The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, September 17, 1899, Page 6

6 HE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY. SEPTEMBER 17. 189 . passed to all kinds of boating People SUNDAY CKELS, Proprietor. Sl Ul to W. S. LEAKE, Manager. Market and Third Sts., S. F phone Maiu 1838. EDITORIAL RCOMS 217 to 231 Stevenson Street Telephone Main 1874 JOHN D. SPRE Ao eSS UE S Address All Communications PUBLICATION OFFIC T DELIVERED BY CARRIERS, 15 CENTS PER WEEK. Single Coptes, 5 ocents Terma by Matl, Inciuding Postage: PAILY CALL (including Bund; one year... DAILY CALL (including Sunday Call), 6 months. 1), 3 months CALL One Year.. All postrasters are autho: Sample copies will be forwas 4 to recetv. subscriptions. ed when raquested. OAKLAND OFFICE. ..908 Broadway C. GEORGE KROGNESS. Manager Foroign Advertising, Marguetts Building, Chicago. K CORRESPONDI ENT: ..Herald S8quare NEW YOR! €. C. CARLTON NEW YORK REPRESENTATIVE: PERRY LUKENS JR .29 Tribune Brilding CHICAGO NEWS STANDS. Fherman Houge; P. O. News Co.; Great Northern Hotel3 $remont Houss; Auditorium Hou NEW YORK NEWS STANDS. o, Waldorf-Astoria Hotel; A. Breatano, 31 Uniom Murray Hill Hotel 'WASHINGTON (D. C.) OFFICE ..Wellington Hotel #. L. ENGLISH, Correspondent. Equare; BRANCH OFFICES—527 Montgomery street, corner Clay, open until 9:30 o'clock. 300 Hayes street, open unti! 8:30 o'clock. 639 McAllister street. open untll 9:33 o'clock. 615 Larkin street, open until 9:30 o'clock. 1941 Misslon street, open until 10 o'clock. 22C* Market street, corner Sixtcenth, open until 9 o'clock. 1094 Valencia street, open until 9 o'clock. 06 Eleventh street, open untll 9 o'clock. NW. corner Tweaty- second and Kentucky streets, open until 9 o'clock. AMUSEMENTS. Oroheum—Vaudevills, Tivoli—*‘Otheilo.” {a—*'Marle Antoinette,’ Monday evening, Septem- he Wages of Sin.” nd Opera-house—Fatinitza." ites, Zoo and Theater—Vaudeville every afternoon and evening Olympla, corner Mason and Ellis streets—Specialties. Sutro Baths—Swimming Races, etc. Glen Park—Grand performance to-day. Unfon Coursing Park—Coursing To-day. Recreation Park—Baseball to-day. Pavilion—Mechanics’ Falr and Philippine Ex- ¢ Hall—Reception Recital, Thursday evening, Beptember 2 Circus—Sixteenth and Folsom streets, Saturday, Septem- ber 23 AUCTION SALES. By Davis, I Furniture, 1 Pactfic “HE legislative satellites of Dan Burns demand extra session of the Legislature shall be ot to send th patron to the Federal via the caucus route, but in order that the 1 street improvement act may be amended fall to weeping and wailing er the subject of streets and sewers is men- led, wher unless an extra session statute there will be no not , the mines will the transit of According to thi tioned is convened to amend m-re eclipses of the fruit and grapes and the Lord wi Al s until wheat will will fa suspen: moon, sprott T, next cu on. a more opportune sea ment is senile, and is talked and written T Within a year and three months the e will assemble regular session. That is The State has been many T a statute under which the con- on of streets and sewers was compulsor In the Supreme Court declared the street law of al, and it was not until 1885 that oviding a practicable method of carrying on public work. In the interim streets and sewers throughout the State were built by the people by private contract. The same thing may be done now. There is nothing to prevent property-owners who desire to improve their property from calling in a contractor and ordering him to build according to ions, in which event the work will be hort period a £truce 1881 legal specifi accepted by the government. 3ut even if this were not all gospel truth, the fact ns that the Supreme Court has not yet declared rooman act unconstitutional. Our have a fear that when the case of the Petaluma Paving Company gets before that ibunal some such a catastrophe will happen; but intents and purposes the Vrooman act is still in force Moreover, in the case of Hornung McCarthy, decided on the 8th inst., the court ex- pressly dodged the point raised in the Petaluma case and held a street assessment under the Vrooman act | Nor was the constitutional | issue raised in the latter case overlooked. A certi- fied copy of the decision of the United States Supreme Court in the case of Norwood vs. Baker comprised a part of the record | McCarthy was the owner of a lot on a hill in South | Under the Vrooman act the Super- | visors cut a street through the eminence and assessed the cost, according to the “front foot” plan, upon the adjacent property. McCarthy was deemed to have been damaged to the extent of $1500, but he was as- sessed for * its” nearly five times that sum. He was consequently left w a lot forty feet in the air and a bill to pay amounting to more than the value of his property. If ever le example of the uncon- stitutionality of the “front foot” method of street as- sessment here was one. Yet the Supreme Court held | d on the ground that McCarthy | should have brought an injunction to restrain the | work Iaving remained quiescent while the con- tractor executed the improvement and paid for ir.; the court thought it was not constitutional to pick | the latter’s pocket by the indirect process of a law- Mexican valid and enforceable San Francisco ere was a hor the proceedings val suit Why will not the court take the same view of other | cases which come up under the ruling of the Federal tri 1 in Norwood vs. Baker? If it does so, what | necessity is there for calling the Legislature together to amend the Vrooman act? Street improvement | and sewer building will go on until injunctions are procured to stop them, and if the injunctions are sus- tained what harm can result? True, a few streets may remain unimproved and a few sewers may not be buiit until 1001, but in all cases where the property; owners permit the work to actually commence they will hive to pay the bill. All this makes it clear that the demand of our Mexican fellow-citizens for an extra session of the Legislature is a political job. Will they with this | owes the careful and majestic architecture of that sys- THE SUPREME COURT. HE new charter for this city is before the Su- T preme Court for a final judicial interpretation of its validity. Reasonable men who favored and reasonable men who opposed the charter see in this a very necessary policy. To start a city govern- ment on a new fundamental law in uncertainty of its constitutionality would of necessity cripple admin- | istration and nullify the reformatary object for which the charter was made. When new constitutions are made for States, under legislative provision and by the act of a solemn convention, ratified by the peo- ple and established in the ballot-box, they are still subject to judicial consideration, and if they fail m_; square with the Federal constitution in any particu- | lar they are to that extent set aside by the courts. S so, if in the process of their construction there have been substantial failures in complying with the law providing for amendment or substitution, the courts detect such failure in time to prevent the re- organization of a government upon an invalid founda- tion. | The new charter of this city makes wide and acute | changes in administration honestly intended to better it and to be in the public interest. While opinions may differ as to their competency to secure the end in view, there is no difference in the ascription of | virtuous intention in the instrument itself, therein reflecting the public spirit and good purpose of its framers. It is before the final court to receive its judgment in all particulars that go to its validity as the organic law of a great city. When that judgment is pro- nounced our people will show forth their good citi- zenship by cheeriul acquiescence. While this spirit is abroad and controls the purpose of the masses of | our people the aminer is pursuing a course cal- culated to dilute and weaken the effect of a favorable decision by raising the presumption that the court can be or must be influenced in such decision by | swaggering threats and the fear of popular execra- | tion. | Falsely creating a condition that does not exist, that | paper begins by ving that “busybodies who assume | to speak for the Supreme Court on the outside are | on the streets whispering intimations that she court | is preparing to set aside the San Francisco charter.” i lsehood laid a foundation, the Exam- “The Supreme Court will not | | i Having by iner proceeds to 53 dare to set aside the results of a popular election hon- | estly conducted, as every man knows the charter an«l“ Freeholder elections were conducted. It was the wiil | of the people openly and honestly declared. No, the Supreme Court will not throw out the charter. | There are limits beyond which men who mean to live in California will not care to go.” Installing a pretext by falsehood, the miner pro- | ceeds to misrepresent the legal points involved, as- | suming that the case turns upon the honesty of two elections, and that the court “will not dare” to set | ordinate municipalit disappear and popular istration of an aside the charter or any part of it, because it was the result of a popular election! That is to say that| though the charter might contravene, directly, pro- | visions in the State or Federal constitution, though it might deprive any one of rights entrenched in those instruments, the Supreme Court will not dare to say so because the Examiner will thereupon make it impossible for the Justices to live in Californi: The history of American journalism affords a no more flagrant interference with the independence andi authority of a court than this. Ii the mere fact of adoption of an organic act or a fundamental law by popular vote puts the instru- ment where courts dare not interpret it, our system of government is at an end. Then State constitutions may nullify the Federal constitution, to be in turn nullified themselves by the charters of their own sub- | and symmetry and order will rty and the rights of per- son and property will follow. The attitude of the | aminer, then, is strictly revolutionary, and sets up | a rule of action that ends all stability in government. | It would make the adm Amcric:ml State as williul and uncertain as that of the turbulent | countries of Central and South America, and far less | orderly than the aboriginal government of an Indian tribe. Under the pretense of devotion to good gov- | ernment it proposes an intolerable system destruc- | tive of all government. Worst of all, it shadows and | dilutes a decision favorable to the charter with the idea that the court did not dare decide otherwise for | fear of an outbreak which would exile its members | from the State or outlaw them within its borders! The Examiner cannot now support the validity of the charter, if affirmed by the court, on the ground that such affirmation speaks the judicial mind and i3 derived by application of the rules of legal interpre- tation, but because the judgment utters only the fear | of the court and is rendered under threat and moral duress. We put the case calmly to lawyers and laymen alike and ask them to consider the consequences of such judicial rule as the aminer proposes to insti- tute. It is simply subversive of society and its insti- tutions. If acted upon, or if there arise a suspicion that a court is subject to it, chaos takes the place of law and confusion substitutés system. All over this State men and organizations are working together for the greatening of our materialities. Our attractive phylactery is spread like a banner of enterprise to lure a thrifty population to come and put its property and its profits under the shelter of our laws and the pro- tection of our courts. But what prudent man will subject his family and his gains to the annihilation of ights which must everywhere closely follow the pol- icy by which the Examiner proposes to abolish ju- dicial protection and independence and substitute them with dynamite and the bludgeon? We are painfully aware of the effect of such a publi- cation upon certain unthinking elements and indi- vidual minds. The thoughtless have ever been the beneficiaries of the thoughtful, to whom the world | tem of judicial guardianship which has made owner- | ship of property as safe to the weak as to the strong. That system can only exist while the judiciary is free | and safe to apply to all issues joined the principles of the science of the law. Yet here, at the very begin- ning and germ of our whole constitutional scheme of government, it is demanded that a court shall abdi- cate its independence, shut its eves to judicial inter- pretation and let fear for its physical safety be the | sole motive for decision in a matter which is at the | origin of all government! The impression upon that thoughtful class of minds which are the final cause | of public opinion must reveal the danger of letting | such a threat and its brazen infamy go unrebuked. The gentleman of Keswick who shot the top of his | friend’s head off in a controversy over a mine appears to have acted somewhat hastily. The courts have de- cided that the mine belonged neither to the murdered man nor te the murderer. The State authorities of health intend to begin a vigorous crusade against consumptives. Los Angeles may take it as an invidious attack upon its resources by politicians. trangparent argument be able to pull the wool over the eyes of the people? We shall see. | The secretary of the State Horticultural Society S | the limitations upon their | cur commerce. R seems to have gone beyond his depth in mingling with gentlemen. At the Sacramento State Fair he gave every necessary evidence of the fact that his sphere of usefulness was rightly chosen when he de- termined to confine his energies to the consideration of insect pests. RECEPTIONS TO THE VOLUNTEERS. O far as the general public is concerned the re- ceptions given by the city to the volunteers re- turning from the Philippines culminated in the grand pageants and brilliant illuminations which at- tended the welcome to the Californians. All that has followed has seemed in the nature of an anti-climax, and comparatively little attention is given to it. It is of course natural that this should be so. The enthusiasm and the interest of the people mounted rapidly from the time when the first of the volun- teers returned until the day when our own boys came back and then overflowed in an exuberance of re- joicing in that week of festivals. The inevitable re- action has followed, and comparatively few people take note of the fact that the receptions are still going on as each successive regiment returns, and that the courtesies and the hospitality of the city are extended by the committee with undiminished hear- tiness and liberality. By the economy with which it managed the grand displays of welcome to the California troops the com- mittee has on hand a surplus to continue the recep- tions to the troops of other States as they arrive. As fast as they come they find a welcome waiting them. They are greeted with music and are entertained at the theaters, and other forms of hospitality are shown them. The committee, in fact, continues to discharge i its duties with as much zeal and energy as it did when the subject was a matter of universal interest and when all eyes were upon it. Tt is said that several men who went to the mining town of Anvil to practice law and medicine are now using the pick and shovel with commendable cheer- fulness and some success. A few estimable gentle- men nearer home might respect the eternal fitness of things and follow su The dispatches announce that gress has become disheartened. the Filipino con- The determination | with which the military progress of General Otis is content has not yet entered the Filipino army. P l flows back to the sea in our rainy seasons to more than triplicate the State’s resource for irrigatiou. UTILIZING FLOODS. The affirmation by the courts of riparian rights and T has long been known that enough flood water their modification by some rights of prior appropria- | tion lay only upon the average normal flow of the The flood waters are not subject to any of use that stand around the streams. usual flow. Therefore, it has been felt that if some system is | workable whereby the flood waters can be impounded and saved from waste, leaving the average carriage of the streams to those whose right to it is confirmed by the law, not only would many distressing disputes | and costly lawsuits be obviated, but the arable area of the State would be finally extended to cover all lanid that can be made fruitiul by a proper service of water. We are looking to a great extension of our commerce and are already in enjoyment of its first fruits, bur, aiter all, commerce depends upon the production of all those things which enter into profitable exchange. Increase in our marketable production is increase in That production is limited to the amount of water available for irrigation. It may not all be always needed. The rainfall may obsolete its use sometimes, but, after all, stability of commerce depends upon stability of production, and this can be assured in California only by having always at hand and ready for distribution a sufficient volume of i water for irrigation. The only source of this is in the efficient storage of the flood waters, which other- wise waste. An attempt is of long standing to have this done by the Federal Government, but so far no appre- ciable headway is made. The trouble with Federal 2ction is that it implies, primarily, the expenditure of public money, and the Government, being a political corporation, is controlled by a majority of its stock- holders—that is to say, of its voters. That majority is planted where men farm without invoking Federal aid in anything, and they cannot be brought to see why others should have it in the same vocation. This exertion of the power of the majority throws the question of flood water storage back upon the State— at least as far as California is concerned. The vast and numerous interests affected, running from the miners to the horticulturists, have organ- ized to suggest and secure some plan by which the State can impound these flood waters and provide for their equitable distribution. If this can be done the future of this State is made alluring. The State Board of Trade and the California Press Association have emphasized the necessity of the proposed work by putting at the disposition of the new organization a sufficient sum of money to in- itiate its work, and it is proposed to hold a State convention to crystallize the plan and prepare the legislation required. No more important economic matter is now be- fore our people, and there is no doubt that it will get the attention and support which it deserves. | | The good people of Santa Rita are nothing if not deliberate ig estimating consequences. They have finally arrived at the conclusion that an eleven-year- old boy who attempted to kill three playmates and then stole a horse is likely to become a criminal if his career is not checked. P e — RIVALRY IN THE TWIN CITIES. [VALRY between St. Paul and Minneapolis is so keen that a stroke of newspaper enterprise in one city is immediately followed by a clever counter stroke in the other. Thus when the Minna- apolis Times made a fine showing by taking the fron- tispiece of The Call's volunteer reception edition, and using it as an illustration in announcing the arrival of the Minnesota boys from the Philippines, merely sub- stituting the name “Sheridan” for “Sherman” on the transport, the Pioneer Press of St. Paul proceeded to get even by reproducing from that same edition of | The Call the picture of the naval parade, making, | | of course, the change in the name of the transport. | ger of the Transvaal is a profoundly Enterprise which follows in the lead of The Call and profits thereby to the extent of giving a wider enjoyment of our artistic iflustrations is to be com- mended, but it should be accompanied by more care than was exercised by ecither of the rival journalists in this case. We regret to note that in changing the name of the transport each of them forgot to give credit to The Call for the original pictures. If the Times will now direct the attention of Minneapolis to the misdeeds of the St. Paul journalist and the Pioneer Press will point out to the people of St. Paul the wrong of the Minneapolis newspaper justice will be done and all forgiven, MO"*.*Q*QQ“Q*QGOW#0’%0’0.’”*0*0!0*0’0”“‘0 AL VARIATIONS. BY JOHN McN@AUGHT. OXOROLROROADRORORGAONOXINAXPEDASRONDUOHOROLIHOA XD AR 92O { EDITOR : The man on the street in the United States has gone wild on a good many occasions and from a wide variety of causes in my time, but he has never been quite so hysterical as over the conviction of Dreyfus. I can remember when he wished te have Congress hurl deflance at Bismarck because of what he called ‘“the persecution of Von Arnim”; I recall the vigor with which he urged the President to demand of Victoria the immediate release of Mrs. Maybrick; but in neither of those instances was the man on the street quite so uproar- fously furious as he is at present. Two or three of him the other night threatened to close up one of our best- known restaurants because the musi- cians of the place started to play the ‘“Marseillaise.” Others of him insist upon a general boycott of everything French and. would have us all forswear a visit to the Paris Exposition of 1900. Such performances and demands are intended to show that the man is a friend of humanity and a lover of jus- tice, but the effect is very different from the intention. For my part I am inclined to belleve the men who are so eager to have Paris boycotted are sim- | | won’t be able to attend the exposition themselves and don’t liké any one else to go. To stay away from France for the sake of “avenging Dreyfus” would not be logical, nor would it help Drey- fus, but it sounds well to persons who | | sOTTY. . The innocence of Dreyfus s pro- claimed by “the civilized world” that didn’t hear or read the evidence, his gullt has been pronounced by two i sets of ! scoundrels” who did hear the evidence, i Such is the statement of the case gen- | erally made on the street. On that | showing a man of reasonable coolness | resisted indicates very clearly that the germ of dis- | will at least reserve judgment enough | to avoid hysteria. That an innocent man should be condemned by villains in high office is no doubt very bad, but | why condemn all France, French music | and French expositions? | The advocates | whose case is one of some celebrity in four own country, assert his innocence as vigorously as ever that of Dreyfus | has been asserted. They maintain he was unjustly convicted by a court- | martial composed of eminent officers of | our army and that his persecution and condemnation were brought about by | a conspiracy on the part of a glant corporation whose iniquity he was about to expose. | no American goods shall be exhibited | at their exposition and no American be | permitted to see their “Midway Plai- | sance”? Then, indeed, there would be | occasion for hysterfa and the man on the street could have full liberty to | dance a war dance and disturb the de- |corum of our public resorts at his | pleasure.. Until that happen, however, | the Dreyfusard should be abated a lit- tle. It isn’t our year for a revolution. . e . Here are a few extracts from an ac- count of a religious meeting by a writer in a récent issue of the New York Tiges: *“As we entered the room an order was given in a stern voice to all fall lon their faces and pray. Being unused to the customs I kneit at a | chair and was surprised to hear shouts while the prayer went up to humble the proud spirit of the woman who was kneeling. Looking around I discovered I was the only one not with my face on the floor, so I got down rather than create a scene. * * After the pray- ing had gone on for a short time the | leader jumped to his feet and shouted that the devil was present in the room and that God would not listen to his prayers. ‘I will go to the turret and talk with God and find out what the trouble is.’ As he said this he walked out of the room, stepping on the pros- trate forms on the floor on his way to the hall.” That sounds like a description of some abomination of Buddhism in Asia or fetish worship in Africa, but it isn't. It is an account of the way a certain class of our fellow countrymen of the good old State of Maine carry on the religious observances of Christianity. Had such a scene occurred in Frarce it would be easy to class it among the jroofs of the degeneracy of the race, but as it is we shall have to let it go | unclassed and call it “zeal.” Sk Bv way of contrast to the perfervid devction of the revivalists of Maine, it is worth noting the cool and perfunc- tory way in which camp mectings are, sometimes at least, conducted-in Geor- gia. At the close of such a meeting in that State a short time ago a sct of res- olutions of thanks were adopted by a rising vote. The resolutions contained | elght clauses after the preamble, cach of which gave thanks to some particu- lar person or set of persons; and the last two, according to the report glvea in the Atlanta Constitution, run thus: “Seventh—To the railroad for the re- duced rate of one and a third fare for round trip to persons attending the meeting. “Bighth—To Almighty God, the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, for call- ing so many of his people together, and meeting with them in power and demonstration.” To give thanks to a railroad company and to God in one set of resolutions and in the same form may not be the height of decorum and dignity, but it is better than the practice in Maine of lying down to let an evangelist walk over your prostrate body. Such is my opinion. If, however, any one think differently he has a right to rejoice that he can think at all. In matters of religion in a free country it is not de- sirable there should be either conform- | ity or uniformity. It is well known that President Kru- religious man, and it will be remem- bered that a few weeks ago he advised the British officials to read certain | Psalms for the edification of their minds on the subject of their strife with him. It is not so well known, however, that Cecil Rhodes, the great opponent of Kruger, is also a devout man serving the Lord diligently afte his manner. He recently made a speech at the laying of the cornerstone of a Presbyterian church at Woodstock, near Cape Town, and it is thus reported in the Westminster Gazette: “He remembered when the Bishop of 4Derry was out here, and was staying ply a lot of impecunious fellows who | | think if the Parisians should happen to | | miss us they would feel hurt and be and | “prejudiced and degenerate | of Captain Carter, | Suppose the French | | should take up the Carter case and | | boycott us? Suppose they should ay | ROXOROXONON On the Sabbath the Bishop said to him. “I suppose you are com- ing to hear me at Rondebosch Church?” and Mr. Rhodes said, “No, gir, I have got my own chapel.” The | Bishop sald, “Where is it?” and he re- plied, “It i3 up the mountain.” The ‘tact was, if he might take them into his confidence, that he did not care to go to a particular church on one day in the year when he fised his own chapel at all other times. He found that up | that mountain one got thoughts—what they might term religious thoughts, be- cause they were thoughts for the bet- terment of humanity, and he believed that was the best description of relig- ion—to work for the betterment of hu- man beings who surround us.” Going to a mountain to get thoughts for the betterment of humanity is good exercise, but Mr. Rhodes should have remembered that Satan’s plan of | temptation has been known to include taking one to the pinnacle of a moun- tain, showing him all the surrounding country and offering him the kingdom if he would bow down. Is Mr. Rhodes quite certain that when from the top of his favorite mountain he looks over into Kruger's country, he has always said with firmness: ‘“‘Get thee behind me, Satan”? | with him. | : In these daye when the discontented | are doing so much of the talking it is | pleasant to know there is one man of | a cheerful disposition and easily satis- fied, who has sufficient rank in the world to compel attention when he | ]‘ wishes to say something, and sufficient | | good humor to say something comfort- | ing when he has attention. That happy personage is the Czar of Russia, and he has been pleased to notify the na- tions that he is satisfied with the re- sults of the Peace Conference. In their note the Ministers who represented | | ‘him at the conference and who speak | for him say: “It has been found necessary for the | conference to postpone a definite set- | tlement of the complicated question of the suspension of armaments until‘ fully elucidated by the different Gov- ernments. Nevertheless,” they add, “the lightening of military burdens is already admitted by unanimous reso- lution to be urgently desirable for all nations.” Language of that kind from such a source is charming. The babblers of the world have been complaining that the conference accomplished nothing, and judging from their reports it would be supposed a man who was pleased with the results wouldn't be discon- tented if he stuck a nail in his foot. Now comes the man who called the conference and he tells his people they got their money’s worth. Surely it is better to be a Czar and havea contented mind than to be a critic and have nothing but an inclination to be un- happy; better to be satisfied with even so windy a thing as a ‘“unanimous resolution” than not to be satisfied at all. A lurid contemporary which pub- lished last Sunday a full pageaccount of alleged bacchanalianrevels and drunken orgies at a resort where good folks spend the summer and musical young men sing sweet songs to the maiden moon apologized later on by declaring | ithe publication was an “inadvertence.” | As the style of the article was even more highly colored than the many- hued gaud of a picture that illustrated it, the apology has been received with hesitation. If the paper had frankly admitted that the whole *‘colored sup- plement” was a mental aberration, the | explanation would have been sufficient and satisfactory. . . That Voltaire was right in defining history as “‘a fable agreed upon” has been proven anew by a fresh illustra- tion of the difficulty of learning the ex. act truth concerning even contempo- rary events. The Society of Architect- ural Iron Manufacturers of New York determined a short time ago to erect a tablet commemorating the inventor; of what is known as ‘skeleton con- | struction” now so frequently used in the larger structures in our cities; but honor and the advocates of each cited some-particular building as the earliest example of the construction which has revolutionized architecture and made the skyscraper possible. Such a dis- pute would appear to be easy of solu- tion, but it isn't. The more the subject is investigated the farther back can the system be traced. It was used In Liss | bon after the great earthquake, ac- cording to good authorities, and before the controversy is over we shall prob- ably have some antiquarian inform us it was used at the Tower of Babel. Meantime a pretty little side dispute has cropped out. Chicago avers it is impudence on the part of New York to erect a tablet for such a purpose and vehemently claims the first skyscraper | as her own. That spirit of the age which moves men to join with one another andorgan- ize clubs, unions, leagues, societies, as- | sociations and combinations of all sorts | has been potent in this country, but even more potent in Great Britain. So numerous and so strong have the va- rious organizations become in that kingdom the people who do not belong to one or more of them are in danger of being crowded off the island. Hence there has arisen a burly British oppo- sition to the spirit, and as a result there has been started in Birmingham a new secret society which is called the “Anti-Association Defense League.” The promoters of the movement style themselves “friends of liberty,” but in- asmuch as their mode of fighting asso- ciations consists in forming another as- sociation and making it a secret order, | the advantage of joining them is not clear. The fact that such a combina- tion has been started, however, is a sign of the times and an intimation ot what we are coming to. We have learned in this country that the best way to fight a trust is to start an oppo- sition trust, and it appears we shall have to keep on with the movement until everybody and every industry are included in one gigantic trust and then there will a happy and spontaneous so. lution of all problems by the inevitable ending of all in one big bust. Ry For some time past reports from the Eastern summer resorts have informed us of the alarming extent to which both men and women are becoming ad- dicted to the habit of going about with- out hats. The practice began, it ap- pears, with college oarsmen, thence it | | and afterward to cyclists, and now it ig said to be a common sight to see youna men and women of style and stuff rig. ing, driving, promenading and playing golf hatless, bonnetless, capless; cov. ered as to the heads of them with noth. ing but their own hair. It is claimed for the fad that a hat is a nuisance; that it conceals rather than adorns the dignity of the human head; that it tends to produce baldness, engenders colds, is difficult to keep in place when exercising in a breeze, and is an old-fashioned custom which it were well to get rid of. It will be noted that nothing is said about the influ- ence of a hat upon the talk of him who wears it, and from that fact the con- clusion will be readily drawn that the fad is founded upon reason and not flippancy. It is hardly likely the new practice will be continued through the shocks of winter, but there are a good many decent men with a proper regard for their wives who would be glad to see it revive next spring just before Easter. In the meantime the promptness of the girls in adopting the style may be cited as another evidence of feminine per- versity. It took forty laws to compel the belles to take off their hats in a theater where the public prefers the hatless woman, but now without any law or logic they forswear hats alto- gether just for the sake of following THREE LITTLE BLOKES FROM SCHOOL. Yum Yum Gedge, Peep Bo Conlon and Pitts Sing Kemp. Three little blokes from school are we, Out for the dough to a certain-tee, The ple, the cake and the bak-er-ee— Three little blokes from school. Nobody's safe, for we care for none; Our hearts are set on easy mun, To make things smooth for No. 1— Three little blokes from school. Three little blokes from school, who very Often deal in stationery— Two get coin and one gets nary— Three little blokes from school. | Yum Yum Gedge—One little bloke pulls teeth, I think; Peep Bo Conlon—And one little bloke knows paint from Ink; | Pitt! Sing Kemp—Third little bloke gets the rinky-dink— All—Three little blokes from school. From three little blokes send two away To do some time across the bay; The third may join them there some day— Three little blokes from school. Three little biokes with bias trimmin’s, ‘Who do their best to knock persimmons Off the tree for Philly Crimmins— Three little blokes from school. AROUND THE CORRIDORS Jefterson Hull of San Jose {s at the Lick. ing and engaged apartments at the Occt- dental. Francis A. Wyman, a business man of Boston, Mass., is at the Palace. W. F. Barnes, a Los Angeles attorney, will be at the Grand for a few days. Frank W. Griffin, a mining man of Oro- ville, is one of the guests at the Califor- nia. C. B. Shaver, president of the Fresno Flume and Canal Company, Is staying at the Grand. George F. Wilson, a prominent physiclan of Portland, Or., is a late arrival at tha Occldental. C. E. Stearns, a dry goods merchant of | New York, iz at the Palace in company with his wife. Major George E. Pickett, paymaster in the United States army, is at the Occi- dental with his family ‘W. E. Bailey and W. G. Taylor, well- known merchants of Los Angeles, will be at the Palace for a few days. H. A. Jastro, chairman of the Kern County Board of Supervisors, is regis- tered at the Grand from Bakersfield. John Hammer, proprietor of the Los Angeles Hotel Gazette, is at the Palace on a brief visit to this city with his wife. A. H. Pogson and wife and P. N. Pog- son, his brother, have arrived here from Chicago and are guests at the California. Mrs. George Flavel and her two daugh- ters arrived from Astoria, Or., yesterday morning and engaged apartments at the Occidental. Dr. A. P. Woodward, Dr. F. Cornwall and R. G. Guyett of this city and Dr. Henry Yates of Crockett left yesterday for Shone’s ranch, Mendocino County, for | when they set about the work theyy their annual deer hunt. They will be found half a dozen claimants for the | gone one week. — e ——— CALIFORNIANS IN WASHINGTON WASHINGTON, Sept. 16—J. F. Rossiter, San Francisco, Raleigh; S. A. Blackman, San Francisco, Metropolitan. e ANSWER'. TO CORRESPONDENTS. TRANSPORTS—Pare, City. If you will call at the office of the companies con- trolling tugs you will be informed as to tugs that go out to meet incoming trans- ports. STARS ON THE FLAG—W. J., Sol- diers’ Home, Cal. The rule for placing the stars on the blue field of the Ameri- can flag s to arrange such in rows of eight and seven alternately. EARTH AND MOON—A. B. J., City. ‘The mean distance from earth to moon is 238,850 miles. The distance of the sun from the earth is about 92,700,000 miles. Mars is distant from the sun 140,000,000 miles. HYDRAULIC BRAKE—H, H. H., City. For complete information regarding hydraulic brakes on modern guns address a_communication to the ordnance bureau of the War Department, Washington, D. C.. stating reasons for desiring the infor- mation. If it is deemed advisable to give it, it will be furnished. PHOTOGRAPHS—M. G., Berkeley, Cal. Some photographs in the showcases of photographers are for sale and others are not. As the letter of inqulry does not in- dicate the particular gallery in which the photograph is on exhibition the question cannot be answered. Suppose the corre- spondent goes to the gallery and asks? QUOTATION—G. S., San Simeon, San Luis Obispo County, Cal. Poems are not indexed in books of reference by the last line, but by the first line. For that rea- son it is impossible to locate the poem. Possibly some reader of.this department may be able to inform the correspondent wlmlare apoem of four verses each ending with RED FIRE—A. B. J, City. The follow- ing ingredients are used in m: fire for illuminations: Nitrate on(k;xtllgo;telg 13 parts, sulphur 1 part, powder dust 1 art. The latter ingredient is prepared rom fine gunpowder rubbed up carefully in a mortar and then sifted through a hu‘lr sia;-e.lhAr]\_v dr\a}:gist will tell you the price o e ingredients ¥ price of, in other than the T}?ECRI?I‘T'ING STATIONS—S., City e recruiting. stations in this time are located: Forc?§f§°'r’e";u:§ army at 121 New Montgomery street, San Francisco; Los Angeles and the various, military posts. For the volunteer service at the same &Ia(‘es. Oakland, Marysville, Bakersfield, Merced, San Jose, Watson- ville, Salinas, Gilroy, Hollister, New Al- maden, Stockton and Fresno. —_——— Cal. glace fruit 50c per Ib at Townsend's. * —_————— hix;ecml }:ntormnuon supplied daily to Jusiness houses and public men by the Press Clipping BureauD(Auen'g)l. 510 Mont- 4 gomery street. Telephone Main 1042