The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 18, 1904, Page 8

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 1904 Self-Playing Pianos. E w. : R" MATHEWS u A Popular | o Under- | ete)) Sopyright Joseph B. Bowles.) Jlaying attachment to the is now before the public variety and persistence. is clain that any person attaching one of these things to the keyboard of his piano and placing the perforated yoll of brown paper in proper connec- tion can play any piece whatever just se well as the most expert musician | v it. Just what the exact facts : pection is what we now The se pionaforte with gres It | into, > who t the art of piano playing the self-player gffords great interest. It is a wonder- 1 clever idea and it appeals to a ction of the public, | | anw e of the most advanced | to the merest “farmer,” | little jolly music | ¥ who like a The advertisers tell while waits i him that with the aid of this modern | Jamp of Aladdin the world of music is| Jighted up with more than electric bril- | liancy | Jaying is a very curious mix- e mechanism and an intellec tual-m intelligence. You have to do two thir accurat from a me- | chanical standpoint. First, to deliver upon the key an energy equivalent to | ture of pur ho the han stroke syou want in that | place of the m . and, second, you | have to hold the piano damper away | from the string until the tone has Jasted out its time, If wou fail in| either particular your music shows it | &t once. In addition to these two ele- | ments of pure mechz 1, you have to | vary the intensity of your touch ac- | cording to the “come and go” of the| yusic, varying by insensible degrees from one note to another—by degrees £0 delicate and so evanescent as to be unsusceptible of mechanical measure- ment, and producable automatically | only, through the control of the fingers | by the musical ear, “musical sense” Or: tonal imagination. You conceive a tone | relation to the one be- e after it, and if you @s to a cert fore the © are a good player your finger makes | this change in guality of touch just | right, or nearly so. Yet you cannot | by he nd hours communicate these | nuances to a or player, until you | first of all have succeeded in making him hear them jn ¥ playing, and afterw make him measure his own | piaying by this mental pattern in his imaginatios Moreover, the variety of | ree is extremely sensitive, and when | u sound six notes at once you prac- | never sound them all with the Even in chords the energy n all the tones of a well- | rd, but certain intervals | are more intense than others. Some of | these differences are accidental, and practice tries to get rid of them; others | belong to the fine art itself, and we incpease them in what is called “voic- ing” and “coloring” in playing. In good ving (such as that of Busoni, <ky, in less degree with Harold er) the playing is full of a sensi- palpitating fluctuation of inten- sity, which never has been measured or determined mechanically and prob- ably never will be. The first thing a self-player does is to get rid of uncertainties. Given a certain number of tones in a piece and of certain relative durations, the self- .player can be depended upon to put them there every time., It does this by means of a very clever mechanism or two of them. First, there is the pneumatic actuating force. - The mo- tion of the player's feet exhausts a vacuum in what is called the bellows. The perforated roll of paper is punc- tured with little round holes and slots mathematically placed according to the tones wanted. The dots are short . tones, the slots longer ones. The per- forated roll passes over the edge of a sort of board, which is perforated by as many channels as there are keys to be used. (None of the self-players operates the whole keyboard—all ig- nore the highest and lowest octaves.) The playing fingers of the self-player are little levers, felt shod, which are actuated by means of little pneumatic bellows. This affords an elastic and sensitive force, more agreeable for the purpose than any purely mechanical lever action, which, when forced, might break the key. In all the early tically same fo is not eq sounded « e oroughly understand L, | impossible to miss getting it. | ever accenting the instrument permits | testimonials from some great pianists and anecdotes are numerous as to the gratification it gave them to hear the self-player, surpassing their fastest and most even work. Rosenthal was one of the first. His famous version in thirds of the Chopin “minute” waltz was played in the next room far faster and with greater certainty than he could do it. So also Sauer testi- fied. And lately Paderewski has ex- pressed pleasure in certain points of the instrument. Sauer’s recommenda- tion was both instructive and peculiar. He suggested that the instrument would be of great value to a pianist for playing over a lot of new music to find out which things he could expect to make the best effect with. It is quite certain that no really great art- ist would have taken this view, for a pianist does not need to hear a piece played to find out how it ought to sound. Why not read it by the aid of his musical imagination? Certainly this is what such men as Godowsky | and Busoni would have done. Nobody knows better than the virtu- oso0 pianists the vast, incredible prac- tice required to develop their art. I think they might do it with less, but then the cold fact remains that the men who have the virtuoso attainments in the strongest perfection (such as Godowsky, Busoni, Rosenthal, undoubt- edly Bauer) have practiced incredible | periods. Godowsky for years practiced from six to eight to ten and fourteen hours a day. Paderewski is liable any time he has a recital looming close ahead to sit down at the piano at 10] o’clock at night to go over a few things and be pulled away from the instru- ment at 4 o’clock in the morning, en- tirely forgetful of the length of time passed. This is the way it comes. And the number of repetitions they make of a given passage is stupendous. I have myself heard Godowsky play a passage in the Brahms-Handel variations scores of times a day for weeks together. When askéd why all these innumerable | repetitions he answered that it was not | a question of getting it, but of it being | Perfec- tion and automatic certainty, these are | the goals toward which the virtuoso| ne. Then when he hears a mere ma- chine play {is most incredible effort he is delighted and a little disgusted. But if he is a born virtuoso he goes on all | the same, for after all a man is better than a machine, eyen when he has done his best to make himself a ma-| chine. It is not true that an untaught per-| son, however sincere, can sit down to| the self-player and play Beethoven | sonatas, Liszt rhapsodies and rfllnuulic} symphonies as well as the grectest| artist. “Not by a jugful.” He can, no| matter how untaught, sit down and pump the instrument to its capacity; he can adjust the roll and run it through. What he gets will depend‘ upon good luck. For although the in- strument will produce the tones of the | piece in their order, the character of | the piece, its individuality, turns upon | | the little holding back here, accelerat- | ing there, and so on—the little accents which indicate idea. Before the sincere person can play the music of a| Beethoven sonata he will have to learn, | like all the rest of us, how to steer it—| when to go fast, when to go slow, how | fast, how slow. Even so much is not a| matter to be bought in exchange for a selling stamp. Even when he has se-| cured the proper rate of movement he is by no means out of the woods. What- | will have to be definitely applied where it will do good and further the com- poser’s idea. Then there are the “fakes” of the | instrument, by means of which the ex- pert operator creates the illusion of playing with expression, when, in fact, it is like Colonel Seller’s fine distinc- tion of an “appearance” of playing with expression. He can retard a lit- tle, accelerate, accent a little, and so on, and all these additions to the pure- ly automatic performances of the in- strument are worse than useless un- less properly and intelligently con- trolled. Yet there are artistic uses and edu- cational uses of the self-player which are of great value. Suppose, for in- stance, there is an ambitious teacher in a seminary far from the city. There is need of studying the chamber music and symphonies of the great masters, and there is equal need of hearing the larger repertory of the piano itself, for the great majority of music stu- dents stop before, passing a point equivalent to the third reader in school, and as yet there are no “courses in literature” in music. With a self-player everything can be repro- duced, and, what is bétter, it can be repeated indefinitely. One can stop, go ahead, linger over a passage, point out relations between distant parts in the work—in short, control it entirely for instructive purposes, with no ex- pert help beyond that of a sincere and fairly musical teacher. This is a great field in itself. Then there is that increasing public which likes to have the very words of the great masters within easy call. When one expects to hear a great artist soon, it is of very great assist- ance to have studied the proposed works in their detail, and yet in their proper .speed. This the instrument will give one. On one of the self- players the levers or playing fingers were of equal force; in later times one can give added force to the treble or pass at pleasure. You cannot, how- ever, bring out a single note in a chord, as is often desirable in playing, . and the division between the range where the bass stop gives you more force and the other part of the key- board, where the treble Qhas more force, is very arbitrary and liable to be crossed by the melody at undesir- able moments. It is evident that no machine yet devised can be made to distribute the total energy of a large chord between the various tones composing it in any other than a crude and haphazard sort of way. This part of the playing is destined to remain mechanical. It is impossible to apply extra force to the melody tones and less force to the ac- companiment, unless the two voices lie farther apart than they usually do in music meant to be played by two hends. Here the self-player is not to the same extent a music player. For the foremost of these contriv- ances will be found some very glowing players they have lately affixed an at- tachment for securing the proper rate of speed, by indexing on the roll a de- gree upon the “speed lever,” and when that is held at the degree mentioned | the roll proceeds at the rate signified Iin the mark. This enables the stu- dent to start with the correct tempo. Yet as to the details this kind of education, like all development, goes on two legs—the knowledge of the in- dividual and his care in personally conducting the instrument. Obvious as all these things are, I have never heard of any buyer of a self-player calling in the aid of a teacher of music to assist him in ac- quiring the rather elusive knack of in- terpretation—that is, to school him thoroughly in some one important piece, using the printed music along with the self-player. When a new stu- dent of some musical aptitude had THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL e R S A REUNE I AE O il B, o Al R I T S W R L BT T | CR RS bt Sl JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Propriefor « « « o « + + o « o Address All Communications to JOHN McNAUGHT, Manager Publication OfiCe +...eeseessss m— cebseresatBiniaaas ...Third and Market Streets, S. F. ..MAY 18, 1904 NOVEL POLITICS. WEDNESDAY .. — HE opening salvo at the Democrafc convention T in Santa Cruz was lively. It presented many nov- elties. Mr. Tarpey resigned his well-earned place as orator-at-large, and told the convention that as “the personal representative of Mr. Hearst” he had certain things to demand, among them being the chairmanship of the convention and an instructed delegation. We believe that this is the first time in American poli- tics that a convention was told by a personal representa- tive of a Presidential candidate that it must do certain things and not do certain other things. A personal rep- resentative utters the will of the man he represents, and it was as if Mr. Hearst were present demanding as his right certain things from a delegated body. Such course causes a convention to cease to be representative of a part of the people. It becomes merely the instrument of one person. Mr. Tarpey’s lieutenants followed, enforcing his de- mand. In his eagerness one forgot the common forms of the English language, and in a rhapsody said: “Un- less those who support Mr. Hearst do not secure the chairman of this convention, you must concede that we lose the battle.” The double negative with a dash of the subjunctive mode depressed the convention. It was evident that the Hearst orators had absorbed their style from the Examiner. Their speeches were like the recent remark in that paper about the German Prince Ratibor, that: “While fastidious in dress and manner he asks many questions and answers queries readily.” As Mr. Tarpey put his candidate into the fight for the chairmanship the convention took it up and the battle raged until one member declared that “Jefferson had never counseled Kilkenny cat fights,” and strove to convince the delegates that they must bury their differ- ences or call for two shillalahs apiece. This reference to the time-honored and battle-blooded blackthorn seemed to rouse the fighting spirit of the crowd, and a San Francisco delegate introduced a fiery and defiant bunch of whereases and a’ therefore-be-it-resolved, which denounced Hearst for being a millionaire born in this State and a traitor to it and to the party which was be- ing implored by his personal representative to support him for the Presidency. Hearst’s papers and his style of journalism were roasted to a cracklin, and he was ac- cused of appealing “to the most easily satisfied lusts of men, envy and malice.” Then one of Hearst's supporters, Mr. Tim McCarty, took the platform to defend his chief. The report in- dulges in an anatomical description of Mr. McCarty. His speech is not reported, and the incident ended with | a deputy sheriff robbing the platform of his interesting presence. Mid these sounds of confusion and creature complaints 4 roll call was had and Mr. Hearst’s candidate for the chairmanship was beaten by the rather narrow margin of twenty-two votes. This result uncorked more of the vials of wrath. Several of the Alameda delegation de- serted Tarpey on the roll call, whereupon that personal repfesentative rose in his wrath and said: “All of you that voted for Mr. Jeter are my friends, and I invite you to partake of my hospitality in my private headquarters. All of you who did not vote for Mr. Jeter I consider are not my friends, and I do not want to have anything to | securing the proper rate of movement,| do with you.” < This instead of casting oil upon the troubled waters was like throwing kerosene on the fire. The members from Alameda who were outlawed from Mr. Tarpey's graces, grub and headquarters went at him like bald-face hornets, and the dove of peace flew high in a panic. While the battle raged the astute McNab, leader of the anti-Hearst forces, was ubiquitous ahd conspicuously unoratorical. He kept his rhetoric to himself and re- pelled no one. He saw the danger in the narrow margin by which he won the first battle and foregathered with the weak-kneed Hearst men to lure them from the los- ing side and increase the strength of his own. The editorial denunciations of Hearst in the party papers were everywhere in evidence, but one of them was influential above all others. In a late issue of his Colusa Sun, General Greene said: “Let any delegate who goes to Santa Cruz and votes to instruct for Hearst be cer- tain that he gets all his reputation is worth.” That sig- nificant advice made a world of trouble. It was soon made known to Colonel Mazuma at the Hearst head- quarters that while his supporters were on instructions bent, they had a frugal mind. There was an immediate reassessment of the value of reputations. The effect was painful when it should have been pleasant. Instead of being pleased that so many citizens of high repute were supporting Hearst, it was evident that those of a low degree woultl have been more welcome. Another novelty was the impulse given to Hearst's fight by the powerful hand of the Southern Pacific rail- way. His delegates rode on passes and entire bunches voted with his personal representative on written orders from that corporation. This, coming upon his frenzied denunciations of the railroad, let the light into the char- nel house and illuminated the hypocrisy which has been the controlling influence in the California Democracy for thirty years. So the curtain raiser at Santa Cruz was surprising in its many novelties. Montana intends to send a bevy of her prettiest girls to the St. Louis Exposition with the heels of their dainty shoes fashioned of purest gold. While it may be all very well in Montana to stand on this sort of a gold basis the State will have to suggest something less bizarre than this to draw attention to ber interesting self. Must the young ladies always rely on their heels to charm? THE RIVER CONVENTION. HERE are indications that the convention which meets here on the 23d to consider ways and means to handle our river floods may be diverted into taking up the mining debris quarrel and so involve the dredge miners on Feather River. The river channels are incapable of carrying off great floods without overflow- ing the rich lowlands. If there had never been a hy- draulic or dredge mine worked in the State the same incapacity would exist in the streams. The question to be considered is the engorgement of floods in the lower reaches of the rivers, beyond the capacity of levees to restrain them. This sole question has difficulties enough without adding the mining issue to it. We know of no one who will say that if all hy- been carried through a dozen masters’ works thoroughly in this way, he would be able to obtain from his in- strument results of vastly better grade than he could hope to achieve by his own untaught efforts; and in time he would learn the art of discovering in any piece the idea it contains and be able to imagine how they ought to sound in the connection where they occur. draulic and dredge mining were stopped the capacity of the lower reaches of the rivers would equal the flood tax upon them. This being so, discussion of the ques- tion is a waste of time. The floods have devastated a large and very productive region. It has been for the time put out of action. The loss, direct and indirect, is so large as to affect the great interests of the State. Engineers and experts, delta farm- 7 ers and river navigators, men experienced in building levees and observers of flood action, will be called on to give their ideas of the difficulty and the method of its remedy. There will be many disagreements. Men are not of one mind about it. This division deters remedial action. It is expected that this convention will hear all plans proposed, weigh one against the other and finally in wisdom select the best in the hope that all interests concerned will concur in it and join forces to effect it. As the streams are navigable the Federal Government has a voice in the matter, and the Government engineers should be in the convention to give counsel and make suggestions. The owners of leveed property have rival interests, since a plan that would protect some levees might endanger others. The latter have their remedy at law, and it must be understood that they will not fail to seek it. Théerefore, lawyers are needed in the convention who will impartially point out what can be done legally to secure one man’s property without endangering that of other men. This all reveals the complicated nature of the questions to be discussed, and it will not be in the interest of a solution to further encumber the convention with a mat- ter which can have but a remote relation to the issue. The regularity and almost uniform success with which the young women of Alameda County are routing the burglarious thugs that have designs upon the purses of an unoffending public are passing almost unnoticed into the oblivion of yesterday’s dead events. The young ladies are earning a niche in the civic temple of fame. They are giving strenuous proof that the age of the Amazons is in hopeful, healthful revival. The veracious correspondents of the press must not stumble in their work. S regard to appropriating a portion of the taxes for the ensuing year to the construction by the muni- cipality of a new road upon Geary street. In these in- terviews it is stated that they might use the surplus of the taxes, over and above the allowance to each depart- ment, for the construction of this street railroad by the city. - We do not see how there can be any such surplus. The Charter requires that the Supervisors shall, between the first Monday of May and the first Monday of June, make a budget of the amounts estimated to be required to pay the expenses of conducting the public business of the city and county for the next ensuing fiscal year. The budegt shall be prepared in detail as to the aggre- gate sum and also the items thereof allowed to each department, office, board or commission. The Charter further provides that after the budget is completed the several sums specified in the budget shall then be appropriated to the several offices and depart- ments named in the budget, and the Supervisors must cause to be raised by taxation the amounts so appro- priated. There cannot, therefore, be under the law any surplus, unless at the end of the fiscal year there should be un- THE BUDGET AND A SURPLUS. OME of the Supervisors have been interviewed in expended in any particular fund the amount eslimated,t appropriated and levied for that fund for that year. The intent of the law is that there shall be no more taxes levied than are absolutely necessary to defray the expenses of the city government. It is, therefore, pro- vided that each officer, board, commission and depart- ment shall submit both to the Supervisors and the Audi- tor a detailed statement of his requirements for the en- suing year; that the Auditor shall, after examining these statements, also submit a detailed statement of the re- quirements of each officer, board, commission and de- partment, and also a statement of the probable amount to be raised by taxation to meet these requirements; that the Supervisors shall then determine the amount re- quired for each officer, board, commission and depart- ment, set forth these amounts separately in a budget and then levy a tax sufficient to cover these amounts and no more. Of course it might happen that in some department all of the estimated amount might not be expended. To meet this contingency the Charter provides that this sur- plus be transferred to the General Fund. But it was not contemplated that this surplus would ever be a ma- terial amount. In fact, so specific are the requirements of the Charter to insure the smallest possible levy, that a material surplus can arise only through gross incom- petence or dishonesty in the preparation of the budget. There should not, therefore, be any material surplus in the ensuing year's revenue to be available for any purpose. The only other surplus that could be included in the term used by the Supervisors is 2 portion of the money that was collected under a special levy for the purpose of the building of hospitals and new school buildings. It has been determined that this levy was illegal. A large portion of it was paid under protest and suits have been brought to recover the amounts so protested. Another portion, however, was paid by many thousands of poor people who were not sufficiently advised so as to make their payments under protest, nor sufficiently able to em- ploy attorneys to push their claims. These people are equitably as much entitled to the return of this illegal tax as those who protested and have brought suit to re- cover the same. At a recent revival meeting of religious people recently held in an Indiana town some miscreant threw a bottle of chloroform into the congregation and almost accom- plished murder. Crime is becoming apparently so motiveless and malignant that our sociologists will have to remodel their ideas of modern methods and ideals. There is hardly an American city that hasn’t more di- versified crime rampant in it than was ever dreamed of in our books. —_— The labor troubles in Colorado, that have been pro- lific of distress, disorder and death, have assumed an in- ternational aspect in the claim that a British subject was recently killed because the duly constituted authorities were powerless to protect his life. If the occasion ever demands a defense Uncle Sam might plead that the Brit- ish subject, now deceased, was certainly guilty of con- tributory negligence if he lived in the district longer than a day. —_——— Five burglars pleaded guilty recently to their crimes against the community and will shortly receive the pun- ishment they have earned. This action of these male- factors is the highest tribute paid in many years to our State courts. It is regrettably exceptional that a rascal, facing trial in a California court, finds it expedient, much less necessary, to plead for clemency from either Judge or jur'y- A\ Made in Honolulw, sald the man of many travels, “shaking dice in any public resort is prohibited by law, and the folk of gambling propensities have to resort to the spinning of a coin when they care to decide upon whom the honor of ‘buying’ shall fall. Now, I al- ways imagined that I was about as lucky in matching coins as the next person, and one night I readily agreed to play my part in the game of chance to see who would open the wine. But I was startled when my friends told me that I must spin my coin, allowing my opponent to call off ‘heads’ or ‘tails’ be- fore it had flattened down on the bar. One of them pulled a dollar out of his pocket and began to spin it. “Well, sir, 1 lost eight times hand running, and then I thought it time to call a halt. Just as a wild bluff I de- clared that if there was any more spin- {ning to be done we would use one of my dollars. My friends good-naturedly agreed, and then they began to lose. At last one of them laughed and admitted that he might as well let me into the trick. “He showed me the dollar which he had been spinning, and on the milled edge he pointed out the least little cut, which had béen made so that a flake of the silver stood out from the edge. Then he explained by spinning the dol- lar how the coin would have an entire- | ly different ring when'it began to settle | down on the nicked side from that it gave forth when the uncut edge was| underneath. Of course, if the nicked | side was ‘heads,” for instance, my op- ponents had no trouble in beating me, whether they spun the coin or I did. It| was the clearest case of robbery that I have seen in many a long day.” Carlyle on Spencer. Herbert Spencer’s opinion of Carlyle was given to the reading public not long ago and now the London papers are printing a story giving the view which the sage of Chelsea held of the great philosopher. A prominent member of the Liberal party when at school, runs the story, was taken by his father to see Carlyle, and was bidden to treasure in the | depths of his soul the words of wis- | dom which would fall from the great | man. At first Carlyle was taciturn, and the boy, by the way of opening the conversation, suitably said: “I have seen two philosophers to-day, for |as we came along papa pointed out | Herbert Spencer in a bus.” With ma- | Jestic emphasis Carlyle replied: “And have ye seen Herbert Spencer, laddie? | Then ye've seen the most unending {ass in Christendom.” Dr. Crozier, in his book, “My Inner Life,” tells of an interview with Carlyle {in which much the same opinion of Spencer was expressed. He says that | ! Carlyle “went off into a peal of deri- |sive laughter as he thought of him | (i. e., Spencer), and after a pause, and |in allusion perhaps to the extent of fSpencer's writings, he exclaimed con- | temptuously, ‘An immeasurable ass! And so ye have been meddling with Spencer, have ye? He was brought to {me by Lewes, and a more conceited | young man I thought I had never seen. He seemed to think himself a perfect | Owl of Minerva for knowledge!” And ‘Hh?n, looking fiercely at me, ‘Ye'll get { little good out of him, young man.” " Woodland Joys. While strolling far afield one idle day, 1 came upon a limpid, erystal spring; A sun-flecked gem that purled within | a ring { Of golden buttercups in rich array. Its tinkling little streamlet seemed to say A woodland welcome to each living thing, Gray, sporting squirrels, and birds upon the wing, That on their happy errands passed that way. A crimson-breasted robin paused beside The tangled, mossy margin of the pool, But ere he drank he voiced a melody His joyous little heart could never hided— He trilled a song of thanks, then sipped the cool, Clear waters of the spring ni ecstacy. —Paul C. Edwards, in Stanford Sequoia. The Tabloid Age. A writer in the London St. James Gazette believes that we are all of us destined soon to lead “the tabloid life.” Here is his plaint: “It is surely coming. Already they condense eggs and send them in the solid to the ends of the earth. Now milk is being similarly treated. Only when they havé got the milk solidified they do not devote it solely to culinary —— plant thrives profusely in Northern Ni- geria, and it is these forests which are to be explojted. A sample of the plant has been analyzed by the botan- ical authorities of Kew Gardens, Lon- don, and these investigations show that the rubber exists in the roots in suf- ficiently large quantities to warrant development. The name of the plant is Londolphia thrallonil. It is to be found in many places on the west coast of Africa. One firm which is al- ready engaged in the manufacture of this rubber is placing it upon the mar- ket at 75 cents a pound, and It is in every respect equal to the ordinary rubber. India rubber has become such an in- dispensable material In the arts and sciences that users will be glad to learn that a fresh source of supply is saild to have been found in. the white mangrove tree, which grows plentifully in the swampy lands along the coast of Central Queensland. The sap is obtained by making incisions in the bark of the tree and allowing it to run into tins. Some samples of the rubber thus obtained are said to have brought $1 a pound in England. An idea of the importance of the rubber trade may be formed from the state- ment that the United States and Eng- land alone absorb meore than 10,000,000, pounds annually. Loubet and the Princess. Now that M. Loubet has left Rome, anecdotes of his sojourn here are com- ing to the fore. The President was much taken with the two little daughters of the King, whom she saw each morning in the garden under his windows. Yolanda, the elder, at once de friends, as she is not in the least shy, and cannot con- ceive that she is not welcome any- where and always. The day after M. Loubet's arrival, when she saw his face at the window, she smiled and waved her hand in greeting, and later om, meeting him, re- marked—putting him much out of countenance, as the Queen was pres- ent—that she liked him much better in his shirt sleeves than in biack. On another occasion she invited him to go for a drive in her donkey-cart, she driving, and when he said it was, perhaps, better to walk beside it, she said scornfullv, “Afraid, I suppose! I will make them walk all the way! German Canned Beef. The Vissische Zeitung of Berlin says: “The German attempt to produce canned meat equal in quality to the American and Australian product has achieved no definite success. German canned meat cannot be for Germany what the ‘corned beef’ was—a good and cheap food material for the people. It was a great mistake in our economic policy to prevent the importation of the American and Australian canned meats. Sanitary objections do not ex- ist, and our agriculturists derive no advantage from the prohibition; but, on the other hand, the laborer is de- prived of a cheap and nutritious food product.” Answers to Queries. PALACE HOTEL—E. C., Oakiand, Cal. The Palace Hotel in San Fran- cisco will accommodate without crow ing 1200 guests. The number of help runs into the hundreds. MEXICAN MONEY—M. E. A, Ala- meda, Cal. The Mexican money brought to San Francisco is sent to China. The valuation of Mexican dollars the United States is 43.3 cents each. in HATS—Agent, City. There are Pan- ama hats and Panama hats, some of a very fige quality that command a very high price, and others of an inferior quality that command a less price. This department has no means of knowing if purpdses. The fluid solidified becomes mainly an article for manufacture. The inventive mind of a Vienna scientist has discovered a way of utilizing skimmed milk for the manufacture of sugar of milk and—milk champagne. The latter is mixed with fruit juices and impregnated with carbonic acld, and is champagne! From the residuum of casein cheese, glue and putty are de- rived. But the greatest wonder is gala- lith, or petrified milk. This forms a substance which acts as substitute for horn, shell, ivory, celluloid, marble, am- ber and hard rubber. Handles of knives and forks, paper cutters, cray- ons, pipes, cigar holders, seals, marble, stone ornaments—all these are now made of skimmed milk. Austria is manufacturing the new substance at the rate of 5000 gallons of skimmed milk per day. The cow is thus not only meat and drink, footwear, medicine and ornament to man its master; now we are to build us marble halls of its milk. The castle in Spain is doomed when we can go and extract a mansion from the dairy.” Substitute for Rubber. A French botanist, in the course of his explorations a few weeks ago in the sandy plains of the French Congo, discovered a plant, the bark of which contained a large nwmy of fibrous rubber. At the time any at- tention was paid to the discovery, says the Scientific American, but, owing to the scarcity of rubber and its high commercial value, which is really so prohibitive as to prevent a very wide employment of the substance, attempts are being made in England to turn this mew discovery into commercial use. The the “hats displayed in store windows in San Francisco and marked $ to $15" are genuine Panama hats or not, FIRE-PROOF—J. G. L., City. At the time the Palace Hotel in San Francisco was built the present manner of build- ing fire-proof buildings—steel, terra cotta partitions, etc.—was not known. It was at that time classed as a fire- proof building. It is built of fron and brick, with lath and plaster partitions on frame studding, but at the time of the building unusually thick coatings of plaster were put on. POSTAGE STAMPS—Curious, City. Livingston, whose portrait appears on the new one-cent oblong postage stamps, issue of 1904, was Robert R. Livingston, who graduated at Kings (now Columbia) College, became a law- yer, member of the New York Assem- bly and delegate to the Continental Congress. He served on the committee of five that drafted the Declaration of Independence. He was Secretary of Foreign Affairs 1781-1783, and was a prominent Federalist in the ratifying convention at Poughkeepsie in 1788. Meanwhile he was Chancellor of the State of New York, and administered the ocath of office to Washington in 1789. While United States Minister to France, 1801-1805, he helped to nego- tiate the Louisiana purchase. He is re- membered also for his connection with many socleties in New York City and his association with Fulton in the be- ginning of steamboat navigation. B Townsend's California Glace fruits in artistic fire-etched boxes. 715 Market st.* Clipping Press Bureau (Allen’s), 230 Cale ifornia street. Telephone Main 1042, *