the _high proclamation of a Syrian republic may light a con- flagration from Marmora to the Yellow Sea > There are doubts whether such responsibility is to be properly assumed by the United States. Already we have given shelter to a series of conspiracies against Governments with which we were at peace. | The last one has involved us in an expenditure in one year of three quarters of a billion dollars and the loss of many lives, and the end is not yet. Encouraging with our sympathy a distant people struggling for liberty is one thing. ~ Permitting the organization of revolution by conspiracy on our own soil against a friendly Government is quite another. e e e | | | ! That an unmuzzled press has illimitable power for good has been shown beyond all doubt in the Dreyfus case. Revision is no more certain than the fact that, ' had there been no Figaro willing to fly in the face | of oppressive laws aimed at the newspapers, there | would have been no revision. Members of the late | California Legislature and their admirers, please take | note. | In a communication a local workingman expresses | a fear that Governor Gage will appoint as Labor Commissioner some one not thoroughly qualified for | that very important position. This workingman may silence his fears; Dan Burns will make the selection, and the history of the last Senatorial campaign will | tell with what judgment. R — Samuel Findley, the embezzling ex-Tax Collector | of San Luis Obispo, who was captured in a suburb of Lima, says he will return voluntarily to California. It is very kind of him, but he might have said some- thing about a return of the money he stole. Tl T The jig appears to be all up with “Traitor” Atkin- son. Chicago has put her feet on him. | OXPAORDAOXOHROROKOROXOROXOXOKOLOXOAOXDEOROHKOROKOROK OHOAIHO KPR PAPHP XX According to a report from Chicago, | Clarence Eddy of that city has been ap- pointed “officlal organist of the United States at the Paris Exposition.” The report adds:. “There may be other American crganists.in Paris during the season of 1900, but Mr. Eddy of Chi- cago alone will be authorized to play for this country with the official sanc- tion of the Government.” ,On all other points and detalls of the appointment the report is silent. What the Govern- ment expects of an official organist at Paris, what is to be his official rank, what he is to play, who is to furnish the organ and what he is to be paid are questions left to such answering as conjecture may give. Under such circumstances there should be sent to Washington a uni- versal petition of the American people requesting the President, as comman- der in chief of the army, to detail Gen- eral Fitzhugh Lee with a firing squad to attend Mr. Eddy to Paris and guard him while there. The reason for such petition is sufficiently valid, opportune, important and interesting to be worth the Sunday attention even of church- going people, and therefore I submit it. P During the war with Spain a great dignitary of high official rank was for a time with the corps commanded by Fitzhugh Lee. He took a superior in- terest in the troops and did a consid- erable amount of supervision while there. When the time came for him to g0 away a regiment was paraded in his honor and the band ordered to play a military farewell. Now the boys in the Spanish war had a great fondness for “coon” songs and the band chosen to make music for this particular event knew them all. As the high dignitary rode along the line of troops, bowing and - saluting in stately farewell, the band struck up the ringing, roaring melody, “We don’t care if you never come back; get a move on you, niggah, do.” General Lee was naturally much an- neyed by such a violation of military decorum on the part of his gallant vol- unteers. All the West Point dignity within him rose up in wrath and he swore a great oath with himself that it shouldn’t happen again. In the course of events Lee was assigned the duty of relieving the Spanish comman- der in Havana, and taking control in the name of the United States. An im- posing military ceremony attended the transfer of the sovereignty of the isl- and from the one power to the other. It was arranged that when the Spanish flag was hauled down the captain gen- eral should at once take his departure, g0 aboard a ship and embark for Spain, The United States was of course to give him a military salute of honor as he departed. When Fitzhugh Lee rode down to the plaza to take part in the ceremony, he cast his eye over the troops drawn up in grand parade and he saw in the foremost place, with in- struments all prepared, ready to blare out on the instant, that self-same “coon song” band that had stirred his bile at Tampa. A West Point training, long military experience and four years of civil war have taught Lee to act promptly in emergencies. He dispatched a staff of- ficer instantly to notify the bandmas- ter that if that ceremony were marred by a “coon song,” or anything like one, the people of Havana would be enter- tained by seeing a bandmaster shot be- fore sunset. It is scarcely necessary to say the music of the occasion was par- ticularly stately. It was even solemn. That is why I say Fitzhugh Lee and a firing squad should be sent to Parls with Eddy. There should be some mili- tary supervision of American music in foreign lands. . Chicago is of course greatly elated over the appointment of her Auditor- ium organist to represent the nation officially as most worthy grand high master of music, or something of that kind, at the world's great exposition in the city that most brilliantly illustrates | the civilization of the age; and doubt- less Mr. Eddy feels a thrill of the com- ing gold braid, and is flattered and proud himself. Nevertheless his lot is not going to be a happy one. What se- lections to make when he sets about the task of rendering American official music to Europe is a question that may well give him pause and perplex the bain of him. It is probable even that when at the supreme moment he rises to fulfill his duty and to confront his difficulties and his instrument, he will wish in his heart he had been born a hanjoist and raised in rag time. It is to be borne in mind that he is not to be left free to exercise an indi- vidual choice as to what he will play. The responsibility of officialism will be upon him. As the Inter Ocean says: “Whenever Mr. Eddy sits down in front of the keyboard the audience will feel that every note which issues from the pipes is sanctioned by the American Government.” Our Governthent of course cannot afford to show official partiality for the music of one nation over that of another, therefore the per- formance of any-selection from a Eu- ropean source is out of the question. From beginning to end Mr. Eddy’s playing must be strictly American in theme and method. It is easy to fore- see that under such circumstances the temptation to run into “coon songs” will be almost irresistible; and when it is remembered that thousands of Americans of the tourist variety will be among the exposition audiences, eager to “whoop her up” for every dear familiar air, it would not be objected to by true patriots who are not going to be in Paris, if the President should equip Lee’s firing squad with a Gatling gun. LT B s The prevalence of the “‘coon song” is indisputable, and because it is preva- lent many people regard it as the pop- ular melody of the country. Some even assert it to be the music of America as distinguished from the music of Eu- rope. It is said we like it because it is the outwelling utterance of our emo- tional life in our own musical vernacu- lar; and as proof of its pop-larity the fact is cited that within the last few years over 400 of these songs have been published and each of them in turn has found a ready sale, Such an ex- traordinary sale, however, is proof of anything rather than of popularity. It is. indeed a convincing evidence that ‘the American people are so disgusted with such songs that no sooner do they hear one than they wish something else and turn to anything, even to another “coon song,” for a change. AT wjsite EDITORIAL VARIATIONS. BY JOHN McNAUGHT. OHOXOHOAOXOFOXSXOXOHOHOKOADHOHDAPKOKOAOKOR DO K OADXOX IO D | FOXIAOXOXOR | ance of such songs in this country is to be found in what the cowboy said to the Boston tourist whom he saw wearing eye glasses: * “What do you wear them specks for?" asked the cow- boy. “Because of my misfortune,” an- swered the Boston man; “I am near- sighted.” The cowboy sized him up with one glance. “Misfortune, noth- ing,” he said; “it's your derned igno- rance.” D . We accept the crude, coarse melodies of the day simply because we are mu- sically ignorant and are sufficiently lazy to be content with ignorance. Every immigrant to the United States brought with him the melodies of his fatherland. All the sweet songs of the British islands, of Germany, France, Italy and Spain are ours by inherit- ance; and we, their descendants, have traded off that rich store of popular music for such a mess of pottage as “coon songs” simply from our ignor- ance of the value of the heritage. We are musically uneducated and are therefore indifferent to musical values, vet we know good music by instinct as well as any people on earth. Wt e It is a s.trlking illustration of the un- educated, unformed public sentiment as regards music in America that while we tolerate the prevalence of the lowest form of melody known to civilized man, yet we willingly pay higher prices for good music than any other people on earth. Notwithstanding the immense subsidies granted by the governments of the nations of continental Europe to sustain grand opera and other mu- | sical performances, we by popular sup- port alone, unaided by any subsidy, draw to our concert halls and to our opera-houses a greater number of great artists than any other nation. The New York papers recently pub- lished the official statement submitted to the stockholders of the Metropoli- | tan Opera-house, showing in detail the receipts and expenditures for the sea- son of the Grau company, and as an evidence of what a single American | citv does to sustain a single opera com- pany for a single season, the figures are worth considering for as long a time at any rate as it takes to read them. A summary of the salient points of the statement runs thus: The receipts were over $800,000, and the profits $150,- | 000, of which Grau will receive half, the other half going to stockholders as an unexpected dividend. Jean de Reszke was paid for the season’s work $70,000; Van Dyck, $30,000; Edouard de Reszke, $28,000; Van Rooy and Plancon, $12,000 each; Saleza, £10,000; Dippel, $8000; Bis- plam, $7500, and Maurel and Albers, | $6000 each. Mme. Sembrich received $28,800; Mme. Lehmann, $26,000; Nord- ica, $25,000; Eames, $15,000; Brema, $10,- | 000; Mme. Schumann-Heink, $5000; En- gel, Saville and Mantilli, $4000 each, and Suzanne Adams, $3500. . . It is not within the glittering circles of wealth alone that good music is val- ued in the United States. Among our | immigrant population fresh from Eu- rope, and cherishing still the Old World respect for music, there is to be found a right appreciation of the true stand- ards of musical accomplishment. Not | long ago I dined at a restaurant pa- | tronized mainly by Italian fishermen.i It is not a bohemian place in any re- | spect. It is the dining place and lodg- | ing-house of hard-working men who | have no time for the delights and the depravities of bohemia. After their dinner, while waiting for the tide, the fishermen began to sing to pass the time away, and in every instance the | songs were the arias or the choruses of the grand operas that have made Ital- ian genius renowned in every land on earth where there are people capable of appreciating genius. These fisher- men are not educated men in the ordi- | nary sense of the word, at least not in the American sense of it. They would | not be ranked by Bostonians as “per- sons of cuiture.” Their children will | be full-fledged Americans; they will be brought up in our public schools; they will find their amusement in our concert halls, and if they sing at all they will make ine welkin tinkle like a tin pan to the tune of Hot Time in the Old | Town To-Night. | 8% kst | About nine Americans out of ten have | persuaded themselves they have no ear | for music and could not distinguish | good from evil; and so they never try. Accepting the assumed physical disa- bility as a fact, they resign themselves to live in ignorance of the ever flow- ing streams of music around them as if the ignorance were inevitable and not to be overcome. That is something like taking the devil's offspring, indo- lence, baptizing it with the Christian name, ‘“resignation,” and passing it off as a child of Providence, a dispensa- tion from heaven. It is not easy mi . believe the good Lord has deprived so many Americans of well attuned ears, when He has given such ears so freely to every people of every land that has | seriously tried to make the best of mu- slc. . . Fortunately for America, fortunately | for the world, the great musicians, de- spite thelr natural irritability, have been as a’rule of unwearying patience in their efforts to teach an apathetic multitude of philistines the beauty and the joy of music. In his recently pub- lished “Fragments of an Autobio- graphy,” Felix Moschelles tells a story of his father which illustrates the true musician spirit. The élder Moschelies it appears could never hear a poor player trying to interpret a masterpiece without going to his assistance. Cne night, while stopping at a little hetel in xon: the family was disturbed by a pilanist banging away in the ad- joining room. Moscheljes says: Enter my father suavely apologizing for the interruption—we hear it all through th artition. He, too, is a lover of mt may he as such be allowed to listen for awhile? Much d, the other offers him a chair 1 resumes his performance; my father listens patiently, and waits till the last bars are reached. “Delightful!" we hear him say beautiful piece, 18 it not? I once learned it, too; may I try your piano?’ And with that he pounces on the sha old instrument, galvanizing it into new life, as he starts off at a furious rate, and gives vent to his pent-up feeli octaves and breakneck y had he played that most brilllant of pieces more brilliantly. “Good-night,” he said as he struck the last chord; allow me once more to apologize.” “Ach! thus I shall never be able to play it,” answered the neighbor with a deep sigh, and he closed the piano, and spent the rest of the evening a sadder but a quieter man. sages; never Taking all things into consideration, it is gratifying to know we are to have an official organist at Paris, and that when he is at the keyboard every sound that comes from the pipes will have the sanction of our Government. It isn’t often we do that sort of thing, but this administration is bound to make a record for harmony ANSWERS TO CCRRESPONDENTS. THE NEW LIGHT COMPANY—A. S, City. If you have a matter of importance to lay before the new light company ad- dress a communication to either of the incorporators. Had you given your ad- ss in your letter of inquiry an answer would have been sent to you at once. A DIVORCEE—C. H. C., City. In Cali- fornia a woman who has for legal cause obtained a divorce from her husband can in this State marry again after one year from the date of the decree. The fact that her once husband was a mem- ber of a particular church or not a church member has nothing to do in law with her marrying again after the period of time stated. RECONSIDER, RESCIND—City Sub- seriber, City. According to parliamentary law a motion to reconsider the vote on a question is intended to bring back before the assembly a question that has been de- cided, and to place it before the assembly just as it stood before the vote was taken upon it. It must be made (except when the vote is by ballot) by a member wha voted on the prevailing side of the ques- tion. One who was not present at the time the vote was taken cannot at a subse- quent meeting appear and move a recon- sideration. To rescind is not the same as to reconsider. If an assembly adopts a measure it may subsequently rescind it and by sq doing annul it. If rescinded it does not stand before the assembly as a matter reconsidered. ————— Cal. glace fruit 50c per ib at Townsend's.* —_——————————— Special information suppiied daily to business houses and public men by the Press Clipping Bureau (Allen’s), 510 Mont- gomery street. Telepnone Main 1042 ¢ e —— Threatens to Kill Him. William Denahy, a mail clerk, was ar- rested yesterday on a charge of an at- tempt to commit a,criminal assault upon his two nieces, who are 12 and 13 years of age. Michael Denahy, the father of th two girls, told the police that he woul Kill his brother, and the police are afraid he will carry out his threat if he gets the chance. The father lives at 53 Minna street and is a longshoreman. Y. . C. A. Excursion via Burlington Route. Leaving San, Francieco Thursday, May 18, § a. m., the Blrlington route will run through tourist cars to Chicago, in charge of a manager for those desiring to attend the Biennial Con- vention, Y. M. C. A, to be held at Grand Rapids, Mich., May 4. Tourist cars will also run from Chicago to Boston for those desiring to extend their jour- ney to Eastern points. Full information given and reservations made at 32 Montxomery st., San Francisco, or 972 Broadway, Oakland. e Rock Island Route Excursions. Leave San Francisco every Wednesday, via Rio Grande and Rock Island railways. Through tourist sleeping cars to Chicago and Boston. Manager and porter accompany these excur. sions through to Boston. For tickets, sleeping car accommodations and further information, address CLINTON JONES, General Agent Rock Island Railway, 624 Market st., S. F. oy (e i Two Years for Counterfeiting. Amos Vliet was sentenced by United States District Judge de Haven yester- day to pay a fine of $100 and to be im- prisoned in the penitentiary at San Quen- tin for two years. Vliet had been co victed of having counterfeit dollars in his possession. Il\j\ackay at once. Provident people is Selling Out to Quit Selling out furniture, carpets and household goods to quit business; everything ‘in the store has been reduced in price to close out Closed the store Saturday and fixed up the disordered stock—convenient shape now for Monday morning—g a. m. and portiere week—cheaper than ever before. Lace curtain appreciate an honest sale of household necessities, and this is one. First come are first to pick. ALEX. MACKAY & SON, 715 MARKET STREET,