The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, August 25, 1904, Page 8

FRANCISCO CALL, THURSDAY, AUGUST 25, 1904. THESAN FRANCISCO CALL Proprietor JOHN D. SPRECKELS.......... SICATIONS TO JOHN McNAUGHT. PUBLIC. _THIRD AND MARKET STREETS, SAN FRANCISCO THURSDAY... ( ment t TION OFFICE...cc0vneenss .AUGUST 25, 1904 THE OAKLAND BONDS. HE bond campaign in Oakland seems to lag. There have been a .few sporadic efforts made to rouse interest in the subject, but‘lhere is a failure of continuous effort, and there seems to be no organized move- o push the proposition to success. This may be due to the temporary appearance of other interests, such as the political conventions, the Knights Templar conclave and the observance of the two September holidays. \\'h.:t- ever the cause, it is hoped that it is merely temporary and is not due to in- difference or opposition to the great step forward implied in the improve- | ments for which the issue is to provide. Ozkland occupies an extremely commanding position and needs only to improve upon what nature has done to be put in the front rank of the beau- In Lake Merritt she has a water park that no other tiful cities of the world. city i It is not a pond nor a pool, nor a 3 his country or Europe can equal. 3 spot of stagnant moisture, but an extensive sheet of land-locked sea water, clean znd wholesome. The shores are in most part picturesque, and those portions that are not at present charming are to be improved by the pro- ceeds of these bonds, so that a noble sheet of water may have a noble setting. The lake as an asset, contributing to the charms of the city and to i_ls property values, is worth millions. Its sufficient depth and calm surface offer splendid opportunities for sailing and rowing and fishing. Everything romantic and poetic and sentimental associated with the water may be en- joyed there when the boulevard is finished and the shores are improved. Part of this improvement consists of the construction of a park on the south side of the lake, where now is an unsightly flat, and in practically sur- rounding this splendid water park by a land park, connected with a foof hill park. A study of the park system proposed by the bond issue discloses a plan | that will furnish Oakland with a series of irresistible attractions, making it one of the finest show cities in the Union. The foothill and water parks are ba De Fremery tract will be the gateway. When that system is completed, by hat was formerly the noisome West Oakland marsh, and is con- a accupying w nected with the water park by a boulevarded street, the city will have continuous park drive the most charming of any in the country. The day is gone by when it should be necessary to submit to the citizens nced by the beginning of a park system in West Oakland, of which the | of a eity arguments and plans and specifications to prove the extreme utility | and great benefit of such public improvements. will add ten dollars to the value of Oakland property immediately and will | Every dollar spent on them | | give it a progressive increase in value that will carry all the cost of the bond | issue so lightly that none will feel it. The clement climate of Oakland is favorable to the most splendid ef- fects of landscape gardening. ers and foliage has a home there. With no winter to check growth every | Everything luxurious and beautiful in flow- | nch of park space devoted to that purpose can be clad in joy and beauty | n 2 brief time. When our people travel they see the parks of the East. The imate permits the use of only a limited variety of trees and shrubs. These be hardy to resist the rigors of winter and mostly deciduous, so that Even the evergreens in that mate are cold and severe in their winter green, while here every day in the year our conifere and other evergreens are as attractive and beautiful as bride’s bouquet. To refuse now to take advantage of all thaj nature offers to Oakland 1 be a case of unpardonable indifierence and neglect. We desire to impress ar neighbors of that city with the extremely material and practical nature rface improvements. A private citizen improves his grounds. He feels that by lawns and flower-bearing borders and festooned vines he is the parks are bleak except for a few months. these s ncreasing not only the attractiveness of his home, but is adding to its value at the same time that he adds to the pleasure and comiort of occupying it. < same impulse which makes the private citizen paint his house, build public tractive walks and plant his grounds beautifully, makes a city, ise, improve its surface attractions and make itself beaut by ul. enterp Fvery voter in"Oakland who lives in 2 painted house, has a vine festoon- ng his lintel and a rose blooming on his lawn, should vote for these bonds, yrder to bring public enterprise in adorning the city up to the private ns on their own grounds. of its ci for Oakland. Now it is man’s turn to make wise use of her capacities of cl e and location and make it a city of equal beauty in its public and its pri- te possessions San Francisco has voted bonds for more parks and pleasure-grounds and breathing places made beautiful. Oakland cannot afford to remain qualid and undeveloped in all these respects, and we cannot believe that she will \ HEARST AND WATSON. R. HEARST has disclosed an affinity for Hon. Tom Watson, Pop list candidate for the Presidency. When Judge Parker was nomi- nated Hearst sent him a fervid telegram, and the anxious and ex- M cited Judge hastened to answer it by expressing the extreme honor done him | by his leading rival in the eonvention. People out here smiled, some them, and some didn’t, at the Judge’s idea of what is an honor. But with this passage of politeness and sentiment the billing and cooing between the first and second choice of the Presidency seems to have ended. r. Hearst has written editorials on manners and morals, the mechanism of society, and has incited Ella Wheeler Wilcox to write “Granny Woman” ar- ticles on stirpiculture, going into emtirely unnecessary details that belong in the private pages of medical practice, but he has been very reserved in his references to the man of Esopus. He may admire him, but shows great self- restraint in concealing his feelings. Mr. Hearst, however, must have an affinity. It is necessary in his busi- ness, and he seems to have found one in Watson, the gaunt and dyspeptic Georgian, who perhaps owes his pessimistic politics to the Southern hot bread and fryingpan. The bond of union between them is their intense ha- tred of Mr. Cleveland. If they had their way the ex-President would never get 2 bite, and if they could do it by absent treatment they would saw his bozt. Anyway, Hearst is helping Watson, with a view of increasing the Populist vote, in order to make an argument for fusion in 1908, when Hearst hopes for the Presidential nomination as a dividend on his large and losing investment of 1904. Watson is going into the campaign in the close States to express his and Hearst’s opinion of Judge Parker. Mr. Hearst might do this himself, but his method in politics is to hire a megaphone, and so he employs Wat- son. As the stars in their courses are fighting against Parker, anyway, what Watson says for himself and vicariously for Hearst will not make much dif- ference, but it will add to the joy and gayety of the campaign. of A discontented wife pleaded in court the other day for a divorce on the ground that her worse Half made her life unbearable by an incessant smoking of cigarettes in bed, a barbarous proceeding in which she almost smoth- ered to death. It is a distinct loss to science and civilization that the lady did not have patience enough to submit in silence until the barbarian had smoked himself into a well merited death. It would have been of vital in- terest to the rest of us to know how quickly a cigarette fiend may smoke himself to death. PSSR The Board of Education has submitted for public indorsement a plea that the funds assigned to the conduct of the School Department be indepen- dent of the Board of Supervisors and its authority of criticism and adjust- ment. 1f such a measure would tend to reduce the evil influence of politics ‘n our schools it is manifestly a wise suggestion. If the School Directors, ostensibly familiar with the needs of the department, are incapable of pro- viding for them, the remedy is obvious. Two sources of authority do not necessarily insure protection. —_— Disagreeable reports are coming from the St. Louis Exposition that the <howmen, the professional seekers after the money of visitors, are usurping the legitimate purposes of the fair and are playing fast and loose with its rept on. No more dangerous report tending to the injury of the great ex- position could be circulated. The managers owe it to themselves and to the world’s public to suppress the sideshows into a very subordinate place in the giant display. . >y Nature has done all she can | |of the wildest regions of the British | { less impartiality. [t leh i) fiilh "‘]f.i};z"/’ } Y ’ ;I WHEN PARKER MADE A HIT I SHALL NOT BE A CANDIDATE FOR NOR SHALL I ACCEPT A RENOMINATION.—Parker’s Speech of Nomination. (COPYRIGHT, 1904, BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT WITH THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL AND THE NEW YORK EVENING MAIL.) A Disaster When Fritz Is Wrecked When Judge Fritz's friends meet him the first question they ask is ‘Where’s my cigar?” It is a josh on | the Judge. He was a passenger on { the train bearing the picnickers of St. Agnes’ parish from Sunset Park last Saturday which collided with another train shortly after leaving the park. It was there he lost his cigar. The Judge was talking to several young ladies and had just lighted the last cigar in his possession to soothe his nerves when the crash came. Tt cigar was thrown out of his mouth and a lamp chimney hit the top of his head. For a moment he thought some one had started a rough house and a friend found him groping under the seats. “For heaven's sake,” sail the friend, “what are you doing there? Are you hurt?” y “Hurt nothing!" the Judge. scornfully replied “Where’s my cigar?” To Remove an Eyesore. San Francisco, Aug. 24. The BEditor of The Call—Sir: The forthcoming festivities of the Knights Templar demand that the city put on her best appearance and show the visitors that she, though young in years, has every pretension to beautify in her ornamentations and buildings, apart from her many natural surround- ings. A great deal has been written of late about the beautifying of our city and those in command of wealth have been urged to do their utmost in this particular; but in the face of the outrage which is now being perpetrated right In the very heart of the city how can we expect our wealthy cit zens to beautify and adorn the city— for their endeavors may meet with the same fate. I refer to the “pile of lum- | | | { | | Special Correspondence. HEADQUARTERS OF THE CALL, 5 Henrietta street, Covent Garden, Lon- don, Aug. 1 have just been favored by Sir Willlam Macgregor, the newly appointed Governor of Newfoundland, with the accompanyvingghotographs of himself and wife, Lady Macgregor. Sir| William is depicted here in court dress, but it is a costume which ill accords with this doughty official’'s character and claims to distinction. He is no carpet knight and there is nothing of the court lackey about him. In some empire his work has been done, ruling| over savage tribes under troplcal suns, defying fever and fatigue, taking his life in his hands often and always ad- ministering justice with firm and fear- At fifty-seven he has earned the right to the comparative ease and quiet waich the Governor- ship of England’s oldest colony will af- ford him, now that the troublesome French question has been practically settled. As his name implies, Sir William is a Scotchman, and like meost of that sturdy race who achieve distinction, he | started in life without any wealth or family influence to push him along. His father was a farmer in a small way, but with big ideas as to the value of an education, and he saw to it that his boy got a good one. When it came to the choice of a profession, the lad elected medicine and obtained his M. D. degree from the University of Edin- burgh. Being of an adventurous spirit and anxious to see something of the world, instead of hanging out his shin- gle in some country town and waiting for patients to come, he booked himself at the Colonial Office and was ap- pointed Government medical officer at the Seychelles in 1873. A year later he was transferred to Port Louis on the island of Mauritius, and in 1876 was made chief medical officer for Fiji. It was at Fiji he proved himself a hero. The ship Syria, freighted with coolies and their families, was wrecked on the Nasilai Reef. He organized the relief party and took command of it. Repeatedly he swam to the wreck, re- turning each time with a man or woman on his back and sometimes with a child In addition gripped by its clothes between his teeth. In this way he himself saved no less than seventy lives. It was a feat that only a man of his immense physical strength as well as courage could. have accom- plished. For this he received the Clarke gold medal and values it far higher than the “K. C. M. G, C. B.” which he is entitled to tack after his name. It was at Fiji, too, that his talents as an administrator .were first discovered and he was appointed Receiver General of the islands. That opened up a new career for him and he gave up doctor- ing eick folk. In 1888 he was made Ad- ministrator of British New Guinea. The New Guinea natives were about the worst lot of savages under the con- trol of the British crown, most of them regarding it as a waste of human life to slay a man without subsequently dining upon him. But for ten years he ran the British part of that big island, leaving a record behind him $hat is & conspicuous example of what can be accomplished among the most intractable people by a judiclous com- bination of firmness and moderation. It was to Lagos Sir William was next despatched as Governor and this post he held for four years, preserving an even balance of justice to whites and blacks and winning the esteem of all classes. The Alake’'s State lies within the Lagos Protectorate and that dusky potentate when he left England pro- fessed profound sorrow that he and Sir William were no longer to be chums in Africa. It is something of a coinci- dence that Sir Willlam's most distin- guished predecessor at Lagos, the late Sir John Hawley Glover, was also pro- moted to the Governorship of New- foundland. Padding. Herbert S. Stone, the well-known publisher, recently described at a din- ner in Washington the amusing meth- ods of a newspaper writer who used te write articles at a set rate a column. He was once commissioned to do a serial story for a Chicago newspaper. The story, as it proceeded from week to week, was interesting, but' it contained many passages like the following: “Did you hear him?" “1 a1d.” “Truly? ‘“Truly.” “Where ?”" “By the well.” “When?" “To-day.” “Then he lives?" “He does.” “ARI” _ The editor, sending for the man, sald: “Hereafter we will pay you by the letters in your serial. We will pay you so much a thousand letters.” The young man, looking crestfallen, went away, but in the very next installment of his story he introduced a character who stuttered, and all through the chapter were scattered passages like this: “B-b-b-b-be-lleve me, s-s-s-sir, I am n-n-not g-g-g-guilty. M-m-m-my m-m-m-mother c-c-c-committed this c-crime.”—Boston Transcript. Burgess' Latest Freak. Gelett Burgess, the San Franciscan and co-author with Will Irwin of “The Picaroons” and “The Reign of Queen Isyl,” has been spending the summer at Scituate, Mass., and has employed bis leisure moments in characteristic style. In a corner of an adjacent or- chard he has built a little house com- posed entirely of packing cases. This building, which he hds named the “Goop Hotel,” consists of four rooms, two stories and a stairway, plazza, doors and windows complete, the whole ground plan covering an area of only six by eight feet. A child of four can stand erect in the rooms, but the ex- ploration of the residence to an adult is achieved with considerable difficulty. The upper chamber measures only three feet square, and here Mr. Bur- gess has spent hours in seclusion in writing. The house is an object of interest to children for miles about, and has been the scene of numerous par- ties. e 4 g Newfoundland's Governor. | Arctic Alaskan Whale cast. | The principal occupation of these Es- kimos (of Arctic Alaska) during the spring is the hunting of the bowhead whale in the leads, or open water, and among the floe ice of the Arctic Oceam. The taking of a whale Is always a time of great rejoicing with these peo- ple, for it means not only an abun- dance of food and fuel, but a large | amount of valuable trading material. After the whaling season s over the boats which have been used in the chase are gathered on the leads be- tween the pack and shore ice, which i8 often some miles from shore, at the foot of some road that has been cut through the rough ice from the | land to the water. The most success- ful boat's crew, with their umiak (a whaling boat covered with skins), takes the lead, followed by the other boats in the order of their success. The har= poons, floats, paddles and everything pertaining to the chase of the whale are placed in their respectlve posi- tions. The umiak is then placed on a flat fvory runnered sled and lashed firmly in place. The owner, who is called omelic (head man), stands on the ice at the right hand side of the bow; the boat steerer stands at the stern and the paddlers stand at their respective places along the sides of the boat. When all is ready, the omelic glves the word to go forward and each of the crew slips over his shoulder a broad breast strap of sealskin which is attached to a short line made fast to the thwarts of the boat. When all is ready the boat is pulled forward a few lengths and the next boat in order goes through the same form, moving on in its turn, until all the umiaks are strung out in a long line on the grounded ice, ready for their return to land. At a signal from the head boat all move forward, chanting weird songs of the goodness and power of the whale; for one of the superstitions of these people is that whenever working on any object to be used in whaling or doing anything connected with whaling they must constantly extol the merits of this great animal. Long before the boats reach shore the entire population left in the vil- lage—men, women, children and dogs —congregate on the beach to welcome the homecomers. When the first boat nears land it is brought to a halt a few feet from the shore line, and its talisman, which is always carried in a little pouch in the bow, and may he a wolf's head, the head of a raven, iron pyrites or any odd thing, is lifted out by the omelic and held in his right hand toward ‘the ‘shore, where stands the chief medicine man water to refresh it and thank it for the benefits given, if the boat has secured a whale; or, if the boat has not haen lucky, to appease any slight that may have been put upon the talisman, in the hope that it will give them batter luck in the future. -After reaching shore a day or pos- sibly two may be given for orepara- tion and then the great feast begins. Each successful boat owner, begin- ning with the one whose boat secured the most whales, gives a feast, to which Le inviias alj the members of sacred-to go into detall” the tribe and any other peopls who may be in the village. First a wind- break of umiaks, salls or skins is built to act as a shelter against the chilly blasts of the polar winds. It is placed in the form of a large circle, if enough material can be secured, in the center of which a walrus hide is placed on the ground. and to its four corners are tied long ropes, which are passed over tripods placed about twenty-five feet from the skin. The ends of the ropes are then drawn tight and made fast with stout stakes driven into the ground, thus raising the skin about four feet. The skin thus becomes a platform some eight or ten feet square, which serves as a sort of movable stage on which the young women dance. The feast usually begins at the time | can unravel. ber” which is now being erected right in front of the Lick statuary in City Hall Square. That such an outrage | should be permitted by the authorities is, to use a mild term, most disgrace- ful. The Lick statuary is considered one of the flnest works of art that we possess and why It should be ob scured at the very time when we should display it is a conundrum, but one which no dc t the city authorities Whoever granted the pe mission for this unsightly erection have been guiity of a most illegal act, for the square in question is as m the property of the people as Golden Gate Park or Union Square and car- ries with it the same rights and priv- ileges. That there is a jobbery in the matter is beyond question and what- | ever money is received from this “pile | of lumber” will no doubt go into the pockets of those who are ever ready to take their share of the public loot | An appeal to the courts would un- | doubtedly condemn such an outrage and show the authorities that they are in office for the protection of the | people’s rights and not for their own private ends. The Mayor. it is pre- sumed—that is if he and Abraham un- derstand the duties of their position— will receive the visiting Tempia. in the rqtunda of the City Hall, right ! under the dome, and if they do so, then still more unsightly will appear this obnoxious obstruction. In the inter- ests of the city this matter should be taken up and the authorities compelled to remove this “pile of lumber” before | the Templar festivities commence. It |is indeed a poor compliment to the | memory of James Lick that this group of statuary should be hidden from view | simply to satisfy the greed of those | in power. Trusting that your influence | will be used to abate this outrage, I am, sir, yours respectfully MICHAEL ANGELO. Fairbanks "72. Some Interesting reminiscences of the college career of the Republican candie date for Vice President are told by when the sun reaches a due western | Julius Chambers in the current Hare point, about 6 o'clock in the after- | per's Weekly. Mr. Chambers attended noon; for during the eighty days of |the Ohio Wesleyan University while summer at Otkeavic the sun never Senator Fairbanks was there as a stu- sets, and being without timepieces the | dent. He tells of one occasion when & Eskimos mark their time by the po- | contest had been arranged between twe sition of the sun while it is visible and | rival literary societies. On the night by the moon and stars when the sun | of the affair, instead of a genuine con- has gone for the long Arctic night.|test, a “mock programme” made its These feasts sometlmes last twenty- | appearance, and in consequence the four hours.—From Edward A. McIl- | facuity suspended two prominent up- henny’s “The Nelicatar of Arctic Alas- | per classmen. A students’ meeting ka"” in the September Century. | was called, and Fairbanks, ., made a When Roosevelt Swore. Willlam T. Dantz, writing in Har- per's Weekly, recites an incident which serves to show that even great men have their failings. As the fam- | ous Instance of Washington's lapse into billingsgate has down to posterity, so may Mr. Dantz's anecdote of the Rooseveltian thunder‘ become eplc. He says: | “Only once did I see his temper get | away. It was a bitter night late in| the fall. The last beef round-up had | reached Chimney Buttes, a mile south | of the Maltese Cross ranch. A driving | rain that froze as it fell turned the whole river bottom, where the camp | was made, into a sea of half-frozen | mud. The cattle were restless and | hard to hold. All hands were called out and the nervous beasts were finally rounded under the shelter of the bluffs. e cook’s fire had long been drowned out and all hands went sup- perless. “Roosevelt and I slept together. After helping to quiet the 400 beeves we crawled, hungry, wet and cold, into our bed that meant some blankets spread on the wet ground covered by a tarpaulin or water-tight canvas. Hardly had we turned in when a night of the | rjger slashed a wet lariat across our ty. tribe, who pours over it a little fresh | ped, calling out: Yuba County. been handed | | | stirring speech, criticizing the faculty's action as an Infraction of the rights of American citizenship. The next day | there was a special meeting of the fac- ulty and young Fairbanks was sum- moned and required to repeat his speech of the night before. The facuity then entered into a heated discussion of the matter. A number of the more | up-to-date professors supported Fair- | banks in his views, with the result that the two suspended men were reinstated. After that the name of Fairbanks was on every tongue and he became the most popular man in Ohio Wesleyan Unlversity. ‘Answers to Queries. ST. LOUIS FAIR S., Oakland, Cal. The St. Louis Fair opened May 1. and up to August 10 the attendance was | 6,258,988. DANCING—A. O. D, City. It has been calculated that a person who | dances a modern waltz traverses from start to finish half a mile of space. | FERRY TO MOLE—G. G. A., Ala- | meda, Cal. The distance from the ferry | landing at the foot of Market street, | San Francisco, to the Oakland mole is four and a half miles. CE AND SUICIDE—P. H., In the matter of the “suicide clause” in an insurance pol- INSURAN “‘All hands turn out; cattle break- | jcy there is a conflict of opinion. The ing away.’ “With a groan I slipped out side- | ways and groped in the darkenss for my pony's picket line. Suddenly I heard a burst of picturesque language, the gist of which was a general male- diction on the country, the man who made it, the man who lived in it and the ‘blankety blank fool that would leave God’s country for such a blank- ety blank wilderness'—but there are certain situations which are too 4 Press Clipping Bureau (Allen fornia trend of decisions on this subject is that the matter is dependent upon | conaitions and that if an insured indi- | vidual commits suicide with intent to defraud the company it vitiates the peliey. ——————— | Townsend's California Glace fruits in | artistic fire-etched boxes. 715 Market st.* —_—— Special information supplied daily to business houses and public n u: the 's), 230 Cal~ street, Teleptone Main 1042,