The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, July 6, 1904, Page 8

Losses in Great Battles. Modern warfare differs from ancient and medieval conflicts not only in the weapons used, but in the percentage of the wounded who survive a battle. In the days of hand-to-hand fighting with pike and sword, battleax and dagger, the casualties of a beaten army in a hotly contested battle were apt to be the final losses. The wounded were usu- ally taken prisoners or slain. Few men hurt seriously escaped the fierce and cloge pursuit of the victors. | Even the winning side had a far| smaller proportion of losses which were merely temporary or technical than | armies suffer in these times, when every man hit by a rifie ball figures in the list of casualties, and nine out of terd reported wounded recover soon and} rejoin their commands. In modern war | the so-ca losses published after a | battle can be cut down' to or 30 per oent of the official numbers In ascer- | taining the permanent diminution of the forces engaged In this respect, however, battles dif- fer Sometimes actions fought | at close quarters under peculiar condi- | tions, for instance, in cases which involve e storming of strong v«nrk!} defended by heavy artillery, the propor- tion of casualties which mean death may rise to something like the terrible mortality rate of medieval wars. | When the Russians flung themselves | upon the French and Sardinian lines at the Tehernaya River before Sevas-| topol in the summer of 1855 they left 3300 dead upon the field, and their | widely as about 3 wounded seemed to number only about half that number. But these propor- tions are so remarkable that it must be | taken for granted that many slightly | wounded Russians were sent to the| rear and never reported as hurt in rec- | ords which the allies had the means of comparing with their own casualties. Keeping in mind, then, the broad fact that losses in battie may mean anything, from death to slight hurts, and the temporary absence from roll call of troops which rejoin their colors later, and remembering that all rec- ords of casualties in war are disputed | by opposite sides and open to more or | less doubt, it is extremely interesting at this time to look over a list of Josses, as the figures have gone into history, in some of the more famous battles of modern wars. The following shows how greatly the fighting which has taken place so far in the Rw Japanese war {alis short of the havoc which has marked many notable battles of the last 200 vears: Borodino—French loss, 30,000; Rus- sian, 40,000, Waterloo—French loss, 31,000; al- lies, 22,000, Austerlitz—French loss, 7800; al- lies, trian, 00. Friedlandi—French loss, 8000; al- lies, 19,000. Eylau—TFrench loss, 20,000; allies, 18,000 Hohenlinden—French loss, 5000; Austrian, 20,000, Dresden—French loss, 3000; allies, 27,000 Leipsic—French loss, §5,000; allies, 53,000. Jena-Auerstadt—French loss, 14,000; Prussian, 35,000. Blenheim—French loss 40,000; al- dies. 13,000, ‘WMalplaguet—French allies, 18,000, Rosebach—Prusssian, 7500. Zorndorf—Prussian, sian, 16,000 Kunerdorf—Prussian, Hes, 24,000. Magenta—French-Sardinian, loss, 20,000; 500; allies, 11,000; Rus- 18,500; al- 4000; Austrian, 17,000. Bolferino—French-Sardinian, 18,000; Austrian, 20,000, lowa—Prussians, 9000; Austrians, 44,000, Gravelotte—German, 21,000; French, 14.000. French, Inkermann—Russian, $000; allies, 2600. The Alma—Russian, 5600; allies, 3300. Sevastopol (final)—Russian, (?); allies, 10,000. Plevna — Russian, 40,000; Turk- ish, §5,000. Federal, 23,186; Con- Gettysburg—] federate, 31,621. Antietam—Federal, 15,851; Confed- erate, 31,621, 3 Chickamauga — Federal, 15,851; Ceonfederate, 17,804. Chancellorsville — Federal, 16,000; @onfederate, 12,821, Con- eral, 15,248; Confederate, 17,588, Stone River—Federal, 11,578; Cen- federate, 25,660, Petersburg—Federal, 10,586; Con- federate, (7). Shiloh—Federal, 13,578; Confederate, 10,000. Spottsylvania—Federal, 14,931; Con- federate, $000. 1 Cold Harbor—Federal, 14,981; Con- 1700, federate, Fredericksburg—Federal, 12,353; Con- federate, 4756. 4 5616; Con- federate, S684. : Bull Run—Federal, 2052; Confederate, 1761 A little 1= m-n-::o:m Te- single day’s battle in modern times. The fighting at Liepsic lasted more than three days. In the latter battle the French lost about 25,000 sick and wounded men, whom they had to aban- don in hospitals as they retreated. These are not included in -the figures given. At Borodino, Liepsic and other battles of Napoleon’s later wars the French included many nationalities, such as Poles, Italians, Belgians, etc. At Blenheim the French, who fought and Jost against Marlborough and Prince Eugene, had Bavarian allies. In the wars of Frederick the Great the army he defeated. at Rossbach was mainly French. At Xunerdorf the force which routed him was chiefly Russian. The French defeat at Sedan was followed immediately by the sur- render of an army of 86,000 men. The losses at Plevna cover a slege of months, but the Russians and their Roumanian allies lost 16,000 in four days of fighting. The Turkish losses | were chiefly in the surrender of 40,000 men with the fortress. The bloodlest ten minutes of the | Civil War was the first rush of the Union army against Lee's impregnable works at Cold Harbor, In half an hour the Federal loss was about 7000 and probably 3500 fell in ten minutes. At that rate 21,000 men would be put out | of action in an hour, or 250,000 in a | summer day, such as the struggle at Waterloo covered. But no men that ever wore uniforms could stand such slaughter long. It will be seen that in many cases troops fighting behind intrenchments suffered much less than those attack- ing such works. That is a rule of | modern war. It enabled the Boers | {0 inflict losses on the British which | were often ten times their own cas- ualties. But in South Africa, as at Santiago, the numbers engaged on | both sides were so small that the losses of fights famous in their day | will attract little notice in the far view | of history. | Russia’s Gold Reserve. Henry Norman, a Russian traveler and member of the British Parliament, describes in the World's Work a visit to the Imperial Bank at St. Peters- | burg, where there is $313,830,000 worth of gold. The walls of the treasure | chamber are literally lined with gold. Mr. Norman describes the room as fol- lows: The walls of the apartment were completely covered up to a height of | about eight feet with shallow cup-! boards with dogrs of strong wire net- | ting, leaving their contents plainly vis- | ible, each door being both padlocked and sealed. About five-sixths of these cupboards | were completely filed on narrow shelves, with ingots of gold, the ends of which made a lining of gold for nearly the length of the room. The light was reflected brightly from the shining metal, and the effect, needless to say, was highly impressive. I felt as if some fairy had conducted me to one of the caves of gold I used to read about with awe as a child. The bal- ance sheet of the Bank of Russia for March 29 stated the total gold reserve in the bank to be as follows: Rubjes Russian gold coin. ++ 238,000,000 Foreign gold coln. . +0 142,000,000 Bullion gold coin - 204,000,000 i PO T Sovin 000,000 Or $313,830,000. The gold reserve of the | Bank of England is $140,000,000. The total gold reserve of Russia | reaches the imposing sum of 1,000,000,- | 000 rubles, or more than $550,000,000. It is, of course, only a comparatively small part of this vast stock of the precious metal that would be available | under any circumstances for a war fund. This fund would come, in the first place, from the reserve of gold I saw. The currency law of Russia of 1897 prescribes that, up to 600,000,000 rubles, paper money may be issued with a gold reserve of only one-half its face value, but that all subsequent | issues must be covered, iuble for ruble, by a gold reserve. Now, there is a nominal circulation of paper money to the value of 680,- 000,000 rubles, but of this there are always at least 30,000,000 to 50,000,000 in the bank; therefore the effective cireulation of paper money is not more than 650,000,000, and of this, according to law, 350,000,000 must be redeemable by fixed gold deposit. Deducting this sum from hte 584,- 000,000 of the fixed gold deposit, we ! have 234,000,000 rubles immediately | available as a war fund, and to this | can certainly be added a large part of | the gold on deposit abroad, belonging, | as explained above, both to the state | and to the Bank of Russia, the total | being, say, 225,000,000—say, an availa- ble sum of 200,000,000, making a total war fund immediately available of 484,000,000 rubles, or $225,000,000. Quick Promotio. All records for quick promotton are broken by General = Herman Haupt. General Leonard Wood’s amazing jump doesn’t hold a candie to the leap made by the railroad manager and builder. At the second battle of Manassas “Mis- ter” Haupt was for a brief period President, Secretary of War, general | in chief, chief of commissary and chief of transportation. He rescued Pope. ‘When he returned to Washington the Cabinet was in session in the war of- fice. “Come in, Haupt,” shouted Sec- retary Stanton. As he entered Stan- ton rushed forward, and, holding him with both hands, thanked him in the i THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, WEDNESDAY, JULY 6, 1904 THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL ek JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Proptietor + » + + + « » + . « Address All Communications to JOEN McNAUGHT, Manager Streets, S. F. .JULY 6, 1904 ALHAMBRA TO-NIGHT. WEDNESDAY T the Alhambra Theater there will be held this A evening one of the most important as well as one of the most interesting political meetings of the year. It is to serve as a ratification of the Chicago ticket and platform, and at the same time commemorate the anniversary of the original organization of the Re- publicap party on July 6, 1854. The speakers of the evening will be among the foremost of the State and it goes without saying that the audience will be sufficient- ly large in numbers and sufficiently enthusiastic in spirit to rouse them to their finest and most eloquent efforts. The fifty years that have passed since the Republican party was organized have been among the most mo- mentous of the history of the country. In 1854 it was still doubtful whether the United States was a nation or a confederacy;. it was not known whether all the States were to remain united or be divided; it was uncertain whether an aristocracy based upon slavery was to rule the Union or whether slavery was to be overthrown and | the aristocracy based upon it was to fall with it; and finally it was as yet a matter of speculation whether we were to become a great industrial people ranking above all others in manufactures and in arts or were to remain a race of agriculturists selling the products of our farms for little or nothing and dependent upon Europe for al- most every form of manufactured goods except those of the crudest kind. 2 3 Not one of those questions remains to perplex us. They have all been settled. This js a nation, its vari- ous States and Territories will remain united as insepa- rable parts of a mighty republic, there is to be no form of slavery in the country, nor will the Government fall under the control of an aristocracy of any kind; and finally, American industries are to be protected for all time against the ruinous competition of pauper labor in foreign lands so that the American workingman may be assured of abundant employment at good wages. For the settlement of each and of all of these ques- tions the country is indebted primarily and directly to the political organization formed on July 6, 1854, and named “the Republican party.” During its fifty years | of history it has elevated to the Presidency men who will be held in honor by patriotic Americans for all gen- erations to come. Uuder their guidance the party has held control of Government almost continuously since 1860, and so wisely as well as so patriotically have Re- publican statesmen and representatives solved each suc- ceeding political problem as it arose that the most vio- lent of opposing partisans have in the end been forced to abandon opposition and accept the solutions as definite and final settlements of the issues at stake. By reason of its illustrious history the Republican or- ganization has long since become familiarly known as “The Grand Old Party.” It has deserved the title by | reason of the grandeur of its past services in war and in peace, and continues to deserve it by the fidelity with which it helds to its fundamental principles and its great policies. It now enters upon a new campaign under leaders well worthy to uphold the high traditions of the past. The celebration of its fiftieth anniversary is, therefore, a matter of considerable moment in our polit- ical history and the meeting at the Alhambra should be made memorable in the annals of the city. Earl Roberts has finally succumbed to friendly im- portunities and will pay us a visit next year. Let us give old “Bobs” such a generous welcome that he will know the American people love a good soldier whatever cause may enlist his genius and under whatever flag he may fight. 3 T citizens who have any leisure to devote to seeing the picturesque sights of California find representa- tion in mountain climbing parties on a greater or less ambitious scale, the popular mind turns naturally to the subject of trails and to the charms of nature made ac- cessible thereby. The mountain climbers may be divided into two es—those who seek diversion purely and those who desire at once to enjoy and to overcome difficuities. Mount Tamalpais is the nearest a¢cessible mountain to San Francisco, and thousands of citizens are now roam- ing over its slopes every week. Mount Diablo is a little more remote, but not .so far as to be out of the track of popular tours, especially on the part of strong and active young men, who think it no discomfort to sleep on the summit and for whom there is a reward in the sunrise outlook that comes a$ the fruit of their indus- try, a great view that is truly grand under favorable circumstances, with the Sierra serrating the eastern horizon and the vast extent of the San Joaquin Valley in the vista and the immediate western aspect embrac- ing all the intervening hills of the Coast Range Moun- tains, the bay of San Francisco, Tamalpais looming up in tent shape like a great lodgment for a mountain spirit and the immense width of the Pacific beyond. Going up Mount Hamilton there are various points of vantage from which the Santa Clara Valley may be seen in almost its entire extent, and a remarkable pano- rama it is indeed. Los Angeles has Mount Lowe. The north looks up to Mount Shasta and to the Lassen Butte, with their crowns of snow. These mountains are all pro- vided with trails that the ordinarily vigorous man or woman may safely attempt to traverse without mis- giving as to, ability to continue to the end. Mount Whitney has so many deyotees that the sea- son is marked by the issuance of a Mount Whitney Club Journal. From that veracious publication glimpses of the enlargement of means to reach the Mount Whitney scenery are obtained. The Government road to the Sequoia National Park has been completed to the Giant Forest. A road of reasonable grades and evading the dangerous Stevens grade extends from Happy Gap on the old Visalia road to the west line of the General Grant National Park. Boulder Creek, on the route to the General Grant Park, has been spanned by a bridge. The way to the Big Meadows, the shortest line to the Kings River Canyon, has been improved, the Tehipite trail has been made safe for riding and pack animals, whereby, in conjunction with the Copper Creek trail, the Simpson Meadow, Granite Basin and Sheepshead Basin are made more easy of access. With some additional changes, now in contemplation, one may travel by way of Copper Creek to Tehipite, thence down the Middle Fork and out via Millwood or the General Grant Park, There have been many accidents at the place known for some years as “the stairs,” on the Stubbs Creek trail to of the Kings River. Pack animals and horses have ‘have killed there. The “Stairs” are reported to PATHS TO PICTURESQUENESS. HIS being the vacation season, when all classes of cl. been lost » VA v their terrors. Many other betterments are reported. An elaborate programme for this year includes trails along the canyons of the Roaring River and Cloudy River to the headwaters of both and into the Kern River Canyon, where the new trail to Mount Whitney will be touched; trails along the Middle Tule River, to be followed by road building; and the improvement.of the trail up the Middle Tule to Nelson’s, which furnishes. an easy way to the Little and Big Kern rivers. He who will stay at home all the long summer and not see the mountains in their sterner or more smiling as- pects may find his own reward in some direction, even as Russell Sage predicts; but the breath of the pine grove, the glint of the madrone tree and the soaring peaks invite one strongly to go abroad and become ac- quainted with the charms that nature has so prodi- gally given to California in all parts of its lordly do- main. The reputation of the penitentiary officers of Califor- nia has been saved again and by the customary narrow margin. A prison break, plotted by several of the most desperate convicts in Folsom, is listed among the things that never were simply because of an accidental discov- ery and destruction of the plan. Folsom officials should congratulate themselves on their narrow escape from another inglorious campaign. R feature of the great fair has proven to be more popular than the daily demonstrations of the ef- fects of radium, given every day at the United States Government building. No novelty or wonder show on the Pike is more attractive than these scientific lectures. The room where they are given is always crowded and, after the lecture is over, many persons remain to ask questions and get a sight of the marvelous element. The popular interest taken in the demonstrations is not strictly speaking a scientific dne. At present radium is a curiosity which every one is eager to see and to learn as much about as possible. Moreover, it is a curiosity around which there have been developed some most ex- traordinary expectations. Science knows hardly any- thing about radium except that it exists and that it possesses a radiant energy so great as to be virtually incalculable. If it could be obtained in considerable quantities and applied to use it would place at the dis- posal of man a force so enormous that the cid¥ilization of the future would exceed that'of to-day to a greater degree than our, civilization exceeds savagery. According to some authorities, however, the quantity of radium is so small we can hardly hope to make use of it for industrial purposes. It is said to be so rare that a pound of it is estimated to be worth $8,000,000. Professor Kunz of the United States Geological Survey is quoted as saying: “There is so little radium in the world that if it was all crystallized together it would have no more effect in heating or lighting the carth than would one incan- descent electric light upon the 1240 acres of ground comprising this World’s Fair. There is so little radium in the world that it can hardly change our present sys- tems, but, like other discoveries, it may have an appre- ciable influence upon the scientific world.” A report of the demenstrations given at the fair says: “There is no pure radium shown. It is a dirty-looking little powder and the demonstrator used a speck about the size of a cambric needle point on a little instru- ment called the spinthariscope. tube, two inches long, having magnifying lenses at one end and being closed at the other. In the closed end there are tiny yellow crystals of zinc sulphide stuck on a disk of paper, before which stands a pointer like the hand of a watch. On the tip of this is the speck of radium. Watching the spinthariscope one can see a constant flow of points of light which come from the zinc sulphide paper. The demonstrator says that these radiations would go on for thousands of years without lessening the energy of the radium.” Such is the show that is now most attractive to the American people, and it is difficult to avoid speculation as to what kind of radium exhibits will be made at the next World’s Fair. That there will be something much more notable than a dirty-looking powder goes without saying. It is even possible that there may be shown exhibi‘ts of a means of using it in art and medicine, if not in industry. There was a time when electrical energy was as mar- velous to man as radium energy is now, and perhaps in the future we shall find a means of using the one almost as effectively as we use the other. RADIUM AT THE FAIR. EPORTS from St. Louis are to the effect that mo A New York lad, credited with thirteen years of vege- tative existence, committed suicide the other day be- cause he was ordered to bed earlier than he thought reasonable. It is fortunate that the youngster ¢losed his unlovely career before he reached an age of indis- cretion where he would have been a menace to his neighbors. A meaning St. Louis in all matters herein—wires his paper at length and breadth in regard to the il suppressed excitement caused by the advent on the fir- ing line of our talented fellow citizen, Mr. Delmas. The interest that goes around stare-eyed and with breath bated in various headquarters and with various kinds of bait, but all liquid, is not aroused, so the correspondent leaves us to infer, by the personality of Mr. Delmas, but because he is to nominate Mr. Hearst in the convention. So we read in the Examiner: “Because of the cries and wails of the Republican and disloyal Democratic press it was expected that the man who was to nomi- nate Hearst would be a wild man of the West—a sort of woolly aphis of oratory. So there was great surprise when it was found that the foremost orator of California was a carefully groomed epitome of resonant courtesy.” There now! The sordid and effete East, led on and in- stigated by the devil and “the disloyal Democratic press,” expected to see “a woolly aphis,” and are presented in- stead with a “carefully groomed epitome of resonant ‘courtesy!” The size of the ‘show may be estimated when it is known that in the said East “epitomes of re- sonant courtesy” are as extinct as the dodo. Epitomes — A WESTERN WONDER. N Examiner correspondent at the front—the front are there and possibly of courtesy, but the “resonant” | kind has gone with the mastodon and the moa. It was left to Mr. Hearst to introduce the real article under the eye of the world at St. Louis. Even the friends of this epitome in California had not suspected him. Mr. Delmas has carried “resonance” ag a tail to his courtesy like a concealed weapon, and draws it and it like a falchion for the first time before an This is a small metal | b TALK OF THE TOWN Our Accidental Presidents. Every one of the Vice Presidents of the United States who succeeded to the Presidency through the death of a Pres- ident was an aspirant for the next nom- ination for President—but not one suc- ceeded. John Tyler after the death of Presi- dent Wiliam Henry Harrison hegan to realize the w: power of the Whig party, and consequently abandoned the party that had elected him on its na- tional ticket and strove to obtain the next Democratic Presidential nomina- tion. That party, however, scouted his candidacy and nominated Polk, who was sneered at by Clay as the “Duck River colonel.” General Zachary Tay- lor, who was really without party poli- tics, was nominated for President by the Whigs in 1848 and was elected only because of his Mexican war record and the defection in New York of the Van Buren faction, who would not sup- port General Cass, the Democratic nominee. Taylor was in office only a month when he died and was succeeded by Millard Fillmore, a mediocre man. But he had followers who stimulated his ambition, and he soon began to lay plans for the Whig nomination in 1852. But his claims were ignored and the ‘Whig party, with General Winfleld Scott as its candidate, made its last rally for the Presidency. Fillmore in his disappointment was persuaded to abandon his party, and in 1856 ran as the Presidential candidate of the Know Nothing or American party, and he received only the eight electoral votes of Maryland. Andrew Johnson, seeing no prospect of a nomination from the Republicans, followed the example of Pyler and Fill- more and deserted the party that placed him in power. He planned and dickered for the Democratic nomination of 1868, but his strength in the convention of that party was hardly worth consid- ering. Arthur followed Garfield, and through a skillful and prudent use of the Fed- eral patronage built up in his party an apparently strong faction in favor of continuing him in the Presidency, but before the Republican National Con- vention of 1884 convened his strength as a candidate had so melted away as to leave him no chance of success. Thus it will be seen.that what are called “accidental” Presidents have all aspired to succeed themselves and all have signally failed, and with the éx- ception of Johnson their failure has been followed by obscurity. Roosevelt is reputed to be a lucky man, and it remains to be seen if he will be more lucky than any of his accidental pre- decessors.—New York Commercial. e ——— e SRS SR AR S e A Rubaivat of the States. Some“srople seem attached to boozeless Maine And some to California, where's no rain; An' some agin thinks Florida's th’ spot While others clings to Kansas' wind- swept plain. Still_others sounds th' praise of New rleens Or Hoosierdom that wears the home- made jeans: Some, more misguideder than all the rest, Speaks handsome of ol' Boston with 'er beans. | They's folks I s'pose out on th’ ol' Pike road That, livin' in Missouri, must be showed Why they's a better place to live than that, Though most of us believe they ort to Knowed. | In Utah once I found a man that swore He wouldn't never live back East no more; An’ even in New Mexico they’s men That's stuck on them ol' cactus-plains for shore. | | Some folks, agin, in little old New York— | These dudes that can’t eat pie without a fork— Don't_feel quite certain they's another place Except Chicago, which is full o' pork. I've lived in all these places, on th’ square, From Maine t' California’s life-fraught air; Td just as leave live one place as th' Test— Thank God they's bang-up people ev'ry- where! —~Gillilan in Baltimore American. His Time Was Too Slotw. He was a mechanic named Callag® han employed at the Union Iron Works and one day was set to work by his foreman chipping off a long, flat piece of iron. Now Callaghan was somewhat musical in his tastes and before commencing his task he had traced the five diagonal lines of the staff with a piece of chalk on the iron. He had also marked the notes of the first few bars of the funeral march in “Saul” on the staff. Callaghan was whistling the air and at the same time kept up a slow ac- companiment with his chisel, with which he was chipping off the metal. Callaghan was not making much headway when his foreman came around to see what progress he was making. The foreman, who was of a musical turn of mind himself, thus addressed Callaghan: “That is a beautiful piece of musie, but I see you are playing it In adagio, which is the slowest time possible.” “Yes, that's right,” said Callaghan, “It's a beautiful aria,” and he contin- ued to whistle as he slowly chipped off the iron. “Well,” said the foreman, who re- alized that at the rate Callaghan was working the job would never be fin- ished, “suppose you change the piece to ‘There’ll Be a Hot Time," and just make the time presto, or as fast as you are able.” Homesick Consul's Fourth, One of the " ig department stores of the city recently received an order mc.nuummumnm Bestion of pathos. Its sender was United States Consul and Ne took mail order department of into his confidence. He F z H H L g 7 of firecrackers, candles galore and boxes of fancy crackers. The order ended with this injunction: “My wife says to be sure and send us some of the nmewest favors for decor- ating the table—some of the same sort that women up North are using this year, like candy firecrackers tied with ribbons, ete.” Fighting Sand Dunes. This Government is making a study of the sand dune question, with a view to putting up a fight against the en- croachments of a relentless enemy which, in some parts of this country— notably on the coast of North Caro- lina and along the shores of the Great Lakes—does an immense amount of dam: , destroying farms, swallowing villages and even overwheiming rail- roads on occasions, says the Phila- delphia Saturday Evening Post. When dry land takes a notiom to flow like water, trouble is pretty sure to follow. Sometimes the dunes as- sume the proportions of great hills, 200 or 300 feet high, and, aided by the wind, wander about, overwhelming everything in their paths. By and by such a wandering dune is likely to get far enough away from the shore to be sheltered to some extent from the wind, and then it transforms it- self into a fixed dune, grasses and eventually trees growing upon it. The only way to deal with the sand dunes is to sow them with sand-bind- ing grasses, the interlacing roots of which hold thé sand together and pre- vent the wind from blowing it away. For this purpose the plant chiefly used is the so-called “beach grass,” which is common all along our Atlantie coast as far south as North Carolina. It is dug up with spades and regularly set out in rows a foot apart on the bare dunes. One odd thing about it is that it grows most luxuriantly upon drift- ing sands; when the sand is quiet it dies out after a while. The planting of the grass, however, is merely a preliminary step. When a dune has by this means been made stationary young pine trees are set out on it and after a few years it is covered with forest. Thus the mis- chievous and tramplike sand hill is converted to usefulness, the timber which it bears being a source of reg- ular income. Death’s Strange Distinction. “A corpse was floating on the water,” a reporter said. “I saw it first and my longshoreman stopped rowing to peer at it through the dusk. “‘It is a man,’ he said. ‘T bet you it |is a man.’ “ ‘How can you tell?" said L. “ ‘Because it is floating on its stom- ach,” the longshoreman answered. ‘Male corpses float on their stomachs always. Female corpses always float om their backs." “A moment later we were beside the corpse. It floated face downward and it was, sure enough, a man. “‘You see,’ said the longshoreman, ‘the two sexes are Built differently. There's a group of bones called the pelvic bones that are lighter in men than in women. It is these pelvic bones that cause men to float face down and women face up.’ “‘You might have divined this fact for yourself by watching the bathers at the seashore. Didn't you ever no- tice, among bathers, how easy it is for women to float on their backs? But men, when they try to float in this way, gradually turn over on their stom- achs.’ "—New York Telegram. Answers to Queries. NEWSPAPERS—P. H. M., City. The Sah Fran Call was established in 1856, the Evening Bulletin in 1855, the Chronicle and the Examiner in 1865 and the Evening Post in 1871 HYDROSTATIC TEST-—P. H., Mill- wood, Cal. The hydrostatic test for boilers differs ng -to character of boilers. The pounds of water per horse power hour vary from 17 to 33.8. THE MINT—M. W., City. The United States Branch Mint, on Fifth street, was formally turned over to Genmeral O. H. Lagrange. superintendent, No- vember 5, 1874, and was opened with ceremondes on that day. to the value of coins will be answered by mail when the correspondent sends a self- PROPERTY — Subscriber, Keswick, Cal. The question asked is one that ullllorle(tlldflflutopr«r‘efly rights. It should be submitted to a reputable attorney. This department will give the law or decisions that have been rendered In courts, but it does not furnish legal advice. 1898, his sentence was commuted to Imprisonment for life. ———— e Townsend's California Glace fruits In artistic fire-etched boxes. 715 Market st.® et . houses and public men &.. ornia street, Man -