The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 6, 1901, Page 6

T Che 2o Call. MONDAY.............co0ceneeeenses-MAY 6, 1901 JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Proprietor. L B R i ‘Address All Communications to W. 5. LEAKE, Manager. MANAGER'S OFFICE........Telephone Preas 204 A A G e L s PUBLICATION ,OFFICE. . .Market and Third, S. F. Telephone Press 201 EDITORIAL ROOMS.....217 to 221 Stevenson St. Telephone Press 202. . Deltverea hy Carrlers, 15 Cents Per Weelk. Single Copies, 5§ Cents. Terms by Mail, Including Postage: JATLY CALL (including Sunday), one year. DAILY CALL (ncluding Sunday), § month: DAILY CALL (ncluding Sunday), 3 month: DAILY CALL—By Single Month WEEKLY CALL, One Year. All postmasters are . subseriptions. Sample coples will be forwarded when requested. e fess o 8 $fafl subscribers In ordering change of address ehould be potienter b gin both NEW AND OLD ADDRESS in order insure a prompt and correct compliance ‘with their request. OAKLAND OFFICE «..1118 Broadway C. GEORGE KROGNESS. Manager Foreign Advertising, Marquette Building, Ohieago. (Long ‘g:!unce T‘e’l{phone **Central 2619."") NEW YORK REPRESENTATIVE: C. C. CARLTON.... .Herald Square NEW YORK REPRESENTATIVE: STEPHEN B. SMITH. .. 30 Tribune Bullding NEW YORK NEWS STANDS: Waldorf-Astoria Hotel; A. Brentano, fI Union Square; Murrey Hil Hotel CHICAGO NEWS STANDS: Bherman House; P. 0. News Co.; Great Northern Hotel: Fremont House: Auditorfum Hotel. WASHINGTON (D. C.) OFFICE....1406 G St., N. W. MORTOXN E. CRANE, Correspondent. ’ BRANCH OFFICES—:27 Montgomery, corner of Clay. open unt!] 9:30 c'clock. 300 Hayes, open until 8:30 o'clock. 633 McAllister, open until 9:30 o'clock. 615 Larkin, open until #:80 o'clock. 1941 Mission, open until 10 o’clock. 2261 Market, corner Sixteenth, open until § o'clock. 108 Valencia, open urti] § o’clock. 106 Eleventh, open until ¢ o'clock. NW. cor- ner Twenty-second and Kentucky. open until 9 o'clock. AMUSEMENTS. Central—“The Octoroon. Tivoli—"The Idol's Ey Orpheum—Vaudeville. Columbia—*"Sag Harbor."” Alcazar—"Friends.” Grand Opera-house—*‘Son of Napoleon.” Caltfornia—""The Lottery of Love.” Olympia, corner Mason and Eddy streets—Spectalties. Chutes, Zoo and Theater—Vaudeville every afternoon and vening. Fischer's—Vaudeville. ¥meryville Racetrack—Races to-day. 70 SUBSCRIBERS LEAYING TOWN FOR THE SUMMER. Call subscribers contemplating a change of residence during the summer months can have their paper forwarded by mail to their new ®ddresses by notifying The Call Business Office. This papcer will also be on sale at all summer Fesorts and is represented by a local agent in all tow: eon the coast. WALL STREET STILL THE CENTER OR a fortnight Wall street has engrossed the F attention of the country. General trade, which is to Wall street as a house of cards, built up by an infart to be blown down again the moment it is fnished, has been in a measure lost sight of. All syes have been centered upon the great railroad deals and the financial cyclones they are causing in the rational maelstrom. playing a very prominent second violin there, and has the Board of Trade alive with jumping jacks, dancing to his music and clutching with greedy fin- gers at his stream of golden corn, which he lets flow | or dams up at will. The country has gone mad over speculation, and the higher the quotations the higher people think they will go, and it is useless to try to convince them to the contrary. The New York bank- ers have for weeks been warning operators and the public not to venture too far, but their words of cau- tion, according to the press dispatches, “have been met with ridicule.” The scenes in Wall street during the week were wild enough to suit the most blase operator. The public joined in the fight of the vast interests for the centrol of certain railroad stocks, and bought every- thing right and left, stretching their credit and bor- rowing all the money they could get to keep up their margins. When, on Friday, the break came, it threw them into wild disorder and they scrambled for cover. More scrambling of this sort will be done later on.” The general trade of the country, considered apart from this dementia in Wall street, seems to be going along all right. The bank clearings continue to make a brilliant surface showing, as pointed.out a week ago, the gain last week over the same week in 1900 being 64.5 per cent, the lion’s share of this increase being due to the speculation in Wall street. But even with that eliminated there would still be a substantial increase. The failures’ were 163 against 173 for the same week last year. The staples are in the main featureless and uninter- esting at the moment. Wheat remains about the same, the daily fluctuations varying but little from the point at which thé market has stood so long. Pro- visions, too, seem to hover about a point more or less fixed. The textiles are dull, with a further decline in print. cloths, while wool, which has lately shown more life in the West and on the Pacific Coast, re- mazine dull in the East. Concessions are being made by sellers of boots and shoes, but Western jobbers are ordering more freely and shipments from Eastern points are reported larger than a year ago. The iron and steel trade continues to make a2 good showing, but it is now said that the production is creeping up to the consumption, as it did -a year or more ago. Better weather has caused an improvement in jobbing and retail business throughout the country, and the crop prospects are very -good almost everywhere. In California the situation has undergone a marked change during the week. The heavy rains of a week ago have practically settled the crop question, and large yields of cereals are now almost assured. Lighter fruit crops this year will probably mean higher prices, ard already quotations for dried fruits have advanced slightly, as before mentioned. Grapes and wine promise good returns, and there is now a very good demznd for spring wool, and a stiff market for hops. It looks as if the farmer was to have another inning. This creates confidence among the banks and mer- chants, helps credits and stimulates new enterprises, and whatever may be going on over ‘the Rockies it is undeniable that the outlook for a fine year in Cali- fornia is brilliant. The Bostop papers in commenting upon McKin- ley’s tour say he will nor attain the full height of the pleasure he expects until he reaches that city; so. it appears the people over there have but a faint idea of the joys of California. A Mr. Phillips, at Chicago, is | HOUSE TO WHITE HOUSE. IFROM LOG H EN Presidents of the United States have gone T(orwa.rd to that great office out of pioneer condi- tions, on the Western and Southwestern frontier. Jackson, the two Harrisons, Polk, Lincoln, Johnson, Grant, Hayes, Garfield and McKinley, all were reared or lived amongst the frontier scenes and tasted of that rugged and excellent frontier life which equipped men ior independence and prepared them for any burden of responsibility and the fearless facing of any fate involving duty in war or in peace. .The pioneer gen- icrations are passing away. President McKinley will probably be the last chief magistrate of the republic whose life goes back to the log house period in those States that now cluster around the country’s cemter of population. What to him is personal experientce will be to his successors history and tradition. The life of the pioneer was an educating experience. In the absence of statutés, which now regulate human action too much, the pioneers practiced self-restraint, abstinence' and mutual justice. stinctively practiced the rule that a man’s best pro- tection in his own rights is by respecting the same rights in his neighbor. When examined it is seen that such principle and practice are the germ of all statesmanship and of all diplomacy. So the people have made no mistake in choosing nearly half of their Presidents from the frontier. When their careers are examined it will be seen that each furnishes evidence of the pioneer quality of mind, and sense of justice, and instinctive statesmanship. The pioneer goes back fondly to the scenes of his early life or his frontier experiences. President Mc- Kinjey in this great tour has crossed many a frontier whose line is marked now only in the sturdy character of the people, and wherever he meets them there is a quick touch of recognition and sympathy and the greeting of qualities which they have in common. But he finds the frontiers gone, The rapid march of population and improvement has effaced the log house; the game no longer promises the hunter a sole means of subsistence; the plains it ranged over are now modern farms or pasture for thousands of neat cattle; the crane is kung in the fireplace no more. AMen seem to need more law to restrain them and life has lost its noble simplicity. There is more comfort in the land, but it is hard to convince an old frontiers- | man that there is more happiness. It is a far cry from the log house to the White House, but the man we honor and nine who share with him the historic honor of the Presidency, faith- | fuily trod the path between the two. As the new British loan of $300,000,000 is said to have been subscribed four times over as soon as it was announced, it is evident the question of cost is | not going to interfere with the war in South Africa. | O1d Dame Britannia has money to burn. THE VALLEJO PROGRAMME. ROM every point of view it is gratifying that a visit to the Mare Island navy yard has been included in the programme of entertainment pro- They learned and in- | | | vided in this city for President McKinley and his | | Cabinet. It is true that arrangements made on Satur- | | day tetween the Vallejo committee and the executive | reception committee do not definitely commit the | President to a visit to Mare Island, but it was con- | ceded, the Secretary” of the Navy and visiting Con- : gressmen would inspect the navy yard, and the Presi- | dent will, of course, have the option of joining them should he find time to do so. | It was announced at the conference that the aim of | the executive committee is to show the President just what he wishes to see, and not to impose too much With that aim the public will sympathize. | It is now well understood the President’s tour is one of almost incessant sightseeing, receptions and speech- n-aking. Such work is fatiguing under any circum- stances, and is particularly so when accompanied by id travel. The President has with him his Cabinet, and a great deal of public business will have to be attended to by them during the trip; and in addition thereto care will have to be taken that the programme | does not entail too much exertion for the ladies who accompany the party. Out of the complex duties imposed upon him dur- ing the time of his stay here, it is possible, of course, that the President will be unable to make the visit to Valiejo, but none the less he should have opportunity, and it is to be hoped he will be able to profit by it. The trip itself will not be fatiguing. In fact it would be scmething of a rest from the parades and public functions which will mainly occupy him during his stay in the city. Even should the President be unable to visit the | navy yard it will be something to have the establish- ment inspected by the Secretary of the Navy and the Congressmen who are to be with us at the time. The main object of placing Vallejo on the programme is to give the officials an opportunity to make a personal inspection of the Government station at Mare Island so that they may perceive its importance and note what is needed in tlie way of extension and improve- ment to fit it for the demands which our increasing interests-in the Pacific Ocean will put upon it. The citizens of Vallejo deserve credit for their ac- t'vity in urging upon the executive committee the change in the programme. Their action promises to be beneficial not to themselves only but to the State, and it is to be hoped that when the trip is made they will have the satisfaction of receiving not only the Secretary of the Navy and the visiting Congressmen but the President and all the members of his Cabinet who have attended him on the tour. A that have taken place in the world in the last twenty years is afforded by the publication by the British Museum of a recently obtained manuscript containing a memorandum on the eastern question drawr up by Chinese Gordon in 1880. Gordon rec- ommended the adoption of the following programme: (1.) The complete purchase of Cyprus. (2.) The abandonment of the Asia Minor reforms. (3.) The union of Bulgaria and Rumelia, with a port. (4.) The increase of Greece. (5.) Constantinople a state, undér European guarantees (6.) Increase of Montenegro and Italy on that coast. (7.) Annexation of Egypt by England, either dircctly or by having paramcunt and entire authority. (8.) Annexation of Syria by France—ditto—ditto— @Gitto. (By this means France would be as interested in stopping Russian pregress as England is:) (9.) Italy to be allowed to extend toward Abyssinia. (10.) Re-establistment of the Turkish constitution, and the establishment of a similar one in Egypt (these constitutions, if not interfered with, would soon rid Turkey and Egypt of their parasite Pashas). An attempt to apply that programme to e‘xisti’ng conditions will show how far the world has swung away from the conditions of 1880. The purchase of Cyprus has been completed. e proposed increase of Greece has been tried by Greece herself and the result has been disastrous to her. Great Britain has | upon him. i A CHANGED WORLD. STRIKING illustration of the poiitical changes i ually annexed Egypt by having paramount and eatite authority there. The chance of giving France a free hand in Syria has been lost, and to-day Ger- rary controls railroad franchises there which assure her domination in that part of the world. The ex- teasion of Italy’s power in Africa toward Abyssinia Les been tried, but after the experience of the Italians with King Menelek it will not be tried again in this gencration. Bulgaria and Rumelia have been par- tially united, or rather a part of Rumelia has been annexed to Bulgaria, and they possess a port on the Elack Sea, but still they are not happy and their union has done little to promote the peace and quietness of the neighborhood. Finally this whole eastern ques- tion which in Gordon’s time was the chief subject of European controversy has been overshadowed by that of China. For a time at least Constantinople has been side-tracked; and its comparative importance to -the world has greatly diminished. Within the twenty years since Gordon drew up his' memorandum inter- netional politics has been revolutionized. EDUCATIONAL NOVELTIES. ISCONSIN University, which has now upwards of 2500 students, has established a course of preparation for public service, giv- ing instruction in such subjects as are supposed to fit men for entering upon public life as a profession. A prospectus of the new departure says: “While the course constitutes a thorough training for citizenship, its specific purpose is the preparation for active work in the administrative departments. The Federal Gov- erninent has over 80,000 positions under the merit system. While the most of these positions do not demand qualifications of a high order, there is a con- siderable and increasing number which do require such qualifications. The State and municipal gov- ernments of our nation are also constantly in need of public servants who have acquired a special train- mng. And although the merit system has not, as yet, been extended to many classes of positions, neverthe- less the persons who are in possession of special quali- fication are in ever-increasing demand. Such a move- ment on the part of the Government must be assisted by offering in the great institutions of learning oppor- tunity for acquiring a thorough knowledge of the business of government. To the training in the gen- eral principles of politics and methods of government there will be added in this course specific instruction in the work of the various gove{nmental departments, and the students will also be kept informed concern- ing the various openings for a career in the public service, as well as the requirements and examinations that form a condition for entering thereupon.” That is a very high sounding promise, and doubt- less it means as well as it sounds, but nevertheless a young man of average ability and ambition will hardly choose well if he determines to spend his university vears in fitting himself for a Government clerkship. Even if every subordinate position in every depart- ment of the Government were included in the so- calicd merit system, and were attainable by passing examinations, there would be very little in the way of inducement for far-seeing young men to enter the service. The Government gives good pay for ordin- ary work, and most Government clerks do that ordin- ary work in a very ordinary way, so they are well paid for what they do; but the chances of promotion are slight and few men obtain in governmental posi- tions anything like the rewards they might have ob- tained had they worked in the open world of com- merce and industry. The youth who enters the ser- vice so buoyantly is generally a disappointed man before he reaches middle life, and in old age has Pardly any hope except that of becoming a pensioner. Avsstranger novelty than that of a university course to At young men for Government clerkships is a com- mon school method of teaching language to children which has been devised in Chicago. The method is described by its promoters as ‘““a combination of visualization, auralization. and action”—or, in the words of common speech, of seeing, hearing and do- ing. It is in the doing especially that the system is entertaining. Thus the chi]‘i is shown such words as “hop,” “skip,” or “jump”; ‘then the words are pro- nounced distinctly, and then the teacher hops, skips and jumps and each pupil is required to follow her examgle, calling out the word as he does each act. The exercises are described as “language lessons” and we are told the children are distinctly warned against learning to read the words, as the object is to teach them to speak and to think. From simple werds the children are carried to sentences, and are calle¢ upon to see and hear and act out such phrases as "‘wash your face,” “comb your hair,” “brush your clothes,” etc. After four months of that training it is claimed the child will have mastered the foundations of education by having learned to see, to think and to speak, instead of learning merely to read. Thus with the kindergarten carried up into the schools and the universities aspiring to assist young men to hold down Government jobs, we progress. Public education has indeed become a well nigh uni- versa] profession and eventually it may undertake to | fit aspiring youth for the vaudeville stage. For some time past the Attorney General of Great Britain has received £10,000 a year and the Solicitor Ceneral £9000; but it has been found those salaries kardly justify great lawyers in leavirig their practice to serve the Government in anything less than a life position, and accordingly Parliament has voted o sn increase the pay that their joint salaries will be £30,000 instead of £19,000. Such salaries for public officials may strike an American as rather extrava- gant, but the British have been running a Government for a long time and experienc has taught them the workman is worthy of his hire and it pays to have the best. . —_—— It is said the Chicago men who guaranteed the Theodore Thomas orchestra concerts in that city are losers to the extent of $20,000, and the next time a classic orchestra goes to Chicago the leader will have to make the venture at his own risk and pass the hat himself. A local company has been organized with the pur- pose of seeking for treasure on ships which have been wrecked or may be lost on the coast. It mifight not be unwise for the Pacific Mail Steamship Company to secure a large block of stock in the new corporation. —_— . A local attorney has protested in court that his face is his own property and without permission cannot be sketched in a public place. He perany feels that he is not a member of that interesting group which places no tangible value on its looks. The State League of Iroquois Clubs will meet in Benicia on the 19th inst. This session may be called in no spirit of unkindness an assembly of the old squaws of the State. ¢ The Buffalo exposition may after awhile obtain a front place in public attention, but up to date it is. only a side show to the Presidential tour. i i i PAPERS ON CURRENT TOPICS. —_—— PREPARED BY EXPERTS AND SPECIALISTS FOR THE SAN FraNcisco CALL. Twelfth Article of the Series on “The Oppor- tunity and the Man”—A Pen Sketch of a Famous Builder of Railways. By W S. Harwood. COPYRIGHT, 180L XIL—JAMES J. HILu. His face is one of singular interest. The eyes are dark and piercing, now twinkling wtih keen appreciation of your joke, if it be neither seasonea too high nor yet too abjectly tame, curiously interesting eyes, reflecting many an electric change in the keen mind. The forehead is high, broad, commanding. Back of it falls away, well down to the shoulders, a shock of silver- streaked halr, while the lower part of the face is covered with a bushy, straggling beard, here and there whitening. The nose is prominent, the mouth a curfous com- bination of the severe and the gentle; delicate, indeed, from one point of view, from another, strong and virile. The fig- ure is rather under the normal, well knit and strong of frame. Seen in gome lights you would think the man fofeign-born, from the Latin half of FEurope, S0 swarthy the tones of his face; but, again, and when he speaks or moves, particu- larly, he is no more the man of the South, but a conquering Saxon, born to rule. This is an inadequate pen picture of one of the commanding figures of modern commercial life, James J. Hill, president of the Great Northern Railroad, just now one of.the leading members of a company of men, small in numbers but mighty in financial power, a company that makes the world pause and wonder what will be next, what move they will make upon the fascinating, ever-changing chessboard of finance, where skill is everything, luck nothing. His Appreciation of Merit. ‘Wkile perhaps finance, or in a more re- stricted sense, the feature of modern com- mercial life which we call railroading, might be called the chief passion of his life, that to which he gives himself with an untiring devotion, vet it would be un- fair to setiim down as a man of one idea, and that the size of a piece of gold. In his beautiful home in the city of St. Paul, on the show street of that city, Summit ave- nue, Mr. Hill has built for himself and his large family a noble residence, one of the finest private residences in the Central ‘West. In this resicgence he built a splen- did art gallery and stocked it with the best that money could buy. Years ago he began buying pictures; as soon, in fact, as he was able to make investments of that kind he bought and bought, and he keeps buying. It is supposed that he has a gallery in money value worth at least $1,000,000, but it represents a sum far and away beyond this, that not-to-be-estimat- ed sum whicR represents the ever-en- hancing value of great works of art. If you chance to meet Mr. Hill personally and you know of a new artist who is sure to “arrive”’—and he does not know of the same man—be sure you have hit upon a fruitful topic, for he is ever on the lookout for the new man in art just as he is.on the lookout for the new man in railroad- ing. He is quick and keen to find and fol- low up merit: He has devoted himself to art just as he has devoted himself to everything else, whole-heartedly. He must know all about a, picture, he must know its genesis, its author’s character, its story. You will find_him, if you chance to be his guest, as_delightful a conversationalist on the subject of pictures as he is direct and laconic should you meet him In the line of business. Practical and Far-Sighted Methods. ‘Whatever Mr. Hill knows he knows; there is no haif-way matter about it. ‘When his railroad had grown stronger and stronger until it was coming to be known as_a leading feature of North- western life, he determined to lead the farmers along th8 lines of his road into more independent ways—to try to help them while he helped himself. It is not every year that the wheat crop is boun- teous; it is not every wheat region that has the soil of a Red River Valley be- neath it, rich to prodigality, one which, while it must some day succumb if not properly rotated, is yet a soil of marvelous fecundity. So he began to talk livestock —better stock, finer strains, better milk- ers, better beef cattle, more of them. He posted himself on the subject; one might almost say he exhausted the subject. Not only did he give advice, but he put it into practical effect ‘on his own stock farm. ‘Whenever he was given an opportunity to make a speech before a body of farm- ers he made it—a terse, forceful, homely- worded speech, direct, understandable, without frills or furbelows. He told the farmers they must school themselves to become better farmers, to be broad-mind- ed farmers, not one-idea farmers. I sup- pose if the number of farmers throughout the Northwest who have been aided by Mr. Hill in a very direct and practical way to increase and enrich their stock should be enumerated it would be found that the list is a long and striking one. Naturally, it was to his interests that the farmers should produce that which would keep his wheels turning, but it was some- thing far more to their individual interest than to his own. \His Study of the Far East. One of the peculiarities of Mr. Hill— though it may hardly be called a pecu- liarity, for it is an attribute of all men who ‘are masters of their trade—is that whatever he wants to know about he wants 10 know about to the last degree; he can leave nothing to conjecture. For example, he saw in the Far East mag- nificent undeveloped possibilities for for- eign -trade. He 1is a carrier of trade Eroducts. He set_himself to the task of powing China, Japan and the whole East. It is said that there are few men in the United States who so_thoroughly know the Orient as does Mr. Hill—not en- cyclopedic or historical or ethnological knowledge, necessarily, but that which serves as a basis for trade present and trade to come—an intimate, personal knowledge, so to speak, with the needs of the Asiatic and how to satisfy those needs. An indication of his appreciation of the situation, his grasp of Eastern possibili- ties, is Seen In the fact that there are now building in an Eastern shipyard for the Steamship company of which Mr. Hill is the president two steamers for the trade between the Pacific Coast and the Orient which will be when completed the two largest vessels on the oceans. Even the Deutschland and Oceanic will be eclispsed by these new leviathians, as each will be 630 feet long and built to carry between them a cargo as great as cauld be hauled on seventy railroad trains, each train composed of twenty-five of the largest freight cars. These ships are to run in connection with Mr. Hill's railroad, and will form no inconsiderable factor in the development of national trade with the Far East. How t His ‘It does not seem tGo great a stretch of statement to call Mr. Hill a born pro- moter of transportation. It was but a short time after he arrived in St. Paul before he became interested in that sub- ject. It was not railroad transportation that first enlisted his attention, nor steamship transportation; it was, if cur- rent local history is to be relied_upon. a city dray. hen he went to St. Paul he was a young man, not yet out of his teens. He was ready to do whatever came to his hand. If he did indeed drive a dray, be sure he drove it to the best possible advantage, taking into account the prevailing competitive conditions, and availing himself of every opportunity to give his patrons a prompt service at a mx'némum of expense and a maximum of rofit. Pe was born in Guelph, Ontario, 1838, and it was in 1856 when he reached St. Paul, young, sturdy, ambitiogs, mon- eyless, hopeful, shrewd, industrious. He was not ashamed to turn his hand to manual labor when other opportunities did not .appear to his taste, but it was not long before he attracted the atten- tion of older men, and a year or two after reaching St. Paul, then a thriving frontier town of 6000 inhabitants, he be- came the local agent of a_ Mississippi River steamship company, the North- western Packet Company, and remained with the company until 1867. His First Railroad. In the year 1573 a railroad which had been struggling along in the region—the St. Paul and Pdcific—defaulted on the in- terest on its bonds. There was $33,000,000 in principal and Interest outstanding against the road, the bonds being held mainly in Amsterdam. The outlook for an early funeral was promising. A young man who by dint of much hard work and thrift had accumulated a fortune of well on_to $100,000—no small sum for the day and region—made up his mind that here was an opportunity, coming but once in a lifetime. How to get hold of this property with so small a capital was a problem yet to be solved; but the young man, this same “Jim” Hill, wasted no time in speculation. He said he would have the road, and have it he did. It took tremendous work; it involved ar- rangements of various kinds with men far more prominent in the financial world than himself; it called into play every element of diplomacy at his com- mand. It was not smooth sailing by any means. Many predicted failure, and a lesser man would have succurabed. At last, however, he secured cuutrol of all the property, and the St. Paul, Minneaj olis and Manitcba road was born. hdg- Hill became general manager of the new road, and when it was at last merged into the present property. the Great Northern, he became president, a posi- tion which he still holds. A, Power in the Industrial World. From a day laborer on the docks of St. Paul to the presidency of one of the leading railroads of America, becoming the confidant and counselor of some of the leaders of the financial world from both sides of the ocean, is the stride of a Colossus. The current newspaper ac- counts of his part in the mighty indus- trial movements of the day suggest that the world pas not yet heard the last of im. In addition to his interest in land trans- portation, Mr. Hill early looked into the possibilities of the great lakes. He has not been confined to wheat alone, but lumber and iron, two commodities easily transportable by lake route, have found ships of his building, while the two finest passenger boats on the great lakes are in commission under his control. He has a beautiful steam yacht for his own private uses, one of the finest afloat. Perhaps the reasons for the success of this man may be included in these brief suggestions: 1. Large native ability diplomatically handled. 2. An iron will. 3. Supreme confidence in the excellence of his own judgment. If you should add to this a power to interest men with money to invest per- haps the picture would be more com- plete, for certainly Mr. Hill has the con- fidence of the financial world as but few men possess it. ‘The president of the Great Northezn Rallway Company is to-day one of the confmanding figures in an era of great financial events. Whatever one may hold as to the desirability of allowing one man, or one set of men. to maintain so powerful a grip upon the industrial forees of the nation, one may not omit in any consideration of the subject this sturdy, compact, sphinxlike, powerful fig- ure, one of the masters of men. L B e S e i e e R e e el PERSONAL MENTION. L. W. Klein, a merchant of Fresno, is registered at the Lick. Judge George D. Gear of Honolulu is staying at the California. Mrs. Walter Hardy of Honolulu has taken apartments at the Occidental. M. Silverthorn, a wholesale cigar manu- facturer of New York, is at the Lick. Mrs. S. J. Dean and her daughter, Mrs. E. H. Guie, are guests at the California. H. C. Lechrer, who is largely interested in the oil business in Bakersfleld, is a guest at the Lick. 4 Mrs. Mary Preuss came up from Los Angeles yesterday and will be at the Call- fornia for two weeks. William G. Oberteuffer, a profainent res- ident of Portland, Ore., is among the late arrivals at the California. John M. Fuller of Buffalo returned yes- terday from Honolulu, where he has been in the interest of the Buffalo Pan-Ameri- can Exposition, and registered at the Lick. ——————————— Choice candles, Townsend's, Palace Hotel® it ds oy btk Cal. fruit 50c per Ib at Townsend’'s.* e e Best eyeglasses, specs, 10c to 40c. Look out 81 4th, front of barber and grocery. * = Townsend’s’ California glace fruits, 50c a ound, in_fire-etched boxes or Jap bas- ets. 639 Market, Palace Hotel bfi . e Special information supplied dally to business houses and public men Ir{“uu Press Clipping Bureau (Mlefl'.g_ 510 Mont- gomery street. Telephone 1042, ¢ e —ee———— ‘Pyrography outfits, sheepskins and fancy woods for burning; cameras, albums and books on photography in artists’ material department. Sanborn, Vail & Co., 741 Market street.. —_ —e———— “Well, who is laying off now?’ asked a keman this morning, as a funeral pro- cession ANSWERS TO QUERIES FLYING EAGLE CENTS—H. F., Hol- lister, Cal. Flying eagle cents of 1857 and 1858 do not command a premium. CORRECT—W. A. S, City. It is per- fectly correct to write-the following super- scription on an envelope, “Mr. John A. Brown Jr.” THE WHEELING—H. M., Bodega, Cal. The United States gunboat Wheeling ar- rived in this port on the 19th of last De- g;;rg;r and was in port on the 26th of last THE ANDRE PRALL—C. A. J., City. The registers and the records of vessels do not show any such vessel as the Andre Prall, consequently this department can- not give ufi information when “that ves- sel will be due at this port.” INDIA~ DUCKS—A. M., Santa Maria, Cal. The assertion, “several months ago i :fiwda. ic;uee in The Call in regard t ndia ducks, and I would like to obtain additional information,” is too indefinite to warrant a search of the files for the item, as the “several months ago” might be within two months or might be within eleven months, and this department has not the time to search the paper day by day and item by item without a statement nearer than thi Hontion. % t as to the time of pub- one-half that on |u¢ able wh ‘Amount when the. oot enade; the same nedmdnnu-teewhmmontryh e, mal a total Tand and 3 on. ths Jowie VALLEJOANS TO THE CALL Last Thursday evening The Call learned that a trip to the Mare Island Navy Yard had been left absolutely out of the pro- gramme prepared for the entertainment of the President during his stay here, and it called attention to the fact in a mews article and an editorial which appeared on Friday morning. The people of Val- lejo had been fighting hard to secure the attendance of the President, and they had well nigh given up hope of securing any recognition until The Call mentioned the matter. As soon as it was brought to the attention of the readers of The Call, how- ever, they took a new grip on their cam- paign and success has crowned their ef- forts. It is now definitely decided that the President shall visit the yard if he so de- sires and the programme can be arranged to allow the trip, but In any event the Secretary of the Navy, who accompanies him, and all the Congressmen visiting the State shall be given the time and the op- pertunity to visit the greatest naval sta- tion of the coast and one as great as any in_the country. That the people of Vallejo feel séme gratitude to The Call and acknowledge it to have been the principal agent in se- curing the much desired recognition is shown by the following editorial utter- ances from the Vallejo press: Call Acts Promptly. The Vallejo Chronicle publishes the edi- torial and article from The Call under the following heading: MAY YET VISIT MARE ISLAND. THE CALL ACTS PROMPTLY ON SENATOR LUCHSING- ER’S LETTER. SAYS THAT MOST IM- PORTANT TRIP OFFERED PRESI- DENT McKINLEY HAS BEEN OVER- LOOKED. Entitled to Warmest Thanks. The Vallejo Morning News has the fol- lowing editorial: From the article in another column it will be seen that The San Francisco Call and Senator Luchsinger are entitled to the warmest thanks of the people of this community. Whether the President comes to Mare Island or not, those who seek to bring him here should be thanked for the interest shown in the community. The News also quotes the editorial and the news article from The Call. A Friend of Vallejo. The Vallejo Times of fMturday morning has the following editorial: A FRIEND OF VALLEJO. The people of Vallejo appreciate the efforts of The San Francisco Call, both In its editorial and local columns, to have President McKinley visit Mare Island. The editor of The Call takes a broad and commendablq view of the situation and Vallejo will not forget him. The editorial then proceeds to quote the editorial which appeared in Friday morn- ing’s Call, and in another column of the Times is run the article which was run in the news columns of The Call ou Friday. WORLD’S NAVAL NEWS. The battleship Formidable has gone through her first coal-consumption trial without a hitch, developing, under one- fifth power, 3262 horsepower with 233 pounds steam, 6 revolutions and a coal consumption of 2.02 pounds. The vessel averaged 11.5 knots. . Germany is rapidly increasing her dock- ing facilitles in Government yards and private establishments. At Kiel the navy has one floating dock and four graving docks, all of which are being enlarged, and the Howald Works dock is in course of lengthening to accommodate vessels of 15,000 tons. < = % Yarrows, at Poplar, the noted build~ ers of torpedo-boat destroyers, have pur- chased an adjoining shipyard, and the establishment now covers an area of eleven acres, with a water front of 700 feet. The buildings, tools and labor-sav- ing appliances are all of the latest im- provements, and electricity is almost ex- clusively used for motive power and for lighting purposes. B SO Bad luck or poor design and material In the machinery of British war vessels is worrying the Admiralty considerably. The new battleship Furious, ordered -to the Mediterranean, had to return to the dockyard before reaching Gibraltar te re- pair defects in her boiler tubes, and an- other new cruiser, the Perseus, is de- tained at Portsmouth owing to defects developed in her engines. o L e The old Achilles, rated on the effect- ive navy list of Great Britain as an ar- mored cruiser, is to be utilized as a guardship at Malta, taking the place of the Hibernia, a former 110-gun line-of- battleship launched in 1304 The Achilles is the second iron-clad vessel built for the British navy, and was launched in 1833. Her first cost was $2,222,730, and the repairs have consumed about $1,417,000 to date. Being protected by only 4%-inch iron armor, her usefulness ceased twenty years ago, but as a stationary flagship in the Mediterranean she is gooed for an in- definite number of years, as the hull is unusually well built. LoES T The French battleship Jena s passing through an extended and varied series of engine trials, two of which have been very satisfactory. The first, under -one- third power, gave 3881 horsepower, with a coal consumption of 138 pounds and a speed of 13.3 knots, and the second, un- der four-fifths power, gave easily 12,500 horsepower, with & 'consumption of 151 pounds. The Jena is of 12,062 tons, and calculated to make a speed of 13 knots with 15,000 horsepower. The vessel has been severely criticized in the British press, but her shortcomings, if any, do not lle with her machiery. e A stationary ship is much wanted at Guam, and, aecording to the Army and Navy Journal, the Navy Department has determined to send out the old storeship Supply, which is said to have lain in or- dinary at the New York yard for many years. The record of this old craft is rather interesting as a link between the old and the new navy. The Supply was a sailing ship of 547 toms, purchased in 1846 for $60,000. During the second year of the Civil War she captured a schooner. laden with arms for the Confederacy, and the sale of the cargo netted Lieutenant Coloecoresses, commanding officer of the Supply, & snug fortune. -The ship served afterward as storeship on the European station, and was laid up from 1870 to 1778, when she made a cruise to France, and was finally retired April 3, 1879. In 1882 Congress authorized the sale of forty- six useless, vessels, and the Supply was sold at avetion May 3, 1884, to Gregory, New York, for $1301. If the Army and Navy Journal is correct it would appear that the buyer repented of his purchase and that our navy must for available material when pushed resurrect a vessel that $1300 seventeen years ago for service the far-off § g R 8 i HH iits 2 i i B 8.8 i