The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, April 26, 1903, Page 22

THE SAN FRA NCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, APRIL 26, 1903. | TALE OF «TH By Alice Prescott Smith, i IS STRONG IN ITS TYPES ELEGATEE! 1 o > 3 . e | | - - 1 CALIFORNIA WOMAN WHO HAS WRITTEN A STRONG NOVEL OF H WISCONSIN LUMBER DISTRICT, RICH IN DRAMATIC INCI- AND IN CHARACTER DELINEATION. NE of the highest requirements ; be excellent. It has, at any rate, the of art is the creation of original characters, or the delineation of types hitherto undepicted. The literary art is especially charged | work of that kind. Graceful narra- vivid descriptions, vigorous action and vivacity of style are after all only the of a successful novel. The s constitute its substance. It em that popular inter tered. If they have the power o tracting sympathy and living in the mind reader the book may be termed | successful as & work of art. If such char- acters be lacking any other excellencles | the book may have will do no more than make it a partial success, pleasing by its , but incapable of awaken- human interest in the mind w accessories of the “that standard, one of the ful books of the ye “The Legatee,” by Alice Prescott Smith, re- cently published by Houghton, Miffin & Co., New York. It is a story of the lum- ber districts of the northeastern penin- sula of Wisconsin. The hero of the book, the le ee, is a young Southerner, who inherits lumber mill in the district and goes there to take possession of He finds himself met by a spirit of hostility, primarily to the fact that he is a Southerner and has been a slave-owner, but also largely to his inability to under- stand and sympathize with the people. Thus a young woman of the villags, who has no prejudice of sectionalism to make or dislike him, is nevertheless prompted 1o antagonism by noting his smile of de- rision at the primitive ways of the vil- lagers when he sees them for the first time gathered to attend the wedding of | one of the belles of the district. The story concerns itself with the de- velopment of the original dislike of the | people againet the new-comer into some- | thing like downright hate, while at the | same time the antagonistic young woman of the firet scene gradually becomes more | and more sympathetic and helpful. Along | with the animosity of sectionalism grow- | ing out of the war, there is also developed | a further dislike of the stranger by the teaching of temperance fanatics, who de- | nounce him as a wine bibber, and certain | socialists, who look upon him as a repre- | ve of capitalistic oppressors of ngmen. The local color of the work appears to | —————————— NEW ADVERTISEMENTS. COMPETENT JUDGES. Beauty Doctors Endorse Herpicide. Women who make a business of beauti- | fying other women come pretty neer | knowing what will bring about the best results, Here are letters from two, con cerning Herpicide: | -1 recommend Newbro's ‘Herpi- | cide it stopped my hair from falling | out: and as a dressing it has no superior. | “(Signed.) Bertha A. Trullinger. “Complexion Specialist. < Morrison st., Portland, Or.” er using one bottle of ‘Herpicide’ hair has stopped falling out and my | p is entirely free from dandruff. “(Signed.) Grace Dodge. “Beauty Doetor. | “1%5 Sixth st., Portland, O | id by leading drug%lnla. stamps for sample to Dewroit, Mich. Eend 10c in he Herpicidc Co., Simon’s teilet bave made | rep: France famons the world over. CRLME POUDRE BAVON Best Face Cream. Bt Toilet Powde:, Bert Tollet Soap. first class PRICES: Creme Bimon (3 sizes), Boe.. The.. $1.00 i Poufire Simou, large box ‘| was but | country as a Congregational missionary | cause it is the first work of the kind by | | therefore, as a promise of more and even | lished by Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Price, $1 50. | Plain Dealer. Bavon a Is Creme ctke, SOc., box of 3 cakes, $1.35 Lrpensive imported of these Bhree ar- B VI 3 naturainess that carries with it to the! reader a conviction of its essential ac- curacy. Even those who know nothing of the lumber districts and the variel| races that have contributed to populate | them can hardly fail to feel that the| work is distinctly true to the time, place. and people. 1t iIs, therefore, not surpris- ing to learn that the author knows Lue | country well. We are told that when s a child her father went to th and she grew up amid the scenes anc the people she describes. 1t is said of her that her father's parish covered a wide district, and in his long drives from farm to farm he made a | comrade of his daughter. There was not a village she did not know, and she often stayed for weeks with friends on the for- est farms. ‘There, in the evenings, around the kitchen stove, she heard the stories of the dread Sth of October, 1571— ¢ observed as a time of mourniug ears afterward—and learned what o heart and endurance it meant to conque: a new land. The *dread ninth of October, 1871, was the ‘culmination of the mighty forest fires of that year, and it forms the climax of the story. Its flames served to bring out | all that was best in the humanity of the | village and to burn away all the old ani- | mosities that for o long a time had kept | asunder hearts that should have been | united in friendship or in love. The ca- | tastrophe is worked up with dramatic skill and is described with a genuine in- | tensity of feeling and vividness of picto- | rial effect. In short, there is no lack of | ingident from first to last and the dia- logue Is always bright and entertaining. | Nevertheless, the charm and value of the | work lie in the characters. Rarely does any story present o many really living and breathing human beings marked by | a dominating individuality and at the| same time keeping true to the essential qualities of the type. The variety of the | characters ranges from the highly intel- lectual doctor of the village to a half- | savage Belgian swaggerer who has no re- | spect for anything except courage, his| word and his church. The various types | form effective foils and contrasts for one | another and the play of fanaticism and of passion between them adds vastly to the interest of the story. The book is the more interesting be- the author, who, up to this time, has been | content to write short stories. It stands, | better work to come. In a certain serse the book represents the literature of Cal- ifornia,-as Mrs. Smith has been for thir- teen years a resident of this State, and owes her literary training and develop- ment to San Franciscan influences. The book is one that the Californian can with satisfaction recommend to cultured per- sons from the older States as evidence of what ix done here in the way of genuine literature. “The Legatee,” Alice Prescott Smith. Pub- “You can’t guy that fellow,” said the barber, as the bald-headed customer left the shop. “Did you try it?” asked *“next.” “Yes. When he got inta my chair 1 asked him if he wanted a hair cut, and he sald he didn’t care if I cut both of them.” —Indianapolis News. “1 see that Buffalo Bill says he works barder than any other man in the world.”” ““That's funny, ain’t it? Most people would think that galloping around after a lot of tame Indians and shooting a gun at glass balls would be a moderately mild occupation. Bill ought to compare notes with some farmer's wife.” — Cleveland —_—— Tawnnnd'l% glace fruits, 715 Mrkt.s | Townsend’s California giace fruit and i candies, §0c a pound, in artistic fire-etched boxes, A nice present for Eastérn friends. Moved from Palace Hotel building to 7i5 Market st., two doors above Call bullding.* ————— Speelal information suppiled daily to business houses and public men by the Press Clipping Bureau (Allen's), 230° Cali- fornia street. Telephone Main 1042. ¢ THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL. JOEN D. SPRECKELS, Proprietor. Address Communications to W. §. LEAKE, lumnr SUNDAY . wevieesen...APRIL 26, 1903 5 @ Ceeiivaeressiees.s..Third and Market Streets, S. F. RUSSIAN FAITH. HEN the allied armies entered China during the Boxer rebellion diplomats though} it unlikely that all the nations represented by troops would withdraw when the rebellion was subdued. The United States too}\the lead in arranging a general withdrawal, and in securing respect for the integrity ‘of Chinese territory. Secretary Hay had pre- viously pioneered the open door policy, and with rare foresight had secured the assent of Europe thereto, long before the allies entered China. It was, therefore, in line with his policy to secure a withdrawal of all the allies after peace had been compelled. Such withdrawal was agreed to by all. It was made the basis of the treaty of indemnit‘y. since it would have been an extraordinary act of oppression to exact a money indemnity frorf\ (;hma and also take her territory. All of the nations have kept faith and withdrawn except Russia.” She has broken faith. At fivgt upon the pretext that construction on the Russian railway was at such a s(aée as required her armies to remain, she took an extension of time. Then she attm1pteq to fm:ce China into a treaty transferring the sovereignty of Manchuria. It is known that the Russmr_l Min- ister forced his way to the deathbed of Li Hung Chang and sought to compel him to sign the treaty to dismember his country. The stout-hearted old statesman stood his ground, and died de- fending his country. Since then Russia has repeatedly promised the other powers to keep her word and withdraw. Three times this promise has been made to the United States, and three times it has been brokgr}. This course is endangering the world’s peace. It may be said that the United States has no legiti- mate interest in the sovereignty of Manchuria, and therefore has no right to interfere. That we will appear in the dispute as a military intervenor is wholly unlikely. Our interest is not like that of Japan and Great Britain. They may be compelled to make a military demonstration. But, while our policy will not lead us into war, Russia's bad faith is an affront to the United States. If she had refused to make the withdrawal agreement in the first place, the case would have been diff‘er‘ent, But she made it, and one after another the troops of Germany, France, Great Britain, the United States and Japan withdrew. After they were all gone, the Cossacks still sat on their horses far south of the Amur River, and the Russian camps were fortified and her military posts made permanent. .It is a conspicuous insult to our Government, and at some stage in the proceedings to follow Russia will feel that it is resented. Publication Office..........cccevenenicnanes It is intimated that Russia's defiance of her word and violation of her promise is secretly supported by Germany. 1f the Czar and the Emperor secretly agreed to what is being done, Ger- many is included in the act of bad faith, for she assented to the programme of the United States, and kept her agreement, thus affirming its validity. She has no right to secretly assent that another party to the same agreement can violate it. The only honorable course for Russia to have followed would have been by asking the assent of all the allies to rue her agreement. When such assent was asked it would have been with the distinct understanding that she would abide by the result of such a nego- tiation. The agreement was joint. It bound all.of the allies or it bound none of them. No two or three, or any number of them less than the whole, has any power to change the agreement or to nul- lify it in the slightest particular, and if Germany have assumed that only her assent is necessary to warrant Russia in breaking faith, she partakes of the immorality and dishonor of Russian diplomacy. In the event of a war with Japan, China and Great Britain on’ one side and Russia on the other, the attitude of the United States, though neutral, may make considerable difference to the Czar. The first principle of American diplomacy is good faith, and our/people despise any other course. THE AMBRICAN STAGE. HILADELPHIA has taken seriously the proposition to establish an Academy of Dramiatic Art, and although hardly a month has elapsed since the proposition was first broached, some- thing more than $1,500,000 has been subscribed to endow it. The sum is sufficiently large to assure the undertaking, and should good results be shown it will not be difficult later on for the managers and promoters to obtain whatever further amounts are needed to make the endow- ment sufficient for all purposes. This is not the first time Philadelphia has led in the country in the foundation of institfitions designed to promate the best work in new lines of endeavor. Early in her history she founded an academy of sciences which still flourishes and holds easy superiority over any other academy of the kind in the Union. Of late years her most notable work of the kind was the foundation of the Commercial Museum, an institutiop which has now a world-wide fame and an international use- fulness. From the precedents of the past we may thetefore expect the new enterprise to be carried through successfully. It is at any rate in safe hands, and there is no city in the Union where an Academy of Dramatic Art would be more like]y to obtain not only the support of capitalists, but, what is much more important, that of the public as well. It is high time that something be done to save the American stage from the farce and the problem play. Under the present regime, classic works are rarely seen even in our largest cities; well-balanced companies are scarce. Asa rule a play is written or adapted to a star who tours around the country supported by two or three satellites and a bunch of sticks. Thus we suffer not only decadence of the drama as a part of literature, but also a decadence in the art of pregentation. So far indeed has dramatic art fallen that the stage decoratoris the most important man in the business, and the people turn for relief to vaudeville. The old-fashioned stock companies were good training-schools for the profession. The lead- ing actors were required to attain facility in the expression of a variety of characters, and the sub- ordinates had opportunities of developing their abilities and making their way by legitimate suc- cesses. Such companies, however, are at present few and far between. They are no longer sufficient for the needs of the profession. New schools of legitimate, artistic training are therefore wanted, and the Philadelphia movement promises to meet the requirement. The founders of the academy merit the support that has been given them, and it is to be hoped it will not be long before the institution is open and ready for work. CORRESPONDENCE MADE EASY. NE of the trans-Atlantic steamship lines is said to have provided an office on board of each ship for a young lady who earns good wages -by typewriting letters for passengers. While the innovation is as vet only in the experimental stage, it is expected that it will find favor with the traveling public and prove beneficial both to the company and to the young women who take up the business. The experiment is worth noting, as it may prove the beginning of a new business for women who are clever at composition and typewriting. 1f it prove profitable on a steamer why should it not be even more profitable in a tourist hotel> Every traveler has more or less of a desire to tell his home folks of what he sees on his travels, even if it be-for no other purpose than that of recording his impressions. Among the host of such persons there are of course a good many who, while desirous of writing, either do not like the fatigue of it, or are conscious of an inability to write well. It would therefore be quite pleasing to such persons to be able after dinner to walk into a comfortably appointed office, sit in an easy-chair, smoke a cigar and tell a typewriter what to say. Within fifteen minutes the work .would ‘be done, the cigar finished and everything would be lovely. The cor- respondent would have nothing to do except to pay the typewriter and mail the letter. It is surely a great scheme. Moreover it has the advantage of ancient precedent to commend it. Time was when men and women of leisure did not take the trouble to learn how to write, and poor people had no opportunity to do so. Rich folks had a private amanuensis and the common run of folks resorted to professional letter-writers who plied their trade on the street corners. In those days letter-writing was a much nobler occupation than it is now. It was in fact a fine art. Those who could do it took a professional pride in their work and studied to please. Those old letters were full of dainty phrases and poetic allusions. Nowadays we have:but common stuff. The average letter of the time is worth nothing unless it figures as evidence in a divorce proceeding or a murder case. There is therefore something to be hoped for in the new industry. People whose friends are cross- ing the Atlantic on the steamers of the line that has set up the typewriters may expect glorious let- ters this summer. The revenues of the mail will increase and the publication of books of travel will boom. J. Pierpont Morgan recently announced an intention to place on exhibition a collection of carpets that formerly belonged to the royal house of Spain. The announcement led to an outery in Spain with the result that the Government has hastened to assure the people that none of the royal collection has been sold. It is now believed that Morgan has met the fake art man again. As a gold- brick buyer he seenis to be tlle biggest pebble on the beach. i { BRITISH CLAIM PROVEN by Old Alaskan Documents ENTIRELY GROUNDLESS | P e e e ey | | .i. -+ L TUME WORN IN ALASKA. b HOMAS WILLING BALCH of Philadelphia, an eminent author- ity on international law, who pub- lished in 1%02 a paper on the Alaskan boundary question, en- titled “La Frontiere Alasko-Can- adienne,” in the Revue de Droit-Inter- nationale of Brussels, which attracted much attention in Europe at the time, and later published the same in English in the Journal of the Franklin Institute, has lately brought out (in January) a much larger monograph on the same mo- mentous question, entitled “The Alaskan Frontier."” Balch is one of the best, If not the best, qualified men in the country to gather, arrange and present the historical evidence and physical faets “¥eftinent to the question at issue. His work shows great erudition, patient and exhaustive re- search and sharp refinement of logical reasoning, wherewithal he utterly demol- ishes any pretense of claim on the part of Great Britain to a single foot of terri- tory beyond the boundary that has been recognized by her for over seventy-five years. The final and right settlement and de- markation of the Alasko-Canadian boun- dary question is a matter which should concern every good citizen of the United States, and Mr. Balch presents the mat- ter In such a way that there need be no longer any lack of knowledge of the merits of the question and of our rights the premises. To the people of the Pacific States especially, by reason of their closer and more direct relations, commercial and otherwise, with the region In question, the proper and prompt adjustment of this matter is one of large concern. Balch shows that it is only within the last few years that any ‘‘question” has ever been raised. Before, every one, the Eritish and American Governments, of- ficlal as well as private mapmakers, travelers to and residents of the coun- try, school children and all, were used to consider the boundary laid down on the maps, according to the only reason- able and common-sense Interpretation of the Anglo-Russian treaty of 182, as the correct one. Lately, however, Great Britain, at the behest of Canada, has made claims that raise an issue of more importance than any with which we have had to deal since the Webster-Ashburton treaty of 1842 fixed the forty-ninth parallel of latitude as our northern boundary from the Lake of the Woods to the Straits of San Juan de Fuea—one that commands the most wary attention and careful offices of our Gov- ernment. Tt was only in 1898, the year of the great rush to the Klondike, following the rich gold discoveries in that quarter in 1897, that any formal claim was made by the British Government that the boundary line as laid down by the Anglo-Russian treaty of 1825, and universally accepted and recognized ever since by the world and its own officials as well, was not the correct one. It was at the Quebec conference in 1888 that her commissioners made the formal claim that the proper reading of the Anglo-Russian treaty of 1825 made great changes in the position of the boundary line and entitled Canada to the upper part of most if not all of the flords or inlets of Southeastern Alaska, then as now claimed and occupied by the United States under treaty of purchase from Russia. Intimations had aiready been given that some such claim would be made at an informal conference between Professor W. H. Dall of the United States Geologi- cal Survey and Dr. George M. Dawson of the Dominlon Geological Survey in 1888, during the session of the fisheries conference at Washington, and by General Cameron of Canada in 1884. Later the claim was advanced that the part of the third article of the 18% which reads, “The said line shall ascend to the north along the channel called Portland Channel as far as the point of the continent where it strikes the 56th de- gree of north latitude,” did not mean that body of water which Vancouver had named Portland Channel, or canal, but several other .E'wh“ of water a long tance away known severally as Duke of Clarence Straits and Behms Channel, AUTHOR OF NEW MONOGRAPH, WHICH UPHOLDS THE CLAIMS OF THE UNITED STATES AS TO THE ALASKAN BOUNDARY, IN COS- i B SR 6 T st e e s and Burroughs Bay: and tha ly the line should not be drawr eastward through Dixon entrance to the mouth of Portland canal and up that es tuary, but should run north through Duke of Clarence Straits to Burroughs Bay, an¢ thence across the mainland to intersec the 56th parallel of latitude, thus givins to Canada a large and valuable territory unquestionably belonging to the Unite¢ States. * In his latest work, “The Alaskan Fron tier,” Balch deals with the whole ques tion “ab initio ad finem.” The archives of the courts of London and St. Peters burg, the great public as well as many private libraries of Europe, records of the Canadian Government as well as those of Washington and the far off posts of Alaska itself have all been called upor for testimony, and all pertinent recorde¢ evidence as well as the substantial phy sical facts bearing thereon, as shown by map and picture, have been marshaled by him in such masterful fashion and such plain and logical deductions made therefrom as fully justify Mr. Balch ir his conclusion that “by no possibility has Canada any right to territory touching tidewater above 34 degrees 40 minutes.” In the summer of 1900 Balch, who s ar expert and enthusiastic mountain climber spent some time in Southeastern Alaske to make a personal inspection and ex ploration of a good part of the physica features of the “lislere™ involved in Can ada’s claim. The summer of 192 he spen' in Europe gathering facts and evidence from the state records of St. Petersburs and Londort Balch begins by showing the rights an¢ claims of Russia and Great Britain ir Northwest America prior to the ukase is. sued by the Czar in 1821 claiming sover eignty over Bering Sea, and a large part of the North Pacific and also extending his territorial claims down to the firty first degree of latitude as clalmed by the ukase of Emperor Paul in 179. Then the history of the negotlations which fol lowed between Great Britain and Russls and the treaty between those two powere of February 16-23, 1825, by which rights ot navigation on the ocean were settled axd the boundary befween their respective territories was fixed. It is in the interpretation of this treaty that Canada finds the ground for her late- day claims. The United States in 1867 bought from Russia all her territory on this side of the Pacific, according to the limits set forth in that treaty of 1825, which was quoted “literatim et verbatim™ In the treaty of cession. Baleh shows by nu- merous citations that neither from 18 down to our purchase of the country ir 1867, nor till over twenty years after, did Canada or the British Government give any Intimation of differing with us ir the universally accepted construction of that treaty—that on the contrary they officially confirmed it on many occasions He shows by quotations from the letters of instructions given by Sir George Can ning, then Prime Minister, to the British representative at St. Petersburg (1823-25), and from the Russian archives, what were the aims of the two powers and to what extent these were realized in the treaty achieved after over tweo years of negotiation. He gives the official treaty, which was m French, in full (with translation in parallel columns), and shows by liberal citations from contemporary authoritios and dictionaries that the then accepted meaning of certain words and passages on which Canada relles for support of her claim gives her no ground whatever (¢ stand on in her present contention. He gives coples of a long list of maps, official and private, from Russian, Brit ish and French sources, including a Biit- ish Admiralty chart published in 1877 and corrected to 1898, and Canadian Government maps of 1884; which all show the boundary line as is now claimed by the United States. Not one authority gives the line as lately clalmed by Canada. ‘With all these maps and citations from the instructions to, and proceedings of the British and Russian negotiators of the treaty of 1825, the author makes it per- fectly clear and conclusive that the treaty was intended (o and actually did cut the British off from tidewater above fifty-four-forty; that they so understood and. accepted it officially and otherwise for the seventy odd years since, and are only now seeking to “arbitrate” the ques- tion in the hope that they will be award- ed something.