The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, November 26, 1899, Page 6

vesssaaa.. . NOVEMBER 26, 1809 JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Propretor. All Communications to W. S. LEAKE, Manager Address PUBLICATION OFFICE. .. Teleph Market and Third, 8. F. e Main 1868, Deltvered by Carriers, 15 Cents Per Week. Single Copies, § Centa. by Mail, Including Postage: Ome Year. All postmasters are aut Sample copien wi when requested OAKLAND OFFICE. . veees.POS Broadway C. GEORGE KROGNESS, Manager Forcign Advertising, Marguette Build- 1 Chicago. NEW YORK CORRESPONDENT: C. C. CARLTON.... <ses..Herald Square KEW YORK REPRESENTATIVE: PERRY LUKENS JR. . 29 Tribune Ruflding AMUSEMENTS. Orpheum—Vandeville. Columbla—"“"Why Smith Left Home." California—""The Sporting Duchesa.™ Grand Opera House—"Evangeline.” Tivoll—"Aida"" Alcazar— "My Friend From India" Alhambra—"In Oid Kentucky.” Chutes, Zoo an@ Theater—Vaudeville every afternoom and evening. Olympla, corner Mason and Ellls streets—Specialties. Central Park-—Steeplechase and Coney Island. Pasorama Battle of Manila Bay, Market street, nmear Emghth Recreation Park—Baseball to-day. Union Coursing Park—Coursing to-Aay. Oukiand Racetrack—Races to-morro AUCTION SALES. ’ By Wm. G. Tayng—Monday, November 27, at 7:¢5 p. m., at ™1 Howard street. By Chase & Mendenhall-Tuesday, November 28, at 7:30 p. Thoroughbred Yearlings and Two-year-oids, at corner Van nd Market street. o, Newe avenue OUR DISAPPEARING FORESTS. | THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL THE CUBAN PROBLEM. HE campaign of education designed to bring Tlhe American people up to the understanding that the benevolent assimilation of Cuba to the United States is a part of the white man’s burden imposed upon us by divine providence goes on apace. { It will be in full blast by the time Congress gets ready to consider our relations to the Cubans, and its lead- ers will be prepared with abundant testimony to show first that the people of the island are unfit for a re- publican form of government, and second that they will make good citizens of the United States. General Ludlow in a recent address before the New York Chamber of Commerce is reported to have said: “The present generation will have to pass away fbeiore the Cubans can form a stable government.” A free Cuba would soon become a second Hayti ac- cording to his judgment, and we must out of respect for the welfare of the island continue to exercise su- pervision and authority there. The problem involved in the situation is that at present we are occupying Cuba as a military posses- sion. Is it an independent state or a subject province? Practically it is an island without a government, and such law as prevails is that which our armies enforce. What form of government is to follow the military regime? If we intend a free Cuba we have no right to organize a civil government for the island as a part of the United States; on the other hand, if we intend to annex it the sooner we provide for it some form of civil administration the better. The Cubans no doubt like us very well and have no desire to re- sist our troops by insurrection, but it is not in the nature of any people to be long satisfied with military rule, and consequently if we are to keep peace in the island it will be necessary to come to some conclusion about the government at once. The annexationists are not agreed as to the course which should be pursued in the matter. Some of them favor a continuance of the military government, partly because that will keep the problems of the island out of the arena of Congressional discussion and thus enable the annexation movement to go along silently until the fact is accomplished. On the other hand, some of the more ardent among them would like Congress to establish a civil government in the island at once, because such action would imply that Cuba has become a part of our nation and is subject to our legislation. It will be well for the American people to give heed to the various schemes advanced by the imperialists for the ultimate annexation of Cuba. It is an issue which in some respects is more important even than OW that public attention has been directed to the rapid destruction of our forests evidence of N portions of | the waste is perceived on every side. From zil ‘Y the Un me reports of the danger | that threatens. In the lake States it is noted that | white pine, once considered inex- | >wW 80 near gone it is believed Michi- | will no longer be able to furnish expected irom them, and that Minnesota on ¢ the big forests ha t kind of timber. g beiore for th If that be so | e Minnesota pineries will steps now taken to conserve on a comprehensive scale. ow of the National Department of directed attention to the fact erning our forests are mis- rge portion of that area has 1ned ¢ or in other ways deprived of woods. | ling to the records we have 480,000,000 acres of | gainst 490,000,000 acres in Russia and 46,000,- » in Austria, but professor says: “It is well | known to ever 10 18 acquainted with our for- ests th X ot compare in yield with the aver- age ¥ ran Continental forests under systematic mar t. Much of what is reported as forests is eless brush land, or open woods, and depreciated in apacity for wood production by annual fires, by which the physical structure of the leaf mold is de- stroyed, 1 thus, too, its capacity for storing need- ful ture, reducing wood production and killing all y g growth.” its and soon We have here another statement from an official authority of the urgent importance of a comprehensive supervision and protection of our forest lands. It is by no m to our credit that countries supposed to be =0 backward when compared to the United States as Russia and Austria are making more profit out oi their forests than we out of ours and at the same time preserving them while we are destroying ours. The problem is one we cannot afford to overlook, r or later we must deal with it on a com- prehensive scale and in a scientific manner. —— THANKSGIVING IN @aLdaskK@a. OME very lively comment has been forth- S coming from’ captious critics concerning the terms in which several Governors have followed the President in calling upon the people to observe next Thursday as a day of thanksgiving and rejoicing. In the proclamation of Governor Roosevelt of New York, for example, it has been noted that the name of the Almighty does not appear, so that doubts are | expressed whether thanks for prosperity in that State i are to be given to the Governor or to the farmer who raises the turkeys. No such criticism car be directed against the lan- guage of John G. Brady, Governor of Alaska. His proclamation is a model, for it gives thanks for about everything that makes up the Alaskan environment, not omitting the moss crop or the snow. The Gov- ernor says: “We, here in Alaska, have good reason for render- ing praise and thanksgiving to Almighty God. We rejoice with our friends and relatives in the States that they have been blest with abundant harvests and that they are enjoying a period of wonderful pros- perity. We are thankful that Alaska is a Land of Promise. lere God has gendered the treasures of snow and hail. The dust of fine gold has he strewn over the valleys, aye even over the strands of the sea, and many hundreds have been rewarded for their toil. He has made veins in the mountains for the precious ores. The earth gives forth iron and coal, and the very stones yicld their share of copper. Grass and moss have not failed, and the sca has bountifully en- riched us from its stores. Surely we can rejoice with thanksgiving.” Now if Alaskans can give thanks for the treasures of enow and hail, surcly we can give them even more abundantly for the blessings of our climate, for we have snow and hail in the mountains and sunshine in the valleys. We lack not golden sands, nor moss, for the gold is brought forth by the enterprising and the moss gathers on the backs of the silurians. With Alaska, therefore, we can have full sympathy, and since they are to rejoice that we have had abundant harvests we can rejoice that they live in a land of promise. Between oursclves and the Alaskans there is indeed the triple bond of country, of kinship and of business relations. By each of those ties our pros- perity is bound up with theirs, and it will add much to the rejoicing here to know that they have so much to be thankful for up there. | the Philippines. Cuba is too near our shores, too rich and too populous to be governed long as a purely | m ary colony. If we hold it there will soon be an agitation to admit it as a State. We shall then have a new factor to reckon with in our Presidential elec- tions, and in close contests the votes of Cuba might determine which candidate should be the chief magis- trate of the republic. B ——— Local Police Courts have recently become the scene for the recital of the conquests of city “mashers.” A “smashing” judiciously administered outside of the courts might prove to be a more effective remedy than has yet been found. A BOOM FOR SULZER. JLZER of New York has been lifted up before S the public as Tammany's candidate for the Speakership of the House of Representatives. It is of course known to Sulzer, to Tammany and to all the world that he cannot be elected, but he may get the Democratic nomination, and that would carry | with it the leadership of the Democratic party in the House, with such small honors and emoluments as may attach to that position. The boom, we are told, was launched in New York rccently at a dinner lasting until midnight, in which Richard Croker, Edward Murphy, all the Democratic Congressmen of the State and a host of other digni- taries of the party were present. Croker acted as spon- sor for the boom and is reported to have spoken of Sulzer's readiness as a public debater, of his service in the Assembly of the State, of his career in ‘the House of Representatives and of his fidelity to Wil- liam J. Bryan. The other participants in the feast followed Croker's lead and it was a night of glory for Sulzer. The New York candidate will find some strong rivals td contest with him the honor of the leadership to which hLe aspires. Bailey of Texas is out of the field, but, nevertheless, the South has three candidates for the place—Bankhead of Alabama, DeArmond of Missouri and Richardson of Tennessee. Fach the Democratic Representatives in this Congress are .nostly from the Southern States, and therefore a Southern man is likely to be chosen. Tammany, how- ever, is very good at political management, and it is said that before setting up a candidate of their own for the place the Tammany leaders made a canvass of the Democrats of the House and found they have a good chance to win. As a candidate Sulzer will represent straightout Bryanism. Croker did not in any way misrepresent | his record when he described Sulzer as a faithful fol- lower of the Nebraska orator and the free silver star. In the days when Tammany itself was opposed to free silver Sulzer stood up manfully for the Chicago plat- | form. i, then, the three-cornered fight among the Southerners result in hopeless divisions, the New York man may win, and Sulzer will be in his glory. So far as practical politics is concerned it can mat- ter little who is chosen to lead the Democrats in this Congress. They will have but little to do in shaping legislation, nor is it likely that anything their leader can do in the House will have influence on the issues before the country in the coming Presidential election. There is, in truth, no genuine leadership in either of the candidates for the office of nominal leader. As a contest between Tammany and the South, how- ever, the movement to elect Sulzer will be more or less interesting and may be watched with some amuse- ment in all parts of the country. A litigant in the local courts testified the other day that he needs at least $700 a month to live. He prob- ably did not wish to impress upon the court that his prospects for a speedy death are most unusually bril- liant. — BRITISH WAR INSURANCE RISKS. MONG the persons who study the reports of the battles in South Africa with most care and who exercise the greatest efforts to obtain exact returns are the great insurance companies with whom British officers insure their lives before going to the front. With these men the lists of killed and wounded are interesting as matters of business, for it is from them that calculations are made as to what rate shall be charged for war risks, Tables have been recently published by London insurance journals giving the results of the informa- ion they have obtained of the casualties at the three battles of Dundee, Elandslaagte and. Reitfontein. of | these has apparently a better chance than Sulzer, for SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1899. l Of these it is said that in the fight at Dundee out of 4593 men exposed on the British side 215 were killed and wounded. Percentage of officers killed to 193 | engaged was 5.18; percentage of officers wounded ‘o those engaged was 11.92. Altogether 17.10 per cent of the officers engaged were either killed or wounded. | In the battle of Elandslaagte 257 were killed or | wounded out of 3605 engaged. Of these thirty-five were officers. At Reitfontein, with a total strength of 4356, 108 men were killed and wounded. As regards the three battles, with 387 officers and 13,000 men | about the fighting line, 75 casualties (19.37 per cent) | were reported among the officers. Among the men | 505 casualties (3.87 per cent) were reported, 70 prov- | ing fatal. Total killed and wounded, 580, or 4.33 per cent. All of these battles occurred in October, and the reports from them had therefore been fairly well authenticated by the time the tables were made up. There is reason to believe the later battles have been even more disastrous to the British. The argument of the insurance men is designed to justify an increase in the rate of insurance for officers, against which there appears to have been raised something of a protest. It has been asserted that it is unpa- triotic on the part of the companies to take advantage of the war to make big profits, but in answer the London Review, speaking for the insurance men, says: “Patriotism sounds very well, but unless ship- owners let their ships go for less money than they would in time of peace, contractors charge less for war material, and mules are purchased for less than peace prices, and unless in every respect goods be- come cheaper, it is absurd to expect joint-stock life insurance companies, as regards their shareholders and their civilian policy-holders, or mutual life offices, | as regards the vast bulk of their policy-holders alone, to present army officers substantially with a large bonus. But it is a fact that life insurance companies have never made any profit on the extra premiums on officers’ policies, and that they do not care about taking new ones at all except at prohibitory rates. On the 5 per cent increase taken as the general average charge we have been able to show that there is every prospect of the offices losing heavily. This hardly be called want of patriotism.” It is also asserted by the insurance men that British officers expose themselves tco much, partly to en- courage their men, partly through pride and partly from a desire to distinguish themselves and win pro- motion. That, however, is a statement hardly per- | tinent to the issue, unless it should be the intention | to charge daring officers a higher rate than cautious | ones. can D — After a financial, policy which has found expression in a persistent refusal for years John W. Mackay has been induced to enter the directory of the Southern | Pacific Company. will have to explain in court the secret of the process | which gives to his gold bricks such a fascinating glitter. | | DEMO! | CRACY AND THE BRYAN SHIRT. ARYLAND Democrats, flushed by their re- M cent victory in the State election, have come forth with their Governor-elect, John Walton | Smith, at their head, to renew the effort to rid | Democracy of Bryanism. Gorman is reported to be | a supporter of the movement and is quoted as having | stated to a friend that a sufficient number of anti- | Bryan delegates would be sent to the next national convention to prevent the iree silver man from getting the two-thirds vote necessary for a nomination, We have heard much of that kind of talk before. | Last winter the air was full of it. Anti-Bryan move- | ments started in the East and swept up and down that section of the country about as frequent and as furious as blizzards. They vanished, however, like #he snows that blizzards bring. The great Democratic banquets on Jackson's ‘day and Jefierson’s day that were to have been marked by the elimination of | Bryan from the Democratic horizon resulted in quite a different showing, and the famous $10 feast of the dignitaries at Tammany Hall was eclipsed by the dollar dinner where Bryan shone and waved his silver tongue. | We shall believe that Maryland can organize a movement to beat Bryan when we perceive the man whom she is to put up against him rally a force big enough to make a display of itself in the open. Re- ports made to friends of arrangements to elect to the convention a sufficient number of anti-Bryan dele- gates to beat him are too vague to be taken seriously. The fight against him now is not so strong as it was last year, for now Tammany has gone over to his side and no desertions from him of note have been re- corded. It is of course humil ting to intelligent Democrats | to have the party committed to the leadership of such a man as Bryan, but so long as the masses and the bosses wish him it is not easy to see how the intel- ligence of the party is to get rid of him except by beating him so badly in the coming election that he will never be heard of again. It will hardly do to compare the effect of Bryanism | mpon Democracy to the shirt of Nessus, for the Greek tale is too tragic, and besides the simile is so worn | that the shirt itself is threadbare. There is a New England shirt story of the day that fits the case better. Tt is narrated that one Hiram Clark, an enterprising resident of Watertown, | Mass recently devised a one-piece, rubber-lined cot- | ton undergarment which was intended to be water- proof. He expected to make a fortune by the sale of the same to miners, seafaring men and others whose vocations are pursued in damp or wet places. | Unfortunately for Clark, however, when he donned the new garment and submitted it to a heat test the rubber lining melted and stuck to his body so that the fabric was only removed with the aid of a pair of scissors and a scraping knife, and with great pain to the wearer. That is about the way the Bryanite shirt is sticking to Democracy. The thing can be removed with scis- sors and a scraping knife, but it will be with great pain to the wearer. Morcover, it will require some- body to hold the patient down while the scraping is §§oing on, and we doubt the ability of Maryland to o it. it — A German Count, who was commissioned by his Emperor to follow the American troops through the Cuban war for purposes of observation, has concluded his task with the announcement that the American militia system always was and always will be a mys- tery to him. If he could only see our illuminated Adjutant General Seamans ordering uniforms what a flood of light would be thrown on the subject! { —— The Riverbank capitalist who invested his entire for- tune in a ditch and now hasn't even the ditch to show for it probably is convinced that there are holes enough in the ground in which to lose money without digging new ones. Judging from the persistency with which the Boers continue to shell the British positions, it is natural to assume that they take them for peas. Some of these days Uncle Collis | 4040404040+ 04 04 O+ D+0+0+04+0+0+ 0+04+ 0+0+ 0+ 0+ 0+0+ Oh 0+ O+ 0+ 04040+ O+0 + 0+ 040+ 040 The Call publishes communications in Which subjects of general interest are discussed or containing information that Will be of interest to its readers, without holding ltself responsible for the opin- ions of the writers.] Editor of The Call-Dear Sir: The Mon- itor in its fssue of the 15th thought fit to reproduce a scurrilous attack made in the Northwestern Catholic upon Catholic chaplains in general and upon myself in particular. The attack is given great prominence, and the Northwestern is called by the Monitor its “esteemed” con- temporary. I infer therefore that the edi- tor of the Monitor found in the North- western words that voiced his sentiments, and that he for that reason transcribed them and gave them in his paper the Same prominence they occupied in his mind. 1 thought fit to reply—not because of the Monitor but because of the base insinua- tions contained in the article. I did reply, and my reply has drawn from the paper in its issue of the 25th an article apon which I feel bound In justice to myself and to my friends to comment. The Moni- tor makes the following statements: First—That it did not make the charge I protested against. e Second—That Father McKinnon told Mrs. Funston she might accept a robs stolen from one of the churches. Third—That Father McKinnon is not Justified In denying the charges made against General Metcalf. Fourth—That Father’ McKinnon insists that the American army is not In the slightest degree responsible for these out- rages (the looting and desecration of churches), Fifth—That Father McKinnon justifles the soldiers in taking and keeping stolen articles, because they got them from Chinese' looters. Sixth—And lastly, the editor of the Mon- itor asks Father McKinnon whether he made any attempt to use the authority given him In order to prevent the soldiers taking home church property got in such- wise. 1 reply serfatim. I The editor of the Monitor denies he made the charge I protested against. I refer the readers of the Monitor to the issue of Saturday, November 18. The quoted article reads as follows. The black letter is ours. The people will judge whether the Monitor attacked Catholic chaplains or not: “'Our esteemed contemporary, the Northwestern Catholic, i3 inclined to take a cheerful view of Secretary Koot's re- fusal to send additional Catholic chap- lains to the Philippines. For this re- fusal, it declares, Catholics may feel thankful to God. “The Catholic church in America ought to be completely inde- pendent of the administration. If it is expected of Catholic chaplains that they shall junket around the country and do the unclean work which beiongs to politicians. then an army chaplaincy is no place for a Catholic priest. If our Cathollc soldlers serving in the imperial colonies are to receive the ministrations of the church, let it economize in the mat- ter of great cathedrals and select for tho work a few priests deem the temptations of office an ies.” There is some strange infatuation “hideous and damnable massacre’” now proceeding in the Philippines, avers the same journal, that turns the clerical mind from solicitude for souls to a con- suming anxiety for the salvation of the adminlstration. 11. The Monitor furthermore thought fit to reproduce from another paper a malig- nant Item, the purport of which is that 1 am not only dishonest but sacrilegious. It ads as follows: “Under the caption ‘General Funston Cleared,” a Detroit dafly newspaper gives, editorfally, this version of the theft of the famous robe of the Caloocan statue: ‘Rev. W. H. 1. Reaney, chaplain of the Olympia, has completely disposed of the church desecration charges made against General Funston and the Kansas volun- teers. Father Reaney that the church at Caloocan had been used by the Filipinos for military purposes some time be(gre the United States troops arrived, The church had been thoroughly secular- ized and the natives had stripped it of everything of value. After the :\n'lvrlcln troops occupled it somebody discovered a garment alleged to have been part of lhi raiment of a statue of the Virgin and resented It to Mrs. Funston. Father cKinnon of the California \'o!’unu-rs told her there was no impropriety in her accepting It, and consequently she kept it. Ilul8 is 'all there is to the story of desecration.’ " '] tory is a lle. I never authorized an‘;'heo:e o any occasion to retain any article of church property. How this I.li sertion, came out in ‘the Detroit paper | don’t know; nor am I much ("onl'ernf s One thing I am sure of, though, is that Father Heaney never made the state- ment. Perhllllns lk}erefl . as well as in :;ogs(ablhlh their own pet theories would neither stop at garbling and mlsrepre; senting the statements of a priest, nor a giving unwarranted reliance to the asser- tions of a scoundrel. But, however tained, it is a lie, and the Monitor in re- producing such base insinuations shows an animus conslstent perhaps with yel- low journalism, and perhaps conaln;m with “the present editor's ldeas of what the Catholic organ of San Franclsco should be. The J’B{‘er was not former:) 80 conducted an am mistaken if ‘l e Catholic people desire that the Monltor fall from the positl tofore occupied. 1IL. With regard to the General Metcalf incident I refer your readers *o the unim- peachable testimony of reliable witnesses in Wednesday’'s and Thursday’'s dally papers. There they will find that the of- ficial investigation ordered by Major eral MacArthur entirely exonerates Gen- eral Metcalf from any connection with the affair. Not only this, but the man on whose authority the affidavit mentioned was made admits that, like the Monitor's friend Fox, he was drunk and did not know what he was doing when he was induced to sign same. IV. Concerning the question of church looting the editor of the Monitor says that 1 “emphatically stated that the American army is not in the slightest aegree re- sponsible for these outrages. This is exactly my proposition. This was my statement from the beginning, und'lhls I still maintain. I did not deny that lgot- ing had been done. This I admitted. Tais every one kno But, as [ sald before, the American Government 1s not responsi- an Francisco, who le. At the very beginning of the war strict orders were issued by all the govern- mental authorities that defaulters in this respect would be dealt with most severely. The necessary provisions were made that this command would not be violated. The generals of the respective brigades were warned and they In turn warned those under them. I was delegated by the different com- manders under whom I served to see that no desecration took place. Immediately upon entering a captured town I went to the church, took an Inventory of every- thing left by the insurgents and Chinese looters, had these articles storcd away in the sacristy and locked and sealed the door of same, then placed a guard over the church to see that the seal would not be broken. It is needless to say that it never was. Now, unless the editor of the Monitor can prove that the American Government did not do all that could be reasonably expected in order that the laws might be observed, he makes an unwarranted asser- tion when he says that the American authorities were responsible. In fact, so unwarranted is it that, though like the donkey mentioned in the editor’s fable of he wishes to appear as a llon, he brays like the other animal. Now, can he {:rn\'e‘ that the American officers in the Philippines did not do their utmost to see that these laws were ob- served? He can He has made an ef- fort to do so. W filled the pages of the Monitor with the assertions of men who were as remark- able for thelr want of veracity as they were for thelr want of common sense and decency. Week after week he has given one lame argument after another to sub- stantfate his own theories about the Phil. jon and dignity it here- | ek after week he has | | are_editors In De- | | Monitor wishes | | | | | | | | | who were bringing so many | | Christian 3 FATHER McKINNON REPLES T0 THE STATEMENTS OF THE MONITOR ¢ 4 * G+0404+ 0404+ 0+0+ 0+ 0+ O+0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 04+ 040 +04 040+ 0+ 040+ O+0+0+ O+ OO 40+ 040 + 04040+ 040 ippines and to cast doubt and discredit upon the words of the Catholic chaplains, who, above all others in the army znd :n\'y. had the interests of the church at eart, Even admitting that the editor of the Monitor could show that there were a few cases of looting, what would this prove? Would it prove that the American Gov. ernment failed in its duty? By no mean Every reasonable man knows that in wer many things occur that are lamentahia and disastrous. Hence it might ea hapwn that an exceptional case of lootin might occur even in the best discipl) armies and under the strictest rules deny tkis the editor of the Monitor wo make himself as ridiculous in his metp, of reasoning as he has made himseif torious for accepting the testimony characters. V. When one wishes to misunders:. can do so. Apparently the editor to misundersta That were of little ¢ quence did undertake to misrepresent me Cathollc people by stating that | | men In Keeping stolen goods mer cause they got them from Chinese Calm readers will judge such star., for themselves and will judge tor, too. What I did say was ¢ soldlers could come in posses reat many ecclesiastical artic aving looted churches to get the instruction of the peor me that while some of the towns wer ing stores in which church supy sold were often among the bui stroyed. Men could find here quant every article used in Catholle worst and therefore we are not to conclude the presence of articles of this k the looting of churches w sale or general as the a, it_to be, 2 VI. To the editor's last guestion as to why Father McKinnon ma effort to exercise the power he claim have ha to take church property wherever found Why he did not exercise it on the that either whole- Alors represent N ves ments and chalices to San Francise Simply because he did not know of ar such articles in their possession. [ never saw any, and the agitation concerning them was started after my departure f. the East. 1 never even heard abe this agitation till the editors of some of Bastern Catholic papers told me how t article written on the authority of Fox that subsequently appeared in Donohoe's Magazine had been peddled about a the editors of Eastern Catholic jou ing for a buyer. i’ Io"i'lklo 'edllnr of the Monitor speaks {nconsistencies and contradictions lecture. We are not surprised to h making such an assertion after w! all the inconsistencies and contrac in his recent editorial. We have see he denied that in a previous editi made or sanctioned the assertion some Catholic priests were hirelings the administration. We have seen h little authority he had for asserting that 1 told Mrs. Funston she mlght accept a robe stolen from one of the churches. Wa ha seen how weak was his contentic when he sald I was not justified in den ing the charges made against Metealf. We have seen how untrust worthy and unreliable were the s ments he made concerning the respo sibility of the American Government for the looting and desecration of churche We have seen how he forgot to tell the truth when he asserted that I justified the soldiers in taking and k”pln‘! articles be- cause they got them from Chinese loot- ers. We have seen all the contradictions, inconsistencles and false statements, an now all falr-minded readers can draw fr own conclusions. lh&ne word more to the editor. As = entleman, as editor of the San Francisco Monitor, especially as successor of a great and learned and true man, the public expect more from you than from the ordinary individual. While '"'"{ to recall a littie bit of advice, I cannot think of any more appropriate to the man or the occasion than that contained in the first words of the moral in the fable of the donkey and the llon, which appears in your last issue. Read these words and make mo;{n the u;mlqlnt of your next medi- tation. Respectfully yours, g ‘W. D. McKINNON. 3 nals To the Editor of The Call: In attempt: ing to construe the civil service provi: sions of the new charter in my letter to you the cther day I had no idea that I was making a personal attack on Mr. H. . Clement, member of the Civil Service Committee of the Board of Freeholders and candidate for Civil Service Commis- sioner at the hands of Mayor Phelan. It appeurs, however, from the tone of his communication published yesterday that he considers this civil service business his aftair entirely. The promptitude with which he has sprung the Nevada style of controversy upon me leaves no other conelusion than that he does not Intend to brook interference with it oy anybody. My purpose in addressing you, however, was not as Mr. Clement thinks, to con- sole the *“push’—though, being the bot- tom dogs in this affair, 1 do not grudge of my the person or persons responsible for the civil service faux pas of tne new charter. ‘This purpose has been accomplished. Mr, Clement ha# promptly avowed himself the author of the totch by attempting to defend it. Such being the cuse, it i to be hoped that he wiil drop the Nevada style of argument and proceed to elabo- rate @ theory of construction by which e civil service provisions of the new charter can be made to apply to appoint- iferred by the heads of the city government on January 8. It Is no answer 1o mY argument to suspeci my devotion to civil service reform or im- fon 10, article XIII, quoted by Mr. Clement does not prove his case. It has no application whatever to it. Either he has not read articie XI1II lately or he is unable to give legal effect to the language used in it. Like all the other sections of article XIII, sectica 10 applies to the CLASSIFIED service pro- vided by the charter. Idefy Mr.Clementto #how by any rational method of reason- ing that any of the civil service provisions ot the new charter n.pply to any service except the “classified” service. The Com- missioners are rven authority over no other service and they can grant permis- sion to appoint without examination only to_that service. What, \hen,’ is the true construction of article XIII? ~ Manifestly it sets up a system of rules whereby applicants shail be examined and appointed after classification. No intelligent person, let alone a lawyer, will, after subjecting ar- ticle XITI to the test of reason, contend that any other construction can be placed upon it. 1f Mr. Clement will read the article he will discover that the very first duty im- posed upoa the Civil Service Commis- sioners after appointement is to as8l- ty all the places of employment In or un- der the offices and departments of the clty and county mentioned in section 11 of this article, with reference to the ex- aminations hereinafter provided for.” (8ec. 2.) The places so classified shall constitute the civil service of the city and county, and no appointment to any such places shall be made except ac- cording to the rules of the commission. How can the commission grant permis- sion in case of emergency to make tem- POINTS D George D. Squires’ Answer to Henry N. Clement. them all the consolation they can get out | view of the law—but to uncover | 1CUSSED. ‘Bervlce Commission cannot grant any- body permission to make temporary ap- pointments to any but the classified ser- i vice, | cessity the beads of departments will have | to make appointments under the general | powers given them by the charter. |, How can the Civil Service Commission | force persons who get thelr appointments in this way to appear and take the axa: ination Hew can it force officials to make requisitions when there are no vi cancies? An office in a certain sense property. It is a right to draw a salary and a man cannot be deprived of it ex- cept by due process of law. Mr. Clem- ent may 1hink he ought to be deprived of it In such a case as he Imagines, but he will find, 1 opine, that his thinker will not amount to much in a legal con- test. Mayor Phelan may be able_to enforce Mr. Clemens's view of article XIII on the boards and commissions which he will | appoint, fince the charter empowers him to remove any person at will; but noth- |ing can be done with the officials elect- |ed on November 7 except to persuade them. 1 know enough about political bu- | man nature and the “pulls” of the that few of them will be persuaded. There is one other point in this matter which may be new to Mr. Clement, and although have already consumed too much space, 1 hope you will permit me to advance it for his benefit. If he is to be- come a Civil Service Commissioner ne will probably later on discover it for him- sel 1 do not belleve that any person ap- pointed on January § in the manner out- lined, however, will be entitled to the benefit of rcrmanent tenure (if permanent tenure shall finally be established). Sec- tion 12 sa: “No_deputy, clerk or em- ploye in the classified civil service of the city and county WHO SHALL HAVE BEEN APPOINTED UNDER SAID RULES shall be removed or discharged except for cause, upon written charges and after an opportunity to be heard in his own defense.” All appointments made prior to the classification of the service, therefore, would be subject to the pleasure of the appointing power and would continue to be unprotected by this provision uptil made under the rules. If, after the com- mission has accumulated a sufficient quantity of civil service material to sup- ply the demand, the head of each depart- ment should discharge his men gradually and fill their positions by requisition, ail laces might be brought under the rules, day and an office I8 a good thing. Very respectfully, GEORGE D. SQUIRES. San Francisco, November 25, 1899. PALMISTRY—A. D. R., Bureka, Cal. Chelromancy or palmistry is of great an- tiquity. At one time there were a great | | 4 “push,” however, to hazard the prediction | many who placed faith in the reading of the lines of the palms of the hands. As an innocent amusement it is all right. TOMMY ATKINS-M. T, City, It ts sald that the term “Tommy Atkine” as & general sobriquet for the British soldler came from a little pocket-book at one time given out to all the soldiers in the Queen’'s army. In this book was to be entered a military history of the soldler, and with each book was a form to guide the individual in making the proper en- tries. A fictitious_name, “Thomas At- kins,"” was The book was known in the army as “Tommy Atkl nd finally that name was applied to the sol- dler, and it has clung. CALIFORNIA—Subscriber, Borden, Cal. The area of the State of California, including water as well as land surface, is 158360 square, miles. Its extreme breadth—that is, from east to west—is 375 miles and its extreme length—that ls, from north to south—is 770 miles. The area of the State In acres accordipng to the United States Surveyor General, divid- ed as follows: Agricultural and mineral land, surveyed to June, 1882, 61,887,393 acres: agricultural mineral unsurveyed, 26.211501; private gran 3.660; private grants not reservation: and navigable p and overflowed salt marsh and tide lands total, 100,500, . What the actual pulation of the State is will not be nown until after next June, when the census shall be taken. On the first day of last January it was estimated that the population was 1,408,300, —————————— Gulllet's best ice cream and sorbel. %08 Larkin® Cal. glace fruit 50c per Ib at Townsend's.* Bpecial information supplied dally to business houses and public men the Press Clipping Bureau (Allen's), 51 at- gomery street. Telephone Malin 142 Dedication of Lights. To-night there will be a dedication of lights by the Congregation Beth Mena- chim_ Streisand and a Chanoah festival in Odd Fellows' Hall in aid of the con- gregation's building fund. The en n- ment will commence at 8 o'clock and dancing will follow until 1 the next morn- ing. 2 B! lands 4 f i —_————————— California Limited. ROUTE—Connecting tratn leaves e Mandny, Wednesday, Priany and Bate urday, giving passengers ample time to ses Los Angeles and Pasadena. Finest equipped tratn and best track of any line to the East. Get handsome folder and full particulars at 63 Market street e Knights of the Golden Eagle. Next Wednesday night California Castle No. 1 of the Knights of the Golden Eagle will give a_banquet to its members and a number of friends in one of the promi- nent loc:l r:]!lll;rl%l:, Napa Castle is being reorganized b Past Chief Oliver, who expects in a v Y short time to have it in first-class cond! tion again. —_—mm porary appointments to any other than No investment offers the returns that are to be obtained the classified service? If the charter had from stock purchased in a legitimate ofl company. The pru- said In terms that for the pu of dent investor will not buy, however, until he has carefully Investigated every proposition to which his attention may have been called. This being true, the Sterling Ofl and Develop- ment Company belleves It is presenting an opportunity for gain that should iInterest intending purchasers of ofl stock, and bases that claim, in part, upon the fact that its land, which is patented, Is located In a proven ofl district, with wel putting into effect the provisions with respect to a classifled civil service the commission might, on the_ first Monday after the first day of January, 19w, grant permission to make temporary ap- intments the case would have been dif- ‘erent. But it does not say so. In fact, it s the very opposite, as I have il- lustrated. The difficulty with Mr. Clement 1s that he is unfamilfar with the rules of statu- tory construction. He he has made a system which covers the int I have raised, but he has not one so, and T will venture to say that when his work comes to be reviewed by the courts, as It certainly will be, they Interest to Intending our prospectus, that is sent free; so I the Famous Kern River Oil District. also a complete map of We court your Investi- Jill_point ‘out to him that he has neg- || P, §aclone and stand ready to prove our every clatm. A limited lected to make provision for giving re:erg- rChasers ® amount of treasury stock Is offered at G0 cents per share. active effect to his civil service rules. It is plain that article XIII is Ive in its operation. First, the vice Commission is appointed; (t!lllllfltl the service: rospect- vil Ser- then it hen it makes rules; old examination: then, having accumulated a stock of civil service material, It honors requisitions {.rom public ofltlcm-‘.“ '{‘llne nvertrlxmenti lOWeVver, cannot aw e perfectin, this process. It must go on. Tthlvou of 0il Stock. STERLING OIL & DEVELOPMENT (0., 35:3 CROCKER BUILDING, Third Fioor Directors: Wm. 8. Pres.: Bunting, Viee Pres.; J. C. Hampton, N. K. Masien H. H. Plooh A H.