The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 12, 1903, Page 8

FRANCISCO 3 :% 46 - < 4 L 2 Great Railroad Fights. BY EARL D. BERRY ; Former Ra! ad Editor New York Times and pyrigh Recent street rumors of a Rockefeller t fight for control of the Pennsy Railroad bring to mind other strenucus contests for the possession of great railroad properties. In the case of the Pennsylvania, offi- clal denials that there is any attempt to change the control are emphatic and explicit. but fights for railway control have passed into history. Just Pennsylvania shares in the stock mar- ket led to the reports that the Rocke- seeking to acquire the so a sudden and abnormal de- mand for Northern Pacific stock early some other great fellers were property in May, 1901, indicated to Wall street that “somebody was after that prop- erty BRI The main facts of the Northern Pa- cific fight are doubtless still fresh in the public mind. An important detail is recalled in the annual report of the | Union Paci Railroad, issued a few days ago, wherein the statement is made that $82,491,000 of Oregon Short Line bonds have been issued to cover the the purchases of Northern Pacific gtock which were made by E. H. Harriman and his friends during those exciting May days of two years agc This large sum represents a ma- jority of the Northern Pacific’s $15 000,000 of stock. Mr. Harriman, through the banking house of Kuhn, Loeb & Co.. deliberately set out to buy control of this great property away from J. Pierpont Morgan and James J. Hill, because the 1 Pacific was denied sation in the joint purchase of icago, Burlington and Quincy Vorthern Pacific and the ‘orthern compa Mr. Har- started to buy Northern Pacific as selling at about 1. His | movements were quick and e getic, and he took the controlling manage- ment of that road completely by sur- Both sides bought fast and fu- two days, reing the price re and so effectunally corner »ck that a very se- rioms-wiulc Thimntaind sold Northern prise ip to § did »ot possess, and widespread ruin would have followed not J. P. Mor- gan & Co. and Kuhn, Loeb & Co. mu- tually agreed to ease up on the con- tracts. ugh Mr. Harriman suc- ceeded in quiring a majority of all the shares, the victory was techmically with the Morgan party, which held a majority of the common stock, in which the voting power alone was vested. - & ® Some of the Gould millions gave Mr. Harriman temporary aid in this great fight, and it is interesting to contem- plate the important ‘part that the Gould millions have played in other railway controversies. Jay Gould on two occasions had to fight for the Union Pacific which Mr. Harriman now controls. The most remarkable contest with which the elder Gould was con- nected, however. was the Erie Railroad war. It was in 1867 that Commodore Vanderbilt undertook to buy the Erie road. This property had become the football of Wall street, through the speculative tendencies of Daniel Drew, and Vanderbilt thought that it would be easy for him to buy a majority of the stock. Jay Gould and James Fisk Jr. were associated with Mr. Drew in the ccntrol of Erie, and when they found that Commodere Vanderbilt's millions were being poured into Wail street to acquire Erie stock they se- cretly, and contrary to an order of the court, issued 100,000 shares of new stock. More than $10,000,000 was paid by purchasers of this “stock,” which had nc valid existence. Vanderbilt took it in $1.000.000 biocks, and when the trick was exposed the price of Erie dropped so fast that the commodore’s friends thought he was ruined. Power- ful financial influences came to his aid, and he soon succeeded in getting on his feet. Warrants were issued for the arrest of Drew, Gould and Fisk, and they and other Erie directows fled tc Jersey City, taking with them the company’s beoks and papers and all the cash that they could lay hands upow. Charies Fran- cis Adams. in his “History of Erie.” savs that one individual bore away in a coach $6000,000 in greenbacke. By a Mbera! use of this stolen money a Tweed Legisiature at Aibany W%as in- duced to legaiize the fraudulent issue of Erie securities. Threatened with prosecution in the ccurts. Drew, Gould and Fisk went stealthily to Commodore Vanderbilt's house just before daylight onme morning and effected a compro- mise. by which they refunded to him 2 large part o the money that he had paid out for ine lilegal Erie stock. Two cor three years afterward. when Gouid and his aseociaier wers forcibly deposed from the conircl of the Erie ________..\______'__._4. as the large buying of | Many brokers | Pacific stock that they | e the Arkansas, and subsequently for the very existence of the Rio Grande road. This was @ctual war, in which physical | force and firearms were resorted to as' well as every expedient of the law. The | strife, which extended over a period of two years, was started by the forcible seizure of a narrow mountain pass by a gang of men in the employ of the Atchison road. This pass afforded the | only available railroad route through | the mountains to the great mining re- | gion of Leadville, in Colorado. Both reads were determined to extend to | | Leadville, and President Strong of the Atchison and President Palmer of the Denver and Rio Grande each recognized | the importance of securing control of | | the Roval Gorge, and made their plans | | accordingly. A small force of Atchison men reached the mouth of the pass a| few hours before their rivals oné morn- irg in April, 1878. A dozen shovelfuls of - dirt were thrown up and formal | declaration was made that the con-| struction of the Canyon City and San ! Juan Raiiroad had begun. S e S When the chief ‘engineer of the Den- | | ver and Rio Grande reached the en-/| | trance to the pass with 200 men and a | | construction outfit he found scarcely a dozen Atchison representatives on| | guard. Thinking it an easy matter to intimidate this small force, the Rio Grande party started to march into the gorge. The leaders, however, looked | over the muzzles of rifles and revolvers | | in the hands of men of well-known de- | termined character. Seeing that an ad- | vance meant bloodshed the larger party | | withdrew and left the handful of Atchi- son men in possession for thé time be- ing. Subsequently armed bodies com- prising several hundred men were marched to the scene, but nothing more than threatening = demonstrations en- sued. Meanwhile the courts of Colorado were kent busy by innumerable legal | tactics. While the controversy was at s fiercest the Denver and Rio Grande | | became impoverished, and President | Palmer was obliged to lease his road | to the Atchison company. The owners | of the Rio Grande road speedily became | dissatisfied with the Atchison poliey to- ward their property and took aggres-| sive steps to break the lease and re- claim the road. | Curious Cures. | BY W. R. €. ON. M. D. | (Editor Health Culture Magazine, New York.) «Copyright, 1903, by Joseph'B. Bowles.) The history. of medicine is the his- tory at once of human error and hu- progress. In no other field have prejudice and superstitution held more powerful and more deadly sway. In | none have there been more arduous re- search and unflagging effort to achieve { the object aimed at, the cure of human | weakness and disease. | As Bacon said, “The complexity of | | the universe exceeds the subtlety of | {man,” and in no respect is this more | | strikingly true than in regard to the: human body. In spite of laboricus and painstaking study by thousands of de- | voted students, we know but little of | the human body. If it be true to-day— as-all students of physiology must ad- | mit—that, compared with astronomy, | cs or mathematics, the science of ology is merely in its infancy, how | much more must it have been true in those days when men had to depend for | their information upon practitioners unaided by the light of modern science. | In addition to entire ignorance of the | organism he was supposed to repair, | the physician all through the dges has | beemr at another great disadvafitage. | His very anxiety to heal the pa\ipm» | has been a stumbling block, and has | | 1ed him to seek always the strange and | curious through his own superstitious | hope that in some mystical manner | such agents man would effect what mose commonplace measures would not. Another cause of error has arisen in consequence of the fact that every dis- order is in reality a duality—a condi- tion presenting two distinct although | interdepende. t phases. First of all, we have the actual physical derangement, the disease; secondly, we have the pa- tient’s mental state, his own comcep- tion of his condition. Any remedy which affects the patient’s mind has | an immediate influence upon the bodily condition. - If he be encouraged and made more sanguine there is an im- mediate invigoration of all vital activ ties, and recovery is facilitated. If by any means the patient be disheartened or depressed, there is immediate and} marked increase of all unfavorable | symptoms, and the chances of recov- ery are lessened by just =0 much. ‘A remedy, then, which is in itself quitel useless, or even harmful, may by ap- pealing to the patient’s imagination, so | | as tc arouse anticipation of relief, con- | duce to his recovery. The same drug given to a patient who lacked faith in it and in the doctor who prescribed it would be quite unavailing or harmful. We can readily understand how the doctor of the olden times, finding that strange and weird prescriptions pro- duced good effects and quite ignorant of the physical principle involved, should have been led to believe that the curative power lay in the strange- ness of his compound and should have striven to make his prescription even more and more strange and impressive. Dr. Ambrose Parey, a famous Eng- lish doctor, published in 1579 a book on medical practice which was for many | years an accepted authority on medi- { cine and surgery, One of the remedies on which he places greatest confidence as a medicament of general applicatiog is “mummie.” Mummie” he describes as “‘a liguor flowing from the aromatic embalmments of dead bodies, which become dry and hard.” Parey was evidently a believer in water cure, and had some dim idea of the beneficial results sometimes follow- ing physiologic shock. His methods, , were rather drastic. After on the value of certain measures he goes on to say: “I would | i 1 | !Ei RDAY, DECEMBER THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL . Address All Communications fo JOHN McNAUGHT, Manage: JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Proprietor . . . . . . Publication Office .....vevevesee @ ‘iivtestessees.....Third and Market Streets, S. F- teeseecnciiaen.......DECEMBER 12, 1993 T_ALKING OFFICERS. SATURDAY E Al army and navy officers in recent years S have talked too much. Some of them have em- barked on the rough sea of domest‘ questions and, like General Funston, have talked themsclves to an en- forced standstill. Others, more ambitious, have sailed on the broader ocean of international questions and have undertaken to create issues with other countries embarrassing to our Government. In regard to this practice a question of veracity has arisen between General MacArthur of the regular army and Colonel Jones of the Hawaiian militia. " In a report to Governor Carter, in which he enlarged upon the im- portance of the island militia, the colonel 'said he had the assirance of General MacArthur that we are on the eve of a war with Germany. This was accompanied by an exposition of Pan-Germanic spirit to the effect that the Kaiser was forcibly promoting a substantial union of all men of German blood wherever domiciled to support by sympathy and uprising the spread of the empire. In !‘_|ppm’! of this view General MacArthur was reported as lamenting that the Germans in the United States stu- diously avoided enlisting for the Spanish war, and he put this down with other signs and tokens in the political earth and sky to demonstrate that wherever a German goes he carries the empire and its militarism with him. He was | reported as disturbed also by the fecundity of the Ger- mans, which was represented as deliberately planned to create a surplus population for the purpose of migrating and carrying the empire with it. Colonel Jones two days after all this portentous prophecy was given to him wrote it down and reported it to the Governor of Hawaii, intending thereby to create a thrill that would inure to the benefit of the militia. Now comes General MacArthur declaring that the re- port exgggerated and distorted what he did say, but he refrains from stating how it looked and was worded be- fore it was refracted in-the prism of Colonel Jones’ mili- tary enthusiasm. Jones comes into focus long enough to say that he did not intend his report of the conversa- tion to be made public and is supported by Governor Carter, who says the publication was unauthorized and | occurred through a misunderstanding. This moves us to offer the advice that officers do not talk with tattlers and that tattlers do not tattle to officers.’ The net result of the affair is that if the expressions in regard to Germany and the Germans were not the senti- ments of General MacArthur they were the views of Colo- nel Jones, so that they are only one remove any ‘way. It is not for regular officers of the army or navy to cre- ate international complications by walk or' conversation. | Our system of government wisely confides international affairs to the executive, who should not be embarrassed by military subordinates. Nor is it the function of a militia colonel in Hawaii or elsewhere to sniff the battle afar off and thereby begin the embroiling of h:s country vulh a iriendly foreign power. As far as the Germans in the United States are con- cerned they seek naturalization as soon ‘ns the law per- mits and_are among our best glien born citizens. The first great migration of Germans hither followed the revolution of 1848. They came from Schleswig-Holstein and Bavaria mostly, but there were many Prussians, Their leaders, Schurz, Sigel, Ottendorfer, Hassurek and others, became Americans in spirit and purpose. They | set the pace for all Germans who have followed them, and it is probable that there are among us none who have cherished in greater purity American sentiment. They did ‘what some other aliens have failed to do. They left behind them the politics, the jealousies and conten- tions, the grudges and revenges of the Old World, and addressed themselves with spirit and intelligence to the public affairs and higher politics of their adopted coun- try, as they did to its best industries and larger enter- prises Th not saying that they forgot the Fatherland, but they remembered it not for the glories of its dynasty nor the glitter of its 1mpenal pageantry, but for its schools, its homes of virtue, its students, scholars and philoso- phers, whose patience and genius had pushed scientific investigation_to the|ultimate, had turned a searching lens upon the dead past and brought out of it the facts that overthrow modern superstition and emancipate human reason. They realized that Ger_m:my is greater than the empire, better than its armies, stronger than its power, with a jurisdiction in the wide republic of thought and letters, which mere political empire can never achieve. Because they come with such motives, illustrated by such conduct, they have been fellowshiped by Americans. and their assimilation has raised the power of our hlood and strengthened every sinew of the nation. To say that such a people are the sinister agents of the empire, living among us physically but apart from us in purpose and sentiment, using the broader opportunity of our iree and splendid institutions only to gather the substance and gain the strength to assist in their over- throw, is to utter slander, whether the expression be that of a regular army officer or the hithertg unheard of colo- nel of an island militia. The acroplane of Langley has been definitely, safely and without any unnecessary harm to the neighboring country proved to be a failure. The people of the coun- try in which Langley operated are to be congratulated. Both on and off the earth his airship was a menace to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. RIPENING OF ORANGES. WO prominent witnesses from Southern California Thnve come into court to testify relative to the time when it is possible to ship ripe oranges from the counties of the State south of Tehachapi. The Los An- geles Herald is one and the other is the San Bernardino Sun. The people in the orange growing counties that lie north of Tehachapi will peruse the testimony with inter- est. “It is impossible,” says the Los Angeles Herald, “to send thoroughly prime oranges to the Eastern market from this section available for Christmas.” The San Bernardino Sun says: “That oranges will not be ripe for heavy shipments _ior the Christmas markets was the unanimous report brought in by directors of the San Bernardino County Fruit Exchange, which met in the new Court-street offices of the exchange vesterday afternoon. Nearly all the districts were repmw by diréctors, and the same report, that the fruit u ulbw in coloring, came from all directions.” The Los Angeles Herald says: “The orange :;op for the present season will be the largest, and it promises to | - be one of the best on record. It will not begin to move in large quantities a part of it will be fully um'ml uquuumby-m time ) will produce fine oranges. In view, however, of these i statements, and bearing in mind that ripe oranges have for several weeks past been going forward to the Eastern market from Tulare, Butte, Placer and other sections north of Tehachapi, the contention would seem to have been abandoned by the Southern California people that their climate ripens oranges earlier than that of Northern and Central California. —_— Santo Domingo, with many protestations of friendship and estcem, wants the United Statés to become the guardian of her national future. Before accepting this equivocal honor it might be well for Washington to in- quire if there is anything on earth, except annihilation, that can preserve the peace of the Dominicans among themselves. | birthday of Hon. Jesse D. Carr of Salinas, and now we record his death, which occurred at his home in Salinas yesterday. His career, beginning in Tennessee and extending through several States of the South, in which his remarkable energy found activity, carried him to the Mexican war with Taylor’s, army and finally fixed him in California soon after the American occupa- tion. Here for more than a half century he was a vital force and most picturesque figure. A man of iron will, he was attracted by difficulties and never flinched from embar- rassments. This led him into fields that he won alone, because weaker men were repelled by the hindrances to success. The soul of hospitality and of the most genial social qualities, he had the spirit of a soldier, the suavity of a gentleman, the address and resources of a diplomat. He was ‘welcomed in the White House by every Presi- dent from Taylor to Cleveland and, without regard to party politics, his advice was sought by them all. General Taylor always said that he won the battle of Buena Vista by a diversion created by Mr. Carr, and during the Presidency of old Rough and Ready Carr was a most welcome and trusted friend at the White House. With all his influénce in and knowledge of politics he was not an office seeker. The most |mportant publie sta- tion he ever filled wassas the organizer of the customs service in San Prancisco, to which he was chosen that the Government might have the benefit of his keengenius for business organization. In his long career he championed every good cause mightily with his purse and his energy, and he fought every bad one with the ceurage of a crusader. His friends knew him for everything that was gentle and kindly and helpful and his enemies as a tireless, resource- ful and straight fighter. He was about the last of the mighty men of early California. He was the contem- porary and companion of Gwin and Fremont and his long life of war and peace, of activity projected with force into many fields, ends with his honor unscarred and as stainless as a star. THE DEATH OF JESSE D. CARR. AST spring we noted the celebration of the ninetieth The curious affairs and devious ways of the County by the!Grand Jury. There is always one distinguishing disadvantage to a post mortem investigation. The sub- ject is always fortunately dead, and the public is not novelty in the case. A CHAMELEON CANDIDATE. I dolph Hearst not only adds to the gayety of nations, but induces an interesting study of the chameleon in politics. It is known, of course, and by all men, that erate .descendant of the mighty saurians. It is also known to paleontologists that the word saurian comes from saur or dirt, and that the saurians were the animals The chameleon takes on the color of whatever he lies on. You meet a chameleon one day basking on garbage and he looks like garbage. Next day he is sunning him- But we are not writing a treatise on the paleozoic age, but intend.merely to address ourselves to the chameleon in politics. Not long ago Mr. Hearst, in furtherance of own newspapers that he “is the implacable foe of in- herited wealth.” That day he was basking on union labor and faithfully took on its color. It is true that wealth was inherited, but a little-thing like that makes no difference. Now he causes it to be published in his own news- als of the party, is out by his own declaration, and Mr. Cleveland, the leader of the conservative or wealthy ele- ment, is now impossible by his own declaration, there wealth, so that legal wealth in the country may feel that it will not be unjustly assaulted, and one whose personal sympathies are with the masses of the people on the great this for themselves by saying that Hearst embodies these elements more than any other man now before the coun- try. & 2 cessor of Cleveland. He takes on the hue of wealth. But the whole question is not solved. He said before that he was the implacable foe of inherited wealth and now that Clerk have at last become subjects of diligent inquiry spurred to interest by a prospect of any revelation of HE Presidential candidacy of Mr. William Ran- the chameleon is 2 member of the lizard family, a degen- that lived in the dirt. self on a lichen-covered rock and looks like a lichen. his Presidential candidacy, published of himself in his some surprise was felt by those who knew that his own papers that as “Mr. Bryan, who leads the extreme liber- should be found a man who combines the elements of measures necessary for their prosperity.” They solve * That is the color of Mr. Hearst as the conservative suc- he is the champion of legal wealth. Are we to under- ! stand from this that inherited wealth is illegal, that it belongs to others than its heirs? If so, to whom? The answer concerns many who are helpless against chameleon schemes for their spoliation. All over the country are widows and orphan children who have in- herited property. Much or little, it is their wealth. It is cared for by trust companies under probate control. As Mr, Hearst is the champion of legal wealth only and the implacable foe of inherited wlahh what manner of attack will he make upon the estate of the widow and orphan? Will it be outlawry and confiscation? What will the chameleon do with it? A If out of the saur, the dirt, is to come the successor of Cleveland, representing the wealthy element, and the foe of inherited property, which Mr. Bryan opposed by say- ing that he attacked the interest of those who lived on fixed incomes, will the watchman lift his-voice and please tell us wlnt of the night? 5 ———— A member of a “busted” M‘ theatrical fioepe has fallen heir to a fortune of $100,000 in St. Louis. It :hmdutfatemm-*m'&:w wit! m in w slm nj m ¥ | watchman to guard the house o m—— The Yellow Terror. Dr. Clarence TMiman, surgeon for several of the athletic clubs, abhors the Chinese. Natural antipathy to the vellow man has been accentuated by a sad experience. Two of the young phy- sician’s friends conceived the idea that it would be a joliy good joke to give Tillman a day with the Mongols. One Saturday afternoon the pair spént sev- eral hours in Chinatown engaging Chi- nese boys as house servants to report Sunday at the Tillman home, in the Mission. Bright and early Sunday morning the Chinese contingent began to show. One, two, three, four, ten and twenty— the number grew and grew. The neigh- bors wondered, and Tillman, beside himself with rage, knew not what to do to stem the flood sof invading “chinks.” It was a steady procession all day. To protect himself Tillman borrowed a neighbor’'s Great Dane, but the canine only tore up the flower beds, and encouraged by fondlings from the timorous Chinese let the stream con- tinue to the door. 8 Anywhere from fifty to a hundred angry ‘Chinese congregated at the house, and before the incipient riot of the deceived callers was checked the police from the Seventeenth-street sta- tion had been summoned. Fearing vengeance, Tillman hired a special that night. To add insult to injury Till- man’s friends pasted a huge Chinese sign, done on brightest of reds, on the front door, and then the harried man was ready to die. A Serious Detail. In the life of a police reporter some curious incidents happen. On one oc- casion while police headquarters was at the City Hall a message was re- ceived about 1 o'clock in the morning that a lion had escaped from a cage in a circus at Central Park. The report- ers of the three morning papers hur- ried to the scene. They entered the park by a side gate on Eighth street and were followed by a boy about 16 years of age. Inside the tent the circus men, each carrying a torch, were diligently searching for the escaped lion. As the reporters and the.boy stood watching the waving torches it suddenly dawned upon them that if the lion came their way something serious might happen. They had just concluded to return to the hall when there was a rush made by the men with the torches in their direction and an animal sprang against the canvas. With a yell the reporters and the boy scurried away to places of safety. One of the reporters climbed to the top of the band wagon and as he climbed up the boy grabbed hold of his foot. The reporter,. thinking it was the lion, gave a despairing yell that could be heard for blocks. ‘That had the effect of increasing the speed of the other two, one of whom went hand over hand to the top of a telephone pole; the other ran till he reached a saloon on the corner of Eighth and Market streets and, rushing in, he caused a stampede by shouting out that an es- caped lion from the circus was after him. It was subsequently learned that the lion was captured and put back in the cage without trouble and that the ani- mal that scared the reporters was a big Newfoundland dog that had been mistaken for the king of beasts. But it was many moons before the newspa- per men completely recovered. Costly Modest y. A well-known San Francisco politi- cian in years gene by lost a very fat and lucrative position by his brusque way of showing his modesty. This man was known as the “Major™ and during the ecampaign of General Grant he contributed much to the elec- tion of that distinguished man to the President’s chair. The then United States Senator from California recom- mended the “Major” for the position of United States Marshal for the Northern District. In due time the “Major” re- ceived a letter from the Senator in- forming him of his goed luck in secur- ing the position and suggested that .t would be well if the “Major” would visit the national capital and becomc personally acquainted with President Grant. The invitation was accepted and in due time the “Major” arrived in ‘Washington and, with a letter of in- troduction, presented himself at the ‘White House, where he was most gra- ciously received and personally thanked by the President for his share in elect- ing him. ““Major Blank,” said President Grant, “in view of what you have done for the success of the Republican party in California, I have prepared your com- mission as United States Marshal.” “Mr. President,” said the “Major,” straightening hifnself up and throwing out his chest, “it was not I who did this; it was the man 'round the corner.” Grant looked up at the “Major” with a scowl on his face and said: “Very well; 1 will send for t-h-a-t man ‘round the corner and reward him for his services.” Grant stood up and left the room and the “Major” returned minus his commission. How About It?: 2 Some think that the English have a superior journalistic instinct te that which exists in America. Others do not share that belief. Now here is how the London Westminster Gazette “cov- ered” a murder story: i “TRAGEDY AT BLACIIPOOL.” “Henry Bertram Starr, a slater’s la- borer, this morning visited Lord street, Blackpool, where his wife was staying with her mother, and after a brief al- tercation repeatedly stabbed her in the breast and neck with a knife which he picked up from the breakfast table, and the poor woman.died within a few min- utes.” % How would that look tucked in among @advertisements in the middlé sheet of an American metropelitan daily? Royal Ftrmon. BT s < + bery is added to the famous people who have turned fireman on occasion, says the London Chronicle. Though we now learn that it is not true that the Pope superintended the work of putting out « the fire at the Vatican, the German Em- peror was certainly well to the front when there was an outbreak in the new palace a year ago. King Edward, too, displayecC the utmost energy when a fire took place at Marlborough House in July, 1865. He took command of the water taps and superintended the fill- ing and passing of jugs and buckets, and the flames not abating he took fur- ther measures. When Captain Shaw arrived with the brigade he found the King in his shirtsleeves and as black as a sweep, hard at work ripping up the flooring to get at the seat of the fire. Storm in a Teapot. That astute bld gossiper about things as they are in Europe, Marquis de Fon- tenoy, thinks that there is a pretty kettle of fish simmering in Bulgaria. He says: “The fact that a family council should have been in session last week in Sofla, in which pot only Prince Fer- dinand’s mother, the aged Princess Clementine of Saxe-Coburg, and his elder brother, Prince Philip, but also all the other adult mdle members of the Coburg family took part, indicates that some very grave subjeéct has been under discussion. It is the first time since Ferdinand has been on the Bul- garian throne that there has ever been such a gathering of the members of the Saxe-Coburg family at Sofia. The question which the Prince is under- stood to have submitted to his rela- tives was as to the policy of his abdi- cating his crown in favor of his 10- year-old boy, Prince Boris, his own po- sition at Sofla having become unten- able. Until a year ago he was able in a measure to rely upon the loyalty of his thoroughly up-to-date, well-drilled and well-equipped army. But his atti- tude throughout the troubles in Mace- donia have to such a degree destroyed his popularity among his troops that instead of constituting a source of strength and security they have be- come a serious danger to his throne. There are a very large number of Macedonians among the officers of the Bulgarian army, and those who are not |actually Macedonians themselves have Macedonian relatives and’affiliations. Thanks to this, almost the entire corps of officers is bitterly incensed against the Prince. They openly denounce him. The malcontents are too numerous to arrest or cashier, and their sentiments may best be described by the mani- festo which has been circulated among 4 them, which runs thus: ‘Comrades, every man with a Bulgarian heart and breast must feel that the role forced upon us by Prince Ferdinand has dis- graced us in the eyes of all Europe. It is only a Prince who is no Bulgarian that fails to understand how he has thus dragged not only the honor, but the future, of Bulgarians in the dust.’ " ‘Answers to Queries. FIRMS—Call reader, Berkeley, Cal This department does not give any in- formation as to the flnancial standing of any firm, individual or association. GLADSTONE—S,, City.. William E Gladstone, once Premier of !nlund. was born in Liverpool December 29, 1809. He was the son of Sir John G. Gladstone, a well known merchant of that place. His parentage on both sides was Scotch. WEDDING SUPERSTITION—Mary, City. It is in the line of superstitions that it is unlucky to marry cn Satur- day, to try on the wedding ring, to wear the wedding dress until just be- fore the marriage ceremony, to put the left foot forward on leaving the church or not to shed a tear after the cere- mony. TOBACCO—Curious, City. It has been asserted that tobacco is a pre- ventive against infectious diseases. A trade journal some time since n-erle; that a man who had for more tha forly years been employed in toba factories had informed it that in all that time he had never known of the death of a tobacco cutter or cigarmaker from cholera or RICH MEN-—Subscriber, ©Oakland. Cal. There is no absolute certainty about the wealth of the rich men of the world, as their reported wealth is only a matter of guesswork. It has been asserted that the incom= of John D. Rockefeller, the oil ragnate. and Alfred Beit, the South African mineral! king, is about $100 per minute or $144,000 a day of twenty-four hours. VALHALLA—Subscriber, City. Ae- cording to- Scandinavian mythology Valhalla, also written Walhalla, is the of Immortality. inhabited the souls of heroes in battle. This hall stood in Gl (the hall of Joy), in'front of which was a beautiful grove called glasur. whose nna ‘bore golden leaves. In the Free Public Li- brary you can find many books that will_give a full of this hall. Strong Hoarhound Candy. Townsend's.® el Tt is time to express Fruits East for Christmas e — et !a&wtfn"«hu.“m house. m specs,