The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 28, 1904, Page 8

| s | Papuan Philanthropy. Special Correspondence. | | HEADQUARTERS OF THE CALL, | HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, LONDON, May 18.—After | g many vears in New Guinea— der, eight F spend a missionary— R W. Walker has returned to England to proclaim a new doctrine of salvation for the heathen by means | six of philanthrophy that pays 5 per cent. An is likely to be tried. A com- s in process of formation, to be _—F lustries, Limited, ; ),000, for the de-| ative industries in. Brit- | Guinea. The company pledges t of ish New t © its business on st — certainly a combinat in these days—and | to devote all its profits over 5 per cent to improving the condition of the na- | tives That is where the phil- ar to w dends. The London Missionary Society has indorsed the project. George Cadbury. the great Quaker cocoa manufacturer | and newspaper proprietor, and W. H. Lever, millionaire soapmaker, both of | whom are renowned for dividend- | paying philanthrophy in the shape of | “Garden Cities” for their employes, have each offered to take $5000 worth shares. Many other prominent ness men have pledged their sup- | thropy com s in 1910 also in agreeing for possible divi- | port Mr backbone of the enterprise, belongs to Walker, the originator and that type of evangelists popularly de- fined as a broad-gauge Christian. He makes light of distinctions of creed and for the doctrine of eternal dam- nation expresses open scorn. He is a healthy, « skinned, virile man of strong convictions and lots of pluck. Once, to prevent a shindy among the natives, he visited, unarmed, a witch doctor named Tokerieu, who was in- citing the savages against the white men, and sought to convince him of the error of his way. Only by fleetness of foot did he escape being murdered by Tokerieu's e; ed followers, who probably would have made a meal of him afterward. But when the writer asked him if he had éver been in any tight corners in New Guinea, he said, | “None worth speaking of,” and the | story was got from somebody else. Put the two things together and they give a good idea of the character of the man. “It must not be supposed,” he said, “that because I am now engaged in . industrial undertaking I have lost faith in the efficacy of missions among the heathen. But missions alone do not go far enough. Too often they merely pave the way for the rapacious, - unscrupulous trader and the devas- tating blight of what is miscalled civi- lzation. “The question that confronts us is simply whether the same wholesale degradation and destruction of sav- age races that has taken place in other parts of the globe is to be re- peated in New Guinea. If philan- thropic effort continues to concern it- self alone with seeking to convert the natives to Christianity they are inev- itably doomed. If philanthropy can be brought to recognize that they have bodies to save that are worth saving as well as souls, then they may es- cape extinction and be developed into useful industrial communities. “Their natural occupation is fight- ing. In dealing with them it is not enough to cast out that ‘one devil’ When the fighting ceases they have practically nothing to do. They must | the sea. i country is still unexplored. | his skin | 1ong. v THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SATURDAY, MAY 28, 1904 be provided with useful occupations or the ‘seven other devils'—white men’s devils, some of them—will en- ter in and the last state of these peo- ple will be ‘worse than the first”” If Australia be regarded as a con- tinent, New Guinea becomes the larg- est island in the world, being about 1400 miles long and 490 broad at its greatest width. fcent mountain ranges, much : land that is fruitful even under native cul- tivation, mighty rivers that take their rise far inland, one of them, the Fly River, being sixty miles wide at its mouth and navigable 1000 miles from The greater portion of the Here, for the most part 8till utter- Iy unacquainted with either the v tues or the vices of civilization, dwells the Papuan. As Mr. Walker describes him he is generally a little man, lithe and slim, seldom exceeding five feet four inches in height. His huge shock of frizzled hair is his most prominent feature. night and a protection from scorching rays of the sun by day. Probably knowing that he would not appreciate it, nature has not lav- ished any beauty upon him. But he strives to make himself several de- grees uglier than originally designed and generally succeeds. He tattoos in patches and streaks his face with ochers, red, black and white being his favorite colors. He dyes his teeth black. He bores a hole in the septum of his nose, and in it inserts a long shell. His ears are usu- ally so cut and torn that the lobes hang down in a festoon several inches In his natural ate he emu- lates the example set by Adam and wears only a broad leaf around his loins, making his mutilated ears sup- ply the lack of artificial pockets. From a white man’s point of view the nearly all of his tastes are perverted. | He loves dirt. His personal habits are unspeakably filthy. Though he may live close to the clear, blue sea or a pure mountain stream, he never bathes for the sake of cleanliness. His nose has gcne all wrong. He seems to delight in foul odors. He will evince disgust when given a bottle of perfume to sniff at, but delightedly wears in his armlets the leaves of some plant that fairly stinks. He dotes on mustard or pickled onions, but abominates sweets. When he has renounced cannibalism he is practically a vegetarian, fish and | pork being his rare luxuries. The pig | not only shares his home,with him, but | when young shares the maternal breast | equally with the baby. Besides com- | pelling his wife to rear the family pig. he usuaily makes her do whatever hard work is to be done. For this reason he takes care not to disable her perma- nently when he chastises her. Though in his natural state his chief occupation is fighting, warfare as civ- ilized man understands it is incompre- | hensible to him. Here and there a man | may distinguish himself by personal courage in openly attacking his enemy and expose himself to the risk of get- ting speared, but it is mot the usual Papuan method of fighting. He is an assassin; seldom a warrior. Even when he attac der a show of friendliness. A blow from behind is always his favorite blow 1 his emotions are shallow. His heart as limited in feeling as his mind is restricted in thought. He can neither strongly hate his enemy or love his friend—incidentally, there is no word for love in his language. He may torture and eat the enemy, and howl and lacerate his face with sharp stones for the loss of his friend, but it is not deep feeling which prompts either ac- tion; it is eustom that demands it. His chief skill is shown in constructing ca- noes and weapons. Of thesé the most characteristic is the man-catcher. It consists of a loop of rattan cane with a pike inserted in the handle. The loop is thrown over the unhappy wretch who is in retreat, and a vigorous pull from the arm of the vengeful captor jerks the victim upon the spike, penetrating the base of the Wrain. It is murder re- duced to a fine art. Such is the Papuan as Mr. Walker depicts him. He is a pretty low down lot, and one finds himself wishing that the philanthropy plus 5 per cent by which it is proposed to save him from | extermination by civilization had been tried on some races now well nigh ex- tinct who were more worthy of it. The Finger Print. The finger print method of personal | icentificatfon seems to be coming to the front. measurement and now we are told that in England it is shperseding that system, being regarded as both sim- pler and surer. The trouble with any measurement system is that the meas- urements of the same man taken by different persons or at different ages will differ elightly, and so the identi- fication may fail. Finger prints, on the other hand, tell their own story and are subject®to no “personal equa- tion”; while their systems of ridges and whirld remain the same from in- fancy to manhood. In a recent Euro- pean case reported in a French pa- per a murderer was detected through the agency of a thumb print on the | {rail of a broken sash—so slight a mark that it was scarcely visible— but photography enabled it .to be studied sufficiently for identification.— June Success. Importation of Fruits. One of the many proofs of the vast- ly increased oconsumption of fruits among the American people is seen in the fact that in 1899 a little more than a million bunches of bananas were ex- ported from Honduras to the United States. In 1903 the total exceeded two millions, and consular estimates put the probable aggregate in 1904 at three millions. And imported fruits of many kinds have fallen off in price as the years have gone on. The variety of diet within the reach of families of moderate means in this quarter of the world is gratifying to note, and the Yankee table, as a rule, is more bountifully spread for this generation than it was for the majority of our ancestors. It possesses magnif- | It serves him as a pillow by | s a white man who is defense- | | less he usually conceals his purpose un- It has long been used as an adjunct to the Bertillon system of ; THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL it B e AT All Communications to JOHN McNAUGHT, Manager o iviiiiiirereiie +-....Third and Market Streets, S. F. DEBTS AND REVENUES. HE Bureaw of Statistics at Washington furnishes T figures telling of the debfs, revenues and wealth of the principal nations, which are of interest at the beginning of a Presidential campaign, in which many wild statements will be made on that subject. A i The statistics account for certain persilten? movements i'in population, which are beginning to enlist the attention of Americans, who think that immigration is becoming | first among our problems. People migrate from one ;coumry to another to secure better conditions and better opportunities. Although South America is sparsely populated and rich in resources, much of it enjoying an alluring and wholesome climate, the tide of immigration flows to North America and is unequally divided between the United States and the Dominion of Canada. | This must have two causes. One no doubt is that iimmigmnrs follow their kin and townsmen who have | found better. conditions. The great immigration to the United States began in the revolutionary period of con- tinental Europe in the first half of the nineteenth cen- tury and in the time of the Irish famine. Those immi- grants found public land ready for their occupancy here and at once emerged from difficult and narrow conditions into contentment and prosperity. The glad story went back to their neighbors and countrymen, and the United States was established in the minds of migrating Euro- peans as the Eldorado and the Happy Valley. This accounts for much of our immigration from Northern Europe. That from Southern Europe, however, is mod- | ern, new, and comes here to escape intolerable conditions which have rendered it less fit for incorporation into our free society. S The following figures, which we tabulate for the con- venience of those who may desire to preserve or use them, tell a story that is impressive: | Population. Revenue. | United States. .. 80,372,000 $694,621,000 | United Kingdom 41,961,000 737,526,000 | France . : . 38,962,006 695,276,000 |Russia ..... . 141,000,000 1,101,107,000 | Austria-Hungary .. 45,405,000 424,238,000 Italy .. S 32,457,000 375,000,000 Spain oYL 18,618,000 197,077,000 Debt. Wealth. | United States . .. $925,011,637 $94,300,000,000 United Kingdom L. 3,885,000,000 59.,000,000,000 France e . 5.856,706,100 48,000,000,000 Russia . 553 . 3,414,000,000 $2,000,000,000 Austria-Hungary . 1,107,464,025 22,000,000,000 SRly .. . 2,560,605,000 15,000,000,000 Spain 2,061,389,970 12,000,000,000 The German empire is omitted for reasons in its con- stitution. It is composed of separate kingdoms, which are constitutional monarchies with their own budgets, and between the empire itself and such gengral govern- ments Great Britain and the United States the analogy is too faint to fwrnish material for comparison. Of the four great own, Great Britain, France and Russia—we have the least debt and revenue and the greatest wealth. Our debt is not 1 per cent of our wealth, England’s is 6% per cent, Russia’s 10 per | cent, France's 12 per cent, Italy’s 17 per cent. | But population must be considered and the per capita of debt and wealth explains why some nations are able to sustain a large debt and carry it without blighting their prosperity, while in other nations debt becomes a burden so great that the people migrate and expatriate themselves it. The per capita of debt and wealth is shown in this table: as nations—our to escape Per Per Capita pita ‘Wealth. United States . ... United Kingdom France Russia Austria Italy . Spain Our per capita of debt is the least, but in per capita of wealth Great Britain and France pass us, and we are third in the group, while Russia passes into another class and takes her place with the poor countries. In this table we have an explanation of the great immigration are receiving from Southeastern Russia, Austria- Hungary and Italy. In Italy the debt is about 17 per cent of the wealth per capita. No wonder that the peo- ple seek to escape to a country where the debt is less than 1 per cent of the per capita wealth. The financial condition is made more appalling by the revenue re- quired. To tax out of a population that has only $468 wealth per capita $375,000,000 is to progressively sap the resources of a country down to the point of universal we poverty. In comparing our per capita of wealth with France and Great Britain we have to take into consideration the fact that they are both old countries. Their industries were highly organized before the white man had made a ledgment North Our accumulation of wealth was slow in our colonial period and it may be said truthfuily that our gain of a surplus for use in pro- ducing more began about sixty years ago. With this | element of time considergd our showing is improved. The foregoing figures should lift the melancholy shadows that are invoked by the partisan pessimist who insists that this country is as bad as any and worse than some. in America. | | { 1 | The divorce court of San Francisco has been, times without number, the scene of unexpected and inexplicable incidents of the matrimonial puzzle, but when a man sued his spouse for a divorce the other day on the ground that she didn't talk enough to him observers shook their heads in wonder. What manner of a man must this be to object to what centuries of Christian education have crystallized into a blessing? O S SR RS b TR » THE RIVER CONVENTION. ! HE meeting of the large number of people /who IT are interested in rectificition of the rivers which cause destructive floods did not result in either the discussion or presentation of any plan. We fear that more discussion in the future was caused by preventing any now than would have occurred in this convention had expression been free. Enough was developed to show that certain irreconcilable differences exist between delta and tule land owners on the south side of the San Joaquin and owners of similar lands in the flood district. . Perhaps it is better to say that it was developed that a plan of rectification that would make safe property now overflowed on the Sacramento might overflow on the San Joaquin property that is now safe. The two systems and the two rivers will have to be kept distinct, treated dif- ferently and not merged in one-plan if we are to have fair unanimity in the proposed work. The cities of Sac- ramento and Stockton depend for the benefit of their commerce and the regulation of their freights upon the navigability, respectively, of the Sacramento and San SR AT 0 SRS S e R PR Joaquin rivers. Any proposition to help the navigability of one river at the expense of the other will, therefore, be fought by whichever city suffers. It would have been better to thrash these issues out in the convention. The professional engineers to whom the whole matter was referred are under implied instruc- tions to report a feasible plan, effective and final, that will be supported by all parties concerned. Surely they would have been aided by a discussion that would have developed the existing and permanent points of dis- agreement and agreement. When their report is made it is hoped that it will be unanimously supported. But i#it is not because of | features that are injurious to part of the people in interest then the whole matter will have to be discussed and doubtless at greater length than if debate had pre- ceded the adoption of a plan. However, the organization'is formed, as its plans will soon be, and then we can judge more correctly of their relation to all rights. The politicians, the lawyers, the financiers and the agitators have finished their labors in conection with the | construction of the Panama canal and now the ground | of controversy and of preparation is clear for the actual digging of the ditch. We have the gratification, there- fore, that the greatest and ugliest obstacles have been | overcome and that the rest is easy work for the accom- | plishment of one of the most stupendous enterprises of the age. THE SUNDAY CALL MAGAZINE. MAGAZINE to be wholly successful, in the face A of the keen competition that is the life of twentieth century progress and research, must contain something of interest to everybody, something not only attractive and entertaining, but instructive as well. It is the combination of all these elements that has made the Sunday Call magazine so immensely popular. Though it is primarily a California paper, published for the people of California in particular and the entire Pa- cific Coast in general, it draws its subjects 4rom all quar- ters of the globe in order to make its pages as diversified as possible. Tn this respect it is of world-wide interest and importance. - First and foremost as an element in the Sunday Call's success is its literary excellence. It has gained wide recognition for its articles and stories of fact and fiction written by men and women whose names have world- wide prominence and significance. As an instance the Sunday Call to-morrow will con- tain “The Debut of Bimbashi Joyce,” by A. Conan Doyle, whose Sherlock Holmes stories are not more exciting than this latest creation of his subtle pen. The scene of | the story itself is laid in Egypt, about which this famous | author knows more than any other writer of the day, and | his characters are the soldiers of the British empire and | the mystics of the Nile. | i As a good contr:st to the “Debuf of Bimbashi Joyce there is a thrilling story by an American author, a writer | who in his own peculiar field 4is as famous as A. Conan Doyle. This is Frank H. Spearman, who, thnugh he has ! made “Bucks” one of the most notable and powerful | figures in his railroad stories, has never before made him | the hero of any one of them. This he has done, expressly | for the Sunday Call to-morrow, and “Bucks’” Christmas | night adventure with his own mother's life at stake | forms one of the most pathetic but at the same time® thoroughly endearing stories that Spearman has ever | written. Moreover it shows “Bucks” in his true char- | acter for the first time to those who have grown to love this character. Other writers whose names will be recognized for the excellence of their work are Albert Sonnichsen, who has | an article on “How the Little Japs Fire Big Guns,” which | is a personal experience of his own aboard the Yashima just before the outbreak ‘of the present war; Jerome K. | Jerome, whose article on “Hot Stoves I Have Met” is far | more keenly witty than its ludicrous title would seem to suggest; William J. Shearer, the great Eastern educator, | who writes exclusively for the Sunday Call on the “Sor- rows and Fears of Children” and ,how to deal with them; | Headon Hill, whose novel of the yorkings of the dreaded | Third Section that guards the life of the present Czar of Russia entitled “By a Hair's Breadth” will be completed in this, the fourth and last installment; S. L. Tinsley, | whose dainty little “Half-Hour Storiettes” are as famous in their way as Anthony Hope's “Dolly Dialogues,” hds contributed his new story, “The Interrupted Flight,” as has also Jasper Collingwood with his “Bascom’s Aris- tocracy.” | However, of more pointed and peculiar interest to women, as well as being timely to a degree, is the brightly ‘ illustrated page by Miss Adele Bruges of New York and | Newport on “How to Pack a Trunk,” which has sud- denly become one of the most lucrative professions open | to young women. There is also a page on “The Apron Girl of 1904,” with the answers to “What Women Want to Know,” which hus become one of the most conspicuous and popular | features of the Sunday Call magazine. Likewise of genuine pictorial merit is the page of the “Fans of the Nations,” which is absolutely unique, though pictorially the first page of the Sunday Call to- | morrow will attract instant attention for the dash and | spirit of the June Calendar Girl in a chic and novel cos- tume of flaming red that adorns it, while the music of | the “Legend of the Crow,” which will be found on the back page of the same section, ready to play, will un- doubtedly be whistled and sung everywhere. ‘These, however. are only a few of the features in the Sunday Call to-morrow. The broom manufacturers of the United States have entered into a gigantic association to control the Ameri- can market. And yet we believe we are safe in telling this new trust that there is in California an institution of blind broo_ni makers that is so dearly held by the pegple of the State that no competition can kill or injure the patronage given to these pathetically afflicted people. A young pugilist who was submitted to a brutal beat- ing in a recent ring contest in Oakland has gone insane as the result of the cruel injuries inflicted upon him. And yet both the men who make our laws and those that enforce them find no reason to disturb the conditions which make such a tragedy possible in a civilized com- munity. We pay much in morals for American “sport.” California cherries have taken New York by storm and are selling in the metropolis as one of the greatest | luxuries of the season. It is well that Gothamites should know us by our fruits. We may tell them also that we keep a few for ourselves, but have a deal of trouble with the shrewd commission men in doing so. | gage—immensely valuable = to | found them. The Scourge of Sans-Hicks. It was a night or terror at a down- town hotek Professor Reginald Sans-Hicks, Fel- low of the Royal Academy, member of the British Bacteriological Associa- tion and vice president of the Societie Biologique of Paris, had lost his germs of the black plague somewhere there in the big hostelry. The first shock of terror came when Professor Reginald Sans-Hicks madly summoned the head clerk to his room by telephone. “My dear fellow, I have either been robbed or I have lost my cultures of | plague that I have brought with me from India,” were his frenzied words. “They were in three small bottles, tightly corked and labeled: but if one of these bottles should be opened here in the hotel half of us would be dead men before morning. It is the black plague, mind you—the black plague. If some bounder has stolen those bot- tles and opens them here in the hotel we will all be lost—San Francisco will be lost!” " They revived the clerk with whiskey down in the office and immediately he began to reach for his hat and coat. Me for Oakland,” he gasped, as he ducked out of the office on the lope. ©One of the bellhops had listened at the door when Sans-Hicks had set the GLISHER HAS LET LOO A JT OF BLACK PLAGUE BUGS. | THE E: A + fuse to the bomb and he immediately spread the alarm. “The Englisher up in 371 has let loose | a lot of black plague bugs—says we'll {all be dead men before morning. | think me mother wants me—I have to 1 go now.” He disappeared like a shad- ow. There begam to be a general mov: ment doorward on the part of the bell- hops. Then the shadow of terror crept inte the grill. The gay after-theater diners began to see the air swimming with black specks. One old man with an apoplectic countenance felt a cramp in | his leg and immediately began to call for a doctor. The hurry call for car- riages startled the drivers out on the curb. Fear spread on the wings of thought. In the midst of the alarm came Pro- fessor Reginald Sans-Hicks, a smile { illumining his face from one sideburn to the other. He stepped into the ex- cited throng about the office and held up a deprecating hand. “Really, now, my good people, there is nctbing to be alarmed about after all. Merely a little .absentmindedness on my part you know. I had tempor- arily miglaid those bottles in my lug- séience and all that—and I just I found them in the leg o6f my pajamas.” Bein’ Sick. you krow, | When I am really sick abed It isn’'t ever any fun 1 feel all achy in my head An’ hate to take my medisun Th' sheets get stickyish an’ hot But I am not allowed to kick 'Em off, er read, er talk a lot ‘When I am sick. I hate for all the folks about To come an’ pat me on th’ face An’ say, “Poor child, you'll soon be out,” An’ tiptoe all around th' place. They go when I pretend to be Asleep—I do it for a trick; I don't ¥ke folks to pity me When I am sick. My mother’s diffrunt—I don't care If she sits by me once or twice An' says. “Poor boy,” and smooths my Jhatr: She ain’t just tryin’ to be nice. They bring warm squushy things to me For meals. an’ make me eat 'em quick. I'm mis'ruble as I can be When I am sick. —PRurges Johnson, in Harper's Magazine. Gold in' a Siatuetie. Many old-fashioned French people are given to stowing away their pe- cuniary possessions in odd nooks and corners, often to the bewilderment of their heirs. comes from the envifons of Paris, the heroine of the adventure being an old lady who expired a few months ago. She had put by a certain amount of money, which she bequeathed to two nephews. One of them waived his rights in favor of his brother, merely asking to be allowed to keep a little statuette as a souvenir of their de- parted relative. One day the servant of this self-denying individual hap- pened to break the statuette, and, to the amazement of its owner, a lock of hair, a medallion, and, last, least, a number of 1000-franc bank notes dropped out from among the frag- ments. He retained these articies as A characteristic story | some compensation for the smashed statuette without mentioning the af- fair to his brother, but having had oc- casion shortly afterward to dismiss his servant, she betook herself in hot haste to that gentleman and related the whole incident. The owner of the statuette has been requested to hand over half the sum to his brother and has been threatened with a lawsuit in the event of refusal. Our Coast Lights. There are 9000 burning lights and siz- nals stretched along the American coasts, forming a perfect link, so that the navigator never need be beyond sight ef®ne of the beacons. One thou- sand of these are located on the Atlan- tic Coast, 1500 are scattered along the rivers and inland waterways, 500 on the Great Lakes and 200 on the Pacific Coast. Of the grand total, including lighthouses of different classes, buoys, beacons and danger signals, 3000 are lighted, giving forth their warnings at night time. Of these a score or more throw a beam of 100,000 candle-power. To maintain the lighthouse service a corps of over 4000 men is constantly employed and a fleet of more than fifty vessels. No service in the world ex- ceeds our own in completeness and ef- ficiency. A modern American light- house of the first class costs between $100,000 and $200,000, and of this about one-third is spent for the electric light and apvaratus alone. Beside one of them Egyptian Canopus, or Rhodes’ “perfect idol, with profulgent brows, whose rays streamed down the purple seas to Mizraim, would shine as tapers in the Mediterranean night, with no place among the seven wonders of the world, and hardly worth noticing. “Ragging” at Oxford. The custom of “ragging” at Oxford, to which the public in England has re- cently been devoting considerable at- tention, seems to be a kind of intermit- tent and in some cases continued haz- ing of certain students, done according to system and professedly with certain ends in view. Usually it takes the form of some sort of personal violence or in- dignity to a student or an injury to his belongings, and it has been known to prevent some students from finishing their courses. The number of things for which a student may be “ragged” | is indefinite, but the principal ones are thus enumerated by a London news- paper which sent a correspondent to Oxford to investigate the practice: Wearing patent leather shoes during the first vear at Oxford. Carrying a walking stick when in cap | and gown. Wearing a silk hat. Wearing cap and gown, except when unavoidable. Lack of hesvitality. Lack of money. Showing sigas of hard study. Provincial accent.—New York Tri- bune. Answers to Queries. PHOTOGRAPHER—C. S, City: For such information as you desire about the position of photographer under United States civil service rules ad- dress the Civil Service Commission, Washington, D. C. THE AUTHOR NAMED—A Sub- scriber, Alameda, Cal. The poem in which is, “But whether she came as a sweet perfume,” etc., writes a friend of this department, is in “A Newport Romance,” written by Bret Harte. POPULAR VOTE—T. H., City. The popular vote for President of the Unit- ed States in 1900 was: For all candi- dates, 12, Of this McKinley (R.) | received : Bryan (D.), 6,358, Wooley (Pro.), 208,914; Debs (So Dem.), 87,314; Mahoney (S. L.), 39,7 Barker (M. R. Pop.), 50,373; Ellis (U R.), 5698; Leonard (U. C.), 1059. M Kirnley received 292 and Bryan 1355 | electoral votes. A LEGAL OPINION—M., Sierra ville, Cal. The question asked is one that involves a legal opinion, such as can only be given when one has heard all the facts of the case, as much for a correct answer depends upon a knowledge of all the facts. Possibly the question might be answered by addressing a letter of inquiry to the nearest United States Land Office, where similar cases may have been passed upon, but the letter of inquiry should give a concise statement of claims by both sides. FIASCO—Subscriber, City: Fiasco is an Italian word for bottle or flask. In making the old beautiful Venitian glass, it a workman discovered a flaw in the delicate work before him he turned the article into a common flask—flasco. From that, any failure has been called a flasco. In TItalian theaters the word is used to express dissatisfaction with an actor or singer, and it is not infrequent to hear an audience shout, if an actor or singer makes a single mistake, “Ola, ola, flas- co.” The word became Americanized in the sense of expression of utter failure. —_———————— Townsend's California Glace fruits in artistic fire-etched boxes. 715 Market st.* ———