The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 25, 1899, Page 4

JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Proprietor. Address All Communications to W. PLBLICATION OFFICE.. . Market and Third, S. F. Telephone Main 1865, S. LEAKE, Manager EDITORIAL ROOMS......217 to 221 Stevenson St. Telephone Main 1874, Carriers, 15 Cents Per Week. ®le Coples, 5 Cents. Terms by M Including Postage: (including Sunday), one year..8$6.00 (ncluding Sunday), 6 months.. 3.00 PAILY CALL (tncluding Sunday), 3 1.50 DAILY CALL—Ry le Month SUADAY CALL One Year... Deltvered by B postmasters are a seriptions. sample copies will be forwarded when requested OAKLAND OFFICE..... ....908 Broadway C. GEORGE KROGNESS, Manager Foreign Adver ng. Marguette Bul ing. Chieago. NEW YORK CORRESPONDENT: €. C. CARLTON,.... .Herald Square NEW YORK REPRESENTATIVE: RY LUKENS JR. ..29 Tribune Bullding CHICAGO NEWS Sherman House: P, ern Hotel; Fremont House: Aunditorium Hotek STANDS: NBrentano, 31 Union NEW YORK NEW Waldorf-Astoria Hote! Square; Murray Hill Hotel. WASHINGTON (D. C.) I);I"l('l*}..“'ellln('on Hotel J. F. ENGLISH, Correspondent. mer Clay, open antil 9:30 o'clock. 300 Haves street, open until 9:30 o'clock. 639 MeAllister reet, open until 9:30 o'clock. rect, open unttl 9:10 o'clock. street. open until 10 o'clock. street, corner Sixteenth, open until 9 o'clock. 1096 Valencia street, open until 9 o'clock. 106 Eleventh open until 9 o'clock. and Kentucky uesday afterncon, December 26. Troubadours.” Vaudeville every afternoon and Mason and Ellis streets—Spectalties, cepiechase and Coney Island Panorama Battle of Manila Bay, Market street, near Oakland Race Track—Races NOT FINANCIAL TWINS. se of the year is being marked by a h and le- trade. The former is languishing and ng. Tight money has cinched the former ull it groans; the latter has all the money it wants, and is going out of the old year with flying c ) between speculation James R Keene predicted this state of affairs weeks He pointed out that during the past eighteen ¢ increase in new securities through the lation into trusts of nearly all the independent ianufacturing in the United States ounted to stock issues of over $4,500,000,000, hali which he estimated as fictitious values. During this period the increase of money in circulation in the country was barely $140,000,000, a sum insig- nificant to finance this enormous creation of new He furthermore said: “Think of this hugs inverted 1 mid of credit, with so little money at its ; ¥ conclude, as I do, that the danger of 1ts continued stability overshadows all other con- In conclusion he expressed no surprise at the decline in Wall street, and added that he looked for a further depreciation. Exactly what he predicted has come to pass. He was shrewd enough to back his judgment with his money, and by shorting the market cleaned up 2 million or so a few days ago. It is thought, however, that the worst of the liquidation is over, and grati- fication is felt that it has been accompanied by so tress and so few failures. While the stock values has been bad for Wall street lators, it has undoubtedly been beneficial 10 the country by ago concerns stocks siderations.” shr giving it an object lesson of the rushing headlong into all sorts of com- binations at enormous capitalizations, many of them h that at the first adverse wind they their own weight. » derive comfort in the proof of their own epigram that every abuse carries within it the germs of its own iction, and that every evil will come to grief if being so topple over o Philosophers may you give it r¢ g Thus, while is writhing in the throes of its own folly, legitimate trade continues to exhibit a volume unparalleled in American history. While aturally a Jull at the close of the year, the present lull is much less marked than usual at this time of the year. There is not even a suspicion of un- soundness in any branch of legitimate business, and sOme promise even greater expansion next year than this. Cotton suffered some from speculation for a day or two, but has since rallied, the statistical posi- tion of the market being good. Sales of wool have dropped off charply from the same cause, but prices are still maintained. Hides have weakened off some- what, and some kinds of leather are quieter. The iron trade continues to lead all others in point of firmness, and present combinations have been con- tinued for another year. Wheat has declined some- what in prices and demand, and the outlook for the growing crop in foreign countries is reported good. Corn exports are well maintained The volume of trade, as indicated by the bank clear- ings, shows an increase over last year of 33 per cent, and Omaha was the only city of importance to ex- hibit a loss last week. The failures for the week, in spite of the weakness in Wall street, were only 220, against 258 for the same week last year. These figures tell the tale. Though overcapitalization and overcombination may shake the thrones of Wall street, they are not poweriul enough to shake the le- gitimate business of the country at large. ——— Professor C. C. Plehn of the (;nlltzc of Com- merce at Berkeley, in an article recently published in | the University of California Chronicle, pictures an ideal time when gas companies under enlightened management extend their business by reasonable rates, pleasing the communities they serve and pur- suing a career of wide-spreading prosperity. The article should have been headed “San Francisco, A. D. 199." That old, familiar phrase, “united in marriage” will have to take a back seat for a newer one, “con- pected in marriage.” At any rate a girl in Ken- tucky and a soldier at Fort Wingate, made one by telegraph only last Saturd . Mex., were ....DECEMBER 25, 1809 65e | THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 1899. THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. | [ HE ancients had times and seasons in which Tthc spirit of humanity and the feeling of fellow- | ship rose above selfishness. In many different ?wayh the softer sentiments of man were manifested | and their season, under many different names, was usually related to the great physical facts fixed in | the laws of the universe. The Greeks had, at the | winter solstice, the halcyon days, in which nature was | so gracious and sea and sky so calm that the halcyon hatched her eggs upon the sleeping water. These | Greek days correspond very closely to the Christian holidays, so that in these modern times the great Christian festival is commonly named aiter the old Greek season, “the halcyon days.” There are other | days in the year hallowed by the memory of great | events, consecrated to the human heart by an origin in fear, in supplication, in sorrow or in joy, but they | are either special or national. The Christmas holidays, however, are joined indis- | solubly to the spirit of hopefulness and thankfulness. | Because they were joined to ceremonial and their | observance was written in the ritual of the unbroken | after the great schism attempted to ignore them. ;Tlns was especially the case with the serious, stern and sober-minded Puritans. In the days of the Com- monwealith they attempted to efface all that had made “Merrie England,” and when our austere forefathers landed in the cold winter upon the frozen shores of New England they planted there an ascetic cult which their descendants have fogotten to honor. Still they had in them the spirit of their Christmas observing ancestors, for we read in their chronicles that on the morning of the first Christmas they spent off Plymouth the men went ashore as usual to fell trees and build log houses, but they returned to the ship, “and the daye being Christmas the ca ne broached a barrell of ale, and we partook thereof.” Down to within the memory of a generation not vet passed away, Christmas was not generally ob- served in New England, but now its celebration is not more general in any part of the Union. The change has been wrought largely by the importation oi the universal German habit of making it the special holiday of childhood. The Christmas tree, the pleasant riot and clatter of childish pleasure and expectation have won their way, and there are but few American homes in which homage, more or less conscious, is not paid to that friend of the childlike spirit which saw in infancy no trace of original tranz- gression, but said to all the world to be, “Except ve become as one of these ye cannot enter the king- dom.” | It is well for humanity that all this has come and - that the holiday spirit is still calling, wherever the standards of Christian civilization are planted, “For- bid them not.” Much there may be done on the day that is the fruit of idleness and passion not in the spirit and purpose fitting the time. But so much is done in harmony with its higher sentiment that poor humanity may be forgiven its excesses and its follies. The vast majority of those who are within its influ- ence, forgetting dogmatism, abandoning debate, turn- that the ing away from doctrine, feel wholesomely great Christian festival brings a light into the world which none can afford to quench. When that light is a greater illumination and shines upon a world in which war no longer rages, where strife is unknown and nation no longer lijts the sword against natior, then will the full mission of the light of the world be accomplished, in peace on earth and good-will toward men. We cannot forget the strife that is now abroad. Tens of thousands of men under arms are lying in wait to kill their kind. Sorrow and not joy is in many homes. In obedience to a spirit of greed and ambition, of war and ill-will toward men, slaughter and destruction tarnish the pleasures of the time and oppose its spirit. But still that spirit is alive as a force in the world and hope looks forward to its triumph. When its sentiment of universal justice be- comes the rule for governments as well as for indi- viduals, wars and fighting may be no more. Ths great work for the world suggested by the festival is the subjection of governments to its influence. The highest sense of men is beginning to believe that there cannot be one rule of Christian morality for men and an opposite rule for nations. If govern- ments are to go on settling differences by war, indi- viduals will finally settle theirs by combat. The right now claimed by nations was once claimed by men. Christian reason in the settlement of disputes made its way but slowly, but at last it is accepted, and after all there is less strife in the world though the nations make war. When it is established that governments shall build no more warships, nor cast guns, nor train other, there will have been worked out in human government the same Chris- tian advancement that prevails everywhere between individuals. Therefore, it seems that no Christian voice should ever be raised for war, no pulpit should ever thunder for slaughter, and the weak lamb among nations should be as sal the strong lion, soldiers to kill each of the Creator are past finding out. For instance, “Kid” McCoy, who is a crackerjack prize- fighter, looks like a preacher. The Rev. Robert | Axtell of Royal Oak, Mich., is a parson who seems to delight in pugilism. He is undoubtedly champion of the heaven-weight class. The w One of the best features of this holiday season is that the prespects of the future are brighter even than the prosperity of the past year, and we will be able to wish our friends a happy New Year with as much assurance as a merry Christmas. | THE LAWTON HOME FUND. ALIFORNIA should do her share and other C States should do theirs, so that the fund now ‘i being raised for the purpose of paying the ! mortgage upon the home of General Lawton's family ' may be completed in time to make the giit a New | Year's offering to the stricken family. | The contributions thus far made have been gener- ous and prompt. They have been received at Wash- ington from all parts of the country, but mainly h:um New York, and taken with those received in this city by General Shaiter they form a good start in the | work. It now remains to be seen whether the whole | fund can be made up beiore the close of the week. i In his brief circular letter calling attention to the fund, General Shafter presents the issue in these mple words: “The history of General Lawton’s splendid mili- | tary career is too well known to require recounting ' here. His life has been one of devotion to the mili- | tary service, and he fell in battle while defending his | country’s flag. His widow and four children will be | left in straitened circumstances unless the mortgage ;covering his orange grove at Redlands, Cal, be liquidated. I am confident that the patriotic and | grateful people of the Pacific Coast will respond | gencrously to this most worthy object,” and that i enough money will be raised not only to pay the | mortgage but to leave a sushstantial margin in addi- | tion for the use of the family.” That is all that needs to be said uoon the subiect. | st | of it than not to recognize it at all. | expressed the opinion that It should not be necessary to add any elaborate ex- hortations or arguments or pleadings to induce the American people to contribute, each in proportion to his means, to the fund. The giit, moreover, should be made promptly as a spontaneous offering of loyal hearts to the family of a hero who devoted all his energies to his country, and who at Jast has fallen in her service. Let us have no long delay and vexa- tious canvassing for money in an issue of this kind. ready for New Year's day. e o THE TEACHERS' SALARIES. ( have been advanced for the purpose of provid- ing ways and means for the payment of back claims upon the Board of Education, Auditor Wells that they be paid out of a surplus in the school funds: “If there be a surplus in the school funds at the end of the present fiscal year, and I believe there will Let it come with the glow of the Christmas and be OMMENTING upon the various plans which is reported to have said in reference to a suggestion be, the law says very clearly that it must be carried . k 4 | over into next year and cannot be applied to payment church, very worthy religious bodies which arose | of old claims. I would like to see my way clear to passing these demands that were legitimately con- tracted last June, but I have closed my account and they have never been called to my attention.” Passing then to a consideration of the sum amount- ing to about $70,000 which is to be derived from the inheritance tax on the Stanford estate, the Auditor this sum virtually and legally belonged to the city on the day Stanford died, and therefore can be lawfully used in paying claims of that or subsequent years. He then went on to say: “Not taking into account what was termed by Judge Seawell as the ‘illegal payment’ in June, 1897, of $113,412 18 when there was that amount of short- age in the school funds, we come down to teachers’ warrants of November and December, 1808, amounting to $04.405 70 and $96.672 40 respectively. I am of the opinion that the inheritance tax moneys must first be applied to paying these demands, and §3 as more of such moneys come in we may discharge zll those obligations until we arrive at the claims for $6000 in June, 1809. Only then can these latter claims be paid, as the teachers’ demands must of necessity take precedence.” It is to be hoped that view of the case will be taken by the Finance Committee of the Board of Education and be sustained by the courts should the question ever come before them. The public would be glad to see all claims against the schools or any other de- partment of city and county government paid in full, but if there be not enough to pay all, the teachers’ should have preference. The obligation of a municipality to the teachers of public schools is one of the most binding that a community can take upon itseli. These men and women give their daily labor to the service of the public and are entitled to their wages. It has been something of a disgrace to San Francisco that its school teachers have not been promptly paid, and that disgrace should be wiped away as speedily as possible. SEEING LIGHT AT LAST. NE of the notable features of the debate on O the financial bill in the House of Representa- tives was the number of declarations from silver men of their conversion to sound money Among them was Joseph Sibley. who is reported to have said: “I publicly predicted that if McKinley and the gold standard were successful prices would fall with a corresponding increase in the purchasing power of the gold dollar, and we would have an era of hard times and commercial depression such as this country has seldom witnessed. Now I look around me, and I see the forges blazing, the fires lighted in all the furnaces, the shuttles weaving and the looms spinning. Every man who has a day’s labor to sell finds a ready market for it. Everywhere there are plenty and prosperity, and so it occurs to me that somebody must have been mistaken, and perhaps that fcilow was me.” These conversions are excellent, but they come late. They served hardly any other purpose than that of giving Henry C. Smith of Michigan an opportun- ity for enlivening the Congressional Record with a few amusing anecdotes told for the sake of the moral. Up in Michigan, said Mr. Smith, the money question is a dead issue, and any man who should attempt to discuss it would empty a hall as quickly as it would be emptied by a smallpox sign. The Democrats who have been converted, he said, are right, but, being Democrats, they did not get right at the right time a Democrat is like a man who sits in a street car with his back in the direction the car is going; he never sees a good thing until he gets by it; he is like the boy who when for the first time he saw an elephant said, “Oh, mama, that thing is walking tail foremost.” Mr. Smith conceded it is better for a Democrat to recognize prosperity when he gets a backward view Sam Jones, he | satd, tells the story of an old free silver mollusk who met him and asked, “Jones, where is all that pros- perity you were going to give us?” Jones, “it is everywhere; labor is employed, capital is active, wages are good, farmers are getting good prices for their crops, and a wave of prosperity has swept over the whole country.” “It hasn't struck me yet,” says the fellow. Jones looked at him a minute and then replied, “Well, it is pretty hard to strike nothing.” Sibley is one of the silverites who have been struck by prosperity, and he has had the candor to admit it. The Bohemians in issuing the summons for their Christmas jinks got out of the difficulty of the cen- tury mark very cleverly by announcing it as “the last Noel of 1800.” That is a sure thing whether the 1900 begin or end a century. % —_— Among the congresses which have been arranged for the Paris Exposition there should be one to deter- mine whether the big show commemorate the close of the nineteenth century or the beginning of the twentieth. Victeria is reported to have requested that none of the little Princes among her grandchildren and great- grandchildren be presented with toy soldiers or can-. non this Christmas. The old lady has had enough of war. —_— From the way the Dukes, Earls, Barons and Baronets of England are volunteering to go to the front to fight the Boers it is evident the dudes have pluck if they do wear golf stockings and marry for | money. _— There ought to be a large increase in the tourist travel to California this winter, and if the railroads avcic gouging the public it is probable the tourists will come. g s S Chicago society is “out of sight,” and recent re- ports concerning its sporty ways incline to a wish that it were out of hearing. —_— If you have not yet made up your mind to vote for vark extension, this is as good a day to do so as any. the | “Why,” said | STATE MINING BUREAU. HOW TWO OF IT WORKS. THE MINERS' BAD ROADS. A CALAVERAS MOVEMENT. NOTES FROM THE HILLS The situation of California with its dual mining bureau continues to be interesting and uncertain. Governor Gage's own mo bile mining bureau is at work in the hills and hotels and State Mineralogist Cooper is holding down the heavy one, other one, or whatever it is, in the ferry buflding ana walting to see what he will see. The situation may be settled when the State | Board of Examiners sits on the bills of the Gage bureau early in January and it may be settled some other time. Cooper sits in the ferry building, keeping the mass stirred up which prevents precipita- tion. The situation may not be settled until there is some sort of a shaking up. It develops that the Governor has put W. L. Watts In charge of the field work provided for in the appropriation bill which illegally gave the field patronage to the Governor to the extent of $10,000 a year and caused the trouble. Mr. Watts 1S In charge of himselt and Stephen Bow- ers, and will probably soon be wielding a sclentific corps of three, as it is under- on whose friend to appoint there will be an expert set to work on the mother lode. Bowers gets $150 a month and Watts gets $25 more, for being the boss—the Gover- nor's geological adjutant general. the general superfision of Stephen Bow- be in the ofl field, in which he has so as. siduousiy worked for several years as a representative of the bureau. He says that he will finish some geological work in the southern region and then compile statistical and general information about the oil Industry. Then he will study the ofl fields h of Tehachapi. These mat- ters will y bulletins.” It is no family secret that in the past the quite able and laboriously compiled reports of Mr. Watts have been cut_down or pigeon-holed in the offi which is one of the reasons for the lack of fraternal love between Watts and the | bureau administration. are cut down now he will do it himself and be happ; It is getung to be years now since any results of Professor Watts' constant pet- bureau. flecting has reached the pubiic only through private advices and contributions to papers; but the ol! industry will be bountifully reported on during the coming yvear. State Mineralogist Cooper will {ssue | a voluminous and very valuable bulletin | and the Governor's bureau may be count- | ed on to keep up its own end, espectally as Lz';i!se is playing miocene sandstones him- Mr, Watts, by the way, is an interesting character in one view, and displays quali- ties of nobility even in association h Governor Gage. wide acquaintance in tl | field have brought him r princely remuneration for private services as an expert during the boom, but he waves them aside and sticks to his scien- titfic bureau job at §175 a month and ex- penses, because he likes the work, is de- California oil peated offers of voted to the cause and has no hunger for | | riches. Mr, Bowers is to explore and report on | Individual counties, so that there will be | | descriptive bulletins of some sort on Cah- | fornia counties. He reported on some | counties when he was a fleld deputy under Irelan, and people who are against Gage's | private mining bureau recall his descrip- | Orange County in the tenth report * But as this itical fight bad language must be expected to_cut a figure. He is now in San Diego County. Mr. Cooper will'get his county maps and registers printed, 1f he can, without coa- cern for Mr. Bowers' literary efforts, and as Mr. Watts and the Governor will hold | Mr. Cooper's maps and registers in con- | tempt, the counties will hear reports from | both_barrels, After the long silence of the State Printing Office, it would take the Government Frinting Office at Wash- ington to print all the reports amd bulia- tins that State boards and officlals want issued, and the two mining bureaus, with rival records to make, will do their share to keep the State Printer busy. The Governor's appointees went to work in November and sent their bills to H. S. Durden, secretary of the board of trus- tees of the State Mining Bureau. The State Mineralogist, who has firmly with- held any recognition of Gage's right to | appoint bureau employes, would not ap- prove or recelve them. The trustees did not meet in time to take any action. A meeting of that board is always a strain on something and a triumph for Mr, Dur- den, who gets them together once In a while. When Jefferson Doolittle gets to town W. 8. K 8 18 off experting a mine, and when he gets ck Thomas B. Bishop | is burfed under a lawsuit, and mebody | else is down south. So the November bilis were not before the December meeting of the State Board of Examiners. The trus. tees being men of political honors and i much political discretion, are not looking | for political fights, and a few days ago | they formally approved the November and December bills of Messrs. Watts and | Bowers without Mr. Cooper’'s co-opera- tion. So they will come before the Board | of Examiners in January. Then Attorn General Ford will decide whether or nst | & simple appropriation bill could min v | amend the statute giving the State Min- | eralogist the appointment of bureau em- ployes, subject to coniirmation by the | trusteés, and pass the patronage to Gage. Meanwhile tae reau is likely to arise. ¥ 3 look at the miners should take a good | State Mining Bureau. vention of the California Miners’ Assocla- been published in pamphlet form and are being distributed. Copies can be had on application to the office of Secretary Ben- Jamin, 331 Pine street. In Mr. Benjamin's absence in Alaska the publication has E. Douglas, who been supervised by J In the absence of both President W. C. Ralston and Secretary Benjamin the ex- ecutive committee is holding no meetings. Mr. Benjamin is expected back from Alaska about the middle of January and Mr. Ralston will return from the East about that time, when assoclation affairs will move again. While in the East Presi- dent Ralston will visit Washington, and while there display his usual vigorous activity 1‘1 behalf of pending and pro- posed mining legislation. The Calaveras County Miners’ Assocla- tion has begun a good roads campaign and thus both done a good thing for itself and presented an example of what these county associations in the mining regions can do for home interests by acquiring strength and life and taking hold of local problems. In regions where mining is the chief interest and main support of population and prosper- ity miners’ associations should be the leading forces in behalf of home interests and local progress, and they have the ad- vantage of the moral and other backing of the powerful California Miners' Asso- ciation of which they are a part. At a recent meeting of this association at San Andreas the good roads problem was made the chief topic. The meeting was largely attended and spirited, and a delegation from the nighboring county of Tuolumne was present. The spirit of the meeting was vigorously in favor of better roads and Supervisors and other leading men discussed the question. What differ- ences of opinion existed arose over the | ways of getting better roads. The issu- | ance of county bonds was strongly fa- | Yored. The need of better road legtslation was pointed out and the important point of putting road construction and repalir {’n |wm»e'.ent':‘h-ndl lnd‘ olll a business asis was made encouragingly prominen One big result of the agitation wix s make the matter a live public issue in Calaveras County to be discussed by peo- ple and press. Another practical result was the wise decision to first secure sur- veys, plans and estimates concerni: ‘what ought to be done and let the now':;f it be attended to afterward. A commit- tee is now raising funds for this admirable purpose and the progress of the move- ment will be watched with interest, has already proclaimed that Calaveras County is awake and wants to keep Bolng. Calaveras County needs a good roads movement for its roads are generally very bad, often r! dee) through ellhen .lnsr mmr m'fi'&fi‘"& - stood that when the Governor can decide | Mr. Watts' particular work outside of | ers and the coming mother lode man, will | eld reports to be published as | If Watts' reports | roleum labors have been published by the | The good of his hunting and re- | His long experience and | v | | A contest over the Governor's mining vu- | The proceedings of the late State con- | tion held in San Francisco in October have | | ably assisted Mr. Benjamin for some time. | | tom. But the same is trué of most mcun- tain roads in the mining regions. They | were often laid out by the first fellows that came along in early days, the pon- derous froighting outfits charac‘eristic of those regions grind them up like stamp mills and Supervisors have to stretch a little money a long way. Yet nowhere are good roads more need- ed than 'n those mining reglons and n where is the tax of |mfi roads so heavy Mining supplies are usually kauled long distances and the price as surely figures in the cost of development or of mining and milling per ton of ore as does wag Each year the freighting charges from railroad pcints go skyward when the roads get bad and each year hu..dreds o mining enterprises pause or cease becaus. of the vost or absolute impossibility of | getting in machinery and supplles. Ma- chinery often lles at a depot or stuck in the mud en route for weeks or months, while wages and productlon at a mine lessen or stop, It is lke a fire in the mine as far as the com- munity {s concerned that depends on the mine's operation. The developing mine | waits that much longer for production |and the community for the circulation of money. The good roads people have fig- ured out in cents per ton per mile and all that what the wheeling means to the farmer's load but not what .t means to the miner's new stamp mill, needed tim- | bers, broken hoist, boarding house table and balance sheet or to the local public that gets most of the gold that Is Jug. ow and at times every year local papers contain frequent news items about th and that mine stopping operations because the teamsters can’t get things through. The mining process that most needs ad- vancement In these progressive days of the industry s tha canyon as well as the hill and Calaveras County has taken hold of a big and wor- thy problem. With all its tremendous mining possi- bilities, its untold undeveloped mineral wealth and Its unrivalled possibilities for success 'n mining, California’s | field needs judgment to guide Investments as it is needed everywhere. Falilures are few but inistakes are made and failures result. A recent one s that of the Grifith mine, at Diamond Springs, E! Dorado | County, which has not turned out the way it was to do. old iron will be sold. Democrat sa: “The failure of this mine to be a pro- ducer reflects no discredit upon the able management of Superintendent Richards, for it is a well known fact by all miners of experience that the prop- erty never was and never would be a dividend-paying proposition. Any one that wishes may go out and view a hole in the ground that cost some people $i00,- 009, and 1t all came through makin peo: ple see as some others would have them." In the Sunset ol fleld, 'n Kern County, which has been producing maltha and similar heavy ofl products for some years, a new refinery was recently installed and is just getting into operation. According Of it the Placerville to the Bakersfield Californian, “The dis- | tillation shows that 30 per cent of crude oil is lubricating oil of the finest ofl equal to any in the market. When it is said that eylinder oil selle for 50 cents |a gallon wholesae, some idea may be formed of the great commercial value of the products of the Sunset Company's output. percentage of i{lluminating oil is very small, and the process of dis. tillation completed the residue is the finest quality of liquid asphalt.” The order for the ironwork of the Oneida sixty-stamp mill has been placed | | with Fraser & Chalmers of Chicago. A compressor is to be added to the plant to | ! be put on the Oneida, which will be the largest machine erected in this county, its | capacity being thirty drills. It is to used, be | mine and at the same time operate eleven power drille. The new shaft is down 2080 feet and sinking is practically completed | for the present, the next underground work to be done being the opening of the levels at 1200 feet. The grading Is all completed for the new ufl and the pits for the mortar blocks are dug.—Amador | Ledger. | “The copper mine at Copperopolis, Cal., | has been unwatered to the fifth level, | which leaves 400 feet yet to be cleared of water. As the largest stopes are vet | to be reached the heaviest work is yet | to_be finished, says the Angels Record. The Santissimo mine at Jackass Hill, Tuolumne County, yielded a $2500 pocket | last week. J. 0. DENNY. 'AROUND THE ~ CORRIDORS Moise Engelmann, a traveler from Paris, is at the Palace. | A. D. King, a wealthy land owner of Hanford, is at the Grand. Joseph Goldman, a prominent business man of Merced, is at the Grand. Robert M. Fitzgerald, the prison ai- rector, 18 a guest at the Palace. Mr. and Mrs. James D. Ryan of Madera | are registered at the Occldental. | W. O, Jilson, a wealthy mining man of | Hornbrook, is a guest at the Grand. W. H. Campbell, a mine owner of Kes- wick, is at the Occidental for a short stay. Robert A. Graham has come up from Los Angeles and is a guest at the Palace. Dr. H. N. Winston of Haywards is at | the Occidental, accompanied by his wife, Edward and R. R. Fisher, leading busi- ness men of Hanford, are staying at the Lick. | Dr. and Mrs. B. Morton are among the recent arrivals at the Palace from New | York. J. J. Kennedy has come down on a short visit from Vallejo and is registered at the | Windsor. E. M. Dunn, a lucky mining man from | the Cape Nome district, is at the Lick, accompanted by his wife. E. E. Biggs, the weaithy banker and capitalist, is at the Grand, where he ar- rived yesterday from his home In Biggs. General andMrs. Charles Eagan arrived in the city yesterday afternoon and reg- istered at the Palace. They are here merely on a visit of pleasure. Willlam Prescott Scott, son of Henry T. Scott, arrived home last night from Yale College to spend the holidays with his folks. He will return East in a few weeks to resume his studies. —_—— NEWS OF FOREIGN NAVIES. The British torpedo-boat destroyer Cyn- thia, built by Thorneycroft, has made a three hours’ trial run at sea, averaging | 30.3 knots. A corps of electrical torpedo mechanics has been established in the French navy. The duties for which these men are in- tended was hitherto performed by navy | lleutenants. | The Lindholm drydock, in the dockyard | at Stockholm, has been enlarged to 400 | feet length, 60 feet breadth and 20 feet draught, and Is now large enough to re- celve a 6000-ton vessel. The fuel trials carried on for several months by the British torpedo-boat de- stroyer Surly have terminated. Petroleum oil was found unsuitable as a substitute for coal, owing to its heavy black smoke; but of twenty kinds of brignettes, or com- pressed fuel, several were found to meet the requirements. g A first-class gunboat named Zelee was launched at Rochefort dockyard on Oecto- ber 18. The craft is 153 feet in length and 26 feet beam, and displaces 646 tons. The engines, driving a single propeller, are of 900 horsepower, to give a speed of 13 knots. The battery consists of two 12- pounders, four S-pounders and four 1% pounders, and her complement is § officers and a crew of 100, ‘The French cruiser Guichen is reported to have made 23.55 knots during a three hours’ full power trial. The engines de- veloped 25,400 horsepower, with 13 revoly- tions. The Guichen is 8147 tons, and is of minng | Work has stopped and the | James | the | quality, and 20 per cent of this is cylinder | wever, to operate a pump of suffi- | | cient capacity’ to handle the water in the | | | of getting through the | | | | of 1599 Unitea neap. the same eclassification as th States jeruisers Columbia and AMhneap, lis, which were, however, of 7380 &nd T tons respectively, on their trial r@ - . Columbia made 22.81 knots with & of revolutions of 13153, and the Miw lis averaged 23.073 knots on 13241 ¥ tions, and their hossepower wu.l for the Columbia and 20,82 for the ¥i apolis. Two Russian ships, the nrmn'ml L Gromoboy and the coast-defen General Admiral Apraxine, have met * mishaps. The Gromoboy, while on way from St. Peteersburg to Cronstad recelve her armament, ran on & sandbis in the Maratime canal, but was floate few days later by an unusual rise In o Neva River. The other ship, on her fiit voyage from Cronstadt to Liban, mn ashore on the island of Gothland during a storm. The crew got safely ashore, ant relief has been sent to the stranded v "l which was under the command of Grand Duke Alexander. % The Borodino, battleship, is being bullt at the New Admiralty Works, on the Neva. She is of the Cesarevich type, bulld- Havre, France, but is 70 tons arger. The dimensions are: 7T feet length, 76 feet beam and 26 feet draught on an even keel, giving a displacement of 13,600 tons. The water line belt is 8 inches, tapering to 4 inches at ends, and the up- per belt up to the batterv deck s 7 inche The engifes will be of 16,000 horsepower, to give a speed of 18 knots. Another simi- lar vessel, named Orel, Is also building at Galley Island near St. Petersburg Neither of these ships will be wood sheathed and coppered. The British torpedo-boat destroyer Spiteful is the fiftieth vessel of that typa added to the navy and the twelfth boat built by Palmer at Jarrow-on-Tyne. The contract requirements were quite exact- ing, but her trials have turned out satis- factory. One of the conditions limited the coal consumption to an average of 25 pounds per unit of horsepower during a three hours’ run at 30 knots, and at an average speed of 23.9 knots the coal con- sumption averaged as low as 2.3 pounds The three-hour speed trial gave 0.3 knots, and a twelve hours’ 13-knot trial required only 480 horsepower and a coal consumption of 15 pounds, giving the boat an endurance of 4000 knots with her coal supply of 8 to The Chicago Tribune, which is usually correct In Its statements, Is in error about the French navy having adopted the whaleback type as a form for its war- ships, and gives the battleship Carnot as an example. The Carnot, and nearly all other French naval vesdels, resemble to some degree the American whaleback steamer In that they have a great “tumble home”—to such an extent in some as to make the upper deck only about half the width of the beam at the water line. The Carnot was designed in 1561, and launched in 1884. The first whalebacks were barges, bulit on the lakes in 1589, later developing Into the Wetmore type of whaleback steamers, and during the last four years their popularity and usefulness appear to have subsided entirely CHRISTMAS CALL WAS A BEAUTY [Pinole Times.) The Christmas edition of the San Fran- cisco Call is a thing of beauty. This paper has made wonderful progress in recent 1549 » | years in the {llustrative art, and is push- ing rapidly to the head as one of Amer- ica’'s greatest dallles. This edition should find its way into every household. o [Marin County Toesin.] The Christmas Call, which was issucd last Sunday, was a journalistic master- piece. It was replete with artistic litho- graphic and half-tone illustrations and matter descriptive of California—histor- ical and otherwise. It is just the thing to send to your distant friends. . [Dixon Tribune.] Last Sunday’'s edition of The Call was a splendid tribute to its management. It was the Christmas edition, and a perusal of its hl?(‘s can suggest only a partial un. derstanding of the vast amount of time and money {ts preparation required. It was a specimen of the artistic capabilities of The Call's office. —_—————— Small candy canes 15 doz. Townsend. * Townsend's famous broken and mixed candies—2 Ibs. 2ic. 627 Palace Hotel. * No waiting at Townsend's; plenty of help. Thousands of packages of California Glace Fruits and Candies packed all reu.ly to hand out.” 627 Market street. Special Information supplied dally to business houses and public men by the Press Clipping Bureau (Allen's), 51 on! gomery street. Telephone Main 1042, ¢ In almost every county in Kansas thers are fine farms owned and operated by Kansas women without the ald of men. “Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup” Has been used for fifty years by millions of mothers for their children while Teething with, perfect success. It soothes the child, softens the gums, allays pain, cures Wind Colle, regu- lates the Bowels and is the best remedy for Diarrhoeas, whether arising from teething or other causes. For sale by druggists in every part of the world. Be sure and ask for Mrs, Winslow's Soothing Syrup, %c a bottle. —_—— Personally Conducted Excursions In improved wide-vestibuled Pullman tourist sleeping cars via Santa Fe Route. Experienced excursion conductors accompany these excur- sions to look after the welfare of passenesrs. To Chicago and Kansas City every Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. To Boston, Montreal and Toronto every Wednesday. To St. Louis every Sunday. To St. Paul every Sunday and Friday. Ticket office, 623 Market street. —_—— The Fastest Train Across the Conti- nent. _Jhe _California Limited, Sants Fe Route. Connecting train leaves § p. m., Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Finest equipped train and best track of any line to the East. Ticket office, 625 Market st. — —e——— HOTEL DEL CORONADO—Take advantaze of the round-trip tickets. Now only ‘$50 by steamship, including ffteen days’ board at ho- tel; longer stay, $3 00 per day. Apply at 4 New Montgomery street, San Francisco. —_———————— Twenty-five English rallways paid wages to employes during the first ha £644,000 more than was paid In the same perfod of 1808—an increase of by, per cent. n You always expect to see a baby plump and rosy, don’t you? Thinness in a baby isadisease. If not corrected serious results follow. The first year often determines the health for the whole of is a true and tried friend to the little cnes. It gives them just the plumpness all healthy babies should have, scoTTE o s, York,