The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, March 2, 1903, Page 4

L MARCH 2, 1903 JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Proprielor. fadress All Communications to W. S. LEAKE, Manager. TELEPHONE. Ask for THE CALL. The Operator Will Connect You With the Department You Wish. PUBLICATION OFFICE. . EDITORIAL ROOM ket and Third, S. F. to 221 Ltevenson St. Delivered by Carriers, 15 Cents Per Week. Single Copies, 5 Cen Terms by Mail, Including ALI day), one year THE SAN FRA AN EXTRA SESSION.- EPORTS from Washington are to the effect that an extra session of the Senate is deemed unavoidable owing to the deadlock of the situation. Estimates differ as to the length of time the session will last. Senator Morgan says it will take a month to dispose of the business, but on the other hand Senator Aldrich estimates it will not last more than a few days. R Senate which enable a minority to prevent the taking of a vote during a short session by the simple means of talking against time until time is exhausted. In this instance there are two sets of Senators re- sponsible for the obstruction. On the one side are Senator Morgan and the few who are supporting him in his opposition to the Panama canal treaty; on the The situation has developed out of the rules of the | of more than a hundred million dollars, has been in- | vested in foreign built ships, officered and manned | by foreigners. Thus we see that, while under existing conditions profitable employment is denied to Ameri- | can-labor in our shipyards and on board our ships, profitable employment of American capital in ship- owning has been extended in a manner unprecedented { in our natidnal history.” | That is the situation which confronts the American | capitalist, shipbuilder and shipowner. Congress alone | can grant relief. It lies in the power of the Senators and the Representatives to enact legislation which will provide a means whereby we may have an ade- | quate merchant marine without diminishing the wages | paid in our shipyards or on board our ships. The “people desire such legislation. Our commercial and | industrial prosperity demand it. In spite of all it is | repeatedly denied. It would be interesting to know JISCO CALL, MONDAY, MARCH 2, 1903. GREAT BRITAIN’S NAVAL REFORM PLAN WILL NOT MAKE THE SERVICE POPULAR S | other side are Senator Aldrich and those who sup- | tHe vene 5 ported him in oppesition to the statchood bill. Each | PR set will of course seek to throw the odium of delay | CALL, One Year CALL, One Year Some one sent a report to Berlin that by way of | | All Postmasters are authorized to receive subscriptions, Sample coples will be nge of address should be AND OLD ADDRESS in order ct compliance with their requert. ..1118 Broadway C. SEORGE KROGNESS, Building, Chieags. Central 2619."") (Long I » NTATIVE: STEPHEN ¥ 30 Tribune Building NEW YORK CO CARLTON RESPONDENT: C C ....Herald Square EWS STANDS: Brentano, 31 Union Square; nd Hoftman House, Waidorf- A=t rray Hill Hotel Hotel; A Fifth-avenue Hotel WS STANDS News Co.; Great Northern Hotel: n Hotel; Palmer Hous WASHINGTON (D. C.) OFFICE...1406 G MORTON CRANE, Correspondent. BRANCH OFFIC until 9:30 M CHICAGO P. Shermsn House Tremont Hc Au corner of Clay, open 11 9:30 o'clock. €83 615 Larkin, open until 11 10 o'clock. 2201 9 o'clock. 1096 Va- leventh, open until 9 second and Kentucky, open pen until ® p. m. pen v k. try’s bank clearings showed T. per cent last week compared with t r ng week in 1902 and the aggre- g dropped off to $1,814.- west me for a long time, with the ! hicago, Boston, St. houis and e ~— ant centers— biting a lo cial advices throughout ided expansion in trade, due was also ex- Surprise apacity of the country te of rather higher prices _vidently the limit of pur- s not yet been reached, nor has pro- consumption, and uhtil this latter I prices and a brisk demand for revail York say that really easy time sight nor is it expected for some gh call money has been down to s for a week or more. Surplus h below the average for this time of re reported by the New York banks record figure and there is a pos- ief among them being canal, hence the in- money will rule firm indefinitely. es tame and featureless and the e met deviation either considering the market from week to e great interests which control the’ sit- to hold the market about where it is les are generally firm. Increased interest purchasers of iron and steel goods prompt deliveries is again becom- e quotati for iron ore and a num- ed products are again higher. beginning to favor the iron industry by fuel situation less troublesome. Coke, gher, so it will be seen that the , which is considered one of the lead- of trade, is not only exceptionally New England shoe factories n several descriptions of footwear t fall. and hides and leather are gen- Against this, however, is a sud- g down in the woolen trade, some early reduced the size of their orders, s have canceled theirs altogether. keep up to their previous high level, is still scarce all over the United States. ) et all over the world, except on fic Coast, which has been heavily drawn upon the deficiency in Australia. Nor is this transient. Representatives of Orient report such an increase mand for flour in China and Japan, where upper classes are abandoning the use of rice for that flour mills are being built in both coun- date this growing demand, and this oast will be the natural source of supply for these Hence wheat rules firm throughout the three States, while it is dull and easy in most other f the world. conditions show little change, except that nerchants have lately been reporting business some- -ter than during the past year or so. But v be the usual winter lull, as the bank clearings 2 regular large increase from week to week, h they would hardly do were business really proving. g gether ries to accom At a recent banquet to the Kaiser we are informed that one sweet was served under the title “Under Venezuelan palms” and another was labeled “Ger- -Enghsh Siesta a la Guaira,” while the ices were “Caracas bombs.” After such a dinner there should have been furnished to aid digestion something neat in the way of a “Monroe doctrine” pi s served as By the will of a St. Louis man Washington Uni- rsity has been left the sum of $25,000 on condition that the principal be invested and the interest per- mitted to accumulate until the year 2000, by which time the testator thought the sum would be large enough to serve as a memorial of his liberality. A recent trade item announces that amqng the ex- < from this country were 2900 tons of cotton seed and 107,000 tons of peanuts exported to Marseilles. The significance of the item lies in the fact that Mar- seilles is the center of the olive oil industry, The mild | ages have all advanced, tin and | | upon the other, but it is probable the people under- | | stand the situation too well to be deceived. | The fight for the statehood bill has been the chief contest of the session. The advocates of the bill assert that they have upward of fifty-two votes on their side and the assertion is doubtless accurate. It is | certain that every test vote on the subject showed a majority of those voting to be in favor of the bill. | Moreover, they have been at ail times eager to get |a vote on the bill itself, while the opposition would | never consent to it. Those facts are sufficient to show that the opponents of the measure were as guiity i of delaying public business as are Senator Morgan | and the opponents of the canal treaty. Therefore all efforts to shift the blame from one side to the other | | will be futile. The people are aware that the delay | is due to the Senate as a whole and that neither fac- | tion is willing to so amend the rules as to make it possible for a majority to insist upon a vote when a minority is talking against time. It appears useless to expect a revision of the rules of the Senate, and accordingly the situation presents a new argument in favor of the proposed change of the date of Presidential inaugurations from March 4 to some time at the end of May. Such a change would put an end to the short session business and to the temptation to talk against time. It seems | clear that the opposition to the statehood bill under- ‘mok to talk it to death solely because it knew the session and the Congress would end on March 4 It was the shortness of the session that made the diliatory tactics feasible. Had the term of Congress extended to the end of May it is doubtful if there would have been any attempt at talking the bill to | death. The opposition would have foreseen that it could not hold out for six months and accordingly would not have interfered with the orderly progress of business. When Congress assembled last fall it was believed that we were to have an exemplary session. No is- sue of party politics disturbed the situation. The great measures before the two houses were not par- It was expected that we would have tisan measures. legislation for the Philippines, for currency reform, immigration restriction, the merchant marine, the ad- | mission "of the Territories and the isthmian canal as a matter of course with little or no opposition. A | contest over the issue of trust regulation was of | course foreseen, but even that was not expected to be on party lines, for men of all parties have agreed that something should be done in that direction. The high expectations of the session have been | disappointed. Wit ment of the Department of Commerce little or nothing zof great moment has been achieved. The Aldrich qurrtnc_\' bill may yet be enacted, but while it will | by no means adequate to the needs of the country and at the next session the whole subject will have to be taken up anew. | The appropriations are said to have broken the | record for a short session. As passed by the House | the supply bills carry appropriations amounting to upward of $700,000,000, and it is to be borne in mind | that at this session there was no river and harbor | bill. Even the most liberal admit that such an ap- proach to a “billion dollar session” is a notable thing, and it is the opinion that Mr. Cannon, chair- man of the Committee on Appropriations, has been | generous with “the boys” this winter in consideration of the fact that he is slated for Speaker of the next | Congress and so is to close his service as chairman of that committee. \ | Even with an extra session in sight it is by no means certain what will be the fate of the two treaties that will come before it. At the present outlook it appears probable that the Panama treaty will be ratified and the Cuban treaty beaten. There is, how- ever, a possibility that the reciprocity scheme may yet be carried, and it behooves the guardians of Cal- ifornia interests to be watchful of every move in the game. } F expect anything in the way of legislation de- signed to foster American shipping or to rid us of the necessity of paying tribute to foreign ship- owners on nearly every pound of our exports and imports. There is evidentlya very powerful influence at work in opposition to such legislation, for despite the fact that it has been repeatedly recommended by Republican Presidents and pledged in Republican national platforms every bill designed to that end is defeated. It is significant that the defeat of such bills is rarely achieved by voting them down after debate. The usual method of the opposition is to delay action or even consideration of the measure until it is too late | to procure the passage of it and then leave it as a part of the work to be undertaken by the next ses- sion or the next Congress. The method is a very THE REASON WHY. ROM this Congress it seems we can no longer strumental in the defeat of the measure to go before | of upbuilding the American merchant marine and ask to be re-elected in order that they may go to Con- gress and vote for it. Ample evidence has been submitted to Congress to prove that we cannot have an American merchant marine on the ocean engaged in foreign commerée without something in the way of legislation to coun- terbalance the subsidies granted by their Govern- ments to foreign ships. Recently the Maritime As- sociation of New York sent to Congress a memorial on the subject fully explaining the situation. The memorial said: “American labor in the shipyards and American labor afloat refuses to accept employ- ment at the rate of wages that obtains abroad. And this makes it impossible for owners of American ves- sels to profitably compete with the more cheaply built and more cheaply operated foreign ships in our foreign carrying trade. American capital, therefore, i1 as we have seen during the past year, to the extent the exception of the establish- | relieve some of the evils of the situation it will be | | clever one, for it permits the men who have been in- | | their constituents and announce that they are in favor | |return for the statue of Frederick the Great the | United States would give Germany a statue of Wash- | ington, and thereupon a Berlin paper remarks that, | | since the United States is to put the Frederick statue | in front of the war college instead of in a public | park, Berlin should treat Washington in the same A DUCK OF A BOAT. OME time ago it was announced that the Ger- S man Government has designed a warship upon a new and peculiar model. The story went to the effect that a German inventor, aiter ffoting that the present style of ship construction follows the model of a fish and is intended to glide through the water, where of course it meets a great deal of re- sistance, came to the conclusion that it would be a | great deal better to build a ship like a duck to float | on top of the water; and the Kaiser is going to try it. While the story is interesting, it should not be re- | | garded as necessarily a fairy tale. We have had so| many novelties in the way of ship constructien of | late that we are now prepared for almost anything in the way of a new freak in that line. Some years ago the Czar, on the advice of one of his admirals, con- structed a circular ship of which great things were | expected. The ship could whirl round like a top, ::.nd go backward or sideways equally as well as for- {ward. In fact, being circular, any one point of her circumference did as well as another for a bow when the time came to start her. The ship cost a good deal of money. She spun about very pleasantly to all con cerned so long as she remained in landlocked waters, but when she went down to the big sea she went down | forever, and of circular ships we have heard no more. | Then came the famous French experiment of a ship on wheels. For a time no pictorial paper was com- plete without a picture of that ship. She was]| to walk the waters like a thing of life, or rather was | to roll over the waves on wheels of easy motion, | gliding like a chariot over a grassy lawn. Tried upon | the placid waters of the Seine the boat did her in- ventor proud, and money was raised sufficient to build one large enough and strong enough to try on' the British Channel. That was the end of the money and | the boat. The inventor may doubtless retain his “wheels,” but the ship is gone forever. Now comes the Dutchman’s duck built boat. We | have heard but little of her as yet. Doubtless pictures | and diagrams of her cut and style will be forthcoming in large numbers ere long. We shall hear much of her . ability to move over the waters without a ripple as | smoothly as a duck on a gentle millpond. We will | be told that there were no waves in her wake, no dis- | turbance of the water of any kind, and that her motion | was like that of the swan boat that bore Lohengrin | | over the enchanted waters of the Rhine in the brave | | days when people lived like a scene in a grand opera. | However, we have our doubts of this dick shaped | | boat. The world is very old and marine architecture | {is not of yesterday. Experiments have been made | with ships of all sorts and sizes and shapes since the | great day when the three wise men of Gotham went | | to sea in a bowl; and all experience has shown that it | is safest to build a boat somewhat like a fish. In! short, we venture the prediction the duck boat will turn out to be something of a wild goose boat, and | ‘\a< a friend we afivise the Kaiser to put very little faith and still less money in it. GOVERNMENTAL EXPERIMENTS. OME time ago it was announced that the ex- | { perimental staff of the Department of Agri- | proof orange. i culture had succeeded in developing a frost- | The announcement was of much in-| terest to the whole country and especially so to or-| chardists living in the frost belt. Doubtless there | were visions of oranges growing and ripening se- | curely on trees hanging with icicles and bright pros- | pects of the cultivation of oranges and apples in thel same orchard. It now appears that the early reports of the tri- umph of the department were slightly exaggerated | and somewhat misstated. The development of the frostless orange has not yet been successfully! achieved. A few days ago the scientists who are| working on the experiment went to the House of Representatives to ask for additional appropriation to continue théir task. When before the committee they were asked, “What is the quality of this frost- ! resisting orange you have produced?” They replied, “It is not exactly an orange, it is a lemon.” “Then it will not take the place of the present orange,” said} the committtee. “If we get the money we ask for, it will,” said the scientists, “for with the appropriation we are asking we purpose to develop the hybrid we have now produced and thus develop a real orange.” The money was granted. It is stated, however, that | the coming orange will not be genuinely frost-proof, but only slightly so; just about enough to withstand the frosts of the Florida orange district. Even at | that rate it would be a great boon to orchardists and well repay all the money expended to produce it. There remains, however, the danger that the highly developed hybrid may revert to the lemon on the slightest provocation and prove of no great value to the orange market after all. Another report of the experiments of the depart- ment is of a nature so curious and seemingly so ab- surd that if it were possible for a governmental bureau to develop a joke this would be taken for one. It is announced that the Department of Agri- culture-is experimenting with a view to producing a breed of featherless chickens. If the experiment be undertaken merely for the purpose of testing how far variation of species can be induced by intelligent selection, it will be interesting enough, but it is not easy to see what benefit will accrue from the produc- tion of such a chicken. The bird would not be a thing of beauty nor would the toughness of its skin, caused by the lack of the protecting feathers, increase its delicacy when served for the table. However, it is useless to speculate about the thing. When we get iit civilization will doubtless find seme use for it. ! way. And such is friendship between nations. | e v - - BATTLESHIP MAINE, WHOSE OFFICERS ARE HAVING CONSIDERABLE DIFFICULTY IN MAINTAINING ‘% DISCIPLINE AMONG THE CREW, ACCORDING TO THE PUBLISHED PRESS REPORTS FROM NEWPORT | NEWS, WHERE THE CRAFT IS NOW LYING IN DRYDOCK. | —_——— + HERE are Some features about Lord Selborn’s naval re- form scheme that will not tend to make the service gen- erally popular. The scheme provides for one system of supply of officers for the fighting of ships, and in future every cadet from twelve or thirteen years of age will un- dergo an identical training of seven years before he specializes for his executive, engineering or marine duties. During this long apprenticeship the youngster recelvespracticaliy nopay, but on the contrary has to pay for his tuition, except in the case of sons of naval and military officers and Government offictals. This practically shuts the door to the poor man’'s son and re- serves the naval service, so far as commissioned rank is con- cerned, to the moneyed class, as it is in the army. This ap- prenticeship will cost the parents from $3000 to $6000. Under the present system cadets while on the Britannia receive no pay, and when attached to ships only $% a year, which is raised to 3157 upon becoming midshipmen. The engineers are some- what better pald, beginning with $13 a year and getting $850 yearly salary when they become assistant engineers. As con- rasted with United States navy the British service is decided- 1y aristocratic, or at least open only to persons of considerable means. The naval cadet in-our service gets $00 a year while at the academy and $950 when attached to a ship and six years after entry, when becoming an ensign, he is raised to $1400. He is thus able to support himself during his apprenticeship and the service benefits by drawing its future officers from all classes of the great commonwealth. British dockyards are unable to carry on the work of re- ! pairs, fitting out and new building of ships, and it has be- come necessary to return to the practice abandoned about eighteen years ago of giving repalr work to private yards. The Admiralty pays the actual cost for material, wages of work- men to which 20 per cent is added to recompense the con- tractor for running expenses, superintendence and use of tools and an additional 10 por cent is allowed as profit to the con- tractor. An Interesting naval article appears in the Forthnightly Re- view for February, which, among other subjects, points out the necessity of revising the ,antiquated system of manning modern ships-of-war. The British armored cruiser Hogue, 12,000 tons and 21,000 horsepower, with a complement of 727 Is taken as an example, which applies to all vessels of that size and type. The executive branch numbers 342; engineering, 215; artificers, 26; pay department, §; servants, 17; medical branch, 6; chaplains, 2; miscellaneous, including police, cooks and musi- clans, 21; marines, ®. The writer points out that only a few of the officers are experts in ordnance :natters, and that more than half the bluejackets are of the ofd style sallors, without ny special qualifications to fit them for fighting in a modern man-of-war. The marines are all trained in.gunnery, but the 160 untrained seamen should be trained in order to glve more efficlency to the ship. Torpedo-boat No. 109, cne of five boats building at ‘Thorny- croft’'s yard for the British navy, averaged 25.213 knots during a four-hour run, exceeding the contract by .213 knots. The policy of Great Britian to expend as much money upon | its navy as France, Russia and Germany, collectively, has been | adhered to during the period of 1598-1%02, as shown in the fol- lowing table: Total | Ehips and NAVIES OF Expenditures. Armaments. $726,8186,000 $318, 408,000 299,952,000 139,488,000 229,200,000 9,160,000 104,472,000 91,464,000 Totals France, Russia, Germany.. | $723,024.000 | $320,112,000 Lie Chou, admiral of the Canton River, has purchased about $5000 worth of photographic apparatus which he utilizes in napshooting his men in attitudes of great flerceness. It is un- derstood that the pictures are to be distributed among the pi- rates to scare them off from thelr nefarious work. The mili- tary commander of Canton has devised another and better method, having engaged a man of approved ferocity to take charge of two gunboats, manned by forty men each, to tackle the pirates. The crews heve double pay to stimulate their courage, and promise of ‘'blood money” prizes. P The London Times states that the Chilean Government has placed - the sale of the two battleships launched last month with a firm in London. They are exceptionally good ships, but are not likely to find purchasers, except, perhaps in England. Chile has no immediate want of additional ships and those on hand are a source of expense and considerable trouble. The Capitan Prat recently ran on the rocks at Quinteros sustain- ing damages to the amount of 300,000 pesos, and a fire on board the Esmeralda a short time ago caused considerable damage. The Government has tried to conceal these two accidents from the public, which has caused considerable ill-feeling against the naval authorities. i The French battleship Jeanne d'Arc is still a source of trouble to the naval authorities. At the three hours full power trial January 23, the horsepower averaged 30,267, or 2267 more than contracted for, but the speed was only 21.7 knots, falling short 1.3 knots of the calculated speed. The armored cruiser Amiral Gueydon has also proved a disappointment thus far, the full power trial developing 18,630 horsepower and 2.3 knots, against a calculated power of 20,200 and 21 knots speed. P The Farnham Company at Shanghal has completed the last of L] ANSWERS TO QUERIES. DIVORCE—G., City. At the Legisla- ture before the one now in session a number of bills relating to divorce were introduced, but none became a law. JAMES D. PHELAN —1J. 8., City. James D. Phelan was elected Mayor of San Francisco in 18% for the first time and was elected twice after that to the same office. exeept ‘the ax, 629 Marke CHICKENS—A. W. 8., Hollister, Cal. There is but one safe method to prevent chickens from picking one another’s feet, fernla that is to keep them apart. remedy to prevent a mischievous chicken from picking another, | there is to prevent a cur from howling, | unless the suggested s adopted. —_—————— EX. strong hoarhound candy. Townsend's. —_——— Townsend's California glace | candies, ic a pound. In artistic fire-etched boxes. A nice present for Eastern et st., Palace Hotel buflding. ¢ —_—— Special information supplied dall; business houses and public men s Cuopioe Burond (e a8 ol the ten gunboats and revenue v is contracted for a year ago for service in the Philippines. ve boats of similar types, built by contract in Japan, have also been compieted and all but one deMvered at Manila. . . Pay Inspector Stephen Rand appears to have recovered from the sudden iliness with which he was afflicted a year ago when ordered to sea. His confirmation as pay director has been hung up since July last, the President refusing dorsement on the ground that Rand had not been at sea while in the grade of pay inspector. Mr. Rand has now been ordered to service in the Philippines, a duty less agreeable than the order to the West Indles a year ago, and will most likely con- sent to go. He has been in the regular service since 1363 and will retire by age !imit in 1906. He is credited with seventeen years, six months sea service, most of which has been of his own selection as he has until recently been greatly favored by the Washington authoritles. His rank as pay director wiil be that of a captain and his retirement in that grade would entitle him to retire with the rank of rear-admiral, having served-during the Civil War, from December 1364, as an acting third assistant engineer and was transferred to the pay corps in 1869. B The suit of the United States against the builders of a dry dock in the New York navy yard for the recovery of $I173.300, on account of defective work, has resuited in a verdict for the defendant. There was a great ‘Scandal in naval circles on the discovery that the collapse of the dock was chiefly due to bad work and a court-martial followed on the civil engineer, who had superintended the construction. The officer was suspended for two years and subsequently retired. The dock was unserv- jceable for a long period, at & time when greatly ngeded, and its condition at the present time is not one to inspire com- fidence In its safety, due partly to bad work, but chiefly because of its location where quicksand and subterranean springs make a proper foundation difficult to construet. The Navy Personnel law, enacted March 3, 1599, has now been in operation long enough to show resuits. Barring the amalgamation of the former engineer corps with the line, and discontinuing the engineer branch as a distinct part of the navy, which latter has proved a detriment to the service, the law has otherwise been a decided improvement on prior con- ditions. Hitherto promotion was too slow, officers stagnated in lower subordinate grades and were unsuited in many cases for the responsibility of command when the long delayed promo- tion came. The appended table shows the standing of officers at the foot of their respective grades in July 1, 18% and the advance made up to January 1, 1888. The second table covering the period between July 1, 1899 and January 1, 1908, demonstrates that promotion has been greatly accelerated under the work- ings of the new law, as compared with the conditions prior to July 1, 1899: RELATIVE STANDING ON NAVY REGISTER OF LINE OFFI- CERS, 1804 AND 1808 JULY 1, 1894 1 £ JANUARY 1, 1808, NAMES. *9pwAD uj JAquInN 9puaD Ul AdquinN A0QUINN [BIUIT Ul SUBAP { j el 726 .| 545 470 220 146 RBLATIVE STANDING ON NAVY REGISTER OF LINE OFFI- CERS, 1809-1903. | JULY 1, 199. || JANUARY 1. 1903 E]21 I BlE1 i z )= | f 1512 NAuES. . || Graae | T | 3 | S |2 || Grade |‘ i | | 2 | Ensign .. ss8 sift i Jr. Lieut .. |773| 721 | Lieutenant |678(243 124 | Lieutenant 855/160 11+ | Lt. Com...|[277| 60 o | Command 3 & "aptain There iven| A CHANCE TO SMILE. ‘Wigg—1 feel that Borrowell owes me n method first | AFology. Wage—I wish that was all be owed me.—Philadelphia Record. any more than “Well, Johnnie. what are you going to give your little brother for Christmas>" “I dunno. I gave him the measles last frult acd year."—Chicago Record-Herald. “ ‘T'd like to see a little dog.’ " said the man with the dyed whiskers, suiting the action to the word, * ‘and pat him on the" —blank dash the savage little beast! Take that, you bloodthirsty brute!”—Chicago Tribune.