The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, March 24, 1900, Page 6

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SATURDAY, MARCH 24, 1900. The LB Call JRDAY... .MARCH 24, 1900 : S, Proprietor. | | ons to W. S. LEAKE, Manager. | JOHN D. SPRECKEL: tddress All Communici PUBLICATION OFFICE..Market and Third, S. F. Telephone Main 186S. EDITORJAL ROOMS....217 to 221 st. Telephone Main 1874, teve: Delivered by Carrlers, 15 Cents Per Week. Single Copies, 5 Cents. Terms by Mail, Incinding Postage: day), one year 13i postmasters are = sabscriptions. rwarded when requested. ve++.1118 Broadway C KROGNESS. oreign Advertising, Marquette Building, Chicago. OAKLAND OFFICE.. GES ¥ YORK CORRESPONDENT: Herald Square NEW YORK REPRESENTATIVE: IR .22 Tribune Building CHICAGO NEWS STANDS: : Great Northern Hotel; WS STANDS: Brentano, 81 Union Square: Wellington Hotel Correspondent. omery, corner of Clay, open pen until 9:30 o'clock. 639 ck. 615 Larkin, open until sion, open until 10 o'clock. 2261 th, untfl 9 o'clock. 1098 3 o'clock. 106 Eleventh, open until rner Twenty-second and Kentucky, | n, open ceteers.” | hess.” every afternoon and AN, s et | vate parties, which was done, with immediate im- | the formation of clubs in all localities ets, Epecialties. AUCTION SALES. | Tuesday, March t street i T - e C\@ e = at 12 ow twins of Mr. Hearst m the country and call sational publica- mbling of an American fleet bawling babies o waters betw d has drivel gone has been no hindrance, on, e invention of facts is 2 ven the use of “the long- 1.” So they have cried world. ed the register of the quire e ave publish bled in those distant and di 20th inst. they had tt k, Monadnock, Castine | d ready for a swoop, fell , Ne date the Navy Department at Manila, that the | , where she | y 10 by the Concord, that she | | duty in Bering The | ” the “formidable >w on the Chinese coast,” all | h the Journal and r an a we: necessary to divert public at- | ious consequences of the Ex- | squadrc aminer | more i bubonic plague in this city. g sensation and official stu Francisco dearly, and it need | pt for the morbid desire of that never have been exce opathic paper for new sensation. e of news cannot be too strongly supposed to reflect its politics, se, in its editorial columns, h that understanding. But a is guided by the least sense of duty its news columns gives the facts ‘as | t inve Peo- vs in a paper with a feeling of faith 1 is not present when they read edi- Against these the reader on uarded when he reads the news. | which digests, dilutes, rejects or r for its news columns is guilty of the sition upon its readers. The only vews is to publish all that is fit to | ve to the good sense of the reader the n of the mass. therefore a grave violation of the proprieties es of journalism and a serious offense | s readers for a newspaper to tamper with its | It was an offense deserving punishment for miner to cut out of its Washington dispatches reference to Congressman de Vries it connection | the big trees, the vote on the Porto Rico | and the wood pulp tariff. Tt was a still more se- paper to invent bubonic plague | and to persist in publishing San infected city, to the damage of ou: d business. These fakes are now fol- invention of a war in Asia between ith the United States standing | a formidable fleet, when there is no war and | ry has ordered one small gunboat to steam Chinese coast m is a danger always. Readers make ons from the reports of events which the papers as news, and when these re- ts are false, or juggled, or invented, the opinions 2ed on them are of course unreliable. ntion or sophistication. the ne is 1 dece nd Russia, Chancellor McCracken of New York University | inces that one of the provisions made by the for the administration of the much discussed ame is that no name shall be blazoned upon walls until it has been approved by a tribunal con- | differently from now. | in our civic life that will more than offset the | or cheaper. r | ment and the House Committee on Postal PUBLIC OWNERSHIP. HE people of this city practically voted for public ownership of public utilities when they ratified the charter. Like many other matters, this policy is believed to be beneficial and to be capable of doing away with many old vexations without causing new ones in their place. It has been tried elsewhere, and those who de- | sire to try it here are not left without the guidance of experience. We find one expectation abroad that will be disappointed. This is the feeling that when these public utilities are.run by the Government the people will have their use free of cost.- Government does nothing gratis. It protects life, liberty and property, for a consideration, and is the sternest and firmest of all protectors in exaction of its price. When it runs the transportation, light and water supply business of the city they will be run but little The Government way of ad- ministering public utilities may be judged by the way in which it does those things intrusted to it now. It has charge of the streets, sewers, Police, Fire and School departments, of the courts and public charities. I justice is promptly administered, the schools, police and fire service are above criticism, and the streets and sewers always in fine order, we may anticipate equal excellence in administering the public utilites which the Government is expected to assume. The city erects public buildings. If they are built better and more economically than private buildings, and if their construction moves promptly, without delay, we may expect the same economy and prompt- ress when the city owns all the public utilities. The people have examples before them and can judge for themselves. ‘Let it be understod as a fundamental principle that adding more duties to those already ill discharged never yet produced reform. We are satisfied that the people intend to adopt the policy of public ownership. As it will cost a large primary outlay, that will rest upon the credit of the city, there | | should be ample assurance that it will produce effects in- cubus of a large debt. Information on the subject should be gathered from all available sources, for when the step is once taken its recall will be diffi- | cult, even if it prove unwise. We believe Philadelphia is the only city that has receded from this policy, when once adopted. She | owned her own gas works, and administered them until the service became so bad and so costly that it was found expedient to turn the plant over to pri- provement in the service and the cost. But a backward step is always hard. The expe- rience of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washing- ton and Chicago, in the municipal ownership of March 26 at 1030 oclock, | water supply, demonstrates that public ownership | does not automatically purify water, make it plentier These things have to come just as they do under private ownership, by expert management and close application of business principles. The president of Yale has pointed out that under public ownership the administration of public utili- | ties will be in as few hands as now, if it is to be at all tolerable. The same skill will have to be found and paid for as is now required, and unless this is done, regardless of politics and in spite of partisanship, the system will break down. As far as it can aid, The Call will assist the people to a right conclusion as to this policy by giving them exact facts upon which to base their action. Many ership make the serious mistake of discussing it with | prejudice toward the present owners of the utilities to be taken over. This is wrong. The policy should be adopted not for the harm it will do a few of the people, but for the good it will do all of the people. A Commissioner who is going to Paris to set up a wurant for the purpose of instructing the people of Europe how to make corn bread is reported in the corn States to be engaged “in a work of the highest beneficence to the poor folks of the Old World,” but their commendation would sound better if the news- papers of the section did not always add that the suc- cess of his enterprise will raise the price of corn. CONGRESS AND THE POSTOFFICE. OR the third time the efforts of Congressman Loud to put an end to the abuse of the second- rate mail privilege have been defeated. The country should now demand of the majority against the Loud bill the enactment of some measure which | will serve the purpose of putting an erfd to. the de- | | ficit in the postal revenue. The responsibility is upon | Postoffice Depart- Affairs have been thwarted in their efforts to check the abuses that cause the deficit, and it is clearly the cuty of the opposition to bring forward a measure of their own. 3 We hear much in these days of the advantage of governmental control of the operation of public utilities, and yet we have in the management of the them. The administration, the postoffice a yearly deficit due solely to the annual | refusal of Congress after Congress to remedy plain evils. If the National Government, which draws to itself the services of the ablest politicians of the na- tion, cannot run to advantage so simple a business as that of shipping mailbags and fixing rates of post- age, what is to be expected if it should undertake to operate railroads? There have been two measures proposed for getting rid of the deficit. By the method supported by Con- gressman Loud the postoffice would be placed upon a paying basis by limiting to genuine periodical pub- lications the privilege of second class mail rates, as it is known that the yearly shortage in the revenues is due to the practice of carrying cheap novels, ad- vertising pamphlets, quack medicine circulars and- other stuff of the kind for less than cost. The sec- ond plan is that of reducing the rates now paid to railroads for hauling mail. Either of the plans would be good, but Congress will enact neither. When the first plan is before the House the majority declares | itself in favor of the second, but when the second is | brought forward there is always a majority against | that also. The shilly-shally policy of Congress in dealing with the subject is the more exasperating because many important and much desired postal reforms and extensions are dependent upon it. - So long as there is an annual deficit, we can hardly expect any con- siderable extension of the postal service to the pec- ple, and so the desire for one cent letter postage, for a cheap parcels post, for the circulation of books from public libraries through the mails and the establish- ment of postal savings banks will have to wait. Ear- nest as are the promoters of these various plans for utilizing the postoffice for the general good, they can hardly hope to succeed until Congress has provided an economical administration of such service as the department now renders. 2 Such being the situation of affairs, the people will ing of a hundred historians or professors of his- tory. That being so, there will probably be recorded in the hall the names of more men who have written bistory than of those who made it. —~ l . levil The issue is one to which Boards of Trade, | the horrors of savage warfare, wait with some impatience to see what the men who defeated the Loud bill are going to do to remedy the proponents of public own- | Chambers of Commerce and industrial organizations might well give attention. A cheap parcels post and | lower rates for letters are matters of common con- cern, and it would be easy to attain them if Congress would adopt either or both of the plans that have | been proposed in the direction of economy. Perhaps | a little urging from such bodies might prompt to | action at Washington, and, at 4ny rate, the urging }~should be given in order that Congressmen may un- | derstand what the country thinks of the matter. THE DUTY OF REPWBLICANS. | HEN the operation of the McKinley tariff and i W other notable acts of Republican legislation during the Presidency of Benjamin Harrisen had brought about a high degree of prosperity throughout the country, many Republicans became | so sanguine that the people would support the ad- | ministration in the succeeding Presidential election that they neglected their political duties, took no ac- | tive part in the campaign, and trusted to the com- | mon sense of the voters to re-elect President Harri- son. The result was a sweeping Democratic victory, | the enactment of the Wilson tariff and a period of | industrial depression and financial disaster, from the | effects of which we have not yet fully recovered. i The warning of that experience should be enough | to rouse Republicans to action at this juncture. | Once more we have had an administration of pro- | tection and sound money. Once more the factories | have been busy, work and wages have been abundant, | and a general prosperity pervades all classes of the population. Once more every prospect of the time promises a sure Republican victory at the elections. | Once more there is every temptation to Republicans to look upon the contest as a foregone conclusion not worth while for a busy man to trouble himself about. Are the similarities between this -year and 1892 to be carried further still? Are we to have another year of Republican over-confidence, resulting in a Demo- cratic victory? At this time it is the duty of every Republican who has sufficient vigor to take an active part in the cam- paign to unite himself with a Republican club and as- sist in organizing it for effective work. These club organizations ought to be effected in ‘every county, | city, ward and precinct in the State. They should, moreover, be formed in time to elect strong delega- tions to the convention of Republican League Clubs, which is to assemble at Los Angeles on April 27. | Before the convention meets there is ample time for where none | exist, and the election of delegates to represent them | in the convention, but there is no time to spare. The work of organization, therefore, should be begun at | once. | Since the results of the over-confidence in 180z, | there ought not to be needed any ‘great amount of urging to rouse Republicans to the performance of 7ltheir duty this year. There can be no incentive to | action more eloquent or more impressive than the warning remembrance of those years of hard times resulting from Republican carelessness. This year | there should be activity, organization and co-opera- f tion from the start. i ool o : POOLROOM GAMBLING CHANCES. | | BEFORE the New York Legislature thete is now pending a bill designed to prevent pool- rooms from obtaining betting quotations from | racetracks, prize-rings or any other event on which | bets are made. The main purpose of the measure is to put an end to betting on races, for that form of | gambling has now become one of the worst evils of the country. Commenting upon the measure the New York | Tribune says: “Experts say that the average player | at faro, roulette or keno has a better chance to win now and then and is not in so deep and miry a pit | as the frequenter of the poolrooms. The plain truth | is that a great deal of so-called racing carried on in Louisiana, in California, in Illinois, in other States of the Union, and even in the Empire State itself, is kept up chiefly for the poolrooms, and is dishonest through and through.” The experience of San Francisco with the East- ern track gamblers who have been trying to obtain a renewal of the former gambling privileges at Ingle- de track amply confirms the statement of the New | York experts.” The track events which are adver- tised as races are virtually put up jobs to defraud the public, or at least that portion of it that is foolish enough to bet on the results. Tt would be just as ex- pedient to license roulette or faro games as the kind of racing that is now provided by the track gamblers. R T A New York political expert who has just returned from a tour through the South says: “Bryan is a dead cock in the pit. I expected to find that he had some strength in the South, but I believe he is more thoroughly squelched there than anywhere else.” That may be taken as a striking illustration of the truth that a man finds what he is looking for. When Bryan made his recent trip to the Southern States he was greeted with enthusiasm everywhere. It is going to take all the force of another defeat at the polls to kill the silver craze and eliminate Bryanism from the minds of the Bourbons. i If the report be true that our exhibition at Paris, while exceeding that of any other nation except France in quantity and number of goods displayed, will be less magnificent than that of Turkey, it would seem to be advisable to get our Sulu Sultan furbished up for the occasion and put him on exhibition with a star-spangled harem that will make a Turkish outfit look like thirty cents. —_— A report from Russia is to the effect that a “trust,” having obtained possession of an important business and crushed competition, the Government was so de- | lighted with the scheme that it confiscated the busi- | ness and is now running it as a Government monopoly. It will be perceived that in dealing with trusts there is some advantage in a dgspotism. e A Columbus clergyman has hit upon the happy thought of preaching his sermons by telephone. He has probably forgotten, though, that “central” can materially restrict his sphere of usefulness by insisting when he wants a parishioner that the “line is busy.” fingland thinks that American intervention in South Africa is impertinence, but that American support in China is gracious. ' The opinions of our elderly cousin seem to be guided chiefly by what will bene- fit her and her alone. ‘The San Bernardino youth who thought that it was great fun to play highwayman and was killed for his joke must have forgotten that the fool-killer makes it his business, as a rule, to be abroad. England has armed the black natives of South Africa at last. This action possibly is preliminary to another protest from the British authorities against SHALL THE NICARAGUA CANAL BE FORTIFIED? Treaties and Negotiations That Throw Light on the Big Debate DITOR of The Call—There is muchl misunderstanding in the public mind as to the merits of the Hay- Pauncefote treaty now before the Senate. Its opponents assume and have induced the belief that the Clayton-Bulwer convention, which it supplements, was injurious to our inter- ests and favorable to Great Britain. This is just the reverse of the fact, as recur- rence to its terms and the circumstances ‘under which it was made will show. 1 was interested in and familiar with the | occurrences at the time; permit me to ré- call them. The negotiations took place dufing the winter of 1849-50, under President Taylor. Mr. Clayton was our Secretary of State and Sir Henry Bulwer British Minister at ‘Washington. Great Britain was then the most formidable power in Europe. She possessed all the principal ocean transits of the old world, and her statesmen seemed bent on acquiring those of the new. Holding Gibraltar, Corfu and Malta, she controlled the Mediterranean. By the possession of Aden, at the mouth of the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb, she commanded the Red Sea and the overland route to the East. She held the Cape of Good- Hope, the half-way house, by the ocean route, to the same region and with it isl- ands and colonies all over. Singapore was hers, in front of which passes all the commerce of the farther East, through the Straits of Malacca, and those of Tor- res were commanded by Cape York, also hers, T the. Western Hemisphere, Halifax, $ermuda, Jamaica and a long string of islands between it and Trinidad formed a chain of naval posts along our Atlantic Coast, and that of Central America, com- manding all access to the Caribbean Sea, and enabling her to control the eastern approach to the isthmus, and the entrance to any possible intercceanic canal, She had within a short time seized the island of Ruatan, on the coast of Honduras, and had set up a protectorate over the Mos- quito Indians, a tribe living within the boundaries of Nicaragua. These savages she treated as an independent nation and recognized their chief as reigning at Blue- fields, just north of San Juan del Norte. In his name she had seized and held pos- session of the town and harbor of San Juan, and he exercised the functions of government, under the guidance of a British Consul, accredited to him, but re- siaing at that last-named place. This was done expressly to affirm his possession of the place, and it was further supported by the constant presence of a British gun- boat in the harbor. San Juan, under- stand, lies at the mouth of the river, which discharges the waters of the lake into the ocean, and is, for a hundred and twenty-five miles, to form the bed of the canal. The Mosquito King thus claimed and exercised soverelgnty over the ter- minal harbor of the proposéd canal and for an undefined distance up its unin- habited banks, and this, under. the pro- tection and with the armed support of’ the foremost power of all Europe! For Eng- land was then at the zenith of her power and prestige. ‘“‘Her morning drum-beat,” sald Mr. Webster, “following the sun and keeping company with the hours, circles earth with one continuous and unbroken strain of the martial airs of England.” She was the dominant power of Europe. The United States, on the other hand, had a population of less than twenty-four millions and merely the nucleus of a navy and army. We had just acquired Califor- nia from Mexico, but our only access to it was by the ocean voyage round Cape Horn or the weary six months’ “trek” across the plains. f all things we need- ed a short route to the Pacific, and the mind of the nation instinctively turned to an isthmian canal. Its power, however, was more than half paralyzed by our eternal anti-slavery controversy, which then and through all the summer of 1850 raged with unprecedented violence. Con- gress gat until the middle of September, and its debates were as acrimonious and violent as those which preceded the Civil War; they threatened the dissolution of the Union. California was kept out of it from December, 1849, till September, 1850, all because of the slavery question. What might or might not result from a serious dlécul‘y with Great Britain over Central American affairs no man could foresee. At that_time the construction of the Panama Rallroad had been commenced by a New York corporation under a con- cession from New Granada, and a com- any called the Atlantic and Pacific Ship Bina Company, at the head of which was Commodore Vanderbilt, had secured a grant from the State of Nicaragua of the right to build a ship canal across that country. These I)artlei desired the for- mal protection of our Government. or if ()ssi{;le the joint protection of the United tates and Great Britain, for their enter- rise, and this led up to the Clayton- gulwer treaty. In substance it provides that neither nation shall ever obtain or maintain any exclusive control of the pro- posed canal or erect or maintain any for- tification commanding the same or its vi- cinity; that neither will colonize, occupv, fortify or exercise dominion over Nicara- gua, Costa Rica, the Mosquito coast orany part of Central America, nor make use of any protection, alliance, influence or con- nection of either with any State or Gov- ernment through whose _territory the canal may pass, to obtain for its citizens or subjects any rights of commerce or navigation not offered on equal terms to the citizens of the other. Tn case of war between the contracting arties, vessels of either nation, travers- an the canal, shall be exempt from block- ade, capture, or detention, and both par- ties agree to protect the canal, when con- structed, from interruption, seizure or unjust confiscation. The object of all these provisions was declared to be not the attainment of a particular end, but the establishment of a general principle, which would be extended to any other practicable communication between the two oceans. Provisions are added for neutralizing the canal and its terminal ports and for inviting other nations to unite in these arrangements. There is the Clayton-Bulwer treaty! It was regarded at the time as a signal triumph of Amercan diplomacy, and con- sidering the circumstances, justly so. Tts terms, far from belng severe on us, were ail in our favor, for it constituted Eng- land’s final renunciation of all aggmndlle- ment on this continent, south of the Can- ada line, and to emphasize this, the ex- change of its ratifications was fixed for July 4, 1850, thus made doubly the anni- Versary of our independence. In pursu- ance of it. atter decent brief delay, Eng- land withdrew her Consul from San Juan and her gunboat from the harbor; Nicar- agua quietly entered and took possession ot the place. The Mosquito monarchy, deprived of British support, relapsed into its original insignificance, and Americans were left free to bulld the canal under the joint protection of the two powers, By John T. ADoer. Now Going On in Congress, which was also extended to the Panama | Ing it. and thus throwing it open to the raflroad. The canal company failed to obtain the money to build the work, but did establish a transit line across Nicar- agua, by which thousands were brought to California, down to 1856, when it was broken up by the Walker invasion of that State, wnich ruined the comp‘ng. The Clayton-Bulwer treaty thus deliv- ered us from all difficulties and compli- cations arising from questions as to Sov- ereignty on the isthmus and left our countrymen free to build the canal, under the protection of both governments, neither of which was\ to seek to obtain any exciusive ownership of or control over fto'It was to be neutral, unfortified the com- and open on equal terms to merce of the world. Nothing could be fairer or more liberal. It has been in force fifty years, fairly observed by both parties. Neither has withdrawn from it or claimed that It is not as binding to- day as the day after its execution. It is the law of the land and cannot be re- pealed by valiant speeches or defiant edi- torials—by nothing in short save the con- sent of both parties or an act of Con- gress. The progress of events since that treaty was made has greatly modified the conditions of this guestion. The com- merce of the world has vastly increased; steamers have supplanted salling vessels; the size of ocean craft has been quad- rupled; Germany and Japan have been adged. to the maritime powers of the world, and Great Britain, the greatest of them, has got a ship canal of her own at Suez, giving her easy access to her Indlan empire and the Pacific, for which the Nicaragua canal was once so desired. She no longer needs or cares for it. The other maritime wers want it, and we most of all. England does not care a but- ton whether we build it or not. To us it has become Indispensable, not for com- mercial reasons alone but from, considera- tions of national defense and security of the highest order. That is just where we now stand. Some years since a company headed by ex-Senator Miller was granted the right to build the canal, and made elaborate surveys of the route, on the basis of which new construction plans were predi- cated. Recognizing modern changes, it proposed a waterway caYsble of passing vessels of the largest class. The com- any having spent some flve million dol- {’ars in preliminary work, demonstrating the practicability of the enterprise, came to Congress for assistance, and, for sev- eral successive sessions, bills for an issue of Government bonds for that purpose were brought forward. These were, by one device or another, delayed and postponed until the company’s right to do the work lapsed. During ail this time no suggestion of fortifying the canal was heard, though it was to built with Gevernment money. The objection was to private con- struction or ownership. More information was asked and new surveys were called for and ordered. Speaker Reed was op- osed to it and would not appoint a day or its consideration. Mr. Cleveland was hostile and General Harrison, though friendly, rather lukewarm, and thus the project ianguished. The Spanish war and the Oregon’s voyage around the Horn, however, settled the last remaining doubt in the public mind, and the present admin- istration has urged Congress to action, ac- cepting the idea of Government ownership and control. This, of course, involved a new convention with Englanu to remove the obstacle of our engagement to the contrary in the Clayton-Bulwer treaty. The surrounding conditions had mean- time been so changed that no reason ap- peared why Great Britain should refuse consent to such, and negotiations for that purpose resulted in the Hay-Pauncefote convention, to the terms of which I now turn. They are in substance that England waives her objection, based on the Clay- ton-Bulwer treaty, to our building and owning the canal, with the understanding that its other provisions are not thereby impaired. The canal is to be open to all nations on equal terms; it is to be protected by both powers against violence and is to be neutralized so as never to become the theater of hostilities between any bellig- erents whatever. The old provision not to colonize, occupy, fortify or exercise dominion over the surrounding territory is not repealed and is retained. I am unable to find objection to any of these provisions. The suggestion that if we build the canal we should be at liberty to protect it against attack by fortifica- tions is plausible, but a little reflection will show that it is plausible only. It is not consistent witua the agreement that the canal shall be neutralized and placed under the protection of the powers. Neu- trality and fortification are obviously in- consistent with one another. Neutralizing a particular district or territory, though an outgrowth of modern civilization, is not a new thing In history. Belgium was neutralized by agreement of the European powers in 1833; her territory has never since been the scene of hostilities though before that time it was called “the cock- pit of Europe.” Most of the great battles of the French and English wars of the eighteenth century were fought on what is now Belgian territory, which has prob- ably absorbed more human blood and en- tombed more human bones than any. equal area In Europe. Since its neutralization not a shot has been fired there in anger nor a blow been struck. Sedan, the greatest battle the world has witnessed since Gettysburg, was focused within five miles of the Bel- glan frontier, yet in the heat and confu- sion of that dire encounter and rout her neutrality was respected by both bel- ligerents. Not a man of either army crossed the line (though only marked by a row of monuments) any more than if it had been closed to access by a solid wall. Switzerland has been neutral ground by treaties at least since the peace of 1814, and with like universal respect to her boundaries. late as 1863 the Ionian Islands, when ceded by England to Greece, were neutralized b naral trea?': but preliminary to neutralization the fortifications were directed to be molished. And why? Simply because neu- tralization forbids hostilities while fortifi- cation is a distinct preparation for them; the two things are entirely Inconsistent. The nation that agrees to neutralize the canal and at the same time proposes to fortify it practically intimates its expee- tation, at some future convenient :lma, to violate its agreement for neutrality. And again consider “how oft the sight of means to do ill d makes deeds {ll done!” and the old proverb that the ** ortunity is what creates the thief.” ‘ortifications erected on or commanding the canal would ne ly be under the command of some military officer, prob- ably of inferfor rank, whose zeal might casily, in case of a sudden call, outrun his discretion (as happenied to Commodore Wilkes, in the Trent case) and involve us in hostilities, arising from a violation of our treaty obligations. Even if we were willing to trust such persons implicicy, we could not expect other nations to do 0. And thus we are driven to make a manly choice between fortifying the canal, and thus closing it to commerce during every maritime war or neutraliz- world on equal terms at all times. Comsiderations of this nature forbid & demand by us to fortify the canal, and it is safe to say that Secretary Hay, dur- ing the negotiations, never made such a propositio do so would at once sug- gest the Inquiry of old Dr. Caius, when assured by me Qulckl?' of the lnt’- rity of the young man found lurking in his closet: “Yes, but vat shall de honest man do in my closet?” If this work is neutralized, what do you want of forti- fications? Against whom are they to be erected? Are not your navy and ours to- gether able to protect it against any other maritime state that would menace its neutrality? Yes, against all the others put together! Then why fortify? You do not contemplate breaking the neutrality yourselves. I would not insult you by such a suggestion. Do you suspect us of such a design? You surely would not so insuit us. Then why fortify? 1 know no answer to this query, and I think there is none. . As to the choice then between neutraliz- ing and fortifying the canal it appears to me that the guaranty of the United States and Great Britain, even if they stood alone, would afford a better protec- tion to it than any possible fortifications. But they will not stand alone, for the in- tention_evidently is to establish its neu- trality by the concurrence of all maritime nations. And to make this intent plain and easy of acromplishment the terms adopted for the purpose, by consent of all the powers, as applied to the Suez canal, are incorporated in the text of the pres- ent document. No nation that agreed to aprly those rules to the one canal could refuse them to the other. Thus sanc- tioned the neutrality of both works wili become a part of the law of nations and the power that would violate it would by and invite the hostility of all. It wili never be done. I am tempted to press the argument further and ask what possible gox forti- fications can do? otect the work moment it becomes such it will be aban- doned by commerce and given up to the uses of the hostile fleets which make it their battle ground. For does any one imagine that the approaches to the canal will in such case be neutralized, while the otherwise? Some the approaches to those are dealing with the higl way of nations, on which we have no right to constitute ourselves peace officers and where we would be unable to enforca our mandate if we attempted it. Fancy a maritime war and United States cruisers endeavoring to keep the canal commerce by escorting into and out of it ships of either of the belilgerent powers. How long would it take us to become in- volved in the war as principals? we have to choose between neut and (orflfl(‘n‘;lnn,'nndb{veulrallzatlon is on every ground preferable. ¥ JOHN T. DOYLE. San Franeisco, March 20, 1900. Cal. glace fruit 5c per Ib at Townsend's.* —_————————— Special Information supplied dafly to business houses and public men by the Press Clipping Bureau (Allen’s), 510 Mont« gomery street. Telephone Main 1043 ———————— Preserving Telegraph Poles. A new method of preserving telegrapn . ground with an earthenware pipe like a drain pipe. Into the space between tha pole and the pipe is poured a mixture of sand and resin. e Personally Conducted Excursions In improved wide-vestibuled Pullman tourist sleeping cars via Santa Fe route. Experienced excursion conductors accompany these excur- Wednesday and Friday. To Hoston, Montreal and Toronto every Wednesday. To St. Louls every Sunday. To St. Paul every Sunday and Friday. Ticket office, 628 Market street. ————————— All persons afflicted with dyspepsia will find immediate relief and sure cure by using Dr. Stegert's Angostura Bitters. —_— The charm of beauty is beautiful halr. Secure it with Parker's Hair Balsam. Hindercorns, the best cure for corns. 15 cts. —_— e——— To ascertain the quantity of water !n a well take half the circumference (In tha clear) and multiply by half the diameter; multiply the result by the depth, which gives the cublc measure; then reckon six gallons and one pint to the foot. CAPE NOME MACHINERY and SUPPLIES. SAND CENTRIFUGAL PUMPS: KROGH 3o “auit™™; rflflofl “l:’; 1 30-Hp. gaso- SRR e adns: SAND CENTRIFUGAL PUMPS. In Operation Daily, 625 Sixth Street. BYRON JACKSON. DREDGING PUMPS. Steam Hol: Cent Pumpe, EXPERIMENTAL MACHINERY & MODELS. L. PETERSON, S44A Mission, S. F.; communi- cations from ' inventors strictly confidential. MARSH STEAM PUMPS ] PUMPS AND GASOLINE ENGINES. All kinds of and Gasoline ‘WOODIN & 312 Market l..?r. BEACH GOLD CONCENTRATOR. SAVES All the Gold by Gravitation. No stiver. Hand or power. In operation 4 A CENTRIFUGAL AMALGAMATORS. SAVES fine In -‘.-‘q;u. dafly operation at 54 \ GOLD SEPARATOR. Gold Saving 29 Fol- som street. Oriental Gas Enzine Compaay. GOLY SEPARATOR. Separator and Cyclone Gold n daily operation, Wm. H. Birch & . 133 1st. MAYOR PHELAN'S FLAG. Petaluma Argus. The San Francisco Call strikes Mayor Phelan's municipal flag scheme a hard blow in its issue of Wednesday. A double column cut of old glory is printed. San Francisco prides herself on having the best that's going, but she will hunt far and long before anything better is discov- ered than the grand old ag‘ which double discounts all the special flags, municipal or otherwise. GOV. GAGE ON EXHIBITION, ‘Willows Journal. Governor Gage made a display of his boorishness again. At a meeting of the Young Men's Republican League at Los Angeles he roasted The Call and Chronicle in _language that was beneath the dignity of’any gentleman on such an occasion. —————— ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. THE CENSUS—D. D, Oakland, Cal. For informatioh in regard to the taking of the next census address a letter of in- the Director of the Census, &dfimtmon. D. C. CALF OF MAN-S., City. “Calf of l(-n; ,‘:a lthoflu_.me tmth:-h.bm given to the and or Isle of Man. o0 e matl Gefand 3 \'l.mn‘hurcn.t.mm-u.. B, I Crockett, Contra Costa County, Cal. There is no record that elther the Free States of South Africa or the Boers ever Elnlled upon the British forces for protec- on. CALu=aRY—Subscriber, Oakland Cal Calgary is the “county seat” of the Dis- trict of Alberta, Territory of the North- west. It is located on the C. P. R., 84 miles west from Winnipeg at the conflu- ence of the Bow and Elbow rivers. To oty T oy A ress er_of inqui 2 of Cal, . District o? All m west tory."” HOMESTEAD DECISION—C. H., So- nora, Cal. The decision relative to home- steads declaring that if the statement is not contained in the declaration that the party making the declaration is the head of the family, even If the statement Is thereln that he resided with thereon ig void, was rendered 1, 18, and is 16 be found fn Pty eiehth rts_of California the case of Reed Eng‘;lhlnlt et al. JBLACK AN’I‘S—F!. B., Watsonville, Cal. ‘ew leaves of green wormwood o tered amone the haunts ko MATTESON'S SLUICE WASHER. HERCULES GAS ENGINE WORKS s ‘many orders for Nome. 141-M43 First st.. 4 GROCERIES AND PROVISIONS E _BROS.. l.vouo:s. WHISKEY * @St OILS. ERSIGN 'S MeSUFRICK, 13 Soear ; 4 b b 3 PLATES FOR SAVING GOLD. Schaeslein Burri ., 3 Hardle place, Kearny. between mh and Bush streets. F. W. BELL, Central Plating W¢ on st ¥ Phone Jesste b L e ROCKERS. Hula-Hula Rocker; Cent: Sand Pumps: Machisiery. ENGINES, BOILERS, ETC. BAKER & HAMILTON, Botlers: ._TENTS AND (OVERS. bags, tents, ®