The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, April 18, 1904, Page 6

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, MONDAY. APRIL 18 1904. o . | ! ! —s of each, and thirty of which contain a | list of the 160,000 0d4 items in alpha- | | betical order, with (in nearly every | | case) the names of both the writers and | receivers in “double entry.” i Among the almost endless documents | ! to which this monster. index makes | reference are all the letters and dls-} patches of the royal governors of the | Thirteen Colonies before the outbreak | of the revolution, and all thoge of the | British commanders in the course of | the war, General Gage, Sir Willlam | Howe, Sir Henry Clinton, Lord Corn- | wallis and Burgoyne. Indexed also are | all the dispatches of the British ad- mirals and captains of the American station from 1763 to 1783, and also ad- | dresses made to the King by towns in. England and Scotland testifying to! their abhorrence of the American re-! < & | bellion and to their own loyalty. The s 39 list refers also to the compléte corre- 4 Remarkable Index. spondence with regard to the Hessians, | v the treaties respecting these troops, | > the regimental occurrences, prisoners | R e e i and so on. The French documents to HEADQU OF THE CALL, | (00" reference is made include all| NRIETTA STREET, COVENT | 1y correspondence between the French LONDON, April 5.—In Lon- | Government and Gerard, Luzerne and don there will be completed in the next 'Barbe de Marbois, as \\‘elll as w‘?h ‘ze‘ st tasks of American Peace Commissioners,Frank- | DaBth Or 80 one of the bigwest tasks Of {0 Yo U o e atd Ts, and with La- | a lterary kind ever perhaps under-|g ol " pay) jones, Arnold and John taken by any one v This is the | ygan o work to which the I Benjamin | Franklin Stevens, United States dis- o : g patch agent in London for over forty The Diamond Center. ! vears, devoted a large part of his life — e making of a complete index of all Amsterdam is by far the ernlesl: the official documents that exist on this side of the ocean regarding the Ameri- can Rev tion and the making of peace thereafter. ult to give a true idea of how tremendous an undertaking this was, but it occupied Mr. Stevens and the twenty or more assistants, whom he paid out of his own pocket thirty years to gather the nece material. At the end of that time th had catalogued the documents re- lating to the volution in L sion of the British Governme in pri- vate collections in this country and all those in the Governm archives of France, Spain and Hc the three European powers concerned in the war. The documents thus catalogued amount to over 161,000 in all, and the immense dex in which the character and loc every one of them is indicated lio volumes, each ) py which he spent d th the neigh $100. died two years ago, leaving the work shed. All the material was in hand, however, and for the most part alreac srated in handsome- 1y bound Mrs. Stevens and her diately sat al th x, and ing bound. Stevens the expectation was at United St Gov- gnizing the importance of ke had pl would fur- it out, and ess would ngressional i to that ef- fect was reported favorably on by two committees of the House of Repre- ves the matter never got any ¥ anklin Stevens, who was came to London in 1860, in ady had had @ »d deal of ex- perience with historical documents, for as assistant to his father, who was president of the Vermont Historical 1 Antiquarian Society 1any old state pavers, & nd Boston. Mr. Stever L n three or four yes en it be- « necesss he uld make ic of ente in ord office of England re- pu ating to New Jersev, and then it was that he discovered that to these, as to he other documents concerning Amer- a in differ British and foreign re- positories, there was absclutely no in- dex. It soon became evident to Mr. evens that he would be called upon to make constant reference to docu- ments of this kind for several years 10 come, so he began making careful notes of each one of them t passed h his hands, with the result that [ he had gathered no end of ma- terial. in 1881 State Bayard wrote to J Lowell, then American » the Court of St. James n view of the prepara- tions then being made in the Uni- ted tes for celebrating the one hundred nivers of the recogni- tion of an independence, it was desired to gain permission from the British Government 10 make as com- plete ,as poss an index to the American historical documents in the archives of Great Britain. This per- mission was granted and Mr. Dwight, Chief of the Bureau of Rolis and 1 brary, was sent over to make the ind but when he got here the magnitude the task that he had undertaken stag- gered him. He could not possibly give the time to it that would have been necessary, o he returned to the United States hout having accomplished anything Then it was that Benjamin F. Stevens communicated with the State Depart- ment, describing the work he had al- ready done toward indexing the Euro- pean Americana and offering to com- plete his task on behalf of the Govern- ment. Much officlal correspondence followed and Mr. Stevens, who had the support of Lowell, Edward Everett Hale and many other distinguished Americans, was 0 much encouraged that he went on steadily with his task. In England he was given every facility by the Government officials, and in!in practical operation for commercial| net situation remains about as before. France, Spain and Holland the various | representatives of the United States | aided him. The matter came before | Congress in 1884 and 1887; but, as has | been said, never got beyond the com- | mittee stage. 1 Stevens’ index are written entirely by hand in a “copper-plate” that is a de- light to the eye. And to show with what infinite caré this monumental index was prepared, it may be said that the volumes consist of three sets, fifty of which give a list of the Euro- pean historical Americana in the order in which the documents appear in their volumes in the different foreign a&r- chives, 100 of which give the papers in chronological order, with a description | | diamond cutting and polishing center in the world. Some diamonds are cut and polished in Antwerp and London, | New York and other cities. The in-| dustry in these however, is small compared to that of Amsterdam. Nearly all the rough diamonds from ! South Africa, Brazil, British Guiana,! Australia, and Borneo are taken to Amsterdam to be split, cut and pol- ished. ‘There are sixty-four factorie® in Amsterdam, with 8956 employes. places, The A nond workers are divided into splitte: cutters and polishers. The splitters réceive from $14 to $20 a week, and the cutters and polishers from $10 to $14 a week. A writer in Die Woche (Berlin) describes the method of diamohd polishing as fol- | lows The first thing that is done with the raw diamond is to chip it, to “kloven” it, as the Hollanders say, in whose hands rests nearly exclusively the This business of diamond polishing. < v because of flaws which are present in all diamonds. After the stone has been chipped it goes through the cutting prodess, that the ng out of the determined form of facets, the most beautiful ar- rangement being the double-stone with sixty-four facets. After this the pen”” may begin, this latter process ing performed with a steel diamond cutter's wheel on which the finest dia- | mond powder has been spread—the powder being obtained from diamond waste—the wheel turning with great | The faces of the stone are| against the wheel until a perfect | The final “karat” | of the diamond is then determined, | while the value of the stone is gauged | according to clearness and color. A faultless stone of one karat is valued | at some fifty-five dollars, but one of | ten karats is worth one hundred | times as much. Especial peculiarities | of the trade in loose stones are that| all transactions take place through | brokers—buyer and seller never| knowing each other—and that all set- | tlements must be made in gold.—Pub- | Opinion. ping is neces: be held polish is obtained. One on the Royal Naz Among his foreign honors, Kaiser Wilhelm is an admiral in the British ¥. A story of his last visit to a sh ship shows that he has the gift | of making self popular. Followed ng train of officers in due order v, from the admiral down to officer on duty, he made a | the thorough tour of the ship, coming at| Junic last to the sick quarters. In one of the | sick bays stood a weird-looking plant, censisting of a long, attenuated stalk, with a coupie of melancholy looking | leaves. Coming to a dead stop ! before this mysterious effort of| nature, the Kaiser pointed at! it in silence. “Admiral,” he i asked at last, with an appearance of the deepest interest, “what is that?” | The admiral’s botanical education did | ot run to a soiution of the problem, so turned for aid to his immediate suc- | who, similarly embarrassed, | ed the query further back, until it ached the junior at the end of the line, and was still unanswered. All the e Kaiser Wilhelm stood | waiting for information with a look of | expggerated anxicty upon his face. At “hen informed that absolutely no | ination of the phenomenon - was rthcoming, he burst/ out laughing, and | exclaimed, “Hurrah! At last I've found something that the British navy doesn't know!™” Jlux;( On Tap. indications point to the realization of | the dream of Bellamy, depicted in one | of his books, where music of any chur-i acter is always instantly obtainable by the mere touch of a button conveniently | located in the library, bedroom or any other place. This luxurious idea is about to be carried out by a complny.f consisting largely of Baltimore men,| and which is being organized under '.he{ laws of the State of Massachusetts. The | object of the concern, which is known! as the Cahill Telharmonic camp-ny.‘ ard which is an adjunct of the New England Music Company, is to place | purposes the invention of Thaddeus Ca- hili, at present of Holyoke, Mass. This invention is & machine for producing every primary vibration known to the! human ear. These range from the min- | imum vibrations that can be heard, 16 | Cpmpany, ‘which is the com- pany, is licensed to supply music by It has & capital of $200,000. The ohject of the Telharmonic Com- pany of New England will be to supply music to vrivate residences and apart- ments from a central station electric wires in common wires to be strung by amount of capital company is placed THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL) JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Proprietor . ... ... ... Address All Commonications to JOHN McNAUGHT, Magager - Pe— J Pliichisha Ofon <....55 syoss anbessamnb Lisansch @ teetseeessiesese..Third and Market Streets, S. F. MONDAY i1 so bosesovasassssnsntnnsssn ousoRubahs suoaoet ve oa- st ok GEdl Satbiont L tus oo AR 1B 1984 ASPECT OF, TRADE. HE governing conditions in trade last week were T rather adverse than otherwise. First, the weather was unfavorable; second, stocks of some important staples showed a marked increase with less consump- tion, and, third, labor conditions became threatening at a number of points. The weather has been a serious drawback to business for several months. It set back the regular spring de- mand at least a month, and when the tide of trade be- comes checled for any fength of time it seldom flllly( makes up the deficiency when its flow is resumed. There | are certain seasons when certain kinds of goods are ! used, and if the time for using them goes by they are no longer wanted. Thus spring goods are no longer in | demand in a wholesale way, and though the retailers i may sell more or less the wholesalers and jobbers ar: now devoting their attention to summer goods and in the larger houses even the summer business is already off the boards and the buyers are looking for fall and winter assortments. This illustrates how a backward season may cut down the regular spring or summer de- mand for merchandise 0 a small volume. This year the weather has been so unpropitious that it has not only seriously reduced the volume of spring trade but has done more or less damage to the growing crops. Thus the wheat crop was kept back during the | winter, and though a spell of fine weather a fortnight ago produced a marked improvement in conditions, the reports last week suddenly turned unfavorable again. From Kansas, Oklahoma, the Middle West, the Ohio Valley and the Northwest all sorts of poor reports were received. Theaveather was cold, with snow and mud, at the very time when the crop needed warmth and sun. In North Dakota and the Red“River Valley in partic- ular it was reported that the farmers would not be able to get on to their fields before the 1st of May, and that under the snow which still lingered there was a foot of mud. These bad reports appeared suddenly and all came in together, and though some were subsequently par- tially contradicted it was evident that crop conditions were not as favorable as they had been. Cotton, too, has felt the effects of the cold weather and the crop has been cut down by a severe frost in Texas and along the northern part of the belt. This had its effect on the market and led to an enormous de- mand for cotton on Thursday, when 17,500 bales were sold in the open market at New Orleans, and on the Ex- change one transaction of 90oo bales was made, it be- ing the largest single spot transaction in the history of the Exchange. The spot quofation showed no particu- lar change, but the downward trend of the market was checked. As for the increasing supplies of the more important staples, the condition is not altogether mew, but is be- coming more pronounced. At first it was confined to iron and steel goods. It then appeared in provisions, which were produced in large quantities by the Western packers and persistently unloaded upon the outside trad- ers, who bought "largely and with equal persistency. The market reports of the newspapers called attention to this, but the outsiders went on buying just the same, and did not wake up to what they were doing for sev- eral weeks. Then they found themselves loaded with large lines of pork products and not much of a market to work them off on. Now it is reported that stocks of dry goods, from producer to consumer, are larger than desirable, while sales are smaller. * There is also less call for leather footwear, as the very wet weather has diverted the demand to rubber goods, and the inquiry for woolen goods is not up to expecta- tions. The iron and steel trades are still sending in con- flicting reports, some sections reporting business ex- panding and others the reverse. The general condition of this industry, however, seems to be better thad it was several months ago. But the demand is not urgent at best and buyers exhibit no eagerness to procure supplies of the raw material. Building materials are not meeting with any extra inquiry, the weather and many small la- bor complications throughout the country restricting building operations. Statistical conditions, too, are hardly what could be desired. The bank clearings continue to show a decrease from last year, and while it is not large is persistent, and the aggregate clearings, which for a number of years have generally exceeded $2,000,000,000, are now almost always below this amount. Those of last week were $1,075820,000. The we=k’s failures were 225, against 212 last year, though none of them were heavy enough to attract attention beyond their local sections. The rail- road earnings during the first week im April were 7 per i cent smaller than during the corresponding week last year, and the returns for the first quarter of the year | will, it js thought, show’that the railroads are barely : holding their own in comparison with the past' year or two. Turning from this rather unfavorable exhibit of domestic trade in general to the money and stock markets we find a more favorable state of affairs. Money is reported in liberal supply at low: rates of interest everywhere and the outflow of gold from New York to Europe is fully offset by imports of Japanese gold at San Francisco. Standard stocks are paying their regular dividends, but the railroads are bor- rowing too much money and in too large blocks to suit the investing public, hence business on the Stock Ex- change is guiet. During the past few days the consen- sus of authorities as to the future of the market seems to have undergone some change; there is less optimism and fewer prcdictions‘ of a forthcoming bull movement, owing largely to the impaired prospects of the wheat crop mentioned abote‘ The conditions in California show no particular change. Variable weather during the past week has al- tered the complexion of the crop prospects, the hot dry spell at the beginning of the week, followed by showers at the close, rendering conditions irregular, though the Good crops of almost everything are almost assured. Thus far there have been mo killing frosts to cut down the fruit crop, though the Weather Bureau reports more or less damage by the cold rains of a month ago, which caught several to a second, to the maximum of "‘.i of the early varieties in blossom, to their detriment. No The 180 volumes which contain Mr. | a second. The ‘New England Music| fears of any shortage are expressed in any quarter, how- ever. As for grain and hay, fair, if not full, crops of both are practically assured. Domestic and export trade is reported brisk and money continues abundant and easily obtainable 3# average securities. Real estate transac- tions show active investment in both city and country ‘property, while building operations in San Francisco continue farge. There are no signs of any falling off in trade in this State, no matter what conditions may pre- vail in other parts of the country. { oA A MODEL SCHOOL REPUBLIC. HE Chicago Superintendent 'of Schools and Board T of Education have decided upon a novel experiment to be introduced into all the public schools of the city for the.purpose of teaching young America the prin- ciples of self-government at first hnnd.. They will organ- ize the schools into miniature municipal, State and na- tional governments, uporn: the broad principles of equal suffrage and representation according to the latest re- ports of the school census; each elementary school will be represented by members in the lower House of the | model Congress and the Senate will be made an august assemblage by being drawn directly from the schools. Every cog in the machinery of government will b in'its place and.moving. N » It is to be hoped that the Chicago experiment will prove a success. At present time the only notion of gov- _ernment which a child in the public schools obtains is through a dry-as-dust textbook thrust at him while he is yet at the tender age of 12 or 13, and made doubly incom- prehensible by the comments of the teacher. What idea of the true order of things can your average boy gather from the statement, for example, that the Federal Cir- cuit courts have appellate jurisdiction over such and such cases and original jurisdiction in these and those instances, or that a_“shoestring district” is one which has been gerrymandered? Not that the textbooks are not ex- cellent in their way or that the teachers are not conscien- tious in their endeavor tc make the high light of govern- ment break in upon their young charges; the difficulty | lies simply in the fact that the instruction lacks anything tangible. . Over in Oakland there is a society of little folks who have organized themselves into what they call The Bird Republic. They have a president and his cabinet, tourts and their bailiffs and all the accessories to a well ordered State. Not only do they get lots of fun out of their game of government, but the little follows are learning from the ground up the principles of good citizenship and in- telligent suffrage. They tell a story over at the Univer- sity of California about a brilliant freshman who asked his instructor in United States history why the members | of the college of electors should not be made to retain office during’ good behavior like the Federal Judges. That freshman had passed an entrance examination in civil government before he entered the university upon the information which had been crammed into his head while he was a youngster not yet in high school. How many more just such ignoramuses there are one dare not guess. = If the Chicago scheme prove a success it may be in- troduced at some time or another into every school which is supported by the money of the people. There is no better place for a future citizen and taxpayer to learn the | actual operations of the Government which he will help | to support and of which he is to be a member than right in the schoolroom where the whole machinery of the State may be set to work under his eyes and with his assistance. g If the thug who killed himself at Hanford to evade the officers proves to be Fahey, the Folsom escape, he has gone oh record as doing at least one good act in his life, that of relieving the people of the cost and trouble | / ALASKA IN CONGRESS. of his taking off. N interesting illustration of the manner in which A the House of Representatives discusses bills that are before it, and also of the degree of interest Eastefn people take of Pacific Coast affairs, is shown in a report by one of our Boston exchanges of a recent de- bate on a bill to provide for a Delegate in Congress from Alaska. The report says that in the course of the debate “Mr. Granger of Rhode Island briefly discussed the business feature of the social system of the United States, and Mr: Bowers of Mississippi answered some statements re- cently made by Mr. Gillett of Massachusetts regarding violations of the constitutions of some of the Southern States with respect to negro suffrage. He made a com- parison of the criminal statistics of Massachusetts and Mississippi and said these showed that the negroes in the latter State were six times better than those of Massa- thusetts. He said that the negro was not fit for self- government and he was greeted with Democratic ap- plause when he said the negro, within constitutional limits, should be eliminated as a political factor. ‘I thank God,’ he added, ‘the constitution of Mississippi swept the circle of expedient to accomplish that/ end.”” After giving considerable space to all that was said upon the negro question, the report adds: “The Alaska bill was then laid aside and a bill was passed providing for the cession of 120 acres of land in Colorado to the Beecher Island Battle Memorial Association.” Of course much allowance is to be made for the burning zeal of the members from Massachusetts and from Mississippi on the negro question, but at least a little attention should have been, given to Alaska. It is a big country and its claims for a Delegate in Congress deserve a hearing. —_— There are 556 prisoners at present in the county jails of this municipality, which is a greater number than for several years past. Whether this be due to increased population, prosperity or degeneracy is a question for the moralist. T ing by reason of the great feast now being prepared by the Promotion Committee for April 30. That is to be a state dinner, not because it serves any formal function of state, but because it is designed to bring to- gether representatives of every section of the State for the purpose of promoting harmony of feeling and unity of effort in advancing the common welfare. Plans for the banquet have been arranged on a liberal scale. The company will include a large proportion of the men whose enterprise and influence have been nota- bly important factors in developing the resources and promoting the industries of all parts of the State. Among the speakers of the evening are to be Governor Pardee, President Wheeler of the State University, Charles F. Lummis of Los Angeles, Henry Weinsto:k of Sacra- mento and other men of eminence from the various sec- tions of the commonwealth. e The theme of all is to be the welfare of California—a subject that will surely inspire the speakers to their best efforts and assure a cordial responsiveness from the com- pany. Taken altogether, the occasion promises to bg one of exceptiomal interest and significance and wilvz-ely rank among the most notable local events of the year. A STATE DINNER. HE phrase “state dinner” will acquire a new mean- high | Sorry for the Lion. ) Among the children attending a Western Addition kindergarten is lit- tle Alice, the well known daughter of a local newspaper man. A few days ago a visitor exhibited to the little folks some large colored pictures deépicting the sufferings of the early Christians. Otte illustration showed a lion's den, in which the animals were industrially worrying Christian men and maids. As the children watched the picture the i visitor told a story appropriate to the ! illustration. . None showed more eager | interest than did little Alice. She list- |ened attentively. Her alert glance moved from speaker to picture as her ears drank in the tale of the cruelty of i Nero. The child’s interest attracted the vis- itor and soon he found himself ad- dressing little Alice to the exclusion of all cthers. She, at least, understood ;and appreciated the story. There was a pause in the taje. went little Alice’s hand: ‘‘Please, teacher?" “What is it, Alice?” ! “Please, teacher, there’s one peor lion hasn’t got any martyr.” Could Not Place Him. It was about the time that Mayor | Schmitz was preparing to distribute the official patronage at his command shertly after his re-election that a seedy individual made his appearance in his Honor’s outer office locking for a job. Thes man told Secretary Keane that he wanted to see the Mayor on personal business and wrcte his name, John Smith, on a card. P Keane took the card tg/ the Mayor in his private office and the latter, af- ter looking at it, said: “I really cannot “ recall the name, but show the man in anyhow.” Mr. Smith ambied slowly into the { Mayor’s sanctum and at once began: ““Mr. Mayor, I have come to see you relative to obtaining oze of the sine- ! cures which ycu are at present dispens- ing to deserving/persons. I am John Smith. I was on the committee of the Forty-Fourth District when you were running for the maycralty and worked hard in yvour behaif. You know me all right. Now, what is it to be?” The Mayor listened to his voluble visitor until he had finished and then, with a merry twinkle in his eyes, said: “Well, I guess I do know you, but for | the life of me I cannot place you.” What We Do. The New York Sun prints an elo- i quent tribute to San Francisco’s hus- tling spirit from the mouth of one of our travelers. Tt says: “A Calfifornian, after an unsuccess- ful attempt to get somebody on the telephone in one of the hotels the | other night, unburdensd himself in | regard to New York's methods of do- ing things, and its telephone service in particular. These are some of his re- | marke, edited: ““This town thinks it's right up to | the day after to-morrow in improve- i ments. Is it? You ask for a number land the telephone girl says “Busy—I | will call you.” Does she call you? | Why, vou could sit around till the red | ball was up in every skate store in Hades before she’d call you. Who the last mentioned place are you that she should waste her good time calling you? Why, for you—to the nunnery. “‘Out in San Francisco we do it { like this: Suppose the number is busy; |the girl presses a button. You are | connected with a’phonograph and it | keeps telling you, “Busy—we will call you,” till you hang up your receiver. When you do that the connection is ]broken. something else happens, and !the minute that the number you want- |ed is through talking you are con- Inected with it automatically; both 1])9"! ring and you both advance and i get occupied at once. New York? | Huh! Why, I saw a horse car on the | street here yesterday. There's only | one horse car in Califorria and that's !in a museum. New York? Not for | me.” " Up The Russian Censorship. A clear, accurate statement of what has actuallv happened with regard to the removal of the Russian censorship of mews would be as follows: After considering a suggestion of Melville Stone, the Czar has abolished the cen- sorship of the Associated Press cable news service. That is all. The censorship in Russia is exercised over all printed matter, whether print- ed in the country or not. In the two capitals, St. Petersburg and Moscow, the daily papers are not actually sub- jected to the censorship. The censor, however, reads the printed sheet be- fore any one else, and if it contains anything forbidden, the edition is sup- pressed. [Editors are permitted to criticize the local administration, but not to say anything which can be con- strued as reflecting upon the higher authorities or the church. Three warn- ings are given; the first consists in the prohibition of street sales, the second in 2 fine, the third means suppression {of the publication. The strict censor- ship in St. Petersburg and Moscow has been abolished since tae reign of Alexander II. The provincial news- papers: however, are still subjected to a burdensome censorship. Editors must submit proofs of every article to the censor before they are published. This concesgion of the Czar has aroused considerable interest among Americans as to what Russians themselves read in the way of periodical literature.—Re- view of Reviews. _— The Japanese Merchant. Before the Restoration the better class Japanese esteemed it a degra- dation to work. A tradesman was.de- spised. To-day there is hardly a man of Japan who does not follow e calling. The older men, the d- fathers, may stay at home, but sons—the restless, modern, progres- sive sons of the pnew Japan, are not happy unless employed. The spirit of modern Japan is in them. They as devoted to their business as to their homes. But they keep them well sep- arated and apart. The Japanese Who can afford it has his office in the' big _city, but his home in the suburbs. 0% | During the day hé is in the midst of ithe busy stir and whirl of the city. but about 4 in the afternoon he is hurrying toward the. grateful peace and beauty of his country home. The first thing he does on reaching home is to bathe and remove all the clothes he has worn at his office or store. With the changing of his business clothes he lays aside all thought of business. In ‘his home he finds desired rest and {recreation. He Is by nature a lover of leisure. Few business men in Ameri- ca would leave their offices so early or would take so many holidays. The Japanese business man takes all the holidays he can afford. He is at home | most of the fete days. He goes with the family to see the carnivals, the | temple and flower festivals.—Harper's Weekly. Zebra Tandems. A few devotees of the whimsical and the eccentric are talking of breaking and training zebras for family pleas- ure driving in Hyde Park, London. Friends of the zebras say they can easily be made docile and tractable in drawing smart wagons and will af- ford@ a refreshing novelty of contrasts among the horses and automobiles. Quagsgas are also well thought of. It's a great pity that giraffes are now so rare and hard to get. How agreeable” a spectacle a four-in-hand team of spotted skyserapers, imported from Africa, would afford in Rotten row! Two enormous ostriches, wearing su- perb plumes of their own, would also doubtless gratify the spectators if hitched to a big park phaeton. Strings of Neses. In a paper read by Miss Adele M. Frelde before the section of biology of the New York Academy of Sciences, the joints composing the antennae of ants were described as a series of noses, each having a special function. The first Jjoint distinguishes the ant's native nest from the nest of an enemy; the second discriminates between the odor of ants of different cotonies, but of the same species; the third discerns the scent of | the track left by the ant’s own feet, and | enables it to return over its route; the fourth and fifth joints discover the dis- tinctive odor of the larvae;, and if re- moved disable the ant from caring for the voung in a nest; the sixth and seventh joints make known the pres- ence of an ant of different species. Onlj after these joints are developed will ants of different species fight one an- other.—Youth’s Companion. Answers to Queries. MINING CLAIM—Subscriber, Cecil. ville, Cal. Work to the amount of $500 a vear must be made on a mining claim in order to secure a patent. BERSEEM—W. F. L., City. For in- formation about berseem, the new fer- tilizer, address a communication to the experiment station at the University of California. - COPYRIGHT—H. K., Sacramento, Cal. The fee for a copyright in the United States is 50 cents. Write to the librarian of Congress for a blank form of application for copyright. WINSTON CHURCHILL—W., City Winston Churchill, author of “Richard Carvel.” is the son of Edward Spnldln(,. and Emma Bell (Blaine) Churchill, born in St. Louis, November 19, 1871 THEATERS—F. F., City. The seat- ing capacity of the principal theaters in San Francisco is: Grand Opera- house, 2395; Columbia, 1624; California, 1698: Central. 1458: Orpheum, 2903. In Oakland the seating cavacity of the Macdonough is 1463 and of Ye Liberty Playhouse 2000. ON A TRANSPORT—J. 8. Jr., City. An individual desiring a pesition on a transnort should file an application in the transport office-at the foot of Folsom street, San Francisco. For a position on a passenger vessel going to the points named in the letter of inquiry file an aoplieation in the of- fice of the company owning such ves- sel. ' RULE OF THREE—J. F., Grass Val- ley, Cal. .The rule of three is a tech- nical term for a rule in arithmetic, otherwise ecalled proportion, Wwhich teaches the finding of a fourth num! proportional to three given numbers. The term “rule of three” las beem in use from the beginning of the six- teenth century and from the great utility of the operation in commercial transactions it received almost from the commencement the name of the golden rule. . STAINS IN MARBLE—S. P. H., City. The following is given as a means for taking stains out of marble: , “Take a wineglassful of ox gall, one of soap Jees and half a giassful of turpentine; mix into a paste with pive clay. Pit the paste on the stain and let it remain for several days. Then remove the paste, and if the stain is not fully re- moved a second application will gener- ally prove sufficient.” Townsend's California Glace fruits ans S e v st fow 5 T S e S Gl g e e—— { Speclal infe supplied dafly ty business houses public men (‘uh' N