The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, September 11, 1904, Page 17

Pages17t02 4 > i * - SAN FRANCISCO, SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER ‘11, 1904. L @smozfil WILLIAM WALDORF ASTOR PAYS WITH UNPOPULARITY THE PENALTY FOR A STIFF INSISTENCE ON Life of the Misunderstood Millionaire in Lon- don One of Many Woes and Disappointments. Expatriated American Will Never Become a British Lord if Queen Alexandra . 10.—Some of the ecord has been planted branch C the announce- Pauline’s engagement to Most of it has Sept | some of it has £ and a f it has been m Waldorf Astor's r a k of infringe- ion, n in Eng- 1 misunder- t for his discredit d so much and I under- ptly received sing. so devoted a 1« friend the engage- r mother’s t of my v chief stu- the attachment r and daugh- e true facts con- f the young Duke ¢ husband patience tisfac- 4 ment. NATIVE LAND. ve land has the unpop- f Astor, but io with it than hich make this queer e uncommonly shman who tely and sees recently that this ex-American as a n his newspaper, or in the Pall scemed to refiect “It may surprise RTION O} went on to say, “that s to be genuinely de- nited tes. He told on for h c n fan nation at low journals in the other cities and his fam- the some idea of the severe which character- t to his really Thames hat has been a time to be- 3 d and sooty in ap- e before taking its proper place ar choice old bulldings in, ARVELOUS ANGLES. the walls are richly paneled ed oak, the hardwood floors e those of a baliroom, the oaken bench for waliting visitors s stiff and uninviting as a marble ausoleum. There are no n ere—only right angles. d a long, glistening counter, top- ped by & wondrous iron grill, are two erke, also appear to have been f oak, and who sit stiffiy neat oaken desks bear- i s. There is such an op- of right-angled accuracy, precision and strict silent at t lace that it would agine such a thing r an erasure, or a misspelled those great books wherein 1th is recorded down to item. One fancles that s which lend their ce to the highest figures of 1 are written in those e form of squares rather who ed vestibule, severely other room, likewise plain, where sits n exact man, sur- t documents, recording enal exactness every ken seve the Astor nded b with or transe n in which the Astor estate has been olved. If you shouid in- advertently to the Astor estate a penny 1 e than the precise sum you owed, the perturbation of the Astor solicitor would be as great as If you paid & penny—or a thousand dollars— lees than you owed. In the room be- yond Astor's offices, and on the floor above, is a severely beautiful hall, where Mr. Astor occasionally gives cor- rect banquets. DISLIKES DISORDER. And there you have William Waldorf Mr Can Help It. Astor as pictured by his surroundings. Anything a little out of order moves him to bitterness, which probably ex- plains an incident that did more to hurt him with London society than could be undone by any amount of lavish gifts of charit Through some misunderstanding Sir Alexander ke- ley-Miine, one of the most popular of soclety men, was present without in- vitation—without a formal invitation, at least—at a big pa given by Mr. Astor. The host was s& irritated by the fact that he had it published in his own paper the next day. Now Sir Alexander was perfectly innocent of offense, and w: more: a personal friend of the’ King and ueen. Her Majesty took especial pains that he should be seen in her box at the opera immediately after the publication of the item, and since then Mr. Astor has not had approval, although his daughter has been a favorite with both the Queen and the Prince of Wales. The Queen took a hand, too, in an- other dispute in which the millionaire became involved through insistence on his rights, to the great detriment of his popularity. That was his conflict with ways receive a handsome donation, and in many ca the check is sent anony- mously. The Union Jack Club, of which the Prince of Wales laid the foundation stone a few days ago, is also 1 an obligation to the house of Astor. This club is intended to ac- commedate non-commissioned officers and men who may be passing through London from time to time on their way and from various military depots. to the . Astor is a ge 1s employer and vants speak weil of, him. The who scl} his newspapers in ‘the expected to run about They stand at fixed points and rece 1 a fixed wage with a comm on on the sales. Ie set the lead in this matter and one or two of the better-cldss papers followed his example. His naturalization has made no change in his methods of con- ducting his business. He is methodical to the point of being considered arbi- trary and this is a feature many of the people who come into contact with him men street are no bawling the latest winner. cannot understand. His abruptness, too, does not commend itself to his friends. “Yes” and “no” appear to - A CLIVEDEN, BOLX THF DUEE 4 T ELH the Thames Conservancy over the question of fishing rights in that part of the river bounded by the Cliveden estate. The Conservancy is an emi- nently popular and fashionable body. They are responsible for the govern- ment of the river Thames from end to end; they stock it with fish for the purposes of providing innocent sport for anglers from anywhere and every- where so long as they do not abuse any of the privileges extended to them. FORBIDS FISHING. Mr. Astor as soon as he bought Cliveden from the Duke of Manchester, insisted that his part of the river was his own particular preserve and that no man must fish there without his personal permission. He fought the Conservancy and won, but fashionable people who go fishing have not forgot- ten an action which they regard as arbitrary. If people want to fish there now they must do so from boats and not from the river banks. The worst of it is that the fishing at Cliveden is about the best on the Thames. The Queen and Princess Victoria, both of them enthusiastic anglers, used to fish there not & little, but they have con- spicuously avoided the place since Mr. Astor began to insist on the letter of the law. It 1s this curious belligerency over trifies that has concealed the good qualities of @ man who has been re- mailkably generous In bigger things. It is =ald that he became so indignant at one time over the storles that he was trying to buy a peerage every time he gave & big sum to charity that he vowed he would never give away an- other penny. He never approved of in- discriminate charity, and for this reason he has frequently incurred the ill-will of persons who make a living by parading their so-called philan- thropic motives -before a charitable public. Wheh her father ceased giving away his money Pauline commenced to open her purse strings freely. The father presently discovered that she was disposing of more than she could afford of her allowance and he forth- with decided to abandon his determi- nation to liye up to the selfish reputa- tion he had so unjustly earned. GIVES MUCH TO CHARITY. It is estimated that between father and daughter they dispose of at least $100,000 & year exclusive of heavy amounts which are frequently given for objects promoted from time to time by the Queen and the Princess of Wales and which are mostly of a national character. The widows and orphans of soldlers and sailors are the speclal ob- jects of their attention. The Lord Mayor's funds for the relief of ‘distress caused anywhere by unforeseen cir- cumstances either on land or sea al- { them to be the favorite words in his vocabulary. KEEPS OUT OJ!T POLITICS. At the Marlborough and the Carlton clubs he is unually the center of a small coterie who seek his companion- ship more for business purposes than with any idea of raising him in the social or political scale. The political element in the Carlton Club have, of course, offered to assist him into Par- liament, but in every instance of this kind invitations came from constitu- encies that made a heavy demand on the finances of their member. Mr. As- tor was shrewd enough to see this and he declined the political patronage of the Carlton Club and the invitations of the constituencies in question. Captain Spender Clay, on whom so much public attention is focused by the official announcement of his en- gagement in the nmewspaper of which his prospective father-in-law is sole owner, got most of his greaf wealth out of Bass' ale, in which his shrewd father, Charles John Clay, invested heavily. An uncle who was likewise interested” in the firm at Burton-on- Trent also left his fortune to the lucky young man, who now has an income of about $125,000 a year. The captain, who was a good soldier and a modest, straightforward kind of a chap, lives quietly in a flat overlooking St. James’ Palace. His famous experiences of Lord Willlam Neville (and . others, whose names he has saved from dis- grace) have caused him to choose his . friends very carefully, with the re- B R e S LU B A S & i DAUGHTER AND ENGLISH HOMES OF RICH AME sult that he is now regarded among the “Johnnjes” as rather too stald for their set. > The captain has faniily ties with the peerage, and countless rich relatiyes. He is a brother-in-law of Lord 8- ham, who recently fought and won a hotly contested seat for Parliament, but there is no evidence that the cap- tain has any greater ambitions than to be the owner of a_ stable full-of horses capable of following hounds or winning a Derby. Pauliné Astor is as fearless a rider as hern intended hus< band and it is suggested that the at- tachment sprung up while both were riding to hounds last yéar in Derby- shire on the Duke of Dévonshire's es- tate. % A o Knowing Captain = Spender Clay's love for horses, a story is current that Mr. Astor will set up a racing stable for his prospective son-in-law in ihe captain and young Waldorf Astor will have equal shares. . Mr: Astor was reported some timé ago to ‘have an idea of going in for raeing on his own account, but the death of his younger daughter ecaused him to abandon the notion then, and.it is now considered unlikely ‘among racing men that he will enter the very speculative opera- tions of the turf. Loy LIPTON IS ORITIC it o Eootie Sy ken : LONDON, Sept. 10.—Some surprise’ i 2 HIS RIGHTS reldinasel’ G i akiad L e S e 3 —_— RICAN WHO IS NOW A SUBJECT OF KING EPWARD. —— is expréned by English yachtsmen that Sir Thomas Lipton should enter a " fourth Shamrock for the America's cup under the same conditions that governed the last contest. It was gen- erally believed that the challenger would ‘ask for a change on the meas- urement rules, which have made the designer’s’ problem one of providing the largest and lightest hull on a given water line. It is evident that Sir Thomas prefers to renew the contest under the old conditions under which he has been so badly beaten than to secure a possible victory by the aid of new rules. The Yachting World, how- ever, calls Sir Thomas Lipton's atten- tion” to the fact: that it is not a per- sonal ‘matter between him and the Neéw York Yacht Club and asks in the interests of - International sport that he placed himself unreservedly in the hands of his designers. ———— BRITISH. MAYOR OPPOSES '+ TUSE OF TOOTHBRUSH Says That This Toilet Article Is Un- "' dérmining the Stamina of LONDON, Sept. 10.—At a meeting of the Board of Guardians near Folke- stone one member ed that tooth brushes should be ' supplied to the children’s cottage homes under their care. Tooth brushes, he said, were as necessary as soap and water, but the Mayor got-up and vigorously opposed ‘the motion, arguing that the stamina of Englishmen was being ruined by such fads. Probably many present in the board-room, he said, had not used & tooth brush during the greater part of their lives. The majority of the guardians were of the Mayor's opin- ion and the children are to continue without tooth brushes. —_———— Soldier Cannot Be Christian. LONDON, Sept. 10.—The Rev. R. C. Fedingham, vicar of Hexton, says he is going te America in October to preach . his rémarkable doctrine of “War and Christianity.” He considers it. possible that Christianity, which died as far back as the fourth cen- tury, may be restored because the churches don't try to teach that a young man cannot commit a greater sin than that of enlisting. churches are apostate. He declares Christian churches should excommuni- cate generals and colonels till they give up their prctu!lon.\ How can a man be a Christian, he asks, who takes monay for murdering his fellow men? If the churches were Chris- tian they could stop aill wars. American Dines With King. AIX LES BAINS, Sept. 10.—King George of Greece this week gave a small dejeuner in his apartments at the ‘Hotel Splendid to Mr. and Mrs. George Burrough Torrey. Afterward his Majesty decorated Mr. Torrey with the insignia of the Order of the Savior as a mark of his high appreciation of the American artist’s work in two por- traits he painted of the monarch. He says all” IN TRIFLING MATTERS Society’s Plan Promises Well. Arachne Club May Solve Problem. LONDON, Sept. 10.—The Arachne Club, which represents the latest ef- fort of society to solve the servant girl problem, is congratulating itself on the success which has thus far attended its experiment. Its first batch of grad- uates, armed with certificates of com- petency, have gone forth into domestic service, and from mistresses and maids alike satisfactory reports have been received. These Arachne students of pies and puddings and other mysteries of household economy are all gentle- women. The promotors of the club be- lieve that as the servants in good fam- ilies they will be far better off than if they took to typewriting, teaching and the various overcrowded occupations to which young ladies usually resort when necessity compels them to earn their own living. They are styled ‘“professional vants.” The training imposed upon them justifies the designation. Whether a girl elects to become a housemaid, a parlor maid or a cook she has to submit to a thorough practical course of skilled instruction. And she is not allowed to make money out of her ac- complishments until she has passed the necessary examinations and re- ceived her diploma. The club further stipulates that te retain their connec- tion with the club the graduates must not enter households where they will be simply one among other servants who are not gentlefolk by birth. The result is that they either enter ser- vice in pairs, or work single-handed in small households. They wear smart pink uniforms with the regulation aprons, caps and hats which consti- tute the recognized badges of domestic service in England. The rates of pay demanded for them, and they are ser- pledged not to accept less, is consid- erably in excess of the average wages This prevailing here. is how t¥»> schedule runs: Housemalds Parlor mal Cooks ... Cook-housekeepers and housekeep- ers . 200 to These figures, of course, stand for yearly payments, It is further stipu- lated that they $hall be allowed from two weeks’ to one month’'s holiddy every year. And when out of a situa- tion they have the club to fall back on Of course, it is to be expected they will forego the usual matutinal chat with the milkman or the breadman but they are free to make the most of what matrimonial opportunities come their way. “I am delighted with my place,™ said one of these graduates when re- lating her experience. “As my expenses are small my wages are practically ciearly profit. I have much more free- dem than I should have as a governess teaching fractious children,)or as a day’s companion combining pampered peodles all day long and getting snubbed by all the Servants In the house.” —_————— DUCHESS OF ROXBURGHE LEARNING TO PLAY Former May Goelet Is Now a Closo Friend of the Daughter of King Edward. LONDON, Sept. 10.—The former May Goelet, now Duchess of Roxburghe, re- cently has become the keemest sort of a golfer, and her friends say she soon will be able to give her ducal hugband points, though he is no slouch at the “royal game.” The Duchess has been practicing regularly at the golf links at Ealing, a suburban place noted for the game. She had her first lessons from the Duke at their Scottish home, but lately she has been under the tui- tion of Miss Sinclair, a Scotch woman who knows more about “driving” and “putting” than many of the male ex- perts. Princess Victoria, King Ed- ward’s daughter, has taken a great lik- ing to the Duchess and the two fre- quently have a quiet game of goif in the private grounds at Buckingham Palace. The rapidity with which the Duchess has made her way into the royal circle is causing much jealousy, especially among those who do not know about the strong friendehip that exists between the Dowager Duchess and Queen Alexandra. . —_——————— Crown Prince Refuses Gifts. BERLIN, Sept. 10.—The Crown Prince seems to have made the same rule as the Kaiser in regard to refus- ing presents sent by the public. A few days ago a well-known German cutler sent him a magnificent razor with a unique damascened blade and mother of pearl handle, with a gold monogram. Two days later it was sent back, with the information that the Prince aiways purchases the things he needs. The manufacturer determined, if possible, to secure the advertisement accruing to the Prince’s razor-maker, returned to the charge with an offer to sell it to him for $150, which was curtly refused. GOLF