The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 17, 1899, Page 30

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 1 1899, ..DECEMBER 17, 1899 D. SPRECKELS, Proprietor. Address A ons to W. S LEAKE, Manager PUMLICATION OFFICE. . .Market and Third, 8. F. Telephone Main 1568, 217 o 221 Stevenson St. Telephone Main 1574, EDITORIAL ROOMS Delivered by Carriers, 15 Ces Single Coples, 5 Cen Terms by Mail, Including tng DALY CALL (Including Sunday), one i DALY CALL (Incloding Sunday), ¢ months. . DALY C ALL (Including Sunday), 3 montha. . DAILY CALL—ily Single Month. SUADAY CALL One Year. WIEKLY CALL One Year.. . All postmssters are authorized to receive subseriptions. Sumple coples will be forwarded when requested Per Week. .86.00 3.00 1.5 OAKLAND OFFIC c. Mannger Foreigr NEW YORK ¢ CARLTON...... NEW YORK R LUKENS JR.. IRR ENT: .Herald Square NTATIVE: RESF ...29 Tribune Building PERRY CHICAGO NEWS STANDS: Shermun House; P. 0. News Co.: Great North- Hotel nt Houwe; Auditorium Hotel. NEW YORK NEWS STAXDS: lotel; A. Brentano, 31 Union vrray Hill Hotel Walde Square; OFFICE. . Wellington Hotel ASH, Correspondent. WASHINGTON J. ¥, . Montgomery street, cor- 9:30 o'clock. 615 Larkin 1 10 o'clock. 2261 Market er Sixteenth, open until ® o'clock. ‘nelm street, open until ® o'clock. Fleventh street, open until ® o'clock. srner Twenty-second and Kentucky open until 9 o'clock. t Cvon ta Dixie.” Troubadours.” is streets—Spectalties ey Island Bay, Market street, near ursing to-day. to-aay. CALIFORNI A'S CHRISTMAS WEEK. ~ { prosperity and good this to a community n dows, where good and evil, as neighbors, and where perfect fusion the early rains 1e crops in the fields and lay the foun ion for industries. We are w and ice, nor are made asts that attend the Christ- re the climate is less holiday s our days fter the r: se of a “December as pleas: n of our midwinter festivals ake the glorious coming weel elab ve been the of the the gove f California as a ation will be con- that will it a national fame, as they sit over their fires ie bitter, biting blasts with 1 read Dece: id garlands of flowers as ¢ State, either in the country or iful or more joyous than at air and violets nestling in the In these pleasant fields yous almost as in the mating wS. ion and their songs to of every aspect of nature. yns hum ity can hardly fail to y delight in life. With a pros- 1 the comforts and not a few ife to st every class of society of California will enter upon the holiday par ns of the week with a more general and a ilant joy than those of any other community Already something of the rejoicing of tself is felt. At San Jose the week is that is expressed in the good old yon and a vociferous time,” and ities where no special festal ar- angements have been made the week will be from 15t to last a happy. merry, bustling time of prepara- he greatest of the festivals of earth. o —— pondent of the New York Sun claims to f that the entrenchments of the Filipinos e been ¢ ucted by an may be true, it is certain they have defenders or they would not have been n e the sto no lIris en so ea The thing that grinds the British in the Transvaal hit is that the Boers haven't a single little seaport British battle-ships can bombard by way of re- venge for the troubles of the army on shore. 1f the allegations made against certain San Rafael school teachers be true these worthy directors of the idea belicve too literally in the adage, “Spare and spoil the child t looks now as if the British garrisons at ‘Mafe- Kimberley and Ladysmith may have to march e relief of the relieving columns before Christ- 7 Jose will be the center of attraction this week, ttraction will be of a kind that no other an California could show at this season. General Buller may yet eat his Christmas dinner in Pretoria, but it will be served to him in the military It begins to look as if it would take a bigger Briton han Buller to beat the Dutch. passes along the streets or the | be seen roses lifting their | Irish engineer, and, | IMPERIAL DESTINY. | HE British aggressions upon the South African | T republics began with the cry, “Gold and | Glory.” Accustomed to contempt for the rights of the weak, and led on by thirst for empire, Great | Britain has entered upon the estate of all peoples who ! | forcible annexation, which by the moral were too weak to defend it. In her campaigns of‘ code is criminal aggression, her policy begat imitators in the United States, the last place on earth where they should have been found. She entered upon this South African war in the spirit of smug hypocrisy, which equips unjust conquest everywhere. She was so sure of her ground that the St. James Gazette said two months ago: “We have been obliged to fight again because our last war there was grossly misman- | aged and shamefully concluded. It left unsettled the question which it was begun to settle; it exasperated race hatreds, which it should have laid to rest for- | ever; it left a deeper injury still behind it, an injury to the British name and fame, not in South Africa alope, but in other quarters of the world where the | maintenance of that fame is necessary while the em- pire continues to exist. The first battle of this cam- paign is over, our first victory has been won, and Iready a very different idea of our resources has been impressed upon the minds of our opponents. But this is not all. Preparations are still going on upon a | scale which the most timid of our advisers would | admit to be more than adequate to the immediate business of the Transvaal, even to extended troubles in South Africa. The reserves and the militia have been czlled out, the channel squadron is on the alert |and a naval activity is in progress which extends far | these shores to the Cape. 1941 Mission | | effrontery. | and | feated by the republican army. | fantry in the open ny the East can show in the | jingoes are getting their reward | mourning widespread | health of manhood long suppressed. | the menace ahead, and accordingly we will beyond the mere necessity of conveying troops from All this evidently means that no mere questions of franchise, no mere argu- ments about suzerainty, pressing as these may be in themselves, are now in the minds of Ministers re- sible for the safety and honor of this countr; The political horizon seemed unclouded when Sir Alfred Milner began his long negotiations after the Bloemfontein conference had failed. But the inter- 1 atmosphere is evidently heavily charged with electricity to-day, and the ultimatum of President Kruger has, possibly to his own knowledge, set free the currents that may work havoe in regions far from the South African Republic, unless we are prepared al with them.” This is a most extraordinary exhibition of fear and The last war referred to ended at Ingogo heights and Majuba Hill and was followed by a that of 1881, in which the suzerainty was acknowledged in international s, and the independence of the Transvaal was ed. This was modified by the treaty of 1884, in which the word suzerainty was omitted and England was given six months to object to any | treaty the Transvaal might make. | The treaties of 1881 and 1884 were in solemn set- tlement of ions the war that ended at M Hill. What folly, then, is the claim on was left unsetfled! It certain that the Transvaal bus ness was provided for last October, and was so sure of its ground that the rest of the world was bullied i threatened by suggesting the channel squadron and pointing to military preparations more extensive than any trouble in South Africa could possibly re- quire | A rude awakening has followed. One after another White, Gatacre, Methuen and Buller have been de- ‘ Their guns have been captured, their forces decimated, their retreat com- peiled | spon: nation expressly adm involved in Buller's defeat is the most significant m with the best field art tteries have been captured b 1d event ery | of the centur ped in the world, hi nd his gunners were so s 1d denly overpowered that they had no time to spike or destroy the machinery of their guns. The English Pity it is that the rent falls on brave punish 1en who are guiltless of the policy of greed and imperialism to which they That policy seized the diamond mines at Kimberley by an act which the English historian, “perhaps the most discreditable | incident in British colonial history.” To-day Mr. | Chamberlain, who forced the hand of the Queen and Lord Salisbury, is safe in London, and his partner in the crime of greed and in the policy of “Gold and Cecil Rhodes, is pent up Kimberley, guarding a treasure of one hundred millions in dia- monds, waiting for his fate. So Sardanapalus sat in Nineveh while Assyria, mistress of the world, rotted to the vitals with that disease of imperialism known to morals as retribution, guarding his treasures, spoil | wrung from the weak. In the Transvaal there is prayer and in England | are victims. roude, denounced as in The Queen, whose character in these last days is becoming the single hold of Eng- land upon the good will of the just, sobs in her palace. The Prime Minister, whose ancestor was addressed | Shakespeare in those lines of high ascription. up thy brow, renowned Salisbury,” bews his leonine front in humiliation that he surrendered m; the greedy ex-Mayor of Birmingham and let his country forget justice. The subject peoples of the | British empire feel a thrill which they mistake for a disease, so long have their necks been calloused by | the hard heel of the conqueror. But it is the rising Around the wide frontiers of the empire rises the | tide of competing ambitions, and if it break the dyke | and pour a roaring flood of the world’s hatred which | will leave no dry land on which the ark of Empire may rest England will get a lesson destructive to her and admonitory to her imitators. Certain members of the Board of Education are | interesting the public by calling one another hard names. They have been fair enough thus far not to accuse themselves of distorting the truth in their opinions of their own unworth. N posed reciprocity treaty with . France and Jamaica and the probable extension of freedom of trade in our markets to Porto Rico and the Phil- ippines as well as to Hawaii are more threatening to the industries of California than to those of other sections of the Union, we shall not have to fight the battle alone. A sufficient number of Eastern interests are involved to arouse attention in that section to have | OUR EASTERN ALLIES. OTWITHSTANDING the fact that the pro- strong allies in the contest before us. Co-operation has been more extensively practiced in the East than with us, and in this emergency has | been resorted to promptly by Eastern beet sugar growers, producers of rice, tobacco and semi-tropical fruits. At a recent meeting in Omaha to consider the situation Mr. Herbert Myrick pointed out that “it might be possible for American farmers to raise sugar beets in competition with the coolie labor of the tropics if our farmers were content to live on the | scale of the cooli and he went on to say if the | issue were fairly presented to the American people l “not 1 per cent of the voters will favor any such prostitution of American agriculture and manufac- tures for the benefit of colonial syndicates.” The New York Press in commenting upon the re- ciprocity treaties has taken strong ground against them in favor of American agriculture. It argues with sound logic that there is no more reason why we should abandon protection to rural industries in the interests of trade than to our manufacturing in- terests for the same purpose. It charges that the ad- mission of the products of the tropic islands to our markets free of duty would be the “greatest victory for free trade since George M. Dallas as Vice Presi- dent gave the casting vote for the Walker tariff.” Pursuing the subject the Press says: “It is for the farmer to decide, and for every kind of farmer, whether he is to be the ‘forgotten man.’ It is not only the beet sugar farmer, nor even the tobacco and fruit farmer, who is threatened. If these reciprocity treaties are ratified with Britain's tropical colonies others will follow with her temperate colonies, Canada | first of all. Therein the wool, barley, hay, hop and dairy farmer from Maine to Washington State will find something of interest. Our Manchester school has arrived. Pennsylvania is incubating her Cobden. | One potent influence behind these recommendations is the selfish, short-sighted American manufacturer, who would sacrifice American agriculture as British agriculture was ruined to extend his trade among peoples without one-tenth of the per capita consump- tion of the population he was impoverishing. Now is the time, when this new agricultural industry is threatened with destruction, for the American farmer to say, ‘Protection for none or protection for all.’ Let Samson only touch the pillars in the sight of the Philistines. The hint will be enough.” With William Jennings Bryan denounced as ingrate in Nebraska and Grover Cleveland condemned as no Democrat in the House of Representatives it begins to look as if a new and revised definition of Democ- racy might be in order. l The Senate stands upon a constitutional precedent, made when framers of the constitution were Sen- ators, and construed the instrument they had made. We believe this decision is right, and we hold that belief without reflecting upon any personality. To recognize the right of appointment in a Governor after failure to elect by a Legislature would take the election of a Senator one remove further away from the people. As long as our popular institutions have a consti- tutional basis government should remain near to the people. NO SEflTkiFOR QUAY. T seems settled that the Quay campaign is over. If the American troops continue to capture the | paraphernalia and attendants of Aguinaldo the rebel ino will not have much more than his name The latest reports say that the “brains” of the insurrection have been captured. THE TAXATION OF COUNTY AND | MUNICIPAL BONDS. I ONE of the gratifying features of the convention of the League of California Municipalities was | the unanimous vote given in favor of the reso- : | lutions introduced by Mayor Phelan and supported by Mayor Eaton of Los Angeles urging the voters to | cast their ballots at the next election for the consti- | tutional amendment exempting from taxes all bonds issued by the State or by any county or city in the State. | The resolutions tersely express some of the objec- | tions to taxing such bonds in the statement, “The | imposition of the tax simply results in preventing our citizens and savings banks from holding these bonds issued at low rates of -interest, and compels their sale outside of the State, which is a needless draught upon our resources; it is illogical and un- | productive of revenue for the State to tax its own indebtedness.” The evils resulting from the taxation of such bonds can be easily and clearly perceived by any one who will give the subject due consideration. In the first | place the imposition of a tax upon the bonds lowers to that extent their value as investments and accord- ingly the city or county which issues them has to pay an additional rate of interest to offset the tax, or, if the rate of interest be fixed, then the premium to be obtained for the bonds in open market will be less- ened. ‘In that way the burden of the tax falls upon the community issuing the bonds and diminishes the value of its loan. In the second place, as these bonds are issued at low rates of interest any tax upon them seriously affects the net income derived from them, provided the tax be paid. If the bonds are purchased by our savings banks or by other parties in the State who will make an ‘honest return of them to the tax As- sessors the tax will of course be collected, but if held by parties outside of the State it is comparatively easy to conceal them, so that the tax is evaded. Thus there is an advantage to the outside buyer over the home capitalist, and that advantage counts for so 0 WILL ROAR A TERRIFIC WARNING TO MARINERS Huge Electric Siren, Just Adopted by the Do- minion Government, Speaks With a Voice That Can Be Heard Miles Out to Sea. I This " uge megaphonic siren is worked by electricity and regulated by clockwork. Tt alternately roars with a voice that can be heard for miles out at sea and flashes an immense searchlight. When wound up it roars and flashes for a week w! ithout any attention. Accidents such as that which befell the steam- ship Paris on the Manacle Rocks are made impossible by the invention of this electric siren. TTAWA, Canada.—The biggest, nois- , iest and most useful danger signal ever devised has just been adopted by the Dominfon Government, and the first of these safeguards against dis- astrous wrecks Is to be erected at Van- | couver harbor, B. C. The device is a com- | bination of the principle of the electrically vibrated dlaphragm, with two huge mega- | phones, each of which emits a deafening roar alternately, giving forth a sound that | can be heard for miles around. In con- | nection with the roar of the huge el tric siren there is a flashlight that can be seen far out to sea. The whole mechanism is worked by clockwork, the light flashing out for forty seconds and | the siren’s roar being heard for the re- | maining twenty seconds of the minute. Once wound up the signal does its | work for a week without attention o(hel:‘ every other day or so to of thing is in order. The Inventor of the ap- | | | | aratus, which is regarded as an absolute ‘;re\-emer of accidents through ships run- ning on the rocks In a fog or through the mlltlklng) of signal lights, is A. G. Tru- deau of Ottawa. | tric buzzer: The massive apparatus s the outcome of & long line of patient and perse experimentation, and bea face of it and in Its hugeness strong evidence of the Inventor's confiden e utility of what he had in v user of the telephone is familiz the be- havior of the 'phone if it happens to be “off the hook” and the distant ringer is put in motion. The diaphragm of th phone is subjected to a serles of alte nating current impulses, and manifests the affect of these by’ giving out a clat- tering noise not unlike the automatic ele *times used in of ory call bell. This ob- served behavior of the 'phone under such conditions has been obviously enough sug- gestive of the construction of a call sys- tem comprising just such parts, but in practice the idea has not taken hold hith- erto, perhaps because of the different ele- ments going to make up the system not having begn given proper shape to fill the requirements. Starting his experiments with this idea the inventor of the great siren attached a dynamo to a sound-producer, and with a monster megaphone to scatter the vibra- tions through the atmosphers he turned on the current and found that he could produce a roar that would make the king la ering | | Of the forest creep to his lair in affright. By an increase or decrease of the pulsa- tions of the dynamo it was found that the roaring couid be regulated so as to suit conditions of weather or location, and all that remained then was to construct the apparatus nccordlm The one just made teen feet In length. current is turned on the terrible blast that bursts from the gaping mouths of the twin megaphones can be heard above the noise of a gale, and on a moderatel stormy day it shatters the air so tt oughly that no skipper could fail to he: its terrific_ voice at a safe distance from danger. By the addition of the elec flashlight, {0 give warning to eyes where ears prove deaf, the proximity of a vesse! to the rocks wiil be disclosed in any knd of weather and In darkness as well as daylight. e Dominion Government intends to use the new danger signals on points of rocks where bell buoys are inadequate be- cause of thelr comparativ feeble sounds M!nfi drowned in the of waters on neighboring shoals and wave-beaten head lands: on rocky and ere lighthouses are needed, but ha been impossible of to requirements. has a fog horn fif When the complets construction by reason of the nature of | the foundation, and | nal 1s more desirable. where a floating sig PANHANDLE EXTENSION. (The Call does not hold ftself responsible t nions published in this column, but pi sents them for whatever value they may ha: as communications of general interest.] Editor The Call—Dear Sir: I indorse the paramount recessity of beginuing the es- tablishment of parks before that of any other improvement. With an exten- sive park eystem, especially of & some- what mountainous nature, pedestrianism will be encouraged and the results wili be better heaith and less hospitals, o piquantly stated by Mr. Phelan. Pa\:»fl are great educational factors and with plenty of them surrounding us we will much that most of our county and city bonds are in the hands of outsiders. By reason of the transfer of the bonds to holders residing abroad a double evil results. The State not only loses the tax which it has vainly sought to im- pose upon them, but it also loses the interest, for the annual payments have to be sent to the holders who reside outside of California. These interest payments amount in the aggregate to a considerable sum every year, and the loss of that amount of money from the channels of local trade is severely felt. Thus it will be seen that in our efforts to impose a tax upon our city and county bonds we not only put a burden upon our public enterprises, but we lose the advantage of the bonds as investments for our banks and also the interest and eventually the principal. In short, as the resolutions of the League of Municipali- ties declare, “it is ilicgical and unproductive of rev enue for a State to tax its own indebtedness.” It is safe to say we derive almost no revenue from the tax which works us so much harm and compels the ship- ment from the State annually of so much money for interest. A campaign of education can hardly be needed upon an issue so plain as this, and yet the league has done well in urging the matter upon the attention of the people. It is one which should be kept in view from now until election day, so that the vote for the amendment may be assured inits favor. ——— No blood: was shed during the inauguration of Kentucky's new Governor through the timely appear- ance of a blizzard. After the storm of Democratic eloquence had passed nothing less than a blizzard would leave an impression, General Joe Wheeler seems to be in a bad way. | Otis won’t let him fight in the Philippines, and Con- | gressional enemies want to keep him out of Congress. Judging from the number of bulls perpetrated by the British generals in the Transvaal the Engligh have indisputable title to the name of Johnny Bull. likely have less jalls and less drinking houses; nay, even our churches might be filled better, as “‘the heavens relate the glory of our God.” The part cf this peninsula known as the San Miguel Rancho just abounds with naturally adapted sites for a Grester Golden Gate Perk and would form one continuity {rom its present southern boundary down to Rocky Canyon, up to Glen Park, including the Sutro forests, Twin P and the twater Lake or reservoir for flushing sewers, ex- tinguishing fires, sprinkling of streets, etc. The acquisition and utilization of these lands will not necessitate the de- struction of valuable property, as they are at present not bullt upon and princi- ally mere cow pastures. P rhis proposed extended system of parks geographically runs parallel with the city and consequently {s highly accessiple in its entirety. The portlon known as Rocky Canyon could be formed into a veritable Yosemite in miniature. From the top of the dam locking the proposed salt water reservoir a magnificent waterfall could be had by merely overflowing it, and in turn might be used for generniin, ower. Trees planted on these so-calle ission Hills would likely pro portion of our city from the our summer winds. Now coming to the Panhandle question, yearg _MONTH0. 1 8345 @78 ! 4 * L e R S S U . A DIAGRAM OF MODERN COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE I deem it unwise, using the mildest term, to spend so many millions for the destruc- tion of property when the result scems to look so doubtful, and this In full view of | $0 many more other improvements that have 10 be attended to. The money ex- pended for a greater park, as outlined above, would be mostly for labor of all kind, which item ought to be the greatest point in any public Improvement. This proposition is consequently far superior to | the adoption of the Van Ness avenus panhandle, the execution of which might probably lead to the loss of many a present resident of this city that likely Y'[“Khl‘o to Oakland or elsewhere to set- tle. I fully'indorse the proposition in an ar- ticle in your valuable paper last Thurs- day by C. G. Minifle, favoring the exten- sion of Market street stralght over the hills to the ocean. It could even done in a deflected line, obtaining an easler ate, or perhaps in a bee-line for a few locks and then in a deflected line as was proposed years ago and recommended by the Board of Supervisors at the time. R flecting upon the stecp grades to over- come on Oak street on the line of the roposed Van Ness avenue panhandle, it s even possible to turn at the junction | of Market and Castro street teenth street. The steep gra s of th lat- ter could possibly be somewhat moderat- ed; any way there seems to be hardly any difference with the grades on Oak street. Seventeenth strect has been the c outlet from the Mi way of Corbett road, and from it can like- 1y be had an outlet by way of Eurcka street Into Ocean road and further along Bellevue street, through Racky Canyon toward Sunnyside and San Jose road. The outcome of this project would be the establishment of an extensive system of ganurumlc drives that certainly might make this city famous, because the natu- ral resources to consummate this idea ex- ist. To further improve these natural park lands would rot necessitate great expenses, as the work could proceed from time to time and not spend all on one particular spot. Judging from the brilliant results from our present park, the stte of which origi- nally was a vast sand dune, we could ex- TIME - wacn sPAcE EQUALS ONE MONTH LYEAR MR1234567890n AYEARS k12345678 iginal | n to the ocean by | ) r.cl Some great developm uture by annexing the ahc lands that are already prep: & purpose. Yours truly ared for such C. GIMPE San Francisco, Dec. 1899. . L. Editor The Call: I wish to write a few | words in regard to the proposed extension | of the panhandle and If possible to inter est the ladies in this subject. It seems highly proper that we sisters of the noble lady who has expended so much thought and energ beautify our university bay should take the les look about our own city idea of beauty as well worked out. ~ Wherever we Francisco, from the peculiar cation on a peninsula, our furthe ress s impeded by the bay or ocea In this res the large stern citles, miles of autiful s drives and boulev. stant pleasure nc but to pedestrians as weil attractiveness, how | hangs about the city of v cause of Pennsylvania avenue hear one name mentioned without think ing of the other. The same may be said of the city of Cleveland and Euclid ave Chestnut avenue In Springfieid, ., with its grand old elms forming an arch for miles, is noted for its beauty all over the world. So also is the city of De- troit, and many other citfes might be mentioned. These beautiful avenues make a great center of attraction, which serve as a magnet to draw people from all parts of the world. It has been said by some that such a boulevard would be only for the rich, but I think those not Inciuded in this class would be more benefited thereby, as |t may be enjoyed by pedestrians, both young and old. Let us as women of San Francisco do all that lies in our power to influence our male friends to vote in favor of this most important question. FLOY LATHROP. J:n Francisco, Dec. 15, 1899, 5 * Deoe n. pect we differ of course from where miles and rbs give endiess ree of con »se who ride w much of glamour ashington be- We never H R as e o oo T I 2 = Wy ° SRNRIZI456789 100 &manTis » > . P . * - 1 ® . & . & . L 4 . B e e ] +~LIFR