The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 27, 1902, Page 6

THE SAN FRANCISCO BER 27, 1902 ....DECEM JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Proprictor. Zda};’“ All Communications to | wfysviE;&fifih:E{ir { Xr TELEPHONL. f Ask for THE CALL:‘EQ_O;RHQO!' Will Connect | You With the Departmert You Wish. PUBLICATION OFFICE EDITORIAL ROOMS. . Market and Third, S. F. .217 to 221 Stevenson St. Delivered by Carriers, 15 Cents Per Week. Single Copies, 5 Cents. Terms by Mail, Including Fostage: DAILY CALL “Uncluding Sunday), oue year. DAILY CALL (ncluding Sunday), § mont DAILY CALL dncluding Sunday), 3 months DAILY CALL—By Single Month EUNDAY CALL, One Yeer, WEEKLY CALL, One Year. Mail rubscribers fn ordering change of address chould he particuler to give both NEW AND OLD ADDRESS in order o ineure = prompt and eorrect compliance with their request. OGAKLAND OFFICE. . ++.1718 Broadway €. GEORGE KROGNESS, Yurrger Tereign £évertising, Merguette Building, Chicago. (Long Distance Telephone *‘Central 261! NEW YORK REPRESENTATIVE: STEPHEN B. SMITH. .30 Tribune Building NEW YORE CORRESPONDENT: €. C. CARLTON.... ++.Herald Square NEW YORK NEWS STANDS: Waldorf-Astoria Hotel: A. Brentano, 31 CTnlon Square; Murray Hill Hotel; Fifth-avenue Hotel and Hoffman House. CHICAGO NEWS STANDS: Sherman House; P. O. News Co.; Great Northern Hotel; Tremont House: Auditorium Hotel; Palmer House. BRANCH OFFICES—S2] Montgomery. corner of Clay, open unti]l 9:30 o'clock. 300 Hayes, open untfl 9:30 o'clock. 633 McAlister, cpen until $:30 o'clock. 615 Larkin, open until $:30 o'clock. 1341 Mission, open umtil 10 o'clock. 2261 rket, corner Eixteenth, open untfl 8 o'clock. 1086 Va- lencia, cpen until 9 o'clock. 106 Eleventh, open untfl 9 o'clock. NW. corner Twenty-second and Kentucky, open uotll § o'clock. 2200 Fillmere, open until 9 p. m. = RAILWAY TRAVEL. HILE the shock of the fearful catastrophe W at Byron has given rise to a demand for full investigation into the cause ‘ot the ac- cident, and has impressed upon the public the need | of a better system of railway operation, care should | be taken by the earnest advocates of reform mnot to | exaggerate the evils of the present system nor to soj misrepresent the facts as to make railway travel ap- | pear much more dangerous than it is. Such exagger- | ations and misrepresentations will do more harm than | good to the cause in which they are presumably em- | ployed. The great mass of the American people | know that on the whole American railways are better | managed than those of any other country in the world, and’ while they are ready to arge the adoption of improvements as the developments of traffic call for them they will not willingly support a clamor based on falsehood and dependent for emphasis upon miere wildness of assertion. The Cali has profoundly deplored the mismanage- | ment of whatever kind it was that led up to the wreck ' at Byron and the dreadful loss of life that attended | The duty of determining the nature of the faulti and the responsibility for it rests with the legal au-| thoritics and in due time their investigations will be | made known. In the meantime it will be as well for | the public to bear in mind that such catastrophes are very rare. The occurrence of one does not represent | the rule but the exception in our railway traffic. To{ cite it as a proof that railway managers are reck]:ss,‘, that railway systems of operation are dangerous, that | railway employes are incompetent, would have no| other effect than that of zlarming the timid and ex-| citing af unreasonable hostility against men who have | made our railway system the wonder and the envy of the civilized world. At the present time a large passenger travel from | the East to California is expected. The State as \velli as thef railroads has done much to promote such | travel. Various associations of enterprising men in | cvery part of the State have been busy for months past in circulating pamphlets and other forms of ad-; vertising matter in the East to induce tourists, home- seekers 2nd investors to come to California for the winter. How foolish it would be now, just when the | travel is due, to begin spreading exaggerated stories of the dangers of trzvel on lines leading to the| State. | That we must have improvements in the operation | of our railways goes without saying. As the country | increases in population, as freight and passenger | traffic augments, it becomes necessary to abandon | methods of transportation which are no longer ade- | quate to the needs of the growing community. Tlut{ our railway managers have not kept up with the de- | mands of the expanding business is quite true. They | have had neither a sufficient number of locomotives | nor a sufficient number of cars. They have under the | stress of the demand run their trains at times on | faulty schedules. There have been delays in business | and there have been accidents. All that is conceded: | but the fact remains that railway traffic and travel throughout the United States is not dangerous | enough to occasion alarm in the mind of anybody. Bad as was the accident at Byron there was noth- ing in it to justify zny charge of utter recklessn:ss“ against the railway company or any of its managers. ! nor to affiord sufficient reason for spreading abroad | reports that railway travel in this State is too hazard- | ous for a prudent man to undertake. Thé Eastern | tourist, pleasure-seeker and home-seeker -may start | for California with a firm assurance that the chances | of accident on the way are virtually nil. In fact, a man | runs about as much risk of being killed by a run-| away horse or by a trolley car in his own town as | ke does of being killed or even hurt in crossing the | continent. A fair statement of the case on both sides is the best way of forming a resolute public opinion needed | to force the rail y companies to bring their trans-l portation facilities up to the requirements of the time. The Call has not failed to point out that in the { Byron accident the company is largely responsible | for what occurred, but it does not believe in misrep- resenting matters as worse than they are. American | railway travel has its defects, but it is not a business of mangling and murder as some calamity howlers | try to make out { Tt has been decided that Colonel Arthur Lynch, who didn’t play an important part in the Boer war, | must stand trial on a charge of high treason. If the | T | the daughters of the sunflower State, and Dan Cupid | | had shot his arrows at them without making a single jreport for duty by proposing marriage to the twp | stubborn bachelors. | ator, and magazines of the mode, and were pulled and | hauled and pinched and persecuted by dressmakers | getting ready “for the inaugural ball: | liefs of their gubernatorial candidates. Let them turn | their aching eyes to California and see a family Gov- | discipline since Congress abolished the canteen. PECULIAR ¢ GOVERNORS. WO States, buffer States, lying between Cali- fornia and the shifting shore of the Missouri | River, are having experiences with their Gov- crnors-elect that are novel and, to the officials con- cerned, more than novel, as they carry some unpleas- ant features. The people of Kansas elected twa bachelors to the positions of Governor and Lieutenant Governor. No notice was taken of their domestic status during the campaign. They stumped dnd ‘eiectioneered, and | had their private and public records ripped up thc} back and down the front, but no one noticed that ab- sence vi attack upon their record as family men. After they were elected the reason was disclosed in the fact that they had not made any family record. Each had been proof against the admitted charms of ! bullseye. When the Governor had to admit that he would board in Topeka and-would not occupy the official | ménsion provided for him, as he had no wife nor fam- ily and was unaccustomed to the cares of housekeep- ing, it was suggested to him that he turn the man-! sion over to the Lieutenant Governor, to the end that it might be occupied and the windows kept clean and the accumulation of dust prevented. Then it was| made known that the Lieutenant Governor is also a bachelor, and he declined taking upon himself the cares of housekeeping and the mysterious troubles of | the hired girl problem. At this point Kansas became interested, and the press, with practical and non-partisan unanimity, de manded that both men marry at once, before taking office. They resented this, declaring that the consti- tution and statutes of Kansas do not require marriage as a qualification for the places to which they are elected’ Then the press took its revenge by advis- ing ladies who felt qualified to preside over the gu- bernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial households to | Ordinarily the -elected politician who has’patron« age is made miserable by applications for office. His | ple whose demands overpowered the wish of the War | of the men than the finest assortment of total absti- i and everybody hopes nothing like it mail brings assorted biographies of applicants, set | off by statements of their party service and frequently | reminding the dispenser of pie that he is under per-| sonal obligations to the applicant. In this way the! rosy dream of power and preferment fades and the! taste of victory becomes dark brown in the oFficiali mouth. All this the Governor-elect of Kansas has to | endure, but it is the least of his troubles. - Every mail brings scores of letters from ladies who express en- tire willingness to keep house in the official mansion. The mail of the Lieutenant Governor is heavy with the same sort of correspondence, and to both of the miserable men the coming of the postman is like a| twinge oi the gout. The Governor has been compelled to widely adver- | tise, per the Associated Press, that he does not pro- pose to be forced into matrimony. Under proper conditions he might be induced to change his do- mestic state, but marry under duress and by com- pulsion, never! This has simply increased the activ- ity of his femaler tormentors. They have declared war on him, and the long roll has sounded calling all | eligible women to arms for the assault. With ad- i I those of cther States to enlist for the war, and unless | the Governor capitulate and marry in self-defense his | official term will be passed in a state of siege. There | is a feeling that the Lieutenant Governor may turn | traitor to his chief. He says but little and saws wood. | He reads his mail eagerly and has bought an album | in which to preserve photographs of applicants. Of | course he is regarded as the second prize, but the + enemy realize the importance of landing him for the sake of thg moral effect on the Governor. While Kansas is divided into hostile camps on this | subject Nebraska has a different issue. That State | is in the habit of inaugurating the Governor with a ball at the capital. Nebraska ladies begin preparing‘, their costumes as soon as the nominations are made, | and the ball is the great social feature of a new ad- | ministration. During all the last campaign, while the male Nebraskans were fighting for their favorites, | and the front of battle lowered from Lodge Pole Creek to the Missouri, and the Valley of the Platte | roared back to that of the Elkhorn, and the cornfields | of Sanders and Sarpy counties had their ears pierced by the strident strife, the ladies studied the Deline- The election passed and plain Mr. Mickey became Governor Mickey, by grace of God and the people. Lincoln fiushed with social anticipations. The State ballroom was garnished with fresh paint. The music was hired, the menu of the ball supper was arranged, and the programme of dances was in the hands of the engraver, when the committee waited upon the Gov- ernor-elect to formally invite him to head the grand march and lead the first cotillon. That committee emerged from his presence crushed and appalled. Governor Mickey simply said, “I am a Methodist and cannot consent to an inaugural ball.” That. ends it. All that millinery, all those lovely dresses, all the social opportunities, gone glimmering! Governor Mickey in one sense deserves credit for standing to his moral scruples, but his conduct in a larger sense is reprehensible. He was not elected as a Methodist, but as a citizen. The other orthodox bodies in his State have no scruples against dancing and will not appreciate his taking advantage of this opportunity to “bear witness” to the discipline of his church. He could have done as well by his religious scruples by keeping his light fantastic toes in the thick overshoes required in that blizzardy climate while others who imitated David danced and enjoyed themselves. Taken altogether the people of the buffer States are in trouble in this glad holiday season and here- after will look more closely into the records and be- will make their ernor and an inaugural ball that THE ARMY CANTEEN. LL persons interested are now afforded the op- 1 ‘ its inevitable substitute, the gin deadfall near army posts. the moral conditions of enlisted men and the state of So give the preference to the canteen. That institution was really the enlisted man’s club. In it were served only mouths water. portunity to compare the army canteen with Army officers in charge of posts are reporting on far we do not recall a single report that does not | malt and vinous drinks, with some luxuries in food | Department of Commerce bill says: “The bill. as | might be made to the establishment in that depart- |'mirable unselfishness the Kanhsas ladies have invited ! to'do with the Geodetic Survey, Immigration and the | department. Our commerce is vast and is becoming | when they try to be critical and discriminating. | the whole. | 000 in 1854, $40,000,000 in 1860, $68,000,000 in 1870, and reading and playing games, and its profits were in- vested in a post library, of the greatest benefit to the men. Instead of promoting it seems to have re- strained drunkenness, and was an effective protection against the more horrid and revolting debaucheries as the hospital records show. The men highly appre- ciated its advantages. It prevented the waste of their pay and led toward refinement and gentility rather than to coarseness and degradation. We do not question the sincerity of the good peo- Department and the common sense of Congress. But those good people themselves must nzeds admit now that they were mistaken, and that the canteen is a better protection to the morals, health and discipline nence tracts that can be distributed in the army posts. The canteen kept the men away from temptation. Its abolition has led them into it, unless the most reputable army officers who have made these reports are mistaken. Congress will do well to smite the gin deadfall by restoring the canteen. 3 D The Coroner’s inquest to determine the cause of the tragedy which sent the Progreso to the bottom of the bay and sacrificed several human lives developed ; the usual result. Nobody was criminally to blame | will happen i again. e — THE MINING INTEREST. HEN the miners made their plea for the W establishment of a Department of Mines and | Mining they were met by a prorhise that if | they would abate their high pretensions they would be given a Bureau oi Mines in the proposed Depart- ment of Commerce. As half a loaf is better than no bread the fight for the desired department weakened ; in some quarters and of late but little has been heard | of it. At the same time it has been taken for granted that when the Department of Commerce was estab- lished there would be duly provided a competent bu- reau to direct and supervise the vast mining interests of the country. 1t now appears as if that expectation is to be dis- zppointed. A recent dispatch from Washington an- nouncing that the House Committee on Interstate Commerce had ordered a favorable report on the it will come from the House committee will embrace within the proposed Department of Commerce the Lighthouse Board, Lighthouse Service, National Bu- reau of Standards, Coast and Geodetic Survey, Bu- reau of Immigration, Fish Commissioner, Bureau of Statistics of the Treasury Department, Bureau of Foreign Commerce of the State Department, fur seal and salmon fisheries, Bureau of Labor and Cen- sus and three new bureaus—insurance, manufactures and corporations.” It will be seen that the promised Bureau of Mines is conspicwous by its absence. Probably it will be said that a Department of Comimerce is not a good place for a Bureau of Mines, ‘but the same objection ment of a Bureau of Insurance, of Manufactures and of Corporations. Neither is it quite clear what a Secretary of the Department of Commerce will have Fish Commissioner. There is of course no objection to the proposed CHAMBERLAIN VOICES A PLEA FOR COALITION DURBAN, Natal, Dec. 26.—Colonial Secretary Chamberlain and Mrs. Cham-' berlain, who left Portsmouth, England, November 25, on board the armored Cruiser Good Hope, landed here at 10:30 o'cleck this morning. They received a warm welcome from large crowds of reople. A long speech made by Chamberlain vas notable for its strong tone of con- ciliation and his expression of confidence in Lord Milner, British Commissioner in South Africa. Bearing in mind, seem- ingly, the rumors that his visit would lead to the displacement of Lord Milner, Chamberlain declared his belief that his visit would have the effect of strength- ening the hands of Lord Milner, who, he heped, would be as great in conciliation as he had been in the maintenance of the rights of the empire. Referring to the war, the Colonial Secretary said the Duteh and the British fought in cour- ageous rivalry. Between the two races, not kindred in origin or nature, such a struggle for supremacy had been inev! table. From that struggle two proud and kindred races would grow in mutual re- spect, . appreciation and lasting friend- ship. “Victor and vanquished,” said Mr. Chamberlain, “bravely played their parts. ‘We scorn to glory in our triumphs, the enemy need fear no humiliations in their defeat.. Let us see, as Britons worthy of the name, that nothing be done to revive the animosities of the past. We must give our new fellow-subjects equality of pasition with ourselves. We ask, how- ever, something in return. It is with them that the issue lies. We hold out our hand ard ask them to take it without thought of the past, but frankly and in the spirit in which it is offered.” Mr. Chamberlain elaborated his theme with eloquence, and was loudly cheered. He announced incidentally the acceptance of the Boer offer’ to fight in Somaliland. HER FOUR CHILDREN INHERIT HER WEALTH Mrs. Grant Dies Possessed of an - Estate Valued at About $225,000. WASHINGTON, Deec. 26.—The will of Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant was filed to-day. The estate is to be divided into four equal parts. It also provides that a memento presented to her by the Empress of Japan, said to be a thousand years old, shall gb to the Museum of Arts, New York. General Frederick Grant, son of the testatrix, delivered the testament at Register Dent’s office in person. Mrs. Grant named as executor the trustees “to be selected by my three sons, a majority, or the survivors of them.” In a petition asking the District Su- preme Court to admit the will to probate, General Frederick D. Grant explains that his mother left surviving her as heirs at | law and next of kin, in addition to him- self, Ulysses S. Grant, Ellen W. Sartoris and Jesse R. Grant. The deceased died posscssed of house No. 211 Massachusetts | avenue, this city, of the value of about $40,000; money amounting to $10,065; stocks, bonds and other securities of the value of $180,000 and household and kitch- en furniture of the value of $4000. General Grant further sets forth that urider the terms of the will the three sons have designated him executor. By the terms of the will the estate is to be di- vided into four equal shares. The income of the first portion shall be applied to the support of the family of ederick D. Grant and the education of his children. The second portion is left to the executor in trust and for the benefit of the family of Ulysses 8. Grant under the same con- ditions. The third portion is left under similar conditions to Jesse R. Grant, and vaster every year. It is but right that it should have representation in the Cabinet. It will doubtless ren- der good service to the Government and the people; but the fact remains that a Department of Mines and Mining would be equally beneficial. Surely the great mining industries of the country ought not to be overlooked in the general reorganization of govern- mental business on the establishment ot the new de- partment. P a— A New York critic says Dewet, the Boer com- mander, is as great a man as Oliver Cromwell; but all the same he admits that Dewet did not do so much as Oliver, so perhaps the ‘hing may be permitted to pass as an example of what some people can say MANUFACTURED EXPORTS. ROM the Treasury Bureau of Statistics there has been issued a report on the exports of man- ufactures of this countty from 1790 down to the present time. From the figures it appears that dur- ing the first half of the past century manufactures formed.but a small part of the total exports of the country, but of late they have become one-third of The total value of manufactures exported in 1800 was only $2,500,000, and never reached as much as $10,000,000 prior to 1840. From that time it has rap- idly moved forward, being $17,000,000 in 1850, $25,000,- in 1877 for the first time it crossed the $100,000,000 line. It was not until 1896 that the total exportation of manufactures reached $200,000,000 per annum, but in 1899 it exceeded $300,000,000, in 1900 exceeded $400,000,000, and has continued above $400,000,000 since that date. An interesting feature of the report is the show- ing of the countries to which our manufactured ex- ports go. The very lands which we look upon as our rivals in manufacturing are those to whom we sell most. More than one-half of all our exports of the kind go to Europe, the great manufacturing sec- tion of the world; one-fourth goes to Canada, Mex- ico or other parts of North America; while South America, Africa, Asia and Oceanica take only the remainder. It thus appears that trade creates trade and that rivalry in business and in prosperity does: not hurt anybody. Of the exports for the present vear the report says: “The figures of the ten months now available indi- cate that the total exports of manufactures during the calendar year 1902 will reach about $415,000,000, or more than in any preceding fiscal year, save in the exceptional year 1900, when the total was $433,- The Reichstag has been acting so disgracefully with itself of late that it is thinking seriously of amending its rules to permit the transaction of busi- ness. As a matter of courtesy President Roosevelt might send a copy of Reed's code to Berlin. At a \prizefight recently held in Butte, Montana, the women present, it is announced, forgot themselves and shouted. A woman at a prizefight has already forgotten everything she should have remembered. An Oakland union has refused absolutely to license a woman barber. It would be interesting to know if colonel's mouth ever expressed any truth within him | that are not had inthe army mess. It furnished clean, | this is inténded as gallantry to the fair sex or mercy he ought to be tickled at the prospect. jcomfonablc and well lighted accommodations ior: for the sterner residents of the towe the fourth for the sole use of Ellen W. Sartoris for life and at her death to her children in equal shares. HER SOLDIER QUILT BRINGS A HUSBAND Queer Romance of Couple Who Are United Through a Coverlet. CRIPPLE CREEK, Colo., Dec. 26— Miss Annle J. Belk, aged 40 years, a seamstress of Cripple Creek, and Robert M. Pendleton, aged 65 years, a well-to-do citizen of Seattle, Wash., were married here last night by Justice Harrington after a personal acquaintance of less than one hour. During the Spanish-American war Miss Belk made a quilt and sent it to the War Department, whence it found its way to the Philippines, where it was given to one of the regulars. The regular recently re- turned, and at Seattle pawned the quilt to a second-hand dealer, from whom it was purchased by Pendleton. Miss Belk's name was on the quilt. Pendleton wrote to her. Correspondence followed, which rewlted in the wedding last night. TRIES TO MAXKE ESCAPE FROM CRUISER BOGOTA Colombian Rebel Leader Attempts to Gain His Liberty but Fails. PANAMA, Dec. 26.—Victoriano Lorenzo, the Indian leader who fought with the revolutionists, made a sensational at- tempt to escape from confinement on board the Colombian cruiser Bogota yes- terday. He was captured, nowever, and returned to the ship. Lorenzo was a most persistent guerrilla during the revolution. ‘When General Herrera surrendered Lo- renzo and his followers refusad to give up their arms, but were compelled by force to do so just as they weve about to escape to the mountains. He was tak- en on board the Bogota last November. R LEAVES SANTA FE SYSTEM TO ACCEPT BETTER PLACE J. M. Herbert Identifies Himself ‘With Colorado and Southern Railroad Company. DENVER, Dec. 26.—J. M. Herbert, who has resigned as manager of the Denver and Rio Grande, Rio Graade Western and Rio Grande Southern railroads, will te-. come on January 1 vice president and general manager of the Zolorado and Southern Railroad and vice presiden: of the Fort Worth and Denver. He will be in charge of the operation of the en- tire system from Denver to Fort Worth and will make his headquarters in Den- ver. SANTA FE IS TRYING TO SHORTEN ITS LINE New Cut-Offs Make Saving of Nearly 500 Miles to San Fran- 5 cisco. TOPEKA, Kans.,, Dec. —When the Santa Fe has completed all its cut-offs and extensions now in process of construction in the Southwest it will have a route to San Francisco 468 miles shorter than the present one. It will then be in a bet- ter position to combat strong competition and will make shorter time from Chi- cago to the coast. The main cut-off across part of Texas and New Mexico will take the Santa Fe trains over a dif- ferent route, avoiding the difficult moun- tain climbs. . Appoints Former Senator Yell. SACRAMENTO, Dec. 26.—District Attor- ney-elect M. Seymour has appointed ex-State tor Archibald Yell of Men- docino County, who has been a resident of this county for several years, to the position of assistant District Attorney. Yell was for several years the District Atterney of Mendocino County, 26. GOSSIP FROM LONDON WORLD OF LETTERS The issue of Christmas numbers seems to grow rapidly every year. Certainly the choice of these periodicals was never 80 great as has been the case this season. | To go back no more than twenty years there Were then scarcely more than half a dozen Christmas numbers, whereas there are now at least fifty special parts produced for sixpence and a shilling. Of still cheaper so-called Christmas numbers { there is no end. What strikes one par- | ticularly is that every year the issue of ' these Christmas numbers gets earlier | and earlier, the idea in so much competi- ‘tion being to -be out first to catch the { colonial markets in plenty of time. Such ! profusion naturally excites the question, i Who buys these Christmas numbers? { But book-sellers will teil you that as the | supply increases so also does the de- | mand, but with so maiy new ones it Is i evident that the old favorites are still first favorites. A case which bears upon the respective rights of author and publisher has just been decided in the law courts, after a ! great deal of argument, by the reversal | of a previous decision. In the Court of ! Appeals Lords Justices Vaughan Wil- | liams, Romer and Stirling gave judgment jupon the.case in which the plaintiffs, Aflalo and Cook, sued Messrs.’ Lawrence & Bullen, the well-known publishers, for | damages for the infringement of what they considered their copyright. As far back as 1896 Messrs. Aflalo and | Cook began and completed, in 1899, a pub- i lication for that firm entitled “The En- cyclopedia of Sport.” Aflalo was editor and for his services was to receive £300. That sum was also to include several articles which he was to write for the book. Messrs. Lawrence & Bullen, how- ever, not only used these articles in the encyclopedia, but in an entirely different work, which was subsequently published. To this Aflalo and Cook demurred, and two years ago obtalned an injunction from Justice Joyce, in the Chancery Division. Messrs. Lawrence & Bullen ap- pealed, and the case came up again. After a long argument Justice Vaughan ‘Willlams held that, under the circum- stances, the copyright had become vested in the publishers, and that the defendants ought to succeed in the appeal. Justice Romer and Justice Stirling, however, took the opposite view, agreeing with the decision of Justice Joyce. The publish- ers, therefore, failed in their appeal, | which was dismissed, with costs. The question of damages Is to be decided later. John Murray is publishing a book which already gives promise of much literary discussion and critical theory. Certainly a new book by John Milton is not likely to be publighed every generation. It will probably bé news to a good many '‘to learn that Milton's book was issued only some eighty years ago. That was a treatise in manuscript entitled ‘“De Chris- tiana Doctrina,” and it is understood that Begley, the editer of Nova Solyma, which is the title of this fresh work of the poet, | which has never seen the light of day, has discovered some very curious par- allels of opinion between the two books. The last book sale of fhe season was remarkable for the prices paid for some literary curios at Sotheby’s rooms, whither most of the old libraries find their way for disposal. There was sold on Thursday a fine though late fifteenth cen< tury “Book of Hours,” in bold Gothic letters, by a French scribe, on 218 leaves of ‘vellum, with eightéen large, beautiful miniatures. After keen competition it fetched £340 (31700). Then came a fourth Follo Shakespeare, 14%x9 inches, in the original calfskin binding. This went for the record price of £142 (§719). A century ago this same book was worth only one sovereign and fifty years ago it sold for £20 (3100). Last summer another of the same edition in red morocco sold for £118 ($5%0), which up till now was the rec- ord price. At the same sale there ap- peared three songs and a ballad in the original handwriting of Robert Burns, fetched £135 (3675), which worked out at the rate of about a sovereign a line. PERSONAL MENTION. Captain Louis le Savage of the French army is at the Palace. B. F. Towle. a deputy, sheriff of Hol- lister, is at the Russ. F. 8. Lusk, a railroad contractor of Ne- vada, is at the Palace. F. H. Kennedy, a hardware merchant of Stockton, is at the California. W. P. Thomas, a well known attorney of Ukiah, is a guest at the Grand. agent of the Southern Pacific with head- quarters at San Jose, is visiting the city. ———— - Californians in Washington. WASHINGTON, Dec. 26.—Hotel ar- rivals: St. James—J. T. Hall, San Fran- cisco. New Willard—John Barneson, W. C. Ralston and 8. 8. Dunham, San Fran- cisco. Ebbit—L. Goetz, San Francisco. —————— - Grand Jury Meets. The newly appointed Grand Jury met yesterday, but owing to the absence of Foreman John F. Merrill, who is i, transacted no businéss. The Grand Jury has elected J. W. Getze secretary, and will meet again next Friday afternoon. They, too, were keenly competed for, and | James Beulah, a traveling passenger | “States. SOME ANSWERS TO QUERIES BY CAl:_L READERS BOSS—M., City. The word “boss™ comes from the Dutch and means master. PREVAILING WINDS—A. S, Cit The prevailing wind in San Francisco du ing rain storms is from southeast to we | although the wind may be in any direc- tion when it rains. THE COLDEST—M. T., City. It is saia that the coldest weather ever endured b civilized man was that experienced Ly Frederick Schwatka in the Arctic region. near Burks Great Fish River, when the temperature was 71 degrees below zero. JEWSHARP—M., City. The jewsharp was net so named from any connection of the instrument with the Jewish people. It was originally called jawsharp, be- cause of its similarity of sound to the harp and from the fact that when played it was placed between the teeth. The transition from jawsharp to jewsharp is not a violent orie. GRAIN—Subscriber, Glendale, Cal. Not knowing the conditions under which you entered the land of yeur neighbor, canno advise you in the matter, but from the statement in the letter of inquiry it looks very much as if yqu would bave to sub- mit your case to an attorney, who will be able to advise you in the premises, after having all the facts presented to him. THE OLDEST—F. H. M., City. This department has not been able to find any record of “the age of the oldest couple.” Every now and then some one who passed the century mark of life dies and the local papers announce “the oldest living person passes away.” The answer to the question to “How old and who was the person who attained the greatest age?” is that it was Methuselah, who died A. M. 1656 at the age of %9 years (Genesis, 5-27). NORTH AND SOUTH-A. S, City. This subscriber asks why it is that often on clear, cool nights the sidewalks on the southern side of such streets as run parallel with Ellls are very damp, while those on the northern side are always dry. This is caused by the sun. During the day, and particularly the afterhoon, the sun heats the sidewalks on the north- ern side, and it does not warm the south- ern side, censequently the walks on the southern side, being colder than those on the north, retain the moisture of the at- ‘mosphere. THE FIRST STEAMER—A. O. 8., Oak- land, Cal. The first steamer to cross the Atlantic was the Savannah. She was a 300-ton vessel, built at New York by Fran- cis Ficket. She could carry only seventy- five tomns of coal and twenty-five cords of wcod. She sailed from Savannah, Ga., May 25, 1819, bound for St. Petersburg, via Liverpool, She reached the latter port on the 20th of June, having used steam eighteen days out of the twenty-six. At present ‘ocean flyers on the Atlantic burn frem 200 to 250 tons of coal a day. THE NORTH STAR—Vallombrosa. Phi- lo, Cal. There have been established the following observatories for the purpose of determining the distance of the north star from the geographical pole, or in other | words for the observation of the varia- tions of the latitude: Mizusawa, Japan, minus 141 degrees wést of Greenwich: Carloforte, Italy, minus 9 degrees west of | Greenwieh; Gaithersburg, Md., plus 77 de- grees west of Greenwlch: Ukiah, Cal., plus 123 degrees west of Greenwich. Ob- servations for the same purpose are also made at some of the fixed observatories, notably that at Cincinnati. MONROE ' DOCTRINE—R. F. W., Ap- plegate, Cal. In American polities the Monrde Doctrine is the doctrine of non- intervention by European powers in mat- ters relating to the American continents. it derives its name from statements con- tained in President Monroe's annual mes- sage in December, 1823, at the period of a suspected concert of the powers to in- terfere in Spanish America, in behalf of Spain. The following are the most signifi- cant passages In the message: “We could not view an interposition for oppressing them (the Spanish-American republics) or controlling in any other manner their destiny, by any European power, in any other light than as a manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United * * * The American continents should no longer be subjecis for any new European colonial settlement.” —_—— Prunes stuffed with apricots. Townsend's.* —_—— Townsend's California glace fruit and candies, 50c a pound, in artistic fire-etched boxes. A nice present for Eastern friends. 639 Market st., Palace Hotel building. * —_———————— Spectal information supplied daily to business houses and public men by the Press Clipping Bureau (Allen’s), 230 Cari- fornia street. Telephone Main 1042, g Mud wasps manifest sreat ingenuity, not only in building their nests, but in placing them in-localities where they will not be injured by rain or predaecious ani- mals. E———— A vigorous growth and the original coler siyen to the hair by Parker's Hair Balsam. indercorns, the best cure for corms. 13cts. OHN BRISBEN than at any other time ABSOLU WALKER has laration that the day is close at Paid over ONE MILLION DOLLARS FOR A SINGLE NOVEL, but as he points out they will have to write actually know, for TO-DAY IS THE DAY OF The Sunday Call’s Great Story Scclion just made the startling dec- hand when authors will be only the things they THE NOVEL mocre in all the checkered history world. Its influence is far-reaching—all -bmbdnhhmndc::. S That is the sort of writing the world wants nowadays—books from men who know what they are writing about, and that is the sort of modern, up-to-date literature that the SUNDAY CALL is giving to its readers ABSOLUTELY One the biggest religious and literary is “THE GOSPEL OF JUDAS ISCARIOT,” win, It is written by a man who knows splendors, the vices, the follies, the wars they have never been shown before, strange life and the motives of th: in either biblical or profane Christ with the fatal kiss. GREAT CHRISTMAS But that is not all. Just First there is a WRITES.” It contains, without & newspaper office, Then come “When man-interest situations that has Enighthood Was in Flower,” Spots,” by Thomas Dixon Jr.; history, which led him to betray “THE GOSPEL OF JUDAS ISCARIOT” CALL DECEMBER 14 LISHED COMPLETE IN THREE BEGAN IN THE AND WILL BE PUB- : NAMELY, DECEM- THAT OFFER ANY- read what is to follow: : tremendously thrilling famous New York dramatic critic, entitled story by Alan Dale, the “THE WOMAN WHO doubt, one of the most tense, hu- ever occurred either in or out of by “The Gentle-