The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 26, 1903, Page 6

THE SAN HSEO CALL. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 26, 1903 WJTRUCTNEMDM | J. I. Hill's Beginnings. BY EARL D. BERRY [Former Ralroad Editor New York Times and w York «Copyright, 1 by Joseph B. Bowles.) Here is the story of the origin and | promotion of the Northern Securities | Company the $400,000,000 securities | holding corporation whose right of ex- istence has been sb strenuously opposed by the Government. About seven years ago James J. Hi president of the Great Northern Rai way, spoke to some of his business a sociates of the desirability of a cor- poration in which could be conc: trated the control of the great sy tem of rail and water Ir.ln<p0rldl to the upbuilding of which he given the greater part of his business career. Practically all of the large fo tune accumulated by Mr. Hill was i vested in the Great Northern ‘system. With a few personal friends as part- ners he had secured absolute control of the property. These friends were Lord Strathcona, Lord Mount Stephen, Joha €. Kennedy, D. Willis James and one or two others. All of these men we: considerably past middle age and they felt that gs they grew old together it | the richn of the country is derived. The depth of these glacial deposits south of the great lakes probably aver- | ages more than 100 feet, and in some | places where a buried river gorge is/ penetrated it is known to have been | more than 300 feet in depth. Over| Northern Germany and Northwestern would be gratifying to have assurance of the permar of the property that had been developed and conserved by their capital Said Mr. Hi trathcona,who was then past 70 years of age: “Ti my death or your death or the demise | our partners should disrupt and con- fuse our weil-laid plans for the future | of this propert something I can | only contemplate with sorrow. We | must make such provision as will zecp this system intact and insure the com- | pletion of our plans for its devel ment.” Up to that period of Mr: Hill's | idea of a securities hol y | embraced Great | nly. He had preyio harmc Pacific ever, that some stey jize the policies of and the Great order that these twc road systems be restrained ting into each other’s territory and in- | juring each other’s business Northern, orthwestern in for a lease of the Northern Pacific to the G rthern were made, but such vig opposition was raised by [ shippers and politicians throughout the Northwest that the project was abar- doned zed th time ana | 3 Morgan reor; Northern Pacific about this Jooked around for a purchascr. He was | determined to keep the property out| of the hands of speculators and sug- | gested to John S. Kennedy, D. Will James and other New York friend: Mr. Hill thet the reorganized road af- forded a good field for investment. | Soon thereafter several large blocks of | Pierpont Northern Pacific stock passed to the | control of Mr. Hill and his friends, and, | although Mr. Morgan practically re- tained the management, the dcminant influence was that of James J. Hill. It was the latter purchase of Burlington and Quincy lines Northern Pacific and the Great ern, and it was Mr. Hill who said peremptorily when E: H. Harriman | asked that the Union Pacific be ad- mitted to partnership in the Buriing- ton purchase Mr. Hill's peremptory “No” precipi- tated the stock-buying contest for con- trol of the Northern Pacifi- which waged with panic fierceness for two days early in May, 1802. Mr. Morgan was in Europe just then, but his firm joined with Mr. Hill in seeking to pre- vent Mr. Harriman and his associates from getting a majority of Northern Pacific shares. It was virtually 1 drawn battie. Each party to the fight con- sented to a truce in order to avert a wild panic in Wall street. The Harri- man party counted up about $75,000,000 of the $155,000,000 of Northern.Pacific stock and the board of directors were recast by Mr. Morgan—at th~ quest of all parties interested—and the U'nion Pacific received proportionaie repre- sentation. What to do with these enor- mous accumulations of Nérthern Pa- cific stock was the guestion. Neither party wanted to carry their heavy bur- dens permanently, and Mr. Hill and Mr. Morgan realized the necessity of fixing the control of the property in such a way that it could not be easily disturbed nor again made a football in Wall street. It was then that James J. Hill brought forward his securities holding scheme, with such elaboration as was necessary to take in the capital shares of both the Northern Pacific and the Great Northern railroads. The capital- ization of the Northern Securities Com- pany was fixed at $400,000,000 for two reasons, as explained by both Mr. Mor- gan and Mr. Hill. One reason was that it was Jesirable to have the securities holding company so large that no spec- ulative or aggressive interest could go into the open market at any time .41 buy control of it. The other reason was that Mr. Morgan, Mr. Hill and Mr. Harriman wanted the nmew com- pany to be in a position to take every who negotiated the joint the 5000 miles of Chicago, | k | of the Morgan, the Hill and the Har- | | attorneys are equally confident. { | of Overturas | ** | ocean. | it would lower the general level of the | This perhaps of itself accounts for the share of Northern Pacific and Great Northern stock on terms uniform to each individual holder. Mr. Hill in- sisted that every small holder should be enabled to convert his stock-at the same price the large holders received, and as market quotations ruled when the conversicn was made the $400.000,000 of Northern Securities stock at par would just about osay for all of the stock of the two railroad companies. il It was stipulated that the Northern Securities Company, although owning the stocks of the Northern Pacific and the Great Northern, should not inter- fere in any way with the operation of those railway systems. In fact, the charter of the securities company pro- vides only for owrership of securities | and does not limit these to railroad securities. Many cf the smaller holders of Great Northern stock have not exchanged their shares for Northern Securities stock, consequently there is consider- able of the latter stock unissued. It is estimated that about $325,000,000 of’ the total $400,000,000 is now in the hands | riman interests. President Hill believes | that the Northern Securities is legally | sound and expects that the Federal court will so declare. That, however, is doubted by others. The Government The Burden of Glaciers. BY G. FE u “Man and the Glacal Perd The lce Age in Nort “opyright, 1903, by Joseph B. Bowles) | In its movement over the uneven sur- ! face of the land the ice which flowed | southward over so great a part of North America in the glacial period ground off the prominences and dragged | the grist along slowly under it, spread- ing it out-over the country invaded and tending to fill up the valleys and pro-’ duce a general level. It is this action the glacier that has largely pro- Auced the level plains of the prairies of the \nSSiSQIp])i Val ; so to speak, !he‘ glggier has “ironed” out the ruffles in| th® continent and left it v‘omparat(\ely‘ smooth. The whole glaciated area 18| covered with ancient river channels| and gorges, which have been complete- | 1y filled up with the grist of the glacier, while to a great depth it is spread out yver the central and southern portions | to furnish the arable soils from whick hy Rus a the depth of the glacial deposits | ted to average 125 feet. Th ial deposits can be easily | recogni and distinguished from | thoge made by water by their unassort- ed cha ter, by the angularity of the| imbedded fragments of stone and the| frequent occurrence of scratches upon | them. Deposits. made in running water | are uniformiy assorted and stratified, | but in the direct glacial ‘deposits the | pebbles and rock fragments are indis- | criminately mixed in the whole mflss1 like plums in a pudding. i ..V i is estin few facts concerning the glacial period give new force to the adage, Truth is stranger than fiction.’ The | 6.000,000 square miles covered by the| | glacial ice in North America and Eu-| rope to the depth of one mile (probably an underestimate) would furnish 6,000, 000 cubic miles of ice, all of which is formed by water abstracted from the This would reduce the level of the ocean the world over 250 feet and add to the northern part of the conti- nents twe or three times the weight of the entire land surfaces of North Amer- | ica and Europe which are above sea | level. This additional weight would be such a powerful attracting force that A ocean fifty feet more. The weight of this ice over every square mile would be 4,000,000,060 tons, which would have to be muitiplied by | 6,000.000 to get the total amourt. This lis probably enough to cause the crust of the earth to sink under it when the jce aceumulated, and to allow it to rise again when it had melted off. great changes of level in the northern hemisphere which have taken place since the beginning of the glacial period. The spring freshets of thie glacial period were of enormous dJimensions, | causing, as 1 have recently ascertained, the Missouri River to rise annually 200 feet instead of forty, as it sometimes does now. The’ close of the glacial period was so recent that it comes down beyond the advent of man. Giacial man fol- lowed up.the retreating ice border in New Jersey, Ohio, Kansag ana Minne- sota as he is now doing in Greenland and Alaska. The glaciers of the world are now nearly all retreating. The front of the Muir glacier, which I visited in 1886, and have described in my “Jes Age in North America,” is now three miles farther back than it was at that time, and, according to all accounts, it is thirty miles farther back than it was when Vancouver discovered 1t 100 years ago. We are not so far separated from the glacial period as it would seem to the casual observer. Probably it would re- quire but a slight increase of snowfall, combined with a slight lowering of the temperature, to cause glaciers again to form on the White Mountain: and in Labrador, and the already existing gla- ciers to begin a readvance. When once begun it would be difficult to tell when the advance would stop, for giaciers of themselves tend to lower the tem- perature and to increase the snowfall. When we reflect upon the way the heat of the tropies is distributed by the guif stréam and the Japanese current, it is not difficult to see how compara- tively slight changes in land level af- fecting the course of the oceanic cur- rents might bring on a glacial period again. But of any tendency in this direction we have no evidence. —— e Prospective Customer — What have you got in the way of trun this morn- ing, grocer? Grocer (mlsundenundin‘)—Oh couple of boxes of soap, sir; but I can easily remove 'em.—Columbia Jester. e g bl S el Ly Yeast—Did you ever sit in front of a fireplace and vleture !hlm in mg glowing coals? Crimsonbeak—Oh, yes; I dld S0 lu! night. I imagined I saw the words $10 a ton” there.—Yonkers Statesman. T | Interior, acting, THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Proprietor . » + + « + . . . Address All Communications to JOHN McNAUGHT, Manager = Pubuuuono*lce.'...............................@ “iieviseeeeseo.Third and Market Streets, S. F. SATURDAY sevsdss....DECEMBER 26, 1903 THE WATERS OF THE SIERRA. HE Secretary of the Interior refuses to permit San Francisco to seek the most accessible point in the mountains for a water supply, because it lies with- in Yosemite National Park. We treat ‘he subject re- gardless of the issue of municipal ownership of the water supply. The Yosemite Park reservation was made originally by Congress as a forest reserve, and since then there is no act of Congress changing the character given to it by the original act. The maner becomes of gr¥at importance to the whole State ‘on account of the attitude of the Interior Department toward private own- ers of patented lands in the reservation, and toward all who desire to make use of its waters or other resources, when such use is consistent with the purpose of a forest reservation, which is the preservation of the timber. The law gives the public the same rights to water, ditches and rights of way in a forest reservation that exist on public lands not reserved, and the law also gives to the Sccretary of the Interior the discretionary power to grant the same rights in a national park. In pursuyance of this discretion he refuses to grant such rights to private owners, and to this city. which desired | to secure a supply of potabie water. Now the water belongs to the Federal Government only in meandered streams. The water in the Sierra Nevada Mountains does not belong to the United States. It is the prop- erty of the State or of the people, subject to such tenure and use as the State law defines. The Yosemite reservation is a vast area. the mountains. 1t covers the leading water sources of a great part of the State. Effective use of the water with- in it, enher for mining, irrigation, power or domestic purposes. requires that diversion occur at an altitude that places it within the line of the reservation. Such is the situation of the only water supply for all pur- poses of a large part of the State. The Secretary of the as he no doubt believes, within his au- thority, refuses to permit use of the water. The gravity of the matter goes far beyond the water supply of this city, for it involves the right of an administration officer It saddles | i 1 of the Federal Government to arbitrarily sequester the | most important natural resources of the State and forbid their application to economic uses needed for the life of the anmuml\' The action of the Secretary ties up immense mining interests in Mariposa and other counties, and is restric- tion of the gold output of the State. As for this city, | the case is just as grave as it would be if we had no other source whence to derive a supply of potable water, and | the Secretary’s action is just the same as if he arbi- | trarily refused to San Francisco the only avallable sup- ply of water. The ground upon -which he refuses to use his dis- cretionary power is that natural scenery may be marred. 1i our contention that this is only a forest reserve be true, the scenic proposition is misplaced. But contention be incorrect, the question may well be asked devoted to cereals? - What is the area devoted to alfalfa, hops, hemp, deciduous fruits:” The ‘area actually cultivated furnishes the facts closely. Thoroughness characterizes the in- quiry throughout. i " With equal care the miiteral, grape producing, citrus fruit' growing, olive, hemp, sugar beet and other indus- In addition the people are asked to tries are covered. supply full and exact information about transportation cost and facilities, schools and churches, the cost of liv- ing, labor, temperature, tropical growths, power, flour mills, lumbering, mineral springs, health resorts, bees, berries, poultry, livestock, butter, opportunities for men of small capital. When the answers are all in the Sac- ramento ‘Valley will be better understood than it has been even by those who have long dwelt in its generous extent. - The Czar of Russia has commissioned William Jen- | nings Bryan to assure the American people that he wishes them to consider him their .very good friend. Messages such as this, through whatever medium and from whatever source, are always welcome. A sented. Wyoming was formerly a leading cattle State, but overstocking the range fed out and destroyed the ! forage for cattle, and they were replaced by sheep. Sheep are more destructive to the range than cattle, for they are closer feeders and soon take up the seed and the reots of all forage plants. Every dry country ranged by sheep has been de- AGAIN THE RANGE QUESTION. T the recent meeting of the Wyoming State In- dustrial and Producers’ Association, the statistics prived of its forage and reduced to desert conditions. In ' moist Scotland and England the long wool sheep graze ' without destructive effects, but in arid Spain the grease wool Merinoes have destroyed the country, as they have in Eastern Europe and Western Asia. proud political and commercial capitals and the seats of empire because sheep and goats destroyed vegetation and | brought in the desert. It is apparent that unless there is some regulation of grazing it will soon be seen that nature plays no favorites on this continent, but that like causes will produce like effects here. 3 Wyoming is in a condition to make known the progress of this destruction more acc\lrati‘l)' than any other State or Territory in the arid belt. When her | cattle-grazing on the public range practically ceased it if that | whether the preservation of scenery is a compensation | for the denial of use of water to a large part of the State. As a matter of fact nearly all of the flow of Hetch- Hetchy Valley is in private ownership and was long years before the reservation was made. The owner has certain common law rights by virtue of his ownership, though their «ssertion-and use require that he wage a costly legal war with the Federal Government. It is probable, too, that the State as controller of these waters has an equitable interest that is actionable. The mat- ter is so consequential to the interests of the State and a large jpart of our people as to warrant correctionary action by Congress. No one doubts that the Secretary is acting in good faith, but thatydoes not benefit the irrigators and miners and others whb nced the use of water for all purposes to which it may »e applied. The people most interested are those who stahd for progress in the policy of forest re- served. That progress is impeded by inimical public sentiment generated in the arbitrary denial of uses that are consistent~with forest preservation. This antagon: istic sentiment is nerved and friends of the forests are unnerved by the decision of the Secretary. After vears of delay, protest, exasperation and threats, Mexico has listened to the appeals of Washing- ton and promises, upon the bond of Mexican assurance, that she will grant speedy trials to Americans arrested and accused within her borders. This information is encouraging. It may lead at least to the admission that an American in Mexico, even by sufferance. is on earth. T of promoting the prosperity of the valley coun- ties, has hit upon a plan to systematize for ready ref- erence all available facts concerning its section. “Strike when the iron is hot” is a homely adage of which the value is commionly recognized in its application to af- fairs of business. The primary aim of the Sacramento Valley .Development Association is, to have answers .in- stantly ready for all homeseekers who may inquire. The advantage inhering in such readiness is evident, It is striking “when the iron is hot.” The Sacramento Union publishes the demls of the association’s plan, and says: “The association is taking steps to complle and have for reference complete . information ‘regarding the products’ and industries of the Sacramento Valley and watershed. the resources, the opportunities offered to settlers, the conditions of living and other facts of in- terest to inquirers and to those whose business it. is. to answer - questions.* W. A. Beard, the secretary, has pre- pared a list of questions to be sent to organizations and individuals in the several counties of - the Sacramento Valley, which are calculated to draw out large fund of thorough information regarding the dlsmcc. represented by the association, which will be useful in many ways. In addition to the- value which will be attached to re- plies over the signatures of prominent citizens, tlu in- formation will be avul\ble for ready reference and com- parison, a valuable mine of information.” The scope of the guestions to be propounded indicates the nature of the land and its advantages over any area of similar extent outside of Cahforml.’ In the first instance the inguiries deal with pogqlatxox‘, towns and cities, industries, topographical €. and. such. gen- eral facts. Then the matter of ’h-nmon is touched.’ Some’ queries touch the vital interésts of the valley quickly. “Describe the principal streams and gi ini- mum flow of each. Whtpw.o h Voiar county is agricultural, mmen‘l m timber? What proponion of the fotal area is under’ cultivation? - is the area of merchl.nl;ble timber? What B GETTING THE FACTS. HE Sacramento Valley Development Association, which is directly concerned in the beneficial work ' D e e was ascertained that her loss in cattle values could be made good only by substituting thirteen million sheep, and if was then admitted that so many sheep would re- duce the State to a dust heap. A5 a matter of fact six million sheep replaced the lost cattle, and these have so far perfected their work on the public range that the number is being reduced at the rate of a million a year. This is the fact that startled the association, which is charged with promotion of the interests of the State. It was admitted that if the range were under control the forage could be renewed and increased and cattle- growing could become a leading industry, while such control would also be for the benefit of sheep-owners, who would not overstock, and would get better value out of their stocks by their having better feed. In discussing this subject Senator Warren said that for years the representatives of the arid West disagreed over plans for irrigation. Some wanted all public lands ceded to the respective States, that the States might take up irrigation in some form; others insisted upon deriving the millions needed for irrigation from the Fed- eral Treasury by direct appropriation, like the river and harbar bill. So, some having one plan and some another, the whole matter lagged. At last, and unexpectedly, the West got together, pushed aside the grafters and doc- trinaires and the men who dream dreams, and passed ' the present irrigation law, deriving the fund for that pur- | | pose from the sale of the public lands and devoting it to its purpose under Federal oversight. The Senator said that a like concert and agreement would probably be reached in a measure to protect that vast proportion of the public domain which is-fit for grazing, and for grazing only. This plan when reached should leave the title to the land in the Federal Gov- ernment. [t should exact such a rental on the four hun- dred million acres of range land as will make a large annual contribution to the irrigation fund, to which it should be devoted. It should leave the entire range area open to the homesteader and mineral prospector who ! comes bona fide, and it should be in all respects safe- guarded against monopoly and speculation. It is to be hoped that the Senator is right in his con- clusion that such an adjustment may be reached. At present we are exiling our land-seekers and livestock men. They are going to Canada and Mexico and tak- ing our Jivestock industry with them. We are acting no | more intelligently than did Louis XIV when he pelled the Huguenots from France and banished with them the arts and crafts of the country and brought on that destruction of industry which caused the French Revolution. As Senator Warren has been for years a leading advocate of the cession of the public domain, range and all, to the States, it will be seen that, impressed by the decay of sheep-running in his State, he abandons a dog- matic attitude and invites the West to get together. That is the first rift in the cloud, and it is to be hoped that his extension of the olive branch will cause the West to get together. The path seems to be pointed out in_the President’s proposition for a commission to ex- amme the whole land question and report by bill. In reply to a formidable array of insistent complaints the Southern Pacific Company has decided to improve its passenger service between here and San Jose. In making the improvement the people living between San Francisco and ' Palo Alto hope that the company will pro- vide a theater train at a more reasonable hour than 11:30 | o'clock at might. ‘The only theater train that will be of use to anybody should be at 12:30 o'clock. The electric ‘road may- be able to teach the Southern Pacific this leuofl- G A < e Ty e e % Ii the vnhnu machines now under heated discussion by the politicians of Alameda are as difficult to under- stand and operate as they are to select, the voters will have a very merry time of it on election day. If the opumons freely expressed by eager partisans are repre- 'sentative of the _qualifications of the machines, the best What | the public can get out of the whole afla:r will be. the _tbe area | worst of it. dhmem-. indisputable | proof concerning what may be accomplished on other similar tracts and the association does wisely to get at of the livestock interests of that State were pre- | The sands cover | Persepolis and the cities of the plain that were once | ex- | Hard on the Joker. It was Monday morning in the Po- lice Court. The Judge gazed with dis- gust at the motley aggregation of va- grants, drunks and petty offenders culled from Sunday’s joyousness. One by one the prisoners were disposed of, | the Judge showing little leniency in the disposition of fines and imprisonments. Toward noon the filthy mob had thinned out until one frowsy looking individual was left standing before his Honor’s high court of justice. “What's this man charged with?" | queried the Judge. ‘'Vagrancy, your | Honor,” replied the custodian of the | peace. Gazing intently at the dirt-begrimed bum, who was attired mostly in a shirt | of uncertain hue, his Honor said: “How |long do you wear your shirts?” | “The ordinary length, -your honor; {about three inches above the knee.” replied the bum, with alacrity. “Six months!” thundered the magis- trate, who allowed no bum to pass it up to him on a platter that way with- out retribution. | i Sharks in Europe. The disagreeable fact has to be faced, according to the concurrent testimony of flshermen of several nations, that { the shark has once more to be reckoned with in European waters. In the Bal- i tie, where sharks had been extinct since 1759, they have made their reappearance ln/tonsmemble numbers, and several “fishing boats report having had whole draughts of fish dévoured from the | nets, which were broken in the Belt and the Cattegat. A fisherman who fell overboard narrowly escaped with his !life. Shoals of sharks, some of them of large size, have been seen off the { German coast, and they are even re- | ported as becoming far from rare in i the North Sea. Their presence is at- tributed to their pursuit of the herring shoals on the west coast of Norway. Our Panama Minister. W. I Buchanan, whg has been chosen United States Minisier to Pan- ama, was born in Covington, Ohio, in 1853, and is a seif-made man, having as a youth learned the trade of an edge-tool wcrker. He became fairly successful in a pecuniary way in his trade and he went to Sioux City, Iowa, and entered into the theatrical busi- ness. From the first his new venture succeeded and he was soon known throughout the West as a thorough business man. From managing a theater he driffed into politics and after having held sev- eral minor political offices in the State of his adoption, he was made United States Minister to Argentina, in 1892. While acting in that capacity he pre- pared reports on the industries and conditions of the South American re- publics that have been of great value to the Government. His relations with the South Americans became so cordial | and his reputation for integrity and in- corruptibility having been spread so far and wide, he was asked by the governments of Chile and Argentina to settle the Puna de Atcama boundary ! question in 1859. After having sifted the matter thoroughly he decided the claim in fa- vor of Chile and was offered $100,000 for his services. This Congress refused to allow him to accept and shortly af- ter he resigned to become director of the Pan-American Exposition at Buf- falo. Since that time he has devoted his time to banking, having formed a large concern that is said to be very suc- cessful. Time to Stop. Lamentable as the wholesale slaugh- ter of big game may be, the killing of ! human beings incidental to the sport should produce a haft on the part of voracious hunters. In Ontario the “bag"” for the season was 4235 deer, 1300 moose and twenty-seven human beings, and the license record shows that Penn- sylvania and New York furnished the largest number of hunters. During the short season of twenty days in Minne- sota as many as 20,000 deer, including moose and caribou, were brought into | St. Paul from Minnesota and Northern | Wisconsin, and the loss of life was twenty Kkilled, including two women, | besides seven dangerously wounded ; and many others injured. The growing unpopularity of the small caliber rifle on the part of the hunters is due to the | fact that unless a vital spot is pierced | the game escapes; the guides and the | woodmen who have to run the risks of | taking the fusillade despise the weapon. i In spite of the practice of wearing red two large globes on either side of this opening from_whieh the effervescence seems to rise. However, a stone cast in, after a few minutes, throws the whole fountain into a violent agita Another of the openings, about four inches in diameter, is through an ele- vated rock from which the water spouts at intervals of 40 seconds. The wateg in_ all its properties is equal to any artificial fountain, and is constanty foaming and sparkling. Those who visit this fountain drink large quant ties of the water, with good effect to health. Reviving an Industry. King Edward is taking a very active part in securing the revival of the to- bacco industry in Ireland. Away back in the reign of King Charles II, the growing of tobacco in England and T land was strictly forbidden by law der penalty of fine and imprisonm with the object of developing the pros- perity of the royal colony of Virginia the staple industry of which was the cuiltivation and export of tobac In England the prohibition has always been maintained, although Virginia h long ceased to belong to England. Bu about 8) years ago tobacco-grow was permitted in Ireland, and for abou two decades the cultivation was me successfully carried on, as much as § an acre of net profit being realiz while $300 per acre was the aver clear profit. Moreover, in 1830, when the distress was so great in Ireland the only county that did not suffer | was Wexford, where the cultivation tobacco was an established industr; | But about the time that Queen Victo i came to the throne the English Govern- | ment stepped in and forbade any fur- ther growth of the plant, giving & pretext for this arbitrary measure fiscai | reasons and the difficulty of collecting the revenue on the tobacco, thus crush- ing a prosperous industry and depriv- ing a country whose poverty has beer almost proverbial of the means f de veloping a good source of income Thanks largely to the influence and t» the initiative of King Edward all re- strictions are now about to be removed and tobacco may become once more i flourishing industry in the Emerald Isle. L as Answers to Queries. THE GRAMPUS—F. J. H., Vallejo. The submarine boat Grampus was launched at San Francisco July I, 1902. WHITE PLYMOUTH—S., Allendale, There is a breed of poultry known but it is \:nl;v. Cal. as the “White Plymouth,” common in California. PRINCESS ALICE—O. T. T. T. C, Sacramento, Cal. The late Queen Vic- toria had a daughter named Alice. She was knewn as Princess Alice Maul Mary, Duchess of Hesse. She became the wife of Louis IV, the Grand Duke of Hesse, who died in 1902. She was the mother of seven children. DESERTER—A. F. D, City. A de- serter from fhe United States army cannot. be tried by eourt-martial for the crime of desertion unless appre- hended within two years after the ex- piration of the term for which he en- listed, if during that time. he has been a resident of United States territory. SULPHUR—J. 8., Berkeley, Cal. The records of the California Mining Bu- reau do not show that there are any sulphur reduction works in California. There are firms dealing in sulphur that claim that they prepare sulphur for the market,. but this department cannot advertise such. PARKS—R..C., City. A‘I to whether a piece of property is mare valuable be- cause it faces on asmall public park caps the ordinary city gunner will take the “longest kind of chances” in shoot- ing at any moving object in the woods. The St veetest Music. ) 5 | Dey ain't no sweeter musie In dig/ringin’ worl’ below, Dan dem l1i'l tin ho'ns blowin" 'Cross de medders er de snow! En we thankful—Oh, we thankful Dat we lovin' of 'em so— Blowin' fer de Chr!i!‘mau in de mawnin’! I i i Dey takes us fur back yonder, ‘Whar de chimney use ter sing, | En we use ter set en wonder ‘What de Santy Claus would bring! Oh. dey gives de wildest Winter All de music er de Spring! Blowin’ fer de Chris'mas in de mawnin'! Latest ! €S, The London Globe has a unique jdea of publishing from time to time ex- cerpts from its files of seventy years ago. The following sounds like a voice | from the grave to those for whom the wonders of Yellowstone are household property: 1837.—NATURAL SODA FOUNTAIN —The Rev. Mr. Spalding, missionary of the American Board of Foreign Mis- sions to the Indians west of the Rocky ‘Mountains, in a letter from Fort Van- couver, mentions, among other remark- able objects discovered on his journey, a natural soda fountain which - he - and his party passed, three days’ journey from Fort Hall, that may be considered one of the or whether it will command more rent than one.a block away is a question that cannot be answered without know- ing the conditions or ‘locality of the small park. As.a m ruie, anfl{m- proved park, small or large, is not a detriment to property in the immedi- ate vicinity. A POTATO ROT—8ubscriber, Cal. The potato rot, caused by parasites rhat de- velop as soon as the conditions of the plant and atmosphere are favorabie, and the presence of which is indicated by ‘black spots on' the . leaves which quickly changes the color of the stalks, first made its appearance in the United States mn 1842. It appeared in tiermany the same year. In 1846 1t appeared in Ireland and was the cause of the great famine. CHANDLER-HARRIS FIGHT-B., City. The fight between Tommy Chandler and Dooney Harris at Point TIsabel, Contra Costa County. In this State, for the middle-weight champion- ship of America and $5000 April 13, 1867, resulted in Chandler beating Harris in twenty-three rounds in twenty-eight minutes, so says the Pugilistic Record. The Alta California of April 14, 1867, says the fight lasted thirty-four min- utes. It was a rapid fight with bare knuckles. ndi wonders of the world. The fountain :rknh. n | hnd mer-l openings. “One of them,” r. Spalding, “is about 15 feet in with no discovered bottom. About 12 feet below the surface are