The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, June 12, 1899, Page 4

'THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, MONDAY. JUNE 12, 1899. 4\;—%:@;‘@"”‘ Tall = 4, T MONDAY.. JUNE: 12, 1% 9 JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Proprietor. ions to W. S. LEAKE, Manager. PUBLICATION UFFIC rket and Third Sts., S. F elephone Main 1868. ROOMS. Telephone Main 1874 Address All Communica EDITORIAL DELIVERED BY CAF 15 CENTS PER WEEK. s, 5 conts ling Prstage: I ng Sunday . 1.50 I gle Mo:.th. . 65c 3 Year..... . 150 | Wi LY CALL, One Y 5 . 100 All postmasters are authorized to receive subscriptions, Eample copies will be forwarded when requested. OAKLAND OFFICE (/oo e s 908 Broadway ORK OFFICE Rocm 188, World Building 0. KROGNESS, Advert NEW YOR tor Hotel; Hotel, WASHINGTON (D. C.) OFFICE Wellington Hotel C. C. CARLTON, Correspondent. ing Representative, WS STANDS. Brentano, 31 Unton A. Square CHICAGO OFFIC C.GEORG . Marquetts Building KROGNESS, Advertising Representative. CHICAGO NE ANDS. 1 House; P. O, News Co.; Great Northern Hotel; ouse; Auditorium Hotel BRANCH OFFICES--527 Montgomery street, corner Clay, cpen until 9:30 o’clock. 337 Hayes street, open until 217 to 221 Stevenson Street | R | STREET RAILWAY BONDS. [ ‘ ‘ | e ithrough the season, but, as the Oregonian goes on to ! COMMUNICATION from ex-Superior Judge | point out, “considering that the German flag was ships of the two nations will of course not contintie F. W. Van Reynegom, published in another |almost a curiosity in this port a few years ago, the column, is worthy of attention. If the view he | showing is a remarkable one. Germany is not only of the decision in Hunt vs. | crowding her shipyards right up to their limits in to the outstanding bonds of | producing steam tonnage, but she is buying all sail- 2 any, amounting to | ing vessels offered and sending them into fields of | trade that for ages have been regarded as the special | preserves of the British ship-owner.” It is notable that the contrast established by our | Portland contemporary is between Germany and | Great Britain. Portland is an American city, and the grain to be transported across the ocean is an Ameri- can product, and yet the amount of American ship- ing engaged in carrying the ocean trade is so slight It does not even come in | expresses of the e | Ward be correct, then : the Market Street Railw $4.817,000, and of the six consolidated street railways sregating $7,035,000, an “additiomal relement of in- curity exists beyond those already recapitulated in | | The 1. 1If it be true that the statute of limitations | runs in favor of stockholders from the date of any poration as an evidence of nder Hunt vs. Ward, that is | the statute in motion, then dd bar any action b ion given by a co and that, t te which s lebtedne: [ the Iz est ¢ | it is not considered at all. House Rail- | for a mention. the | Such a condition of affairs is by no means credit- able to our Government. That American enterprise | and energy are superior to those of any other peo- rle is well known. That truth s been attested in a hundred ways. At the re supplying as every one of its bonds not negotiated within |1 inery for nearly every country in E for the British themselves in their work of develop- Yet we lag behind all nations in ocean ship-building in proportion to our commerce. The cause of the difference between accom- plishments in manufacturing industry and ship- ping is too plain to escape the observation of even | the most casual student of the subject. We have | on land ample protection, and the thr years' the Ferries and bondhoiders | way Company, the Market Street Cable Compan { Omnibus Cable Company, the Powell Street Railws | Co 3 Park and Cliff House Railway Com- pany and the Park and Ocean Railroad Company and arket Street Railway Company. so me we rope, and three years is concerned. But we hope the case is not quite so bad as it ap- | ing Africa. to Judge Van Reynegom and that, notwith- | | standing his views of Hunt vs. Ward, the personal I %I»z]i(_\- of stockholders to pay their pro rata of street | railway bonds may survive. That liability arises un- cle XII, section 3, of the State Constitution, which is not seli-executing, but has been fully forced by section 322 of the Civil Code. Ii it be the | | pears our in der art en- s given to our indu as a consequence they have become the most pros- law, where the original indebtedness and the obliga- tion which extends the time for its payment for a term of years exceeding three are coincident, that a 9:30 o'clock. 639 McAllister street. open untll 9:30 | o'clock. 6i5 Larkin street, open until 9:30 o'clock. | i941 Mission street, open until 10 o'clock. 2291 Market ! perous and among the most extensive in the world. We have neglected, on the other hand, to give any kind of protection to our merchant marine engaged street, corner Sixteenth, open untll 9 o'clock. 2518 Mission street, open untll 9 o'clock. 106 Eleventh street, open until 9 o'clock. !505 Polk street. open until 9:30 o'clock. NW. corner Twenty-second ang Kentucky streets. open until 9 o'clock. ——— AMUSEMENTS. Free Theater—Vaudeville every after- is streets—Specialties. Market street, near Eighth—Bat John Taylor, Tu reday evening, r M IMES WERE NEVER BETTER. at high-water to ner and conserv inning in tra nounced ere never has been such buoyancy in st everything 1 and for steel products is seem- twithstanding continual advances her the goods get the more, ap- the country, which have been late, are in soaring into last week mounting to in of the corresponding we one important place—Om showed a de- crease he failures were 178, against 1 for the me week in 1898 In addition, the rise in prices t been e d in many years. Pigiron has ad- ed 4.8 per cent, iron products 8.2 per cent, cotton cotton Leather | hoots and shoes 1 per ce cent and hides 7 per ‘cent, these being The ct e in expectation of aracteristic fea- the only exceptions, times is to over-purck prices than those now ruling, and con- sought to . but without avail; the demand for merchandise and whether it is fictitious and speculative or based on actual needs, insists upon be- some weeks king quotations to check ufacturers in many lines hav restrain this tend satisfied. The iron m: cturers nufa; o resorted to advanced bnor 1 call for their products, and did succeed soon broke out Luckily, the mood of the yme extent, but the demand as active as ever s cautious, and even Wall street looks upon the ivity with a dubious eye, and promptly sits down upon any undue inflation, as the banks did ith the industrial stocks, and this di ceed cautiously may act as an effica- v valve. The panic of 1893 is still fresh in the minds of the merchants and manufacturers, and ant a repetition of it just yet. as we on this coast are concerned, there is thang strained or fictitious in the situation. Busi- ness here is on a legitimate basis of supply and de- nd because there Our country current a some t 2o o not w n Produce and merchandise are active simply an actual consumptive demand for goods and the exhaustion of supplies of those iced largely in California impels buyers to Especially is this the case with fresh i canned fruits, which, at this time of the year, are the leading staple. Stocks wee avy, 2 hea purcl vily to fill the deficiency fruits are exh of canned ted, and the canners are scourir e State for supplies. It is the same with aried fr: hops wool, ail of which are better cleaned up than for years. Supplies of grain have also got down to an unusually low point and, in short, the State is practically bare of its agricultural prod- It situation for the farmer. and one jich he s enc nd virtually guarantees him unusually good prices th Thus it turns out that the dry season of 1808 was a blessing in dis- guise, for it cleaned the decks of an accumulation of produce and merchandise and left them clear for the current harvest. It is not probable that we shall see another such season for some years, and it behooves us to make the best of it, bearing in mind that next year may see the conditions reversed, with an abund- ¢nce of goods on hand and low prices. Hence the yrosperity of this year should not lead us into extrava- gance. 5 For the rest there is little to be said except that there are no disquicting signs in sight. Trade is monotonously active at good prices for almost every thing produced in the State. money is abundant, with a slow but certain tendency toward lower rates of interest, and failures are small and unimportant. Like a ship sailing gracefully on a smooth sea there is nothing to be said except that the weather is fine. . B — As it is predicted the new pugilistic champion will stay with the job for ten years, it is clear our troubles are by no means ended. The amount of challenging and counter-challenging, torting and retorting thar can be done in that time is enough to make even the most sanguine feel a sense of dread as he faces the awful uncertainties of the future, is a f om inters, season export movement, as pointed out last | Collections are not hard, | Thus, while we surpass rivalry in we are hardly in the race in the stockholder is protected by Iimitation before a right |ir foreign trade. a the constitutional safe- gquard for bondholders is destroyed. To hold tha cbligation which prevents a corporation from being the one indust; other. The Germans have shown us what can be accom- slation. With- out anything like our resources or advantages, they have built up merchant fleets that even on this side of the globe are competing with the British. Should | the Umted States adopt the German plan and poli with respect to shipping it would not be long before | the fleets of this coast would show the American to be the rising flag in the trade of the ocean. of action against him accrues, an sued confers as against its stockholders a right of ac- | plished for ship-building by proper le tion which is incapable of actual enforcement would | }w,umy frustrate the intention of the framers of our | | fundamental law. In fact either hypothesis would be |absurd This case of Hunt vs. Ward, g9 California Reports, |p. 612, has been widely interpreted as leading to ago ex-Chief Justice Currey, who at a great age retains these nonsensical conclusions. About six mont} his full intellectual vigor and takes a deep interest in v questions affecting the weliare of the people, pub- T the meeting of the Dewey monument com- THE DEWEY MONUMENT FUND. nittee last Fri th;; { ‘ gaged in collecting contributions for the fund ed a very searching criticism upon the opinion in sub-committees the hich the widespread evil that would re- W, | though of course out of use. made no formal reports, as some of the were out of town, and others had reasons for desiring | that the sub- unt to more than §$30,000, and | other large amounts are assured. + | to the people | It has been received with cordial | The people it is| right and fitting that this generation should manifest | some permanent and impressive form their admira- tion of the great victory of Manila Bay, their appre- | ciation of its importance, and their gratitude to the | patriot seaman under whose command it was accom- | plished. Rarely has any movement of a similar nature been | underts It is but a short time since it was first proposed and yet nearly one-third of the entire amount required has been al- dy contributed. That contribution has been made, | noreover, without solicitation. It has been the spon- tancous offering of men whose ardent sympathy with | the patriotic enterprise prompted them to act at once. § Nor does it represent the whole amount that will be | so given. When the reports of the sub-committees | e submitted next Friday the total amount of the | subscriptions will undoubtedly be gratifying to every citizen who has a loyal interest in the enterprise. In addition to serving as a demonstration of the public appreciation of the services of Admiral Dewey, the construction: of a monumental structure of the magnitude proposed will give San Francisco a stimu- lus toward purely artistic work. The adornment of | the city by so noble a structure will increase its at- | tractiveness and strengthen the artistic as well as the | patriotic aspirations of the people. The enterprise, | therefore, is one which appeals to civic and to State pride as well as to national loyalty, and well merits the generous and cordial support which has been thus i lan- members | Some of his pplication to the a common practice for ‘great the State to borrow large sums of terms of ye for which they is! able in ten, fifteen, twenty the date of their issue. Are the in such cases presumed to have waived and to the nst the guage has a immediate ion in hand de It was announced, however, scriptions now ar ions of mone, lor on 1e The movement is one which app erest-bearir ds pa or more years after of the whole State. e approval everywhere. recognize | relinquished all right to look for payment stockholders as a prospective indemnity ag: In the ca a Reports, p h vs. Teschemacher, 24 Cali- it decided and it ield that the personal lia bility of stockholders could be waived, but only by contract. In the opinion of some was early has since been irequently ken with better auguries of suce e lawyers, Hunt | vs. Ward, when restricted to the exact question it in- | volved, can be casily construed so as to avoid an en- forced waiver that would be an obliteration of the bility itself. In that case, after the foreclosure of a mortgage against the corporation and the applica- tion of the proceeds of the sale of the mortgaged premises to the payment of a note, there was a ju ment over for a deficiency which it was sought to en- férce as a primary liability of the stockholders. This attempt conflicted with the settled law of the State | that the original indebtedness fixed that liability ! which could not ‘afterward be enlarged or extended by contract or by litigation between a corporation {and its creditors. The complaint also, as Mr. Justice McFarland stated, did not attempt to aver the date | When the indebtedness for which the stockholders | were actually responsible accrued, and there was noth- ing left for the Court to do but to infer the fact from the date of the note. Without discussing the ques- n, therefore, whether the grounds upon which the on was placed transcended the necessities of the situation, the decision itself rea 2- i | | | | deci harmonized with our o 5 | State precedents. For example, in Stilphen vs. Ware, | far so liberally accorded it. 45 California Reports, pp. 110, 111, where a judg- | | ment against a corporation had been treated as the original indebtedness that the stockholders could be | compelled to pay, it was decided that this position | was unsound and that the personal liability applied | exclusively to the indebtedness upon which the judg- ment was obtained, which in that instance for gscr\irc: rendered. The injustice of permitting the idx,mtmn of (>he liability of stockholders to be extended | without their consent by corporate acts or by pro- | | ceedings against corporations is too palpable for argu- | ment. It could only be paralieled by judicial deter- | TIMOTHY GUY PHELPS. Y the death of Timothy Guy Phelps California Blnscs one of the most useful and public-spirited of its citizens, and the Republican party one of the most eminent and honored of its leaders. The loss to both the State and to the party is great, and the death1 will ‘be mourned by thousands outside the immediate | circle of his relatives and friends Mr. Phelps was one of the strong, earnest men who |joined the Republican party in its early days and | minations that would accord to themi total exemp- | I}]le‘lpe_cl Lo MW ILs st VICOHSs over t.he siaye PSS o is force of character soon made his influence widely E The true rule, with which Hunt Ward probably ]Mt:. n"d‘ Lt pe'r‘s;:rml r\r)p\,hm_ty “‘nn' lor hi_!“ 2 i”!‘ [may be reconciled, is that the personal liability of | .5 ot B3Ve Wi prestige in party councils, His stockholders arises concurrently with the first exist- | o <. ot nalmn‘.\ however 2 Doy confified g | ence of an indebtedness against a corporation that 1C):|rlt]) wark m}c;clyA A]s almcml)cr of Cnngrc;s :md.as‘ | can be legally enforced, or, in other words, that is . sctor of s mort o 1cmons!!‘aled 2 hish capacity 2 fer both legislative and executive tasks and per- due. Whenever a right of action against a cor 2 E pora- % 5 Al , e | form with exemplary zeal and fidelity every }?mr.l is col\wlcfe.. the three years’ statute of limitations f:"]:icl:dof‘]iciwl rcspr:migiliw required enft)hi::ery dity in l‘avn]r of mdn'ndlual stockholders begins to run. This | iihe ealient chg,ac{emic; which marked th‘e found iz the law as established by Davidson vs. s : > ’ : e e \“’:d"l:”“"“;' 34 s of the Republican party and which were s0 nobly i Cflm“mia'Rm'n;‘j'F’ Stk Y3 C“] ~ | and heroically illustrated in such men as Lincoln and m'm. e T(epox;t.s 'p '6'53 ’r::;‘ ":' 0! Seward and others of that period, were notable in Mr. i Saeea i 2 Y S€V- | pPhelps. His partisanship was the outgrowth of eral other authorities in this State, and it is scarcely | princpi'ple Pol pks e tophim SRR ngpromntinq‘ possible that it will be permanently overturned or ob- the national welfare and not a struggle for the sfioifs | structed by Hunt v&. Ward. f offi The Sterling ] : SR LR S A At % 5 of office. he sterling honesty and integrity of the p: quitable proceedings in cases of fraud, | man were never doubted even by his political op- ithe firstllega[ right of action on their bonds against ponents. His influence for good was everywhere street railway companies exists at maturity, when it is recognized where his fame was known, and from imn;t likely that_ the additional constitutional and Iall parts of the State cordial tributes of loving praise | statutory protection to the public will simultaneously will be given to his memory. arise. But this hopeful view of the future of bond- . ‘lz_nldf:rs does not detract from the necessity of cou-“ A suggestion has been made that America may be Isndcnug the doubt llfm ex-Judge Van Reynegom has ' asked, to act as mediator between England and the | tersely and appropriately suggested. There is no | Transvaal. The little difficulty in reference to the ;f:oflffl_\'ahle view either of the law or of the facts | Alaskan boundary, involved, as it has become, with 1‘xcn which the bonds of the _Markg Street Railwelxy ‘ England's threat not to permit our exclusive control the o o i ki ARG sl s By o LS e R 1 ying to attend to its own ties and the absence of proper sinking funds for their | affairs. 2 edemption, in the sense of ordinary financial busi- | e sy ness can be considered safe. The argument against ~ Death *has claimed another victim of the Market | them remains intact, although ultimate collection may Street Railway Company. The railroad is interested be still regarded as probable. ii“ a very fine local hospital maintained by the money ———————— | of railroad employes. Would it not be well for the THE EXAMPLE OF GERMANY. authorities of the corporation to discuss the necessity CCORDING to the Oregonian evidence that (v)ifme:::)hshmg LEeRe v ot o s fl the German flag is rising in the carrying trade : 5 ‘ of the ocean, plentiful in all ports of the| The statements of the Hon. P. Reddy concern- world, is exceptionally striking at Portland, where, | ing the condition of affairs at Wardner, Tdaho, show the Orcgonian says, the nucleus of the grain fleet of | that the situation there is one that ought to be ;')robed the coming season now consists of six German and | with what is popularly known as “a sharp stick.” and but two Br,’tisll vessf]s. it is gratifying to know the probing is likely to be | Such a disproportion between the number of grain , done, and done well when it gets started. was | smel | a machine, a plan and a s THE CALIFORNIA QUEST FOR COPPER AND GOLD The big copper belt reaching 170 miles from Fresno County to Nevada Coun- ty, along the Sierra Nevada foothill region has been recently brought into prominence hy the copper boom, and now, after long years of almost total neglect, it is the sceéne of a great deal of pros- pecting, of small development operations in many copper claims and of much bond- ing and buying of prospects and slightly developed mines. The bizgest new oper: tions of the present in Califorhia are near Copper City in the great copper belt of Shasta County, and a number of copper prospects are being exploited in Plumas and adjoining northeastern counties, but copper prospects, good and good-for-noth- ing, are more numerous along the Foot- hill copper belt. Here several mines are lately being worked in a small way, the ore being shipped to Selby’s. Herbert Lang has recently made a study of California’s copper regions, and he published an interesting paper on the Foothill copper belt in the New York Mining and Metallurgical Journal. This belt lies west of the Mo Lode and lower down and consists of es of com- plex veins, bearing gold, silver, zinc and other “copper minerals” in various de- srees. The copper is generally found be- low the zone of oxidation. The widths of the veins, of course, vary greatly. In the Shasta County belt the ore occurs rather in larger lenses. The deposit is wide at Copperopolis. At the Cop- King mine, recently developed in I'resno County, ‘it is about fifteen feet bears 7 per cent of copper. At the ille mine in Nevada County it is 'ty feet and 4 per cent copper. In the atellite at Camp Seco there is thirty feet of pay ore. “Thousands of locations time and another been taken upon the copper belt and much work done,” says Mr. Lang. “A dozen mines of importance ver:; have at one have been developed, and there are as many more which give promise of becom- such. The heaviest producers in p times have and been tho: mp Seco, in Cal; ville, in Nevada been the scenes of s lucrative operations. F in the when the first coppe itement in this State, metallurgical pro- were introduced for the treatment ores, and the first water-jacket fur- naces that we have certain and accurate records of were built to smelt the es of the copper belt. The rer s of of these old plants are still in existence, On the bank of the Mokelumne, at Camp Seco, the cu~ ous traveler may see and examine the of one of the first attempts at bl smelting in the United States most remarkable for the scarcity of slag and the abundance of ‘sows’ produced.” He describes four stages of the mines in thi t in the pas In initial e of exploration and de pment, in the s large quantitie of rich oxide were to foreign si tced in small at Copperopol eras County, and ounty, which extensive and at Iters or redu rude and uncertain furr s, About | copper fell half in price d work s ped. Beginning several later a few mines were worked again for a few years by the lea The ores were ed in months - and then al which 1 ere tes, which w 1 by water, ed out the sulph on p iron, producing coppe ment. Operations ceased, leaving & heaps of ore, which have been le a small way for years. Ten ago smelting was tried again at Copperopo- lis and at Camp Se Copperopolis mines worked on a large scale. But op- s topped in a few months, been renewed. Mr. Lang ilure by the imperfection method ent The product was not suffi- concentrated. The roasting and ng produced matte only 40 per cent , and shipping rates to the c high. He does not note another of the reasons—the high cost of and coal at th melte He estim that dtogether 500.000 tons of ore were mined, vielding, perhaps, 50,000 tons of metal. In 1898 the Mountain Copper Company of Shasta County mined 222000 tons of ore. Now the fourth period has come, with verish cfforts to buy and sell properties, nd a general exploitation of this copper helt. Scores of claims are being worked again, and many worthiess properties are being sold. If the copper demand long maintains its present relation to supply a number of important producing mines and smelters will unquestionably be seen along this belt. The annual meeting of the American In- stitute of Mining Engineers to be held in Il begin it on_on ptember 25, according to advices from Rossiter W. Raymond to E. . secretary of the California ociation. Mr. Benjamin and the appointed committees of the associa- tion have well in hand the arrangements that will make this session probably the most interesting and ofitable one the | institute has ever held. The event will, of course, be of large importance to the mining industry of the State in many W and the appeals for financial and other co-operation which will be made will deserve unstinted response. The min- ing resources of the State will receive large advertisement through the visit of so many of the representative mining men of the United States and through what is written of their stay in the city and their wide tours for observation. Secreta Benjamin is preparing the finest ex tion of the mineral resources of the State that will have been pro- duced. It will be superbly illustrated, Frinlfld and bound and will describe the ndustry and mineral resources in general and by counties. Advertising will help defray the cost. It will be distributed gratis to members of the institute and to others will be sold for probably $5. Secretary Benjamin, with legal advice, has prepared on behaif of the association a form of location notice, soon to be printed and ready, which the association opes will become the recognized form for use throughout the State. As each ‘mining distriet may now prescribe forms of notice not inconsistent with the Fed- aw, a uniform style of notice is important. The Mokelumne River is undoubfedly one of the gold-bearing streams of the auriferous region whose beds hold buried and submerged unworked gravel which it will pay to work by skiilful dredging on some plan. A Mr. Davis has invente heme to get at some of its old gravel bearing “$2 to $5 a vard,” and all of these inventions seem new and remarkable developments in the mining world to say the least. He tells the Stockton Mail about it, and as likely as not it is all so and all right. His new dredger, as planned, “consists of an ap- aratus, either in a boat or on a plat- ‘orm on land, for subterranean hydraulic work. A large hole is sunk in the ground by it, and through pipes two streams of water are forced with great velocity. One of the streams loosens and tears up the ground at the bottom of the hole. and the other brings up the sand and debris. The gold is not brought to the surface with the sand, as might be supposed, but is washed free from it by means of a de- vice at the lower end of the pipes and collects in a pan_there.” The scene of operations is to be near Wallace, on the San Joaguin side of the river. Here the bed is a half mile wide and nearly all dry in summer. “The ap- paratus will be mounted on a heavy wooden track built in two sections and placed transversely to the river, the sec- tions being moved alternately as the work progresses. When the apparatus has made its half-mile passage across the tracks will be moved a few feet further up stream and the dredger will make its return_trip, and so on.” Mr. Davis has bonded two and a half miles of the river bed. asserts that his dredger will handle 1500 vards a day and at from $3 to $5 a cuble vard_the gro. returns should be $4500 or $7500 daily, warranting an investment of $100,000" in machinery. The third odd feature is that this bond of Mr. Davis' is only for the surface ground down to and including the first iold deposit. Another company has onded the gravel beds of the ancient river beds lying further below. Mr. Davis takes the top or modern deposit with his dredger, The Milwaukee company, it is reported, controls the auriferous gravels “of the Pliocene period” within the same surface area. In horing they struck gold- bearing gravel at 185 feet and then went to 230 feet with results so satisfactory that_they will sink a double shaft to that depth and work by the drifting process. At several places big bowlders of rich quartz rock were found long years ago and kept a generation or two of pros- ectors hunting for the great ledge. . One nstance is near the Altoona quicksilver mine at Cinnabar, Trinity County, where huge bowlders of pay rock have lain at the foot of a hill without providing enough ore for a mill. The tantalizing mystery of that ledge rémains. and there have been many thearies of where they came from and how they got therc, shipped | of the working | [does an act which practically waives his ing thousands driving a tunnel into the hill, where he has ffl?&h the ledge lies. Alpine County has alw: had its Bowl- der Hill, that comes to the front again. In early days an immense bowlder assay. ing $3000 to $4000 was found and named Franklin. Henry Van Sickle staked the finders to the extent of $3000 in a search for the ledge and lost it all. They have been searching ever -since. There are many other quartz bowlders, and years ago some were broken up and worked in an arrastre. Now Edward Lewis and Frank Musser of Markleeville are re- ported to have found the ledge and expect to have a mine. 3 The activity in gold mining everywhere continues in an Increasing ratlo. That| twelve new gold mining companies were | incorporated in San Francisco is but a slight hint of the new life that has come. There are several hundred mining com- panies with several thousand sharehold- | nd o great many | v interested in r partnership way. | ers in San Francisco a re fina residents who mines in a perso! There is hardly a small town in the State which has ho residents interested in mines to some degree, and more gold | mining companies are forming than ever | bhefore. The mining regions are full of | prospectors, the mining towns are full of promoters or buyers looking for mines | promising prospects, and the mining ma- chinery and mining supplies people are full of business. : Old and new mines are booming ahead | in Amador County. The new shaft in the old Lincoln has reached 1000 feet. The| new 300-foot shaft of the Kennedy is go- ing down right along with four machine drills at work. The big new shaft in the Oneida is at 180 feet. The Sheep Ranch has been reopened and is promising. The tailings of the old mines in Plym- | outh are being run through Hummgl'nr! miils and the gold that was thrown away | by former operators, lost through crude | proc and imperfect methods, is being | recovered in paying quantities. Many new properties are being exploited. With a well-boring drill prospectors in Calaveras County have found twenty feet | ol gold-bearing gravel at a depth of 160 | feet, This economical method of pros-| deposits will increase tly in use. The best forms are the rilling machines made expressly for this purpose. “A num pecting gravel re 3 d ber of mining men have been in town this week looking for an opportunity t mining property the Mountain Echo of Angels Camp, v s County. “They have little opportunity | to accomplish their desires in this respect unless they have plenty of coin or good | backing.” The same may be said of | scores of other mining centers Work on the big clectric plant for the Ttica mine is being pushed and is expect- ed to be in three months. The Butte Basin Tunnel Company, con- Jlled. by Messrs. Holmes and Pérry of Francisco, will resume prospecting in its gravel mine in Amador Two vears ago a 1700-foot tunnel cen from Big Bar Gulch without | triking pay gravel. All the tunnel g plished was to dry up all the wel on and to carry out a large volume of t San operatior County was dr ‘new Miners' Association of Tuol- | County rowing in membership rapidly. It has established a free reading room and bureau of information in So- nora. The Shawmut-Eagle mine of Tuolumne preparing for a big pipe line supply water power at 1000 fect | pressure \vden Hill, in Lassen County, is one of | ¢ and promisir mining districts taken on new life. The Golden | gle Mining Company is getting in a | amount of new machinery. The | North Star mine, now in litigation, has | displayed $40 ore in a foot shaft. A hundrcd people, mainly of Angels mp and also of Stockton and San Fran- co, have subscribed for the stock of the TUnited Labor Gold Mining Company which has acquired the oid Pioneer mine on the mother lode, in Calaveras Coun It is said that when it was worked ne the surface years several were found. J. 0. DENNY. STREET RAILWAY BONDS. Are Stockholders Liable for c r ago pockets Them? T Editor of The Call—Sir: Your editorial headed “Street Railway Bonds ;«mdi Stocks” in The Call of yesterday makes a | strong and timely showing of the dubious | character of the securities upon which the | bond issue of the leading street railway of San Francisco rests. the savings of | many who cannot afford to risk the loss | of any part of their principal is likely to | be invested from time to time in these bonds, the press of the city is doing a | good work when it holds up to public in- | spection the facts which show how inade- | quate the security is upon which the ulti- mate payment of these street railway bonds depends. | My attention has been challenged by one | statement in_the editorial referred to which shows that the writer has overlook- ed one important point as to the liability of the stockholders of these corporations. After calling attention to the fact that no provision is made for an adequate Sinkin; fund for the payment of the authorizes issue of $17,500,000 of bonds when they ma- ture, and showing that the property | pledged for their payment will be of but | little value owing to the lives of the fran- chises of the corporation being near their end when the time comes for ent of | the bonds, the writer says: “‘When the | securities have been divested of all value except the property remnants that sur- cive the existing franchises, the bulk of | the indebtedness will have behind it only the personal liability of stockholders and | such equitable relief as the peculiar ma agement of the monopoly may justify. Unfortunately, the bondholders will not have even the slender security of a per- sonal liability of the stockholders. As to the personal liabtity of the stock- holders upon these honds when they ma- | ture, there will be absolutely none. Sec- | tion ‘359 of the Code of Civil Procedure of | California_provides that actions to en- | force the liability of stockholders of a cor- | poration must be brought within three | years after the lability was created. This | provision of law has been successfuily in- voked in several cases, which have been | decided by our Supreme Court, to protect steckholders from liability for ‘the obliga- icns of corporations which have matured more than three years after their crea- ticn. It would seem at first blush that this is a hard rule of law, which deprives a creditor of recourse against the stock- holders of a corporation upon a claim on which he cannot bring suit until after the | statutory liability of the stockholders is | barred by limitation. But as was well said by Judge McFarland in the decision of the Supreme Court of California in the casa of Hunt vs. Word (Vol. 99, Supreme Court Report, page 612), concurred in by Judges de Haven and Fitzgerald: “Such . cone dition of affairs would not be the neces- sary outcome of the law, for the code sives the creditor ample room and time to subject stockholders to their independent | hability for, the indebtedness of the cor- poration. But if he chooses to make a contract with the corporation by which | its payment of the indebtedness is post- | pened beyond the three yvears' limitation in favor of the stockhoiders, he simply right against the latter.” Bank of San Luis Obispo vs. Pacific Steamship Company (Vol. 103, Supreme Court Reports). is another California case | which denies the creditor of a corporation recourse against its stockholders under | similar circumstances. In this case the | court says: “It must now be regarded as | settled law in this State that the liabilit of a stockholder of a corporation to p: his proportion of its corporate debts is one created b}r statute, and an action to enforce that liability 'must be brought within three years after the cause of ac- tion accrues.’” Later decisions of like im- port have been given by our Supreme Court, and the same rule of law was ap- plied by the United States courts in an action broufih( to subject the Stanford es- tate to Hability for the bonded debt of the Central Pacific Railroad Company, in which action the court held that the eg- tate was not liable. The statute of limitations in California gives three years after the discovery by the aggrieved party of the facts consti- tuting a fraud in which to bring an ac- tion for relief upon the ground of such fraud. If some of the many rumors of bribery and venality in connection with the granting of street rallway franchises in San Francisco could be traced down, and definite legal proof of such frauds in obtaining them should at any time here- after, be had, an action might be success- fully’ brought in behalf of the people to revoke or annul such franchises. This possibility is an added element of uncer- tainty and risk to be considered in ascer- taining the value of the security for the payment of these street rail honds. The case of the | pe | ber of sic! | eroft water-tube | purs .lr;orn & Vail way F. W. VAN REY‘\'EGOM. George Carr of Carrville has been spend-| San Francisco, June 9, 1808, AROUND THE - CORRIDORS Dr. 8. B. 8wift of Ferndale is at tha Lick. Dr. B. A. Plant of Santa Cruz is at t! Grand. Senator S. M. Sprague of Auburn 1s at the Russ. Lieutenant E. P. Jessop, U. the Occidental. 0. J. Woodward, a banker of Fresno, at the Lick. F. T. Schuyler, a capitalist of Seattle, is at the California. George D. Fiske, a rancher land. is at the Grand. William Maguire S. . Is at of Wood- mining man of Lib- erty Hill, is at the Grand. A. L. L ureka, and are stoppin e Gr: R. I. Benton, the fruit canner, of Sac- ramento, {s stopping at the Lick. Frank H. Hall engineer, re- turned from Sh, and is stop- ping at the L George S. 1. ydney and Mr. and Mrs. Campano Madrid a regis- . tered at the Pal Major S. C. ¥ wife and son came down from sland vesterday and are registered at the Occidental. Margaret Anglin Boucicault are stop| and Mrs. Thoradyke at the California. H. H. Harlow, g man of Gold Gulch, is at the E. K. Barley a George M. Pin- ney, H. M. Whee A. Chanslor came up from L s y and registered at the Pa Sheriff T. M. Browr reka, Hum- boldt County, is at the Russ. He broughy down an {nsane wom ) will be cw signed to the St asylum. NEWS OF FOREIGN NAVIES. The American practice with sub-caliber target shooting has been adopted in the channel squadron of the Br navy. It is proposed to provide the sea-going torpedo boats in the French navy with two pole masts and leg-of-mutton saiis tu serve in case of breakdowns of the en- gines. D The British torpedo-hoat destrover Kestrel, built Clydebank, av ed .406 knots in s runs over the m cours and » Leven, built at ¥ eld ave , and 30.201 knots dur- ing a continuous run of three hours. Old historical names are being resur- rected in the British navy for the new iips. Four battleships are to be known as Russell—of which there has been three —Duncan (3), Cornwallis (5) and Exmouth (2). Of the cru f four namesake Clyde, three; Leviathan, three, and ten Two steamers have been built in Eng- which in time land for Japancse owne of peace will run as passenger and freight boats, and in war times or in case of tilence may be readily turned into hos- | pital shi "hey are of 4794 tons dis- placement and have a length of feet and 39 feet beam, and accommodate 330 patients. ' The relative healthfuly of the nine principal stations of the British y in commission shows, according to the su geon general’s report, the following num- persons out of every one thou- and on the stations: Southeast coast of South America, 2 Pacific station, 26 92; Mediterranean, North Americ: the home station, West Indie: alian, 30.6; East Indies, Hope and west coast of China, 46.42. The total average lorc afloat during 1898 was 80,340 and the death rate was 5 per thousand, includiag 3595 deaths from disease and 117 from injury—- the latter chiefly victims of the Benin campaign. Five ironclads and six cruisers are to be in the effective list and will either bor and other service. '] 58 tons, and struck from French navy utilized for ironclads aggregate the are the Colbert, Trident, Richelieu, Turenner and Victoreuse. The discarded cruisers, of 15135 tons total, are the Arethusa, Dubordieu, Inconstant, Naiade, Nielly, Primigault and Rignald de Genoielly. All these vessels were built between 1873 and 1876, and were constructed either wholly or partly of wood and had outlived their usefulne Only one ironclad with wooden hull, the Bayard, remains on the effective list in the French navy and as she was built in 180 will soon be relegated to “rotten row.” There are no armored vessels in the British navy with wooden hulls, nor cruisers, and the few composita vessels are allowed to remain on the list solely, apparently, to swell the number of ships, for they have no fighting valu 4 The trials of the British torpedo-hoat destroyers have been highly successful, the boat exceeding her contract speed of thirty knots by nearly one knot and t engines developing 341 horsepowe the guaranteed 6000. The Merm: built by Hawthorn, Leslie & Co. castle-on-Tyne, and 0 feet by 21 feet, displacing 320 at a maximum d £ nine feet. She is fitted with four to boilers pounds of steam, and her run the measured mile ranged from 29.%01 31.304 knots, giving an average knots. During the three hou a the boat was down to a draug ca 5 feet 3l inches forward and ~ feet inches aft. The steam was 225 pounds the boilers and with an air pressure ol inches of water in the stokeholds, vacuum of 22.8 to 22.1, the revolutions av- knots. 33 eraged 3% and the speed 50 The torpedo gunboats Skipjack and Speedwell have been overhauled at an e pense of $264,430 and $258,000 respectiv ely, which equals their f cost t vears ago. These repairs have caused some ad- verse criticism against the Britis h";\d- miralty, and the report of Admiral Falr- fax on these boats, made a few vears ago after the naval maneuvers, is resurrected, The admiral reported that the boats werea deficient in speed and coal capacity. and so lightly built and engined that they were utterly unreliable. Captain Loag, on the other hand, in a subsequent report found the boats useful. These contrac .‘ tory expert opinions show that navy o clals are as likely to differ as ministers, Qectors and lawyers, and the adverse re- bort made on the Dolphin in our avy fourteen years ago by two sets of naval officers have proved to be at variancs with facts, for the Dolphin has proved Nerself stanch, seaworthy and speedy. B —— Cal. glace fruit 30c per Ib at Townsend's.* B valises, traveling rolls, belts, st goods, best values at San- , 741 Market street. . —————— Special information supplied daily to pusiness houses and public men by the Press Clipping Bureau (Allen’s), 510 Mont- gomery street. Telepaone Main 1042. * S ; in Paris shows that 7,735 doctors in A recent census there are no fewer than that city. “Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup” Has been used for fifty years by miilions of mothers for their children while Teething with pertect success. It soothes the child, softens the gums, allays Pain, cures Wind Colic, res- ulates the Bowels and is the best remedy for Diarrhoeas, whether arising from teething or other causes. For eale by Druggists in every part of the world.” Be sure and ask for Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup, ¢ a bottle. e ‘fhe Rio Grande Western Railway Take pleasure in announcing the inauguration June 1, 1899, of a complete dining-car service between Ogden and Denver on all transconti: nental trains. Service a la carte. General fice, 14 Montgomery st —_——————— HOTEL DEL CORONADO—Take advantage of the round-trip tickets. Now only §0 by steamship, including fifteen cays' board at hotel; longer stay, §2 50 per day. Apply @t 4 New Montgomery street, Fan Francisco,