The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, April 22, 1901, Page 4

APRIL 22, 1901 PROBLEMS OF TAXATION. MONG the many conferences that are to be held ...APRIL 22, 1901 MONDAY... in connection with the Buffalo exposition, ( \ hardly any promises to result in more direct JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Proprietor. ) W. 8. LEAKE, Manager. ..Telephone Press 204 S. F. Address All Communicatit IAKAGER‘S.OFEICE PUBLICATION OFFICE...Market and Third, Telephone Press 201. EDITORIAL ROOMS. .Slf to 221 Stevemson St. 4 Telephone Press 202. Déliverea by Carriers, 15 Cents Per Weelk: Single Coples, 5 Cents. Terms by Mail, Including Postage: MATLY CALL (including Sunday), one year. $6.00 DAILY CALL (including Sunday), 6 months. 3.00 DAILY CALL (including Sunday), 3 months, l.?fi DAILY CALL—By Single Month. 16: WEEKLY CALL, One Year. All postmasters are authorized to receive subscriptions. Sample coples will be forwarded when requested. Meil subscribers in ordering change of address should be particular to give both NEW AND OLD ADDRESS in order | to imsure a prompt and correct compliance with tieir request. OAKLAND OFFICE ...1118 Broadway €. GEORGE KROGNESS. Mazager Foreign Advertising, Marquette Building, Chicags. Long Distance Telephone “Central 2619.") NEW YORK REPRESENTATIVE: CARLTON...... -.....Herald Square C. C YORK REPRESENTATIVE: .30 Tribune Building NEW STEPHEN B. SMITH. NEW YORK NEWS STAND! Waldorf-Astoria Hotel; A. Brentano, 31 Unfon Square: Murray Hill Hotel. N CHICAGO NEWS STANDS: Sherman House; P. O. News Co.; Great Northern{iiotel: . House: Auditorium Hotel AMUSEMENTS. corner Mason and Eddy streets—Specialties. » and Theater—Vaudeville —Vaudeville. tan Temple—Lectures Monday, April 22 aftermoon § ng Tanforan Park—Races. AUCTION SALES. John Elder & Co.—Monday, April 22, at 2:30 o'clock, B ods and Gents' Furnishings, at 17221 Market street. Dry 10 S]IBSCRIBERS LEAYING TOWN FOR THE SUMMER. Call subscribers contemplating a change o residesce during the summer months can have their paper forwarded by mail to their new sddresses by notifying The Call Business Office. This paper will also be on sale at all summer reworts and is represented by a local agent in all towns on the coast. THE BOOM IN WALL STREET. S far as figures go last week was almost'a record / \ breaker in trade. Certainly an enormous amount of money changed hands in busines The clearings of the country showed the remarkable increase of 7616 per zent over last year, the gain at New York being 1008 per cent, at Boston 73.4 per | cont and at Pittsburg 56.3 per cent. Every important ciiy in the country showed a gain. All this is brilliant, and to the general observer in- | dicates intense activity in business throughout the United States. But to shrewd and posted financier, who keeps close to hs center of affairs and knows what is going on, the glittering figures wear another aspect. It is this: The major part of this great gain in the bank clearings and apparent volume of trade is confined to the thres cities mentioned above. In other words the great steel and railroad trusts are causing most of the commotion, chiefly in Wall street. The gain in business as represented by the clearings, is speculative rather than real, on paper rather than | consumptive. New Yoik and Boston are the cities where the coin is kept 2nd where all the big schemes-| and Pittsburg is the city where the steel are financed, k To. be still more explicit, the immense W are. steel corporation, lately formed with a capitalization { of over $1,000,000,000, and which is the biggest thing in its line that the world has even seen, has started into motion gigantic wheels which are now revolving - an enormous area and making everything around them dizzy. If the steei corporation ‘were eliminated the commercial proposition it would be sesn t while the country is prosperous, with its treasury full of gold and a good condition of trade everywhere, it is not really making the gain in general trade repre- sented by that 76.6 per cent for the country and that 100.8 per cent at New York. - As for Wall street, it was a wild place last Friday. previous stock market records were broken, and the recorded sales amounted to over 2,220,000 shares, 1o say nothing of the cther thousands of shares sold cn the outside. Enormcus holdings changed hands in single blocks, and if there were any bears in Wall street they were in their holes or covering at rising prices. The old heads in Wall street are wondering when all this going to stop, and how. For that matter, they have been wondering for a year or more. Mos: of them expected that it would come to an end long from before this, but there seems to be as much steam as | / ever. As hinted above, general trade does not exhibit any particular steam. Cold, snowy and rainy weather has interfered with the distributive trade in the West and Noithwest, and checked a good deal of cotton planting in the South, as shown by the cancellation of large orders for fertilizers used in the cotton fields. The Georgia mills are funning‘full time, but many other mills have made material reductions. Wool con- tinues dull, but the feeling is steady. facturers are not doing much, but the small ones are buying moderately. The shipments of boots and shoes from Eastern points are steadily falling off, though they are still zhead of those a year ago. Hides zre reported firmer at Chicago, but leather is weaker and boots are lower. Provisions have not been as firm, though hogs are still scarce. Against these rather unfavorable signs, however, we have increased raiiroad earnings, showing a large movement in gen- e1z] merchandise, a large distribution of spring and summer goods, easy collections and an enormous amount of gold in the national treasury. As for crop conditions, they are 1emiarkably favorable. But the iron and steel trade continues to lead everything else in sight. Immense quantities are wanted for bridges, buildings and farming implements, and plans are be- ing drawn for new mills of enormous capacity. This is the commercial situation throughout the countfy at large. In our local market there is noth- ing new to report, conditions remaining about as ti=v have been given for several months. Our local crop prospects are satisfactory, and while the country over the other side of the Rockies contintes to flourish we are all right. ery afternoon and The large manu- | benefit to the nation than that which has been calied to take into consideraticr: the various taxation prob- lems of the time in this country. The problems have been felt through the defects of the present systems of taxation in every State in the Union, and in many of them serious efforts have been made to devise reme- dies and| to provide for a more just and economical way of collecting from taxpayers the revenues re- quired for governmental purposes. . | The circular announcing the calling of the confer- ence and its purposes says: ‘“For many decades the States have been building up independent systems of taxation, without reference to each other, until we have. a state of affairs bordering on where each State is practically fighting nearly every other State. Some property is taxed three or four times, while cther property is not taxed at ail.- Corporate activity has largely changed the char- ‘Iac!cr of individual investments. Industry has over- | stepped the boundaries cf any one State, and commer- | cizl intérests are no longer confined to mere local | limits. This. conference will ‘be the first attempt in | this country to work ont some uniform principles.” | The statement that the conference “will be the first attempt in this country to work out some uniform prin- | ciples” must have been intended to mean the first | attempt to bring about & uniform system of taxation | among the various States, for there have been many | efforts to find uniform principles of taxation generaily. At the present time the Industrial Commission is en- | gaged in that very worls, and has recently made public | a report upon the general property tax and the taxa- | tion of corporations in several of the most important | States of the Union extending from Massachusetts o | Texas. From a summary of the report sent out from Wash- | ington it appears that in no State whose system of axation has been reviewed is the general property tax satisfactory. The report says: “It is clear that { under this system there are numerous forms of weaith that do not and cannot be made to bear a just-share | of the public burdens, and which in a large part evade or escape taxation, and some forms which when reached at all under the prevailing general property | tax are not equally and uniformly but unjustly and | disproportionately taxed as compared with other | preperty. - The inevitable result is that real estate and some forms of personalty are unduly burdened with | taxation.” 1t is, of course, not ta be expected that the Buffalo conference .will itself solve any of the problems in- volved in our confused systems of State taxation. It | may,- however, have the effect of bringing about the ppointment of semething in the nature of an inter- tate commission to deal*with the complexities of the ubject. Anabsolutely uniform system of taxation among all the States is not to be looked for nor is'it desirable, -but enough might be accomplished to put an end to the trick by which many corporations escape | taxation by ha‘\’i;1g their nominal headquarters in-one | State,-doing business in several others and shirking | taves in all. | now | chaos, S | | | The story that San Fiancisco has not enough hotel room to furnish lodging for a guest who comes late, is a good story in its wzy, but all the same no one need stay away from the city, on that account. When the crowds come here to greet the President San Francisco hospitality will find a means of providing them with all sorts of accommodations. { R trammels of historic accuracy, and consequently when an imaginative writer sits down to con- struct an historical .novel he feels at liberty to ‘deal with great personages as he chooses. He may group ART AND HISTORY. OMANCE has long since freed itself from the ments of his story, and, indeed, take almost. any other privilege he desires. That much is conceded; | but has a sculptor the same right as a romancer? Has | an artist who is engaged to design a public monu- ment a privilege to change the facts of history in or- | der to make a striking 'group of illustrious men? That is a question which is now agitating the East. | The discussion has arisen over one of the bronze tablets that adorns the pedestal of the recently un- | veiled monument to General Logan at Washington. | It appears that for the sake of surrounding Logan | with some of the most distinguished men of his time | the sculptor has represented him as taking the oath | of office as Senator standing amid a circle of famous | statesmen who were never gathered on any such ‘ OECZS)OH. 2 'The Chicago Inter Ocean presents the facts thus: | “This relief represents Vice President Arthur admin- | istering the oath to Senator Logan in the presence of Senators Conkling, Cullom, Evarts, Morton, Voor- ‘hees, Thurman and Miller of California. General Logan’s first term in the Senate began March 4, 1871, | and ended March 3, 1377. He entered upon his sec- ord term March 18, 1879, during the extra session. | Mr. Arthur first presided over the Senate at the extra | session beginning March 4, 1881, and never admin- | istered the oath to Seaator Logan. Senator Cullom idid not enter the Senate until December 4, 1883. | Senator Evarts was not.elected until 1835, Senator Morton died. November 1, 1877. He probably saw | Logan sworn in in 1871, but the oath was administered | by Vice President Colfax. Senator Miller was not them in whatever way best suits the dramatic require-" elected until January, 1881. Senators Conkling, Voor-. | hees and- Thurman were in the Senate when Logan | was sworn by Vice President Wheeler, but Thurman | appears not t6 have been present on that occasion. | Thus it appears that only so much of the scene as rep- resents Logan taking the oath, with Conkling and | Voorhees as witnesses, ‘has any historic truth.” It is asserted that the sculptor, Franklin Simmons, claims that he selectzd the:Senators to be placed. ifi | the group at the suggestion of Mrs. Logan. - That | excuse, however, even if it be valid, would not affect | the main question of the right of any one to violate listory in the construction of an historic monumenrt, nor has it counted for much with the supporters of either side of the confroversy. It is to be noted, therefore, merely as explanation: of the stulpto;"s motive, and not as a defense of the act itself. - | All classes of artists must have privileges, sculptors |as well as noveligts, but it would seem that in this case the privilege has been cirried too far. A distinction | should be made between art designed solely for ar- | tistic purposes and a work designed mainly for lis- | toric purposes. A public monument erected for the | chject of commemorating a great figure in the his- | tory of the country sherld be strictly true to history | or else frankly ideal and symbolical. There can be no | chjection to David's great picture of * Napoleon | crossing the Alps on a fiery warhorse, because every | one who sees the picture perceives at once the essen- tial idealism of the hero as there presented: but ; when called upon to paint the coronation of Napo- i arotnd his hero for the purpose of giving him a greater prestige the pazinter would have been con- The Logan monument was intended to be of his- teric as well as artistic value,!and consequently any | to be justified. No patticular harm has been done in this case, but it will be well to have it understood signers of public monuments hereafter. It would be a bad thing if after looking at a great work of art the nation the observer should have to go and search the files of newspapers to find out the facts of the . THE MARRIAGE CONTRACT. S OMETHING like a mania for legislation on the lators of the East during the past winter. The Call has repeatedly directed attention to various bills ancther, and it has now to refer to one ‘designed tc retard it a little; or at least to put an end to one oi ticed to the injury of the community at large. California has had niany notorious scandals and which contract marriages can be effected under the existing law. In New York, however, the situation lation being larger the number of evils resulting from lax marriage laws has Been -proportionally greater. has been followed by the appearance of woman claim- | ing to have been his wife by a contract antedating his | and estates wasted in prolonged lawsuits over such claims, and not infrequently innocent women have had to whom they were publicly wedded, and upon their children has been fixed the. taint of illegitimacy. So that families affected by them have sought to settle them out of court at almost any cost, and as a conse- ful source of blackmail. i For the purpose of putting an end to the frauds, and Legislature has adopted a law, to take effect January 1, which provides that nu common law marriage con- unless entered into through a written contract of mar- riage signed by both parties and at least two witnesses, residence of each- of the parties and witnesses, and the place and date of marriage. The contract must same manner as a conveyance of real estate, to enable it to be recorded, and within six months after its exe- town or city in which the marriage occurs. The new act changes what might be called a part “common law marriages” have been recognized in New York from time immemorial. It is said by its passed by the Legislature for many years, and is the outcome of a prolonged agitation. It appears to merit for property transmitte1 by inheritance, but also a protection for women, inasmuch as it is to their inter- certain and capable of proof. e e stated that since the closc of the war over 40,000 per- sons have emigrated from Spain or, the Canary Islands believe American interference has injured Cuba’s pros- pects to any great extent. IR THOMAS LIPTON’S yacht, Shamrock iI, challenger for the America’s cup, has been suc- that expect her to be a winner. The Countess of Dui- ferin has broken a bottle of wine over the prow and the workmen of the yard in which the yacht was buil¢ took a holiday. Everything tended to make the occa- expectations of victory. When Sir Thomas was asked whether, if beaten, he would try again, he replied: *I While everything is thus harmonious and.merry in the camp of the challengers, there is still going on have arisen. It is the now well-worn wrangle over the Guestion whether right of defending the cup is open New York Yacht Club. Thomas W. Lawson of Boston, in company with a yacht which all loyal New Englanders believe to be much better than anything the New Yorkers can con- yachts of the New York club, and hold that if success- ful, their boat shall have the privilege of defending has been disputed. The New York Yacht Club claims the exclusive right to defend the cup, and it appears It has been suggested that Lawson might arrange the contest amicably by placing his boat nominally to that suggestion he is reported to have recently replied: “In regard to the statements printed that fuge of allowing some one else, who had no owner- skip in my boat, to be proclaimed her owner for the there is any one connected with yachting so unmanly as-to think this possible. No one has ever suggested suggested to obtain a race I would, without regres, sink the Independence on her launching day.” given to the public of the negotiations. Technically ‘thc New York Yacht Club is right, but it is safe to upon a technicality. "It is desirable that the yacht race be carried out between the best boat in America and be confined to a single club, and in their efforts’to force a recognition -of their yacht the Bosten men | comprise a considerable and influential Articles That Have Owing to the energy and zeal with which the entire nation has devoted itself in re- cent years to-the acquisition of the purely material elements of Western civilization modern Japan has impressed the world rather by the increase of its-armaments and the extension of its trade than by its literature. Its surpriging material devel- opment, in fact, has obscured its growth in other directions. The leading Japanese ‘writers of to-day are almost unknown in Europe and America, yet these writers body and constitute a force that must| play a large part in determining Japan's destiny. In considering these writers the Occi- dental reader must bear in mind the pe- culiar conditions in which literature is pro- duced in Japan, the standing of the aver- age man of letters there and the taste of | the public to which he appeals. Take, as an example, the public of Osaka, a thriv- ing city of 800,000 inhabitants, which in some respects may be compared to _such an American city, say, as Chicago. There ! are more works of fiction sold in Osaka than of any other kind. It is estimated that the sale of novels is 3500 a month, but as this number does not include, the vol- umes supplied by the circulating libraries, which are said to lend five times that number of novels, it is safe to put the demand for fiction in Osaka roughly at 20,000 volurdes a month. This does not seem to-indicate a widespread taste for reading, but when we take into considera- tion the fact that the Japanese are more gregarious than Americans; that a dozen of them will sleep in the same room as } matter of course where Europeans would demand separate flgartment!, and that there is no such thing as privacy in Japan, it is safe to assume that one copy of a book—books, too, are generally kept cleaner in Japan than elsewhere—may"| pass through-the hands of a hundred read- ers. Judging by the vast number of sec- ond-hand book stores all over the country 1 should think, indeed, that single copies of books go through more hands in Japan than elsewhere and that the Japanese of the lower class are astonishingly vora- cious readers. Many_ of Fukuzana's works, published immediately after the Restoration, ran into half a millfon copies, while of the late Mr. Nakamura's transla- tion of Smiles’ “‘Self Help' at least 300,000 copies must have been sold. Penny Dreadfuls in Japan. Even the globe-trotter can see, however, without making any investigation what- ever that the people read much. School- boys are’ constantly found ~with paper- backed novels adorned on ‘the cover with a rude picture representing a Samurai cutting_someboc ; down; servant girls in the teahouses devour rather highly spiced “shotsetsu” In_their -scanty intervals of leisure. 1 earned the undying gratitude of one only yesterday by asking her to continue reading in my presence a love story which I noticed in her hanging sleeve while she was bringing up my tif- fin. Mecre remarkable still, that human horse, the jinrikisha-man, has no sooner set you down at your destination and coiled himself up between the shafts to awalt your return than he produces from under the cane-bottomed seat of his gro- tesque -vehicle a ponderous tome that looks like the work of a Japanese Gibbon, but is really only one of the many volumes in Which Some popular story-teiler describes the adventures of a favorite hero. It should not be assumed from all this, however, that the subjects of the Mikado are all shining examples of cuiture. Not only are many of the books generally read distinetly bad in character, but strange as it may seel of every ten patronize Teports of professional stor: are thereiore obviously dead to the sense of literary felicity and artistic style. Among_the bo¥s “‘detective” stories are especially popular. Next in popularity to novels come tech- nical works, and of these medical books have the largest sale. Of foreign works, those in English head the list, six Eng- lish books being sold for every two in| German or French. Russian books have a much smaller sale, The sales of the largest book store in the city do not ex- ceed 2500 yen—less than $1250—a month, but. on account of the comparative pov- erty of the people and other reasons x have given above, the number of readers in the city must not be-estimated from these scanty figures. Lot of the Japanese Novelist. As for the average novelist, he does not seem to be so much respected and looked up to as is the novelist in America or in Burope. This is_partly owing, no doubt, to his poverty. The average author sells only about 2000 coples of any work; the price of books must be low (less than 12 American cents, on an average), and there are not ten authors in Japan who get Sver twenty-five gold dollars a month from their works. There is a Mr. Myeda here, the Director of the Bureau of Spe- clal Studies in the Educational Depart- ment, who on a certain occasion every year hurls denunciations in the most amusing manner and in almost exactly the same words at the unfortunate ro- mancers. About a year ago he told them to come out into the open air and mix with society, assuring them that if they persisted in remaining at home like her- mits they could not expect to become suc- cessful writers. He cencluded by seri- ously imploring the authorities to sgive the novelists facilities to see life by send- | ing them invitations to balls, banquets | and official “spreads.” Strange to say, nobody saw anything out of the common in this speech, which was delivered with the utmost seriousness. Japan read it in Japanese and read it in English, but never 2 smile did it elicit. The readers only wagged their heads and remarked that it w:a not at all such m, eight readers out verbatim shorthand -tellers and of that of last. It is-astounding, but true, that these observations on the part of a prominent public man met with the same Teception this year as last. I have dwelt on this gentleman’s vagaries in order that the Western reader may perceive the gulf ANSWERS TO QUERIES. HIGH WATER—Subscriber, Byron, Cal There is no reason to suppose that thero will be “high water” in the San Joaquin River again this year HALL OF JUSTICE—X., Sacra- m:'n}{oE Cal. The height of the Hall of Justice in San Francisco is, from sidewalk iine to cornice, 80 feet; from sidewalk to top of tower, 179 feet. COAL CONSUMPTION — Subscriber, City. The amount of coal consumed by the several street railroads in San Fran- cisco and by electric plants and the cost rivate matter with the. cor- Por ‘L‘oyné’ S hien they will make known to stockholders. pora only Cholce candies, Townsend's, Palace Hotel.* — e —— Cal. glace fruit 50c per Ib at Townsend's.* ——— , 10c to 40c. Look eglasses, s Best e arber and grocery. + out 81 4th, front of e —eee——— Townsend’s Talifornia glace fruits, 50c a und, in fire-etched boxes or Ja Pound: 0 Market, Palace Hotel buliding. e e Y had he then grouped half the sovereigns of Europe demned. alteration of the facts of history by the sculptor is not t no such privilege is to be exercised by the de- purporting to represent some scene in the history of event. subject of matrimony has’possessed the legis- designed to. encourage marriage by one means or the forms in which it has been practiced or malprac- several great lawsuits resulting from the ease with has been much worse than in this State, for the popu- | Again and again the death of a rich man in that State | public wedding to another. Wills have been contested to suffer the imputation of unlawful union with men great have been the e resulting from such cases quence the contract marriage has proven to bg a iruitj affording protection to innocent women, the New. York tracted in the State on or after that date shall be valid who: shall subscribe to the same, stating the place of be acknowledged by the parties and witnesses in the cution it must be filed in the office of the clerk of the of the fundamental law of the State, for what are called advocates to be the most important reform measure general approval, for it will not only be a safeguard est that the fact of lawful marriage should be always In a recent address Senator Platt of Connecticut to Cuba, so it is evident the Spanish people do not | THE COMING YACHT RACE." S cessfully launched amid the plaudits of a crowd the naming has been duly done. The day was fair, sion a joyous one and to fill the British with sanguine expect next year to build a defender, not a challenger.” 2mong the defenders a controversy that never should to all American yachtsmen, or only to those of the | other New England yachtsmen, has had constructed struct. They claim the right to compete with the the cup against the British challenger. That right it is in a position to eaforce the claim. in the hands of a. member of the New York club, but under certain conditions T would resort to the subter- sake of being allowed to race, I can only say I regret such a thing to me. Rather than resort to the methods Thus the matter stood at the time of the latest report szy few Americans wiil approve of such a stand taken the best of any other nation. - The defense should not have the sympathy of the country. The prolonged resistance of the Boers may not yet have discouraged Kitchener, but it has reduced Poet Laureate Austin to silence, and that is something for which the world owes thanks ‘Washington city authorities have been requested to permit policemen t: wear shirtwaists during the |leon David had to deal with an historic event, and | summer, and now the dandy will scorn the thing. Special information supplied dally to business houses and public men the Press Clip] Burea. (Allen’s), 510 Mont- gomery street. Telephone Main 1042 ~ * g t Hindoo chronolo, Babylon, 6158 CORONADO TENT CITY, Coronado Beach. Cal., will be the popular summer resort this season. It became famous last year for com- fort, entertainment and health. Its splendid cafe was a wonder, the fishing unexcelled, extends t BT S “China, Literary Men of the Mikado’s Empire, : Europe and America, Constitute a Force That Is Shaping the Destinies of the Ancient Oriental Insular Nation. s — dopyfldht. 1901 which yawns between East and West and which is nowhere wider than in'literary matters. I may add that if low living on rice and fish, bathing in hot water several times a day and sitting spotlessly clean on immaculate mats reduces men to the condition of the novelists who allow them- selves to be trampled on like this, then I am for dust, exercise, roast beef and beer. ‘What has really brought about this con- dition would be difficult to say. It may be that the -long isolation of the Japanese and their subjection to the deadening in- fluence of China have made it difficult for them to ereate all at once a noble litera- ture, but in process of time that literature will ‘come. On the other hand, it is as- serted that there must be some original sin of weakness as well. Otherwise, as a recent writer has noted, “the clash of India and China with old mythological Japan, of Buddhism with Shinto, of im- perialism with feudalism and of all with catholicism in the sixteenth century and with Dutch ideas a little later, would have produced more important results.” Work of Translators. Those who take this view should bear in mind, however. that a nation cannot do everything at once. A race may, indeed, change its habits and customs and its na- tional policy rapidly, but it cannot so quickly alter its cast of mind. If any ex- cuse can be offered for their pessimism it lies in the apparent inability of many highly educated Japanese to see through European spectacles in matters of literary taste. They get European books by trans- lation—and such translation! A Japanese version of Bulwer Lytton's “Ernest Mal- travers,” which appeared in 1879 under the title of “A Spring Story of Flowers and Willows,” was the first European novel to be translated, and it has been followed by a_ torrent which never rushed more rap- idly than at the present moment. The Japanese novelist—or translator 1 should, perhaps, say—labors under the great dis- advantage of writing in a most difficult and recondite system of symbols, which has been compared, not without reason, to much-abbreviated Latin _telegrams. ~He writes for a public, too, which cannot tell when he is translating and when he is original, and the result is that he borrows lots wholesale from English and Amer- can writers, merely Japanizing the names and altering the details to suit Japanese social conditions. By this means he makes a little money and becomes celebrated for his_fertility of invention, but ruins him- self irretrievably as an artist, if there ever was the making of an artist in him. It is only among the ignorant that he is celebrated; the educated Japanese hold him in contempt and never read him. Some Japanese Successes. It may be regarded as a sign of the ex- tent of the translation foily that the hero of the most popular Japanese work of fic- tion that has appeared during the present reign is—Epaminondas! This work, en- titled “Keikoku Bidan,” takes the field of Theban politics for its subject matter. The allusions were simply transferred without much difficulty to modern Japanese poll- | tics. Another successful novel, ‘‘Kajin n> Kigu,” has its opening scene laid in the Capitol at Washington, where one of the characters, a Japanese, reads aloud to his_companions the Declaration of In- dependence. Carlist pretenders, English soldiers and other Europeans all appear in the pages of this work, which, by a curious_contradiction, is written in the most classical Chinese style. An able Japanese critic relates that in 1805, “while Japan was busy beating China, and had convineed herself that she could beat the world, one of the Tokio papers achi leved c c_than Koyo, a; a suceess by the publication of a serahr{ifc than Hoxomand novel entitled ‘Asahi Zakura.' ines of this book were two nurses, and the story that of the coming defeat of England by Japan, which, after annexing Hongkong, India, Malta and Gibraltar, sends its fleet up the Thames to raze the fortressess there and to ex- act from the cowering Britishers an enormous indemnity.” One of Japan’s Leading Novelists. Novels of this class, of course, are not fairly representative, although it is doubt- fui whether the European reader would find_satisfaction in many Japanese books of distinctly better grade. ake, for ex- ample, “Tajyo Takon” (‘“Fears and Re- | grets””), by Ozaki Koyo, one of the best known of living Japanese novelists. The | central figure in this work is one Mr. | Sumi, “a graduate of the elective course of geology’' in the Tokio Imperial Univer- sity, who is earning a trifling wage as | teacher of a certain school of physics and | mathematics. We ficd this man, when we | make his acquaintance, plunged in unut- terable grief on account of the loss of his wife. Sumi weeps and groans, in fact, all the way through the book, which contains 500 pages. There is a Mmother-in-law in | the book, Sumi’s mother-in-law; this good | lady forces her second daughter to go and live against her will with the dolorous | Sumi, whose household consists only of | himself and an old female servant. The beart-broken husband receives the girl, | but after some time sends a letter to the intriguing mother-in-law asking her to take her daughter away. Now, Sumi has a married friend called Hayama, but he hates Mrs. Hayama—and the hatred is | returned, for the good woman' despises a | man who goes about shedding floods of | tears. The mutual dislike soon wears | away, however, on Sumi's taking lodging in Hayama’'s attic, and each comes to es- teem the other, until “‘one rainy night the recollection of his wife came too vividly upcn Sumi to be borne without Mrs. Hay- ama’s soothing words and sympathetic | ‘countenance’” and he calmly proceeds to make love to her. Hayama is finally un- der the necessity of turning the tearful lover out of doors. One paragraph in_ the book. however, m:}! serve to give a hint of Japanese cyn. ical humor in fiction. Hayama, explai ing why his friends fall off when he mar- ries, says: You know, my dear fellow, every married woman keeps a notebook. Neither her husband nor her mother knows of its existence, but it exists, all the same. It is “Kitto O boye-cho” (book for keeping things She puts down in that , the names of the Jjolly old bachelors who take her husband out; of the fellows who happen to drop in by the merest L] PERSONAL MENTION. E. A. Forbes, a merchant of Marysville, is at the Grand. Dr. J. C. McLaren of Eureka is regis- tered at the Grand. R. M. Green, a pharmacist of Oroville, is staying at the Grand. Silas W. Pentz of Harrisburg, Pa., is 2 guest at the Palace. C. S. Milnes, a newspaper man of Eu- Teka, is a guest at the Lick. Mrs. Charles Stenderson of New York has taken apartments at the Palace with her daughter. Dr. Herman Parker of the United Hospital Service Is at the o’c‘emm&“fi company with his wife. ‘William Deering, a big manufact | agricultural implements, is ngu“:e:r:a! with his family at the Occide Chicago, ental from Dr. F. H. Humphries of Honolul: ;!:ha Cdittoml.;. accompanied by hl‘: i‘:i!'e': ey returned yesterda: e B e y from a pleasure Selby Oppenhelmer, one of the tors of the California Theater, rz:ol;:; yesterday from a flying trip to Eastern cities in the interest of his playhouse. Major W. W. Gilbert, Paymaster, U. S. A., Is registered at the California from Rochester, N. Y., where he was United States Commissioner for a number of years. Jesse M. Baker, Captain Quartermaster of the transport Grant, is at the Cali- fornia. Since his arrival he has received offictal notification that he has been com- missioned by President McKinley Quar- termaster in the regular army. The hero- | Cross PAPERS ON CURRENT TOPICS Been - Prepared by Experts and -Specialists for The San Francisco Call. Wh¢‘:, Though Almost Unknown in By Francis McCullagh. 1V.—AUTHORS OF MODERN JAPAN. chance, you know, just as dinner is being served; and of those who come to borrow 10 yen and promise effusively that they will let you have it in the middle of next month. She ks which her husband last came home . at o'clock in the morning. Once a name is e tered in that awful memorandum book it all over with the poor fellow whose name it is. Next time he comes he is sure to receive at least & mild but disagreeable hint. This stops his visits and in this way one friend after an- other gradually ceases to call. Novelists Are Numerous. ‘Altogether there are at least fifty novel- ists of some pretensions in Japan, and most of them find subsistence by writing serials for the newspapers and turning out, as from a mill, humorous or sensa- tional paragranhs. Only two or three out of all these can earn enough money to keep themselves respectable. Ozaki Koyo, already mentioned, and one of the most prominent of the group, was born in 1865, and, after spending three years in the Tokio Imperial University, entered on his career in literature. He i3 a combination of Zola and Henry James, though far in- ferior to either. He is praised for his del- jcate touch and graceful style; and has a predilection for delineating the sunny side of life. He has a theory—sarcastic per- sons say that it's not an unselfish theory- that state aid should be given to author and defends that theory with a warm that has lately called forth indignant re- plies from various quarters. On being told once that Zola had spent a whole week in studying character in tram cars, he was filled with envy. “Happy,” he exclaimed, “4is the author who is so little pressed by the production of moneymaking books as to be able to devote so much time to trifing affairs like that.” His principal dates, too. in that ‘book—the date on works are ‘“Three Wives,” “Dimples on the Cheek,” “Pillow of . ‘Love Sick” and “Darkness of Heart.” Their names vividly suggest the subjects with which they all deal. Koda Roban is of about the same age as Koyo and was once a clerk in a telegraph office. He was regarded in his youth as the blockhead of the family. This block- head is now regarded by the Japanese as their Meredith. His works are esthetic and are celebrated for their wondrous flights of imagination, but his style is fre- quently abrupt and incomprehensible to ordinary readers. He is, in fact, like Meredith and James—a writer for the cul- tured, his audience being select, if few, and most of his works treat of some master’ artist entirely absorbed in his work and alike indifferent to the doings and - the opinions of the busy outside world. The Roban family is a remarkable one. Roban's two sisters have been sent by the Government to Berlin and Vienna to study violin playing, at which one of them is already very proficient; and his brother. Lieutenant Gungi, is the originator of a bold scheme for settling Japanese in the Kurile group, and evidently a man af- flicted with much of the restlessness and originality of genius. Roban has not pro- duced so many works as Koyo, chief among them being “A Five-Storied Pa- g?dta‘: ' “A Blade” anda “A Refined Budd- st. A Japanese Thomas Hardy. Hirotsu Ryuro, another of the con- temporary novelists of Japan, is four or five years older than either of the two preceding writers, and is regarded by the Japanese as their Thomas Hardy. He is fond of tragedles In common life, and his peasant characters, as well as his plots, are regarded in this country with great admirdtion. He is even more pro- possesse; re of a Tmost Ot i con- freres—a fact due, perhaps, to the circum- stance that he was once a petty official in the Government service. His “Love-Sui- cide at Imado,” in which a de- graded woman dies with a man whom she does not love, is 'famous for the masterly way in which he traces the gradual development of his characters. Another famous work of his is “The Tragedy of Kawachiya.” in which a virtuous wifé vines away and dles on account of her husband’s infatuation for a tea-house woman, who is not in love with him. however, but with his brother. The brother's rejection of the woman's advances awakens such fury in the breast of the rejected one that the death of both brothers is the outcome. Ryuro is not re- markable for his style, however, which is inferior to that of the other two writers. Surgeon General Mori Oliga is a writes noted for his translations of several Ger- man works, and also for his original short stories, which are declared by all Japanese to be excellent in style and con- ception. Another author, who is also known as a translator, is Professor Hase- gama Shimel, a teacher in the Tokio For- eign Language School, and the only Jap- anese scholar who can be said to_be well versed in Russian literature, He has translated several of Tolstol's and Tur- genieff’s novels, and has produced two or three original novels. His highly col- loquial style has done much for the simplification of the national written lan- guage. Among other conspicuous _nevelists should be mentioned Iwaya Sazanami, now a teacher of Japanese in the Berlin Foreign Language School. He is ‘he only Japanese author. who has conde- scended to write stories for juvenile read- ers. Besides his adaptations from Lewis Carroll and Grim. he has himself written several popular children’s stories. Most Popular Japanese Author. Murai Gensai is the most popular n: tive author in Japan—not because of h genius, however, but because of his busi ness ability. In fact, he is a strictly “ca: author.” His most popular work, “Ri ing Sun Island.” has been running f over three vears in a daily paper. Its chief merit in the eves of the Japanese is that it is strictly pure, clearly refers to current affairs, and “Is tinctured with general scientific facts made intelligible to women.” But the vast story, which is of interminable length, is simply a series of stories, loosely strung together. It contains no character sketches worthy of the name, no plot and no humor—yet 20.000 copies of the first part of it have re- centl{ been sold, the sale being a record one for Japan. This great success is probably due to the fact that the com- rative purity of the story permits its ntroduction among women and families. he story is still running its course in the newspaper, and according to all ap- arances may be running ten years ence. Note—This paper will be concluded next Monday. , e ET—— ADVERTISEMENTS. A HAPPY CHILD is one who grows, without in- terruption of health, from a baby up—except the inevitable diseases of children. And Scott’s emulsion of cod- liver oil has done more, in the 26 years of its existence, than any half-dozen other things, to make such children. It keeps them in uninterrupt- ed health. It is food that takes hold at once, whenever their usual food lets go. « We'llsend you a little to try, if , if you like. SCOTT & BOWNE, 409 Pearl sireet, New York