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

* this period the German authorities were « downright forgeries resorted to by the| THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, THURSDA AUGUST 1. 1904. l + Russian Duplicity Exposed. Epectal Correspondence. BERLIN, Aug. $.—Public opinion has Seen disgusted by the astounding reve- lstions made st the Konigsberg politi- eal trisl, just concluded, of Russian duplicity and the undignified zeal whown by the German Government to eurry favor with the Czar by the sacri- fice of some of its own subjects. The prisoners, nine in number, were wll men in the lower walks of life. Most ©f them could neither read mor write. They lived near the Russlan border in East Prussia, a district from which, “with the connivance of the corrupt Russian police, a brisk business is done tn smuggling goods into the dominion ©f the Czar. They were accused, firstly, with belng concerned In a conspiracy or secret society; secondly, of circulat- ng books and pamphlets inciting to the murder of the Czar and the overthrow of the Russian constitution, and, third- 1y, of being guilty of lese majeste sgainst the person of Emperor Nicho- las II by ciresiating these books and pamphlets. For nine months that were occupi.d[ in & preliminary investigation the men | were kept closely confined in jail. During | close communication with Russian | cials for the purpose of procuring ail possible evidence against them. Mean- while it was Joudly proelaimed that the object of the prosecution was to stamp out a nest of dangerous anarchist und‘ nihilist conspirators, whose threats against the Czar rendered their exter- mination desirable in the interest of law and order throughout Europe. But after a trial lasting nearly a fortnight, | in which the presiding Judge displayed the bitterest hostility toward the pris- 1l the major charges of the in-| dictment, which covered 200 pages, were | dismissed. On the technical charge of | conspiracy, it is true, six of the prison- ers, who were shown to belong to a se- cret society, were condemned to terms of imprisonment ranging from three weeks to two months. As a matter of | fact, they were simply smugglers. The prosecution failed ignominiously in its purpese. But the exposures made at the trial of the deceit, lying and of oners Russian officials to obtain the convie- | tion of the prisoners have furnished an object lesson in Russian judicial meth- ©ods which Germany will not soon for- get And Russian institutions have been pilloried in a manner which will | effectually prevent for years the growth | of sympathy for the neighboring state, which the German Government is seek- ing so assiduously to cuiltivate. The alleged seditious literature was all in the Russian tongue. A selection from the books and pamphlets seized by the police in the homes of the pris- oners were sent to the Russian Consul General at Konigsberg that he might granslate extracts from them for the benefit of the German authorities. He took advantage of the opportunity af- forded him to “make the evidence fit the crime” in accordance with the most approved Russian methods. He went back an alleged transcript of cer- tain passages which would have fully Justified the charge that the accused men were engaged in clroulating printed matter “inciting to the mur- @er of the Czar and the overthrow of the Russian constitution.” But he hed not reckoned on the license al- “Jowed in cross-examination in the Ger- men courts. He was asked to point su’ in the original text certain pas- sages in which, according to his trans- Jation of them, “terrorist” methods were approved and recommended. The sensation produced in the court can be imegined when, after fumbling mervously over the pages for some time, he bad to acknowlegde that he eould not find them. Further examin- stion revealed the fact that the most incrimineting of the quotations’ that he hed furnished in his own handwrit- ing were pure fabrications—absojute forgeries, in short. Others had been mutilated and distorted so as to coin- cide with the Russian official view of law. in which this reciprocity was al- le:e\d to be guaranteed. But the wily official omitted from his transcript the saving clause which demands that the reciprocity must be explicitly guaran- teed by treaty. An express under- standing of this sort exists only be- tween Russia and Austrie. There is no such treaty between Russia and Germany. In law, therefore, no pro- ceedings could lie against these Ger- man subjects for inciting sedition among the Czar's subjects. And had the prosecution been successful Ger- many would have had no guarantee that Russia would undertake to prose- cute Russians who might try to sow the seeds of sedition in Germany. The net result of the trial has been a great | waste of money and a humiliating ex- posure of the German Government’s anxiety to do anything to please the Czar. Redmond’s Aims. Bpectal Correspondence. HBEADQUARTERS OF THE CALL, 15THENRIETA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, LONDON, Aug. b.—It is announced that John Redmond, the! leader of the Irish party in the Com- | mons, is going to leave for the United 1 States in a few days, and those ac- | quainted with the internal workings | of the Irish party know that he is not | going out this time with an altogether | light heart. A member of the party has been in the United States for | months and, as far as dollars are con- | cerned, with most disappointing re- sults. Redmond himself is despondent with regard to the future of the party. | He makes no secret of the fact that he | beHeves the numerical strength will be | materially reduced, but what troubles him most are the finances. American | purse-strings are practically closed | and he is going out to try personally | to reopen them. | The movement which he controls | in Ireland is as dead as the proverbial | doornail. The people have got sick of | the land agitation business and they | are instead applying themselves to the industrial revival, which does not make such demands upon their pa-| tience or tempers. A remark made by‘; President Roosevelt a few weeks ngcl to an Irish press representative has | caused much uneasiness in the ranks | of the Irish Parliamentary party. The | President sald he was astonished at | the progress the Gaelic movement was ‘ making in the United States. This movement has allenated the sym- | pethies of thousands of Irishmen and wcemen both in England and Ireland | from John Redmond’s party. | Mr. Redmond is going out to see | whether the President’s observations | were justified by the facts. If funds| are not forthcoming from some source a reduction of the party in the House | of Commons will be inevitable. Guarding the Czar. | - | The assassination of M. de Plehwe | brings vividly to mind the personal | peril to which rulers and other promi- | nent men are exposed and the elab- orate system of police espionage by which most of them are surrounded. In Russia the whole machinery of gov- | ernment is primarily devoted to nre-i guarding the imperial family. It is the | duty of every official, military and civil, to think first of his royal master and then of his other duties. The safety of the Emperor Is a sufficient excuse for setting aside, when necessary, any law or regulation. The army and police are | in their entirety his bodyguards. Regi- | ments of soldiers are stationed near | each palace, and selected troops are de- tailed for duty in courtyards and| buildings. | In addition to the regular uniformed police, who patrol the streets with par- ticular care when the Czar is passing, there s a large body of secret police, whose duty it is to discover and frus- trate any possible plot against him. They have agents in Berlin, London, Paris, Buenos Ayres, New York, Chi- cago and Paterson, N. J. Spies are in every city in Russia and In every de- partment of life. When the Czar trav- els other people ‘walit. Between St. Petersburg and Tsarskoe Selo a speclal line, with a private station at each end, has been bullt for the exclusive use of the imperial family. Every yard of it is guarded constantly, and particularly Wwhen a train is to pass. ~ A Big Inheritance Tax. William C. Whitney left a fortune of $22,220,000. It'is assessed in New York State a legacy duty of $223,000. | done its duty, promptly, severely and well. | and not even the beneficiaries of its condemnation. This is the largest inheritance tax which would have been pald on this’| fortune anywhere in this country, New York levying a tax both on direct in- heritance as well as on collateral be- quests. revolutionary doctrines. For exam- ple, where the originial text arraigned the absolutism of monarchical govern- ment in Russie and condemned it as 2 nefarious institution the inventive genius of the Russian Consul had sub- stituted the personal designation of “Nicholas IL” making it “lese ma- jeste” beyond a doubt. He left the witness box virtually self-convicted of Going that which were he amenable to the laws of any free country would send him to jail. But if his own Gov- ernment censures him—of which there is no indication at present—it will not be for forging and distorting evidence, but for making such a mess of it that he was found out. | In, another matter in connection with the -trial it was shown that he head exposed the German Government 10 well merited ridicule and contempt. The proceedings against these German prisoners for sedition against the! Czar and his empire was undertaken on the understanding that reciprocal treatment would be meted out by the Russian Government for similar of- fenses against the German Emperor and Germany, that being the essential In England the tax would have been far heavier. Under the act of 1894 an estate of over $5,000,000 pays 8 per cent on the entire estate, real or personal, settled or not settled. The ‘“‘estate duty,” or inheritance tax, if Mr, Whit- ney had lived In England, would have been $1,760,000, or eight times larger than the largest inheritance tax levied in this country. Yet there are many who imagine that under democratic conditions large properties are likely to be more severely dealt with than abroad. A Mountain of Gaiem;. What a correspondent described as one of the grandest sights in the worlad is to be witnessed in Nyassaland, in the British Central African Protec- torate. § 'S This is a hill of solid galena—sul- phide of lead, containing silver, and sometimes copper and iron. ‘“The hill is being cut into terraces,” writes our correspondent, “like the pyramids of Fgypt. and the precious metal is be- THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Proprictor . . . ... . . . Address All Communications to JOHN McNAUGHT, Manager ....Third and Market Streets, S. F ANOTHER MOB. THURSDAY EGROES in an out-of-the-way place in Georgia N committed an atrocious murder. The victims were a white family. The criminals were caught, had a prompt trial in court, were convicted upon evidence and their own confessions, and were sentenced to death. The time of execution was set near to the cpnviction, and there was no appeal taken from the verdict of the jury and the judgment of the court. It was a most commend- able instance of the prompt administration of justice. The ajesty of the law wa# vindicated, and society was protected by the prompt punishment of the guilty. In all of its features this calm and quick action of criminal justice might well serve as an example to other Statesy where it is complained that the mob spirit is roused by judicial delays and the quibbling of lawyers. But the good example and the excellent effect to be expected from it are destroyed by what followed. A furious mob rose, attacked the jail that was de- fended by militia, and by seizing the guns of the soldiers found that they were not loaded. Thereupon the troops were overpowered by sheer force of numbers, and, by the connivance of the deputy sheriff, the mob seized the wretched criminals, took them into the fields, tied them to a stump, poured kerosene on them and burned ‘them to death. The act was accompanied by unusual evidences of savagery, and the negroes expiated their crime under circumstances of peculiar barbarity. It has been argued with much force to Northern audiences that burning negroes at the stake for an un- speakable crime is justified because it saves their victim the capital humiliation of describing the crime in a court of justice. We admit that there is sympathy for this view of it, and that feeling is tolerant of the method pursued to rid the world of a monster. But none of this entered into the cause or excuse of this last mob. The victims of murder were dead. Their slayers had con- fessed, were convicted and stood within the shadow of the gallows without the least hope of escape. Justice was vindicated Even the human desire for revenge had been satisfied by the praiseworthy action of the court. A normal com- munity should have been more, than satisfied. It should have been proud that the existence of law and the mani- festation of its power to right all wrongs had been jus- tified. But that Georgia community was not satisfied, and took into its owpn hands the execution of a legal judgment and proceeded to itself commit a crime more horrible than the one it avenged. All the conclusions to be drawn from the incident are discouraging. We put no weight into the condemnation because it happened in the South. We offer no indict- ment of a section. We deplore it because it took place in the United States, in a republic where the law is the sole avenger of crime and the sole protector of all rights. While the miserable blacks suffered the torment of fire and had their distorted lives licked up by flames, suffer- ing tortures that language cannot describe, the law was also burned at that stump im Georgia. The law had It had be- come entitled to the allegiance and respect of the people, but it had neither. It was as despitefully treated as it it had failed and fallen short in the discharge of its func- tion. It is the first case of the kind that we can recall. Where juries have failed to do their duty and courts have seemed to respect more the letter than the spirit of the law, communities have lost patience and have taken the matter in their own hands. But here there. was no | default, no failure, no hesitation, no technical delay. But the law, having done all, failed to satisfy and was repudiated and shamed. It is a sorry case and one that cannot be excused by any of the arguments that have ever been made to justify lynching. The mob murdered whom the law had condemned to the gallows, and the law suffered. The effect cannot fail to be bad in every aspect. The negroes sare made worse by it. Whatever savage fiber remains in them will be inflamed. It is notice to them that they are outside the law, not subject to its methods In- stead of making the whites safer, it exposes them to greater danger. It sets up the rule of life for life, out- side the law. Events are in evidence to prove that the ignorant, poor and criminal ‘element among the South- ern blacks are not in the least restrained by lynching. Burning them to death has not restrained a single crim- inal, nor averted a single tragedy. The mob has accom- plished nothing in the way of admonition of criminals and restraint of crime. It is a useless. method. It in- jures those who apply more than those who suffer it, for they are dead, while their tormentors live to suffer the weakening effect of their crime upon the law, which is the protector of their own rights. A local preacher, analyzing modern conditions, de- plores the fact that the devil as a personal entity en- dowed with powers not comfortable to the vision of wrongdoers is fast disappearing from the mind of man, and with him is vanishing that fear that keeps most of us in the straight and narrow path. Let the worthy speaker of the good word take consolation, however, in the knowledge that the world yet holds many men and women whose morals never have been founded upon a plane of rewards or punishment and never will be. Fear is neither reformation nor regeneration. A Institite, recently held in the University of Glas- gow, industrial hygiene was the theme of discus- sion, rich in cmnpafison:'for the student of American in- dustrial conditions. The picture of the life and environ- ment of British workingmen, dark and dismal and un-' promising of either reform or redress, painted by intelli- gent and painstaking investigatars, points to the ob- server of diametrically opposed facts in the same rela- tive field in the United States a serious and sad moral, British inquiry, faithfully made, finds that fatigue, al- cohol and tubercle are working the ruin of the working- men of England, Scotland and Wales. Bad housing, sium life, improper feeding and excessive indulgence in alcohol by both sexes are enfeebling the race and making it a prey to the operation of those causes that produce disaster. to commercial prosperity and death to the phy- sical, moral and mental health of the productive class upon which the future of the kingdom inevitably de- pends. $5 British workingmen, these inquirers decide, go to their work unprepared and unrefreshed and leave it fatigued, PAINTING A DISMAL PICTURE. T the annual conference of the British Sanitary with wasted energies unreplaced by proper food and fur- | ther harmed by pogfly-vgntilnt«l, overcrowded habita- hall. Drudgery and overwork, followed by the necessary consequence of a taste for stimulants and a desire for unhealthy recreation and excitement, are the dreary cause and effect which British observers find inherent in British industrial conditions. While painting this terrible picture of the working men and women of Britain the Sanitary Institute is not poor in recommendation of reform, however unwise we may think it to be, in not seeking suggestion from Amer- ican policy that has met and conquered most of the evils that so afflict our British brethren. The institute suggests a regulation of home work as a mitigation of the distressing evils of the day. A measure, designed to prohibit any process of manufacture in dwelling- houses that fall below a certain level of cleanliness and airiness and to limit workers in any given space to the | proportion of one person to every two hundred and fifty cubic feet of air, will be submitted to Parliament. Under the provisions of this bill each worker must rececive from a duly authorized commission a certificate or license to work in his home, and without this license no employer may give out work to be dofie anywhere except on his own premises.’ An urgent pfl is made for the limitation of working hours and forfl:e suppression or modification of that nightmare of the workingman in every land under the sun, the cess of sweating. And here the Sanitary In- stitute closes its” suggestions, except for the recommen- dation, casually madé and apparently little thought of even by those that advance it, that the cure for the grave evils of long hours of labor in a vitiated atmosphere re- quires organized effort on the part of the workers, aided by practical legislation limiting the hours of work. It is here that the first step in the solution of the problem must be taken. Let our British brethren look upon the workingmen of the kingdom as the people of the United States look mpon theirs, as a dignified ele- ment of the body politic, a constituent, intelligent part of the nation, contributing to its prosperity and greatness and competent to urge legislation that must advance its interests and assist its capacity for production. The workingman is not of a class himself, but is of the whole people, uniting with other elements and influences to produce the greatest good. He is patient of suggestion, but his power is in an intelligent, conservative initiative | in affairs that vitally concern his own condition. The disquieting report that England has seized Bird Island, in the West Indies, as a preliminary measure of her policy to protect the interests of her subjects in Venezuela proves after all to have been without foun- dation. Until the great question of what constitutes con- traband of war in ghe eyes of the nations has been set- tled to satisfy Britigh opinion, or the Czar's war fleets have been swept from the seas, we may rest easy that England wiil do nothing to offend her good and dear friend, the United States. s s e s i CLEAN OUR STREET CARS. I fession and experience to judge, suggests an immedi- ate local application of the recommendations we have made for the proper sanitation of vehicles of transporta- tion. Reform in this connection rests solely with the public. What it demands will certainly be granted by the street railroad companies, which, fortunately for San Francisco, are disposed to renc‘ler to the traveling public an efficient service. Our street railroad companies have been quick to meet the exigencies of traffic. They have instituted necessary reforms in their service to relieve the congested hours of the day. Cars travel on a more frequent headway than before, new districts have been tapped to develop the outlying and rapidly growing sections of the city, and conveniences, urged solely by the desire of these cor- porations to please their patrons, have been established. Precedent is eloquent, therefore, for the institution of a reform far more important and vital to public interest The public, however, must take N another column a correspondent, qualified by pro- than any one of these. the initiative. Where men and women congregate physical condi- tions must be healthful or disease will be the inevitable | result. When the public understands and values the knowledge that in dust there is death the demand for clean, well ventilated, thoroughly washed and sunlit street cars will be insistent or patronage will be with- drawn at whatever cost of inconvenience to those that care not to accept the hazard of disease and death in their most treacherous encroachment. The traveling public certainly should need no further education on this subject. The infectious character of tuberculosis is beyond controversy. In every commun- ity the disease presents a problem far more serious in its cost to the state than the manifold obligations of admin- istration of public affairs. It is estimated that this dis- ease alone costs the United States the staggering annual tctal of more than three hundred millions of dollars. Yet the host of tuberculosis is the dust of the street. Jn a variety of ways the germs are carried into the street cars, where nearly every resident of the city passes some of his time every day in the year. Our city government has accomplished a great measure of reform by fixing”a certain penalty for the offense of expectorating in street cars. This surely is wise. Some European communities go even so far as to prohibit women from wearing. trail- ing gowns on public thoroughfares. What has been done should be accepted as only so much gained in a campaign yet to be won for public health. The street railroad companies should be made to understand that clean cars, thoroughly and duly Washed, cars unincumbered by useless, dust accumulating orna- ments, cars daily exposed to light and sunshine, and cars as scrupulously free from dust and dirt as the reception room of a home, are the only vehicles in which the pub- lic of San Francisco will ride. Such a reform in public service, so eminently desir- able, may be accomplished in a variety of ways. Patrons of each car line who ride regularly within a certain dis- trict should interest themselves in a cause that is the more vital because it is too little understood. These peo- ple can organize to protect their health, they may peti- tion the corporations for reforms that are necessary, and they must recgive the assurance of an acquiescence to their reasonable demands. ) T A traveler from Egypt, recently among us, has satis- fied his faculties of observation far enough to remark that the agriculturists of the Nile are. immeasurably superior to those of American fields and farms because his people have neither holidays nor Sundays in which to bow to idleness nor during which to seek-recreation. Yet after they have done all they may do the Egyptians can only eat, drink, sleep and clothe their nakedness. Their representative is certainly doing much to prove . A Stock Property. There is a good story, known to the elect of newspaper circles, but beyond the precinets of the craft entirely hid- den, for it concerns a former star In the journalistic world who has now re- tired to the more peaceful sphere of home life. To begin with, let it be known that the proper pronoun to be used in this anecdote is ‘“‘she.” Not long ago the columns of print that appeared under her name were eagerly sought as being the very salt of San Francisco's Journalistic achievements. Everybody knew her, through her work at least, and every- | body hung upon her written words as oracles. The envied of all her sister "crallsmen of the pad and the admired i of every newspaper man from manag- ing editor to cub, this lady held su- preme sway as long as the spirit moved her. But in one way she was a terror to the business office. Nobody could put in an expense account of such ampli- tude as did this particular star—car- Tiage hire, messenger boys, special “Incldentals”—truly the business office would sit up of nights in mute rage. It happened that the inaugural ball up in Sacramento was assigned to the lady with instructions that she should “do it up brown.” She did. | When her expense account went into | the busjness office at the end of the | week there was this item which caused | the business manager to sit up and | take notice: “A ball gown, $75.” ‘Well, the business office would not pass that item. When the irate lady ’writer brought it befére the managing | editor he had been forewarned. | “Now,miss,” he began in his suavest | tones, “we will be very glad to admit ;(hls item in your little account. The | ball gown was probably as necessary |to you in covering the story as this item here indicates carriages to have been.” “Why, certainly, you could not ex- pect”— “Now, for 1 the future contingency ’lhat may arise,” continued the editor {in honeyed tones, “we will just have ;that gown in stock. We will provide | a closet for its reception in the art ed- | itor’s room and we will Instruct the | janitor to give it a little dusting now jand then so as to keep it in good con- dition and when you want to use it you | may obtain the key from the janitor. I believe”— There was an indignant rustle of skirts and the managing editor reached out for a cigarette to cheer him in his solitude. In Paradise. “In Paradise a garden lies"— Thus sang a2 monk in cloistered When at the tolling of the bell, | He looked with longing to the skies. eell, He saw through bars the arching dome Of deepest azure stretched afar, ‘Where silver shone the vesper star, Lone wandering for eternity. H A Within those walls so gray and cold, A human voice uprose in song. It chanted through the hours iong, | “In Paradise a garden les.” | Alone, adrift 'mid stress and change, | 7 I tune my soul to hopeful lays— Heed. gracious Lord, this mortal praise, “In Paradise a garden lies.” —Boston Transeript. The Deadly Matfa. Afterall the resourcesof the kingdom | of Italy have been devoted to bring- | ing to justice the ex-Member of Par- liament Palizzolo, charged with the murder of Senator the Marquis Notar- | bartolo, his conviction having been | secured with no end of trouble, the | sentence condemning him to lifelong | imprisonment has been annulled and | the man restored to liberty. Acknowl- edged chief of the Mafia in Sicily, an {island whose metropolitan city of Pal- Legislature, he has shown in a singu- larly striking fashion that his powers as chief, of one of the greatest crimi- nal secrét organizations in the world is superior to that of Parliament, of the administration and of the crown. And with the demonstration of the ex- traordinary influencesof the Mafla constituted by Palizzolo's restoration to freedom before thelr eyes Italians not only in the peninsula, but all the world over, will now be more reluc- tant than ever to place themselves in the position of antagonism to this so- ciety by according to the authorities any assistance whatsoever in their ‘proceedinn against it, Every one in Italy knows that Paliz- zclo is the chief of the Mafia. There has never been any secret made about the matter, and Crispi, when Premier, was wont to treat with him as the pd- litical “boss” of the island of Sicily in order to secure the return of mem- bers disposed to support the Govern- ment in the Chamber of Deputies. So frightened were the people, not only of the lower classes, but even of the highest social, officlal and politicar rank, to testify against him in the Notarbartolo murder case and to thus incur his enmity that it was found necessary to change the venue of the trial several times, the case being eventually heard first at Milan and then at Bologna. Each trial lasted for months and in spite of the intimi- dation of the witnesses and their re- luctance to give any testimony the evidence produced in court was so strong as to leave no alternative but conviction. Undismayed, Palizzolo’s la s cured appeals on the ground :tyec?n::n technical informaiities during the course of the proceedings. On the strength of these the verdiet and the sentence of life imprisonm: quashed and a third trial orde: Florence. This has just been b::?l‘:: to a close after lasting nearly a year by a verdict diametrically opposed to all the facts proved at the previous trial jat Bologna and by which ga badly frightened jury acquits the prisoner and restores him to liberty, as the say- ing is, “without a stain upon his char- acter.” The entire island of Sicily professes to-be wild with enthusiasm and delight at mlfiqum.m the leading citizens of Prlermo, including ent were {ermo he represented in the national | dukes, merchants, princes, nobles of every degree and even public officials, | such as judges, magistrates, etc., have | organized themselves into a deputation which has proeeeded on board the larg- est steamship that could be chartered I'to Naples for the purpose of bringing this infamous scoundrel back in tri- umph to his peopli——Marqulse de Fon- tenoy. * Clean Street Cars. SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 15. Editor of The Call—Dear Sir: Sin- cerely thanking you om behalf of the San Francisco public for the excellent | and very apropos editorial article in | your issue of to-day—‘“Death in the | Coaches”—permit me to suggest in that | connection that we should commence the reform at home. Our street cars are all in an unsanitary condition, for they are never sufficiently cleansed, Jjudging from their appearance. It would seem as If the steam cars on the California street line extension have never yet come in contact with water, unless they may possibly have some time been out in the rain; but they have never, apparently, been properly cleaned at any time and are a disgrace to that company and an eyesore to the city. Befors our Eastern visitors arrive all the street cars should be thoroughly overhauled and cleansed, and then be kept in a good condition. Cannot we have another editorial touching on this branch of the subject at issue? Yours truly, D. ALBERT HILLER, M. D. England’s Danger. Since 1851 Ireland has lost through | emigration over 4,000,000 of her popula- tion, and a very large propertion of those remaining are weak and ineffi- cient. But there is now an agitation to stop the drain for fear that the country may become too weak for re- covery. In England the birth rate is steadily declining. In 1366 the birth rate was 352 per 1000; in 1891 it had | tallen to 31.57; in 1897 to 29.7, and in 1903 to 28.5. This conditionp would have been worse excepting for the influx of poor Hebrews and others who, from their manner of living, have driven the British out of some parts of the city of London. Marriages have decreased, and unless something is done to st the decadence there is no telling what the result may be. That is one thing that gives strength to the Chamberlain agitation. The British colonies are vigorous, but the emigration from “the old country” and the more vigorous | competition of other nations are hav- ing their effect In weakening, in some respects, the United Kingdom. Answers to Queries. THE CRUSADERS — M. H., City. “The Talisman” and “The Betrothed™ both by Scott, concern the last of the second crusade and the first of the third. THE MIDDLEMAN—M. H., City. The play entitled “The Middleman,” by Henry Arthur Jones, is an original composition by him and is therefore not founded on any work of fiction. SWEAT BOX—Subscriber, City. A “sweat box,” in police parlance, is not “a box In which a prisoner is placed, the steam turned on and allowed to re- main there until he is ready to con- fess.” When the police of this or any other city have a suspect he is usually placed in a solitary cell, @nd if he is guilty of the crime charged against him his conscience will make him sweat, but if he is innocent his com- finement in a solitary cell may make him fret, but not sweat, as the police understand that term. RAISING FROGS—A. C. R., Ceres, Cal. The species of frog used for food in Europe is the common green frog. It abounds greatly in ponds and slow streams in France, Southern Ger- many and Italy. The frogs are caught in great number in nets and put into large inclosed ponds, or “froggeries,™ where they are fed until wanted for the table. The flesh of the frog is regarded as mest delicate in the fall. The food of the frogs is principally insects, but when in froggeries they are fed upon bread crumbs and fresh . meat cut into very small nieces. The bullfrog, an American species, is also cultivated for the table. LIQUEFACTION OF GASES—Suh- seriber, City. Farraday, the renowned chemist, had a theory that by generat- 'ing gases under high pressure they I could be turned into a liquid state. Practical experiments proved his theory to be correct. Gases produced in this way in strong bent glass tuhes continued liquid at low temperatures while the pressure was maintained, but j when the pressure was removed by ]brmking the tube they instan | passed into a gaseous state. In this I way before 1822 he succeeded in | liquefying chlorine, sulpharated hydro- gen, nitrous oxide, hydrochioric and other gases. He is credited with be- ing the first who had a practical re- sult in this matter. —_———— Townsend's California Glace fruits in artistic fire-etched boxes. 715 Market st.* ———— Special information supplied daily t business houses and public men u.: Press Clipping Bureau (Allen’s). 230 Cal- ifornia street, Telephone Maln 1043. *