The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 20, 1904, Page 8

THE SAN FRANCISCO CA] FRIDAY, MAY 20, 1904 A\ = Qe —— AT * A Modern Utopia. Special Correspondence. HEADQUARTERS OF THE CALL, | i b H RIETTA STREET, COVENT | GARDEN, LONDON, May 8—Folk who.hold that money is the root of all | -evil may find support for that belief in | the Isle of Tristan da Cuhna. For though seventy-seven white folk In- habit s flyspeck of an island in the | South Atlantic, there is no money in circulation among the signifi- cantly enough, there also is no wrong- doing of a description. Wrote a re- ‘ tor to the “Money | be useless, for there is nothing And he continued, “Living in sobriety and harmony, free | apparen 1 all crime, vice, dissen- or double dealipg. the inhabitants da Cuhna seem unconscious- ave carried out the purpose en- i the original settler in| Jonathan Lambert, by keeping | themselves ‘bevond the reach of chi- canery and ¢ ry misfortune.” They and, nd, ) writte s. All being law- ed none, each doing eth right in his own eyes. Crime among them 3 , such an institution would be a superfluity. They have no form of government and pay no taxes. They enjoy perfect independence and | freedom, which never degenerates intc | license. The community is absolutely | moral.” The outsider who recently visited this later day Arcadia did so for the pur- pose of finding out whether its inhab- itants really wanted to leave it. Tris- tan de Cuhna belongs to England, and in January, 1903, a British man of war called at the island and afterward re- ported that most of the people were | weary of their life of isolation and wanted to get away from' the place. So the Government of Cape Colony sent a representative to offer the isl- anders free transportation to that | country if they wished it, as well as the means of making a new start in life. But when the agent explained to the folk of Tristan da Cuhna how dif- ferent the outside world was from their island home the little community of seventy-seven decided to let well enough alone. And the visiting official thinks they have acted wisely, for he | says that “having lost the instincts of suspicion and circumspection they would fare jll if set adrift in any civil- ized community where each man plays @« lone hand in the game of life and cares little who loses so long as he himself wins.” Just as there are no newspapers in Tristan da Cuhna, no postoffices, no churches and no schools there also are | no shops. The only time, in fact, when | the inhabitants think of anything like ning is when they trade withships the island. Even then, how- there i no competition among All provisions or produce of kind supplied to ships are re- garded as the common property of the community and the proceeds of their | Jail. They have no them sale in clothing or stores are dis- tribdted equaliy among the several | households, the blowing of a horn | summoning a representative of each | family to the division. To make the system work out fairly each family takes its turn in supplying what a | ship needs. Tristan da Cuhna was discovered in 1506 by the Portuguese navigator whose name it bears. Great Britain took possession of it some three hun- | dred years later and while Napoleon was imprisoned on St. Helena, 1300 miles distant, placed a detachment of British soldiers there as a sort of out- post garrison. On the death of Na- poleon in 1821 the soldiers were with- drawn, but a certain Corporal Glass with his wife and family and a few other men were allowed to remain. In 1833 the population numbered forty | souls and in 1852 had risen to eighty- five. In the course of the next two decades twenty-five left the island for the United States and forty-five mi- grated to the Cape, reducing the num- ber of those remaining on the island | nillside where grew the Tussock grass iprublmns of sociology, the little com- | | emotion, over a disaster that would have wrecked a colony of carefully selected idealists. = Nature has been at no pains to pre- pare an earthly paradise on this lone- ly isle, Its remoteness from the worla of strife and unrest is what has con- tributed most to the establishment of an Arcadia there. The island is a vast volcanic cone almost 8000 feet in height, which was hurled up out of the sea aeons ago. The base is a rough circle, the circumference of which, something over twenty miles in extent, is defined by steep cliffs from 1000 to 2000 feet high. On the northwest a plateau some five miles long and about a mile broad, intervenes between ‘these cliffs and the sea, and this also drops ab- ruptly about 100 feet to the actual sea beach.? It is on this low lying stretch of ground that the little com- munity dwells and cultivates what crops they can obtain, mostly potatoes. A copious stream of fresh water | bursts out at the foot of the lofty | cliffs running across the northern end of the plateau and falling over the lower cliffs into the sea, making a pic- turesque cascade and a refreshing] sight for mariners whose water casks | need replenishing. Near this rivulet the fifteen or six- teen dwellings of the settlement are grouped. Some years ago a part of the | spring was diverted near its source by | cutting a furrow, so that a tributary | stream now passes by the door of near- ly every ome of the houses to reunite just above the cascade. The houses are buflt of soft stone obtained from the high slopes of the mountain, dressed to fit so exactly that the scanty mortar used is scarcely needed. They are all built on substantially .the same plan, about thirty feet long and ten broad, and only one storey in height. One-half of each house is de- voted to the sitting room, with a large fireplace and chimney in the gable, the remainder being divided into two or more smaller rooms, with communi- cating passages. The wood used in the partitions has been obtained from ships that have called at the island or been | cast ashore there. A relic of one of | these shipwrecks is seen in the inscrip- | tion “Mabel Clarke” which appears on | a piece of timber used in constructing one of the bed rooms. For rescuing | the crew of this vessel, in 1878, the isl- | anders were rewarded by the Unitéd States Government. They have troubles of their own, like | all other peoples. The worst of them | came from the outside world. Over | two score vears ago a schooner was | wrecked on the island and a lot of rats escaped from her to the shore, multi- plying so fast that they soon overran the island, rendering the cultivation of grain impossible and sweeping bare the with which they used to thatch their cottages. Now each householder has to | raise what he needs of it in a walled- | in inclosure_from which the rats can be kept at bay. The rats are the curse | of the island. The Tristanites will erect a monument to the memory of anybody who will rid them of the pest. | For many reasons it would seem to be eminently desirable that the exist- ence of this island Arcadia should be | perpetuated. As an object lesson in the solution of some of the most vexed munity may some day be deemed worthy of the study of some of our learned professors who have evolved various theories as to how the greatest | happiness may be attained by the greatest number. A Pos;fur Sherlock. The following anecdote is told by An- | drew Lang in the Sign of the Ship in | Longman’s: A man and wife in town | were congratulating themselves just ! before dinner on dining, for once, alone | and at home. To them enter another| man and his wife, who were neither| known nor looked for, and had obvi-! ously come to the wrong house—a thing | that will happen in London. The hosts dissembled and welcomed them (al thing that, as a matter of fact, does occur). and all went smoothly till the ladies left the drawing-room. Then the ! guest turned to his host, and said with | “Now, do tell me the whole stery about poor Sophia.” What was | the host to do? With presence of mind | he replied, “It is really too painful. I| hope you will excuse me.” *“Oh, cer- tainly, certainly,” said the guest, “T would not be curious,” and he changed the subject. When the guests had gone, and the hosts were wondering, a servant brought an envelope which the guests had left. It was adressed in pencil, “For Sophia,” and contained a handful of bank-notes. Now, the ho&u' knew neither the name nor address of the guests, and they vainly adver- tised for them. Puzzle for Sherlock Holmes, to find out the adventure of poor Sophia.—St. James Gazette. to thirty-six. An enumeration made in 1880 showed 109 living there and these figures have remained the high water mark of population. There have been two violent deaths, but they were cases of suicide due to mental de- rangement. What makes the high moral record of the little community so remark- able (or does it really furnish one ex- planation of it?) is the fact that the | e ways. original stock was by no means “picked” as is the case with many rigging to the water, and as he could more ambitious attempts to establish | not swim he would have been drowned ideal colonies which have signally | put for a young officer who sprang in failed. The male progenitors were| aeter him and held him up till assist- just plain, ordinary, rough and ready | ance came. men, the nationalities represented among them being Scotch, Irish, Eng- complimentary letter from the Secre- lish and Dutch. They married col- ored women, one being of African |put the old seaman; he coveted the let- birth and three others Asiatics. But | ter for his ensign. in their descendants there are little signs of the “tar brush.” In 1885 a great disaster befell the islanders. Fifteen. men, comprising nearly the whole adult male popula- tion, were lost in a boat that left the island to board a passing vessel, mak- | eagerly. ing of Tristan, as one of the survivors | the main chains, fussing with some- expressed it, ““an island of widows and | thing or other, and I might fall in, and children.” But the women an' Dboys and girls had been trained rugged school of self-help and th B of abandoning themselves to weeping | I'm not and moping they set to work to make | means.’ the best of the situation and with the aid of some supplies from the British | seaman. Government stuck it out, triumphing | comes.’ An Easy Rescue. A story is told in the Youth's Com- panion of an old seaman on one of the United States cruisers in the North At- lantic squadron. He was not a person of wide affectations, but he had a warm place in- his heart for a young ensign who had been kind to him in many lit- One day a landsman fell from the Later the young officer received a tary of the Navy. Every one rejoiced “That’s a nice thing to have, a letter like that,” he said a few days later. u ought to have one.” “I don't quite see how I can get one,” laughed the ensign. “Well, see here,” said the old man “To-morrow night I'll be in you could jump after me.” . “That would be very good of you,” said the ensign, gravely, “but, you see, a good swimmer by any “Ho! That's no matter,” said the old “T'll hold you up till the bmx | speakers found their inspiration in the State, the prog- | falling of the chairman’s gavel resembled a meeting of THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Proprietor « - « « « + « « . . Address All Communications to JOHN McNAUGHT, Manager PUBBORION OO0 .. 2% - pe« o oleisssaessaideshoniasessntse ot tioien shaners® in s NANIET anE Miirkhot Stiects, 5. ¥ — FRIDAY RS S A DR e SRR cecees...MAY 20, 1904 CONVENTION CONTRASTS. T is impossible to avoid notice of the contrasts be- l tween the Republican and Democratic State conven- tions. At Santa Cruz the talk was all about the per- sonal ambitions of men. Oratory found its sole inspira- tion in the promotion of personal partisan interests. The welfare of the people and the promotion of their progress had no place in the speeches. All around were the evidences of the thrift and enter- prise of the State. Plainly manifest everywhere were the signs written by nature and enhanced by man, ex- pressing the greatness of achievement and the glory of California. But.the Santa Cruz orators saw it all with jaundiced eye, and their vision conjured evils where ! none exist in order to give play to frothy denunciation and make appeals to the spirit of class and faction. That convention tramped around in a narrow circle, and was | not enlivened with a single great and unselfish utterance. Its contests were to make good accumulated greeds and grudges, and its most impassioned flights of speech were indulged to glorify enmities or further the schemes of selfish and unworthy ambition. At the Republican Convention in Sacramento there was the same setting of the gifts of nature and the achievements of man, but how different the effect of these and how different the expression of -purpose! The ress of its people, its material greatness and the prosper- ity of its cities. The Republican Convention from the the representatives of the material interests whereon the enterprise of the people is wrought, and upon which they depend for the rewards of thrift which build their homes, fill their tables and enlarge and refine their lives. Among the delegates were the agriculturists and hor- ticulturists, the miners, dairymen, irrigators, shipbuilders, merchants, bankers and business men of California. They honestly recognized a connection between politics and the public welfare, between public policies and the even-handed progress of the people. As all vocations were represented, those who spoke for them knew that there can be no partial prosperity. To be real, prosper- ity must be general and within the reach of every man’s industry, thrift, temperance and genius. Representing all the interests that make California what it is, the dele- gates stood for equality of opportunity, without chasing after patent plans for making all men equal in their capacity to use opportunity. As might have been expected in an assembly so con- stituted, there was no bitterness of partisanship nor de- nial of patriotic motives to others. The chairman, Judge Burnett, in his speech of acceptance said: “No intelligent man believes and no honest man would assert that the foundations of the Government are in danger or the institutions of liberty imperiled. There are too many honest, intelligent, liberty-loving, God-fearing, law- respecting and patriotic citizens in both the political parties to tolerate any policy that would jeopardize our national integrity or break down the bulwarks of our constitutional rights. We abate nothing of our admira- tion for the ability, honor and patriotism of thousands of our political opponents, and pay willing tribute to the value of their services in promoting the highest wel- fare of the mation; yet we declare that no other political organization than the one we represent since the world began has so thoroughly demonstrated its capacity to administer in the highest degree of efficiency the affairs of a great government.” There is the true note of Americanism. It is a poor use to make of party spirit for one set of Americans to charge their countrymen with the intention of destroying the constitution and subverting liberty. The constructive nature of the Republican motive never had better expres- sion than at Sacramento; while the opposite motive, | the destructive, aimed at the material interests of the { country, was voiced at Santa Cruz. California is a microcosm of the whole country. The Republican party has enacted the gold standard, made our money the best and most plentiful in the world, It has fought another successful war, and is bearing the burdens that resulted in a spirit of philosophy and op- timism. It has made sure of accomplishment the world’s greatest work in the building of an isthmian canal. It has entered world politics as the defender of justice, the promoter of equal rights of commerce in Asia, the protector of the integrity of China against selfish ag- gression, and has established the standard of fair play wherever an American man-of-war can defend it or an American soldier fight for it.” To say that all this has heen done without making some mistakes would be to claim supernatural attributes for an organization of mere men. But to say that it must be destroyed because of those mistakes is like saying that the winds must not blow nor the showers fall because gales sink some ships and the rains cause some floods. Perhaps there is no more prejudiced Democratic par- tisan in the country than Governor Garvin of Rhode Island. But under the husk of his partisanship there are some grains of American common sense. In a re- cent’ address he said of President Roosevelt, after at- tacking by misrepresentation his foreign policy, charg- ing him with disregard of international law and with ignorance of political economy, that, “after all, the Presi- dent is really desirous of serving the people of the United States.” To this Governor Garvin added: “Presi- dent Roosevelt is the idol of that majority of the Re- publican party which at heart is Democratic.” That is merely one way of saying that at heart the people all have the same patriotic purpose, and the Pres- ident is as deserving of the support of Democrats as of Republicans who can see the interests of their country as paramount to mere party selfishness. T parts of the State, collected and published by The Call, shows a gratifying promise of a full year. These regorts are not hearsay matters, but are gathered at first hands by this paper. To the reader outside of the State they present the great and interesting variety of the products of the soil made possible here by our climatic conditions. In the same counties we can re- port the condition of oranges and lemons, pears, peaches, grapes and all deciduous fruits; of wheat, rye, oats, bar- ley, sugar beets, olives, figs, alfalfa, almonds and wal- nuts. p It will be seen that while in one county some kind of fruit is a light crop in another it is heavy. Where ‘grain is light hay is heavy, and so on to the end of the list. This means a full year for the whole State. There is a prospect of good prices and an absorptive market. All crops are well past any possible accident, and the fruit harvest is already on. The cherries and apricots THE STATE'S CROPS. HE comprehensive review of crop conditions in all are going to market, and peaches and figs will follow before the end of the month. Grapes will appear in June, followed closely by melons, and the movement will be ceaseless until oranges meet cherries again next year. Our reports of crop conditions will be found good matter to send to Eastern people. They are still buffeted ‘between winter and spring, and have suffered from frosts that have cut off the fruit and early vegetables. This puts them in a condition to long for a State where the wheat is in head, the oranges in bloom and the cherries ripe, and where strawberries and shad are on the table eleven months in the year. They want to know about a country where' January and June are much alike, and the land yields four and a half tons of sugar to the acre, and men can grow their own wine and oil, and en- joy both under their own vine and fig tree. They will note that on the day we publish these reports Boston had a temperature of 52, with an east wind; Cincinnati 48, Washington 58. That is cold for the East. Here we were enjoying a summer temperature and eating cher- ries, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries and apricots, with no frost bites to doctor and no chilblains to swear about. R e The chattering of young lady students at Berkeley ! during recitation and lecture hours has assumed the dig- nity and difficulty of a problem to the university authori- ties. Why not make a requisition for gum in large quan- tities and keep mouths going but tongues silent> The chatterers even might accept the change as a compen- satior Omarkets have inaugurated a crusade against impure and aduiterated milk which has an immediate pertinence to public health. Recently the Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance raising the standard of butter fat required in milk by fixing the percentage at 3.3 from Jan- uary I to April 30, and 3.4 from May 1 to December 3r. THE MILK SUPPLY. UR city officials whose duty it is to keep a vigilant More important still is the report that Health Officer ! Ragan is preparing upon the unsanitary condition of dairies and milk ranches from which the city's supply is drawn. The recent disclosures of criminal fraud and negli- gence in the milk supply of Chicego should put us here in San Francisco upon our guard. In that city it was shown that the milk sold at exorbitant rates that made it almost prohibitive to the poorer classes was of such low grade of nutriment as to be no food at all. Compar. isons of the statistics of infant mortality in Chicago with those of other cities of the East led to the discov- ery that many of the young in the tenements, whose cnly food consisted of this diluted milk, actually starved for want of proper nourishment. By setting the standard of butter fat in milk offered for consumption here in this city at the figures noted the Board of Supervisors has done much to insure a wholesome supply of the commodity. The dairymen’s plaint that the scarcity of feed in the winter months prohibits the output of rich milk has been met by a lower standard required for the first four months of the year by the ruling of the Supervisors, with a corre- spondingly higher percentage demanded during the months of good feeding. No dairyman can justly cavil at this last standard set for his goods, lower, indeed, than that required in many Eastern cities. . In the matter of unsanitary sources of supply, to be noted by Health Officer Ragan in his report, a danger | far more grave has to be met. “From my personal ob. servation,” says Ragan, “I am constrained to say tha not one of the dairies is fulfilling the requirements dg manded by the sanitary laws. 1 venture to say thit there are no absolutely clean dairies within the city limits, notwithstanding the evidence before the Super- visors that some of them are models of cleanliness.” The officer goes on to show just how bad some of the milk ranches are by reciting evidences of uncleanliness which had come under his observation. TFhis city does not want a typhoid epidemic such as devastated the town of Butler, Pennsylvania, on account of its bad water, or Palo Alto through the contamination spread by one vender of bad milk. ‘The sale of diluted or germ-laden milk is as criminal a proceeding as the offer of tainted meat upon the market, and one calcu- lated to bring more widespread harm. The Board of Supervisors should prosecute their precautionary meas- ures without cease until our milk is as pure and whole- some as the most exacting standards of health demand. | —— Alameda County in her many cities, towns, hamlets and nestling communities, some not yet on the map, is law-abiding, peaceable, contented with her¥elf and happy with the world. We have the word of her own officers for it, an assurance made after due inquiry and diligent searching of conscience. So let malefactors beware and shun Alameda, for it is hazardous to prey on a popula- tion where everybody, even the office-holder, is law- abiding. Chief of Police Wittman says that San Francisco is desperately in need of more policemen. It is a matter of the deepest satisfaction to the public to know just what the matter has been with our police force. Most of us have labored under the delusion, now happily re- moved, that the fault was in the quality, not the quan- tity. It might not be unwise, however, to improve what we have while waiting to get more. s —_— - The Regents of the University of California have made glad the hearts of the teaching staff by voting a liberal increase in salaries to the men in whose care is the conduct of the highest public school education in the State. This recognition from the administrative body of the univessity has been well won, but it should be only a beginning. Some of the instructors at Berkeley are still wretchedly underpaid. A mild-mannered man of this city sued his better half for a divorce the other day because she expressed an emphatic and evidently sincere desire to have him cut into thirty-three separate and distinct portions. The natu- ral repugnance of the gentleman involved is not a cir- cumstance in interest to the inquiry of where the lady was taught her system of correct carving in the matri- monial market. ——ee. Out of the depths of sophisticated San Francisco a miragle of arcadian simplicity has come to startle us and encourage. One of our worthy fellow-citizens went recently to a suburban Sunday picnic, fell asleep on the boat that carried him homeward, and, accordidg to his tale of woe, was robbed of his watch. He should be modeled in bronze as a persenification of the bucolic. eye upon the food offered for consumption in our | Lawson’s Five Mex. | Justice of the Peace Lawson has had | 2 number of very peculiar experiences since his election to the bench. He is brimful of stories that serve to show that the office of Justice of the Peace is not a sinecure, and he can also tell a number that show that at times the office may be quite an easy place to fill. Some of the latter also show that a Justice of the Peace can be equally ‘“easy.” This is his latest: “Just after I had adjourned court the other morning I went to my chambers to do a little work. I found awaiting me there a very handsome young woman, stylishly dressed, and a young man whose clothes indicated that he was fairly well-to-do. He was also good-looking and when he stepped for- ward, introduced himself and asked me to make the young lady his wife, I cheerfully assented. They really did look good to me. Well, to make a long story short, I performed the ceremony, gave them the usual good wishes and the ‘thank you' I gave the groom when | he handed me a sealed envelope con- taining something that weighed quite heavy, was heartfelt. I dropped the en- i velope on the desk. The sound it made | almost made me feel like saying ‘thank you' again, but I refrained and walked |to the door with them and ushered them out. I gave them another bunch of good wishes and then went over {0 my desk. Naturally the envelope at- tracted my eye, so I picked it up and | proceded to tear it open. I found five dollars in silver—but the dollars had | been made in Mexico.” i | 4As the Registrar Sees Us. “We have all sorts of queer people who come here to get registered,” said | Registrar Adams. “Among them I re- call the man who came just before the last election, saying that he wanted to | Qualify to vete for Schmitz for Presi- dent of the United States, evidently | thinking that the Mayoralty candidate -had higher aspirations than he was | credited with. Then again there was the man who had landed here from a for- eign steamer only the day before and | wanted to vote right away. He was sadly disappointed when told that he | would have to wait several years before e could acquire the elective fran- hise. “Yesterday a pompous individual ap- peared at the office and informed us in a loud voice that he desired to get reg- istered. He said among other things, {that it was a shame to put a citizen | to all the trouble of coming out to the City Hall and opined that the registra- tion should be carried out in the same ! manner as that of taking the school | census, that is, qualified deputies | should call at houses and register the ‘voters. “ ‘Is this the place where I register?” asked the aforesaid citizen. “ ‘Well, the office is right down stairs. You had better hurry up though, as i they are waiting for you." | “ ‘Waiting for me,’ sald the citizen | with a conscious air of superiority. | ‘Now how in the world did they know !I was coming? " Ole Time Religion. Brother Williams loved that good old song—an’ sung it fur-an’ free— “Gimme the old-time religion—it's good enough fer me!” He used to send it ringin’ from the old church—fur away, { An’' the angels had to listen, or—jest | take a holiday! ‘When they’'d spring new-fangled doctrine —any time, or any place, & | "Bout takin' 'way his privilege of fallin’ 'way from grace,— 7 Any hifalutin’ notions—well, he couldn’t hear or see! cad “@Gimme the old-time religior—it's good enough fer me!” | | | Well, it happened so, he said good-by— | } moved whar the city shines, | An’ left us praisin’ God alone. down yon- | der. in the pines; | An’ he jined a big ole meetin' house, | with rich folks. an’ the like, | An’ one o' them tall steeples that the | lightnin’ loves to strike. ‘Whar they take up big collections—thou- san’ dollars at a clip, Fer these new style improvements to the 7 ole-time Gospel Ship! An’ once the leader riz an’ said: privileged to say, want a thousan’ dollars from each brother here to-day!” “I'm We Then Brother Williams slowly riz, an’ took his hat an’ cane, An’' walked as lively down that aisle as some ole country lane! H An’ hit the grit a-singin’ loud out, an' i full, an' free: 3 “Gimme the ole-time religion—it's good enough fer me!” —Atlanta Constitution. Japanese Paper. From the bark of trees and shrubs the Japanese make scores of papers, which are far ahead of ours. The walls of the Japanese houses are wooden frames covered with thin pa- per, which keeps out the wind but lets in the light, and when one compares these paper walled “doll holises” with the gloomy bamboo cabins of the in- habitants of the island of Java or the small windowed huts of our forefathers one realizes that, without glass and in a rainy climate, these ingenious people have solved in a remarkable way the problem of lighting their dwellings and | at least in a measure of keeping out the cold. Their oiled papers are.astonishingly cheap and durable. As a cover for his load of tea when a rainstorm overtakes him, the Japanese farmer spreads over it a tough, pliable cover of oiled paper, which is almost as impervious as tar- paulin and as light as gossamer. He has doubtless carried this cover for years, neatly packed away somewhere about his cart. The “rikisha" coolies in the large cities wear rain mantles of this oiled paper, which cost less than 18 cents, and for a year or more with constant use. » 2 Grain and meal sacks are almost al- ‘ways made of bark paper in Japan, for it is not easily penetrated by weevils and other insects. o “RCST pouches and pipe cases are made. They are almost as tough as French kid, so translucent that one can nearly see through them, and as pliable and soft as calfskin. The material of which they are made is as thick as cardboard, but as flexible as kid.—National Geo- graphic Magazine. Louisiana French. Congressman Broussard of Loufsi- ana is, as his name indicates, of French descent. He never spoke Eng- lish until he went to Georgetown Uni- versity. “It is curious,” says Mr. Broussard, “how the French language has remained the dominant tongue in my part of the country. Brought here by Arcadians of Nova Scotia in the eighteenth century, it prevails to-day, and I believe always will. Curiously enough, you will find plenty of men in my district with such unmistakably English names as Jones and Hayes who can't read, speak or write a word of English. Still funnier is the talk of the black people. Their negro French would be unintelligible in Paris, and yet it is the softest, sweet- est, most musical speech I ever heard from human lips. It knows no gram- mar, but it is the very essense of euphony and melody.” A Bohemian Graft. An action recently brought by the Bohemian town of Deutsch-Landsberg against the Bohemian provinecial authorities revealed the astonishing fact that a tramp named Waselowsky had been kept in the local prison for three years while inquiries as to his identity were being made. In this country the parish authori- ties of the place where a man is born are responsible for the cost of parochial relief or imprisonment anywhere else. Waselowsky presumably found the prison at Deutsch-Landsberg to his taste, refused all information as to his origin, and was detained by the pa- rochfal authorities for Inquiries three whole years without any result. They now claimed, but unsuccessful- 1y, the cost of his keep from the pro- vincial authorities. Mark Twain Flattered. Mark Twain was greatly flattered when a friend, who had been visiting Darwin, told him how the great man had pointed to an open book lying on a table and said, “You must be care- ful not to disturb that. That book is ‘The Innocents Abroad." I read it night and morning.” Mark Twain—he tells the story himself—bought a copy of Darwin’s biography te learn what might be said there about himself. The only possible allusion to his works, he says, was the statement that Darwin ’in. his later years suffered from a spe- cies of atrophy of the brain, which in- cavacitated him from the enjoyment of good literature and compelled him to seek mental rest in the perusal of trashy novels and vacuous humer. Anszvers to Queries. A FUTURE DATE—Subscriber, Oakland, Cal. The Fourth of July, 1776, fell on a Thursday: July 4, 1876, on a Tuesday, and in 1976 it will fall on a Sunday. COINS—Subscriber, Redding, Cal. Questions relative to the value of coins that are sent to this department will be answered by mail if the cor- respondent sgnds a self-addressed and stamped envelope. RAILROAD BUSINESS—M. A. S. City. The question asked relative to the duties of certain employes of a railroad company is not a public mat- ter and of the kind of questions that this department answers. You may obtain such information by applying at the general office of the company if you can show any good reason for asking such a guestion. CALIFORNIA'S CONSTITUTION— Constant Reader, Pacheco, Cal. The Legislature on March 30 passed an act to provide for a new conmstitution for the State of California. The conven- tion that framed the new constitution was in session in Sacramento from September 28, 1878, to March 3, 187, The act of this convention was ratified by the people at an election held May 7. 1879. The constitution went into ef- fect July 4, 1879, at 12 o’clock, meridian. ARMY AND NAVY—G. 8, City. In modern times it is impossible to assert navy, as is illustrated during the pres- ent war between Russia and Japan. The military strength of Italy at this time is active army and reserve on horses and 2400 guns. On a peace foot- ing the strength of the army is 2.265,528 officers and men: horses and 2400