The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, April 2, 1901, Page 6

' THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL. TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 1901 : R e _—~——_———_—_—_,_/‘— Che Soisoe @all. ESDAY.... ..APRIL 2, 1901 JOHN D, SPRECKELS, Proprietor. Address All Communiestions to W. 8. LEAKE, Manager. MANAGER’S OFFICE........Telephone Press 204 N VUBLICATION OFFICE...Market and Third, 8. F. Telephone Press 201. EDITORIAL ROOMS .217 to 221 Stevenson St. Telephone Press 202, Delivered by Carriers, 15 Cents Per Week. Single Copies, 5 Cents. Terms by Mail, Ir luding Postage: DAILY CALL (including Sunday), ore year. -36.00 TAILY CALL (including Sunday), § months. - 3.00 DAILY CALL (including Sundav), 3 months.. - 1.80 DAILY CALL—By Single Month. - 50 SUNDAY CALL, Ope Year.. - 1.8 WEEKLY CALL, One Year. - 18 All postmasters are authorized to receive subscrirtions. Sample coples will be forwarded when requested. Mafl subscribers in ordering change of address should be particular to give both NEW AND OLD ADDRESS in order o insure a prompt and correct compliance with their request. OAKLAND OFFICE ++222.1118 Broadway C. GEORGE KROGNESS. Manager Forsign Advertising, Margustts Building. Chicago. Qong Distance Telephone “Central 2615."") NEW YORK CORRESPONDENT: €. C. CARLTON......ccccvcsss...Herald Square NEW YORE REPRESENTATIVE: STEPHEN B. SMITH.........30 "ribune Building NEW YORK NF S STANDS: Waldort-Astoria Hotel; A. Brentano, 35l Union Square; Nurray Hill Hotel CHICAGO NEWS STANDS: Eherman House; P. O. News Co.; Great Northern Hotel: ¥remont House; Auditorium Hotel. WASHINGTON (D. C.) OFFICE .1406 G St., N. W. MORTON E. CRANE, Correspondent. DRANCH OFFICES—S27 Montgomery, corner of Clay, open until $:30 o'clock. 200 Hayes, open until 9:30 o'clock. €3 MoAllister, open until $:30 o'clock. 615 Larkin, open untfl #:20 o'clock. 1841 Mission, open until 10 o'clock. 2261 Market, corner Sixteenth, cpen until $ o'clock. 1086 Valencia, open untfl o'clock. 106 Eleventh, open until § o'clock. NW. cor- per Twenty-second and Kentucky. open until 8 o'clock. AMUSEMENTS. Tivoli—*The Wedding Day.” Central—*“The Gladiator.” Orpheum—Vaudeville. Alcazar—*“Tennessee’s Pardner.”” Grand Opera-house—‘Cinderella,” Saturday night. Columbia—"‘The Little Minister.” Olympia, corner Mason and Eddy streets—Specialties. Chutes, Zoo and Theater—Vaudevilie every afternoon and evening. Fischer's—Vaudeville. Tanforan Park—Races. AUCTION SALES. By £. Watkins<Thursday, April 4, Horses and Buggies, at corner Tenth and Bryant streets. 70 SUBSCRIBERS LEAVING TOWN FOR THE SUMMER. Cmi! subscribers contemplating a change of residesce during the summer months can have their paper forwarded by mail to their mew sddvesses by mnotifying The Call Business Office. This paper will also be on sale at all summer resorts and is represented by a local agent in Il towns on the coast. in New York has at last revolted the gorge of '_l Gotham. 4 Oddly enough its unfitness for drinking water is SALT WATER SUGGESTION. HE chronically bad condition of Croton water regarded as 2 secondary evil. The people have other | slaking liquids which take the edge off thirst and leave it as dull as a kindling wood hatchet. The offense of Croton is rank when it is considered as a bathing fluid 2nd for flushing purposes. The New York ratepayer can get along without ever opening a faucet to get a drink, but he must wash, and flush his ‘closets, and | when the water flows for such purpeses it smells to heaven and over several adjacent townships. One proposition to reform these conditions is to obsolete the Croton watershed entirely, losing the hundreds of millions that system has cost, and tap Lake Ontario for a supply, carrying it across the State in an open canal, creating necessary -reservoirs en route. To this it is objected that no matter how pure and periect the water may be when it leaves limpid Ontario, canaling and impounding it will expose it to the aquatic growths and contaminations that beset all water so handled, and that when its long journey is finished the consumer will haye tp burn a rag when he turns it on. For these reasons a counter proposition is made that has not only decided merit for that locality but is suggestive to all seaboard cities. The plan is to reserve the Croton supply for po- table purposes only, for which it will suffice for a cen- tury to come. It is to be rendered sanitary and pure by filtering, and is not to be used for bathing or flush- ing purposes at all, except as an auxiliary to the former. 5 For those purposes it is proposed to erect stand pipes at suitable places and pump them full of clean salt waer from the sea, to be piped by a separate sys- tem into every house. This looks feasible and would bring the desirable and much sought sea bath into every house. For the after shower the use of the filtered Croton would be permitted. $ The immense discharge of salt water from bath- fubs and closets ‘would have an excellent anti- | ceptic effect on the sewers, and Gotham would be | made healthier and happier by the change. Now why not, in cities like San Francisco and Oakland, try | the "prentice hand of municipal ownership on such a | salt water plant? It could be used also for street sprinkling. We have salt water of the best quality going to waste all around wus, or at best used merely jor navigation. Our sewers need it, and as a bathing fivid it has no superior. Why not try it? e e e It is stated that th? Southern States which since the war have been importing from the West nearly all their corn and hog supplies are now raising nearly as large 2 quantity of those articles as the home mar- ket demands and will soon be competitors for the for- e1gn market. Thus does the rush toward overproduc- tion operate among farmers as well as among manu- | fucturers and in the end civilized man may have 0 centent himself with working only five or six hours a | Cay for the simple reason that he can make no use nor | »d a market for the surplus he might produce by 1 working longer. While we have been talking about so amending | cur corporation laws as to prevent some at least of , the evils that a=e now practiced under them the Brit- ish have gone ahead and amended their laws without waking half the discussion we have had. Salisbury sy be slow in diplomacy and war, but when it | comes to dealing with domestic policies the old man las an Tl gpit on him every time, l A POLITICAL CANAL. HE isthmian canal will be pleaded in the politics T of the year, and if Senator Morgan and his fol- lowers can have their way any conclusion will be prevented in order to use the waterway in the Con- gressional campaign of 1902. The bill heretofore before Congress to provide the construction of the canal requires a discrimination in tolls between foreign and American ships. That is re- garded as a particularly smart provision, an evidence af American enterprise and greatness. But thiose who think so forget that we must enter the territory of two independeflt sovereignties to con- struct a canal within their jurisdiction, and over which we can exercise no political control. Nicarggua and Costa Rica are small and weak and may consent to anything. But what would we say if another country wanted to construct a canal from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River, within our jurisdiction, and de- manded also the right to discriminate in tolls in favor cf its own ships? in the Clayton-Bulwer treaty we agked Great Britain to recognize the canal as a trust held for the equal ben- efit of all the commercial nations. We asked that this principle be recognized, remember, and Great Britain by our request and not for any individual interest of her own admitted it. Now, those who are either the fool friends or the secret and sinister enemies of the canal dre demanding that we not only fortify and gar- rison the canal, but that we put higher tolls upon fureign ships than upon our own! They go farther than this. Supporting Morgan in his ~dvocacy of breach of faith, they are now de- manding that we order the evacuation of British Hon- Guras! One may well despair of ever seeing an isthmian canal if these marplots are to further influence public cpinion by a mixture of lying and jingoism. A canal built in their way would be an element of weakness rather than strength. - We would have to make it a citadel, an unreducible fortification, for it would be our weakest point, our vitals, at which an enemy would strike first, and to build it in the way and for the purpose proposed would raise up plenty of ene- mies, In the light of settled public and international law such a canal becomes a part of the Atlantic and Pa- cific 8ceans, and no one nation has any right to dis- criminate in its use in war or peace. General Cass was something of a Statesman in his day and something of a Democrat. He ran for Presi- dent and was Secretary of State. In a communication to Lord Napier in 1857 he said: “The United States, as I have before had occasion to assure your Lordship, demand no exclusive privileges in these inter- cceanic passages, but will always exert their influence to secure their free and unrest-icted benefits, both in peace and war, to the conimerce of the world.” That was the doctrine of Marcy, Seward, Fish and Olney, and Mr. Hay stands in line with them. It was the doctrine of John M. Clayton, who in 1835 began agitation for an isthmian canal and made the Bulwer treaty in line with the statesmen who succeeded him. To get a right understanding of it, suppose nature had connected the two oceans by a navigable strait along the line of the proposed canal, would the United States or any other power have presumed to dis- criminate in favor of its own ships in the use of that natural waterway? We hope that the people who want the canal will see plainly that their hope is deferred by a combina- | tion between its enemies and the oxidized dema- gegues of the Morgan stripe. If we are ever to see a canal the public opinion of the country must cease | subjection to such fantastic claims as are made under | pretense that they are necessary to protect American commerce. It is-becoming the odium of our politics that no great work useful to the world and symboliz- | ing our glory can be proposed without bringing to the | front a spirit!of reprehensible and' unpatriotic parti- | } sanship. President McKinley has so arranged his tour that | he will visit the Buffalo exposition before he returns to the capital, consequently it may be said he is | going to make San Francisco a way station between ‘Washington and Buffalo; and it would not be a bad idea for a great many other people in the East to follow the example. EDWARD @ND THE QUAKERS. | HEN the differ®t religious bodies of Englani | W presented addresses to Edward VII he took occasion to assure them of religious toleration znd his support of freedom of worship. In the Eng- jand of to-day there is not much need of such as- surance from the head of the established church. Time was that it would have been an act of grace and an expression of purpose to be hailed with great joy by all nonconformists. But that time has gone by. Martyrs are no ionger hauled on hurdles to be burned at Smithfield. John Bunyan would not languish in Bedford jail in these days, and Quakers are not whipped every Friday at the cart’s tail. Puri- tans would not be made to swelter in the pillory if they still prayed and ranted by the roddside. The spirit of persecution has passed away. But it has its survival in the use of the term “toleration.” To tole- rate a thing implies the right to prohibit it. It im- plies, further, that the thing itself is evil, since it is | an anomaly to tolerate that which is good. THe King no doubt means that he will defend the right to re- ligious freedom, which is really the sense in which we make modern use cf the term toleration. As the King’s assurance of protection to religious liberty was not necessary, the audience given to the many representatives of the sectaries of his kingdom | wéuld have been without significance had he not specifically addressed the spolgesman for one sect; and that the least in numbers in his realm. Turning to the Quaker he said he hoped that his reign would wit- ness the general acceptance and application of the principles represented by that gentleman, and that the spirjt of peace and mutual helpfulness would become universal. We can imagine that the auditors standing for the numerous and zmbitious nonconformist bodies ‘were astonished by this royal indorsement of the sunple tenets of the weakest of them all. Yet the world would get an immediate example to follow | toward better conditions if the King’s wish were at unce accomplished. The Quakers were the pioneers against war; ' they stood for nonresistance, believing that evil cannot be cvercome by evil, but only by good. In other words, they literally accepted the sayings of the founder of | Christianity, and regarded that system as a life to be, lived and not a dogma to be contended over. This is the first indorsement given to their view by any ruler of a great nation. The heads of states who are also the heads of churches have made perfunctory professions of Christianity while doing everything that is unchristian. The King seemed to have a thought of rising eco- nomic conditions in his dominions when he referred to the other point in Quaker doctrine and practice, "churia; which is founded in the scriptural injunction, Bear ye the burdens of one another. : .\I_n this practical working that doctrine keeps pov- erty away from every Quaker door. As poverty has its rise mostly in the common and unavoidable accidents and incidents of mortality, their consequences falling upon one were immediately dis- tributed to every one in the meeting and crushed no- ‘body. 'In that form of religious democracy the ra- cipient of the benefit lost no caste, for under his mu- tual obligation he stood ready to do for another his share of that which all did for him. It is a good sign when two such plain and whole- some principles are brought to the attention of man- kind by a King, whose whisper is heard farther than tiie loud ery of a private man. At a recent meeting of wine men in London the story came out that the amount of wine contracted forthe Duke of Cornwall's tour around the world and through the British empire is so large that the ship could not carry it, and consequently the con- tractors have had to arrange for delivering a new supply at various ports. Evidently the Duke is not going to have a dry time even if he should strike a dry town, /\/\ that come to us among the reports from the Philippines, but not one among them has told of a braver deed than that of Lieutenant Commander Jesse M. Roper, who when his gunboat, the Petrel, was on fire went down into the suffocating smoke to rescue the seamen below. He met his death in the effort, and the War Department in announcing the rews has well laid aside official formality and cold- ress to add, “It was a hero’s death.” . Such deeds are not rare in the world. Wherever danger makes a demand upon humanity there is nearly always some brave soul to respond by an act of self- sacrifice worthy of the highest honor. Again and again the press has occasion to record such deeds. They are performed not by soldiers or by sailors cnly. The annals of the Fire and the Police depart- ments of our cities are full of instances of courage equal to any ever shown upon the battle field, and not infrequently men upon whom no official duty rests, anc who are bound by no professional service to con- front danger, show themselves ready to risk life and to give it, if need be, for the purpose of saving an- other. Common as suth deeds are, they should never pass unnoted by the public. There is so much of pettiness and meanness in life that we can well afford to give sonie time to the consideration of acts which attest the essential nobleness of humanity. Lieutenant Com- mander Roper went to his death under circumstances that show his courage and his high conception of duty as conspicuously as if he had died at the head of a forlorn hope storming the fortress of an enemy. He merits, therefore, as much of honor as has been given to any of the popular heroes of war. He attests once more the sterling manhood of the American officer, and his deed can be read with gratified pride as well as with sorrow by every loyal citizen. It was a hero’s death. With that praise from the War Department the relatives and friends of the brave man may take such consolation in their sorrow as can come to them from the fact that they have not only the sympathy of their fellow citizens, but that the memory of their dead will be cherished among the heroes of the navy of their country. THE DEATH OF A HERO. ANY are the stories of heroism and of daring Carnegie up to this time has not given any notable amount of money to the British since he arrived in their country,” but he has given them advice to the effect that they should put a heavy export duty on coal so as to prevent the waste of their fuel supply, and perhaps the advice is more valuable than any amount of money he could have given them. d THE WAY OF THE CONQUEROR. EADERS who have given even the most casual R attention to the situation in Manchuria have noted the conflict between the stories of Rus- sian aggression told by newspaper correspondents in that part of the world and the official statements of the Russian Government. According to the cor- respondents, American, British and German, the Rus- sian armies have actually taken possession of Man- while according to the diplomats there has been no aggression of any kind, nor has the Russian Gevernment even made a demand upon China for a concession of sovereignty in the province. In passing judgment upon these conflicting reports and statements some persons have doubtless decided that the correspondents had exaggerated affairs, while cthers have been of the opinion that the Russian Government has been practicing diplomacy in accord with Talleyrand’s rule that words were given to man t> enable him to conceal his thoughts. It may be that justification exists for vach of those views, but another explanation has now been given which impugns the veracity of neither tht correspondents nor of the dip- lomats. It amounts to a statement that the Russian Government, as a maiter of fact, has never been ag- gressive in Manchuria, while at the same time it con- firms the reports that Russian troops have completely duminated the province. Accordirig to the new explanation, which is furnished tc the Pall Mall Gazette by a traveler in Manchuria, the Russian general in that province is acting without orders. From a summary that comes to us of his statement it appears the commander of the Russian ferces is proceeding on the principle that “a con- queror can never be punished,” and, unless checked by force, will take possession of North China as weli as of Manchuria. He is said recently to have summed up the situation as follows: “France is our bank, America is governed by women, Germany is too slow, and England is finished; therefore Asia will fall into our hands.” % If that statement be true the Russian Government is playing a policy that has been practiced since ever ag- gressive empires began in the world. It has not been an uncommon thing for conquerors to permit a commander to go ahead, while reserving the privilege of disclaiming his actions if events should mzke it necessary, but at the same time being always ready to profit by them if occasion serve. The Rus- sian general has plenty of historic precedent to justify his assertion that conquerors are never punished. He is playing for big stakes, and if fortune be with him we may be sure that however emphatically the diplo- mats of Russia may deny having given him authority to act, his Government will not remove him from gommand unless, indeed, it be thought advisable to give him a higher one. The students of Chicago University are said to he organizing a comic opera troupe, and if so we shall doubtless have a stage representation of the statement of the Chicago professor that Rockefeller is greater than Shakespeare. PAPERS ON CURRENT TOPICS. PREPARED BY EXPERTS AND SPECIALISTS FOR The military expenditures of France for 1901 on account of her colonies, including those of Algeria, Tunis and the expedition to China, will amount to about $38,000,000. The outlay for civil expenses in the colo- nies above the local receipts will be'about $8,000,000 additional. The deficit in Algeria is $3,000,000 out of a total expenditure there of $14,000,000, much of which is for pay- ment of intergst guaranteed to the com- pany which b#ilt 2000 miles of Algerian railways. Tunis, which has an autono- mous budget, clears its own civil ex- penses. France, therefore, pays about $46,000,000 this year for her empire beyond the seas. The tendencgnow is toward simplifying the colonial gd¥ernments. The creation of a colonial army has centralized all mili- | onies are to have autonomous civil bud- | gets, this reform to apply to Algeria in 1902. It is expected that henceforth the colonies will bear all their own civil ex- penses, except for certain subsidies in process of payment, such as the interest on the Algerian railway debt. France to Pay Military France, however, is still to bear the mil- itary cost of the colonles for a time. As soon as the colonial receipts cover the civil expenses the colonies will have to contribute to the military and naval ex- penses—in a word, to the burdens of sov- ereignty. The law which confers financial 4 tary affairs in the War Ministry. The col-’ - THE SaN FraNcisCo CALL How France Protects the Trade and Govern- ment of Her Colonies Until Autonomy Is Deserved and Granted. Robert de Caix. FOREIGN EDITOR OF THE JOURNAL DES DEBATS. (COPYRIGHT, 1%01.) VIL—THE COLONIES OF FRANCE—THEIR TRADE AND GOVERN- MENT. nority of the population of the country. Over against the active and flourishing %oup of 700,000 Europeans there are 6,00, natives 'in these dependencies, 'and thelr number is increasing. Certainly the Euro) have taken a part of their land from them, yet in return have taught them how to cultivate the rest better. Tho ropeans also employ these natives and pay them well. Consequently the famines that used to mow down periodically the natural growth of the mans Lave disappeared, as nave also the wars of the tribes, which helped in the work of lowering the population. In New Caledonia, where the free Euro- peans number 10,000, and there are 8000 convicts sentenced to_ deportation from France, there are but 31,000 natives, and those are dying out. In Madagascar, how- ever, there are not more than 15,000 Euro- ans, nearly 12,00 of whom are soldiers. n_thousand civilian Frenchmen are lost in the Asiatic masses of Indo-China: in the fmmense spaces of French West Af- rica only about 4000 Buropeans are to be found, at least half of whom are military men. The white groups are, therefore, like drops in these black or yellow oceans. Even if the Europeans increase a little, this disproportion will not grow less, will rather become more and more crushing. The imoroved conditions of the food sup- ply under French administration and ths restoration of peace in the war-cursed re- glons remove two limiiations which have acted to keep down the rapid increase of native races. With ro more famine and no more tribal wars or slave raids the population will gain rapidly. e of France haye learned that the granting of citizenshio to all our subject - Mosque on the Banks of the Niger. o autonomy upon the colonies says in effect that taxes may be imposed upon the colo- nies to the 2xtent of the military ex- | penses incurred there. . The budget of a majority of the colo- nies does not yet allow the charging of such expenses upon them. So far such payments are required from only four colonies—Indo-China, an exceptionally rich country, which is to contribute $2,160,- 000 to the home government's war chest, instead of continuing to contribute direct- ly a similar sum to the maintenance of the corps of occupation; French Guinea, the ivory coast and Dahomey. The Gov- ernment asks but $2000 from each of these possessions, as a matter of principle. |~ The Government subsidizes not only col- onies, but also colonial entergrlses, such as rallroads, for example, in Senegal and Reunion. The state, moreover, guaran- tees the greater part of the colonial loans, amounting at present to $82,400,000. Only the Indo-China loan of $40,000,000 was raised without a guarantee from the Gov- ernment of France. These sums, almost all of which were loaned within the last two years, do not seem to exceed the fu- ture capacities of the colonies which bor- rowed them, especfally when the railroads and other public works, for the comple- tion of which they are utilized, shall be finished. Commerce of the Colenies. In 1898 the commerce of Algiers amount- | ed to $111,000,600, of which $50,000,000 was | carried on with France. To this we must add $21,000,000 for- Tunis (in 1899), her com- merce with France amounting to $13,400,- 000. The conditions of the more distant colo- nies are less bright, though their commer- | clal activity is increasing. Their total commerce has risen from $93,000,000 in 1892 to $116,400000 in 1898. This is not a very rapid pregress, especially for new coun- tries; but this very newness explains for the most part the slowness. We have just seen that the French colonies only very recently borrowed the necessary sums for the building of railroads, which they al- most entirely lack. Outside of Algeria, and, except for the lines from Dakar to St. Louls and from Senegal to the Niger— still incomplete—and a few very short roads in Cochin-China and Torquin, the French colonies have no railroads. Only the neighboring parts-of the coast thus far have entered upon the universal com- mercial activity. But a more artificlal cause delays the economic development of our possessions— namely, the protective tariffs applied to the majority of them. The experience ained by France in this resfiec'. should faterest the United States. These tariffs inclose virtually the whole of the French empire. The protectionists in power es- teem the possessions beyond the seas mainly as a market for ce. e na- tives are impoverished by the necessity of obtairing their supplies from a market not naturally adapted to certain of their needs. They become less able to pay taxes at the very moment when the Governors are most inclined to tax them, because the revenues accruing from the duties are diminishing. By dint of being protective the tariff ceases to be fiscal. In order to restore the equilibrium of the _colonial budget there is no alternative left to the Governors but to tax the poor natives or to ask subsideies from home. They gen- erally decide upon the latter proceeding. Protective Tariffs a Handicap. The high protective tariffs of the colo- nies have rather fallen into disfavor in France of late. As a result of treaties they have not been enforced in the last annexed territories, and these territories are doing so well under this liberal re- ime that France probably will not intro- §uce ita customs Into any new acquisi- tions it may make in the future. A new conception is dawning, one that does not look at the colonies as a market for the republic’s products, but rather as a field for the capital and energy flowing from the republic. Most of the French colonies are tropi- cal lands, where the white man is the overseer of native labor, and not a true settler. It requires but a very limited European list to prove such colonies val- uable. Fritish India, where the number .of English is not much more than 100,000, against 290,000,000 natives, demonstrates convineingly the possibilfties for what one might_call the imperial race to govern and administer in very small numbers im- mense masses 6f Asiatics and Africans. In the whole colonial empire of France there are only Algeria and Tunis, New Caledonia—a,relatively small island_ard haps part of tlLs high tablelands of adagascar fit for European settlement. ‘White People in the Colonizs. uestion of pecpling the colonies is ngfqulved i Kigeria: and nis. as these two countries together contain more than 700, European colonists, a little ‘more than half of whom are French. There is a Eurcpean race growing up there that stands in about the same relation to the ¥rench race as do the inhabitants of the United States to_their old Angl Xon mother country. However, the neo-French people working out their destiny in Al- geria will never form more than the mi- 3 1 + pe(r)Ples would mean submersion. The ex- perience gained in the small laboratories of the West Indies has not inspired the French—save a few doctrinaires, incapa- ble of learning and iorgetting—with the gce:{:e of applying the policy on a larger The result is, therefore, that the French colonial empire incloses an immense num- ber of negroes whose social status is only touched upon with the greatest precati- tion. In the African territories the colon- ial administration of the natives is still rudimental. In the fetichistic countries of the Congo the black villages keep their chiefs, whose excesses are repressed by the French administrator if they go be- yond all measure, unless the tribes be too far away from control. In the Sudan, on Mussulman ground, we have begun by 2 work of substitution. The great Moham- medan conquerors and slave-hunters had destroyed the local groupings; we have re- made them es well as possible, aided by the natural tendency of the Sudanese pop- ulations toward municipal combination. In Madagascar the village represents the native unit, though there is alreaay 4 slightly more developed organization to be fcund there. In dhort, it might be said that at the present time the French pos- sessions of Africa are divided into an im- mense number of small protectorates, governing themselves under a somewhat scattered supervision, as are, moreover, the different French posts. French Have Brought Peace. This does not mean that the French ad- ministration lacks interest in the progress of the native population. By a continual pressure it tries to abolish barbarous cus- toms. It represses as much as possible the remnants of cannibalism. It has suppressed the slave trade, and if it toler- ates domestic slavery, which is a form of the family life in the societies of West- ern Africa, it watches lest it become bar- barcus. It prevents as much as it can the ?ursult of fugitive slaves by their mas. ers. For the sake of justice we must admit that the French have introduced an un- known evil into their African domains, a hundred times smaller, indeed, than the barbarian tyrants whom they overthrew, yet still very injurious—it is the forced labor system. In the countries where the Eurcpcan administration was active and exacting—in Madagasear, for instance—it became odlous to the natives. In Congo it caused small revolutions. But forced labor has just been suppressed in Mada- gascar and elsewhere, and it is being re- placed more and more by paid labor. In Indo-China the nch _encountered an advanced society with graded office holders, and they naturally wished to govern through the medium of this hier- archy. ‘In Tonquin, Annam and Cambodia the French provincial President controls, theoretically, only the administrative and legal acts of the native prefects, who are high mandarins, drawn as in China from the class of the literati recruited by ex- aminations. But though the Annamites, like all the extreme Orientals, have beau- tiful family virtues, they lack administra- tive gifts. They yleld regularly to extor- tion, and their justice is mercenary, so much so that in spite of all theories, from the simple controllers they were to be the French functionaries became direct ad- ministrators, as in the oldest colony of Cochin-China. Natives Not to Be Assimilated. Our observations show that the French have renounced the hope of assimilating the natives, even in colonies where a large European element should influence their ideas and customs strongly by put- ting them under an assimilating admin- istration. We see that the present ten- dency is not toward the humanitarian openness of heart of fifty years ago, and that there is little probability that the French republic will make citizens of her 'many-colored subjects, at least not in a future the present generation will live to see 1t has been demonstrated by experle that it is very imprudent to nltemp:lc: hasty evolution of subjected races: that they are conly completely disorganized thereby and reduced to ungovernable hu. man dust. It pays bétter to develop the in them than to force foreign elements upon them. A CHANCE TO SMILE. “Women and cats,” it boarder, ware aliker 0 the youthful ‘“Wrong, young man,” said the Cheer- ful Idiot. ' “A woman can’t 2 egraph pole, and a cat can‘t run ub & ol linery bill.”—Indianapolis Press, “When you does som » said Bncld Eben. Haeir grotiiade dore much foh de "mejit benefit as it is foh giv- en’ 'em a staht an’ lettin’ "em know whah to come nex’ time." ashington Star. The nurse excitedly and joyously an- nounces an interesting family event that the absent-minded professor has forgot- ten all about. ‘“Professor, a little boy!” “Well, ask him what he wants."—Phila~ delphia Press. gerian Mussul- | SAN FRANCISCO SHOULD HAVE " AN AQUARIUM —_— The Cail does mot hold itself responsible for the opinions publishec in this columa, but presents them for wkatever value they m: have as communications of general inte Editor Call—Your editorial upon above subject in the issue of Saturd last was both’ interesting and opportunc. The propesition to have an aquarium !s one which commends itself for many rea- sons, as you very clearly show. Few, il any, cities afford such easy facilities and suck natural resources to establish aa aquarifum as San Francisco. The proximity of pure sea water, tho extensive trade with tropical coasts and islands and the great southern and equa- torial ocegn regions within easy sail of this city, present possibilities of mainte- nance and of supply “or such an aquarium that the conclusion you arrive at—that there not being one in this city Is “a notable omission”—is most fully justified. There is still associated in the minds of many a sort of weird, mysterious uncan- niness about the “creatures that move in tne waters.” This sentiment, among oth- ers, ever causes an aquarium to be a popular place of resort, and more espe- clally so if the collection con:aifs speci- mens of tropic and deep sea life, such as the climatic conditions of San Francisca would enable to be successfully maine tained in captivity. One could aimost be excused if he stood in open-mouthed won- der when he sees for the first time the unique and grotesque platax (seabats) swimming about, with their curious fins and ill-formed bodies, as if they had beea made “on contract’’ rather than a finished product of the Divine Creator; or per- chance, the still more “freak-like’” fucus seahorse, whose spines with their long filamentous apdpendl(e , give the body such a ragged appearance that It can be scarcely distinguished from the sea- weed, among which this odd creature lives and exists. As a cause for surprise what can be said for the paradise fish or tha parrot-wrasse, the brilliant coloring of which outshines the most gorgeousiv: plumaged bird, and so with many mord curious types. Even hundreds of stad New Yorkers will parade around the taak in the New York Aquarfum in which the great_sea‘turtle paddles to and fro his huge body, and when one day “Big Ben,’ as he is named, unfortunately got one of’ his flippers jammed in the outflow pipa of his tank, completely shutting off the water, it was deemed sufficiently Interest— ing to be made public by a two-inch arti~ cle in the Sun.” As to the popularity there would be no doubt. But aj from its popularity the aquarium be made distinctly valuable as an adjunct to the Board of Trade, where mng.of the prob'z lems connected with the “fish ind could be commercially and scientifically investigated. The conservation of the fish products of the Pacific Coast is one of deep concern and demands 19 worthy of as intelligent treatment as ths outputs of the.placer mine or oil fleld. To the trade fisherman, as well as the -porflnz angler, the subject of an aquarium shoul especially appcal; could they not stimu- late pubflc interest in the matter by ar- ranging, say in the fall of this year or other seasonable period, a fishery exhibit, including in that specimens of marine, lake and river life in all attairable forms; preserved specimens scientific and com- mercial, and also exhibit methods of fish- ing, boats, tackle, apparatus, in short all that tends to attract to, to instruct in or to develop the great fleld, of which such aquarium as you propose would be the best exponent. The subject, in consideration of its importance and In view of the great future of San Franeisco, is one which—let us hope—will be deemed worthy of the indorsement you so fitly it SUEES*FREDERICK W. D'EVELYN, President Geographical Society of Call- fornia. PERSONAEL MENTION. E. H. Vance of Eureka Is at the Grand. C. Roy, an ofl man of Bakersfield, is at the Lick. E. L. Webber, an attorney of Napa, is at the Grand. E. R. Reed, an ofl man of Bakersfield, Is at the Grand. J. G. Scott, an ofl man residing at Ag- news, is at the California. E. 8. Scott, a banker of Pacific Grove, is registered at the Grand. Lady Van Horne and Miss Van Horne of Montreal are at the Occidental. A. P. Walleck, a railroad man of St Paul, Minn., is a guest at the Lick. T. A. Work, an extensive-land-owner of Pacific Grove, Is a gnest at the Grand. B.¢L. Smith of Eu eka, Nev., accompa- nied by his wife, is a guest at the Occi« dental. H. J. Seymour, a Southern Pacific Rail- road official at Sacramento, is at the Grand. General W. Forsyth, an extensive fruit raiser of Fresno, is registered at the Oc- cidental. F. A. Falkenberg, a prominent officer of the Woodmen of the World, accompanied by his wife, is at the California. J. T. Nott, manager of the Colorado Midland Railway eating-houses and man- ager of the Cripple Creek Hotel, is spend- ing a few days in the city. T. H. Whitehead, manager of the Chars tered Bank of India, Australia and China, with headquarters in Hongkong, arrived here yesterday and is a guest at the Oce cidental. Ll S S e ‘ CALIFORNIANS IN NEW YORK. NEW YORK, April 1.—Theé following Californians are in New York: From Sanm Francisco—C. C.' Platte, at the Navarre; F. V. Bell, at the Herald Square; J. Dure ney and L. F. Gelssler, at the Imperialg T. G. Hart, at the Bartholdi; M. A. Hirschman, at the Hoffman: P. W. R. King, at the Holland; I. Webster, at the Navarre; N. Rise, at the Albert. From Los Angeles—C. D. Cheeseman, at the Murray Hill: G. W. King, at Park ave nue; F. W. Larkin and wife and E. D, Marble, at the St. Denis; A. Pearson and wife, at the St. Cloud; R. H. Smith, at the Astor. —_—— CALIFORNIANS IN WASHIN GTON WASHINGTON, April 1.—The following Californians are in Washington: At the Raleigh—C. Kittredge of San Francisco; Shoreham—Edmund Baker of San Fran- cisco and F. A. Brush and wife of Santa Rosa; Arlington—Stephen L. Harris and Mrs. Edwin Harris of San Fraaeisco; Metropolitan—Mrs. H. M. Welen of San Francisco. ————— Choice candies, Townsend's, Palace Hotel * e g Cal glace fruit 50c per Ib at Townsend's.* —_——— A nice present for Easter—Townsend's California glace fruits. in splendid Stehed boxes, S0c Tb. 635 Palade Hotel o e e Easter chocolate cream and faney eol- ored cream ezgs. baskets of eggs, ete. Townsend's, 89 Palzce Hotel. - Special information supplied dally to business houses and public men oy Press Clipping Burcau ;‘A.uen'xy 510 Mcn Komery st. Teiephone in 1042. - Percy—Now, if I speak to your fathep and he gives his consent, then the next question is, how are we going to live? Edith—Don't worry, Percy. If you live through that -Interview you cam lve through anything.—Judge. ———— A Book on San Franeciseo. The Santa Fe has just issued a beautirul booklet descristive of San Francisco and viein. fty, lavishly {llustratal with artistic half-toney and a number of up-to-date maps. Copies may be had by sending 40 cents in stamps to the Genoral Agent, Santa Fe, at #41 Market st., San Francisco. D — e Dr. Sanford’s Liver Invigorator, Best Liver Medicine, VegetableCure for Liver Illa, Bilicusness, Indigestton. Const:pation, Matasia s ———— Nervous exhaustion and debility are the effects of a trying summer. Dr. Siegert's Angostura Bitters feed the nerve gpils and restore vitality.