The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 1, 1902, Page 4

4 The— oo Call. .....DECEMBER 1, 1902 MONDAY. N JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Propriclor. Address All Communications to W. S. LEAKE, Manager TELEPHONE. Ask for THE CALL. [he Operater 1.1ill Connect You Witl. t_e Department You Wish. I'CBLICATION OFFICE. ..Market and Third, 8. F. CDITORIAL ROOMS.....217 to 221 Sievemson St. Delivered by Carriers, 15 Cents Per Week. Single Copies, 5 Cents. Terms by Mail, Including Postage: DAILY CALL (jncluding Sunday), one year. DAILY CALL (including Sunda:), € month: DAILY CALL (including Sunday), 3 months. DAILY CALL—By Single Month SUNDAY CALL, Ope Year. WEEKLY CALL, One Yeasr. All Postmasters are wuthorised to receive subscriptions. Sample coples will be forwarded when requested. Mall eubseribers in ordering change of address should be particular to give both NEW AND OLD ADDRESS Jn order 1o insure & prompt end correct compliance with their request. UAKLAND OFFICE.. ++.1118 Broadway C. GEORGE KROGNESS, Yaneger Fereign Advertising, Marquette Building, Chisage. (long Distance Telephone “‘Central 2619.”") NEW YORK REPRESENTATIVE: STEPHEN B. SMITH. . -30 Tribune Buildi NEW YORK CORRESPONDENT: CABRLTON..... «ses..Herald Square NEW YORK NEWS ETANDS: ‘Waldorf-Astoria Hotel: A. Brentano, 31 Union Square; Murray Hill Hotel; Fifth-avenue Hotel, and Hoffman House. CHICAGO NEWS STANDS: Sberman House; P. O. News Co.: Great Northern Hotal; Fremoct House; Auditorium Hotel: Palmer House. €. € BRANCH OFFICES—3527 Montgomery, corner of Clay, oren until 9:30 o'clock. 800 Hayes, open until $:30 o'clock. 632 MicAllister, «pen until $:30 o'clock. 615 Larkin, open until #:80 o'clock. 1041 Mission, open until 10 o'clock. 2261 Warket, corner Sixteenth, open wntil § o'clock. 1086 Va- lercts, open until § o'clock. 106 Eleventh, open untfl ® o'clock. NW. corner Twenty-second and Kentucky, open wntil ® o'clock. 2200 Fillmore, cpen untfl 9 p. m. — A QUIET WEEK IN TRADE. AST week was only about hdlf a week in trade. Thanksgiving occurred in the middle of it, and many merchants and stock operators con- L tinued the holiday into the remaining days, so the | zpparent six days were practically only about three. These were tame and devoid of especial feature, so the week was dull enough. The feeling in Wall street was rather firm than otherwise. Easier money and quiet conditions throughout the country tended to slacken stock operations, and the situation showed little change. The leading feature was the tumble in silver, which brought the bullion value of the American dollar down below 40 cents, with a continued ten- dency downward. Various causes are given as con- tributing to the decline in this metal, such as a pro- posed cessation of coinage by the Indian mints, ship- ments of silver by China to London in exchange for gold wherewith to pay her war indemnity, the ap- proach of Mexico and several smaller countries to a gold basis, etc.; but the fact remains that modern machinery has vastly increased the production of the metal, and more is being dug out of the ground than the world has any need of at present, hence the fall in value. Where it will stop nobody knows, but silver is cheaper and more plentiful now than ever before. Even burglars no longer bother with it. What effect the prolonged depreciation will have on international trade is 2 question which nobody seems able to determine, but it is beginning to be an im- portant factor in many countries, especially those on 2 silver basis As far as the general business of the country is con- cerned, there is little new to say. The volume of trade continues large, and the bank clearings continue to show an increase over 1901, though the gain last week was small, being only 3.8 per cent. The failures were 213, against 182 for the corresponding week last year. Improved weather has stimulated retail trade in some localities, while conrinued mild autumnal days have | restricted it in others, net conditions remaining about as before. The car shortage and traffic con- gestion,” so loudly complained of for the past two or three mionths, seem to show signs of ment, but they are barely perceptible, and in many 1egions no improvement whatever can be observed. Of course, this hampers business very much by de- ferring the delivery of goods, and even causing a suspension of factory operations here and there. The shortage in freight cars alone is estimated at 50,000 for the United States, California itself being about 10,000 short. These figures give some idea of the situation. - Then there is an equal shortage in loco- motives, so the railroads are in tribulation all around. The great staples continue to make a gratifying exhibit. Sugar has been advancing owing to. di- minished supplies of the raw product; coffee is firmly held owing to the destruction wrought by volcanoes in several important producing countries; tea and rice are firm, with more or less crop shortagcs’ reported from different parts oi‘}he world, and pro- visions have been going down of late owing to in- creasing supplies of hogs. But beef and mutton, -on the contrary, are still higher and in much lighter supply than they used to be years ago. Wool, hops and hides are firm and bringing good prices, hops being particularly stif and high. Wheat is quiet steady in the United States, except in California, where we are having a sensational local boom, owing to the extraordinary demand for Australia. Canned goods are 'moving freely out of this State, and the pack of 1902 is already heavily broken into. The same may be said of canned salmon, which has been selling heavily in the Eastern States and Europe for some months. The dried fruit ‘market, too, is raling firm, and every few days some .variety ad- vances, the latest to rise being prunes, of which two- thirds of the crop is reported already sold, chiefly for export to Europe, with the regular annual demand for American consumption yét to be satisfied. Hence it will be seen that the farmer is having a good year. People see this, and the result is an improved de- mand for country lands reported by real estate agents, with prices rising in favored localities. The above conditions show a good, healthy state of trade, without excitement, and at present little de- sire to plunge, the recent check in Wall street having had 2 beneficial effect on those speculators who see the sky full of brilliant rainbows and 2 pot of gold at the bottom of every one of them. Commercially " speaking, the country was mever in better condition. THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, MONDAY, DECEMBER 1 THE CHARTEE ELECTIONS. Y the charter elections to be held on Tuesday B and Thursday of this week the citizens of San Francisco are to be tested with respect to the amount of interest they take in municipal affairs when separated from partisan contests and personal struggles for office. No party issues and no man’s political fortunes are at stake on either election. The voting in each case will be upon a question of municipal business, and the result will show how large a proportion of the citizens are sufficiently in- terested in such propositions to study them and vote upon them. The issues to be decided are fully as important as any involved in the election of .municipal officers. The proposition to undertake the municipal owner- ship and operation of the Geary-street railway in- volves for San Francisco a radical departure from her past policy with respect to public utilities. Should the proposition be adopted we will enter upon what will be really a new era of governmental work, and all who are sufficiently intelligent to understand the law of sequences are well aware that the conse- quences which will inevitably follow the adoption of, the new order of things will be far greater than the mere taking over of a single railway by the city government. The proposed amendments to the' charter. which are to be voted upon Thursday do not raise any single question of such general intérest as that of 5 | acquiring the Geary-street line, and yet they have silver | improve- | and featureless in Europe, and none too | | an importance of their own which must not be over- { 1ooked. They may appear to some persons to be Emaners of little moment, and yet they are designed | to remedy defects in the charter, and the defects are | by no means trifling. In some cases they provide | for economy, and in others they facilitate the trans- action of public business. They are not all of equal merit, but every one of them is sufficiently important [to challenge the attention of all citizens who take éa proper interest in public affairs. In a special degree the proposed increase of the salary of the Assessor deserves the support of the people. For the right administration of the office | there is needed a man of first-rate business ability, | and such a man deserves the proposed salary of $8000 a year. Upon that question the vote ought to be / | unanimously in the affirmative. By the press and by the circulation of the sample ‘ballots the public has been fully informed of the ! meaning and intent of the various amendments pro- 1posed, so that it is not necessary to review them | again at this time. The important thing to be done | now is to bring out a full vote at each election. That i task should not be leit exclusively to the press. Men | of civic patriotism shoulditalk the issues over with | their friends and acquaintances and urge them to be sufe to vote. We are to show the world just how much interest we take in our own affairs, and every | | effort should be put forth to making the showing ; creditable. It has been said that a referendum method of local | government is not practicable in American communi- | ties, because the people do not take enough interest n abstract propositions of law of administration to i vote on them; so that when questions are referred | to the popular vote the results are determined not ! by the sentiment of the majority of the whole com- | munity, but by the few who are specially interested lin the particular measure submitted. There have }been in the past good grounds to sustain that view | of the case. It is to be hoped, however, that in this | instance no such manifestation of popular indifference | will be made. Whether this or that question be E\'oted up or voted down it is to be hoped the vote | will be that of a majority of the legal voters of the city. | The opening of the holiday season has put a heavy | pressure of trade upon our business men and their 1emplcycs, and will be likely to distract the at- Itcmion of many of them from the elections. | It would, however, require very little of their [time to go to the polls and vote, and all of {them ought to have sufficient public spirit to do { so. Our charter provides for many appeals to | the people, and in the years to come such appeals may be frequently made. It therefore behooves us to begin at once to take an interest in these special elections. The business and the welfare of every | citizen is going to be more or less affected in future | by the result of the voting on Tuesday and on Thurs- | day, and each citizen should take part in determining | | the result on every proposition involved. Memphis is clamoring for recognition as the most | | properly arranged city in the Union, and by way of | establishing the claim points out that her football | ground is just across the street from the City Hos- | pital and within hailing distance of the Medical Col- | Tege. VIRGINIA CONGRESSMEN. | | { OME time ago the negroes of Alabama under- S took to bring suit in the United States courts to test the constitutionality of the clause in the Alabama constitution which, by cunning indirection, deprives them of the franchise. The test case was | brought months ago, and ought to be well advanced | by this time, so that in all probability it will ere long | have a hearing before the Supreme Court. A similar course has now been taken by the negroes of Virginia, | but their tactics are far bolder and more impressive than those resorted to in Alabama. Instead of bring- ing suit against a county official who refused them registration, as was done in Mobile, the Virginia | negroes have filed a petition in the United States Court at Norfolk asking the court to restrain the State Election Board from canvassing the returns of | the Congressional elections, and assigning as a cause why the petition should be granted the fact that the petitioners were illegally deprived of their right to vote in the elections. The petition runs in the name of three negroes, two of whom allege they are taxpayers and are able to read and write, while the third, in addition, avers that he was a soldier of the United States and took part in Indian wars. Their attorney is John S. Wise, formerly of Virginia but now a resident of New York. It is asserted by Mr. Wise that the | petition raises every point at issue in the disfranchise- ment of the negroes in Virginia, and is of a na ure that will entitle it to a speedy hearing. These cases ought to be granted right of way on the calendars of the courts. The issues affect tife whole Union, and are a disturbing factor in our political system. It is well known that there is a strong feeling in Congress in favor of taking some action upon the subject, but public sentiment is as yet adverse to such proceeding. It would raise a sectional issue and excite once more antzgonisms | that patriotic Americans desire to see buried with the | dead past. Still, every l{m of justice knows that | | holiday goeds. something should be done to protect the negro in his rights. It is to the Supreme Court of the United States that the people look in this emergency, and there will be profound gratification when the court hears the whole question, and, by deciding it, puts an end to a controversy which now threatens to become bitter and irritating. e ———— It is announced that the tinplate trust has had to reduce prices to meet the competition of independent companies, and we have thus another evidence that business enterprise will solye the trust problem if given a chance to do it. W ing is designed primarily as an object les- son for tourists, carrying a complete demonstration of the orange, lemon and olive grow- ing possibilities of Northern California, it should not be overloked nor be left without patronage by our own people. Outside of the instruction to be derived from it, the fair affords now one of the pleasantest en- tertainments in the city, and should be seen and en- joyed by all. Enterprises of this kind undertaken for the gen- eral good bring little in the way of credit or reward to their promoters. Although every resident of Northern California will derive some measure of ben- efit from the results of the fair, only a very small pro- portion of the whole population has contributed to its support. It is the work of a comparatively few men and women, done for the good of all. Such being the case, the public ought to show a genuine eppreciation of what has been accomplished. The attendance should be large enough every day and cvery evening to show the managers and exhibitors of the fair that their work is attractive and has won popular recognition by its merits. Judged by any standard of excellence, the fair is one of the most notable ever held in the State or the country. It is the first citrus fair ever held at Thanksgiving time, and there is no other part of the globe where such a fair could be successfully undertaken. The exhibits at the ferry depot demon- strate the exceptional advantages of Northern Cali- fornia for supplying citrus fruits for the holiday season, and that fact in itself is enough to render the exhibit a significant event in the industrial history of the State. It is to be regretted that some of the counties of Northern California where citrus fruits can bé profit- ably cultivated in commercial quantities are not rep- resented at the fair. The failure to make use of the opportunity is, however, their loss rather than that of the fair. Visitors looking at the rich and luscious array of fruits displayed will not miss the absent THE OITRU3 FAIR. HILE the Citrus Fair in the ferry build- | ones, and Eastern people, of course, will not know that there are any counties missing. Just as it stands it is a wonderful exhibition of the rich re- sources of the orchards of the upper part of the State, and furnishes one of the finest of the holiday attractions of the city. —— A story comes from Algiers that some vineyards bave been largely damaged by tortoises climbing the vines and eating the grapes. Will some American us speechiess. CHRISTMAS SHOPPING. O mas shopping, and once more The Call re- peats its annual plea that in selecting holiday should, as far as possible, select objects of California production. The choice afforded in such articles artists to the fruits of the orchard and shells of the seashore. » please match the story? We can't let Africa knock NCE more we approach the season of Christ- gifts and souvenirs for Eastern friends Californians is wide and varied, extending from the paintings of The Christmas trade in bric-a-brac, toys, novelties, { curios and luxuries is one of the most impbrtant branches of the world’s commerce. “There’s millions in it.” It is worth having, worth sharing, worth working for. Our importations for the holiday trade are enormous. There are some communities in Europe that are almost wholly employed in making The industty is profitable in more ways than one. It utilizes material that is sometimes valueless for anything else, and it develops a high degree of artistic taste and skill among those who carry it on. Thus it has an intellectual as well as a material benefit to confer, and is doubly advan- tageous to the community that engages in it. In California we have a great wealth of material that | could be worked up into holiday goods and be thus made ten times more valuable in the world’s markets than in any other form. We have, too, among our | people the representatives of every artistic race on | earth. Were a proper encouragement given them there is no doubt that in a comparatively few years we would be able to have an extensive trade in Cali- fornia novelties and find a demand for them not only in our Eastern States, but in Europe as well. THe first step in the development of any new industry is to create a demand for its products, and the only way in which that can be done is to make the products known. A general distribution of California novelties at the Christmas season would be an excellent means of advertising them. Moreover, such novelties would be far more welcome in the East and in Europe than would be some product of those countries. Why send back to New England or old England, to New York or to Germany some article imported from those countries? ‘Why not send something grown or made in California? The subject merits the con- | sideration of all our people at the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. [ There is evidently a most strenuous movement for municipal reform in St. Louis, for not only have the big boodlers been convicted and punished, but the Republic of that city advocates a drastic reformation of the whole community by saying: “There ought to 'be one street by which a stranger in St. Louis can get to the Union Station at held up.” night without , being e . A Mexican who had for seventy-five years plied the diverting trade of bandit was captured the other day, and one is in doubt whether to pity the old fellow on the rude interruption of his interesting career or to praise the officials for their remarkable persistency. Boston musical critics say that Mascagni’s render- ing of “Cavalleria Rusticana”, revealed the fact that the music had never before been rightly given in 1802.: GUNN R ESIDENCE TO BE SCENE OF CHARITY TEA ON SATURDAY IVING a benefit for charity under the auspices of a club or society represents considerable work, but for a young woman to give an affair alone calls forth added pluck and enthusiasm. When Miss Amy Gunn obtained her parents’ consent to throw open their home to the public in glving a tea to raise funds for the Cali- fornia . Girls’ Training Home, she tele- phoned a number of her girl friends, who immediately offered their assistance in making a success of the affair. Enthusi- astic work is going on and Saturday the spacious home of the Gunns at Devisadero and Green streets will be the scene of a delightful affair. The music will be excel- lent. A programme is to be given in the afternoon which children will especially enjoy. A reception will also be given in the evening. Tickets are 50 cents; chil- dren, 2 cents. Flowers and attractive gifts will be sold at artistic booths pre- sided over by gracious members of' the smart set. Among those who will assist are Mrs. Samuel Buckbee, Mrs. Charles Dunphy, Miss Eleanor Warner, the Misses Taylor, Miss Georgie Speiker, Miss Helen Davis, Mrs. James Bishop, Miss Bernice Drown, Miss Jessie Fillmore, Miss Flor- ence Bailey and Miss Mabel Gunn. SN The artistic drawing-room of the Jolliffe residence at 2015 Pacific avenue was the scene of a delightfully informal tea yes- terday afternoon. Miss Gertrude Jolliffe invited a score of her intimate friends to drop in and they gladly did so. The host- ess’ sisters were also present and’/Miss Lurline Spreckels assisted. PR T I am pained to hear that advice is being given to some of our young debutantes which mli render them prematurely world-wise &nd mercenary. They come to us so frank and lovable in their girlish enthusiasm and so free from the malicious thoughts that only too often characterize the sayings of the older ones, that it seems a pity they cannot remain as they are. But I regret to say that some one with a long visual range is advisnig the erst- while schoolgirl to consider the bank ac- PLACING N official of the Union Iron Works su_initted a paper that was read and discussed at the meeting of the Soclety of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers held in New York November 20 and 2. It is enti- tled “Why It Takes So Long Time to Build and Equip a Naval Vessel for the United States.” The subject is timely and interesting. The writer, who has had an experience of sixteen years in the building of warships, criticizes the methods of the Navy Department and es- pecially those of the bureau of construc- tion, and in effect charges the latter with being responsible for delays. He is keenly sarcastic toward the superintending of- ficers, saying among other tpings: “No other government can boast of a finer staff of competent naval constructors and marine engineers in charge of new work under construction for its navy than that of the United States Navy Department. In fact, the ability of the superintending naval constructor or semior inspector of mauchinery is often quite embarrassing to the simple shipbuilder. We have often Leen astonished at the almost supernat- ural ability of the young naval construct- or to acquire_knowledge outside of his own profession.”” ‘There is unquestionably much truth in his intimation that ‘‘the great ability of the gval comstructor of- ten acts as a cause of delay in the bulld- ing of a ship,” for the majority have had no practical experience and are inclined to “show off.” But in chafging the bu- reau of construction with being the chief causge of delay the writer is not fair. He either forgets or ignores the fact that in theshull are centered all the ideas of the sevdal bureaus, namely, those of ord- nunce, equipment, navigation, steam en- gineering, medical and provisions, each one of which is demanding more than its share of weight, space and arrange- ment. The bureau of construction decides and reconciles the. various conflicting claims and prepares the design, but the toard of comstruction frequently, by a majority vete, decides upon certain changes to be made during the building of the ship and these changes hark back to the bureau of construction, which thus has to bear the brunt of .the charge of delay. . e e The British battleship Hood has just completed a remarkable voyage of 2035 miles, from Malta to Devonport, without a rudder. While in dock at Malta it was fcund that the rudder could not be satis- factorily repaired at that yard, so it was taken off and lashed on deck and the Hood proceeded homeward rudderless. Malta to Gibraltar, a distance of 31 miles, .the average speed was 12% knots, and the entire voyage was made in a lit- that city. Mascagni alone knows the meaning of it, and only he can interpret its meaning. Since Colombia has proved so coy a charmer in ref- erence to the concessions involved in a canal treaty, Uncle Sam is flirting with Nicaragua. The old fel- low should have 2 care or he may be cheated by both. & o . tle over days at an average s, of nearly 13 knots. The officers of thevHood are justly complimented on this remark- a:}e feat, which displayed good seaman- ship. . Modern ships of war come in fora great -13! of adverse criticism, notably' anch anl British. According to Sir William Allan, M. P., the British navy is In a “for her hand! RESPONSIBILITY IN THE BUILDING OF BATTLESHIPS MISS AMY E. SUNN 1 | | CaENTHE PHOTO < a s SOCIETY BUD WHOSE COURAGE IN LAUNCHING FETE FOR CHARI- | TY HAS WON ADMIRATION:OF HER MANY FRIENDS, AND MA- TRON WHO WILL ASSIST AT TEA TO BE GIVEN SATURDAY. g o counts of the gentlemen who talk to her at a dance—that if she is chatting with one friend and another appears who has more money, she must loge the man of little or moderate means immediately, that he may not occupy her time. What a flimsy friendship that must be which will not stand the test of a few minutes’ small talk at a party, especially when the man in question is not even an applicant Are there not enough falr weather friends in the world now without uselessly adding the fresh young debu- tantes to the undesirable quantity? R There is much pleasure in receiving vio- lets, but when handed to you by a young lady they have an added charm. Addison Mizner could testify to this if he cared to take us into his confidence, for there is an interesting™bit of gossip in society that, while Mr. Mizner has been killing time of late at St. Mary’s Hospital, his days have been brightened by the regular calls of a typical California girl well known In soci- ety. Rays of sunshine must have agreed with Mr. Mizner, for he leaves the hospi- tal in a day or two and will soon be doing most deplorably inefficient condition. The pessession of sea power he sums up as including steam power, gun power and nien power, and the British, he contends, possesses none of these qualifications. The Terrible, designed for twenty-two knots, had crawled home from China at the rate of eight to nine knots. When the Power- ful came home from China her repairs | bill amounted to $400,000 or $450,000. Hci cbntrasted these with the transport steamer Bavarian, which had steamed 250,000 miies, carrying safely 30,000 men, and had never needed to be laid up for repairs. As to gun power, the newest British vessels were inferior in welght of metal ,to the American and Japanese cruisers of small displacement. As to manning, the fleet was a phantom fleet with a skeleton crew, the ships being short no less than 14,000 firemen, 2000 en- gine-room artificers and %00 engineers. He charged the Admiralty with wasting $160,- 000,000 in royaities to Frenchmen for bad boilers amd in bogus ships. Mr. Allan is the champion for the retention of the old type Scotch boiler, and his intemperate criticisms. of the British navy have be- come particularly fierce since the Admir- alty followed the lead of other naval pewers in introducing the water-tube boiler as a more efficlent steam generator for naval purposes than the old-time box boler. The Terrible consumed 63,000 tons of ceal during her commission of four years and 178 days. Coming home she burned on an average 270 tons a day, of which seventy tons were for auxillary purposes. The splendid gunnery record of the Ter- rible during the Boer war was due to Captain Percy Scott's constantly practic- | ing his crew. He had rigged up a cm'hl trivance on the upper deck, consisting of | a massive wooden upright, in which the breech block was fixed, and a trough rep- resented the barrel of the gun. The train- ing consisted in the gun’s crew lifting the | 100-pound projectile and pushing it through the breech for about six or eight feet, when it rolled down an inclined plank to the deck. By means of this ap- paratus the men became proficlent, and could land and fire twice as quick as be- fore they took their iessons. The British battleship Duncan has passed through her three steam trials without a hitch. The first, under one- fitth power, gave 3755 horsepower and 1.9 knots speed; the second, under four-fifths power, developed 13,717 horsepower and 16.1 knots speed. These two trials, both of thirty hours’ duration, were followed by an eight hours' full power trial, which gave an average of 18,232 horsepower and 18.9 knots speed, and a run over the meas- ured mile course indicated a speed of 19.11 knots. The was built at the ‘Thames Iron Works, London, and is of 14,000 tons, a guaranteed horsepower of 15,000 and a calculated speed of nineteen knots. The ship was down to her load line of 26 fect 6 inches mean during hcrl three steam trials. % Four obsolcte naval guns discarded from the fortifications at Malta were re- cently disposed of in a very simple man- ncr. The guns, all muzzle-loaders, con- books and smart dinners again. Vo His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Siam bears the San Francisco girls’ stamp of approval. I do not mean that he proved a dazaling Prince Charming. The giris think him very likable—two say he is *“‘cute” and another “sort of cun- ning, really but only one girl thought she had something of a crush and she is probably over the idea by this time’ The. Prince went to school at Oxford, has Mved considerable time in England, and is prominent in London society. He has a younger brother who is also popular and lives in the Russian Imperial Palace. It was the Prince’s request that while here he should meet attractive girls rather than people of distinction, yet there was little informaiity about it. R gk Mrs. Kirkpatrick will give a dinner this week for Mrs. Newlands at the Palace Hotel. Mrs. Newlands is a charming wo- man and well liked. I regret that she wiil be with us but one month longer before returning to Washington. SALLY SHARP. FOR DELAY sisting of two 12%-inch caliber, thirty- eight tons weight, and two I0-inch of eighteen tons, were lifted from their ear- riages, deposited on scows, which were towed to sea, where the guns were tum- bled overboard. Two scowloads of shells were similarly disposed of, and the car- riages were sold as old metal. The armored cruiser Cornwall, launched October 9 at Pembroke dockyard, is fitted with twenty-four water-tube boilers of the Babcock & Wilcox type, a boller which fills the requirements more satis- factorily in the United States navy than any other boiler yet tried. - . . The Argentine armored c Rivadi- via, formerly named Genaral Moca: was launched at Sestri Ponente, Italy, Octo- ber 22. The ship is a duplicate of another on the stocks at the same yard, and is of 8500 tons, 17,000 horsepower and twenty- one knots speed. . e e The custom of saluting the quarterdeck by persons leaving or coming on board Is observed in all navies, but probably not one man in a thousand knows its origin. It dates back to the time when on every ship was carried a small shrine of Our Lady of the Sea, and as the quarterdeck was the holy of the holles, the place of supreme authority, the shrine was always erected there, and it became incumbent, therefore, for every one to salute Our Lady's shrie. It is an inherited custom that has lost its religlous significance. PERSONAL MENTION. Edward Weinlander, a business man of Marysville, is a guest at the Grand. O. 1. Woodward, a rancher of Wood- ward’s Island, is staying at the Grand. James M. Lezynsky, a man of Denver, Colo., is registered at the Palace. Colonel J. T. Harrington of Colusa, one of the Trustees of the Home for the Fee- ble Minded at Glen Ellen, is at the Pal- ace. —_—— ' Prunes stuffed with apricots Townsend’s. —_—— For North China Ports and Hongkong ciseo about [\