The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, April 15, 1904, Page 8

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 1904 \ Nawval Notes. d cruiser Donegal, epower and twen- has proved a dis- The British arm 9800 tons, 22,000 ho ty-three knots speed appointment owing to her enormous coal consumption. In a concluded March 26, between two sections of the cruiser squadron, fr Bermuda to Portsmouth, the Do 1 was unable to keep up with the D and Good Hope. The average speed of the squad- ich the rate ron was seventeen knots, at w was burni her bunke Donegal g« that would empty by the the speed time port was reached w and had to be reduced. There are te of this class, seven of which, includir the Donegal, are fitted with Bellevil boilers; the Berwick and Suffolk have Niclausse boflers and the Cornwall has Babeock and Wilcox boilers. On the was scalded to death home through th in a boiler. personnel new six tor- rease. two s necessitates this in st of warships is st Thus the avy, built in displacement creasing all navies ships of the the British " King Edward VII cost 3445 per ton. In F' shipe there is an incr in 1891 to in 1803 timated cost of the P the advance has been cost the building, will rench battle- from $450 ich is the e In Rus m $365 w $445 while now er t n, twelve years ago. The cost battleships in the United parently decreased during the same period, f while the three ships of the Oregon class averaged $620 a ton, the ships under construction will not exceed $485 per ton. This ap- parent decrea s due chiefly to more reasonable armor contracts and par- tially owing to the keen competition of shipbuilders. It should be borng in mind, however, in this connection that while the average cost of t class was about $6,200.000, t jana and Connecticut, althc > Oregon Louis- gh of fifty per cent gr displacement, and everaging $7.760.000 each, really indi- cates an advanced cost of ship for ship to fulfill the requirements of the two periods . The cost of armored cruisers shows even a greater increase. Thus the British Australia class, built in. 1886 for about $300 a ton, has advanced't $410 in the Duke of BEdinburgh class now building. The Dupuy de Lofne class of 189, at a cost of $270 per ton, 18 now about ${75 in the latest arme cruiger, Renan Russia pgid over Jatest ship of that twelve years ago about $480 for the in French nav, er ton for its against $3: and Germany # armored cruisers in course of construction. Germany, l'ke the United States, had no armored cruisers as far back as twelve years ago; the Brookiyn and New York, al- though classed as armored cruisers, do not come up to present requirements. bence the cost of these ships, which averaged $500 per ton, cannot fairly be compared with the latest addition which will cost about $450 per ton dis- placement In June, 1884, Naval Constructor Philip Hichbor U. 8. N. received orders from the vy Department to proceed to Europe to make a tour of the dockyards of England, France Germany, Italy and Russia for the purpose of observing personally the improvements in naval architecture, particularly in the construction of steel vessels for war. The trip lasted about six months and netted much confidential valuable information to the department besides an elaborate and interesting public report, of which two editions were issued. His obser- vations and conclusions were summar- ized and clearly set forth in language strongly apprehensive that, even at that early day in th: development of | modern navies. simplicity was being lost sight of and that actual war alone would demonstrate the real value of the vessels then huilding.| “Such a war,” the report concludes, “or one such battie would prove. what has long been the apprehension of intelli- gent officers, that the warship of our day bas become far too complicated for the people who may be called upon 10" work her; and that a balance of advantage, unsuspected by many, rests «ith that vessel which has compara- tive stmplicity, even though it be con- | comftant with a greater apparent ex- posure of life, a lower spced and re- duced powers of offense.” Until now there has been no naval war noy single battle to establish the fighting values of the many types of war vessels built during the last twenty years. The Chino-Japanese war was without de- finite results in that direction, for nav- al'experts have failed to concur in the lessons developed; the Spanish-Ameri- can war was barren in results except to demonstrate the danger of woodwork on ships. But the Russo-Japanese war all the personnel, rather than the ma- terial, will. in the future, as in the ., prove itself the principal factor 1 battles on land and sea. The dispatch-boat Dolphin was launched twenty years ago, on April 12, 1884, and was the first vessel of the new navy to take the water. The cruis- ers Atlanta, Boston and Chicago, au- thorized by act of Congress of March 3, 1883, were not launched until Janu- ary, 1855. The contract for all four ves- sels was given to John Roach, whose | only serious competitors were the Har- lan & Hollingsworth Company and Wil- liam Cramp & Sons Company. It was | not until December, 1885, that the Dol | phin, after several unsuccessful trials, | finally made the speed trial, upon the results of which the Navy Department decided to accept the vessel at a re- | duced price. A board composed of Com- | modore G. C. Belknap, Commander | Robley D. Evans and Herman Winters, | a civilian engineer, reported the Dol-| phin as deficient in horsepower and ' speed and structurally weak, In order. to reinforce the Belknap report Com- mander R. W. Meade was assigned captain of the Dolphin, and this naval | officer in his report, while differing somewhat from Belknap and Evans, characterized the Dolphin as a “ma-| rine crazy-quilt.” | The Dolphin was built at a cost of | $287,715, and her cost in repairs, includ- ing removal of boilers; has been $374,- | 000 up to July 1, 1903. Modern vessels of | war are costly to keep in a proper state | of efficiency, and the Dolphin’s repair | cost is not excessive as compared with | other vessels since added to the navy. | The Dolphin has fulfilled the purpose | for which she w built—that of a dis-| patch-boat, and as she is not a fighting | ft she has been largely utilized in ng the President, Secretary of | e 'y and Congressional commit- | tees to watering places and navy yards on the Atlantic coast. Its only special duty in the navy line was to voyage und the world, leaving New York in anuary, 188§, and returning September | 1889, during which period the vessel eamed over 58,000 miles. No “struc-| weakness” has ever manifested this alleged “marine crazy- The Roach heirs have been arded the money due on the canceled | tracts, and the Dolphin is still good —~ tural itself in for twenty rs more. S raising of the United. States| eship Maine from the bottom of Havana harbor has again been indefi- nitely postponed. A Chicago contractor recently made an offer to the | Cuban Government to raise the| ship, but having failed to fur- nish guarantee and sign the con-| tract within twenty days the offer is considered canceled. No less than six| offers have been made at different times to raise the ship, but the condi- tions imposed upon would-be contract- ors have been of such a nature as to| cause withdrawal of offers. One of the most important conditions is that pro- hibiting the use of explosives, it being desired to raise the wreck intact from any other damage than that sustained when sunk February 15, 1898. The battleship Virginia, launched at| Newport News on April 5, is the sixth | naval vessel by that name. The first was a ship of twenty-eight guns, bum‘ in Maryland in 1776 and captured two | years later by the British. The second | Virginia was a schooner, built at Nor- | fclk in 1798 and sold in 1801 The third was a ship of the line of eighty-four| guns, which was completing at the| Boston navy yard when the Civil War | bre out, and in consequence of which | her mame was changed to Vermont.| She was stricken from the navy list| December 19, 1901. The fourth Virginia | was originally a steam frigate named the Merrimac, and was transformed | into a ram by the Confederates and | renamed. She was, however, popularly | known as the Merrimae, and her fight| with the Monitor in March, 1862, was| an epoch in the world’s history. The fifth Virginia was built by the Confed- | erates at Richmond; she was a heavily | armored vessel, but rendered no ser- vice, and was burned to prevent her | falling into the hands of the Union forces. i IWhere the Fault Lies. If every business man who suffers from a defaulting employe were obliged to prove not only the em- ploye’s crime, but the absence of sub- stantial business carelessness on his own part which afforded both the op- portunity and the temptation for the offense, how few convictions of these defaulters there would be. * * = It is curious-that almost the only “temptation” which receives any par- ticular attention from moralists either {in the pulpit or elsewhere is that oc- | casioned by one man offering spiritu- | ous beverages to another who may be inclined to indulge in potations to ex- | cess. By some odd distortion of moral | values the custom of “treating” has been singled out as though it were the greatest or most important of those actions or omissions by which we cause our neighbors or employes to of- |fend. Who ever heard a sermon or | lecture on the duty of keeping reason- |ably strict oversight on onew em- | ployes or on the duty of having a | business system which shall reduce the | opportunities of dishonesty to a mini- mum? The duty of not putting on the | character of another a greater burden | than it can safely bear is as important as any duty in the realmof morals, and !the matter of temperance is but one !branch of it, and by no means the [mo-t important. An examination of |the daily criminal calendars in the | courts of the large cities conclusively | proves this fact.—George W. Alger, in {the April Atlantic. The First Torped(;cs. Torpedoes for the destruction of ves- sels were first used in the spring of 1861 by the Confederates in the James | River. In 1865 the Secretary of the promises to give some valuable les- | Navy reported that more ships had sons, the particulars of which are yet | been lost by torpedoing than from all too early to enumerate for want of re- | other causes. General Rains, chief of liable information. It is, however, safe | the Confederate torpedo service, put to predict that many of the present complicated contrivances will be dis- carded in future ships and that after i the number at fifty-eight, a greater jmumber than has been destroyed in all the wars since. I3 THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Proprietor . . .+ . .. . . . Address All Communications to JOHN McNAUGHT, Manager Publication Office .Third and Market Streets, S. F. L A L i T N TR OFF THEIR FEET. HE proceedings in the Democratic party prelimi- T nary and antecedent to the Presidential nomination are attended by certain physical and psychological phenomena of the most curious and interesting character. These are set forth in the daily, semi-daily and some- times tri-daily, editions of Mr. Hearst's numerous news- papers. When we read that the mere mention of Mr, Hearst's name in Texas took an audience “off its feet” and in the sea a grave. He was a brave man and it would have been ‘better for him and more satisfactory to his country and to the naval pride of the world had he risked battle and died in action. Going again to the contrast between navies and the naval spirit it must not be forgotten that nearly all the leading commanders of the Japanese navy were trained in the United States and England. They had to learn naval tactics and absorb the sea fightiny spirit abroad, for ‘they had no naval school at home. It is evident that it did not seem singular, for Texas is an unexpected and | they resemble our navy officers in being willing to fight sudden sort of place. But it spread like trembling among the Shakers. So we read that dajly and some- times many times a day this occurs. Even in staid and matter of fact New England they go off their feet by hundreds, and in Montana, the Dakotas, Iowa, Illinois and Ohio fhey suffer the same experience. Along with this they are “spell bound,” “lose themselves with enthu- siasm,” “go wild with excitement,” “lose control of themselves,” and so on. It is believed in the Orient that there are certain words which have a physical power when uttered. One of these is the good word “Abracadabra.” If a stranger go into a Turkish bazaar in Constantinople and say “Abra- cadabra,” the people run away in a panic. Is it possible that in Hearst we have the great American Abracadabra? | Never before has this lifting off their feet been done by any candidate for the Presidency. Mr. Hearst’s papers never tell what becomes of them after they go up. They are separated from the ground, lifted off their feet and are left in that condition. This has not yet occurred’ in California. All of our people are still on foet. Perhaps this is because the spell-working name is sent out from headquarters in this city in cold typewritten letters. These have been scat- tered “from Siskiyou to San Diego, from the Sierras to the sea.” They are supposed to be the composition of Manager Tarpey. He is an orator of the energetic school, whose efforts send the atmosphere to a drug store for antiphlogistine to heal its bruises. But his let- ters seem to lack efficacy. They are horns of plenty filled with promises and kind words, but it is said that some of their recipients return them saying, “we need something down here more substantial than kind words.” What can they mean except that the magic name “Hearst” be uttered to lift them off their feet? While andiences, groups, committees and quorums are elsewhere flying into the air Californians are denied this unique and bunion-soothing experience. Mr. Hearst should not deny to his people in his native State the benefits of his magic. He should try it on Parry and Leake for instance. They belong to a wicked and perverse generation that demands a sign. Why withhold it? If they could be shown off their feet, dancing in the air and feeling up for the ground, it would settle the business. But while they go around gnashing in every other State in the Union the wonder-working name is, if monotonously, still surely lifting people off their feet. The American Abracadabra is everywhere else suspending the law of gravity and introducing mag- ic into politics. Nothing like it has been seen since the days of Lulu Hurst, the Georgia wonder. She was a right little, tight little lady, but the touch of her finger tip would knock Sandow off his center of gravity. If she touched an um- brella raised and under full sail it went inside out with whole | broken ribs and there was a job for the “brellas to mend” man. She would”look at a chair and break its leg and one glance would break the neck of a bottle or the back of a sofa. Though she spelled her name differently it was Hearst in the pronunciation. Some bold and defiant man married her and she passed off the stage. Is it possible that her powers are incarnate in her phonetic namesake? Mr. Bryan had great power over audiences, but he had to work it by his bodily and vocal presence. He con- verted the convention of 1806 into a dervish conventicle, but it was done with his vocal chords, assisted materially by his dark brown eyes rolling in the finest frenzy. But remove Bryan to the rear of the curtain and the spell was broken. Not so, however, with this new phenom- ena of Hearsterics. The wizard does not need to be present at all. He may be far away in his seat in Con- gress with his cardiac machinery throbbing with unseli- ish devotion to the “common people” and red hot and enraged against the plutocrats, but the mention of his name does the business and knocks gravitation out of business. He is indeed a luln. Judge Parker is not in it. Olney is a rank outsider, and it is in vain that Gorman’s, fol- lowers try to lift themselves off their feet by the seats of their trousers. The Hearst show has the road. It is the only greatest combined association of aggregations on carth. While we write this and while it is read his spell is sending people to keep company with Mahomet his coffin and Santos®Dumont his fly machine. —_— The local Health Board has been officially called upon to stop a Golden Gate avenye rooster from crowing, and a McAllister-street cheese in a delicatessen store from drivimg away all the neighboring lodgers. Such thought- lessness in the lower animals should be dealt with se- verely. T it been an incident of actual battle. But to the loss is added the tragedy of accident. Makaroff was a great naval commander in his knowledge of tactics and strategy, though Russia’s lack of experience in naval warfare had left his powers untested. He was his coun- try’s mainstay on the water and his death is equal to the loss of a fleet. The sad incident brings the Russian system into con- trast with ours. When the Spanish war came Dewey, Schley, Samson and Phillip were captains. Yet, when fleets had to be fought, they were found entirely capable of assuming any responsibility. If we were to have war to-morrow our navy ‘s full of men of subordinate rank who can be depended on to fight any fleet in the world. The incidents attending the Makaroff tragedy are not reassuring to the friends of Russia. Ever since the war began there has been manifest an indisposition to try conclusions @n equal terms with the Japanese navy and a decided avoidance of risking battle against any odds at all. Russia seems to flinch and wait until she get her Baltic fleet into action and have a decided preponder- ance in fighting power. Makaroff had left the harbor to fight. A Grand Duke was on the bridge and the ship carried more of the hope and pride of Russia than any in the fleet. But when the admiral counted the ships of the enemy and without offering battle started to x’eun back to shelter then his ship was hoist by his 'mine and be and hundreds of his trained crew found in her a coffin THE NAVAL TRAGEDY. HE Russian loss at Port Arthur is bad enough had against odds, trusting to skill in gunnery, discipline of their men and capacity to handle and fight their ships. If all the fleets of Russia were mustered in the Yellow Sea, far outnumbering those of Japan, it is sure that the Japanese would fight the aggregation and perhaps win. — Now that Hearst is out of politics perhaps Bryan would like to’'come into the ring again for a third trial on the ground that he is the only man of his stripe that has a fighting chance lef M large cities of the Pacific Coast in impeachment of the accuracy of the figures of the Census Bu- reau that have recently been published. There would seem to be a large and mischievous kink in the bureau’s methods or manner of drawing conclusions concerning population. San Francisco, being the leading city of the coast, naturally resents the -official statement, in view of certain easily ascertainable facts, that it added to its population only 13,137 in three years, or 4379 per an- num from 1900 to 1903. That rate of growth does not equal the average of the decade between 18go and 1900. The population now credited to San, Francisco by the Census Bureau is but 355,910, as against 342,782 in 1900. San Francisco is not along a complainant in this mat- ter. The Los Angeles Herald carefully estimates the growth of the City of Angels since the last census. The most recent returns of the Census Bureau give Los An- geles an increase of only 13,941. The Herald shows that when the census of 1900 was taken the Federal enumera- tors found 102,479 dwellers in Los Angeles and there were then 19,607 school children in the city. On'March 9, 1004, there were 29,479 school children in the enroll- ment, a gain of more than 10,000. Now, on the basis of the census of 1900 and of the school enumeration of that year the ratio of school children to population was one pupil to every 5'4 of population. Supposing that ratio not to have been practically changed, the present en- rollment of school children is assumed by the Herald to show that Los Angeles now has a population of 142,487, a gain of 12,502 per annum, as against the 3487 gain credited by the Census Bureau. The larger cities north of San Francisco are equally discontented with the Census Bureau's statements. The Portland Oregonian and the Portland Journal claim that gross mistakes have been made. The Oregonian heads an editorial with the caption, “Figures That Lie.” The Oregonian finds that the ratio of increase for the whole country is applied without discrimination and ignoring movements of population to every city, north, south, east and west. The Oregonian relies on the school census to show that Portland has increased 10,000 per annum since the census of 1900, and says that the conclusion it reaches by this method is corroborated by the number of newly erected homes and also by a carefully prepared city directory. While the Census Bureau credits Port- land with 98,655 population in 1903, the Oregonian asti- mates that 140,000 would be about the correct total. The Portland Journal reasons that while the census enumera- tors allow Portland an increase of but 8299 in three years, “during the same time, up to the beginning of the new year, there have been built 3703 new homes and the school census shows a larger namber of children of school age than in some of the cities that are credited with 150,000 population.” Seattle is also aggrieved. The Post-Intelligencer at- tacks the “singularly artificial” method employed by the Census Bureau and says that while it might be fairly applicable to the older settled States, it leaves out of account all the phenomena attending large migrations to new countries. Seattle, according to the Post-Intelli- gencer's careful conclusions, has gained i~ three years fully four times aslmuch in population as the Census Bureau reports. The bureau attributes growth of only 12,000 since the census of 1900. Postal %tatistics show an increase of more than 300 per cent in Seattle business since 1897. Buildings have been ereccted sufficient to house 15,000 to 20,000 each year since the census. San Francisco people are confident that this city has at least 420,000 population, as against tie Census Bureau estimate of 355,019. The Spring Valley Water Company last June figured the population at 440, on the basis of families supplied with water. That the population has not increased much faster since 1900 than it did in the period of ten preceding years is manifestly absurd. — KINKS IN CENSUS FIGURES. UCH circumstantial evidence is adduced by the ‘We must recognize at the outset that Japan is a poor country, like nearly all Oriental lapds, though not quite 8o poor as British India. With a population equal . to _that of Germany, Japan has less than a fourth of Ger- many’s revenue; or to take her ally, England, as a basis of comparison, Japan, with a population half as great again as England, has less than g fifth of the rev- enue of England. We may make the view even clearer in this way: The revenue of France is about twenty dol- lars per head; that of Japan is about three dollars per head. The imports of England are about’ sixty dollars per head; those of the Netherlands, drawn from an im- mense East-Indian empire, about a hundred and fifty dollars a head; while those of Japan are only three dol- lars per head, about one-fiftieth the imports of Holland. Japan is densely populated. Nearly forty millions of her population are settled at from 400 to 475 to the square mile, nearly thirty millions approaching the latter figure in density. This population is largely agricultural, the average farm being about two acres in extent and having rather the character of a garden tilled wholly by labor than of a farm in our sense. This prevalence wflu labor: accounts for the extreme difficulty in finding horses for the Japanese cavalry; the country people have no horses, because they are too poor to own them and have rfo room on their diminutive farms to use them. Another comparison: Japan has only eight towns of a hundred thousand inhabitants and over, as against thirty-three for Germany, with about the same to- tal population. Only two of these towns, Tokio and Osaka, have over four thousand inhabitants.—Harper's Weekly. o e % 1t is reported that Korea has been floodedt with coun- terfeit money since the advent of the Japanese army: That unfortunate country is surely the paradise of the confidence operator, whether he be a diplomat or a bunko steerer. If Parker’s platform conforms to Parker’s political | record, it will consist of one plank and that one will mean — b TALK THE TOWN His Friend. Back and forth, back and forth, with dolorous movement, he swung his old body in time to the crooning wail of grief which arose, wavering, from his lips. His sightless eyes were turned up so that the tiny beam of sunlight slanting down through the crack in the barn glinted upon the tears that stood in the hollow sockets. The scraggy white beard that sprung from the wrinkled throat leaped and qnivered with the shaking sobs that racked it in quick spasms. His arms, folded across his chest in mute sign of help- fulness, twitched with each sob, and the gnarled fingers knit and unknit themselves in the frayed cuffs which trimmed the end of the coat sleeves. Grief was there—the grief of the aged. “Why, what's doing, old Bill Buck- ley?’ The cheery voice of the driver sounded through the gloom of the barn as he paused on his ‘way to water the horses. He had to hitch them present- ly to the long covered wagon, which always leaves the “City and County” at a walk. i “S-s-she’'s dead,” was the only gasp which could come from the agonized lips of the old man for a minute. Then he broke into a cry, half-querulous, half-despairing. “Oh God! those days— all those days when I first cum here to the poorhouse, and she wuz the only friend I had. She took to me the very day they brought me, and every day arter, when I wuz tap-tappin’ my way aroun’ gettin’ ust to the corners, she would cum up to me an’ talk to me— ves, talk.” Old Bill broke into another senile fit of sobbing. “Why, old Bill Buckley,” laughed the stableman in a’worthy effort to bright- en up the mourner, “I didn’t know you was mashed on that—that lady I have to take away to-day.” “I wuzn't.” Old Bill's trembling hand began to search about his knees until his fingers grasped the corner of an old frayed shawl that lay there cover- ing something. “This wuz my friend,"” he said, with a voice stilled almost to a whisper as he reverently pulled away the shawl. - There, sprawled in the fantasfic posture of sudden death, lay a frayed and weather-beaten old cat. / Ancient History. An incident occurred in the history of San Francisco which caused the building of the old California Theater and the abandonment of the opera- house known as the Maguire Theater, which was located on the north side of Washington street, diagonally opposite Dunbar alley, between Montgomery and Kearny streets. * It was in 1869, when Parepa Rosa was singing in the opera-house, and on one of her nights off she accepted an invitation from W. C. Ralston to visit his Belmont residence. A spanking six-horse team with a tally-ho rig was in readiness at the Occidental Hotel, with Ralston on the box, and a party of up-to-date bloods waited on the fair prima donna when the start was made for the world re- nowned country residence of the great banker and princely entertainer. Pa- | repa Rosa was so infatuated with the glorious climate and high class enter- tainment accorded her that she failed to be on time when she was billed to | sing. As an apology for her delay Ral- ston telegraphed to Maguire to noti- fy the ticket holders of the affair and to inform them that an extra perform- ance would be given as a recompensg, also that he would make good the loss to Maguire due to her non-appear- ance. Maguire did not relish Ralston’s in- terference with his business and in no choice or complimentary language said as much in front of a host of the patrons of the theater. The news was carried to the bank- er. who became wroth and in return he expressed himself to the effect that he would “close Maguire's shows.” Acting on his word he sent for Law- rence Barrett and John MecCullough, the two great actors, who were then playing in this city, and to them he revealed his plans to build a theater and lease it to the company headed by them. Without losing any time negotiations were made 'with the own- er of a nest of old shanties then on Bush street and in a very short time the California Theater was built and used, thus closing up the opera-house, as Ralston had said he would. Tom Maguire was so heartbroken over his defeat and loss that he left San Francisco. He died some years ago in New York. Lest We Forget. Editor of The Call—Dear Sir: Dur- ing the~last ten vears my residence in the close vicinity of one of the larg- est branches of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers has made apparent a sad phase of national for- getfulness, evidencing a weak link in the golden chain binding our great na- tion to the memories of its aged de- fenders. - The old soldier seeking refuge within the gateway of a soldiers’ home sees inscribed above the portal, “Welcome, comrade,” The blazonry is true and genuine. The veteran is met with hos- pitable hand. He is told that food, shelter and raiment await him within, and his heart swells with gratitude as he enters. Sometimes he asks, “Will my old wife be with me?” And then the commander of the home says to him: ‘“My comrade, I am sorry for you. The word ‘wife’ does not occur in the army regulations; there is no place for such a thing here.” The old veteran is suddenly confronted with an awful dilemma. Two powerful forces are racking him—love and hun- ger—and, alas! too often the latter triumphs. The companionship of forty or fifty years is ended; the ways of part- ing have come. There are many old women, good, pure wives, enfeebled by the encroach- ing ills of advancing age, absclutely suf- fering for the necessaries of life, while their old husbands are living in com- fort within a home.' Is the husband to blame? Outside of the home he not earn sufficient for the support himself and wife; within the has a living, and there that perhaps some way And yet these were the girls to country made possible the victories of our arm- along. whose love and loyalty jes. It was their letters of love to the young soldier picketing the danger line along the Potomac and the Ten- nessee that braced his courage for the deadly duty. It was the knowledge that one of these girls loved him that strengthened alike the courage and the arm of the young+ero of Antietam and Vicksburg. The American nation worships its heroes. It has builded costly monu- ments to the memories of its dead ones and magnificent homes for its few sur- viving ones; but it has sadly forgotten its most self-sacrificing ones. ‘We enroll the worthy veteran upon the pension list. We have also pro- vided comfortable homes for him, with- in whose cozy shelter he may rest- fully pass his few remaining years in peaceful plenty. Many such are na- tional, and individual States have cre- ated and are maintaining many others. Each and all of them exhibit the grandest display of human beneficence known to the world, past or present. The various laws providing for their establishment expressly state that they are not “almshouses.” The comforts they furnish are not bestowed as a charity, but as the recognition of man- hood for manhood’'s service. And yet the glorious halo of this splendid ex- pression of human love might be en- hanced by an added brilliancy. The pitifulness of old age is pathetic; but what is it when old age is wo- manly! The pathos of sadness reaches its culmination when we view the old wife of the veteran starving outside the gates of her husband’s Home. Her suffering under such circumstances be- comes a stain upon the manhood of all those whose opulence became pos- sible because of the encouragement she gave to the young soldier at the front at the time when the destinies of the nation hung trembling in the balance and were righted only by the: very of the man she cheered. To the wo- man who marries the soldier in his latter years there is nothing owing. But to the wife of the hero of 1861-65, the one whose wedding ring bears the imprint of the sixties, we owe much. ‘What are a few paltry dollars to the richest natlon upon earth compared to the value of a loyal woman? Let it be ordered that the old wife of the old veteran—the bride of the sixties—finds comfort and rest beside her comrade within the shelter of a national home. We claim to be a Chris- tion nation. “Whom God hath joined together let no man put asunder.” F. M. CLARKE. April 10, 1904. Answers to Queries. COLLECTABLE—P. B. P, City. The Century and other late diction- aries recognize ‘“collectable” as cor- rect as “collectible” as meaning ca- pable of being collected. POLL TAX—A. W. City. The fact that a resident of California is ebn- ployed on a vessel navigating the water of the bay or ocean does not ex- empt him from the payment of poll tax. e YOUNG CORBETT—Reader, nole, Cal. ° None of the published biographies of W. H. Rothwell, “Young Corbett,” give any account of his parentage, but those who know him say that he is of German descent on his father's side. . —_— FOR WAGES DUE—E. S, “Coun- try,” Cal. In case your employer owes you money and will not pay on the ground that he has no money, sue him, obtain judgment, keep it alive, and it can be collectea at any time he possesses something upon which an ex- ecution can be levied. BLOOD PURIFIER—E. S, “Coun- try,” Cal. There are a dozen different Pi- IN THE BALLROOM—Cotilion, Ne- - vada City, Cal. When a gentleman escorts a lady to a ball it is if he is a dancer, to dance with her and see provided with partners sires such. If unable for her he should introduce floor manager or his should not dance with If the escort, after the the lady he brought to gages to dance with another the law of etiquette that he with her. If in the meanti §F 32 ] 1y H | i iz § i i o8 i i not been able to secure a the lady he brought, that be an excuse to break off lady he is to dance with. 3 HH gB8E £