The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, January 3, 1904, Page 30

THE SAN. FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, JANUARY 3, 1904. - f i - - s Industry of Railroads. BY EARL D. BERRY. (Former Railroad Editor New York Times and & New York Sun.) Copyright, 1904, by Joseph B. Bowles. More than 200 towns—cities in em- bryo—have been successfully started in the Northwestern States within the past eighteen months through the me- dium of the Northern Pacific, the Great Northern and the Chicago, Bur- “lington and Quincy railroads. More than 1000 mills and factories of different kinds have been established in South- ern States within the same period through the agency of the Southern Rallway Company. More than 1,000,000 acres of unproductive lands in the Western States have in a year and a half been made fertile by irrigation planned and put into operation by rail- road companies. Some hundreds of thousands of trees have been planted by the railroads, East and West, to re- place exhausted forests. The opening of new highways and the settlement of farm lands are receiving constant and energetic attention from railway men, and the troops of immigrants and other toilers to the Far West under the guid- ance of railroad men number half a million persons annually. S S In recent years the industrial depart- ment has become a very important ad- Junct of a great railroad system. Elab- orate jindustrial and commercial projects are worked out by railroad men in order to create business for their roads, and the aggregate result of their labors in this direction is an | enormous contribution to the country’s growth by the upbuilding of new com- munities. Almost every railroad in the West offers special inducements to farmers and mechanics to locate homes along their respective routes. Only recently E. H. Harriman, the head of the Union Pacific system, instructed his subordinates to follow a liberal as well as an alert policy in dealing with settlers. Purchasers of farm lands are to have the easiest of terms, and such inducements are to be offered to man- ufacturers, tradesmen and mechanics a&s will practically insure them an ad- vantageous start. The Union Pacific Company still has several hundred thousands of acres of its grant lands to dispose of, and the power and influence of the rallroad are to be exerted to populate these acres. The present financial prosperity of the Great Northern Railway is largely due to its systematic work in planting settlements all along its line from St. Paul to the Pacific Coast. Considera- bly more than half of these settlements were established entirely through the efforts of the railroad company. In very few instances was there any spontane- ous growth. These settlements were “induced” by active, watchful and in- genious industrial agents, working not only in this country, but in England, Germany, Sweden, Italy and France, R At least a score of American rail- roads have had industrial and immi- grant agencies abroad for several years past. Often colonization plans are completed before the colonizers leave their homes in the old country. The site for the proposed settlement on the line of a certain rajlroad is selected, terms of purchase are agreed upon, rates of fare and various incidental concessions and inducements put in writing. The newcomers are received upon landing here by an agent of the particular railroad that has induced them to come and conveyed to their prospective township or village with “neatness and dispatch.” Then begins the task of establishing & permanent, self-supporting commu- nity. The rallroad company has no thought of leaving its colonizers to shift for themselves. Co-operation be- comes the order of the day. It is the railroad company that forwards build- ing materials, makes cash advances when necessary to stimulate the work of construction and promotes industrial development by giving remunerative employment to the carpenters, the ma- chinists and the blacksmith. First the railroad builds a station and hires local help, next the railroad helps to build a town hall, a church and perhaps a schoolhouse. The village store is a natural evolution, and for quite a while the railroad company purposely throws trade in its way. Bulletins are issued periodically by the industrial bureau of the railroad, telling of the steady growth of the new village and detail- ing its needs and advantages. These bulletins are circulated systematically in such a way as to keep Sweden Four Corners, or whatever the name of the place may be, in constant commercial touch with other trade centers. 5 LS ‘Throughout the Southern States the railroads have done as effectivg work as they have done in the far West. The Southern Railway, the Atlantic Coast Line, the Louisville and Nashville, the Seaboard Air Line, and two or three other linos have actually created a new industrial South. Wherever a fair, chance has offered to establish a fac- tory, a cotton mill, a sugar or fruit plantation, a mining enterprise or a tannery, the railroad men have done th#r part without urging. Railroad money has bought sites for new manu- factories, 2nd it has often guaranteed the cost of building the factory. Branch roads and short spurs have been built in every direction to give transportation facilities to mew cnter- prises, and freight rates have been vl INSTRUCTIVE .STUDIEAS AND | the Lackawanna aund other — shaded from time to time so as to en-| courage and foster every industry. It is the custom of some of the Southern railroads to give annual cash prizes for the best showing in different branches of industry. These premiums mostly apply to agricultural and horticultutal enterprises, and they seemingly stimu- late greater endeavors each succeeding year. One of the most interesting features of railiroad helpfulness in agricultural communities is the Illinois Central's school of instruction in roadmaking. Some years ago an observing and sa- gacious officer of the Illinois Central ascertained that the bad condition of | the country roads interfered with ship- ments of farm products on the rail- road and minimized passenger traffic. Expert attention was at once given to this subject and a stirring campaign in behalf of good roads was started throughout the entire southern region traversed by the Illinois Central Rail- road. An intelligent interest was awak- ened among the farmers, and clubs were formed to receive instruction in | the art of making good roads. The railroad company paid the cost of this | instruction and aided the country peo- | ple in other ways in improving the con- | | dition of the public highways. This work is pushed energetically each year and already the Illinois Central feels its good effects in a large increase in | local freight and passenger traffic. The Illinois Central management is now | giving scientific attention to the subject of forestry. Chiefly with a view of pro- viding timber for future use in the| making of tles, etc., this company is | planting scores of thousands of trees | on its own lands. . Since the establishment of industrial | bureaus by the Pennsylvania, the Erie, | Eastern | trunk lines there has been a marked increase in suburban development. A | large amount of new capital has been | interested in the construction of ho- | tels and cottages, and in many places | in Pennsylvania and New York farm lands have been transformed into flour- ishing villas or manufacturing towns. A common method followed 1y the rail- | roads in the development of new su- | burban resorts is to buy a tract of well | wooded land, build and equip a neat | hotel and then put up cottages for sale | on the installment plan to suit such de- | mand as may be aroused by judicious | and persistent advertising. "An Ancient Lake Bed. BY G. FREDERICK WRIGHT, A. M., LL. D. (Author of “The Ice Aze of Nortls America,” | ““Man and the Glacial Period,"” etc.) Copyright, 1903, by Joseph B. Bowles. Perhaps the most impressive of all | the abandoned channels which drain- ed vast floods southward in the gla- cial period is that of the great outlet leading from the Red River Valley of the North into the Minnesota through Lake Traverse and Big Stone | Lake over the site of Browns Valley. | Here is a continuous channel a mile or more in width from the northern drainage basin (whose waters now flow northward) into the southern, with clearly defined banks and every indication of its having been occupied | by an enormous current of water, | Upon surveying the country to the| north it was found that the vast wheat | region of the Red River Valley, ex-| tending from the headwaters of the | river in Minnesota and far down into | Manitoba is simply the silted-up bot- | tom of the temporary glacial lake | which poured its waters through Browns Valley. Warren Upham has traced the shore lines of this lake far down into British America on both sides, proving that at one time it cov- ered an area of fully 100,000 square miles, which is several times that of | our present great lakes. This great temporary body of water has been ap- propriately named Lake Agassiz. Mr. Upham well remarks: “As we stand upon the bluffs overlooking Browns Valley and the long, narrow lakes on either side *¢* * we have nearly the picture thh was presented when the melting ice sheet of British Amer- ica was pouring its floods along this hollow. Then the entire extent of the | valley from one to one and a half | miles wide was doubtless filled every summer by a river which covered all the present areas of flood-plain.” Surely truth is stranger than fiction. ‘A Kitten’s Baptism. Mail advices from the East contain a description of a curious ceremony re- cently organized by the distinguished writer Pierre Loti at Constantinople. The author of ‘“Madame Chrysan- theme” is the commander of the French guardship Vautour, and in the early days of December a Kkitten was born on the man-of-war. Pierre Loti decided to celebrate the auspicious event in solemn fashion, and a grand festival was organized in honor of the kitten's baptism. The captain’s private apartments were beautifully decorated with flowers, and at the hour fixed for the ceremony numerous boats put off from the shore with members of the distinguished party invited for the occasion. Among those present were the Consul General of France, the commanders of the British and Rus- sian warships, the Russian Naval At- tache and M. Cocuelin, cadet. The kitten's distinguished ‘godfather was Vicomte de Salignac-Fenelon, and the godmother was Mme. Roux, wife of the commander of the Mouette, the French dispatch vessel. A procession was formed, and the company proceed- ed to one of the rooms, where an altar dedicated to Odin had been erected. Then Pierre Loti and his fellow-officers opened the ceremony by a burlesque symphony executed in admirable style. The High Priest of Odin, clothed in white, next stepped forth, and while electric lights formed .a dazzling nim- bus round him more music was sung. At the close the High Priest handed the godmother a horn, at the sound of which the kitten was to emerge from its basket, thus to symbolize its awak- ening to life. After the invocation of Odin the High Priest baptized pussy by the name of Belkis, which means “‘pretty girl.” Some appropriate lines by Pierre Loti were then reci and the ceremony being at an end the com- pany adjourned to the buffet | | TTHTHE CSAN BRANCISED AP L f JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Proprietor o .« « o ++ .. . Address All Communications to JOHN McNAUGHT, Manager PuhllcnllonOficfl................................@-.............n.‘..mflMH.MMS.F- JANUARY 3, 1904 .. THE NEBRASKA CLANS FEED. SUNDAY HE Democratic Jackson Club of Nebraska has met T and fed in advance of Jackson day. Though both the gold and silver wings flopped together at table, the speech was silver, as only the orators of that side are reported. They had little to say, being perhaps deterred by the presence of their separate brethren. The principal talk seems to have been emitted by Mr. Hitchcock, member of Congress and Mr. Bryan’s former newspaper associate in the Omaha World-Herald. He dwelt on the growing necessity for government regula- tion of aggregated wealth. His speech was barren of any plan for legislation to that end, but it was lurid in its statement of the case, and the necessity for law that would not be laggard. He took a back sight and saw the evil growing for the past forty years. If nothing has ! been done in that time, the country is fortunate in having Mr. Hitchcock in Congress to do something now, right away. He will be back in his seat in the House on the 4th inst, and surely he will not delay a moment in flinging his legislative lasso around the horns of aggre- gated wealth. That aggregation, either physical or financial, implies the power of organization, is self-evident. That such power is apt to be misused is confirmed by the history of mankind. All power, including that of a man over what is his own, is subject to misuse, and therein is the reason | why we have a system of laws, representing the consen- sus of the opinion of society, for the regulation and con- firmation and protection of rights, and the limitation of power. Mr. Hitchcock is mistaken in his assumption that noth- ing has been done in the last forty years to curb the power of aggregated wealth. The shape in which such aggregation first became formidable was in the transition of transportation from its primitive form to railways and steam. This required the use of money beyond the power of one individual, or a few only, to supply, so the railway corporation appeared, with its issue of commer- cial paper in the form of bonds and stocks. If Mr. Hitchcock will look into the statistics and decisions, State and national, he will discover an immense body of law grown up in the last forty years, to hedge in that form of aggregated wealth, until railroads have to main- tain a staff of the ablest lawyers to tell them what they may do and what omit legally, in the transaction of their vast business. Turning to the more modern form of wealth which scares him, the trusts, he will find a copious addition to the other statutes and decisions, curbing trusts, and he will be pleased to discover that in the last three years | these laws have been rigidly enforced, resulting in the building up of a line of judicial decisions which point the way to further curative, preyentive and protective legis-. lation. He will find most of the trusts floored by the law and on their backs yelling for mercy. Now is the time for him to get in. The legal literature of the subject has been enriched by the law briefs of the ablest attorneys in the United States. The field is invit- ing; it is white for the harvest, and if Mr. Hitchcock will take his sickle out of his mouth and put in his hand and get at work he has the chance to do something. He is a very rich man himself, and therefore we advise him not to load his legislative gun to hit if it's a deer and miss if it's a calf. If his own investments run into some of these offensive aggregations, he must not be afraid to shoot himself in the pocket, if that be necesary, in order to in- flict wholesome discipline. President Roosevelt has bravely shown that the quite comprehensive laws we have can be enforced. He was instrumental in the legislation that provided the New Department of Commerce and gave it jurisdiction over trusts and corporations. It is required to make them file statements such as should be made public. All have complied except the Standard Oil Company, which re- fuses. Here is Mr. Hitchcock’s chance. Let him go at once for the bald eagle of the trusts, John D. Rockefeller, and make him put in that statement. If he try to hide be- hind the constitutional provision that persons and pa- pers shall not be subjected. to unreasonable search or seizure, it will be necessary to show that the demand of the Government for proper publicity is not unreasonable. So if Mr. Hitchcock does not find work, it is because he is hunting for it only at Jackson dinners. —_— After all has been said and donme and explanations have been given every color possible to the imagination, it looks as if it is up to Japan to fight. The Russian is irresistible in his fatalistic unconcern. He has given his answer and the chip, which the little brown men have balanced so long on their shoulders, is on the ground. T Turner, a noted English anarchist, under the oper- ation of the Congressional act of March 3, 1903, decreeing deportation for all immigrants of known anarchistic beliefs, has brought the legality of the meas- ure before the courts. Turner has appealed to the Fed- eral tribunal in New York and the decision upon his case is still pending. Should an adverse decision be rendered by Circuit Judge Lacombe the Supreme Court, according to the assertions of the prisoner’s counsel, will be called upon to decide whether or not the law of Congress is contrary to the spirit of the United States constitution. The enactment of Congress under which Turner was arrested provides that no person who disbelieves in or- ganized government or who is affiliated with any group of individuals or society which holds to ‘he tenets of radical anarchy shall be permitted an abiding place in the United States. ' A board of three immigration offi- cers passes upon the merits of every suspected case, and their opinion gains finality by the indorsement of the Secretary of Commerce. This measure is the direct re- sult of the assassination of the late President McKinley, the many anarchistic disturbances at Paterson, New Jersey. and the general feeling of disquietude which has been engendered during two years past by the growing boldness-of all members of that fanatical sect in this country. That very general longing to make a martyr of any one who has to suffer for the sake of a newly enunciated principle has led a part of the Eastern press to rally to the support of this anarchist from England and attack the law which has detained him. They say that this law is a tyrannical infringement of the rights of man; that it gives into the keeping of an arbitrary committee of officials the life happiness of any innocent individual; ANARCHY AND THE LAW. HE arrest and pending deportation of John that it is little better than the famous “lettres de cachet” | of the old regime in France. How, say they, are the officials to determine upon the heterodoxy of belief in a thousand and one unwashed immigrants? Where are they to draw the line between anarchy and mere lack of any theories about government? What shall consti- tute 2 dangcrous immigrant in their eyes? It has been admitted that ours is the land of the free for several-more than an hundred years. The fame of our open-hearted reception has been heralded into the innermost recesses of the dens of the Old World until that growing pack of hair-brained human wolves of the red flag have come to construe liberty into license and have made cur freedom simply immunity from arrest. This country has too long been the harbor for assassins znd bomb throwers, whence salliés into the kingdoms of Europe could be made with deadly success. Not con- tent with their nefarious depredations abroad the an- archist brood have within the last two years turned upon the land which gave them refuge with the resultthat the tomb of ong martyred President has been erected and another executive has to be guarded in the daily ful- fillment of his duties. When, under these conditions, Congress passes a law to check the incoming of anarchists, it does so with the intent of self-preservation., It will be manifestly im- possible to search out every obscure disciple of the red flag. The operation of the lJaw may occasionally work a hardship on some who 4re fleeing the agents of Euro- pean governments, but despite the howl about viola- tion of liberty and personal rights, the statute is founded upon the primal law of life, that of self-protection. —_— Once more the Civil Service Commission is under the fire of investigation regarding its methods and purposes. The experience is new neither to the public nor to the commission. The Supervisors want to know why the charter provision demanding the institution of civil service in the various departments concerned has not been obeyed by the commission. Ask the politicians. B amendment to the State constitution Oregon has practically abolished the Legislature and destroyed representative government. Even the deliberation here- tofore considered in amending the State constitution is abolished and the fundamental law can be changed or done away with by processes that require only four months in their operation. This is the widest departure from the principles of representative government yet made by any American community. It constitutes that method of direct government which students of civics have said would be a failure even if every citizen were as wise as Sir Isaac Newton. Representative government is conceived in a spirit of deliberation, of patient examination of measures, bringing them to the judgment of those qualified to rationalize them, and to protect the rights of minorities as well as of majorities. Mr. Jefferson understood this when he said that “the rule of the majority, to be right, must be reas- onable.” Representative republican government has been believed to be reasonable government, while there is a grave doubt whether non-representative government, or government by direct action of a majority, will long ob- serve the limitations of reason, or will long respect the rights of a minority. If the example of Oregon spread, it is easily conceiv- able that what has been done there, in a State, may be done by a majority of the States in respect to the Fed- eral Government itself. Then stability will cease. When a constitution, the fundamental law, can be changed with- out deliberation, at the polls, without the change having been considered by a representative body, every change in popular opinion will be impressed upon the constitu- tion. Heretofore party control of States and of the Union has very infrequently caused changes in the funda- mental law of either. Such changes, when made, have recorded the deliberate purpose of the people to impress that law with some great principle always vital and al- ways necessary. But under direct government such changes may represent only the passion and partisanship of the hour. The Oregon experiment will be watched with keen interest. That it begins in the midst of lively apprehen- sions of the result is shown in the remark of a citizen of that State, that “the only safety for the minority now rests in the good sense of the majority, and the excel- lent_facilities for transportation out of the State.” RADIGALISM IN OREGON. Y the validating of the initiative and referendum The startling fact has been made public that more than one hundred and thirty thousand tons of hemp are ex- ported annually from the Philippines. The appalling records of daily crime in the United States indicate very clearly that we are not patronizing our island posses- sions for at least one of the commodities of which they have an abundance and we a need. A since, to the work of improvement in towns and cities of the Sacramento Valley to which the women's clubs of Sacramento and other communities have pledged their support. It is now to be noted that equally good work is being done by the women of other localities. In San Mateo County the tendency in the counsels of the women is toward civic betterment. There is an Auxiliary Civic Club at San Mateo and the San Mateo Times tells of this club’s work. It has recently raised $100 for a library improvement fund, another $100 to as- sist in the purchase of a chemical engine, and also has contributed toward the promotion of the athletic club. Committees have been appointed by Mrs. A. B. Ford, the president of the Women's Auxiliary Club, to attend to the betterment of the library, the providing of greater protection against fire and to the promotion of the prosperity of the club. There is no doubt the commit- tees will zealously attend to the work set before them. The Los Angeles Herald reviews the work of the women’s clubs of Los Angeles during the past year. It will be observed that the California women in the south are active in adding to the welfare of the State. They have marked the site of old Fort Moore with a flagstaff to call attention to the historic interest of that place. Arbor day has engaged their attention and work was planned by the women to promote outdoor art and park improvement. The establishment of a home of detention in ‘connection with the juvenile court work has been considered. They have waged war against the smoking of cigarettes by boys and have taken part in the college settlement work in destitute localities. Two thousand women are banded together in clubs in Los Angeles, and several other communities, in propor- tion to their population, v ° an equally good showing. In short, there are scores of clubs organized by Cali- fornia women that are fulfilling their mission of improve- ment well and worthily and deserve full credit for their work. g, WOMEN’S CLUBS’ WORK. I TTENTION was directed by The Call, some time The Wrong Document. There are many amusing stories told of ‘early days around the Police courts, some of which seem incredible. Here is one told by an old-timer who was ‘acting as clerk of the Pclice Court in the sixties: A young couple had come in from the country to the big city with the | intention of “hitching up,” and the prospective groom went out to procure a marriage license. Somehow he lost | his bearings, wandered into the Police Court and applied to the clerk for the license. The clerk was somewhat of a practical joker, and he looked grave, asked the usual questions and proceed- ed to draw up the paper. He put the document in a large envelope, with the applicant’s name written thereon, and smilingly refused to accept the fee which was proftered. The prospective groom left in a happy | frame of mind, with the document stowed safely away in his pocket, and | on the following day he and the bride- | to-be sought a minister. When the | clergyman was about to perform the ceremony he asked for the license. The | groom handed him the envelope still | unopened. The reverend gentleman opened the envelope, and after scruti- | nizing the document he turned to the groom and remarked in a horrified tone, ‘“Well, this is an irregular instrument!"” The envelope contained a warrant for the arrest of Jane Doe. ‘A Masher Mashed. She could not have been a day over | 20 years of age, and she was remark- ably good looking. In fact, 20 regular | were her features, so trim her figure | and so fetching her carriage, that she | | she attracted attention even on Market street on a matinee day. The eyes of a cigar store masher lit upon her as she tripped daintily by his “stand,” and she looked so good to him that he needs must wish to become acquainted. Ac-| cordingly he adjusted his hat, rubbed | a crease out of his gloves, buttoned his | coat and throwing out his chest, started in her wake. At the corner of O'Farrell | and Market he passed her. At a con-| cenvient cigar store he stopped, posed, and as she came opposite him, smiled | his sweetest smile and winked a stereo- | typed wink. But he got only a haughty look in return. Nothing daunted, he followed | the trim figure. Again he passed her; | once more he posed at a convenient | point, and repeated the smile and wink. | | Then something struck him. When he came to ten minutes later he was on the operating table at the Central Emer- gency Hospital having a badly black- ened pair of eyes dressed, his nose set | and a deep gash in his chin sewed up. “You tried to flirt with one of a team of society acrobats,” the steward told him, ' A Good Liar. “Oh, yes, I know the plaintiff very well,” said a witness recently in a dam- age suit. “I used to visit him at his shop every day and swap lles with him.” “Used to?” queried the examining counsel, “what do you mean by that?” “Just what I said,” retorted the wit- ness. “I used to go there.” “Oh,” said the attorney, “you don’'t visit him any more? Did you have a falling out?” “Well, not exactly, I just quit going there.” “Tell the court why,” said the attor- ney. “Well, Judge,” said the witness, screwing himself arouna in the chair and facing him. “He told me once he had a brother who could jump forty feet into the air and remain up for | twenty seconds.” Reliance. Not to the swift, the race; Not to the strong, the fight; Not to the righteous, perfect grace; Not to the wise, the light. ) But often faltering feet Come surest to the goal, And they who walk in darkness meet The sunrise of the soul. A thousand times by night The Syrian hosts have died; A thousand times the vanquished right Has risen glorified. The truth the wise man sought ‘Was spoken by a child; The alabaster box was brought In trembling hands defiled. Nor from my torch, the gleam, But from the stars above: Not from our hearts, life's ecrystal stream, But from the depths of Love. —Henry Van Dyke, in the January At- lantic. Honor to Yale. Governor Taft's departure from the Philippines, terminating his Governor- ship over those islands, ends a coinci- dence unique in the annals of Yale uni- versity, and very unlikely ever to be ! repeated in that or any other American educational institution. The coincidence is that for the last month or more Yale, represented by her sons, has held at one and the same time the Governorships of the three so-called colonial territories of the United States and also that of Alaska. With the incumbency of Governor Taft Yale has governed at Manila; with that of Governor Hunt, in Porto Rico; with that of Governor Carter, in Ha- waii, and with that of Governor Brady, in Alaska. Governors Taft, Hunt, Car- ter and Brady are all Yale alumni. Al- togethet it makes a page in history which Yale can point to with pride.— New York Sun. When Does End Come? Science bas given the human ra only a limited span of existence. This was one of the prospects which dis- tressed Darwin, and it has weighed on many other sensitive minds. Some three millions of years or so is about the average estimate. The discovery fof radium naturally led to the ques- | 0 tion whether the existence of the metal in the sun might not indefinitely pro- long that luminary’s active life. Much disappointment was therefore feit at the results of investigations undertaken by a Cambridge scientist. After some months’ exposure of very sensitive so- lutions to the sun he was unable to discover any of the signs characteristio of radium rays. The verdict therefore was that the discovery of radium af- fords no reason for altering the cos- mical time scale. But Sir Willlam Ram- say’s proof of the transformation of radlum gas into helilum revives the hope that radium may, after all, be & constituent of the sun. It is well knewn that the spectroscope reveals the abundant existence in the sun of helium—this metal, jndeed, was discov- ered in the sun before it was known to be a terrestrial property—and it seems possible that all this hellum may be transformed radium gas. So that once more, it appears premature to Iimit the existence of the human race to any definite number of million years.—Har- per's Weekly. . - Anecdote of Spencer. Herbert Spencer, while by no means an unlikable man, far less unsocial, had always about him a great deal of the theorizing philosopher. Some who knew him well would even say that he was a pedant. The direct influence upon him of his father’s strong character was very great. The parent was a teacher in the school of a Mrs. Turner, in Nottingham, and that lady used to speak of his talent for teaching in most enthusiastic terms. While Spen- cer as a young man was working at engineering his close friend and com- panion was Robert Thomson, who was engaged in the same profession, and was a man of striking mental power. He predicted the fame of Spencer, and used to give very graphic accounts of his friend's excessive love for accuracy. Spencer would begin a sentence, pro- ceed some way, then interrupt himself and say: “No; I will express what [ mean better in this way,” choesing then another form of words. An amus- ing instance of Spencer’s tendency to theorize on all occasions dwells in the memory of one who witnessed it. The company at the breakfast table had had their letters brought to them, and after a time Spencer remarked to the hostess that -he considered the social custom of not opening letters before others a senseless one. “But, Mr Spen- cer,” said the lady, “everybody has opened their letters but you."—London Outlook. Y | Answers to_Queries. A SUPERSTITION — Emma, Oake land, Cal. There was at one time a superstition that fern seed or the seeds or spores of ferns possessed suypernat- ural virtues, such as rendering persons invisible, ADDRESSES—E. S, City. The lat- est address of Andrew Carnagle, whers all letters should be directed, is 2 East Ninety-First street, New York City. The address of Heler. Miller Gould is Irvington on the Hudson and 597 Fifth avenue, New York City. MILITARY - ACADEMY—Subscriber, Alameda, Cal. The United States Mili- tary Academy at West Point, New York State, the chief oi the Continental fortifications of the Hudson River Val- ley during the Revolution, was estab- lished in 1802. At first provision was made for only ten cadets. WASHINGTON—G. J. R, City. George Washington was known by other nicknames than “Father of His Country.” He was called the Ameri- can Fabius in allusion to the fact that he pursued a cautious policy; the Atlas of America, the Cincinnatus of the West (a name given him by Byron); the Deliverer of America; the Stepfather of his Country; the Flower of the Forest (a name given him by the Indians), and Lovely Georgius (a name given him by the British soldiers engaged in war). SUPPRESSING ECHOES—C. B, City. An echo audience rdom is a sub- ject for a scientific architect. If a reom is without gallery it is quite like- ly that the addition of such would greatly improve it as an audience room. ‘Well padded carpets, cushions, prop- erly hung chandeliers and the help to destroy the echoes. A large canopy a few feet above the head of the place to be occupied by the speaker, it is said, will make a marked change for the bet- ter. SOUND—Subscriber, Alameda, Cal. It has been ascertained that a full human voice, speaking in the open air when there is a calm, can be heard at a distance of/ 460 feet; in an observ- able breeze a powerful human voice with the wind is audible at a distance of 15,840 feet: the report of a musket can be heard at a djstance of 16,000 feet; a drum, 10560 feet; a strong brass band, 15,840 feet, and heavy cannonad- ing 575,000 feet, or ninety miles. In the Arctic region conversation has been maintained over water a distance of 6696 feet. —_—— Townsend's California glace fruits and candles, 50c a pound. In artistic fire- etched boxes. A nice present for Eastorn friends. 715 Market st.. above Call bidg. * i x| Special information dafly to houses and public men the Press Clipping Bureau (Allen's Cali- fornia street. 'Idnh‘:.(. Inu:)'n-. .