The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, April 27, 1901, Page 6

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL e R e I e e L e SR ooy SATURDAY, APRIL 27, 1901 JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Proprietor. it A1 Commsiestions &7 W, 8. 1ER2 MANAGER'S nl'ji"lsl’; 'f"'f""""!’:::f‘:: 5 PUBLICATION OFFICE...Market and Third, S. F, Telephone Press 201. EDITORIAL ROOMS.....217 to 221 Stevenson St. Telephone Pres: 202, Delivered by Carriers. 15 Cents Per Weel. Single Copies, 5 Cents. Terms by Mail, Including Postage: YATLY CALL (neluding Sunday), one voas L8800 DAILY CALL (including Sunday), § month: 2.00 DAILY CALL (including Sunday), 3 month: 130 DAILY CALL—By Single Month 65c WEEKLY CALL, One Year 1.0 All postmasters are anthorized 1> receive subscriptions. Eample coples will be forwarded when requested. Mafl subserfhers in ordering change of address should be particuler to give both NEW AND OLD ADDRESS in order 10 insure & prompt and correct compliance with their request. | OAKLAND OFFIC) ..111% Broadwa AMUSEMENTS. Aleazar—*“The Conquerors.” Grand Opera-house—'“Under Two Flags.” Caltforni ““The Evil Bye.” ‘A Fair Rebel The Idol's Eye.” Orpheum—Vaudeville. Olympia, corner Mason and Fddy streets—S. Itfes. Chutes, Zoo and Theater—Vaudeville every afternoon and her’s—Vaudeviile. an Hall—Lecture. Park—Baseball. Tanforan Park—Races. AUCTION SALES. April 29, at 10 o'clock, good By Sullivan & Doyle—M. 2 Doyle, at 325 Sixth st. will and business of Sullivan & T0 SUBSCRIBERS LEAYING TOWN FOR THE SUMMER. Cal: subscribers contemplating a change o residence during the summer nths have their paper forwarded by mail to their mew addresses by notifying The Call Business Office. on sale at all mmer ted by a local agent im | ©ll towns en the coast. MORE MONROE DOCTRINE. T was a United States Sendtor who discovered that [ the transfer of the Danish West Indies by Den- mark to Germany would be an thiraction of the Monroe doctrine. The declaration by Monroe was that any attempt to extend European institutions in this hemisphere would be regarded as vniriendly to the United States. The transfer of territory from one European power to another would not be an extension here of Europeaa institutions. Denmark could make any such transfer without any infraction of that American theory. The Senator’s ill digested interpretation has been tiie cause of a lot of siarming rumors. The Monroe doctrine has been juggled with until in its different fantastic forms it has lost all semblance of the original article. Among the tales that have impinged upon its dis- tortion is the recent rumor that our Government had sert a curt note to Copenhagen warning King Chris- tian that he must not sell his West Indies to any- body but us! This world establish an American cor- ner on everything within our horizon and would be 2 proceeding of the most extraordinary nature. It would be using the Monroe doctrine as a means of conquest without the expense of war. When this bumptious rumor had run at large for a it was disavow=d at Washington, much to the satisfaction of all Americans who have correct idess the Monroe doctrine and of the propriety of na- tional conduct. Just as this deformity of the doctrine is put aside there appears a worse. This time the plastic artist v/hc has changed the features of it until Monroe him- seli would run and hide from them’is not a Senator. His offense is of a higher degree because he is a pro- fessor. He teaches young men in Amherst and 1s probably looked up to by many who hope to be Sena- tors and to apply in that high chamber the learning they absorb in his classrcom. This Amherst professor, Grosvenor by name, occu- yies the chair of “Moderi Governments and Their Ad- ministrations.” It will be seen, therefore, that he is supposed to know what he talks about, for it is his specialty, and he is paid for knowing and for telling what he knows The professor has traveled abroad and spent much time in Russia. Returning he appears as counsel for | the Czar to vindicate the seizure of Manchuria and the robbery of China. In lecture on that subject the professor said: “A compact has been placed before | the Chinese Governinent by the Russian Govern- ment according to the terms of which Russia was to lock 2fter the military government of Manchuria and its railroad interests and China was to remain in pos- on of the civil admiristration. Manchuria being contiguous territory t5 Russia only, no other power apparently has any right to object to this compact. I believe that Russia shouid have the same privilege of applying the Monroe doctrine to the territory which is contiguous exclusively to her own, and in which no other European country is interested, and as- pecially when the power to which this doctrine is ap- plied is contented.” 5 It is no wonder that busy people get false ideas sbout national right and duty when those thought to be learned men, and who are set apart and paid for being learned, utter such clotted nonsense. In the first place China is not willing to be robbed, and pro- tested and delayed in the hope that the other powers would prevent it. But they are so intent on robbing her of cash that they have no time to prevent Russia robbing her of land. The Russian process has no | nsore resemblance to *he Monroe doctrine than it has to the Ten Commandments. According to Pro- ! fessor Grosvenor under the Monroe doctrine we can claim the right of military government of Mexico and the administration of ker railways. While it is true thac other Governments may not interfere in such case between us and Mexico, the proceeding would uot be hallowed by their abstention. Under the Monroe doctrine Russia would have the right to prevent any paitition of China, but not the right to steal it herself. But the professor goes fur- ther in the same lecture and thereby the rest of the world fares worse. He declares that only Russia and Germany have been wronged in the Boxer revoly- | tior, Germany because her Minister wis murdered : and Russia because the Boxers invaded her territory “ north of the Amur. i The other nations should heed this Amherst decree '\ p and get out of Cathay at once, leaving Germany ang ; Russia to carve the country to suit themselves, il i notified of this admi ! d them that wherever they could make a settle- | trate: CHINESE TRIEBUTE. unofficial cs from Chinese has been rican missionary in a recent but excused it by declaring ~HE fact of mioney by missior established. An Am publication admitted thi that they were authorize to make these collections by | Minister Conger. On the Minister's arrival in San Francisco he was ioa and thereupon said: “T ad- vis ment themselv with the villages where these mur- ders or destruction of property occurred to make it. | Do it upon your own responsibility; I take no part in it and the legation takes no part in it. There was no going out and compelling people to pay anything. Tt was voluntary on their part.” This clears the air as to the facts. These levi weie not forbidden but were advised by the American Minister. This being true, other things of necessity fcllow. In such a matter there should be some means taken to properly estimate the value of the property destroyed or the index}!xlity due for loss of life. viously all rules of Christian justice are violated when s suck estimate is one-sided and those who are to re- | ceive the indemnity are permitted to measure the | amount. After the amount is justly determined those who pay it should be protected by such form of re- ceipt as will shelter them from further levy. To illus- sionary property and th> viilagers pay indemnity for its destruction they shou'd be excluded from taxation to pay indemnity for the destruction of French or German missionary property in some other part of the empire. Minister Conger says that such pay- ments were voluntary. Under the conditions ex ing in China when this system of private collection Licgan voluntary payment had to depend on the assur- ance that the Christian armies would not appear and avenge refusal to pay. The presence of those armies onud the record they had made in ‘march and foray constituted a state of duress that made it a very un- fortunate time for voluntary payment of village in- demnity, so that doubtless every care was taken to assure the villages that in no event would the Chris- tian soldiers appear. Another condition of equity in such method of col- lection would be the keeping of a proper account with each village, debiting it with the life lost or property destroyed and crediting it with indemnity paid. This absolutely necessary. tinguished and canceled. But if no record is kept the same claim may be presented in the general mass of claims and be paid again in the general indemnity, thus inflicting a crying injustice upon the villages which, we are assured, paid voluntarily. The next important consideration is the proper custody of the money so collected. How much and where is it are inquiries that should be made and answered. Doubtless all these considerations occurred to the Minister, and admonition to observance of these plain principles of justice went with his advice to American trissionaries to recoup themselves in that way. A glance at the system exhibits the extreme care and caution that should be used in putting it in force. A reversal of conditions will bring this need of great precaution plainiy in view. When 175 Chinese were murdered by being burned to death in their cabins in Wyoming, or were shot as they ran blazing with seared eyeballs throtigh the fire, if a large Chinese army had been in this country and our people had no army at all and our Government had been disorgan- ized and incapable of defense, it would have ‘been thought hard if the Chinese Minister had advised his countrymen to proceed to collect indemnity from Wyoming, unofficially end without limit or restric- tion as to amount, and with no guarantee that its voluntary payment wovld exclude its contributors from the burden of u general indemnity to be laid by China upon this country. This must have occurred to Minister Conger, and Le doubtless took all ' these precautions. Levying upon an entire village or city for the acts of a mob means that the innocent are paying a damage which they did not inflict, an- for this additional reason they should be protected in every possible way. Such mcthod of settlement is to be regarded with aversion | and adopted with very great caution. The presence of the Christian armies in China destroyed equality between the tribute-taking missionaries and the tribute-paying Chinese. The frowning presence of power may have easily contributed to the alacrity with which voluntary contributions were made, and without the precautions which doubtless occurred 16 Minister Conger great wrong might easily have been dore. When Great Britain ccmpares the outcome of her controversy with Venezuela with the gravity of the situation in South Africa she can hardly fail to per- ceive that arbitration is not only much cheaper than war but is more satisfactory in every other respect. l and published in The Call yesterday it appears the department of the city government known as the Bureau of Streets might be better named the Bureau of Salaries. Of the money appropriated for its use in the public service it expends just about twice as much for salaries and wages as it does for repairs upon streets. It is clear, therefore, that under the A BUREAU OF SA@LARIES. ROM figures compiled in the Auditor’s office | present management the bureau exists much more for. the purpose of providing salaries to officials than for the purpose of street work. X The figures, which cover a period of six months, from September to February inclusive, tell their story so clearly that nothing in the way of comment is | needed to bring out the waste that is being made of | public money. In September the sum of $8120 23 was expended in salarics for the Bureauof Streets, including the wages of laborers, while the amount of repairs made to accepted streets and sewers aggre- gated only $1226 58. Ir October salaries consumed $0702 08 of the taxpay2rs’ money, and the results for | that month show only $2418 63 worth of repairs to streets. In November salaries ate up $9037 12 and still the cost of the work was far less than that amount, being but $5448 32. In December the sala- ries climbed up to $9832 64, and the work done in re- | pairs to accepted streets amounted to only $35027 8. In January the salary account of the Bureau of Streets reached the enormous total of $10,286 41, whereas 2 little more than half that sum, or $5701, represents | the actual amount spent for repairs to streets. In February the salaries drepped down to $8287 735, and this is the only month when the amount of work done exceeded the salaries paid. The total sum expended in improvements was $15.736 26. The story is an old cne. record of big salaries and little work accomplished ias been placed before the public. 'The present com- jon, however, for 2 period of six successive months makes the case more clear than it appeared in collection of indemnity | Ob- | If in a village there is only American mis- | Every claim so paid is ex- | Month after month the | that the waste is not an occasional one, but is a per- ! ent evil. In the whole period under review theie but one in which the expenditures for work weie greater than the expeuditures for salaries and wages. Moreover, in some months the excess of salaries was rany times greater than the whole expenditure for werk. | gzrce that goes on almost without interruption fro: | morth to month. The present administration went into office with | the most emphatic promi.es of economy and improva- | ment. Government under the new charter was placed Ly the people in the hands of the so-called “friends of the charter” in order that the merits of the new system might be fully revealed to the taxpayers and to the citizens generally. The results have been worse than anything that could have happened had the administration been intrusted to those who wers | called “the enemies of the charter.” In fact, had a set of public officials deliberately set about showing the defects of the charter they could not have done it more effectually than has been done by the blunder- | ing or worse of the present administration. It needs no argument to show intelligent men that | when more than two dollars is paid in salaries to |’ get less than one dollar’s worth of work done there is something radically wrong with the administration. | Under any charter, or under no charter at all, officials ho had any sense of their responsibility to the public | would get better results than that. The issue is one [ that concerns every citizen. No community is rich | enough to afford a burear: whose main purpose is that of providing salaries for its officers and employes. Tom L. Johnson's success in getting elected Mayor of Cleveland on a platiorm demanding a reduction of street car fares has got him into trouble, for he owns scveral street railways himself it other cities, and the people there are demanding that he relfluce fares for them by way of setting an example to Cleveland. D while the Secretary of State declines to give out reports of his first conference with the | delegation from the Cuban constitutional conventior, vet the discussion with the Secretary as well as the ormal talk with the President when the delegation was presented to him showed so much of harmony between the views of ovr Government and those of | the delegates as to justify the expectation that all riisunderstandings will be cleared up and an amicable | scttilement made of all points in controversy. The news is the more gratifying because the ele- | ments working for the complete .annexation of Cuba to the United States were never more active than THE CUBAN SITUATION. ISPATCHES fronr Washington announce that clusion that during the summer an effort will be made t> work up,a public sentiment favorable to the schemes of the annexationists. | The New York Times has an “editorial correspond- ent” in Cuba who is furnishing that paper with a series of articles clearly designed to foster the annexa- tion spirit. He begins a recent article by saying he has heard two explanations of the Teller resolution declaring the Cubans ought to be independent and disclaiming any intention on the part of the United | States to exercise sovereignty over the island. One | of these is that the resclution was prompted by the | sugar trust from a desire to keep Cuban sugar out of | this country. The other is that the resolution was due | to the efforts of holders of Cuban bonds, who. be- lieve they will have a better chance of getting pay- ruent from Cuba than irom the United States should our Government annex the islands. The writer disclaims vouching for either of the stories, and adds: “The mere suggestion of a sordid | origin for the pledge which so many good men have extolled as a check upon the aggressions of an impe- listic administration by the stern will of a liberty | loving people is so painful that I dismiss both inven- tions with the expression of a hope that their authors may never prosper.” | It would be difficult to find a cleverer method of suggesting a falseho:d while disclaiming responsi- bility for it. The Times man, however, does not con- | fine himself to such delicate suggestions as that. He goes on to say of the Cubans: “The Teller resolu- tion: fired the ambition of these untried men, but it filled the hearts of conservative men with foreboding and despair. It drove them out of politics altogether | and kept them from the polls in the election of last | September when delegates to the convention were | chosen. They are the cwners of about all the prop- | erty in the island; they are its men of substance, of business activity and sobriety of judgment.” Tho: men, he goes on to say. are in fear of what will hap- f pen to their property and their trade should the Cu- bans be left to establish a government of their owa. | He adds: “The annexation of Cuba is the solution of the problem to which we shall come at last—so was the familiar prophecy here and at home.” Then follows the old cry of the annexationist, the appeal to the lust for wealth: “This island is a veri- ' table El Dorado, of which under Spanish stewardship | only the riches that lic 6n the surface have been gath- | ered up. Capital, inteliigent cultivation and efficient labor would increase tlie annual product far beyond the maximum yield of the best period. It is a sin | for any man of abi}ity to concern himself with politics < here, except as a means to the desired end of estab- | lishing conditions favorable to the bringing forth of the incalculable wealth of this island.” Such, then, is the scheme. All politics is to mean | pcssession of the wealth of the island, and as Ameri- | can labor cannot work there, and native labor is too content with little to work much, the desired “effi- cient labor” will doubtless be some kind of coolie system. The campaign on the subject during the summer will be worth watching, and it is fortunate we have a President who can be relied upon to keeo the pledges of the nation. The trouble between this country and Veneziela | is the outcome of a quarrel between two American | corporations as to which shall have possession of the | asphalt lakes, and until it is definitely known which rcorpomtiou Venezuela will support we cannot pick a winner ourselves. Consequently the whole thing is ir a muddle, and it appezrs to be anybody’s fight. Since Russia has zrgued so strenuously that a | civilized army is necessaty in Manchuria to keep (he peace several of the powers have signified a willing- | ness to send some of their troops to assist the worlk, . but Russia objects. Manchuria, it appears,.is dis- turbed just enough to require the presence of a Rus- | sian army, but not of any more armies. el e The ordnance department at Washington is said to . have made successful tests with a new pistol from which can be fired 115 shots a minute. It is not a ire\'olvér, being constructed upon a principle alto- so the old re- | gether new in weapons of that kind; | the record of any single'month. It will now be seen | volver will have to shoot itself. It is a back number. We have, therefore, to confront not a tem- | | pcrary waste merely brt a programme of extrava- | row, and all the signs of the time point to the con- PAPERS ON CURRENT TOPICS.| 'PREPARED BY EXPERTS AND SPECIALISTS FOR | By Willis About the only knowledge that most readers have ot the workings of the Unit- ed States Weather Bureau of the Depart- ment of Agriculture is gathered from the daily prediction of rain or snow that they | | glance over the morning paper. They weather service on the accuracy of the | predictions thus hastily scanned, and many are prone to inquire whether it is economy of our country; whether or not an adequate return is made for the ex- penditure of "over $1,000000 annually; whether the science of weather forecast- curacy, and whether it holds out possibil- itles of future improvement. They would doubtless be smazed if they knew the through the medium of which it reaches, daily, probably more than one-half of our adult population. Origin of Scientific Weather Study. About 100 years after the invention of the barometerf-namely, in 1747—Benjamin Franklin divined that certain storms had a rotary motion and that they progressed in a northeasterly direction. phetic that these ideas should have come to him long before any one had ever pre- pared charts showing observations simul- taneously taken at many stations. But, although his ideas in_ this respect were more important than his act of drawing the lightning from the clouds and identi- fying it with electricity of the laboratory, his contemporaries thought little of his philosophy of storms. It remained for Redfield, Espy, Maury, Loomis and Abbe, 100 years later, to gather the data and completely establish the truth of that which the great Franklin had dimly out- lined. Although American scientists were the pioneers in discovering the rotary and progressive character of storms, and*in demonstrating the practicability of weath- er services, the United States was the fourth country to give legal status to a weather service; but no one of the other countries had an area large enough to render it possible to construct such a broad, synoptic picture of air conditions as is necessary in the making of the most useful forecasts. It would require an in- ternational service, embracing all the countries of Europe, to equal ours in the exctent of nreaul‘:overed.h ongress authorized the first appropria- tlon of $20,000 to inaugurate a tentative weather service in 1870. General Albert J. Myer, to whom was assigned the position of chief of the new meteorological service, doubtless had ro conception of the future wonderful extension of the system that he was then authorized to begin. Former Secretary of Agriculture J. Sterling Mor- ton did much to place the meteorological service of the Government on a suitable | foundation by having all its employes and higher ofticials classified and placed with- in the civil service. The present Secretary of Agriculture, James Wilson, has con- | tinued the merit system in the Weather Bureau, and has greatly improved and ex- | tended its operations. ‘Thanks to_ his pol- icy, the weather service has had a phe- | nomenal growth during the last four years. Work of the Weather Forecaster. It is a wonderful picture of atmospherle | conditions that is presented twice daily to the trained eye of the weather fore- caster. It embraces an area extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from the | north coast of South America over Mex- | ico, the islands of the West Indles and the Bahamas, northward to the utter- most confines of Canadian habitation. It is a panoramic picture of the exact air conditions over this broad area that is | twice daily presented to the study of our experts. Hurricanes, cold waves, hot waves or rainstorms are shown wherever present in this broad area. Their devel- opment since last reported IS noted and from the knowledge thus gained their fu- ture course and intensity is quite success- fully forecast. Every twelve hours the kaleidoscope changes, and a new graphic Rleture of weather conditions is shown. owhere else in the world can meteorolo- gists find such an opportunity to study storms and atmospheric changes. In our Atlantic and gulf ports alone there are floating over $30,000,000 worth of craft on any day of the year; and at every port, whether on the Atlantic, on the Pacific or on the lakes, there is either a full meteorological observatory or else a storm warning display man, who at- tends to the lighting of the danger light: on the storm warning towers at night, to the display of danger flags by day and to the distribution of storm warning mes- sages among vessel masters. This system is so perfect that the chief of the weather bureau or the forecaster on duty at the central®office can dictate a storm warn- ing and feel certain that inside one hour a copy of the warning will be in the hands {of every vessel master in,every port of material size in the United States, pro- vided it is his desire that a complete dis- tribution of the warning be made. As a matter of fact, the storm warnings us- ually go to only a limited portion of the coast at one time. While the daily pre- dictions of rain or snow by which, as previously stated, the public measures the value of the weather service, are sub- ject to a considerable element of error, namely, about one fallure in five predic- tions, the marine warnings of the ser- vice have been so well made that in over six years no protracted storm has reached any point of the United States without warnings peing displayed well in aavance. Savings Effected by the Bureau. As a result of these warnings the loss of life and property has been reduced to a minimum, being doubtless not more than 25 per cent of what it would have been without this extensive system, which comes daily and almost hourly, into com- munication with ners. The public does not appreciate this part of the ser- vice for the reason that, as a rule, these warnings do not appear in the newspa- pers. It is not desirable to publish them so far in advance as to hold shipping in port unnecessarily. We only aim to place warnings twelve or sixteen hours in ad- vance of the coming of the storm, and then we communicate by telegraph, by messenger and by warning lights 'and flags directly with the masters of vessels. It is a notable example of the utility of the new West Indian weather service, and of the wisdom of Congress in con- tinuing as a perpetual instrument of peace the service organized to meet an emer- gency of war, that the Galveston hurri- cane was detected on September 1, at the time of its inception, in the ocean south of Porto_Rico, and that the new system of West Indian reports gave us such com- plete simultaneous data that at no time did we lose track of the storm. Every- where, as it progressed northward, such full information was given that, notwith- standing the extensive commerce of the Gulf of Mexico, little or no loss of life or property occurred ugon the ocean wat- ers of the gulf. The destruction at Gal- veston was many times less than it would have been without the premonition that was given and the activity of the bureau's officers in urging residents to move from the low grounds of the city to its more secure portions. Again, as this storm re- curved and passed over the lake region the warnings were well distributed. Al- though the energy of the storm was so great that few vessels were stanch enough to live through its fury, shipping remained safely in harbors and there was not a life lost. Cold Wave Records. ‘When a marked cold wave develops in the north plateau of the ky Moun- tains and by its broad area and great barometric pressure threatens to sweep southward and eastward with its icy blasts the meteorological stations of the bureau are crdered to take obse: every few hours in the ately in advance of the cold area and to telegraph these to headquarters. By this THE SAN FraNCISCO CALL. |How Science Under Direction of the Federal Authorities Warns Us on the Freaks i and Fancies of the Weather. CHIEF OF THE UNITED STATES BUREAU. (COPYRIGHT, 1901.) XI.—WORK OF THE WEATHER BUREAU. | tory in the threatened resion becomes a encounter at the breakfast table as they | | v is tion | base their estlmate of the utllity of the | 1 SUCh cases the system of disteibn true that this service has really made a | | place for itself in the great lndustrlal: ing has reached its highest degree of ac- | | thousand and one ramifications through which this system to-day operates and | It was pro- | | every daily paper of the country? I. Moore, means every phase of the development of the cold area is carefully watched, and when the danger is great each observa- distributing center from which warnings | are sent to those who have produce or| perishable articles of manufacture that/ need protection against low temperature. is so perfegt that it is not uncommon for the bureau' to distribute 100,00 telegrams and messages inside of the space of one o1 two hours, so that nearly every city, village and hamlet receives the informa- tion: in time to profit thereby. What this means to the farmer and shipper is_well | | Mustratea in a single instance. ~From | those personally interested we gathered statements relative to the sweep of one cold wave, and these showed that over| | $3,400,000 worth of property that would have' been destroyed by the low tempera- tures was saved. To sbe sure, sometimes the surging of the great air eddies which constitute our rainstorms and cold waves—one the low- pressure eddy and the other the high- pressure eddy—deflects the course of the storm or minimizes the degree of cold, and the warnings may partially or wholly | fall of verification; but in these impor- tant atmospheric disturbances the warn- ings are justified in such a large propor- tion of cases that those whose property is at stake do not longer question the util- ity of the Government service. That no cther country brings its citizens into such clese touch with its weather conditions is shown by the fact that even when severe storms are not imminent there is, in ad- | dition to the printing of the forecasts in | the daily press, a daily distribution of $0,000 telegrams, maps and bulletins, that places the information in the hands of millicns whose personal interests are ma- terially affected by the weather. Distribution of Forecasts. There are more than 2000 daily papers in the United States and each one of these prints in a_conspicuous place the daily weather prediction. Did it ever oc- cur to you that there is no other informa- tion that receives publication and atten- tion by readers each day of the year in There | are forty-seven tri-weekly papers in the United States, 434 semi-weekly and 14,734 weekly publications, the greater number of which publish the weekly weather crop bulletins of the bureau for their respective States. Each State forms a section of the national service, and from a central Df—i fice issues monthly reports on the minute climatology of the State. These clima- | tcloglcal data are gathered from standard thermometers _and rain gauges that are placed in each county. The information finde extensive publication also in the weekly and monthly periodicals. Recently the Postoffice Department, through its rural mail delivery, has placed at the disposal of the weather service one of the most efficient means of bringing its daily forecasts, frost and cold-wave warn- ings to the very doors of those who can make the most profitable use of them. The | latest forecast of the weather is printed | on small slips of paper and each carrier | is given a number equal to the number of houses on his rural route. Thus does the meteorological service insinuate itself into every avenue that promises efficient dissemination of its reports. To be fore- warned is to be forearmed. It is the opin- | fon of many insurance and other experts | that the meteorological service of the | United States Government is worth over 520,000,000 annually to the agriculture, the commerce and the industry of the coun- try; and this notwithstanding the large element of error that for a long time to come must enter into predictions. Benefit to Fruit-Grower and Farmer. | The utilities of the weather service are | well illustrated by the benefits that the | fruit interests of California derive from | the rain warnings. On account of the pe- culiar topography of that region these warnings are made with a high degree of accuracy but a few hours before the com- ing of the rain, yet far enough in advance to enable the owners of vineyards, most of which are connected by telephones, to gather and stack their trays and thus save the drying raisins from destruction. Along the Rocky Mountain plateau and the eastern slope our stations are so nu- merous and our system of distribution so | perfect that the sweep of every cold wave is heralded to every ranch that has_ tele- graphic communication. In the cranberry marshes of Wisconsin the flood gates are | regulated by the frost warnings of the | bureau, and where formerly a profitable crop was secured only once in several years it is now a rare exception that dam- | age occurs. As we go farther south and | east into the Gulf and South Atlantic | States our frost warnings are made with a greater degree of accuracy than in any | other part of the country. We find the growers of sugar cane in Loulsiana, the truck growers from Norfolk south to Jack- sonville and the orange growers of Florida timing their operations by the frost warn- ings of the bureau. From the estimates of these industrialists it is indicated that the amount annually saved to them is far| greater than that expended for the sup- port of the entire department. Under the airection of Seeretary Wilson we are now arranging with Burope and the Azore Islands for the receipt of meteor- ological reports, which, in connection with ‘our present extensive system, will enable us to forecast wind direction and wind force for trans-Atlantic steamers for a period of three days out from each continent. This extension of the meteoro- logical service has long been sought by mariners. The new German cable from Liston to New York enables us to get direct communication with several islands, the reports from which are necessary in the taking up of this new and important work. Forecasting Floods and Freshets. No less valuable is the flood-warning service which is In operation along our large river courses. So much advance has been made in forecasting flood stages that it is now possible to foretell three to five days in advance the height of the river at a given point to within a few inches. The danger line at every city has bees ately determined and charted. so that when a flood is likely to exceed the dan- ger limit residents of low districts and merchants having goods stored in cellars are notified to move their property out of reach of the rising waters. An illustra- tion of the efficiency of this system was shown during the great flood of 1397, | Throughout nearly the whole area that ‘was submerged the warning bulletins pre- ceded the flood by several days, and the ! statisticians of the Government estimate that $15,000,000 worth of livestock and mov- able property was removed to high ground | as the result of the forewarnings. These warnings are distributed from fifteen | river centers, at each of which a traineg | forecaster 1s 'located who daily is in pos- | session of such measurements of precipi- tation on watersheds and such up-river water stages as are necessary to enable him to make an intelligent prediction foe his own district. On account of the recant disasters from floods jn the rivers of | Texas, steps are now being taken to es- | tablish a_flood- | o hat Btacel Warning service speclally | Measurements of snowfall in muuntlln’ ridges of Montana, Wt";gmr;‘rf; | Idaho, Utah, Arizona and New Mexics durlnf the past several years have given | us information that mow enables. s te | make a very accurate estimate in the | spring as to the supply of water from this | source that is to be expected during the growing season. In this way the weather | Service has been brought into close con- | tact with those Interested in irrigation and | has become a valuable aid to them. Weather Service in the Future. | It may be asked what for ab improvement in (he acenracy of the | Weather forecasts during the coming cen- | tury. To this it may be answere that' When our extensive system of daily ob- servations has been continued for another generation or two a Kepler or a Newton may discover such fundamental principles | underlying weather changes as will make | it possible to foretell the charact Seasons. If this dueover';-er-h:fl ever be made it will doubtless come as the result of a teorological WM“ study o:u g:: ut | the present time I know of no sc | it to be impo: ing some great area like the United States. WHile we cannot make such pre- diction to-day we feel that we are laying the foundation of a tem that will adorn the civilization of At man who essays to make long-range pre- dictions. In closing this paper T would especially caution the publie against the mposture of charlatars who simply prev upon the credulity of the peopie. I believe ble for any one to make a forecast based npon any principles of physics or upen any empiric rule in teorology for a period weeks and mon in advance. \ PERSONAL_MENTION. Ex-Senator A. T. Jones of Oroville i3 at the Palace. C. M. Hadley. a vineyardist of Vacaville, is at the Grand. B. Deleray. a mining man of Sonora, Is a guest at the Lick. Dr. G. C. Simmons of Sacramento is a guest at the Oceldental. J. C. Chase, a hotc! man of Los Angeles, is staying at the Palace. P. W. Drescher, a Sacramento mer- “chant, is at the California. The Rev. Father J. B. Dermody of Downieville is at the Lick. Fred Robinson, a prominent drugsist of Colorado Springs, is at the Palace. T. D. Peck, an extensive landowner of Eureka, Is a guest at the Grand. Tyler Woodward, a capitalist of Port- land. is registered at the Occidental. Fred Searls, a mining man of Nevada City, s spending a foew days at the Palace. A. B. Hammond, a mining man of Eu- reka, registered at tke Palace yesterday. W. W. Barham of Santa Rosa is in Saa Francisco on business and is staying at the Grand. J. McCudden. a naval contractor of Vallejo, is spending a few days at the Grand, accompanied by his daughter. General Manager Kruttschnitt leaves to-day for New Orleans to meet President McKinley. He will travel on the Presi- dentlial train and take general charge on the run over the Southern Pacific lines. — ee———— CALIFORNIANS IN NEW YORK. NEW YORK, April 26.—The following Californians are in New York: From San Francisco—Dr. Chismore, at the Hollan Mrs. 8. W. Fuller, at the Grand Union; Miss L. Ligny, at the Imperfal; G. Lowen- berg, at the Hoffman; F. G. Miner, at the Imperfal; J. G. Magulre, at the Marl- borough; S. J. Handy, at the Imperial; L. P. Weil gnd H. J. Weil, at the Savoy. From Los Angeles—P. W. Hoyle and wife, at the Netherland; Miss Percy, at the Grand Unlon; G. B. Johnson and Mrs. B. B. Johnsen, at the Holland; Dr. John- son, at the Murray Hill. From Oakland—Miss Rawlings, at the Netherland. ANSWERS TO QUERIES, TEN DOLLAR PIECE—Subscriber, Burlingame, Cal. The dealers in old cains do not offer a premium for a ten dollar piece of 1847. They offer to sell coins of that date at from $3 50 to $5 advance. MEDICAL INSTITUTE — Subscriber, City. The name of the medical Institute inquired about that was formerly in the city of Boston, Mass., does not appear in the latest issues of the Boston directories. FRATERNAL SOCIETIES-J. W. M., Lathrop, Cal. According to a table pre- Ya.red for the New York World during the ast month of 1900 the membership of the Odd Fellows In the United States and Canada was 1,025,073 and that of the Free and Accepted Masons was 896,730. TUXEDO COAT—W., Eureka, Cal. A Tuxedo coat may be worn at any function if it pleases the wearer, and he prefers that style of coat to what is known as full dress. Ths Tuxedo has not yet dis- placed the tull-aress coat at theater, card party or dinner. While a Tuxedo coat is not barred at a swell ball, yet the full- dress coat is still the preferred garment. DROP LETTERS-J. C. H, City. The law fixing the rate of postage at one cent on drop letters went into effect in 1351 and is yet the law in places where there is no free delivery. On the $th of June, 1872, the law was changed to read that ‘“‘the post- age on drop letters shall be two cents for each half ounce where there is a free | delivery and one cent where there is no such system.” PARROT—J. B., City. The parrot has the power to imitate sounds, words and sentences, but close observation has dem- onstrated that the bird does not know the meaning of what it says. The parrot will after having eaten a hearty meal of its favorite food say ‘“Polly wants a cracker” and if one is offered it may, out of a spirit of mischief, for it is a mischie- vous bird, take a proffered cracker and break it up, but not eat it, and while breaking it will continue calling for a cracker. If the bird knew the value of the words it speaks it would undoubtedl: call for a cracker when it needed it, an would not call for it when it had no de- sire for it. There have been many stories of the intelligence of parrots, but such have, all been romances. A CHANCE TO SMILE. Augelina—That was a lovely _en; ment ring you gave me last night, Ty but what do these initials E. C. mean on the inside? Eéwin—Why—er—that _ is—don’t know? That's the new way of stamping elghteen carets!—Tid-Bits. ‘‘Miss Vingaree, they don’t haze the freshies af Vassar College, do they?" “Don’t they, though? They made me buy pound after pound of almond butter~ cups and stand and watch them while they ate them!”—Sioux City Tribune. Turning to the picturesque resident, the man from the East, with a praiseworthy desire to be pleasant, asked “Il;'hve youg'v:ai lxh:r"o long?" “Naw,” re] at 'm, carelessl: shifting his gun from ome hand to The other; “‘nobody lives here long.”—Chicago Times-Herald. Chollle—My deah bx{ what 1s than to notice a wrinkie in the face one’s sweetheart? Willle—A winkle in one’s twwsers, eah boy. Fellow can get a new sweet- heart, don’t you know, any time.—Indian- apolis Press. HER AGE. The lady with the upturned nose Came into court one day: seemed to say, “‘T know it all.™ At least she way. looked that *"What is your age?’ the counsel sald. My age is twenty-three' : But she was thirty-six, That any one could “I thought you were quite well informed,"™ Sald counsel, with a drawl: But when & cames down to your ou all right— see. not know it_all —Yonkers Statesman. 4 Choice candies, Townsend's, Palace Hotel® Cal. glace fruit 50c per Ib at Townsend's.® Townsend's California glace fruits, 50c a B et eiacn Hot bofaners Spectal information supplied daily to ¥ | business ho‘use!i! and ’Tkllifim men the ureau 4 - }’;?.?:rf".'l?,‘:f Teleonone Matn o ron Every man has some woman who loves him more than he has any business to let her. Best eyeglasses, specs, 10¢ to 40c. Look out 81 4th, front of barber and grocery. * 4 The Santa Fe to Yosemite. Beginning May 1 Studdard & Son will run a dally stage line from Merced to Yosemite Falls, connecting with the California limited. Leav- ing San Francisco at 9 a. m. to-day you are at Yosemite Falls to-morrow afterncon at 5 ‘The rate is $28 i0 from San Francisco for the round trip, carrying you by way of Merced big trees. —_————— To rebulld wasted tissue and fortify system against sudden changes of fall and winter, doc- tors recommend Dr.Slegert’'s Angostura Bitters