The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, September 16, 1901, Page 6

SEPTEMBER 16, 1901 JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Proprietor. " héeress ATl Commumications fo W. 8. LEAKE, Manager. MANAGER'S OFFICE. .Telephone Press 204 PUBLICATION OFFICE Telep! EDITORIAL ROOMS.....217 to Teléphone Press 221 Stedenson St. 202. 3 Delivered by Carriers, 15 Cents Per Week. Single Copies, 5 Cents. Terms by Mail, Including Postaze: DAILY CALL Gncluding Sunday), one year.. 5.00 DAILY CALL (including Sunday), 6 months. 3.00 DAILY CALL (including” Sunday), 3 r.onths. 1.50 DAILY CALL—By Single Month 65¢ DAY CALL, One Year. ’1:; WEEKLY CALL, One Year. All postmasters are authorized to receive subscriptions. Sample coples will be forwarded when requested. Mail subscribers in ordering change of sddress should be particular to give both NEW AND OLD ADDRESS in order o insure a prompt and correct compliance With their request. OAKLAND OFFICE. .1118 Broadway €. GEORGE KROGNESS. Mazager Foreign Advertising, Marquetts Butlding, Chic'go. (Long Distance Telephone “Central 2619."") NEW YORK CORRESPONDENT: C. C. CARLTON....... ..Herald Square NEW YORK REPRESENTATIVE: ETEPHEN B. SMITH........30 Tribune Building CHICAGO NEWS STANDS: Eherman House; P. O. News Co.; Great Northern Hotel; Fremont House; Auditorium Hotel. NEW YORK NEWS STANDS: Waldorf-Astoria Hotel; A. Brentano, 31 Unfon Square; Murray Hill Hotel. WASHINGTON (D. C.) OFFICE MORTON E. CRANE, BRANCH OFFICES—527 Montgomery, corner of Clay, open until 3:30 o'clock. 300 Hayes, open until 9:30 o'clock. 633 MecAllister, open until 9:30 o'clock. 615 Larkin, open until £:30 o'clock. 191 Mission, open until 10 o'clock. 2261 Market, corner Sixteenth, open until 9 o'clock. 109 Valencia, open until § o'clock. 106 Eleventh, open until § o'clock. NW. corner Twenty-second and Kentucky, open until 9 o’clock. 2200 Fillmore, openuntil $ p. m. e ——— e AMUSEMENTS. .1406 G St., N. W. Correspondent. Orpheum—Vaudeville, Central—"A Voice From the Wilderness.’ Alcazar—*The Taming of the Shrew."” Tivoli—"Faust.” Grand Opera-house—*Richelieu.” Columbis—*""A Modern Crusoe.” Emeryville Park—Races to-da: Chutes, Zoo and Theater—Vaudeville every afternoon and evening Fischer's—Vaudeville. Sutro Baths—Open nights. AUCTION SALES. Horses, Bugggies, etc.—Tuedday, September 17, at 11 o'clock, m str eet. ‘mbsen & Co.—Monday, September 23, at Estate Properties, at 14 Montgomery street. = THE BUSINESS SITUATION. at By clock. Cry 12 ( HE condition of trade expresses the stability of the American people and the American re- public. During the whole of last week, up to agic end, seventy millions of citizens, watching h grave faces the national sick bed at Buffalo, t about their business with American calmness. mercantile polity which has® made the ican a creditor instead of a debtor na- and which has placed it at the head of the moneyed countries of the globe, lay dying, there no financial disturbance of importance, nor was any expected. But with characteristic pru- was dence'the Government cast a cautionary anchor to | windward, and the Secretary of the Treasury an- nounced that he would swell the floating cash of the country’s financial center and thereby ease any ten- sion in funds by purchasing bonds. The banks loaned freely during the early days of the week, and this helped matters along. Still, on Friday, when the sudden change in the President’s condition occurred, Wall street at once weakened, and stocks went off from two to four and five points, while call money went from 6 per cent to 10 per cent, though it fell back to 6 per cent before the close of the day. The announcement of the President’s death on Saturday morning was fol- Jowed by the immediate closing of the exchanges in New York, and indeed throughout the country, but this action was prompted by respect for the illustrious dead rather than by any intention to avert 2 crisis. . In fact, on the last day of the President’s life, and consequently the last business day of the week, the authorities of the New York Clearing- house took no extraordinary action, for none was needed. The mercantile business of the country, by no means as sensitive as the stock and money mar- kets, has gone on precisely as usual ever since the President was shot. The speculative markets, such as that on the Chicago Board of Trade, flurried a little at first, as was ratural, but almost immediately steadied. As for the general distributive trade of the country, that went on without a pause, and afl parts of the United States reported business in ‘a flourishing condition. of 548 per cent over the corresponding week t year, New Orleans being the only important city show-a falling off. The failures were 182, against to 167 for the same week last year. The great staples of the country showed little change during the week. The steel strike is a thing of the past, and in anticipation of this result the feel- ing in the iron and steel markets had been much bet- ter. Boots and shoes are quieter at Eastern manufac- turing centers, but are in good demand in the differ- | ent distributing markets. Wheat is steady, though the movement is not as active. Dry goods are reported in active demand, and all available supplies of cotton goods are being taken at firm prices. The export of wheat continues very large, the shipments for the week being 6,648,000 hu’shc!s, against 4,666,000 for the corresponding weck last year. Provisions have ruled very strong, with an advancing tendency in lard and bacon. Sugar has declined, but this is the only important staple to exhibit weal kness. Business in our local market has been a reflex of the Eastern situation for the past week. The strike situation scems to be slowly clearing, and every day sces more men at work. There is a general feeling among the merchants that the disturbance is in its last hours. As soon as it is over pronounced ac- tivity in many lines of trade is anticipated. Other- wise local conditions remain about as before. It is said the French people are paying much less attention to the controversy with the Sultan than to the approaching visit of the Czar. They are jingoes cnough to Tike war talk when there is nothing better to do, but they like pageants, parades and pleasure much better. ough the originator of the remarkable financial | The bank clearings showed | { OUR NEW PRESIDENT. PON' being summored to take the oath of U office and assume the responsibilities of Pres- ident of the United States Rooseveit prefaced the act with the statement: “I shall take the oath at once, agreeable to the request of the members of the Cabinet, and in this hour of terrible national be- reavement I wish to say that I shall continue abso- Hutely unbroken the policy of President McKinley for the peace and prosperity and honor of our beloved country.” A little later he requested the members of { the Cabinet not to tender their resignations for the | present, at least, but to continue in office, and the request was complied with. Thus the country pzsses under the control of a {new admiristration with no change from the spirit of that which has made the nation so prosperous and has so completely won the approval of the people. It is of course foresecen that changes in the Cabinet will soon come. Several of the present Cabinet of- ficers desired to retire some time ago, and were in- duced to r¢gmain only by the personal solicitations of their chief. These will retire and new men will take tion ‘will be upheld in their entirety and the business of the Government will go on undisturbed. There will be, however, a change in the Govern- ment against which there can be no guarding. It is not permitted to any one man to adopt the per- sonality of another, or to exert that other’s personal influence. President Roosevelt will not be President McKinley. - A new infiuence is to emanate from the office of the chief magistrate of the republic, and that | office is clothed with such great powers that the effect of the change will be felt in almost every branch of the Government. There will remain the old spirit and the old policy, but the one will be manifest through 2 different individuality and the other will be advanced by different methods. Such being the case it is fortunate for the country that the new President is not an unknown man, nor cne untried by the responsibilities of public office. Although he has attained the Presidency at a younger age than any of his predecessors, President Roose- velt has not reached it by a sudden bound. He has made his way upward from office to office and has had experience both in legislative and in executive | positions. He is known to be a man of singular | firmness of character. From first to last his career | has been marked by acts which attest his courage, his indomitable will, his patriotism and his integrity. | He has never been an imitator of any man nor a fol- lower of any man. Irdeed, his personality has been so original that it made him a noted man as soon as he entered the arema of politics, and while yet but |a young and new member of the New York Legisla- ture he acquired a national reputation. It is therefore with every confidence in his character and in his statesmanship that the people greet- their new President. Had his accession come by any other means than through the instrumentality of assassina- tion he would be weicomed to Washington with the plaudits of the capital, and throughout the country the people would have joined in rejoicings from the | Atlantic to the Pacific. He enters office amid the mourning of the republic, and no heart mourns more sincerely than his. None the less the nation hails { him with loyalty and with trust, knowing that in his | hands there will be continued unbroken the policy | of President McKinley for the peace and prosperity E:md honor of our country. Some British promoters are talking of construct- ing a railroad from Alexandria to Shanghai, so as to | counteract the Siberian railroad. The projected line would be about 6400 miles long. The central portion of it, however, would be composed of certain rail- | ways now in operation in India, so that the amount of new road to be constructed would be only a little over 3000 miles. Should the project be carried out and Cecil Rhodes succeed in establishing his railway irom the Cape to Cairo, it would then be possible to start from Cape Colony and travel through India and China and thence back to Europe by way of Siberia without change of cars, provided the British and the Russians could be induced to work the systems to- gether. AN EXAMINER AGENT. ITH its usual discrimination in the selec- tion of agents to gratify its malice the Ex- N ~ aminer set James Bowlan of the Hackmen's Union to work to get the Labor Council to boycott The Call for publishing the news of the day fully and fairly. This Bowlan has no rightful place in any union of honest workingmen. He is a disgraced politician, and has a criminal record beginning with a conviction for petty larceny, including a conviction and sentence to tweniy years’ imprisonment for the murder of his wife, and now culminating ‘in the em- ployment of the Examiner. By the influence of political bosses Bowlan ob- tained a pardon after serving six years in the peniten- tiary, and is now free to serve the cause of yellow journalism. Hig scheme for getting the Labor Coun- cil to declare a boycott against The Call was worthy of the journal that employed him. He, together with M. C. Coffey, president of the Hackmen's Union, presented the boycott resolution to the council, but they did so without the consent or even the knowl- edge of the Hackmen’s Union. The members of the union have, in fact, emphatically repudiated the ac- tion of Coffey'and the ex-convict by publishing a card declaring: “We vigorously protest against any attempt on the part of M. C. Coffey antl James Bow- lan to declare a boycott against The Call or any other | paper. Their action in trying to have a resolution passed condemning the policy of The Call is silly in the extreme and was rot countenanced by the mem- bers of the Hackmen’s Union.” Of course the Labor Council did not adopt the resolution, so the effort of the agent of the yellow journal was done with no other effect than that of bringing to light once more his own criminal record, and revealing the underhand methods by which the Examiner is trying to gain favor where it deserves none and to injure legitimate journalism. There is no telling to what depths the' Hearst pa- pers will go. Time and again they have reached some point of degradation which the decent public believed to be the lowest possible, but always they have managed a little later to burrow lower still. Probably they may some day surprise us with some- thing viler than the employment of a wife-murderer to try to bring about the boycott of a business gival, and 'so we will not venture to say that Bowlan is the basest of their agents or that his scheme is the Iworst the Examiner or the other Hearst papers can jdo. All that we can say is that there has never been 1 paper in-the past so vile as to serve as a mtodel in this kind of trickery, not one now existing so cop- temptible as to seek to rival it, nor is it likely that degenerating anarchy through years to come will ‘ever sink low enough to furnish it with an imitator. 1 Nothing can Surpass- one Hearst journal but itself their places, but the great policies of the administra- | or another Hearst journal, and so without a prede- cessor in its peculiar viciousness, without the stimu- lus-of a rival and without hope of a follower, tfie thre¢ Hearstlings miay go on their yellow course original, unrivaled and despicable. Jersey City authorities have struck a body blow at an ancient, respected and thriving industry. They insist upon preventing druggists from' selling whisky without a prescription or a license. Local druggists have much to be thankful for in their condition. S E———— THE DAY OF MOURNING. RESIDENT ROOSEVELT has appointed P Thursday, the day of the burial of McKinley, as a day of mourning and prayer throughout the United States, and recommends “that all the peo- ple do assemble on that day in their respective places of divine worship, there to bow down in submission to the will of Almighty God and ‘pay out of full hearts their homage of love and reverence to the great and good President whose death has \nittcn the nation with bitter grief.” The Governor of the State and the Mayor of the city have taken action in accord with the President’s proclamation. In this city a committee has been ap- | pointed to make preparations and arrangements for the proper observance of the solemn day. Every- thing, thergfore, which can be done in the way of | official formality has-b€en done. It now remains for the citizens to do their share. Every one should early in ‘the week so arrange his private affairs that he can close his place of business on that day and take part in the demonstration of the pubfic Sorrow. It should be a day of universal mourning. Not one true citizen should ignore it or permit any private business or pleasure to interfere with its solemn ob- servance. We have as a people a deep lesson to Jearn from the tragedy which has stricken down- the chief magis- trate of the republic, and the significance of that les- son cannot be more profoundly impressed upon the popular mind than by the solemn and mournful cere- monies of the day on which all that is mortal of our great leader will be laid to rest in the earth from which it came. It is accordingly in the highest de- gree dcsirable that the attendance upon the cere- monies of the day should be so large and the sorrow of the community so abundantly manifest that even the most indifferent will be impressed by it. There is not one intelligent understanding in the city that should not be made to realize the enarmity of the crime that has been ccmmitted and the dread respon- sibility -that rests upcn any who have in the past stimulated those dread passions of hatred that domi- nated the malignant heart of the assassin and prompted his crime. o ——— The local yellow shcet has proposed the establish- ment of a penal colony for anarchists. The sugges- tion would be complete if the plant of the saffron rascal with staff and accessories were sent to the colony. We would then have the right newspaper for the right people. ‘ work when thcy were set to the task of com- piling the builetin on agriculture in Alaska. Indeed so small was the amount of data® in their hands that the bulletin would have been but a single FARMING IN ALASKA. ENSUS officials were not overloaded with sheet oi paper had it not occurred to some ingenious | member of the staff to fill out with a map of the country. The record shows that in the summer of 1900 the census enumerators found twelve farms in Alaska, comprising in the aggregate 159 acres, of which 104 acres is used for the cultivation of vegetables and hay, while the rest is used for pasturage. The total farm products of the year were valued at $8046, .which is certainly a very good result from so small an acreage. When compared with the population, however, the agricultural returns are seen to be very slight. bulletin says: “The value of agricultural products was but 12.7 kents for each inhabitant of the Territory and 24.4 cents for each inhabitant of the southern district in which all the farms are located. This is in marked contrast to the agricultural conditions in the States and other Territories. For each inhabitant of Ari- zona, for example, the average value of agricultural products in 1899 was $57.” Small, however, as were the results of farming in Alaska during the census year, the experiments in the work of growing foodstuffs in that frozen country were interesting. It is to be noted in the first place that despite the fact that the land was nominally free it was by no means cheap land. The report says: “The main expense incurred by the settlers in open- ing farms has been in the preparation of the soil for cultivatioa. his has been very high—in some cases $120 per acre.” With such a heavy cost for prepara- tion it is inevitable the farms should be small. out of the twelve enumerated there are five that re- port less than three scres under cultivation, three contain over three and less than ten acres, and the remaining four contain from twenty to forty-nine acres each. Most of the farms are grouped around Juneau and Sitka. One is operated in connection with the Holy Cross Mission on the Lower Yukon, and there are a few small gardens in the villages of the Yukon Valley. The season bétween killing frosts is too short for the cultivation of cereals, but the long pe- riods of daylight, the comparatively high tempera- ture and the abundant rainfall, which mark the brief | growing season, are favorable to the rapid growth and early maturity of nearly all kinds of vegetables. It is therefore probable the industry wiil increase in the neighbox;hood of the mining camps and other settlements where there is a good demand for the products. No information was obtained by the enumerators concerning the farming of the Indians, but it is known from other sources that the natives are making considerable progress in that direction. The bulletin says: “Near some villages contact with white men has taught the natives the use of improved farm utensils, but in other localities they till the land with staves and other crude implements. The mis- sionaries are introducing modern tools. among the Indians and instructing them in improved methods of agriculture. The establishment of agricultural ex- periment stations has been very beneficial, and gives promise of accomplishing still greater results.” Seo perhaps at the next census Alaska may have an agricultural bulletin which will not require a map to help it out. The Democrats of Massachusetts are talking of nominating for Governor a man named Gamaliel Bradford, and it sounds is if they had been robbing a Puritan graveyard. Somefl:fing apbears to be radically wrong with the Jocal Board of Public Works. it has not made a mistake, For a week at least { The | Thus | | combined horsepower, in the French nav, 1 | ment. | Hence, too, the woolly lamb that squeaks when you press its | horsepower and consuming coal at the rate of 2.06 pounds. | used by the two ships on the return trip was 451 and 550 tons | views as to the six best battleship types. | experts were Prince Henry cf Prussia, Grand Duke Alexander \million “copies of “which' were printed on THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1901. YOU PUSH THE BUTTON AND THIS DOES THE REST +- NEW AUTOMATON . 1 - . L. P. PEREW OF TONOWANDA, N. Y., INVENTS AN ELECTRIC MAN OF STEEL, WHICH IS REMARKABLY LIFELIKE, CAN DRAW A CAR CONTAINING SEVERAL PERSONS AND TRAVEL SMOOTHLY AT THE RATE OF TWENTY MILES AN HOUR. { = - s d HILDREN who have not yet grown up, and those who have already done so, are always greatly interested in anything that hcs within itself the power of movement. It is said that there is now comparatively little sale for toys that look always alike and-that have no means of move- Hence the delight felt in dolls that oven their eyes when made to stand upright, and close¢ them when laid down. tum-tum, the mouse that runs round in a circle, the coliapsable pig, the monkey on a stick, the figure of the preacher which turns its head from side to side, raises its hand, rolls its eyes and thumps the desk. 4 One of the most interesting and remarkable of automata is | the electric man invented by L. P. Perew of Tonawanda, near Niagara Falls, New York. The automaton Is seven feet five inches high and is clothed in a suit of white duck, with a white yachting cap upon its head. The feet are made of inflated india-rubber, and wear a pair of 13% shoes. The hands are wonderfully life-like in appearance, being brown, as if from exposure to the sun and wind. They hold metal'rings attached to chains, which are connected with the car drawn by the automaton, When the figure is first set in motion there is a little whirring noise, as though clockwork had been started. After a hesitating step or two the figure walks smoothly, evenly and almost noiselessly, and can keep up a good pace for an almost indefinitely long time. Within the figure is a talking- machine, svhich, on the occasion of a recent trial. said in a clear voice, “I am going to walk from New York to San Fran- cisco.” Two men will be carried in the little car drawn by the automaton, and Mr. Perew says that the figure can travel at the rate of twenty miles an hour, or 420 miles per day, allowing for three stops of an hour each. At this rate the figure would cover the 3250 miles between New York and San Francisco in 162! hours, or six days, eighteen and a half hours. This wonderful automaton can not only walk straight ahead, but it can also perform the remarkable feat of stepving over an obstacle. The skin of the figure is made of aluminum, sup- ported by a strong framewcrk of steel, and in the back is a small metal tube about half an inch in diameter, through whichy runs the electric current that controls the figure’'s move/ ments. The only other ccnnection between the figure and the car is the chain from each hand to the vehicle. The inventor has formed a company, called the United States/ Automaton Company, with offices in Buffalo, N. Y., and it is proposed to go into the mandfacture of the figures on a large scale. It is possible that the figure may be introduced into warfare, which will then become an affair of machinery to an even greater extent than it already L e e e a a a a a e a S R S R S e e a . ] TESTS DEMONSTRATE THAT THE FRENCH BOILERS FOR WARSHIPS ARE SUPERIOR TO ALL OTHERS Interesting Trials by British Naval Vessels Prove That Both ‘the Old Style Scotch amd the Believille Water-Tube Boilers Are Imperfect. N interesting detailed report on the boiler trials of the A Minerva and Hyacinth during their voyage to Gibraltar and back to Portsmouth has been made by the com- mittee. The distance run by the Hyacinth was 1810 knots during 1034 hours, with an average horsepower of 7047 and a_coal consumption of 1.97 pounds, the speed being 7.6 knots. The Minerva made a run of 2640 knots during 147 hours—an average speed of 17.9 knots per hour—with 7007 | The maximum power cf the Minerva was about 8700, while that of the Hyacinth was nearly 10,000 for two hours, and the coal respectively. The radius of action based on the coal carried and consumed is about 2930 miles for the Hyacinth and 3000 miles for the Minerva. The ships are indentical as to hulls, but differ in engines and boilers, the Minerva being fitted with the old-style Scotch boilers and the Hyacinth with Belleville water-tube boilers. The failure of the latter was chiefly due to. leaky joints, but serious complaint was also made over the Minerva's boilers. With the Belleville boiler out of the race of competition as a steam generator in warships, the contest is practically narrowed down to the Niclausse and the Babcock & Wilson water-tube boilers. The former, which is of French design, has had a good start of the American boiler and has been introduced to the amount of 542,500 horsepower in eleven navies, partly as follows: Twenty-four ships, 225000 : Russia and Eng- land, 4 ships each; United States, 6 ships of- 106,000 horsepower, and Italy, 3 ships of 47,000 horsepower. The ships in our navy for which the Niclausse boiler has been selected are the new battleships Maine, Pennsylvania and Georgia; Charleston and Colorado, armored cruisers, and the monitor Nevada. It will be remembered that the Spanish cruiser Colon, which made such a splendid run to escape capture at the fight off Santiago three years ago, was fitted with Niclausse boilers, and if the engineer personnel had come up to the perfection of the ma- terial under its control the Colon would undoubtedly have escaped from our ships. ding naval constructors and navy officers in this country and Wbroad were requested some time ago to exnress their Among these naval of Russia, Captain Mahan, U. S. N.; Admiral J. O, Hopkins and Chief Constructor William White of the British havy, Sir Charles Wilke, Rear Admiral Cervera and M. Bertin, chief con- structor in the French navy. The vote of the majority was given to the Italian battleship Vittoria Emanuele and the Jap- anese battleship Mikasa. The Italian ship is of 12,624 tons di placement and 22 knots speed, and carries a battery of twa % inch, twelve 8-inch and twelve 3-inch guns, The Mikasa is 15,: tons displacement, 18 knots, and Jias a battery of four 12-inch, fourteen 6-inch and twenty 3-inch guns. The Itallan ship was only begun about a year ago, and will not be ready for service within four years. . . . Thornycroft has launched one of three torpedo-boats built for the British navy. She is of the class numbered from 98 to 109; nine in all, of which flve more are to be built. They are @ i b oo oo et ANSWERS TO QUERIES| A CHANCE AN AUGUST DATE—J. H. M., City. ! The 15th of August, 191, fell on a Friday. A DIME OF 189%4—Subscriber, City. There is no premium on a dime of 1894 unless it is one coined in San Francisco. By S o DYE—L. A. 8., City. This department does not propose to -advertise the dye named in youg communication by declar- ing that it is ‘‘superior to all others.” You are at liberty to make the test on your own account. OLD PAPER—L. A. D,, City. The U- ster County Gazette of January 4, 1300, you have is a fac-simile of the original, a boiling? edly not, madam. of pump wate ‘aged” paper and sold at 25 cents apiece about thirty-five years ago. ; PATENT—Subscriber, Vallejo; Cal. The “proper proceedings to secure a patent’ is ta engage a reliable patent agent, who will conduct the business for youw. You may ‘make the application personally, but in so doing, if your invention is a valu- able one, you may make a mistake by reason of the lack of .knowledge of the de of procedure and expose yourself @ the possiblility of having somg ‘sharper steal your patent from you. San Jose Probably Governor politics of the State the past. RATES at $60 for round trip, & Pacific Coast S. 5. Co., S8 oW £ Mrs. Housekzeper—Jane, are the eggs Cook (formerly of Boston)—Most assur- Albeit, T believe I may safcly say the water is in- which they have been immersed.—Philadelphia Press. “Henry, you are getting old.” “Nothing of, the sort.” = “Yes, you are; every Fourth of July now wou tell about how your folks used to have to cool the watermelon in a tub ’—Chicago Record-Herald. Machine Runs Governor. £00d: politics by appofnting Dr. Lawlor to succeed Dr. Osborne as'superintendent of the Home for Feeble-minded Children; and =o he did if the machine is to run the —— !?MER Corébnado- Beach, Cal., effective after April 15: 160 feet by 17 feet, displacing 178 tons on a draught of 8.4 feet, and are fitted with single screw engines of 290 horsepower, calculated to give a speed of 2 knots with a load on trial of. forty tons. There is'a marked difference between the recent designs of French and British torpedo-beats, the former, al- though smaller, having considerably greater draught and therefore likely to be better sea boats. The French boats are also fitted with twin serews, gfving better maneuvering quali- ties, so essential in vessels of this class. On the other hand, the British boat engines being reduced to one-half of the for- mer practice, greater strength and more simplicity-is obtained, with chances of breakdowns lessened, and better assurance of reliable speed. . . . The corrected time and rounds of fire from the 13.4-inch gun on board the French coast defense ship Valmy at a recent trial was four rounds in five minutes. The statement was first made that five rounds were fired, but as the gun was loaded for the first round, the actual rapidity is thus reduced to four rounds, or at the rate of one and a quarter minutes between fires. Tha British battleship Royal Sovereign is credited with. six roun: in twelve minutes, and the Empress of India with an interval between rounds of one minute and twenty-seven seconds, while in the new battleships for our navy a rapidity of one and a half minutes between fires is claimed to be sufficient for the 12-inch guns. . . . Non-inflammable wood has been abandoned In the British navy, as in our navy. The new armored cruiser Cressy, placed in commission last May, is the first British warship fitted with this material, and during this brief period it has been found that the chemicals in the wood have greatly injured the offi- cers’ uniforms, especially the gold lace and buttons. The fact that the wood thus prepared would prevent fire from destroy- ing ship and lives, as was experienced on board the Spanish ships off Santiago, is evidently second in importance to the preservation of the gold lace and gilded buttons of the officers’ uniforms. Similar reasons are said to have prompted the dis- continuance of non-inflammable wood in our navy. Navy building is progressing at a rapid rate in Germany, three battleships having been launched within the last fifteen months. They are all of the same type and size, namely 11,700 tens and 18 knots speed, and have been named Wittelsbach, Zaehringen and Schwaben. A fourth, named Wettin, is fast approaching the launching stage of completion. . . . A French armored torpedo-boat named Trombe has made a successtul trial at a speed of 26.6 knots, exceeding the con- tract by six knots. She is one of seven boats of like dimen- sions, namely, 144.2 feet length, 15.2 feet beam, 10 feet draught ard 152 tons displacement, with a horsepower of 1200, and will cost about $205,000. . . The Viper, wredked during the recent British naval maneu- vers, is being destroyed by means of expiosives. The hull w: evidently put together with the best material and excelle workmanship, as it has required 2500 pounds of guncotton to Gestroy the vessel so as to enable transportation of the rem- nants._ TO SMILE. oo e @ Choice candies, Townsend's, Palace Hotel* —_————— Cal. glace fruit 50c per 1b at Townsend's.* ——— Selling out best eyeglasses, spees, 10¢ to 40c. Look out for 81 ¥Fourth, front of bar- ber and grocery. b ——ee——— Special information supplied daily to business houses and public men by the Press Clipping Bureau (Allen’s), 510 Mont- gomery street. Telephone Main 1042, - CALL ATLASES WILL SOON BB READY FOR ALL Another carlosd of Call Premium Atlases left Chicago Thursday, September 12. They will arrive in this city, and be | ready for distribution about | September 23. | Berald. Gage thinks he’ did Every Call subscriber is en- | titled to a copy of this fine book at the premium price of $1.50. None but CALL read- ers are entitled to the Atlas. in the future as . g ey Flotel del Coropado, 4 New Montgomery st.