The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 16, 1904, Page 6

= | | | | il | The London Stage. Spectal Correspondence. 1 HEADQUARTERS OF THE CALL, 5 HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT LONDON, May 5—W. S.| T have considerable n during the last few days £ it has been at the Savoy upon eras that he van—he is felt 8t since the ¢ the last of the ain wrote with Sir Arthur by no mea: et without homor is ®o much anticipa among Ifindun' theater-gc piece as ex- ch Gilbert And afore’s” au-| for several | jsts concer when the ¢ at rule and made to a London re was general de- the wit which * “Patience ce” abides | phrase in his latest wur Bour- | hear of it -manager, who 1g together at I have a good idea for a announced Gilbert. “Write then,” quoth the manager wiil welcome presided m ked down secret of the should « Meanwhile we have the half- faction rick behind urtain saj of hearing officially that the new work—which if successful will, of course, be dune at home—is in two acts and absolutely Gilbertian in theme. a farce comedy | Fenn. | & case of two extremes meeting. Even | Imperial Theater. white elephant on the actress’ hands, | ! ley’s horse wins the race. Lord Charley | persuades the young girl that the en- gagement to Mrs. Jack was only a bluft and down comes the curtain leaving Mrs. Jack where she began. A TR George Alexander, élarmed by the | dismal failure of his dismally faith- | ul adaptation of . “Rosenmontag,” ashed off to the other extreme with called “Saturday Monday,” by Richard Pryce and Fred to | - | two shipments, with previous ones thus far in May, make T HE SAN! FRANCISCO CALL, MONDAY, MAY 16, 1804. THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL LS [T v e AR AR s T R e T i DR L s RS L AR SO OHN D. SPRECKELS, Proprietor . + « « « + « . . . Address All Communications to JOHN McNAUGHT, Manager Publication Office .. wie il Third and Market Streets, S. F. MONDAY PRI T SRR N TSR e TR e VAST FINANCIAL OPERATIONS. 1 OMMERCIAL interest last week centered in Wall !C street, where the leading features were the ex- tremely heavy gold exports, the marked decline in stocks and the changed aspect of the money market. ‘The goid exports on Thursday were $11,500,000, the heaviest single day’s shipments ever known. They were closely followed on Saturday by $7,000,000 more, and the erick Fenn—the latter a son of the| ; tota] of more than $25000,000. The largest amount novelis George Unhappily it has'mroved to be veteran farce comedy requires more under- standing of human nature and of the laws of cause and effect than is shown | in “Saturday to Monday.” Now we shall see whether or no a “hoodoo” abides over Mrs. Langtry’s It proved a costly and when Lewis Waller, fresh from his cairs,” recently took over the some- what out-of-the-way playhouse for a term of seven years, there was much speculation as to the resuit. Bad luck came at first, for neither “A Queen’s Romance” nor the revival of “A Mar- riage of Convenience” with which Waller followed the Davidson play, did anything in particular. They were un- attractive pieces at best, however, so it probably wasn’t the theater's fauit. Now, in “Miss Elizabeth’s Prigoner’— hich is a play about the American Civil War—Waller seems to have found a real “winner”’—and it will be surpris- ing If the Imperial's hoodoo does not fly away to some other theater for a | while. Sarah Bernhardt is planning to fol- low “The Sorceress” with a new play called “Varennes’—the period of which is that of the French Revolution. Change of Color. The strangest case in the London Hospital at present is that of the white man, Thomas Goss, who is gradualiy turning black. He was taken there yesterday from | the Poplar and Stepney Sick Asylum, where, as stated in yesterday's Ex- he has been an inmate for the past three years. He now lies at the end of a row of patients in the Bedford Ward—an oid, decrepit man of sixty-six, with worn face and emaciated hands, his skin of a gray-black hue, looking like that of a negro slightly bleached. His close- cropped hair is white, and he has a thin white beard. His voice is very weak, and he is partly deaf. press, Manville | triumphs with “Monsieur Beau- | ever before exported in a full month from New York was in May, 1804, when $27,449,000 went out. | May is only hali gone, ai:d as nobody knows to what | extent these current gold cxi)cr(s may be carried, it is | the general opinion that the present month will be a rec- | ord one for gold exports. Since the exports began early in April they already amount to over $40,000,000- They have been largely offset by importations of Japanese gold ven at San Francisco, and, as previously mentioned, much of this gold now flowing out of New York to Europe is simply the fiow of the Japanese gold through San Fran- cisco and New York to Europe to pay for war supplies purchased by Japan, so the real exports from the United | States are nowhere near as large as these figures would indicate on their surface. This is probably the reason why the proportions of the current outflow cause no par- ticular excitement in financial circles. In addition to these gold exports there are other heavy drains upon stocks of gold in one form or another. The Treasury Department has sent notice of ‘the with- | drawal on May 25 of the final 10 per cent installment of | 40 per cent of the Government deposit in banks, and these | withdrawals, when completed, will have taken some $50,~ | 000,000 irom the banks. Then there is the application | of at least $15,000,000 to the floating of the Anglo-Amer- ican loan of $50,000,000 to Japan. Furthermore, there is the financial operation connected with the floating of the | $30.000.000 bond sale of the city of New York with the | payment of $20,000,000 of telephone notes. To these im- | mense sums must be added the huge borrowings of the | railroad companies, which aggregate $300,000,000, dur- ing the past several months. A mere glance over these | figures shows the vast dimensions of the financial move- ment now going on in the money center of the country. And all this without a flurry, the only effect thus far perceptible being a slight hardening in money rates, say !2 of 1 per cent. The fact is, the public and private vauits of the country are gorged with gold. Our stores of the yellow metal had become so huge and unwieldy that our financiers did not know what to do with them. One astute finan- cier, who keeps close tally on the financial situation, | points out, in a recent circular, that “the amount of money now in circulation’ is $2,532,000,000, an increase in | twelve months of $158,000,000. These figures, however, fety woman d to an of-| the army, and who unexpect- has some Queer exr nces as a hospital nurse. How keen is puk terest in the forthcoming piece can be is about a s Part of it Thomas Goss was born in Bedford- | give only a partial idea of the tremendous expansion in shire, and about thin)'k years ago he | our circulation which has lately taken place. During the came to London to work as a laborer. & = ast three years our currency increased nearl 0,000,~ T woh wery comforfable hoce” be eall | 27 10E F9 4 ; y $33 000, while in the last seven years the increase has been | «dly to an Express representative, who | judged from the fact th: was grave- ¥ reported the other day that Mr. Gil-| bert had made two visits t9 Drury Lane | recently with a view to finding out how pantomi yvesterday visited the bedside of the biack-white man. I have pains in my legs, and it seems to catch me here,” he dded, placing his hand on his side, clown “makes up,” the| “but I am able to get about a bit. Only | deduction being that there is something | I feel pretty weak.” about pantomime doings in the myste- | rious play. The comed: “been named “The Fairy’s Dilemma.,” | years ago. will be produced at the Garrick on | Docks. May 13. At the dinner of the Gallery First Nighters' b the writer of the “Bab | Ballads” responded to the toast of “The | Drama | “It on record,” he said, “that a: certain occasional reporter, having to| describe 2 case of suicide, wound up | -the article with these pregnant words: *No reason can be assigned for the rash act, seven and sixpence having been found on the body of the deceased.’ am somewhat in th ceased, having committed dramatic sui- | ¢ide several years 2go. | “That is to say, I voluntarily with- drew from the practice of the profes- sion, and my friends are good enough to say there is no reason for the rash | act, seven and sixpence worth of dra- matic invention remaining in the cra- nium of the deceased. But it was inop- erative to prevent me breaking off the jealousies, heartburnings and annoy- ances inseparable from the dramatic profession. So I retired to an obscure corner of Harrow Weald, and there, so to speak, blew out my brains. “It is true that an enterprising and energetic actor-manager has recently disinterred me and is now engaged in galvanizing me into a spasmodic sec- ond existence. But, like most revivals, I am to be put up as a stop-gag, and when that purpose has been fulfilled I shall be decently reinterred.” e Y When so skillful a playwright as R. C. Carton is to have a “first night” in one of the most thriving of London theaters, and with his wife, Miss Compton, in the principal role as usual, one looks forward to an evening of undimmed pleasure. In all except onp particular, “The Rich Mrs. Rep- ton,” produced at the Duke of York's Thester under the Frohman manage- ment on Wednesday evening, came up to these high expectations. There was bright, pointed and natural dialogue, Jots of cleverness in situation, really excellent acting—almost everything playgoers could wish, except a story that was worth telling. The Rich Mrs. Repton is 2 middle aged widow who is a “good fellow.” She has immense wealth, just a suspicion of a past, a heart of gold, and a delight in doing good by stealth without being fussy or “preachy.” She has balf a dozen hard- up men under her comfortable wing and finds ingenious ways of benefiting them all. One of them is young Lord Charley Dorchester who has gone broke on racing and has staked all he can raise from money lenders on a horse race that is not coming off for two monthe. He refuses to accept a Joan from *Mrs. Jack”—as the boys all call the adored Mrs. Repton—but says if she would consent to be engaged to him for the intervening two months the money lenders would cease from troubling, and thereafter he could ex- plain it easily to the young girl whose heart he had won. That is so much like irresponsibie farce than legitimate comedy that it makes the spectator feel as if he bad been trified with when the good patured widow consents. At the end of the two months and their attendant complications, Lord Char- 1| - position of the de- | Asked when his skin began to turn hich has juset | color, he said, “It's more than three| ., . tima when it is not needed? I was working at Millwail ‘When the other men began to London Hospital as an out-patient as long as I could. Then I got weak, and had to go into the Sick Asylum, where they did everything for me, but they couldn’t find out what was the matter. “Any number of doctors used to come there and see me, but they could never find out what was wrong. Now I've come here, and I hope they will find out. It's the right place to come to for that,” he said, his eyes brightening at the thought that the skill of the London Hospital doctors would cure him if any- thing could. What is the matter with Goss the London Hospital doctors have not yet feund out. It may take several days 10 discover even if they suceced in ascer- taining. cent, for they do not wish it to be understood that they have a case of exceptional character in band before they have thoroughly investigated it. “But I do not mind saying that I have never seen a man this color be- | fore,” said one of the doctors; “‘never anything like it. Cases 4f pigmentation are not very rare, and arise from vari- ous diseases. But I have never seen a man whose skin was so colored.” Goss has rapidly become an object of great curiosity among the large hos- pital staff.—London Express. Cleveland the Writer. The completeness of ex-President Cleveland’s withdrawal from political activity is shown by his preoccupa- tion with literary work. A month ago he put the finishing touches to a paper of about ten thousand words on the Government bond issue that excited considerable controversy during his administration; and he has prepared during the month just closed a similar paper on the strike riots in Chicago, which were ended by his sending troops to protect the mails in transit through the city. The publication of a book has been suggested to him, which should be composed of these two es- says and two others which appeared a few years since—one on “The Inde- pendence of the Executive,” in the Atlantic Monthly, and oene on the Venezuela boundary case, in the Cen- tury Magazine, with possibly an ad- ditional chapter on the acquisition of Hawail by the United States. It is possible that this important work will appear some time before the Novem- ber elections. In the course of the summer it is likely that Mr. Cleve- land will devote a part of his leisure to the writing of certain papers on fishing and duck shooting, in the man- ner of those that he has giready pub- lished, from time to time, in the Sat- urday Evening Post, the Independent and the New York World.—The Critic. Magistrate—Did I understand you to say the prisoner offered resistance when you attempted to place him under arest? Policeman—None worth mentioning, your Homor. Only a couple of dollars. —Chicago Daily News. Meanwhile the staff are reti- | | $847,000,000, and our per capita circulation has risen from $23 to $31 in the last seven years. In other words, in this short period we have added $650,000,000 to our stock of gold and about $200,000,000 to our supply of bank | notcs.” He then pertinently asks: ““What is to be the | efect of such an enormous addition to our currency Is it likely to lead to a It is to be hoped not; and in view | | period of inflation? | tell me about my skin I came to the| of the conservative temper which prevails in financial | circles no such contingency is in sight, although such an { expension as this must inevitably exert an important in- | Huence upon values. Such congestion would be impos- sible had we an elastic currency system capable of ex- panding and contracting automatically according to the ! country’s wants.” As already mentioned, the exports of gold, with the uncertainty regarding its continued development, with the slow decline in business throughout the country and | the reports from the iron and steel industry, which are now unfavorable, have undermined public confidence in the stock market, and shares went down pretty much all the week. Steel common stock declined to $8 50, a sig- | nificant quotation when it is remembered that not more | than a year ago it was loudly proclaimed that the vast interests controlling steel would not permit the stock to get below $10. The decline does not come in the nature | of a surprise, hawever, as the public have lately become prepared to expect almost any bizarre emanation from the steel trust. The recent free selling of the stock is generally attributed to the thwowing over of large lines of Schwab holdings, and some operators on the New York Exchange last week broadly stated that Schwah himself was selling “out of spite,” though this was prob- ably a mere matter of opinion. Anyhow the stock was ladled out on the market and the whole list of shares went down day after day. With the decline in stocks money went up, as already said, ‘and good judges predicted a further advance in rates during the next thirty days. Thus far, however, the advance is slight, and even at the increased quotations money is still low. General distributive trade made an important showing last week, being promoted by better weather. The Govern- ment crop report, showing a winter wheat condition of 76.5 per cent, was considered bullish, as it indicated a winter wheat crop of 340,000,000 bushels, compared with a harvested crop of 401,685,000 bushels last year. The great staples, such as grains, wool, hides, groceries, dry goods, footwear, cotton, textile goods, iron and steel, etc, showed no particular change from the preceding week. The reports from the iron and steel industry, as already stated, were poor. Quotations for cattle, sheep and hogs steadily declined, and present indications are that the era of high-priced meats is drawing to a close, as either the production had increased to the limit of consumption or the lattes has fallen off. Perhaps both conditions exist. The bank clearings also made an improved exhibit last week, the decrease from the corresponding week in 1004 being only 1.2 per cent. a much smaller decrease than has prevailed for a long time past. The failures for the week were 236, against 196 last year, and included none of serious preportions. There is nothing new in trade conditions on this coast except that business is quieter in those lines which take their cue from the Eastern markets and which naturally follow the course of those markets in sympathy. Those of our markets which are local and governed by our own proper conditions, continue active afid in good tone, and even in the lines which sympathize with the East no serious complaint is heard. We seem to be doing an ex- cellent business all around and keeping up a very satis- factory margin of profits. ey s COUNT CASSINI'S PROPHECY. I of her previous diplomatic policy in the Far East which culminated in the armed clash with Japan, Count Cassini, the Czar's Embassador at Washington, has contributed an article to the current North American | Review that contains several assertions open to debate. After reviewing the Russian contentions in Manchuria | and berating Japan for not coming to a peaceable agree- ment concerning the same, Count Cassini proceeds to demonstrate how American interests are bound up with those of Russia by ties far more material than those of mere sentiment. He, says: “What then, taking these matters into consideration, is the Far Eastern question viewed in its commercial aspect from the American point of view? On the one hand (in case of a Japanese victory) stands Manchuria open to the commerce of the world—Japan in competition with the United States, a manufacturing Japan capable of making the goods needed in Manchuria and of making them cheaper than America can make them and having the additional advantage of short all-water freight rates. On the other hand (should Russia win) stands Man- churia under Russian control with a friendly hand ex- tended to the United States and Japan given no en- couragement.” To this promise Cassini adds, with happy peroration, “What better evidence of Russian friendship could America have than such an opening?” ""hé¢ meat in the forecast Cassini thus makes would seem to be this: that if Japan wins there will be a free Manchuria trade, but America will have to compete against the superior advantages of the Japanese; if Russia gains the victory there will be a restricted trade, Japan naturally being discriminated against, but United States being the happy recipient of Russia’s “friendly hand.” Now, from what American trade has’learned in the past in the matter of that “friendly hand” of Russia on the trade door of China, Count (Jassini must pardon us if we indulge in speculation whether it will be the hand of Esau or the hand of Jacob. This sudden 'bout face which Cassini prophesies in the nature of Russian trade policy in the Far East comes as a surprise_even from a nation whose actions have ceased, to surprise. In 1900 Russia pledged herself to the maintenance of the “open doer” in China after every power but the United States had despaired of ever wringing this concession from her. Then followed one treaty after another be- tween that power and China by which China successively gave up its rights to build railroads, dig mines and tax Rassian goods according to their valuation—all this in a province nominally under the sway of the Chinese Em- peror. Then when our Government concluded a treaty with the Emperor for the opening of two of his ports in Manchuria to American trade Russia declared that China had no right to break the rigid trade exclusion the Rus sian “closed door” had so effectually built up. In the ll'ght of these facts and of the many other evi- N defense of Russia’s position in the present war and | the ! Dewey's Neatness. The exquisite neatness of Admiral ! George Dewey on shipboard and ashore | has long been a’ source of comment. Numerous stories have been told about | him that show that there was nothing | disgusted him so much as slouchiness | of dress or a showing of the least dis- i regard of the laws of cleanliness. A | gunner in his jservice, who for years | prior to his obtaining a warrant had | been before the mast, tells the follow- | ing: | I was with Dewey twenty years ago, |long before he was anything but an | officer entitled to a minor position on | shipboard. Then he was as neat as wax and woe betide any man under him who did not live up to his stand- | ard of cleanliness and dress. Ome Sun- | | day afterncon, when we were lying off | Villefranche, Dewey was the ranking lofficer for about two hours. While he | was walking about the ship, prying | into corners and, as we all well knew, looking for dirty spots, he suddenly stopped his promenade and stepped be- hind a covered hatchway. I was in a | pesition to note his every movement ! and saw that he had his eye on a big, | husky fireman who sat in the bright | sun contentedly chewing away at a big piece of ‘navy’ tobacco. Four feet |away from him stood a ‘spit-box’ (a | ship’s spittoon). Unlike most sallors, ! his alm was bad, with the result that | the space between the spittoon and | where he was sitting presented any- | thing but a neat appearance. | “The sight was too much for Dewey. In three strides he was beside the fire- | man. Quivering with rage, he stood over the bluejacket and, pointing to the mess upon the deck, said, with all sorts of scorn and disgust in his voies “‘Swab that deck immediately and then go to the ship’s carpenter and get a tub.’ ™ Curiosity. A well-known family in the Western Addition is the proud owner of a mag- nificent pointer dog, a several times prize winner. He is a beautiful ani- mal, with intelligence almost human, |and in consequence his owners give {him much care and attention. He is 80 well behaved that the women in the | family frequently take him with them !on their shopping tours. Last Thurs- i ! | i l | day they took him to a large millinery | | store on Market street. The next morning the dog was missing and a | very excited house became that West- ern Additionp home. The neighborhood | was thoroughly searched, but the | pointer could not be found. Later in 1lhe day the dog was brought to the | house by a boy employed at the millin- i % | ery store visited Thursday. dences of Russia’s feverish endeavors to get the trade of | “He's been in the store all day, the Fast East into the, closed Muscovite fist, can Count | ma'am,” said the boy. Cassini persuade us that Manchuria under a continued | The next morning he dog was mies- - 2 3 ” ing again ahd, remembering the expe- Russian domination offers the only hope of salvation for | rience of the day before, one of the American trade in the Orient? In the Des Moines postoffice married clerks are to be given every advantage in the way of preferred employ- ment and in whatgver privileges may be at the com- mand of.the postmaster. This is as it should be. Every- thing that may be suggested even by the paternalism of our great Government should be done to make the lives of married clerks at least reasonably pleasant. T Louis to preside at the opening of New York's municipal building and that some of the other cities having buildings are to opep them with a -flourish of trumpets brings San' Francisco right up into the lime light. Interest is being shown in St. Louis regarding the manner in which our building is to be opened and the way in which it will be conducted thereafter. Only four buildings have been erected by cities of the United States: New York, San Francisco, Kansas City and St. Paul and Minneapalis jgintly. Since other cities are to open formally, it wijl naturally be expected that we do likewise, and there is no apparent reason why we should not do so. A reception of a creditable nature could be given without great expense, and the matter should be taken up at once. The second proposition, that of conducting our building 50 as to attract the greatest number of visitors, is one of much more importance. We are now squarely in the center of the stage, with critical attention directed toward us. Our venture has been duly launched and will be measured in comparison with the surrounding exhibits. - The San Francisco building, with its tower rising 100 feet from the ground directly in front of one of the principal entrances in the Model City, is visible from every direction and makes us well situated to at- tract visitors. But location is not everything. It must be supplemented by energy and every effort made to furnish proper entertainment and to make the exhibit attractive. We are part of a great fifty-million dollar show, where fifty-one States and Territories and fifty-one foreign na- tions are taking part, and we cannot afford to make any- thing but a first-class showing. San Francisco’s pride and welfare demand that such be made, and if there be any lack of money or material she should see to it that it be forthcoming. It is not probable that in many years to came—if at all—we cshall have such a chance to ad- vertise our city and illustrate her future, and if we make a proper showing now we will reap great and lasting benefit therefrom. SAN FRANCISCO AT THE FAIR. HE report that Mayor McClellan will go to St ‘The National Congress of Mothers recently in an- nual session claims credit for the agitation which cul- minated in the inquiry into the affairs df United States Senator Smoot. While this very worthy society is un- questionably entitled to every comsideration for what it has done and wants to do we are constrained to suggest that it may be wise in future to make its plans public. ‘We may then be readier to give credit where credit is due. The claim of the society appears to be its first indication of interest in the entire affair. B R An Oakland capitalist has been sued for $100,000 al- leged as damages for the laceration of 'q:e maidenly feel- ings and aspiring hopes of a trapeze performer, who wanted to change the rope of the arena for the knot of matrimony. Isn't it strange how a rich man can inflict immeasurably more serious damage than a poor one wh:ixw-umblulifinkefinnolm.uuer sex? < % family went immediately to the millin- | ery store. Sure enough, there was the | dog. He was the center of attraction. | He sat on his haunches with his eyes | glued to the little cash boxes used for carrying the price of goods sold to the cashier's -desk. The proprietor of the store told the owner of the dog that on the day before as soon as he reached the store the pointer ran over to the counter where his mistresses had made | their purchase, gave a yelp when tha flight to the cashier's desk and chased after it. He followed the one the cash- ier sent back with the change and every other box that went over the line until he was taken to the base- ment and there locked up. “This morning when he came in,” said the proprietor, “he contented him- self with squatting himself where you made your purchase and watching the | rapid flight of the boxes back and forth.” Back to Kansas. Tired o' trudg the furrer, Tired o' pitchin® hay. Tired o' routin’ at four o'clock, F'r a fourteen-bour day; Tired o’ chores an’ the groe’ry stores, an’ a round in a ten-quart pan, Tired o' livin' a whole life through as a Kansas hired man. So I kind o' thought I'd shift my style O’ life to the boundless sea awhile— ¥'r I'd read 'twas grand, an’ so, one day, 1 shipped on the liner “Tishy May." Learnt to pull the halliards, Learnt to h'ist the sail; Liked the life o' the sailor-man Ontil there came a gale. Bread to eat like baked concrete, lolloped in Porty Reek— I felt like a stun-bo't lo’ded with rocks— an’ the gale it blowed a week! An’ then the sloshin’s wet the lime, An’' we was in f'r a hot-foot time, F'r, when we crossed the deck, "twas —whoo!— Hippity-hop, like a kangaroo. All o the lime a slackin’. Tnnards a steamin’ wreck: 4 Baked our dough-boys every day By settin' 'em on the deck; Took the bo't an' went aflo’'t, an” & liner f'r Liverpool Picked us up an’ set us to work down in her stokers’ school. Oh, the stowhole’s hot when you're pitchin’ hay, An’ the fields are hot on a July day; But to bake your heart and frizzle your soul You've got to git down in the stokin” hole! Feedin' her chunks an’ dustin’s, ‘eedin’ her coal all day; Hardly time-f'r a breath o air, Never a time f'r play! Stiddy chaw in her ‘ufsm‘ maw, growl b for more in her stack, An' that was the kind o' life I led to Liverpool dock an’ back. Tie-up o' cattle is fur from fun ~Till fo:‘ider'u down an’ the chores is one. But a reel stout job ye'll never Till 've feed in the ‘stokenole inow ow. Back to the farms o’ Kansas, Glg“k to lhel:ol; 'r me! me some land on every hand, ¥ t’-‘t never sniff o’ sea! 28 . e m o' men. now an’' agai er £r suthin' ncv.’n' s Wishing the work o' some other chap, But 1'tell ye, friends. the: trouble, ell ye, frien \l to-day, 5 T > s "cause 80 many is took 3 It y're built £r land, then Bark’ o e— Don’t git foolish an” to —Holman F. m‘.ah sltn.m Passing of River Boats. — The best year for steamboat business on the Mississippl is said to have been the one immediately before the out- break of the Civil War. During that | first little cash box started on its rapid | — | confiict, until the North gained control iot the river, commercial boating below the mouth of the Ohio was broken up entirely. On the Missouri a new source of business sprang up in the early years of the war by the discovery of gold at the headwaters of that stream. Then began that most remarkable episode in the history of river navigation. the sending of cargoes from St. Louls to the base of the Rocky Mountains, mor« than two thousand miles distant and half a mile vertically upward. Long before the steamboat business on the Mississippi and its tributaries had reached its maximum, the forces which were to accomplish its ruin had begun to operate. The beginning practical railroading followed many years after that of steamboating; but | when it once got well under way its progress and development rapidly out- stripped those of its older rival Here was a steam engine that could go with its load anywhere. It did not have t follow water courses. It could climb mountains if they were in its way. It could serve the inland town as well as the river port. Its speed was four times or more that of the steamboat. It was not put out of commission by the win- ter’s ice, but served the public the year round. Clearly the steamboat stood lit- tle show in its struggle with a rival like this. For many years, from one cause and arother, the boats held their own; but | finally the railroads got the upper hand. |and their “vast development in the twenty-five years following the Civil War practically drove the steamboat business from the rivers. The commercial interests of the coun- try have always looked with regret | on the disappearance of the steamboat. There is a deep-rooted comviction that our rivers have some value in the com- mercial economy of the country, as regulators of freight rates if nothing more; and there has been a strenuous | effort to maintain active navigation. There is a hopeful belief that the future wili see the rivers again teeming with boats, as they do in Russia, Austria end France. But the logic of statistics is against it.—H. M. Chittenden, ia The World To-day for May. Our Fish, The total catch of food fishes in the United States and Alaska, as shown by the last canvass, was 1,733,314,324 pounds, valued at $45.531,165. The number of men employed was 214,056 and the capital invested was $72,261.- 1 646. The salmon pack of Puget Sound alone in 1901 exceeded four and one- half millions of dollars, an amount more than four times as great as the entire silver output of the whole re- gion drained by the Columbia River. The salmon output of Alaska for 1903 is valued at $10,000,000, which ex- ceeds by more than two and one-haif million dollars the amount which Alaska cost us; and if we add to the salmon the value of the cod, halibut. and other fisheries of Alaska, the to- tal greatly exceeds all the other re- sources of Alaska combined.—Nation- al Geographic Magazine. ot Answers to Queries. SEQUOIA—The botanical name of the giant trees of the Calaveras and the Mariposa groves of California is Se- quoia gigantea, and not Sequoyah. OCEANSIDE HOUSE—Citizen, City. The distance from the Merchants’ Ex- change observatory at Point Lobes to the Oceanside House, facing the ocean beach, is three miles. THREE HEIGHTS—W. F. B, City. There are three heights on Mount Ta- malpais. One peak, the western, is given as 2608 feet, the middle peak 2375 and the eastern, where most people go, is 2592. ITALIAN NAVY—R. O. C, City. Possibly the reason that the navy of Italy is not as large as that of other nations is that the Italian Government does not deem a large and expensive navy necessary. ABBREVIATION — H.,, Haywards, Cal. The abbreviation D. of L. that ap- pears in “Echoes From the Lodge Room” published in The Call stand for Daughters of Liberty, a fraternal aid society—the ladies branch of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics. PONY EXPRESS—A. 8. Stockton. Cal. The average time of the pony express riders of the early days tween St. Joseph, Mo., and Sacra- mento, Cal, was about ten days. What is claimed as a record breaker, five and a half days from San Diego to San Francisco, refers to automobile rec- ords. PACHECO—R. R. T, City. Romual- do Pacheco was elected Lieutenant Governor of the State of Caliform* September 6. 1871: was inaugurated December $ following, and on Febru- ary 27, 1875, was inaugurated Govern- or to fill the unexpired term of New- ton Booth, who resigned on that dav to become United States Senator from California. He held the office unti! December 9 of t year. ———— California Glace fruits in boxes. 715 Market st.* information dally to and public men by the (Allen's), 230 Cai- Main 1043, *