The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, April 8, 1904, Page 8

THE SAN FRA - e, In the World's Naz The British submarine boat run down and sunk by the steamer Berwick Cas- tie on March 18 was built by Vickers, Scns & Maxim at Barrow-in-Furness. of the = md group of ten which embody considerable the first ten boats The boat She was one submarines nts on the Holland plans and ten feet fmproven built on wasg 100 feet in length beam, cigar shaped and had been sub- jected to more experiments than any of the rest, and her officers and crew were familiar with her workings Lieutenant OFf the ives lost one, Loftus C. Mansergh, was the son of the late Major Mansergh, and 31 years of age; Sub-Lieutenant John P. Church: the son of Rear Admiral Churchill and 21 vears old. The crew nsisted of two engin oom artificers twe stokers, three petty officers and seamen. k of raising the sunken sub- has been given to a Stockholm mpany, which has contracted ce the boat in dock at Portsmouth The first attempt fafled, a half inch hawser snapping rt to cant the boat into an ght position, and all depends upon the state of the weather. In this con- nect it is curious to note that the wrecking company, with its usual fore- sight and enterprise, had put in at Portsmouth a week before when it »f the maneuvers that were to #0 as to be ready if any- 500 place g in their line turned up. As it ppened the services were wanted the Admiralty has no salvage ap- nces of its own, depending solely on private enterprises of that sort, contracts usually go to the company or to a well-known jan wrecking concern. Another us coincidence is this, that the who first went down to locate unken submarine is the same man who two years ago went down twenty fothoms in the North Sea to salvage the destroyer Cobra. o w . the curic diver the number of court-martials in the for 1901-02 was so small as to make a very creditable showing. The number tried was 321 out of a total force of about 105,000, and of the 6 offenses charged 500 were agains. The British navy discipline. There were mno cases of murder, perjury or forgery, but th were 101 cases of theft and embezzie- ment. One hundred and seventy-two charges were made for striking or at- tempting to strike an officer, sixty-two for behaving with contempt against an officer and sixty-two for conduct pre judicial to good order and naval dis- ine. The corresponding figures for, rt-martials and offenses in the United States navy for 1901-02 have not n published in detail, but the totai number of offenses was 660, with total force of less than 30,000, which in- creased to 1008 during 1902-03. The recent accident off Guantanamo in which the battleshipe Missouri and Tllinois collided seriously damaging the latter ship has been inquired into by & board of naval officers. The board finds the accident due primarily to the steering gear of the Missouri breaking down, and that the subsequent efforts | made by the commanding officers failed to prevent the Missouri from ramming | the Illinois. Both captalns are praised | and further proceedings are not recom- mended. Admiral Dewey and Secre- | tary Moody approve of the board's recommendations, but the President is said to be desirous of convening a ceurt-martial in order to fix the re-| sponsibility. The failure of the Mis- souri's steering gear is the latest but not unusual occurrence of the kind. The Tllinois ran aground in the harbor of Christiania, Norway, July 14, 1902, because the steering gear broke down, end similar defects have developed in | the Indiana and Massachusetts. All these ghips are fitted with a combined | steam and hand steering gear, but the| latter has either been found equally useless or else proper expedition has | ot been exercised in utilizing the hand | steering gear when the steam gear be- | came disabled. | - - - | The court which acquitted the com- | manding officers of the Missouri and Dlinoig of all blame for the collision | states that “the Missouri was an un- drilled ship, newly placed in commis-| sion, introduced into a squadron of evolution without previous experimen- | tal work to determine her tactical di- ameters for varying helm angles, or other tactical qualities.” The court erred in this particular extenuation, as records show. The Missouri made her speed trial October 21, 1803, and at the end of the trial made the usual tests as to steering, stopping, backing and other trials. The ship was put in com- | mission December 1, 1908, and left lhe’ United States for Guantanamo Febru- ary 1. Up to the day of the collision | the officers had been over three and a | half months aboard the ship, a period sufficient for every one to familiarize | himself with his particular duty. Nav®| igation by book alone is uncertain as | to results, but when prescribed orders regarding accidents of the kind related are ignored or only partially complied with it is Juck rather than good sea- | manship that saves the ship from utter | destruction: o Y Senator Frye's bill providing that all military ‘and naval supplies shipped abroad shall be carried in American bottoms does not meet with the ap- »roval of the Naval General Board. It | brings the problem nearer | rimac rammed the Cumberland, and as contends that such a law would inter- fere with the prompt delivery of nup~[ plies for wvessels on foreign stations and, furthermore, that it would add an | expense of about $800,000 a year to the | present cost of shipping coal under the Navy Department. The board belle\'ul a subsidy for the development of American shinping would serve better, or ghat payment of wages to a naval reserve and naval militia serving on| American ships would largely defray | the expense of maintenance and would not burden the army and navy with| the increased cost of transportation of supplies. Scientific Notes. We note with pleasure that our| space-devouring friends at Zossen have not yet satiated their hunger for pace, and touched the record the other day for mo less than 140 miles per hour, says the Street Railway Journal. They seem to be overcoming air pressure rather comfortably up to the present,| and we have heard nothing about (he‘ motors failing or the pressure caving in the front end of the car. Perhaps the doubting gentlemen who figured on the motors burning out from overload at 80 to 100 miles per hour will now be convinced that higher speeds are both possible and practicable. One hundred and forty miles per hour is a decidedly hot pace, but it will more | than likely Le beaten before we go to press. It has taken a good many years | to evolve the two-minute trotting horse, but this year we have him in triplicate, and just so it has been with electric railroading. Once the records | began to break they fairly flew up, afd left only small fragments. One hundred and forty miles per hour, { even if not outdone by a considerable margin, still means that the hundred- an-hour train is much nearer to than it has ever been before. | i reall That speed is quite feasible whenever | it is demanded, and it is, moreover, | quite high enough to meet all require- | ments of humanity for some little time | to come. Its real importance lies, as we have often remarked, in its appli- cation to long lines on which the saving | of time would be materfal. Cutting down the running time to Flatbush or | Hackensack may defer the dyspepsia | of the commuter for another season or | two, but it is not commercially import- | ant. It is cutting the time on long runs | that counts —reducing the time to| Washington to less than three hours, | and converting the trip to Chicago inml a mere night's run. It is now announced that the experi- ments have been conducted largely with the idea of the early application of the system to the railroad @onnect. ing Berlin with Hamburg, distant by | rail 176 miles from each other, and that | an early conversion of that line is by | no means improbable. Somehow the | hundred - mile - an - hour traime looks nearer than it did a few months ago, | and our spy-glass is still trained in | the direction of Germany | . To appreciate the force of sub- agqueous convulsions that produce tidal | waves it is illuminating to remember | through what an enormous bulk of | water the energy is transmitted. The Pacific Ocean covers 68,000,000 miles and has a weight of water computed at $48,000,000,000,000,000,000 tons; the ! Atlantic is spread over 30,000,000 | miles and weighs 325,000,000,000,- | 000,000 tons. Atlantic waves of 600 feet | in length and between forty and fifty feet in height have a velocity of fifty | to fifty-five feet per second. Who | will be bold enough ‘to figure out the | amount of energy exerted by an earth- | quake which sends the whole abyss of ocean into corulsions, drives the storm waves high inland upon the| West Indies and shifts the .balance of | the remotest loch in Scotland? It/ to mind, | perhaps, to reflect that a shock strong | enough to agitate all the seas and oceans would set in motion a body of | water which would cover the whole | globe to a depth of two miles—were it not for the houses in between. Also, it helps to know that to the 323,- 800,000 cubic miles of water comprised in the whole ocean all the storms and deluges of the worst years contribute but 6500 cubic miles.—St. James Ga- zette, " Grit. The United States sloop of war Cum- berland, carrying twenty-four guns| and 370 men, was the first vessel to join issue with the Confederate iran- clad Merrimac in Hampton Roads, March §, 1862. In the battle, one of the most notable in naval history, the Mer- the latter drifted in sinking condition fired broadside after broadside at close range until the decks of the Union vessel were like a slaughter pen. And yet the men fought on. When the lower batteries were flooded the gunners ran to the upper batteries and kept up the fight. To the demand of the Merrimac to surender ‘the officer in command answered, “Never. I will gink alongside,” and with flag fiying and guns firing the Cumberland went down. There was controversy as to who made- this answer, as to who fought the Cumberland, and Commander Wil- liam P. Randall, U. 8. N., retired, who was on the vessel at the time, wrote out his recollection of occurrences, on condition that the paper should not be published until after his death. Com- mander Randall died recently, and his version of who fought the Cumberland has just been published. Of the fight Commander Randall says: “Lieutenant George Upham Morris was in command, but all hands fought her, every man on board of her. The #hip was sinking when the Merrimac hailed ue to surender, and Morris, turning to me, said: ‘She’'s a slaugh- ter pen—a slaughter pen—but I can't haul down the colors.” My reply was: ‘Let her go with her colors fly- ing—she's sinking now.’ the starboard gangway Morris an- swered the Merrimac's hail in these words: ‘No, damn you. I will never surrender.’ At this time the Cumber- land quarterdeck was a fearful sight, for it was red with blood, and the dead outnumbered the living. All the guns fired to the last, but th® last gun fired was the after pivot gun.'— Chicago Inter Ocean. | erty to the Government for postoffice purposes. THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL e JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Propriefor . .. . ... ... Address Al Communications h]ORlLl;NAUGBT. Manager Publication Office =B ..................Third and Market Strects, S. F. THE CASE OF SENATOR BURTON. HE conviction of Senator Burton of Kansas of the T crime of bribe taking, and his fine and sentence to imprisonment, carrying deprivation of civil rights, is an event deplorable in its effects upon him per- sonally and also in its public aspect. He claimed to be merely acting as attorney for a company that by reason of the character of its business was liable to exclusion irom the use of the mails. The allggation against him is that he appeared befcre the postal authorities to pro- cure the vacation of the exclusion order. In so doing he violated the Jaw which obligates him as a member of Congress. The law under which he was convicted has cnly recently been called to public attention by the in- dictment, prosecution and acquittal of Senator Dietrich of Nebraska. Formerly such acts as those charged against these Senators were not unlawful, and were freely indulged in by members of Congress. When the operations of the Government were in much less volume than now, and when Federal legislation touched an infinitely less number of private interests, a }nember of Congress had his status as attorney or agent unchanged by his elec- tion. There is in existence a letter from Daniel Web- ster, in which the divine Daniel offered for a percentage to get through Congress a large claim against the Gov- ernment, while he was a Senator of the United States. Such practices-were common in his time, and did not in any way impair the moral standing of a member of Con- gress who indulged in them. When States or individuals had claims against the Federal Government, Representa- | tives and Senators acted as agents and attorneys for the claimants and used their influence and position to get bills passed making appropriations to pay their clients. The first change from this system appeared in 1861. The Federal Government was not prepared to make all the immediate expenditure or use of its credit to carry on the Civil War. In this emergency Congress passed an act authorizing States to spend money in enlisting, arm- ing and equipping troops, and pledging the Federal Government to repay such outlays, upon submission of proof thereof, the money to be paid, in thg case of each State, “to the Governor or his authorized agents.” This lifted from members of Congress the burden and took from them the reward of pressing such claims, and by Federal law established a State agency for that purpose. Under that law, these claims, the largest ever pre- sented against the United States, have been proved up by the agents of States, who received such compensa- tion by way of percentage therefor as the States agreed to give. The New England States have just collected interest on that class of claims, their agent being Mr. Fessenden, who has just collected his percentage fee of 25 per cent, amounting to a large sum. We believe every State has made such collections except California, which is still out of pocket about $3,000,000, though the State agents long ago made the necessary proofs ac- ceptable to the War Department. Following the principle of this law of 1861, in 1864 Congress passed an act making it a crime for a member of Congress to have any interest in any claim, contract or matter to which the Federal Government is a party in interest, involving money. This is the statute under which Senator Burton has been convicted. It was also the cause of the investigation of Congressman Littauer, because gloves manufactured in his factory were sold to the Government, and of the conviction of the Demo- cratic Congressman. from Brooklyn, who was more di- rectly involved in Government contracts. It was the basis of the report of the Postoffice Depart- ment showing the number of members of Congress who were involved in contracts for the lease of their prop- In all of this class of cases it was shown that the leases were made before the lessors were elected to Congress, and the interesting question was raised, whether a lease, profitable to the Government, could be voided by elec- tion of the lessor, to the House or Senate. This question has not gone to the courts for decision, but the Depart- ment of Justice construed it favorably to the Govern- ent’s interest as lessee. The cases arising under this statute are used as a text for preachment upon the decadence of public morals. But is it so? Does it not rather prove that the statute of 1864 evidences a higher sensibility and a stand- ard of morals superior to the conditions that preceded it? What Webster and numbers of his contemporaries did or offered to do, with no sense of its immorality, now is cause for penal sentence and loss of civil rights. They did not recognize such acts as mala in se, wrong in themselves and immoral. The statute ranked them with the ntala prohibita, wrong because prohibited, and the public conscience has now come to recognize them as morally wrong. This means a better condition than that which existed “in the brave days of old.” One of our estimable Judges of the Superior Court found occasion the other day to denounce the prevalence of gambling in San Francisco and the ease with which agencies for the corruption of youth thrive in this community. Let us take courage. The racing season is nearing its close and the evil will die by grace of its own act. ROOSEVELT'S SPEECHES AND STATE PAPERS. S a foreword to a volume. of the collected A speeches and Presidential messages of President Roosevelt which an Eastern publishjng company now has on the presses, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge has written an introduction which is a strong keynote to the spirit of the forthcoming book’s contents. Senator Lodge, while not depreciating the value of the volume from a political point of view, urges the thought that in these speeches one is to find the call to an exalted stand- ard of citizenship, irrespective of party 4ffiliations and the divisions of political policies. He would have the book read, not as a campaign screed, but in the lght of a true revelation of the character of the man whose thoughts it registers. ¥ “That which marks President Roosevelt’s speeches be- yond anything else,” says Lodge, “is their entire sin- cerity. What he says is pre-eminently genuine, for all his utterances not only come straight from the heart, but are set forth with an energy and force of conviction which are as apparent as they are characteristic. He has no secrets, The truth that is in him rises unchecked to his lips. If he speaks at all he must perforce say what he thinks and thus it comes to pass that men may Know him as he is, a knowledge very important just now to the people of the United States.” Seffator Lodge has hit upon the very essence of worth in the speeches and state writings of the man who zow holds the Presidential chair of the United States. The worth of the speeches is the worth of the man him- self. What Lodge only implies in his estimate of the character of the speeches of President Roosevelt should be accentuated by iteration and reiteration, and that is the utter fearlessness of their tenor. Roosevelt has never hesitated to speak his mind on the subject of any national question even though he may be certain that his hearers are not in sympathy with his views and that their expression may be impolitic from a politician’s viewpoint.. Some have found fault with the Chief Exec- utive upon this point and called his outspoken vigor the temerity of youth and the lack of diplomatic finesse. But even those fearful ones have begun to see that Roosevelt’s word and Roosevelt's deed are one; that practice follows preachment with as “undiplomatic” a vigor. ; This collection of Roosevelt’s speeches and state pa- pers has more significance than any biographical en- deavor or laudatory brochure. By it the American voter may read and gather his own opinion of the fit- ness of the man now directing the state. These written and spoken words of the President form an epitome of the political history of the United States for the last three years, A local druggist who was made the victim of an an- cient trick of thieves the other day says he wants to punish himself for his simplicity by refusing to prose- cute the offenders if they ever be caught. This worthy gentleman should be persuaded that his interesting traits of character must not be permitted to affect the right of the rest of us to protect our property. Two thieves at large are two too many. T orate the destruction of the bonds that so long were a burden of debt will have for one of its leading features a great set of games by the San Joaquin Valley Academic League. “There will be other features of interest, day and night “reworks, military maneuvers, barbecue, speeches and songs, the participa- tion of Governor Pardee, a banquet, etc.; but where 'the shouts will be the loudest and where the excitement will be the most keen and where the largest following will be is dependent upon the boys and their field day. The Modesto Herald says that the high schools of Fres- no, Sanger, Easton, Madera, Merced, Oakdale and Mo- desto will be represented at the time of general rejoic- ing. The visiting delegations from the high schools will be attended by numbers of their elders—grown-up boys and grown-up girls—their fathers and mothers, whose pulses have not grown too old to tingle when their brave lads battle to victory or as valorously go down in defeat when the glory of school and home are at stake. The sagacious managers of the irrigation jubilee at Modesto have seen that the lads will draw a crowd, and prizes have been offered, for which the several high school teams will lustily compete. While the other events at Modesto may receive more newspaper space in the reports, business considerations commanding a greater share of attention on an occasion that is dis- tinctively to celebrate a fiscal transaction, what is done and what is said at the “field day” will be longer re- membered by the boys who see and participate than will any other happening of the jubilee. Room for the boy! It is well that his muscles should be strengthened, that his pluck should be stimulated and tried by competition, that he should learn to lose as chivalrously as he wins. Room for the boy of the San Joaquin Valley! An empire in extent is his heritage. All the energy that he now stores up, all the steadiness THE DAY OF THE BOY. HE coming celebration at Modesto, to commem- that he now acquires in stress of emergency, will find fitting use. Around him spread countless broad acres that will be the home, some day, of millions. Its fruitful soil and balmy atmosphere contain, hidden but not un- suspected, the basis of food supplies so varied that a prince could ask for little that cannot in the great val- ley be produced. The snowy mountain peaks that daily present themselves majestically to his admiring gaze, shimmering on his horizon, are rich with minerals so vast in value that they are literally said to have been hardly scratched over, Their slopes are seamed with the currents of mountain streams that give life to verdure in the summer months and contain power enough to move all the wheels of industry for an empire. Room for the San Joaquin Valley boy! The eyes of fond mothers and of fond fathers are on the young Olympian. The State of California looks to him to .be upright, self-respecting, energetic, loyal, fun-loving, a good American, a good Californian, a firm believer in the great valley in which he thrives. When the bugles blare and the drums beat ‘and the people cheer for their emancipation from bonded indebtedness, still the com- mon thought, deeply cherished, is for the future of the boy. In sports, the day will be his. In significance, it has no less immediate jgterest to him, as it is the future arbiter of the destinies of the valley. Next to the San Joaquin Valley girl he is the best and most cherished product of all. Information from Oregon indicates strongly that life for a few months at least is to be made duly strenuous for the land grabbers that have been winning wealth by ways that are dark and tricks that are vain, The Port- land Grand Jury intends to issue sixteen new indictments against individuals already under suspicion. The pro- priety of going back to the land depends materially on whose land you are going back to. Uncle Sam is a . jealous land-owner. —_— - Not satisfied with the distinction of being the only member of the United States Senate ever convicted of a felony, Senator Burton is taking the high flight of con- tinued notoriety by an appeal to the highest Federal courts. If guilty gold would ounly burn the palm as it touched there are many men high in public esteem who might doubtless learn a lesson from the stinging humilia- tion in which the Kansas legislator is overwhelmed. A S ol R Of late prices on the New York stock market are, in the language of the street, depressingly sluggish. The whirlwind of irresponsible speculation raised by Daniel J. Sully should be enough to produce a reacting calm that even the most desperate gamblers in America ought not to be able to disturb, The erash of the cotton king u'duc’d the edifice of chance to its foundation. The Panama Canal Commission has started for the scene of its labors. The American people may congratu- late themselves, therefore, that one of the most gigantic and most beneficial undertakings of modern times is at last under way and will not be long delayed before the United States will have contributed another triumph of civilization to the world : | teachers are quacks,” TALK OF Nearly Missed It. He was listing heavily to port as he wobbled up Third street on the night of the Britt-Corbett fight. There was nothing in his appearance to indicate that he could purchase even standing room at the rear entrance to Wood- ward’s Pavilion, but he was full of enthusiasm—and other things. He halted at the corner of Mission street, then he landed against the counter of a cigar store just as if he had been looking for such a place. While in his restful position he made use of a few questions: 7 “Fight over?” . “No,” said the cigar man. just about going on.” “What time is it?” “Nine-thirty.” “Well, I will! Shay, first thing I know zhish liquor business will keep me from seein’ that fight.” And then he staggered away toward the yelling crowds that stood before the bulletin boards. There he saw the fight. i “They're Clarity. Under the law liquor and firearms cannot be taken into Alaska without a permit from the Collector at the port | of-departure. An application has to be filed in the Custom-house by the per- son desiring the privilege. Some of the applications on file in the Cus- tom-house in this city are curiosities for what they contain and what they omit. One filed by Yon Yonson reads: “I wish to take Alaska. I am to be citizen of that Territory and want it for my own use.” Another reads: “I wish to take to Alaska, Cooks Inlet, Winchester rifle for my own use and ammunition.” Hard en the Profession. “Ninety-five per cent of all vocal said an old ‘musician. Few singers. would doubt the assertion. Probably in no other kind of work can a man who knows practic- ally nothing about a subject do so quickly a lucrative amount of teach- ing. There are many common types: the piano teacher who cannot get enough pupils to make a living; the broken down, old time singer, the der- elict of the concert halls who never could sing himself, but who now gives fifty or more lessons a week at from three to five dollars each, and many more. Their half hour lessons may be said to consist one-third of chat and gossip, one-third of scales and exercises, and one-third of the singing of the pupil's favorite songs. all interspersed with just enough commendation and criticism to keep the pupil's good opinion of both her- self and her téacher. There are teach- ers who make their pupils sing at a brass-headed tack in the wall, and there are others whose training has not only ruined voices but tempo- rarily harmed general health as well. Over against these charlatans of the profession there are conscientious men and women, who can detect faults in a voice and know how to correct them, who are a constant inspiration to the student’s musicianship and who work carefully and enthusiastically for each individual pupil. It is not easy to tell the good teach- er from the quack, and you will find bitter early experiences in many a successful singer's career.—Leslie’s Monthly. Trifles. A little journey through the years; A little laughter on the way To vanquish paltry human fears; A Iittle love to light the day; A little hope that in the din Of life we play a noble part; A little peace to dwell within The silent chambers of the heart. A little joy that we may cast Upon some fellow mortal's day, And as the fleeting years go past, A little truth to point the way; To help a brother in the strife A little cheer, heart-given, free, And on the sordid things of life A little of lovels alchemy. A little faith as we go through The years that mark our little span; A little tolerance to view The motives of a fellow man; A little courage in the fight; A little aim to do the best, To live for gentleness and right; And, after all, a little rest. -—Sunset Magazine. Baikal Railroad. One of the most interesting phases of Russia’s military activity in the pres- ent war with Japan is the construction of a rallway across the frozen waters of Lake Baikal for the purpose of transporting troops. A rallway upon ice is not a novelty in Rugsia. For example, says the Pall Mall Gazette, the return of winter and the freezing of the Neva finds St. Petersburg pos- sessed of an ice railway, which fills the place of the suspended steamboat ser- vice, while the Volga at certain points is crossed in similar fashion during the winter months. An ice rdflway con- sists of somewhat lighter rails than those used on land and the rails are pinned to very long sleepers (twenty feet being the length generally adopted) in order that the weight may be dis- tributed over a wide surface. A rough estimate of the cost of laying this type of railway is $175 per mile. - However, the Neva, Volga and other ice railways are only small affairs in regard to length compared with that which has just been opened for traffic upon the ‘“unfathomable waters” of Lake Baikal. The latter starts from the riverside station of Baranchiki, on the Irkutsk shore, and terminates at the Missovaia station of the ‘Trans-Baikal section. The steamer route between these points is forty miles long, but the line makes a wide sweep in order ‘to aveid the broken surface of ice left by the ice-breaking steamers and to al- low the line being used cs an means of transit when the steamers begin running again; but the ice is still of sufficient thickness to bear the rail- way. A Unique Idea. ‘The public schools of Chicago will be organized into miniature national, State and municipal governments, if plans under consideration by Superin- tendent Edwin G. Cooley are carried THE 0 out. Each elementary school will send one representative to the national con- gress and each high school will send several senators—one or two from each year's class—to the higher branch of the mock national government. All offi- cers of the different branches of the government will be elected by the Aus- tralian ballot system and in every de- tail the machinery of the national gov- ernment will be copied. The little gov- ernment will be founded upon the prin- ciples of coeducation and equal suf- frage. The Pomp of the Law. A writer in The Greenbag describes a session of the United States Supreme Court in this way: “As the hands of the clock point to 12 the crier of the Supreme Court of the United States raps with his gavel, the murmur of conversation ceases and attorneys, court officials and visitors rise while the crier slowly announces: ‘The hon- orable the Chief Justice and thg As- sociate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States.’” Robed in black silk gowns, they walk with slow and dignified steps toward the bench, and as the Chief Justice appears at the en- trance at the rear they slowly proceed to their seats. As they do the crier cries: ‘Oyez! oyez! oyez! All persons having business before the honorable the Chief Justice and the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States are admonished to draw near and give their attention, for the court is now sitting. God save the Government of the United States and this honorable court.’ It Is an impos- ing and inspiring spectacle, the mere witness of which increases the red corpuscles of one’s patriotism. No man entering that domelike courtroom may wear his overcoat. No member of its bar may appear before it in a coat of any color other than black. Such is the dignity and impressiveness of that tribunal that men to whom embar- rassment has long been a stranger evi- dence the remewal of their acquain- tance with it by a stammering speech, a quickened breath, a nervous man- ner, when addressing the court.” Answers to Queries. MARINE INSURANCE—J. R. B, Vallejo, Cal. A person desiring to be- come thoroughly acquainted with the business of marine insurance and the technicalities of the businesg should serve an apprenticeship in some office that is specially engaged in that Kind of insurance. . ALASKA—T. M. W, Stirling City, Cal. Alaska is a part of the United States. It was formerly Russian Amer- ica. By treaty of March 30, 1867, the United States bought Alaska, having an area of 580,000 square miles, from Russia, paying therefor $7,200,000. It was organized as the Distriet of Alaska on July 27, 1868. DIVORCES—M. C. B, Greenda‘ Cal. If you desire to employ som® one for that purpose you can obtain from the office of the County Clerk in San Francisco the title of each di- vorce proceeding commenced in that city from December, 1903 to April 1, 1904, by individuals whose surnames commence with the letter A and the letter G. A person seeking a divorce must have resided in the place in which it is sought to obtain the same for a designated time, varying in the different States of the American Union from six months to five years. Notice of application for divorce is published in the San Francisco papers as the actions are filed. PRAYER CROSS—M. J. M., City. The Celtic cross in Golden Gate Park, called the prayer cross, was donated to the City of San Francisco by the late George W. Childs of Philadelphia, and its purpose is made clear by the “in- scription thereon, which is: A Memorial of the Services Held on the .m'-‘:'&.i‘. D':.fl 78 Day, Priest of the Church of England, Chaplain of Sir Francis Drake, Chronicier of On the base of the pedestal is the following: Gift of George W. Chil ¥ B Philaderomia " There are no inseriptions on the north and south sides of the cross, but there are Maltese crosses on the base and the following inscription on the panels: First Christian Service in the English Tongue On Our Coast. estonary Fravers = Our Continent. SOLI DEO SIT SEMPER GLORIA. The cross is one of the most notable pieces of stone work in the United States. It stands upon a pedestal of stone eighteen feet square and seven feet in height. The height of the cross is fifty-seven feet, and it is compesed of sixty-eight pieces, weighing in the aggregate 600,000 pounds. The arms are formed of eight pieces of stone, weighing 24,000 pounds each. The blue sandstone of which it is built was taken from a quarry in Colusa County. —_———— This week good eyeglasses, specs, 25c- §0c. 79 4th (front Key's Cel. Oys. House).* it ov-Abiiabadeie’ M.mhmummmm 05 Siariet street. above Col butiding. > ———— e T business and men the m&:rwfi- ‘ A