The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, March 6, 1904, Page 32

Lively Japanese Press. (From the Brooklyn Bagle.) Few Americans realize to what an ex- tent the daily newspaper has grown in the last decade in “little” Japan, with | her 40,000,000 people. In Tokio, for in- | stance, there are no less than twelve | native daily papers, while the foreign | press of the capital and Yokohama is | walued at something like 227,000 ven, a yen being approximately 50 cents in | our money. Tokio has its press club | also, called the Japanese Journalists’ | Union, where the knights of the fuunhl estete meet to retail thrilling stories of newspaper daring in eluding the | Russian press censor in Manchuria and | getting in a sensational beat for the | Dempo, which the Chuo pilfers in itsk next issue. Of course, the rubbing*in is done in| the most polite fashion, the Dempo ed- itor expressing himself something like : “It gave most base me very great pleasure, most honorable editor of the divine Chuo, to see that your most au- gust journal deigned honorably to quote from my vile Dempo a mean ;varagr:ml\‘; this morning.” And without the faint- | est intention of sarcasm, either! Of course, this self-abasement is mere form e could not be “other | than p T v the slightest an- | noyance if h but in nine cases out of ten the honhorable editor of the is right when he calls his jour- ! and the paragraph “base. grip of a “yellow m which would send | vention fleeing in| Chicago to Cape Horn, in-| at St. Louis. be understood, however, | - Japanese press is yel There are at least | exceptions which would 1 under any civ- But the majority of pape nd Yokohama have evolved | characters that would do credit to any | 10t to yellow journal here. This section of | the Japanese press is voung, and is| sowing its wild cats with a zest that would make the most biase of New | York yellow journalists green with | envy. | To give examples of the domestica- | tion of yellow journalism in the island empire is not so difficult as it is in-| credible. The Japanese are a most | adaptive people. Western ideas appeal | to them strongly, and it seems that| psychologically they have much in| common with Americans. They are quick to see a practical advantage and quicker to apply it. With them, adver- tising, for instance, is carried on with | a perfection that makes the Westerner marvel, and for the purpose of secur- ing advertising the yellow section has copied all the latest stunts of the most | approved school for booming circula- | tion. The plan of hiding bags of gold | in out of the way places and publish- ing stories in the paper giving clews to the caches, which has been tried so successfully by the London Mail and | several of the American newspapers has borne its full fruition in Japan. | Their method was to conceal a token | and publish in some obscure part of the paper directions how to find it, the finder of the token to receive a hand- some reward of so many yen. At once this created a furor. It seemed as if the native population was token-mad. Of course there was nothing very re- markable about that. The same thing happened in Boston last year. For & time it divided attention with the question of war. But doubts began to arise about the honesty of the trans- action. Most of the papers had taken it up and it seemed that they always allowed a certain fixed time to elapse between the publication of the an- nouncement and the time for the com- mencing of the search. When the crit- jcal moment came it was generally found that some one on the staff or at least indirectly connected with the paper got the token. No sooner had this run its course than the Chuo resorted to the inevi- table lottery, which was held at the end of each month for the benefit of its subscribers, the prizes being 20 yen debentures of the Industries Bank. The Niroku, with a policy truly American, followed suit with more prizes and of larger value. The Hochi, ‘not to be outdone, then put out the scheme that worked the best of all. It was the old promise of a prize to any one who could discover the typograpical error in its advertising sheet. When it be- came known that the ads of Hochi would be read carefully by a large number of people, it at once jumped into first place as a medium. The mer- chants, seeing how the lottery ticket craze brought business to the papers, at once began to advertise that with certain amounts of goods purchased lottery tickets would be given away and it had all the desired effect that doubling the number of green trading stamps has in this country. For the time Tokio was lottery-mad. Finally the police were forced to interfere and now yellow journalism is looking about for some new thing that is not such a flagrant violation of the anti-gambling jaws. But it paid while it lasted. Like yellow journalism elsewhere, after all the funds for the poor and ‘the bureaus for this and that are dis- counted. there is the news incident- ally. The retailing of delectable bits of scandal, of course, just at present, takes the shape of violently sensational war news, which is rushed on the street of Toklo in the shape of extras with a and unreliability that com- veads these extras and, strange to say, thing that attains the sacrednes: print, despite the fact that each suc: cessive canard is scarcely in type be fore it is contradicted. The only way for one to avold getting the most dis- torted news is to be read only the Jijl, the Kokumin or the Asahi, and they are only better because they discredit the scare heads of the other papers. These | three papers represent the best conser- vative sentiment, but they are pow- erless to stem the tide of sensational- ism. The Jijl has adopted recently a rather novel plan of overcoming this | abuse of extras by publishing the news; in its morning edition, with the proviso that “unless something unusual de- velops, there will be no extras,” the is- | suing of an extra having become now adays the rule rather than the excep- | tion. Of course, as the day advances, most of the other papers flood the city with extras, which are devoured rav enously. Nobody seenis to notice or to care for the fact that the absence of a Jiji extra praaically discredits the news. Whether the papers create the want or the want the papers is too meta- | physical a question, but the truth of| the gituation js that the war spirit hai control-of everybody except those at the head of the movement. As if the existing yellowness was not | deep-dyed enough andther journal has entered the field which eclipses them al This is the Dempo (Telegraph), ! which is at swords’ points with the rest of the press for not being yellow enough. Its motto is, “Let us fight and | win, let us fight and lose, but let us| fight.” How the paper exists is a won- | der from a financial standpoint, for it | sells for 10 sen a month, which is,| roughly, one-twenty-fourth of a cent a ' copy and with a circulation of 100,000 would yield only 334 yen daily. But it is widely read and before the beginning of the war grew daily more violent. One of its recent utterances was that “the government is prepared to yield every- thing to Russia,” and the flowery, abuse of the Cabinét for this suppo- sititious policy was something fearful | and wonderful to read. To show how little the papers ac- tually knew of the status of affairs the Shogyo Slumpo flatly contradicted , the Dempo and asserted that the Gov- | ernment had “absolutely determined on | war unl osals were accepted | by Rui The Shogyo repre- sents the interests of the business men of Japan. The Nippon, which repre- sents the extreme of Japanese chauvin- | ism, took its stand along with the Dem- | The Yomiruri, Hochi, Chuo, Jim- | inin and other minor journals also com- mitted themselves to policies uniting abuse of the procrastinating Cabinet, and loud avnlause of Koko Hironka, who was the president of the proposed Diet which was in open hostility to the Government. That unanimi of the press in fos- tering the war spirit in Japan was well | illustrated recently by a meeting of Tokio ard Osaka journalists who ad- | vocated war, in the kowai-do “public | hall” of Osaka. There were over 2500 | | delegates present indulging in the most impassioned and inflammatory oratory, appealing to national patriotism and | virtually calling for the resignation of | the Ministry. Japanese Leaders. The first Japanese leader, in point of | service, is Field Marshal Yamagata, | the highest military authority in the empire. He is over 65 years of age, | a veteran of many wars, having begun | service in the struggle which restored | the Emperor's power in 1868. In 1872, | he was Assistant Secretary of War, the next year a lieutenant general, and, in | 1875, Secretary of War. As chief .of | the royal staff in the rebellion of 1876 he | was the real general in chief who led | the imperial forces to victory. As a! reward -he was ~romoted to the full| rank of general. He has been three! times Prime Minister, and has also held various other positions in the| Cabinet. In 1894 he commanded the first army that invaded Manchuria| against the Chinese. After the war he was made marquis and field marshal. | After Japan had been deprived of the! fruits of her victory by the action of Russia, France and Germany, Yama- gata was appointed special Embassa- | dor to St. Petersburg to negotiate for the preservation of the independence of | Korea. There he effected the treaty | which is the basis of Japan's latest de- | mands upon Russia. Considering his| age and health, it is improbable that he | will take the ~:1d in the present cam- paign against the Tussia.s, but will act somewhat as did Von Moltke in the| Fianco-Prussian war. Rear Admiral Sotokichi Uriu, 47 years ! of age, the victor of Chemulpo, grad- | uated from the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1881. When a | cadet he accompanied General Saigo on a sapanese expedition to Formosa ir 1874. He comes of a very old Sam- urai (ncble) family of Kaga, on the Japan Sea. His Government picked him out as one of the cleverest, most daring, students of the Japanese Naval Academy, and sent hii. fo this country | to study. Befdre he became rear ad- | miral he commanded the cruiser Mat- sushima, and the first-class battleship Yashima. Daring the war with China > was a naval attacke to the Tananese Embas.y ir Paris. Sirce his promotion he has been chief of the Bureau of Naval telligence of the Navy De- partme a part of the general staff of the Japanese War Office. It was he who planned the great naval war game last year, which was subsequent- ly viewed by the Emperor himself at Kobe.—Review of Reviews. Fifty Years Ago. What changes have taken place in the history of Japan during the past ' half century its present position testi- fies to in a thousand ways. It seems incredible that only as recently as 1853 Christians were forbidden tosset foot on Japanese soil under penalty " of | death, yet such was the case. One! edict, inscribed on tablets of wood and stone. aswthe “Tokio Sun Trade Jour- nal” reminds us, ran: “So long as the sun shall warm the earth let no Chris. tian be S0 bold as to come to Japan and let all know that the King of himself or the Christian’s God, or ‘Great God of All, if he violate mand shall suffer for it with his head.” | American citizens, whose property at sca was lost as a | to its own citizens for their ships and property confis- | power to enforce its decree. | to yourself coerce a pcople either for better or worse. H the | THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, THE. SAN FRANCISCO CALL SUNDAY, MARCH JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Proprietor « o « + . . . . . . Address All Communications to JOHN HcNAUGHT, Manager ] @ eereetevees.i....Third and Market Streets, S. F. SUNDAY... _.MARCH 6, 1904 CAN ARBITRATION BE ENFORCED? HE plan of the Hague tribunal is most beneficent. TIt provides a substitute for war, by projecting the judicial process ‘into issues *o which nations are a party. Time was that in issues between individuals the only finality was a trial of strength. For this the trial by ordeal was substituted. Finally the judicial method appeared by a process of evolution, and the body of the law grew up. The law fixed the rights of person and property, and the courts applied its principles to all is- sues that affected either. But in issues between nations the primitive method remained, and they were settled by | a trial of strength and were arbitrated by war. The first step forward from this method of such mag- nitude as to attract the attention of the world was the Alabama arbitration between the United States and Great Britain. The Confederate cruiser had been built, armed and fitted out in an English port. Its building and per- mission to arm, coal and sail were in violation of Eng- land's neutrality. The several acts were by the consent | of the British Government. They led to the injury of | consequence of those acts. It is a principle of international law that when an in- | jurious act is done or permitted by a government that | government becomes responsible and must respond with indemnify to the individual. At the close of our Civil War we called on Great Britain to indemnify our citizens for losses incurred in the seizures made on the-high seas by the Alabama. England denied liability. Therefore we could have declared war. which would have been war for the collection of debts due individuals. But, instead, we resorted to diplomacy and out of it issued the Geneva arbitration. The arbitrators found Great Britain responsible for the acts injurious to our citizens, and demanded that $15,- 000,000 damages be paid to them by that Government. Great Britain had aggeed by treaty to abide by the re-; sults of arbitration. Had she refused to do so after the | award was made, it would have been a cause of war, | which again would have been the collection of private{‘ debts by war. But she was honorably mindful of .her obligation and faith, and promptly paid the award, which was distributed to our injured citizens upon proof of their lgsses. Next we arbitrated the fishery claims with | Great Britain, which were private debts, and when the | award was against us we paid i Another issue arose over the claim that Bering Sea was a mare clausum, under the jurisdiction of the mu- nicipal law of the United States. Russia made the same claim for her half of Bering Sea. Both Governments | seized and libeled the sealing ships of their own and | other naticnals. Great Britain demanded of us indemnity for the ships, stores and cargoes of her subjects that we confiscated in Bering Sea. We refused, claiming that as a mare clausum the law of the sea did not extend to those waters. Here was another cause of war, in which Great Britain would have made war to collect private debts. | But both nations resorted to arbitration. The issue was | tried out in the Paris arbitration and was decided against us. , It was shown that the seizures of British ships were the act of the United States, injurious to British sub- jects. We abided by the result and agreed upon a judi- cial arbitration of the indemnity, and when the award | was made we paid it. We then arbitrated with Russia the seizures of American ships when she was our partner | in the mare clausum. This arbitration was in the Hague court, and Russia promptly paid the damages awarded. In that transaction all claims have been arbitrated and paid to the sufferers, except what the United States owes | cated in Bering Sea. Of course justice and honor re- quire that these should be paid also. Now here is a series of issues, each involving a casus belli, that might have led to war in collection of debts, had the losing nation refused to keep faith and abide by the results of arbitration. In individual litigation, before judicial courts, every judgment becomes a finality, because the court has the At that point the analogy between judicial courts and international arbitrations ceases. International courts can render judgment but cannot enforce execution. A newspaper, discussing the recent award at the Hague giving preference in payment of the Venezuela claims to the blockading powers, la- ments that the blockading powers were not punished and says: “The Hague court, like the rest of mankind, has not outgrown respect for force. It would be a most em- barrassing outcome were the, United States, as the friend ! and promoter of arbitration and protester against bom- bardment in international finance, herself to find it need- ful to do some bombarding.” That is more than a superficial view, it is foolish. If a nation, party to arbitration, refuse to abide by it, what good is arbitration unless there be power to enforce it? What is needed just now to vindicate arbitration is rigid enforcement of its judgments, completing the analogy between judlicial and arbitral courts. Our nationals have been despoiled by the Latin-American governments. The spoliation has been arbitrated and the spoilers have re- fused to pay the judgments. Unless there is power to enforce such judgments, arbitration is a vain thing. The United States should not flinch a moment in bombarding | the ports of any nation that sneaks out of paying such a | ndgment, if our citizens are concerned, Otherwise ar- | bitration will fall into disuse, and the Hague Palace of Peace will be a Palace of Jolly. i A Revolution still smolders in the Philippines and the océasional murders that rob us of soldiers may be taken simply as vagrant signs of a disturbed anl turbulent | people. The military authorities have said this and it must be so. The Filipinos are determined to impress upon us forcibly the fact that you cannot without harm | THE USE OF THE TORPEDO-BOAT. HE present war between Ruisia and Japan is likely to decide more question- than that of the jature [ ownership of Korea and Manchuria. Besides the diplomatists and the statesmen, who are following every | move of events with the keenest interest, there are the | rect are persistently active at the polls? coldly speculating builders of war engines, who hope to gain from this struggle a decision ;\'pon mooted points in | the science of naval warfare, which have remained un- decided since the first shot of the Monitor in Hampton Roads announced that an old order had passed away and that man’s method of killing his fellow upon the seas would ‘thenceforth be altered. R o ¢ The 'nlu\e of the torpedo-boat as an offensive v;e;p;:nz question which has been secorid to none ' | e their use became the subject of the disputes of experts, scems to have.received partial solu- tion at least from the action which opened the present struggle on the night of February 8. At that time Jap- anese torpedo-boats, by making a brave midnight dash into the very center of the Russian fleet at Port Arthur, succeeded in disabling two first-class battleships and a cruiser with their explosives and escaping before the guns of the fleet could be turned upon them. These craft were armed with the latest model of torpedo, which is self steering'and has such a motor power that, even launched beyond the limit of effective searchlight rays, it is reasonably sure to find its mark. The Japanese torpedo-boats used on the Port Arthur attack were the highest models of their class. This action probably will go a long way to place defi- nitely the sphere of the torpedo-boat-in the efficiency of naval maneuvers. It must be used as a night weapon, for a sudden dash and away again before the enemy can recover from surprise. Our Spanish war demonstrated conclusively enough the utter uselessness of this craft in a general daylight attack. When the battle off Santiago was fought the Spanish torpedo-boats, Furor and Pluton, though making no endeavor to take the offensive, were ! sunk by the converted yacht Glouces®r before they had proceeded two miles from the harbor mouth. The con- tention of many of the experts on our own naval boards, that the frailnéss of the torpedo-boat negated any capa- bility it might have for offense in daylight attack, seems to have found confirmation in this instance. The Port Arthur night attack has already been taken by the ex- perts as an equally strong assurance that the torpedo- boat has nevertheless a very important place in naval warfare. Already there ‘have been prognosticated by the experts the effects this engagement will have upon haval con- struction. When a- battleship of 15,000 tons and costing three million dollars is just as liable to sudden extinc- tion as a cruiser, a lighter, swifter, cheaper and more ef- fective machine in the exigencies of a long sea cam- paign, it is probable naval architects will begin to profit by the fate of the Retvizan and Cesarevitch and advocate vessels which, if blown up, will not carry with them so much treasure. The battleship Missouri bumped into the Iilinois re- cently and inflicted various and serious injuries to that floating fortress. It is becoming more apparent every | day that when Uncle Sam lets his fighting ships out to play he should send a guardian along with them to see that no unnecessary harm is done to the neighborhood. We have many reasons to give thanks for being at peace with the world. RESISTING OFFICERS. N charging a jury in a murder case in Tulare County the Judge said: “Where no offense has been com- mitted by a person, nor in the presence of the arresting officer, such person has a right to resist the arrest and may use all nccessary means to regain his | liberty.” Begging pardon for differing, we must insist that killing the arresting officer is not the use of proper means, This seems to have'been the point at issue. The accused had killed an officer who had arrested him, and we suppose was acquitted under the Judge's charge to the jury. If that charge is to be taken as law, then every person who is arrested is made the judge of whether he has or has not’ committed ‘an offense to justify, taking him into custody. insurance and wear armor. An arresting officer is liable to be mistaken in taking a supposed offender into custody, but he is not thereby guilty of a capital crime justifying the arrested party in summarily executing him. The proper course under such circumstances is not left out of the law. An arrest | precedes an appearance before a court, where the mis- take is corrigible and its victim has recourse in a civi! action against the officer, if the circumstances warrant it. One man is legally justified in killing another only when his own life is in jeopardy. If the Judge had charged the jury that the homicide was .justified if the officer were menacing the other man’s life and caused him to think he was in imminent peril, he would have been more nearly within the law. Chris Evans was a gjtizen of Tulare County/and is on record to the effect that he did not belicve he was guilty of any crime in robbing trains, since he was only avenging upon corporations the wrongs they had done to the people whose champion he was. He has declared that if he made a mistake it was an error of the head and not of the heart, a mere mistake in judgment. As he made himself the judge of whether he had committed an offense. justifying arrest, His subsequent : career, in which we believe he materially reduced the peace estab- lishment of several counties, seems to be in line with the charge of the Tulare Judge. . %5 The Folsom conviets who killed the guards while escaping from prison set up the plea of self-defense. It is easy to see that all such characters would readily, from their moral standpoint and their view of the law, act upon the theqry that they were justified in killing officers te avoid arrest.” Perhaps the beneficiary of :his Judge’s charge is an estimable citizen, who deserved to be acquitted, but he lost a fine opportunity to teach the community a lesson when he failed to carry his rights into court, instead of shedding blood in their vindication. s An Oakland negro, bubbling with booze and melody, attempted a few nights since to make a couple dance a cake walk or die. The affrighted-man and woman did ' neither, thanks to the timely appearance of the police, ' although they professed their preference for the latter | alternative if they had to accept either. The cake walk is rightly in the category of actions decent people may not dare do. L SRR TR SRAY 9 _‘Th; Grand Jury is troubling its inquisitorial self to de- termine why the administration of justice and the inflic- tion of punishment in our police courts -are notoriously lax. Doesn’t the Grand Jury know that men whose con- duct it is the duty of police courts to.exploit and cor- {2 . A Chinese bought a Modoc County squaw for $i00 'a few days since and then hastened to the San Fran- cisco slave market to sell his property for ten times ‘what he had paid for It etimes requires a_blunt presentation of a fact to arouse our attention to a con- gition of affairs that should be intolerable in a civilized country The brutal certainty with which this coolie invested $100 in a* human being and his reaping a profit should cover us with shame. inar Under such circum- | stances peace officers would better increase their life | Among Those Injured. It is a strange thing how so many people try to get on a damage suit against the railroad company. One night a man was brought into the Central Emergency Hospital to be treated. He claiffied that he had been knocked down by a cable car and he was positive in his assertions that his back was broken. | Dr. Haryey was on duty at the time. After a most careful examination the doctor turned to a reporter who was in the operating room and whispered, “There is nothing the matter with this Itellaw: he is a sure enough faker, but i I'll put on a dressing as a matter of form.” The reporter, satisfied that the pa- tient was putting on all the.agony, | got close to him and in a confidential | way remarked, “Say, old man, you are certainly up against it.” “I know I am,” he replied, “and the i railroad company will have to pay ! dearly for this.” : | “Oh, I don't mean in that way, part- ner,” the reporter answered, “but let me tell you; don’t let that medical stu- dent hand you any chloroform. I wouldn’t let him doctor a sick cat of mine. He's a tramp and doesn’t know his business. He is working here for glory and the only pay he receives from the Board of Health is when he + performs an' operation. He's got the pull or he couldn’t stay here a minute. If he gets you under the influence you can gamble that when you wake up youw'l!l be minus a limb.” “Well,” sald the feker, “just buy a { ticket that he will not operate on me. I don’t like his looks, anyhow.” Inside of ten seconds the man who was look- ing for damages had dressed himself and was out on the street. And he | didn't move to funeral time at that. | —_— | Why the Music Stopped. | | Charlie Henke is a member of the local Musicians’ Union. Since the early days Charlie has blown sweet sounds | through “blas” instruments and not un- i til recently has his soaring melody ever come to grief. " The annual elec- tion of the Hanoverian Verein had late- 1y taken place, and according to custom its new president was to be serenaded. Charlie was instructed to provide four pieces of brass. The band duly ar- rived at the president’s house in the | southern part of town. The night was | very dark, so a candle was procured | to read the music by, stuck upon a i post and lighted. The melody had just_begun to peal out on the night air when suddenly into the lighted circle there sauntered a typical San Francisco tough. He step- ped up, and taking the candle, leis- urely proceeded to light his cigarette with it. When he had obtained a sat- isfactory lizht he coolly blew out the candie, put it back on the post and walked off. In the meantime the eclipsed musicians were choking with rage, but their mouths being already engaged with the ' instruments ‘they could not remonstrate. They gasped and struggled heroically with the mu- sic, but to no avail. Like the candle, the brazen song flickered in the night air and then it too, went out. Char- lie was overcome with mortification and rage. “Donner wetter du schafsnase—Du | gaukelthier—Rindviet! ~Warum hast du unser licht genommen?” he called out. “Oh, dat's all right, all right, Dutchy,” came floating back the an- swer, “I jest wanted ter borry yer glim for ter light me cigareet! Tanks!” i Emergency Tactics. ‘ In the old days. when the torchlight ! procession and the glaring red lights and the sizzling rocket contributed to the gayety of politics, .ere existed dur- ing one Presidential campaign a band cr stalwarts known as the Hancock | Guards of Oakland. The war horses lof Democracy across the, bay were | members of this old-line and old-time | marching club. | Their leader was one Captain Pat | 0'Kane, as faithful a Demqgrat as ever cast a ballot, and possessed a sturdy figure that loomed up grandly in the | red-shirted umiform of the Hancock ! Guards, One night, a memorable one, { the Guards 200 strong, came to San Francisco to march in a grand Demo- | cratic outpeuring. Captain O’Kane was | at their head, strong in party fealty but a bit.shy in military tactics. He | got his men together at the ferry land- | ing and with band behind him started up Market street for the place of ren- dezvous. Alas, O'Kane saw approaching a | string of cable cars. He was in a &i- i lemma that fairly made him shudder. | He did not know how to get his force | out of the way of those cars. “Right oblique,” “left oblique,” and such tech- nical commands were as Greek to the doughty commander. But like an in- spiration from Mars, a thought caught the captain. Of a sudden, with a yell that pierced the night zir, O'Kane turn- ed to his torch-bearers and cried: “Split in the middle and let them cars go through. Fox Farm a Fdilure. A gentleman named Skillings of | Bangor _recently ‘started a new in- ! dustry on an island off the coast be- | tween Machias and Jonesport, Me. This |'was fox rat€ing. He believed that there | was money to be made in raising foxes | for their hides and so leased what is | known as Triton Island, some distance iot! the coast. Having secured the isi- Iand he went West and 'bougzht about ! sixty of the finest furred .and most | hardy foxes he could find, paying for i some of them as high as $500 apiece. | These he placed on the island last fall | and started his fox farm with every prospect that his novel plan would be a success. Of course the island being some dis- tance from the land it was impossibl- ! for the foxes to get off .and so fences were not necessary. This winter came with its cold weather and gradually the water between Triton Island and the mainland closed siowly until finally the wide passage was covered with thick ice which could support a man or a team, for that matter. All this had been going on so quietly that Mr. Skillings had cuite failed to think of what this rapidly forming ice TALK OF THE TOWN HE * might mean to his new industry, and one morning ‘he awoke to find that every fox had escaped from the island to the mainland and had taken to the heavy growth of timber which covers much of this section of the coast. Mr. Skillings Instituted searches and scoured the surrounding country, but he has not succeeded in recovering one of the animals. The sixty foxes, many of which were extremely valuable, ag- gregated an amount of many thousands of dollars, and the loss gives every in- dication of being a total one. Her Coming. To-day I met her—Spring— Tender, rapturous, sweet-lipped thing! 1 kissed her eves and she smiled again, | Smiled through her tears as sunlit rain. I've walked with her all this woudrous day, Whispering secrets, lover-way; She knows the pain of my winter heart, Prisoned in grim town walls, apart From the riotous, vagabond god, young Pa; n, Whose child I've been since the world began: Knows how my fretted spirit cried For upland hopes, green spaces wide. I laid my head on her perfumed breast, Where the early blossoms cling soft- pressed. And the sky seemed set with violets— Oh. Love remembers and Love forgets. Could you not hear her—Spring— Bidding the homesick birds to sing? You did ot see her face, you say? The bir were mute, the skies were » Poor holden sense'—She called to me Till T thrilled with passionate ecstasy. To-day I met her—Spring— Wild, alluring, flower-eyed thing! —Smart Set. Ousters and Discase. As a result of recent agitation over the communicability of disease by shell- fish taken from waters polluted by sew- age, there have been numerous investi- gations of the subject by biologists in Europe and the United States. The last report of the British Royal Commis- sion on Sewage Disposal considers in detail the progress made in recent in- vestigations, and states that there is no doubt that many cases of typhoid fever, as well as other diseases, are caused by eating shelifish obtained from waters contaminated by sewage. So serious was the evil, in the opinion of the commission, that the only sat- isfactory method of coping with it was to confer on some competent authority absolute jurisdiction over tidal waters from which were taken shellfish for human food, in order that no supplies whatsoever should be derived from pok- luted waters. The commission also realized that some definite standard of purity must be established, as they were able to find the bacillus coli, which is considered to indicate the presence of h.man pollution, in nearly all of 1000 oysters which were examined bac- teriologically. As many of these speci- mens came from waters known to be very pure, it presented a difficulty which will require further research to remove. It has, however, been demon- strated that shellfish should not be grown, stored or fattened in water to which any possible pollution may come. —Harper's Weekly. Answers to Queries. OLD DATES—A. O. S, City. May 14, 1873, fell on a Wednesday and No- vember 3, 1883, on a Saturday. ARTIST—C. P. 8, City. A first-class “pictorial artist” and a first-class “litho artist” in San Francisco com- mands a selary according to his abil- ity. There is no fixed salary. THE WORLD'S FAIR—R. L. C., City. Eleven of the buildings at the World’s Fair at St. Louis are perma- nent structures. It is probable that after the fair all other structures will be taken down. WHERE THEY LIVE—H. C. B, Ukiah, Cal. Mark Twain lives at 350 Elm street, New Haven, Conn. Andrew Carnegie at 2 East Ninety-first street, New York City. The address of Ad- miral Dewey is Washington, D. C. CIGAR SIGN—Subscriber, City. It s said that an Indian holding a hand of tcbacco leaves was, for a long time in the United States, used as a to- bacconist's sign, because tobacco is an American plant and it was first of- fered to the whites by the Indians of the American continent. MARRIAGE—City Subscribers, City. At this time marriages must be solemnized in Cglifornia. So-called contract marriages are no longer rec- ognized. Chilidren born to parents out of wedlock would no doubt be entitied to a share of the father’s property un- der the law applicable to natural children. COLOR—Parent, City. The custom of selecting color for infants’ clothing, white for girls and blue and white for boys, had its origjn in France, and the color is selected” as the children are dedicated to saints. After such dedi- cation the clothing of the children ‘s the same in color until they attain the age of six or seven. . The custom has spread to all parts of the world and in some instances some girls wear the dedication color, white, until majority is reached. Townsend's California glace fruits and candies. 50c a pound. In artistic fire- etched boxes. A nice present for Eastern friends. 715 Market st.. above Call hldg.® e e