The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, June 5, 1899, Page 4

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL MONDAY, JUNE 5, 1899, e — A5 @all BONDS @dND ‘ — = {STREET RAILWAY STOCKS. i | HE existing securities for the payment of bonds | issued by the Market Street Railway Compau'y = | and by each contributing member to its consoli- I dation and the condition of the stock of that company tare of vital public in Both the bonds and ’th'e [ stock are now bought and sold in this city, and possi- stoc Jl" s elsewhere, and their value depends up: 1 presumptively within the range of Jl'N:ii 5, 1809 PRECKELS, Proprietor. . o W. 5. LEAKE, Ma A PUBLICATION OFFIC Telephone EDITORIAL ROOM 217 to 221 Stevenson Street | phone Main 1874, 1 15 CENTS PER WEBK. upon law that are ordinary inquiry. The general law in relation to the issue of bonds F:y and therefore applicable to street rail- qualified by constitutional restric- [ corporation .$6.00 | way companies, e ad Dby corresponding statutory amplification. G63e e XII, section 11, of the Constitution of this 150 | Siate provides: “No corporation shall issue stock or rptions. ‘ bonds except for money paid, iabor done or property and all fictitious increase of stock or 1 be void.” This distin=t limitation, of the Civil Code, was held to ¢ of Ewing vs. Oroville Min- volume 36 of the California Reports, pag 1d the ruling was reaffirmed ..Marquetts Buflding | i1l Oakland Paving Company v: ][u{mn. 69 Califor- sing Representative. | nia Reports, page 485. Subject to this stringent rule BRANCH OFFICES- 597 Moptgomery strest, corner Glay il?mre can be no doubt of the right of the Market cpen untll 9:30 o'clock. 387 Hayes strcat, open until | Street Railway Company to guarantee the outstand- 621 McAilister street, open untll 930 | ;0 indebtedness of the various corporations of which successor, as well as to contract indebt- Larkin street, open until 9:30 o'clock. lon street, open until 10 o'clock. 2291 Market h It has been expressly decided that ded when requested. 908 Broadway | indebtedness sh Room 188, World Building | & Represeatative. C.) OFFICE Weliington Ho! . CARLTON, Correcspondent. | actually received, LAND CFFICE NEW YORK OFFiCE C.GEO WASHINGT followed in section be ry in the ¢ prohit reported i any, s 6 | i 2-653, (<% AGO OFFICE 5 2 ORGE KROGNESS, Adverti it became the orner Sixteenth, open until 9 o'clock. 2518 | cdness of its own. Misslon street, open untll 9 o'clock. 106 Eieventh | T s el aracter in the issue of bonds Streets open ot 91 olock ] 1506 {Polk sttatiiopan | cpISClidations of that ch are entitled to exercise the powers of the original companies whose property, franchises and debts it | takes and assumes. And in the case of Low vs. the 1Cem Pacific Railroad Company. California Re- !pnns. pages 59-60, in which, however, Mr. Justice | McKinstry dissented, our Supreme Court sustained [ the power to g The doctrine of ac- the trust nent of railway bonds until 9:30 o'clock. NW. corner Twenty-second ang Kentucky streets, open until 9 o'clock. arantee bond: jon of liens created by exten | deeds given to secure th de after-acquired property, although to ubted, w ire and Pennsylvania, and is widely - | so as to incl | upheld in two noted cases prevailing law. This of course is an element in estimating railroad securities, here the money they represent is largely applied to additional track and the enlarge- ite, especially in the Federal courts, Constitution for the protection of ents in corporate bonds, aided by numerous pre-existing rules, has been rigidly An example of this kind, somewhat de- pendent upon the language of a legislative enactment, decision under the Wright Irrigation Act in 1son vs. Crane, to be found in 115 Reports, at page 418. In the case of the avings B Pacific Railway Company, lifornia Reports, pages COMMERCIAL BALLOONING. 1 Vs, 117 ( street railway bonds was justified, and the opinion is | an interesting exposition of the law on that subject. lent, the that had | put them in circulation, the corporation was bound factory assurances from the vice presi ess thar secretary and the attorney of the compar W ¢ Hay ¢ y had its boom last | ypder the decision of the United States Circuit Court w paying the e pen But | for the Southern District of California, in the case s ¢ rkably | of the Union Lc and Trust Comp: vs. The Motor Company, published in deral Reporter, at page 840. There in support of the right of bona arket, and nice distinctions and qualifications affecting those 1 1 orr Southern Cal volume 51 of the F ¢ with short e hot cakes are many authoritie fide purchasers of railway bonds in open d hogs are hi are above the qu the year, ruling rights re there was palpable invalidity in the issue ; s bee p r Some | or where there were over-issues of bonds, are frequent. tir a his fruit—it is in the He is | While the ial inclination to maintain the inter- g 30 $50 per ton for of ho purchasers is manifest, there are in- $30 to $45 is Bartlett pears. and the ca ces in which that tendency is controlled by plain 1tial customers The same Federal tribunal already mentioned n and Trust law. TS i in the case of the Farmers’ I Tt t o mpany « hout the country | vs The San Diego Car Company, 45 Federal Re- e S which played havoc with | porter, page 518, was compelied to throw out bonds | which were old, but v N farmer the only prosperous one. The | cure antecedent indebtedness. In Texas, where there ¢ 2 good business, simply because the » some constitutional features peculiar to that State, er lover. It all comes back to the man |:n issue of bonds was invalidated because no sinking aiter all. We write pitying poems about | fund had been provided for their redemption. This ww pictures of him, but sometimes he decision has an important bearing upon some of the valk, and this seems to be one of these | facts to which we are about to allude. the man with the hoe s his humble | It is manifestly impossible in a newspaper article er box, ne this ye to elaborate legal propositions and authorities. But d deal more money than his city E(HUHQIE ay be concisely presented to suggest cau- iis counting room, surrounded by sleek | tious inquiry and consideration. It is obvious, apart ssed clerk 1e city brother is do- | from the personal liability of stockholders and the 1 too, at the moment. There a certain | equitable remedies by which irregular corporate pro- for goods of classe ich no- | ceedings may often be corrected, that the available e to explain. It comes from every e of street railway bonds must depend upon the wi Nort West, from Manila to | prac for their liquid n, and that the to the west | franchises which vitalize the security are the most provisions, | important elements for accurate judgment. It is to ery, cloth- | b v noted also that the charter of a street lly seems | i through which its powers are re in de- | conferred by the State, is always to be distinguished freights in some | from the municipal franchises that, while they last, | property. The porated October 13, 189 «ct Street Railway Company was incor- de. for a general street railw: y on the strect to |husiness in San Francisco and in San Mateo County. 2428 eleven other corporations, among | which the Geary street line was not included. Tt has bout 60 per cent of the stock in the ‘McKinley prosperi consolidated to make a fine exhibit. The | since acquired 1own, but the | corporation ow ibutive trade | will expire November 6, 1903, and is thus interested bonds to the amount of $671,000 that will ma- ture when the present charter has for years been dead. But of the eleven corporations embraced in the con- more furnaces | solidation six had outstanding bonds secured by trust in the in country, and nd for iron pass of iron and steel last and : 5 into blast and mine grows more+| mortgages, erybody who buys nails, wire and other | condensed facts are very significant. We will en- on proc ha wered/ ere this. he call for | deavor suceinctly to present them. The Ferries and ber continues unabated and prices have again been | Cliff House Railway Company, with many franchises, marked up. Cotton goods are steady. with an in- | ranging from twenty-five to fifty years in duration, rrr::w! in in_spite of higher prices. | some of them already expired, others to terminate in The course of the wheat market is ptizzling the | 1002, in 1909: in 1911 and in 1912, and two extending country at the moment. The winter crop of the | respectively to 1020 and 1931, has outstanding bonds United States is seriously deficient, and reports of | to the amount of $650,000 which will mature in 1914. ]:‘l.flll‘ and complete failures have been coming in|The Market Street Cable Company, with one fran- thick and t from Europe, and yet the market is | chise which expired in 1897, another limited to 1904 in respon ng. True, quo and several which will last from 1920 to 1933, is repre- | sented by bonds to the amount of $3,000,000 that will { mature in 1913. The Omnibus Cable Railway, with franchises which will terminate at various periods be- | tween 1909 and 1939, has outstanding bonds aggre- | gating $2,085,000 that will fall due in 1918. The bonds of the Park and Cliff House Railway foot up only ;$;;n,mm and will mature in 1913. The Park and { Ocean Railroad has outstanding bonds to the amount | ot $250.000 that will bécome due in 1914. The Powell Street Railway’s bonds in the market are of the { amount of $700,000 and will mature in 1912. The sum total of all these bonds is $7,033,000. ! q The entire property and assets of these six corpora- boomerang. In fact ail over the country, in Wall | tions, necessarily subject to their secured indebted- in merchandise and on the farm, prices seem | ness under the rules established by section 473 of the determined to rise, and nothing apparently is able to | Civil Code, passed to the Market Street Railway keep them down. { Company in 1893. June 28, 1894, that corporation ons nced somewhat during the past fortnight, but not nearly as much T as the crop reports countable. Wall strect opened the week with a decline, but it did not last long the the week an upward turn, and though the bears de a desperate fight they were forced to hunt for cover. The announcement that $16,000,000 in gold had been engaged for export was hailed as a factor eir favor, but it had a contrary and curious effect. sed off the London market and thereby created a demand there, tvancing their quotations, and thus proved a arrant. ess is un is sluggish Toward close of prices tool | which spread to Amgrican sto. on facts :\nd“ d by way of pledge to se- | de- | constitute the chief factors in the actual value of its ning that line, the franchise of whigh | and in relation to this indebtedness the | adopted a resolution to crcate a bonded indebtedness of $17,500,000, bearing interest at the rate of 5 per | cent per annum, to cover the obligations of the six | companies it had absorbed, to purchase other railways ‘flnd.!o pay for future construction and equipment. These bonds will mature in 1924. To secure them, on | July 12, 1804, a trust mortgagre to the Union Trust Company of San Francisco was executed, which cov- | ered all the consolidated railws as well as futute acquisitions and extensions, and recited an intention, as rapidly practicable, to retire the bonds of the six corporations which within the limits of the law | had transferred all their property and franchises. | Since October 13, 1893, the Market Street Railway | Company has obtained additio franchises of its own and has expended $4.817,000 in construction, to }\.hich amount its bonds have been issued and are in circulation. But the bonds of the six railways which it absorbed, after the lapse of nearly six years, are still listed in the Stock and Bond 1ixchange and are | daily bought and sold, and while the Market Street Railway Company has the combined assets and their | exclusive management, beyond the declaration in the | trust mortgage, which apparently hzs remained tor- | pid, the holders of bonds to the amount of $7,035.000 have no other securitics than the transferred and slowly vanishing franchises and property by which principally the Market Street Railway Company has secured its own bonds, issued and unfssued. What its ultimate intentions may be it is not possible to con- jecture, but upon its face the situation is not encour- aging and appears to be fraught with peril to the financial interests of investors. As a business propo- sition there is no evidence that the $12,683,000 of un- issued bonds are to be used for the purposes to which they were originally intended to be applied. If this be the fact then before long there may be danger of a panic in this class of securities. But suppose the outstanding bonds of the six sub- | sidiary and collapsed corporations and of the Market | Street ‘Railway Company be added together and the entire indebtedness charged to the latter. The sum total is $11,852,000, and the question at once arises as | to the provision made for the liquidation of the bonds 1924. The trust mortgage, which expressly authorizes the use of these bonds to the amount of $10,4635,000 for new purchases and for additional con- struction, provides for no sinking or redemption fund until 1018, and then only at the rate of $160,000 per annum, which in six years would produce $960,000 to pay obligations to the amount of $11,852,000. By that time many of the existing franchises will have lapsed. The result would inevitably be disastrous if toward the maturity of the bonds the conditions | should be, as every visible indication suggests, that apart from personal liability or equitable proceedings the only security left for the bondholders would be the remnants of perishing franchises and a mass of old iron and other worn out property. It is simply fair also to bear in mind that the policy | of the New Charter, practicalized in its text, is the | acquisition of public utilities and against TCHC\\‘IIIS,;‘ which, even though they could be certainly antici- | pated, would not enter into a financial estimate of the | present or prospective value of securities in this in- | due in congruous condition. The terms moreover on which, | | under the coming system of municipal government, | ed are not favorable to specula- | street railway bonds. By section 6| ter not only are street railway fran-‘ renewals are tole tive operations of the New Cha | chises limited i | accompanied by the exaction of greatly enlarged per- centages on gross receipts, but their indorsement re- quires a three-fourths vote of eighteen Supervisors, which would be exactly thirteen and one-half, and to override vetoes by the Mayor in each instance fiiteen votes would be essential. | There are issued 186,170 shares of the capital stock | of the Market Street Railway Company, on which a | quarterly dividend of 60 cents per share, or $111,702 altogether, is paid. The stock is quoted at from 62 It is thus manifest that the original bonds of x virtually extinct companies and the bonds of the consolidation to the amoung of at least $11,852,000, and with the prospect of a large addition for other | acquisitions and construction, are secured by the samci property; that the distinct securities for the original | bonds are under the sole control of the Market Street Railway Company; that the value of these securities depends mainly upon franchises that will gradually | revert to the municipality, unaffected by any incum- | | brances; that no adequate provision for the redemption { of the new bonds has been made, and that, in the face | of these fa the value of the Market Street Railway | | stock is maintained by the withdrawal in the form of | dividends of itscurrent income to theaggregate yearly | amount of $446,808, which at the time of the maturity | of the $17,500,000 of new bonds in 1924, if continued | |at the same rate, would reach the enormous sum of $11,170,200. This a diversion of funds at the ex- | pense of creditors that is simply astonishing. Unless The Call is greatly deccived it has supplied | conclusive reasons for the projected raid of the street | | railway monopoly through corrupt Supervisors, and | has also presented facts and figures which will enable | the community to comprehend the imminent danger | street railway indebtedness resulting from specu- nd unfair manipulation. to 63%. to | lative 2 | Residents of the Mission propose to make it still | warmer for the Southern Pacific Company. Having ‘dcf(‘ntcd it in its effort to rush through the double track franchise, they now propose to compel it to | move its single track and start work on the bay shore | line. When Herrin gets this information maybe he | will not be sorry he spoke. Commander Shoenfelder of the German warship | Falke has the right now to wear upon his breast the ! decoration of the order of the Eagle for what he re- | frained from doing at Samoa. He might have been wearing the marks of the claws of the eagle of Uncle am had he not refrained. Bt The Court of Cassation seems to have handed down another apple of discord in the new judgment of | Par The way the French general staff is carrying on over the Dreyfus affair could never have been du- | plicated by any-trio of jealous goddesses. | Mark Twain has decided that he will write only two | more books, one not for publication and the other for remote posterity. What a godsend it would be for suffering humanity if a large percentage of the | present day authors would decide on a similar course. It has been suspected all along that John P. Altgeld was a poor sort of a Democrat. Now it is certain. He has announced his intention of resigning one of the semi-political jobs he is holding. It is to be hoped that the smelter owners and em- | ployes in Colorado may soon arrive at such an amica- | ble arrangement that all their troubles may go up in the smoke of the big chimne: Colonel Tom Ochiltree, who came out of Texas to rival Eli Perkins, is living up to the reputation he made in early life. He says he lost heavily on Tod Sloan’s mounts. P The millennium appears to be near at hand. Zola, acknowledged to be one of the greatest living authors | show the widespread exis duration to twenty-five years :\ndix | Some are legitimate and promising. Oth- THE TWO CURRENT The mining field presents just now two popular “excitements,” and these pictur- esque things of persistent recurrence al- | ways attract more attention than more important and legitimate develop- ments in old and rich mining regions. There is a rush to some alleged redis- | covered placers in Lower California, and | in the San Joaquin Valley there is a great oil boom on, attended by the usual crazy formation of wild-cat companies by the hundred, speculation in worthless stocks and properties, the location, bonding and uying of miles of desert hills and proph- ecies of sudden fortunes. The foundation of the ofl craze s the really important development of a small but remarkable oil fleld, at Ofl City, a few miles from Coalinga, on the western side of the valley, in Fresno County. This l§ notable as being the first producing field of importance developed north of the Tehachapi Moun s after nearly orty years of prospecting through the central and northern parts of the State. The storm center of the Lower Califor- nia hoom is San Diego, from which point the craze is ably stimulated in the usual way by newspaper correspondents and transportation and other business inter- ests which will profit thereby. In San Francisco the Mexican Consul-General, Mr. Coney, is receiving inquiries about the field by the hundreds, and from many points a good sized rush is fairly on. A stampede to a new gold field is as easy to check as a stampede of a great cattle herd, and the judiclous may as well keep out of its way. No definite information about the Sierra Pintada field has been given, and none seems obtainable from any source. In the columns of newspaper reports that are published the accounts are but vague rumors of “‘millions in sight.” No gold worth speaking of has come out. Consul- General Coney knows only what is in the papers, and no mining authorities ac- quainted with Lower California are able to say anything without visiting the place. But it requires only vague rumors to start a mining rush and keep it up un- til the bottom falls out. There may be a good deal of gold down there, for the stuff is where you find it, and there are un- doubtedly places where gravel can be worked with profit by the ¢ washing’ process; but it is certain that nine out of ten of the rushers will come out of that desert poorer and thinner than they went in. The Ybarra Gold Mining Com- pany of this city, which holds large con- cessions and works a good mine sixty miles from the new field, has sent a_re- liable expert, M. G. Rhodes, in, and in two or three weeks candid reports from him and others of reliability will show what there really is there. In a letter from San Diego dated May 28 Mr. Rhodes said: ‘‘The papers here are determined to get up a boom. Do not allow, them to carry you off your feet. There is really little more known about the mines than when we left the city. We do not believe last night's report of (}\e large amount of gold sent to Guaymas. The San Joaquin Valley oil craze Iis nearer home. The long-standing faith of oil experts that profitable oil discoveries will be made at many places along the coast range from the Southern oil fields north clear to Humboldt County is one help to the hoom. The geological for- mations, sandstones and shales, are fav- orable to oil deposits throughout a region hundreds of miles long, and the thousands of oil seepages to be seen here and there stence of oil. But an oil seepage does not indicate an en- closed reservoir of oil that there is money in, and with a few small exceptions no borings north of Tehachapi had ever pro- duced a flow of ofl until luck came to two men who went to boring at Oil City in 1596. For two years there has been an easing amount of prospecting for oil | in Monterey, Si Benito, Santa Clara, | san Mateo, Contra Costa an the San| Joaquin Valley counties, and more good fields will undoubtedly be struck. The | Sunset oil field of Kern County has pro- | duced a littie for years, and in Moody's Guich, Santa Clara County, a few barrels | MINING BOOMS fined in a gnrous stratum and it may have escaped. “A good deal of land along that side of the valley offers inducements for pros- pecting and this boom will bring it. In Tar Canyon in Kings County, west of old Lake Tulare, a company is putting up buildings and getting ready to drill. A little north of “there four wells are be- ing put down. A good many are prepar- ing for prospecting operations, and no doubt some good strikes will be made. There is a .great deal of interest in the oil fields all through that country, and a £00d deal of wildcatting is being done and much worthless land being whooped up by promoters. Every foot of land for miles has been taken up. OIll City is com- posed of a few cabins in a barren desert region, and its water is piped to it from the hills to the east. I expect to make another visit in a month or so.” Everythingis favorable for a much larger spread of the oil fever. New wells and flelds recently brought to the front in Southern California help stimulate the interest. The widespread prospecting that is goimg on in Central and Northern California can hardly fail to result in oth- er strikes like that at Oil City, and then the interest will be further fired. It is not generally remembered that California has had two large ofl excite- ments before. One was in 1864-65 and the other in the '70's. The first one was a royal craze. Iis course can be traced in a long series of newspaper clippings of that day in a sicrap book in the possession of State Mineralogist A. S. Cooper. It came as a supplement to the wild Penn- sylvania oil craize of the early '60's, when the first Oil City found fame. That craze, which spread well over the East, caught California in ite tide. Nobody here knew much about oil then, but attention was turned to the ‘‘indications” to be found in plent{vhand the sensation was enor- mous. e interesting tale can be but briefly given here. The California oil excitement was as big East as West. The Eastern papers told extraordinary tales of California oil, backed by expert reports of the marvel- ous oleaginous wealth. Cattle were drowned right along in pools of petro- leum. During 1544 and early '65 many great oil stock companies were floated in the East. The Philadclphia Railroad and Mining Register oi’ December 3, 1864, said: ‘“‘California oil hkand shares, subscribed for In this city at {!1000 per share, payable in gold, ad ced $500 in gold per share two days after the subscription books were fllled. Southern California was the chief scene of these wildcat Eag tern operations. One romoter bought a i3anta Barbara rancn or $10,000 and telegnaphed the price to a artner, who sold a l1alf interest for $.,0,- It was then sold for $450,000. Then :t s made the assets of the California Pe- troleum Company of 410,000,000 capital. It was whooped up by | the column by the Eastern Press. In the New York Inde- pendent we find that in one of the eigh- teen springs ‘‘marked 1Vo. 1 on the map.” there was 144,500,000 gall ons of oil actually in sight. To be conser vative it was as- sumed that only ten of ithe springs wouid be productive. On this assumption there would be a yearly vield of oil worth $5,460,000. One-tenth of the capital stock was reserved as a work ing capital anl half of it was actually sokd at $35 a share. Other companies capitaliaed for millions helped exhaust the power Of the languaga }1"1 ortray the marvels ot Caiifornia oil elds, But in California itself campanies were formed by hundreds. The State was oil mad from Humboldt to San Diego. The slightest seepage of oil about a spring or the smell of it in a2 marsh or elsewhere was enough to start a rush and make sure that great wealth was just below. The country papers teemed with accounts of oil discoveries and oil welis. A good sample is given by the Napa .Reporter of arch 25, 1865, in an account .of a recent covery and rush: Last week a hired man who was ex- cited by the reports of oil dia~overies in other sections of the State was set dig- ging in the swamp for some puirpose. In a short time he cried wildly, ‘I've struck it! I've struck it!" and dropped to the ground with his head over the ne wly made hole. On Mr. Goodrich appearing much amazed, he was told: ‘Here is an oil spring—smell the oil!” holding up a hand- ful of the fresh mud, whose stroing kero- a day have been pumped for twenty years, | sene odor was unmistakable g¢vidence. The Oil City reglon has been the scene | Measures have been taken for the fmme- of former failures. About twelve vears | diate incorporation of a petroleim com- ago an_English company spent $200,000 in developing a _ worthless coal mine near | there, and Coalinga, near Alcalde, the terminus of -the branch railroad forty | miles west of Hanford, was the result. In | 1892 the Puerte Oil Company of Los An-| Zeles began operations on some oil indi- | Cations at what is now Oil City, ten | miles from Coalinga. They spent about 000 and quit. Others tried and quit, In C. A. Canfield and J. A. Chanslor, | who had had experience in.the Los An- | geles field, got financial backing and went | to work with faith and derricks on the abandoned ground. They struck a quite remarkable flow of oil last year and have been shipping over a thousand barrel day for some ti Canfield & Chan lor are already rich. They field and are the “oil Kings” of the San Joaquin Valley. Their brilliant success naturally got an oil craze fairly going ast winter, and now it is bigger than ever. Along the foothills of the eastern slope “of the coast range from Kern County north there is a belt of ojl indi- Te control the | cations and of favorable geological for- mation, and all ulnn% this region land has been taken by oil operators by the thousands of acres. It is an_arid, deso- Jate and unpopulated region, but little of it has escaped. In Fresno, Visalia, Selma, Tulare, Bak- fleld and other valley towns companies Tt Is 5 spring incorporated. | e have heen formed right an d that in twenty-five day forty-six companies were ers are founded on any old patch of sage- brush, and find a lively field for stock | sales. Tt is likely that out of this craze will come a few good wells in other places | and a considerable development of the oil | resources of the region, though most of | the stock buyers will get left. | There has been a good deal of boom stuff written about Oil City. J. H. Means, | field deputy of the State Mining Bureau, | has returned from a month's study of that region, and his account is a reliable statement of the situation. In an inter- view he said: | ‘I spent most of my time at Oil City, | which is the only producing district, and | 1 made brief visits south through Fresno ana_Kings Counties. There are quite a good many wells at Ofl City, but some | are old and have never produced much if any ofl. Six or eight new wells have been sunk wichin two vears and they are fine producers. As near as I could learn the present production is from 2500 to 3000 barrels a day, but this could soon be nearly doubled by sinking old wells deep- er and working producers to their full capacity. Se al are down nearly to the oil sand. 1 suppose the market limits | the production yet. Five or six drilling | rigs are running and others are being prepared. About twelve wells could be now made productive. The largest is down about 1400 feet and flows about 400 barrels a_day. “The half dozen producing wells are all flowing wells. The oil is accompanied by a good deal of gas and it flows with great | force. In the strongest wells the woil would shoot perhaps a hundred feet high if given free vent. Some of the derricks show how the oil spurted to their tops when it was struck. The oil flow is gen- erally intermittent. Tt will rush sut for a few minutes and then for a few minutes there will be only a rush of gas. Small pipes radiate from the capping of the well | casing to tanks and at the tanks the pipes | are anchored down to withstand the re- coil of the flow as it is turned downward in the tank. The well casings vary from 5% to 113 inches. The oil comes from deep sandstone strata enclosed by im- pervious clay shales. This has confined the gas also, and the strong flow is caus- ed by the gas pressure, aided perhaps by water and rock pressure. The gas is used for fuel, and no other fuel is used for en- gines, cooking and so on. The oll is very light and of a greenish color. Tt is lighter than the Southern California olls, and it is claimed to be a better fuel. It has the | usual asphalt base, and its lightness is due to the fact that its hydrocarbons have had no chance to volatiliz:. ““The oil is all piped ten miles to the railroad at Coalinga from three tanks said to have 30,000 gallons’ capacity. From Coalinga it is !hlgped in tank cars to va- rious points north and south. The oil is all produced in an area not exceeding a half mile long and a quarter broad, but a larger territory will doubtless be made productive. Many people are boring or grepulng to do so. I think the yield will e fairly permanent. The extent of the field is uncertain and will depend on the prospecting. The geological formation of fiction, says he is glad that truth prevails. /4 structure not so. pany with a capital stock of $600,070.”" Every county along the coast range ghared in the wild craze. Scores of re- gions where prospect wells are now’ being driven were staked out by rushers then. Fresno County was included, of course, and, in view of the present craze, i:nd o the development of the first producing wells, it is of interast. The Fresno “Cimes of March 29, 1865, says: “Our last ad- vices from the oil region in this county v encouraging. The excitement at fever heat.”” That might have been used again last week. Many com- panies were formed then to work _the Fresno oil fields, but it was destined to be thirty-five years h:\foreflnll “i{\fi really struck in that promising oil region. o ! J. 0. DENNY. AROUND THE CORRIDORS Judge J. R. Webb of F'rosnu is at ‘the Lick. Senator Thomas Flint of San Juan is at the Grand. Senator N. B. Scott of West Virginia. is a guest at the Palace. S. W. Taylor and wife and Smith McKay of Denver are at the Occidental. D. P. Hatch and William J. Hunsaker of Los Angeles are at the Palace. J. 0. Carlyle, a mining man of Salmon River, Idaho, is registered at the Lick. Alfred A. and Alfred C. Post and R. H. Chub of Los Angeles are at the Califor- nia. B. F. and B. K. G. Butterfield, mine owners of Sonora, are stopping at the Russ. William A. Greer and J. G. Oxnard, the prominent sugar man of New York, are at the Palace. Dr. T. Jefft White and wife came up from Los Angeles yesterday and are reg- istered at the Lick. J. J. Gilbert, of the Geodetic Survey, ar- rived yesterday from Washington and is a guest at the Occidental. L. A. Crane, a wealthy fruit grower of Santa Cruz County, was among yester- day’'s arrivals at the Palace. J. O. Carlisle, a mining man, arrived vesterday from the Salmon River, Idaho, and is stopping at the Lick. R. Ross, Dr. W. G. Cochran and wife and Mrs. Winifred R. Hunt of Los An- geles are registered at the Occidental. Mrs. R. F. Coffin and Miss Henrietta Coffin of Boise City, Idaho, arrived yes- terday and are stopping at the Occi- dental. S. H. Babcock, traffic manager of the Rio Grande Western Railroad, arrived from Salt Lake last evening and is at the Palace. —————— CALIFORNIANS IN NEW YORK. NEW YORK, June 4—Dr. Herbert Car- olan of San Francisco is at the Manhat- tan. A. Gunst and M. Stevens of San Francisco have gone to Paris. NEWS OF FOREIGN NAVIES. The navy personnel of Chile numbers 3700 all told at the present time, but can be increased to 20,000 in time of war. A burst boiler tube on board the British torpedo-boat destroyer Karnest while maneuvering at Gibraltar on May 18 in jured three men. The boat was built and ;.sn‘glned at Laird's yard, Birkenhead, in The new Chinese cruiser Hai-Tien of | 4300 tons and 24 knots speed, built by Arm- strongs at Elswick, arrived at Portsmouth dockyard May 17, and is ready for her voyage home. The ship will be navigated by British seamen. The Harlan & Wolft ship-building estab- lishment at Belfast is the only firm of prominence which has repeatedly declined to undertake contracts for the British navy, notwithstanding the invitations ex- tended by the Admiralty. may be favorable and the geologic: The oll may be B::lo: The Japanese Minister of Marine has éssued a notice to the effect that after May 1 none of the drwdocks in Govern- ment yards will be avilable for ships other than those belong ing to the navy. There has been quite a number of private docks built during the pust five years at the principal ports in Japan and the ne- cesslity of governmental assistance in th direction no longer exists. Joseph Parr, a well known naval veter= an, died recently at Sydenham, England, in his seventy-fourth year. ‘e had, like that gallant captain, . Lor{l Cochrane, served under the flags of four countries. Beginning in the British navy, he to the rank of chief gunner, and on rc- tiring commuted his pension and in 150 joined the Japanese navy, serving until 1892. Then he entered the Peruvian n and a little later took service in the gentine navy. He returned to Fng last year to enlist instructors Argentine fleet and was there his fatal illness. Captains Yeh and Sah of the Chi: navy, both of whom are graduates of Royal Naval College at Greenwich, 1 sub-lleutenants in the British Medite nean fleet about eighteen years ago, t been summoned to Peking by the press Dowager. It is her intenti lect one of the two captai admiral of the new Peivang squadron. This squadron will consist by August next of six, speedy cruisers of 3500 to 4500 tons and a number of torpedo boats and gun- boats, all of which have been built in Germany and England, and will, no doubt, ultimately fall into the hands of the “bar- barjans” or the *‘white devils” of Europe. Captain Lieutenant von Rebuer-Pash- witz, naval attache of the German Em- bassy at Washington, recently expressed his opinion of American ships, their con- struction and details, all of which m with the captain’s approval, although a somewhat condescending way, whic! considering the fact that the actual war experience of the ships and personnel of the German navy has yet to be gone through, takes away much of the value of the approbationof this officer. On the st ject of the officer personnel he make: he following remarks: “The American naval officers have much technical knowledge, t perhaps more than German officers, but is a question whether technical knowle cannot be carried too far to the exclusion of those larger subjects of strategy, tor- pedo maneuvering, etc. You have just united the engineer branch with the re lar line of the navy, so that hereafter al vour naval officers will also have to be steam engineers. That is carrying te nical knowledge very far, and will p such great requirements on your office that the results will be awaited with much interest by students of naval af- fairs. When officers are compelled to master such a mass of details they have scant time for considering the larger questions of attack and defense and the real science of warfare. .They become too mechanical. The great naval command- ers are not merely engineers, but men of intellectual attainments, thought and statesmanship, as well as technical knowledge of ropes and iron ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. A CALL OF NOVEMBER—Feor a copy of The Call issued last November you should apply at the business office. THE LAST TRICK—R. C., City. In the game of euchre Hoyle lays down the rule that “no player has the right to see any trick but the last one turned.” A CAN HE BE PRESIDENT’?—A. C. R, City. Religion is not a qualification for the office of President of the United St No matter what his religion may be, if elected he can take his seat. CLOSE OF THE WAR—J. W. G., Madi- son, Cal. The war between Spain and the TUnited States was closed when the treaty of Paris w signed by both nations. When the protocol of peace was signed there was an armistice. CHORUS GIRLS—A Reader, City. If you desire to assist a chorus girl, expect- ing instruction in return, you should make your wishes known to the management of the place in which the particular chorus girl you would like to assist is employed. REVENUE STAMPS—N. W., City. “What is the value of internal revenue stamps of the denomination of $5, $3, 50, 25, 5 and 2 cents is a question that in that form cannot be answered, for the reason that there were different stamps of those denominations issued. To judge the value of those you have it is neces- sary to have a description of , the color, amount and character. POPULATION AND COMMERCE—E. K., City. The population of New York v on January 1, was estimated at 58; the figures as to the following are from census taken in 188 e 1,677,351; Breslau, Lunich, 407,174 igures as to com- merce in E and Liverpool are quite close, but the latest reports show that there is a slight margin in favor of Hamburg. EGGS—E., Petaluma, TRAFFIC IN Cal. The receipts of eggs in San Fran- cisco in the last week in February, 1896, were 31% c average pric 14 per same 97, 30 3 8 99, 3338, 17 3-Sc. named the receipts follows: First week, second _week, 3406, veek, 3287, 3208, 3 3448, 3043, 31 March in those yea 5 4-5 The rece ; in 1897 the s were received ern ege: L receipts were 400 cases in the week in April; in I the were re- ceived in the first week in April 1 sec- ond week 39, third week 120 the third week in April, 1899, there were re- celved 3574 Cal. glace fruit 50c per Ib at Townsend's.* Special information supplied daily to business houses and public men by the _Press Clipping Bureau (Allen's), 510 )lox:l- gomery street. Telepnone Main 1042. The presentation of the freedom of a city or borough in England is now a mere éompliment, which does not confer zny substantial or exceptional pnvl‘ leges. L A Work of Art. The new book, “‘Wonderiand,” just issued by .the Northern Pacific Rallway Company, is ths prettiest publication jssued by any rallway company this year. It is full of beautiful half- tone illustrations, and contains besides a wel written description of a trip taken over this finely equipped line, including a tour through the wonderful Yellowstone Park. Send 6o in stamps and it will be mailed to you. T. K. Statoler, Gen, Agt., 635 Market st., San Fran- cisco. —_—————— The Rio Grande Western Railway Take pleasure in announcing the inauguration June 1, 1899, of a complete dining-car service Dbetween Ogden and Denver on all transconti- nental trains. Service a la carte. General of- fice, 14 Montgomery st. e e Rock 1sland Route Excursions. Leave San Francisco every Wednesday, via Rio Grande and Rock Island raflways. Through tourlst 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. — e — “Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup” Has been used for fifty years by millions ot mothers for their children while Teething with perfect success. It soothes the child. softens the gums, allays Pain, cures Wind Colic, reg- ulates the Bowels and is the best remedy for Diarrhoeas, whether arlsing from teething or other causes. For sale by Druggists in every part of the world. Be sure and ask for Mrs Winslow’s Soothing Syrup, 25c a bottle, e e HOTEL DEL CORONADO—Take advantags of the round-trip tickets. Now only $80 by steamship, including fifteen days' board at hotel; longer stay, §2 0 per day. Apply at 4 New Montgomery street, San