The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, January 26, 1904, Page 6

THE . SAN —— f th hy- bular world is 1o be accepted n we should know that a we encountered in a field was umllng off, though we had not seen it long| enough to measure the rate of its cool- ing. Heat is not a permanent quality of any known object. The sun must be losing its heat cold and lifeless object. things continue to go on as they do, astronomers tell us, giving heat long be- ars have elapsed. Like cooling bodies, the sun must iminishing in size. Its diameter be contracting. Newcomb esti- mates that in less than 5.000,000 years the sun’s diameter will contract to one- half its present length, so that the sun will o become must now occupies. It is hardly possible ! for it after that to continue to furnish | as much heat as it now does, but it must then cool off with great rapidity. This reasoning is based on the suppo- fon that the sun is not yet a solid dy. but is so hot that its mass is still a gaseous state. But the force .of gravity upon the sun is so great that the gas is compressed smaller proportionate compass than it is on the earth. The force of gravity on the surface of the sun is twenty- seven times that on the earth, so that & man weighing 150 pounds on the earth would weigh nearly two tons on the So great is this pressure of grav- on the gases of the sun that they reduced to one-quarter the density the solid nucleus of the earth. But 0 long as the nucleus of the sun con- tinues to be gaseous it will continue to grow hotter as it diminishes in size. So soon, howev as it loses sufficient heat to allow the material to take on the solid form, a crust will be formed and the radiating heat will rapidly dimin- | sun ity and hence in time will | the sun upy only one-eighth of the space | into a much | | | | time is largely due to the rapidity with 4 =h. Probably also the heat radiated will diminish long before that time, ven though the sun is growing hotter, because of the diminishing size of |h‘? globe The only wav that the astronomers can see to avoid this slow paralysis of | the sun, and so of the whole solar sy tem, is that lately proposed by Profes- sor Langley in a sensational article de- picting what would happen if a dark world moving at an incredible speed in space should come so near our sun that the two would collide. tored, but the catastrophe would pra lly oroduce such an expansion of its volume and such an increase of its radiating power that everything on the earth would be burned up, produc- ing about such phenomena as are de- scribed by the Apostle Peter. Indeed, the resemblance between the words of the apostle and the theory of the Washington astronomer was as strik- ing ae it was unexpected, 2o much so that some readers may not know from which source the following quotation is taken “The heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works therein shall be burned up.” But the suggestion of the astronomer was pure speculation. There are no ap- parent signs of any such approaching catastrophe as Dr. Langley suggests ns possible. At any rate we may settle down to the conclusion that so far as astronomical forces are concerned the present order of things will not be dis- turbed for three or four miliion years. But an equally gloomy prospect is before the world in the distant future from another cause which is in slow operation. The length of the earth’s day” is slowly increasing through the retarding influence of the tides pro- duced by the moon. To be sure, this effect is so slight that it has not been directly perceptible since accurate methods of measuring the time of the earth’s revolutien on its axis have been observed. But that it must be taking place is as sure as that friction will stop a railroad train when the steam §s turned off. The tides raised by the moon's at- traction are distributed by the conti- nents so as (o present many anomalies, but when considered in themselves they ; act the same as a wave three feet high copstantly running in an opposite di- rection to the revolution of the earth, and so by friction retarding iis motion. Astronomers are agreed, that similar tides produced on the moon have re- duced her revolution on her axis to a period of twenty-eight days. Eventu- ally the revolution of the earth will be reduced so that our day will be several times longer than now. When that time comes the nights will be =0 cold that nothing can stand it, and if they could the days will be 50 hot that what was joft by the coid would be destroyed by the heat. But that time, also, is so far in the future that the present genera- tion mey put it out of their minds. This catastrophe will not arrive for many million years yet. Ii be- fore that time arrives the su.a will have become so0 far cooled off that we shall the original heat of the sun might be |y, ¢ perore another half century is | habitable | engine wh. | heat necessary | fuel for the last half century because {up and selling her limited stores of In this case | 2PJeCt: | the discovery of new fields. At the - be indifferent to everything else that| happens. Another limit to the future of the portion of the earth is brought to light by the rapid progress of erosion that is going on all over the Jand surface of the world. Wallace | estimates that one foot of the earth’s | is. on the average, washed 1y by the streams every 3000 vears deposited at the bottom of the This amounts to more than 300 feet in a million years. As the main elevation of North America is 745 feet, and that of Eurcpe 671 feet, it follows that by the operation of present forces Europe will be washed | into the sea in 2,000,000 vears and America in 3,000,000 years. What providence has in store for us after t no one knows. If the sunken portion shall rise at the end of that period. as it did at the end of ihe coal period, there will be dry land to live on, but it is doubtful if it will have such stores of iron and coal as have blessed the present race of human be- a and ocean. are two other sources of heat| h we may look with much | and hope. It was more | | Th to wh confidence than a dream of Ericsson to invent an could be run by collect- ing the direct ravs of the sun through immense sun dials, thus generating the to set in motion the wheels of industry. But the success- ing out of his plans we ite the transfer of our great ‘acturing centers to the rainless gions of the world, where perpetual whine prevails. It, therefora, wi'l | not be impossible that the desert of | Sahara and the sandy wastes of Cen- | tral Asia shall in the future usurp the place now assumed by the localities in | proximity of the great coal fields of the world, while the ter become overgrown with briars and brambles like the mounds of many an ancient -enter of civilization. The deserts of Central Asia, which lie in prox-| imity to great mountain systems wimi abundant vegetation and water sup-| ply, certainly afford attractive situa- tions for such manufacturing indus- tries. till another possible source from which we may draw indefinite quanti- ties of heat and power is to be found in the heated center of the earth. As we descend below the surface of the earth the temperature rises on an average of one degree in sixty feet. At/ a depth of two miles therefore the | temperature of boiling water would be | reached and at a depth of five miles a | temperature of more than 400 degrees. it would therefore not seem by any means impossible to bore into the earth deep enough to make a portion of its heat available for all ordinary purposes. A stream of water let down to these depths through one pipe and brought up in another might be made to warm a city or to generate steam | enough to run any amount of ma- chinery, from which electricity could be developed producing the highest known degrees of heat for all pur- poses. The world, however, is concerned with impending catastrophes nearer at | hand. The prosperity of the present which we jare using up the reserved | stores of nature upon or near the sur- face of the earth. We have had cheap we are having access to coal mines | !hlnugh new methods of mining and | portation. The prosperity of the | sh empire rests almost wholly on | the freedom with which she is using coal. Not only does her coal set in motion the innumerable wheels and spindles in her manufacturing towns, | but it goes to all the ends of the earth for the accomplishment of the same | But nothing is more certain | than that this supply is limited and | over her flelds of coal will, at the present rate of decrease, be exhausted and England be reduced to the con- dition of a pleasant watering place, where life can be enjoyed by a limited number of well-to-do people, but where no great industries can be profitably carried on. Already the command of the world’s | markets afforded by cheap and abund- ant coal is passing to the United States. But at the rate at which we are using this precious commodity our own re- serve stores will be exhausted in 200 years, which is a very short time in the life of a nation. The coal fields of China, when that conservative country | is opened, will last not much longer, while the coal fields of the world be- sides are hardly worthy to be taken into account. | What may come from discoveries of gas and oil no one can certainly fore- tell. But so far the supply of these precious commodities has proved to| be limited. The supply is kept up by same time wood, both for fuel and for other purposes, is disappearing as rap- idly as this wasteful age can use and destroy it. The timber supply of the | United Stateg will be practically ex- hausted before this generation has passed off the stage, and the next gen- eration will have to build of brick and iron. The forests of Canada will, how- ever, remain to draw upon for a few years longer, while those of Siberia will scarcely do more than supply for an indefinite time the wants of the rapidly increasing population of the Russian empire. The forests of China were long ago exhausted. China is a country of treeless mountains. And such will the whole civiitzed world be soon unless forest culture is resorted 1o by the governments. There remain, indeed, the forests of the tropical re- gions to which we may look with hope for the distant future. But their full utilization will probably involve a trangfer of the centers of population from the temperate zones to regions where so far. man has not been able 1o so withstand the enervating influ- ences of a warm climate as to rise to his highest standard of excellence. | The Rewards of Merit.—“Over in Paris they are going to erect a monu- ment to the carrier pigeons that ren- dered such important service during the siege. “That's good. Now let England get in line by erecting a monument to the Missouri mules that kept South Af- rica in the empire.”—Chicago Record- Herald. : | uencies have a community of interest. FRANCISCO CALL, TUESDAY, JANUARY 2 THE SAN FRANCISCO (CAILL JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Pmpt_iztor e+ s s en .. Address All Comimanfions to JOHN McNAUGHT, Manager Publication Office .Third and Market Streets, S, F. | l CHAMBER OF COMMERCE BANQUET. | in our history. The Supreme Court, whenever the issue 1"_— HILE listening to the speeches and addresses W following their banquet on Saturday evening the members and the guests of the Chamber of Commerce had no occasion to pray thaE good digestion might wait on appetite. The words of the speakers and the arguments and statistics that supported them were sufficiently good to promote the digestion of a pessimist had one been there. Certainly there was abundant rea- son for feeling well over the work of the past and the prospects ahead, and the banquet may be ranked as one of the most successful and most felicitous of our civic feasts. Without undertaking a review of the work done by the chamber it will be worth while to give attention again to the resuits of all the energies that have tended to the upbuilding of our city as expressed in some of the figures given in the report of Prefident Newhall. Summing up our industrial and financial advance during the past year he said: “This has been an ungsually active year in the history of the city, there being 352 more sales and $314,645 larger valuation than the previous year, which was supposed to be the banner year. The mortgages of 1903 aggregate $30,880,088, while the releases amount to $21,346,609, thus making the net sum borrowed $9,543,280. In other words, there was $47,710,157 invested in San Francisco realty during the year and only $9,543,289 of the total amount was borrowed, showing clearly that $38,166,868 was ab- solutely new money invested in real estate in the city and county of San Francisco. The exports from San Fran- cisco by sea during 1903 amoumed to more than $50,000,- 000 and the imports to more than $36,000,000, showing a large balance in our favor. Our bank clearances have steadily increased. While in our annual rcpc;rt last year we surpassed all other years in these clearances, yet for the year 1003 we have again taken a step forward, as the clearances amounted to $1,520,108,602, an increase of $146,- 836,656 over 1002, or more than $12,000,000 per month. The manufactures in San Francisco during 1903 we esti- mate at a little over $150,000,000 in valuation. While our customs collections show some difference, they should have amounted to over $0,000,000 if the duty on coal and tea had not been removed, but they did actually show $7,621,160. The population of the city is steadily incréas- ing and is now estimated to be between 440,000 and 450,- 600 people.” That is an excellent showing for a community whose people are reputed to be more busily engaged in finding fault with one another than in working for the common good. As.a matter of fact we appear to have left behind us the old-time fights and jealousies to a very large ex- tent and are now doing about as much co-operative work as any other city of anything like equal size. Evidence to the effect can be found not only in the work of the Chamber 6f Commerce, but in that of the Board of Trade, the Merchants’ Association, the Manufacturers’ and Pro- ducers’ Association, the Promotion Committee and kindred organizations. In fact we have now developed a fairly | strong spirit of civic patriotism among our leading men and may confidently count upon an even greater advance this year than that which has been so creditable to us in the year just closed. ¢ Mr. Bunker's report from Washington gives a similar good report of the feeling among Pacific Coast repre- sentatives there. He says: “The Representatives in Sen- ate and House of the several Pacific Coast States and Territories are working harmoniously for Pacific Coast interests. They have learned, through varied experience, that desired wholesale legislation may only be secured through united effort. There is a disposition to pool is- sues and pu!l together. The men from the Pacific realize that division of sentiment means defeat; they realize that the administration, the great departments, the Sen- ate, the House and the bureaus that influence legislation have been too often halted by prejudiced protests. The men from the Pacific realize that their respective constit- They are no longer pulled to and fro by local prejudices. They work together for Pacific Coast progress. It is to-day as it should be, all for one and onc for all.” Revorts of that kind fit well to the mood of a banquet, and they wiil fit equally well for starting the work of the new year. They mean business. Bright as are the pros- pects ahead the future is not without clouds upon the horizon. Much as was done last year, there remains much more to be done. San Francisco is to have a spe- cial exhibit at St. Louis. That is one of the things to be taken hold of at once. Governor Brady of Alaska re- minded the merchants that in all their enterprises up to this time they have neglected the wonderful markets and fields of Alaska. That also should be attended to. So the new year has its work ready marked out for it. We must neglect nothing. A metropolis is not a gift of na- ture. It is the work of human energy wisely directed, and surely with the sanguine feeling founded upon what | has been attained in the past our merchants and manu- facturers can meet the difficulties which this year brings, with a full confidence in their ability to conquer them and bend them to the service of the city. It is suspected in Washington that Germany is schem- ing to secure a harbor in Santo Domingo and that she is coquetting with the turbulent little island republic with designs neither honorable nor discreet. In these modern days of greed and grasping it is a 'pity the earth is so small. Uncle Sam may be forced some day to send a few of his friends to another planet, where with other clothing for their spirits they may fight their war ambi- tions into submission. TDemocrafic papers toward President Roosevelt is suggestive of reminiscences. They are spreading the idea that the President is rash, impulsive, sudden in his conclusions, unsafe and likely to plunge the country into trouble. They accuse him of lack of reverence for the constitution and being unmindful of his duty. All this is intended to obscure his honesty, his frankness and the force of character which have been the motive power of his administration. He has not scrupled to do right, to enforce the law, to invoke its vengeance on the grafters and boodlers of his own party. He has done in these respects all that a year ago it was charged that he would not dare do, and now because he hu done it the same men charge him with rashness. It is the Panama matter that has set the opposition on JACKSON AND ROOSEVELT. HE attitude of certain Senators and of certain edge. They see the constitution in peril, liheny run- ning to cover and our institutions tottering because the Pundent has followed all of his predecessors in recog- izing a de facto Government. htindnh;&ahgh tonowed strictly every exemuxvé nd mdidu m‘ec‘edm i has come before it, has recognized the Government de facto of the Confederate States during our civil war. Not only has it been recognized as a natmnal Government, but the State and municipal governments, subordinate to and deriving from it, have been judicially recognized. The idol of the Democracy is Jackson. The idols of | that party are not elected until they have been dead a long time. The most emiment Democrats fought Jackson while he was alive and he had to season in his grave a long time before he took his pedestal and had a day in the Democratic calendar. To this day he is contemned in his native State, South Carolina, where Jackson day is passed unnoticed. But he is generally higher in the calendar, of party saints than any other, leading Jefferson by several numbers. It is interesting that during his lifetime he was con- demned for the same characteristics that are now ascribed to President Roosevelt. Calhoun fought him with all the venom of his soul. Among Calhoun’s leading reasons was Jackson’s invasion of Florida, a Spanish ! province, and his practical arrest of the Spanish Governor and his threat to supersede him. Predatory Indians were armed for assault on American settlers on our side of the line by that same Governor. After a taid they would return to Spanish jurisdiction and defy pursuit. Jackson, in military command there, followed them into Spanish | territory and gave the Dons a scare that put an end to the raids, On this Calhoun never ceased to harp. He cited it as evidence that Jackson had no respect for international | rights nor for the constitution. But Jackson made our border settlements safe and paved the way for the ac- quisition of Floridd by the treaty of 1819, and when he became President had the satisfaction of having under his jurisdiction the territory that he had invaded as a soldier. The Calhouns in the Senate are now practically re- peating the same charges against President Roosevelt, who has the confidence and support of the country just as Jackson had. There are reasons for believing, how- ever, that the opposi_tion to Roosevelt is less sincere than | that to Jackson. Calhoun’s successor, Tillman, has been | fighting the President; but when asked by Senator | Spooner what he would have done in the Panama case had | he been President replie impulsively: “I would have£ said to Colombia, ‘You are a mangy lot; get off the face | of the earth; we will take the country and build the | canal’” That is the real sentiment of all of the Presi- I | i | dent’s opponents, and their opposition is perfunctory ! only, and the country is tired of it. | —— An American was manager and referee of a Dominican ! battle the other day, and to his credit it may be said there was very little disturbance and no bloodshed among the | combatants. Some enterprising Yankee showman might import a few hundred of these amusing revolutionists and star them as a battle attraction. They won't hurt themselves and can’t harm us and might serve us as a | diversion. OUR TRADE AND OUR TRIBUTE. ONGRESSMAN GROSVENOR, in presenting to | ‘ the House a bill authorizing the appointment of | a commission to investigate the condifions and the needs of our merchant marine engaged in foreign | commerce, said: “We flatter ourselves that we are a/ leading nation in all that makes a nation great, and yrti we are a subservient nation and a helpless nation in one of the great factors of national wealth and national | independence. Other nations carry our products to the markets of the world and exact from us a tribute for the | service.” | Mr. Grosvenor estimates the amount of the tribute we pay to foreign ship-owners at $200,000,000 annually. Our‘ standard as a shipping nation is shown by the fol]omng\ statement of the ocean tonnage of the leading mercan- tile countries: United States. | 873,000 tons Italy . 1,180,000 tons France 1,480,000 tons Norway . 1,660,000 tons Germany 2,960,000 tons British Empire . 14,800,000 tons We have a larger forelgn trade than any other people, and yet we have a smaller merchant marine than any other mercantile nation. As a consequence we have to pay the heavy annual tribute of which Mr. Grosvenor spoke. The proposed commission recommended by President Roosevelt will not have much difficulty in find- ing out the cause of this disparity between our trade and our ships, for it is patent on the surface of things. The foreign ship-owner has cheap labor in constructing his vessels and in operating them, and, in addition, he has a subsidy from his Government. How can the American | ship-owner compete unless the Government give to him the benefit of that fostering care which has been so beneficially extended to every American industry on | land? The gloomy mountains of Chile have yielded to the scientific world a perfect specimen of the ichthyosaurus | and the professor of palaentology at Berkeley is highly | gleeful thereat. Redoubtable as was Samson, armed with | his famous weapon, he would pale before striving forg such a triumph as this won by our college investigators. | He might try for it, but he wouldn’t dare to talk about it. | —_——— Efforts are being made to associate the great steelI manufacturers of Germany into a gigantic trust. It is evident that our German friends do not follow current | American affairs with that fidelity of interest which would contribute to their own advantage. We have had an experience with a steel trust that ought to be bene- ficial as a warning to everybody else. —_—— Several of the rascals of Grand Rapids who accepted public office to dishonor it have had the grace to pleatlI guilty to their offenses. The prevailing authorities should display equal candor. They should lose no time in punishing the offenders as they deserve. The effect should follow the cause without unnecessary delay in suck sases. Whatever else may be said of John Alenm‘kt Dowie no eritic will question his shrewdness as an observer. During his visit to this city he remarked with something of unnecessary vehemence that had he sought favor at our hands he would have come as a prize fighter, not as a preacher. Who will say that he was not nzh!? L M S Senator Mnmu wants the United States to annex Pan- ama. There is always one charming certainty to the suggestions of Senator Morgan. Whatever he wants no- body .&edqs-aflmhemmbnbue. WMT everybody clse. | beaten track. | cerned the application of the | though somewhat comical, i} He appeared to be deep in thought. i steward was standing by his side. the i {a menagerie. | ready cash, so * ‘A Gentle Hint. To men who hunt and shoot and | fish for the food that sustains life the statutes on the subject of game pres- ervation appeal with about the same force that the revenue laws do to a Carolina “moonshiner.” A State game warden had a call re- cently to invade a remote interior county of this State, far from the Before the officer left | the railroad station for his long horse- back plunge into the forest and moun- tain country he was warned against the sentiment that existed among the settlers therein against official inter- ference with their pursuit of the gamy trout or the toothsome deer. Likewise was the warden informed that it was a certainty his identity would be known long before his jour- ney was half completed. With these words of counsel the rider set forth. True to prediction the warden met the reception hi | friends had prophesied would be his. On a lonely trail through a brush- buried gulch there was a sudden sharp “ping” of a rifle shot. Snapped off the saddle went the horn, severed by a bullet as cleanly as if done by a saw. Whence the missile came, whose { hand pulled the trigger, are yet to be told. The significance of the warning message of lead was so fully impressed upon the vigilant game.warden that he turned around on that pathway. headed his horse for the railroad and decided that so far as he was con- game laws to that region was a dead letter. One Touch of Nature. An editor on one of the morning dailics relates an Incident which, has a dash of the pathetic and goes far to show that a love of country is still a reality {and tingles alike in the breasts of all men. The editor had a Japanese serv- ant cmployed at his home who gave entire satisfaction and seemed well pleased with his position. A few morn- ings ago the customary signal to break- fast was not received and a visit to the Jap’s room showed that he had vanished in the night. Pinned to his i pillow was the following note, which is given literally: Dear Master: “I go home. I go kil Rusa. My brother go. My cosin go. My friend g0. All go kik Rusa all hell. Kil Rusd, no good Japan. All love Japan. All di Japan. I di Japan. You good mas- ter. Good house. I di Japan. I kil Rusa, I come you house. You good master. Good day. K. MARISTO.” Sold His Menagerie. He st upon the edge of his narrow cot in the Central Emergency Hospital. He did not even notice the entrance of the steward into the ward: at least he gave no sign that he knew that the When latter placed his hand upon his shoulder and asked him how he was feeling. he looked up with ‘a start and a “beg your pardon.” “I have been trying to think for the last hour,” he said, with a frown, “how I am going to get out of a deuced awkward scrape I am . You see be- fore I came here to visit you I owned 1 found myself short of sold all the animals. I had an elephant, an ostrich, a boa- | constricter, a horned toad, a zebra, sev- | eral monkeys, a lioness and a giraffe. The man who bought them is already tired of his bargain and has sent them lall to me here, and demands the re- turn of his money. Now I spent quite a lot of it. all of it, in fact, and don't know what to do. Suppose you take them off my hands and give the man his meney. The animals are all over there in the corner. You can see that they are worth quite a lot. The snake got out a little while ago, but I put him back in his box. Go over and take a look at him. He is a beauty.” “I'm sorry, old man,” said the stew- ard, “but I do not think I can help you out. They won't prevent us from hav- ing a drink, though.” And he gave the menagerie proprietor a dose of “D. T. mixture.” Military Japan. Japan is divided, for military pur- poses, into seven districts, each of which is occupied by a division. The headquarters of these districts are le- cated respectively at Tokio, Sendai, Neagoya, Osaka, Hiroshima, Kuma- moto and Sapporo. There is also the Imperial Guard, with headquarters, of course, at Tokio; they are tq be dis- tinguished from other soldiers'by hav- ing a red instead of a yellow band around the cap and are a [‘picked corps,” who present a very fine ap- pearance. The war footing of the Japanese army exceeds 500,000 men, and its peace footing is almost 200,- 000; thdse figures take account only of combatants. The discinline, cour- age and endurance of the Japanese army have been clearly exhibited side by side with the troops of Occidental nations in China, and have suffered naught by comparison. The army has been called “the most formidable mo- bile land force in the Far East, in- deed in the whole of Asia,”” and “the best army in the world for its size.” And the remarkable manner in which the various parts of the service co- operate and smoothly carry out the general plans has won the admira- tion of capable critics.—"“A Handbook of Modern Japan,” by Ernest W. Clement. -~ 4 5 F rogs by Millions. St. Paul and lfinmmlh are the largest frog markets in the world. The total receipts for the past year from the frog-catchers of the State ex- ceeded 500,000 dozen, requiring the slaughter of no less than 5.000,000 frogs. Five years ago no frugs were shipped out of Minnesota. Now the l-ll- i i TALK Ol‘ T HEOTOWN + clear, cocl water which is found in Minnesota's 10,000 lakes in which _the frogs live and have their nests. Frog legs are purchased all through the States by shippers from the two citles, and this occupation glves employment to more than one hundred families, who make a good living the year around. Success. Success—to-morrow’s child! Thou art Just beyond our hopes and fears, Just beyond our foolish tears, Just beyond our aching heart. Thou phantom sprite of ages! For thee Galleons speed o'er the sea afar: rave armies thunder forth to war; ong hearts are bowed before thy knee With wounded pride and battle scar. S Just at the coming of despair, When all thé world seems dead and lost. When life's wide sea is tempest tossed, Behold! we turn and thou art there, Paying back the year's full cost. Oh, Succe: child art Just beyond the rain of tears, Just beyond our hopes and fears, Just beyond our aching heart. PAUL DU SHAY. To-morrow’'s thou Saves Sponge Fishers. Experiments are being made at La Geoulette, Tunis, with a new submarine vessel, invented by Abbe Raoul, the Vicar General of Carthage, to be used in sponge fishing. The vessel is made of steel, and resembles in shape a huge porpeise. The entrance to the central chamber is hormetically closed by a heavy lid fastened with screws, and the occupants survey their surroundings through port holes. A long spear ter- minating in a grappling hook. worked from the interior of the submarine, seizes the sponge and deposits it in a net at the side of the vessel. The craft is propelled by electricity furnished by accumulators through a cable attached te a vessel on the surface, with which it is in constant communication by means of a telephome. The vessel is lighted by electricity, and a lamp hang- ing in the bow lights up the surround- ings while the sponge fisher is beneath the water. Three men may easily de- scend in the vessel at the same time. The «bject of the vessel is to reduce the great mortality among sponge fishers. Answers to Querie A MOTTO — Ignorant, Oakland, Cal. “Nemo me impune lacessit,” the motto of the Order of the Thistle, is Latin and means “None shall insult me with impunity.” NATIONAL DEBT—E. N. Q., Ala- meda, Cal. The national debt of Rus- sia is greater than that of the United Kingdom. The debt of the former is $3,167,320,000, and that of the latter is $3,060,926,204. The debt of Japan is $206,799,994. MECHANICAL ARTS—Subscriber, City. For information relative to ad- mission to a school where a boy can study mechanical arts apply to the syperintendent of the Lick Mechanical School of Arts or the Wilmerding School of Mechanical Art, both lo- cated in the Potrero. RUMMAGE—Emma, City. Rummage means properly stowing away the con- tents of a ship. Modernly rummage means to thoroughly search among things stowed away in a given recepta- cle. Hence the recent use of “rummage sale” means the sale of articles that were rummaged for in given recepta- cles. VOTERS—A., Sutter Creek, Cal. Emile Loubet, President of France, was not elected by the popular vote. He was elected in February, 1899, by the Assembly. At the Presidential election in 1900 the popular vote for President of the United States was, for all candidates combi'ed. 13,961,586, of which McKinley received 7,207,923 and Bryan 6,278,133 RUSSIAN HILL—A Subsgcriber, City. In the earlv days of California, long before the Americans settled in this part of the American Continent, a number of Russians occupied a part of the territory along the coast, particu- larly in what is now Mendocine, Marin and San Francisco counties, and there were some that had a settlement at the bottom of the slope opposite that which is known as Telegraph Hill. ‘As late as 1849 there were still to be seen on the slope facing that hill a few graves sur- mounted by black crosses and bearing Russian inscriptions, evidently the rest- ing places of some of the Muscovites who had sojourned in the old village. The discovery of these graves by Americans while going over the terri- tory, before the days of gold, gave rise to the name Russian HIll to the emin- ence above the graves, a mame that has been maintained to this day. Cures Colds in Great LAXATIVE BROMO %WIN‘ To n( lh. genuine, eall for the fu ]T:a. ou: ro; 79 Fourth. front of cele- bra oyster-house. Good ‘W and Specs, 18 to 50 cents. v 'l'hu‘::k'fl per eent reduction on every r in stock. San 8an Francisco Gas and Electric Company. 415 Post street. * !