The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, January 25, 1906, Page 8

THE SAN FRANCISCOCALL JOHN D. SPRECKEIS. ...covsesse B S R e ADDRESS ALL COMMUNICATIONS TO .- THIRD AND MARKET STREETS, SAN FRANCISCO !OBN i VHCV:NA(’GHT "BLICATION OFFT A POORLY LIGHTED COAST. 4 HE wreck of the Valencia calls pointed attention again to the ifficiency of the means requived for the safety of mariners n this coast, from San Diego to the waters of Alaska. The wrecks and tragedies grows longer every year. As the coast- i deep water commerce increases, so do the disasters to is written about shipmasters .in the coastwise trade hug- shore. They do that partly for the same reason that rail- ke out curves and substitute tangents to shorten the haul time. Commerce is inexorable in its demand for speed, for ime, for making the nimble sixpence better than the slow So it comes to pass, on'this poorly lighted coast, that ships r bones on the rocks, and lives and property are lost. before the wreck of the Valencia another ship got into uble by mistaking one light for another. The lighthouses are few far between, and their usefulness is impaired by lack of indi- In this respect the contrast between our Pacific Coast Atlantic seaboard is marked. There the lights are read as s the names of streets in a city. The mariner, within sight of land and lights, need make no mistake about his position. Of course wrecks occur there. The Delaware capes and stormy Hat- emand their tribute and get it, but not by lack of efficient In the great harbors, like Boston and New York, the lights erous that a ship moves between the shores as if it were an illuminated street, but in our Pacific Coast harbors t go by dead reckoning, and look for safety by main d awkwardness, good luck and the fates. Dominion Government is but little better than ours in ling safety for ships. The Valencia got off her course in a fog, ving t break thei on the headlands of Pachena Bay. , but none on the heads of Pachena Bay. t there and a fog siren, she would probably have avoided A lightship stationed a few points off the course that enters it would be an efficient safeguard against disasters at that ny steamers have been lost at the same place. It lies yetween the Cape Beale and Carmanah lights, and sure and sorry xperience proves that those lights furnish no protection when it is ost It I i € ne is the Dominion and the United States to get alive Their joint and several waters and coasts lightships, more life-saving stations, more fog signals and better. It is time that practical mariners were con- in these matters. They know the rocks and shoals of the They know where the fog ambushes the points of danger. T'hey know how and why it is impossible sometimes and at some places for seamanship and watchfulness to insure the safety of a ‘for to their resp ili need more lights, more | them of danger or assure them of safety. Since men g down to the sea in ships, government las been charged of lighting the coasts, or in some way providing the True, ships se Board at Washington should be advised of the ired to make this coast safer. If lightships, no matter e needed to safeguard the entrance to the Strait of Fuca, they should be provided and at once. Every »ast from San Diego to Cape Flattery should spell its as the street signs on the lamps of San Francisco. s already indebted to Senator Perkins for much good erest of commerce by securing safety for ships. He i a good sailor, who has never forgotten his salt water his Viking blood pulled him to blue water at the age For y years he has been interested in our coastwise 1is own ships have gone to their death on unlighted rocks. re that the loss of the Valencia and of many lives will ther efforts to make our coast less dangerous. No stand in the way. Unsafety is a handicap to g its risk. Let us try to avoid these pitiful 1erce by increa es of the sea. RUSSIAN ECONOMICS. SSION of political trouble in Russia will probably be asier task in the future than the overcoming of economic The Government has recently shown a pretty strong hand in putting down riot and revolution, but to pacify the | y it will be necessary to bring about a change which ¢ the poverty-stricken masses some reasonable degree of content. How appalling the undertaking is for Russian r autocratic or revolutionary, is shown by a study -’s exhausted condition made by Wolf von Schierbrand p ary Forum. Russia has for long been living with a show of power that was sustained by vast borrowings from foreign nations. By this means he put up an imposing front, but let the interior and the founda- her strength fall into ruin. hese great foreign loans. Just the one item of the amount h money which went to Russia in twelve months—namely, 00,000—shows the rate at which the staggering empire has been drawing sustenance from more prosperous nations. The increasing difficulty for Russia to pay interest on these great sums is shown by the hard struggle for a bare living that is made by the peasants. They pay the astonishing proportion of 50 per cent of their gross products in taxes. What is perhaps of more C ot $1,7 moment even than that is that the famous black belt of Russia is | rapidly decreasing in fertility. It was long regarded as virtually inexhaustible, but a recent chemical analysis made for the Minister of Agriculture shows that in twenty-five years the soil has lost 10 per cent of nutritive ingredients. The peasants are too poor to buy manure and fertilizers to replenish the loss from continual crop- ing. Much of the foreign borrowed capital has been used by De itte to buy up and improve railroads. These are not paying. The abilitation of the national industries is an imperative nced. 1 all this black outlook there are perhaps two good prospects ing forth. Peace with foreign countries will be a positive neces- for Russia for long years to come. Dreams of extending em- pire must be put away. The second good is that the vampire auto- ~rats will have to cease battening on the wealth of the land. The vice of Russia is said to be vodka. The drunkenness from tional beverage is common even among the priests. The is a Government monopoly, and the Government makes an us profit out of it and is sald to encourage its consumption. Perhaps reform in just that one item woutld economically revolu- ize Russia. “] write with my hat in hand to salute the American people,” says President Castro. It has been knewn that Castro talks through his hat, but this is the first intimation that he does his wiiting the same way.— Chicago Journal. — Mr. Roosevelt telegraphed the Mayor of Alton that Secretary Loeb has a bouncing baby boy. He could have stated with equal truth that Mr. Loeb has also a bouncing assistant secretary—Houston Post. e Secretary Taft has pulled his weight down from 315 to 294, and on this basis it is assumed that the horse that he has been riding for exercise has been reduced to a mere skeletorn.—Philadelphia Telegraph. AR LN BN A collarless Democratic Mayor of New York ought to be enough in the way of the sensation which Gotham craves.—Rochester Herald. / ead of entering the strait of San Juan de Fuca, drove ahead | There is a light on Had there | se in the air above them and the water below there is{ It is said she cannot continue | C“THE SAN FRAN B PR OUR SOCIAL - SNOBS By Dorothy Fenimore. - ? PSRRI ) o L DA ONG before Thackeray wrote his L Book of Snobs other social satirists had ridiculed that very important member of society. Bince Thackeray the snob has been a constant object of de- rision, but all the derision of all the hu- morists and all the denuncilation of all the preachers can have no effect upon him who lives in the bellef that only a certain class of men and women having certain possessions are desirable acquaint- ances. For as long as there is a play there must be an audience; and what would so0- ciety do without her balcony admirers? The one who seeks the soclety of the wealthy to the detriment of all else, the financial parasite blinded by the golden gleams of the lavish use of money, is familiar to us as a type. The climber who strives to gain a position that is de- pendent upon the age and leafy rami- fications of the family tree is no less well known. Thelr haughty disregard and dis- courtesy to those whose acquaintances they consider disadvantageous to these cherished ambitions proclaims them at once as deficient in those qualities that the ultra-modern characterizes as ‘“‘thor- oughbred.” But in neither of these classes lies the real danger to the American social sys- tem. Their methods are too crude, their motives too clearly apparent, their ob- Jject too obvious to allow of their exert- ing a strong influence upon others, Their mentality is not, ‘as a rule, of an order high enough to imprint the stamp of their leadership. | 'But there exists in our land of the free | & certain coterie whose influence is far- reaching and whose attitude toward the rest of the world is decidedly pharasa- |ical, men and women who might be | classed as the intellectual aristocracy and their camp followers. Intellectual aristocracy presupposes a large leisure, based on a comfortable in- come; long assoclation with the happy | possessors of life membership tickets in the Institute of culture; the ablility to appreciate the best of art, music, drama, literature; the tactfulness of polite in- | tercourse, and the arrogance of the be- lief that only those who have all these qualities are the chosen ones of the earth. |~ The very traits that place the mem- | bers of this soclety at the head and | front of progress and civilization are | the ones that tend 'to dangers to the | communities where these culturists are |leaders. So acute in their desire for perfection of form that they refuse to tolerate any imperfections—in the other man. So intense in their absorption in the search of correct means of expres- sion that they lose sight of the thing to be eéxpressed. Their self-concentra- tion becomes provincial narrowness the | while they deceive themselves—and sometimes others—that they are dis- | tinguished for breadth of view. | The arrogance of those who have en- | joyed peculiar advantages, but who | have falled to attain a comprehensive | realization of the scheme of humanity is | the more deplorable because it is from | these highly educated, specially trained | men and woman that the courniry ex- pects great returns. Instead of irradi- ating, they close themselves up in the shells of mental exclusiveness. Their artistic efforts are of little value to the world in general or even to art in particular, since they never touch the heart of humanity—and all art is the real erpretation n:_% Thé danipiefollowers o ellec- tual aristocracy are yearly increasing in number. The colleges of the coun- try are almost half filled with those | young men and women _who attend | them for the sake of soclal position and advantages rather than for the sup- posed ends of scholarship. Only things pertaining to college life have attrac- | tion for them. Nor is entrance into a col- | Tege necessary for this attitude. Thou- | sands of giris in the United States belleve |a college man superior to any other sim- | ply because he is a college man, forget- | ting that'a sheepskin may conceal a | wolt. In nearly every town a sharp line is | @rawn between college graduates and others. Even a community of imme- diate interests cannot excuse this snob- bishness. And if this state of affalrs continues the time will soon be here when higher education will have been discredited by those who have been given it. DUSTY RIVER. “It has been so wet for the last thrpe or four years,” remarked Truthful James, “that a good many people have forgot how dry It used to be. I remember one year when the Missouri River was dusty all the way down from Kansas City to the Mississippi. Of course, the river was running all the while, but the water in it got so dry that it turned tQ dust and blew away. I took a boat down the river at that time, but it was so dusty on the boat that you couldn’t see the hind end of it when you was standing on the front end. It was a little the worst I ever see. My mouth got so much grit and dust in it that I could strike a match on the roof of it any time. One day the boat got stuck in fifteen feet of Missouri River wa- ter. It was so dry and dusty that the wheel couldn’t turn. What did we do? ‘Well, gir, we went out and hired a farmer to haul fresh well water for fifteen miles to mix with the river water untl) it wi thin enough to run the boat through.” | Kansas City Journal. GENERAL BINGHAM. Q. What is your favorite book? A. “The Damnation of Theron Ware.” Q. Favorite fruit? A. The damson plum. Q. Favorite song? A. “My Name Is Bamuel Hall, Dem Your Eyes!” Q. Your favorite character in history? A. T.ord Curzon. Q. Your favorite town? A, Yuba Dam, Cal., or Damsite, Ariz. Q. Your favorite musician? A. Walter -.amrosch. Q. Your .avorite picture? A. That of the “Whole Dam Family.” Q. Your favorite opera? A. ‘“‘Gotter- dammerung.”—New York Evening World. MIRRO R OF DAME FASHION. THE FITTED PRINCESS WRAPPER. PRETTY challis makes this com fortable and sightly house gown, which may be fashioned either with or without a fitted lining. The back sets closely to the figure, while the full fronts are adjusted with a ribbon beit that is caught into the side seams. A pointed yoke of lace is used for the front, this edged. with velvet ribbon topping a lace frill. The sleeve is of the loose pagoda pattern, flaring widely at the wrist, and finished on the edge with the same ribbon as makes the smart sash that ties in front. AMBITION AND AMATEURS. By Clara Morris. in reply.that heroic aunt, with an execu- tive turn of mind, exclaimed: “My dear, you were quite right; her friends would override everything. If necessary, tell her she's not needed. T'li read the part myself!” Then followed another note from Jenny: “My Dear Pauline: I can't possibly come, and I'm afrald I shall have to give up my part. Isn't it too bad—just as the thing is coming off, too! However, I can't stand any more of Dodd—he had no business in the plece, anyway!” t's an infernal plot!” said Dodd. “Let's postpone the performance a week and get all new people.” “Never!" cried Paultne. “Why, it's my birthday,” 3 On the evening of the performance Jennfe Dalton came in her costume and all made up ready to fulfill her duty. Then they had to pacify the hired substi- tute, in which Dodd lost his head and declined to have anything more to do with the affair, and also it was dis- covered that Cousin Jack, or rather Claude, had not arrived. Bella, beside herself with anxlety, rushed to the front door to look for him, and encountered Uncle Ned. She kissed him and teld him of her worry; and he made things very disagreeable in the hallway with his “Good gourd!' and damning the whole thing, so that Mr. Bruce had to lug him off to the library. At 9 o'clock the play opened without any Claude, and when in the great love scene Dodd, who had to double the part, first of all made a foolish speech of apol- Y neighbor Bruce was swept into the abyss of amateur theatricals without ever knowing what hurt him. His daughter Bella had read a portion of Tennyson's ‘“Princess” one night before a full drawing-room, and every one was astonished, and several of Bella's admir. 1 who were present de- clared it was & revelation. One, a Mr. M ogy, during which there was an audible hiss from the wings. ‘Whenever Mme. Deschappelles appeared there was a tremendous clapping of bhands. Bella was miserable to the ex- treme, and wicked, too, for she had placed that hiss. and passing Miss Dal- ton in the wings, she exclaimed: *“You heartless thing!" Whereupon Jenny, fol- lowing her to her dressing-room, re- torted: “I won't allow you to call me vulgar names, Miss: Bruce. Understand that once for al Things looked very threatening for a time, but the police were not callgd in, and finally both of them went on to fin- ish, wiping their eyes, but with sweet, square smiles on their lips. But it wasn't the mismanagement of BELLA READ A PORTION OF TENNYSON'S “PRINCESS.” B e —————— Dodd, got a word into Bella's ear the next Sunday evening: ‘‘You've done it,” he said, “the whole town is agog! Take my advice and get up in Pauline—it will revive the glories of a lost art There was not much opposition, except when Uncle Ned was about. Perhaps it was his early =zricultural training that made him shout “Good gourd!” in his astonishment. Mr. Dodd became director, all four of admirers of Bella wanting to play Claude—including Dodd, of course. They got over it by inducing Cousin Jack Hun- ter to come down from Albany and as- sume the role. The dresses were all done; the back parlor had been dismani.ed and converted into a stage. They became so familiar with their parts that after a week's re- hearsal they called each other by their stage names. Hunter was known as | Claude all over the neighborhood, while Jenny Dalton was caught several time blowing her breath on the window pane and — ‘Ing with the knuckle of her little finger ‘‘Madame Deschappelles.” Mr. Bruce spoke of the matter on the street as a “little nonsense of the girl: you know.” The birthday came on Fri- day, and Tuesday was to be the full- dress rehearsal. The parlor was full of critics, and they all talked very toud and fast during the entr'actes. The next morning Bella awoke with a headache and wondered if it was a fore- runner of sweet fame. The maid handed her a little note. It was from Jenny Dal- tnni‘ and it l;n tht “My Dear Pauline: Has anything been larranged about the tickets? I shall want some for my friends. Tell Dodd to send me fifty. How I do hate that men! Did you notice how he tried to confuse me last night?” “The mean, contemptible thing,” eried the affair that made it palfful, it was Pauline, getting up and opening writing desk. “She wants to pack the place with her friends and get all the applause, does she? Well, we'll see!” Then she wrote: i 3 the bitterness that sprang out of it you 3 Of course Bella had to tell Mrs. Hop- kins, her near relative and admirer, and OCCIDENTAL ACCIDENTALS By A.J. Waterhouse. WASN'T WORTH A WHOOP. E COULD talk in Greek and San- skrit and in many a language dead— Though perhaps the ancient peoples would have wondered what he sald— He could chatter of the ologies and ometries galore, Til you voted him a wonder, If you didn’t vote him bore; | He could calculate the courses that the stars and trace, And if they went another way you felt they'd lost thelr place. Oh, his stock of erudition might have made old Learning droop— But he wasn't worth a whoop! 1 He had a string of letters which he suf- fixed to his name, That should make a common mortal hide his head in véry shame; And his very neat diplomas, done in Latin that appalls, ‘Were so frequent in his d“lvlelun‘ that they plastered all its walls. In Nineveh or Babylon he felt alike at homs, Ana geologle strata formed a fleld he loved to roam; He could tell you how the folyp was the grandpa of the clam— But he wasn't worth a—whoop! You ask me why this learned man was never worth a whoop, And why one always found him in the elemental soup? The answer is quite evidént: He was a sponge, no more, With a talent for absorbing all the must and dust of lore; But a sponge, though sometimes useful, as you've noticed sans a doubt, In our dally cut ana shuffie rarely helps us mortals out; And though some fools may learning suck until it make them stoop, They are not wortlr®s whoop! Don't think, my dear, that mine’s the will much learning, to abuse, For education is the tool that wise men ‘wisely use; But tools are e’er of little use without the brain of skill— A tool within a doitish hand may work but ruin still. I've watched our colleges, my boy, acad- emies and schools, Until I know they educate both geniuses and fools. You'll have to set a brain behind the learning that you coop, Or you're never, worth a whoop! “What do you think of Shakespeare's ‘Hamlet? " “Well, the last time I saw it I thought his suit of black was ever so becoming to him!™ N. B.—And still the Stanford Sequola clatms that our society people do not ap- preciate Shakespeare! +It's curious. “Solomon was right in the social swim of his time, wasn't he?” “I suppose he must have been, but what makes you say so?’ “Why, didn’t he say, “Vanity of vanities * * * all is vanity? " TALE OF THE CERTAIN MAN. A certain man went down from Peta- luma to San Francisco, and fell among thieves. (Which, it should be understood, is ho reflection upon San Francisco, for the best authorities have agreed that he doubtless fell in with de gang before ue had reached this place.) And when they had stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, they departed, leaving him halt dead. And when he had picked hiself up “Gee and had mutteréd ~to - himself, ? what a head! It is like unto that which cometh the day thereafter,” he called unto the thieves, beseeching them that they should return unto him. ’ And when they had returned to him, he said unto them: “Is it not written, “Phere is honor among thieves? ™ And they wotted that it was even s0; yet did they demand of him the password and grip of the order. Then did the certain man put his hand behind him and wiggle his fingers graspingly, and whisper the mystic word, “Graft,” and straightway they returned his raiment unto im and healed bis wounds with Bing’s Balm of Youth. o For, behold, the certain man also was a politician. And is it not written in the Book of Workthepublicus, in the thirteenth verse of the thirteenth chapter thereof, “Whaeso of the tribe of Grafters stand- eth not in with all its members, from him shall the Powerful Pull be with- drawn?” A TALK WITH WILLIE. You have now, my Willle, attained that time In life when never again will you know so much as you do now. To be sure, you do not say so in so many words, but you express the con- viction in your every attitude, in your unreadiness to receive advice, and, generally, in the I'm-a-wise-bad-man ailr which you carry about with you. Now 1 do not wish to jar your feel- ings, Willle, for I really like you: but 1 need not worry about doing so, for nothing except time and its develop- ment can touch your colossal self-con- ceit; and so I will venture to tell you the truth in saying ti you have reached the time when your summum bonum of knowledge is born of the crass ignorance of youth. You simply have not attained the time and intel- lect to realize how little you know; to comprehend that man's utmost knowledge embraces but some slight acquaintance with the how and no ac- quaintance with the why of things. Perhaps you never will attain to that quantum of intellect, my boy, for many and many a man or woman never does, but if you do not. the more fool you. And in the meantime, while you are awalting the result of the experiment, you can wear a small hat and in aivers other ways endeavor to compress your head, for it will peed it. WRONG SIDE OF THE BED. I like the chap who tries to do the thing, he ought to do— And I he makes a failure. why, no less do I and you: 1 lke the man who plays his game regardless of our say, For, though his cards be deuces all, he's winner anyway" I'm rather fond. I here admit. of those ‘who rise again. do not 3 But the best man of the royal lot I judge, when all is said, Is he who smiles when he got out the wrong side of the bed. SMART SET By Sally Sharp. The Japan Soclety of America will hold a reception this evening In the largs auditorium of the New Century Club. An interesting lecture on Japanese prints, by Miss Katherine Ball, is to be the featurs but to prove their application to the study of art, as they are the very embodiment of art principles, being particularly happy in their composition and unsurpassed in color harmonies. Miss Ball is the first person to go into the mathematical and sclentific analysis of structure character- istic of the particular art form known as & picture. Others have hinted at such, but this is the first time a definite scheme of analysis will have been presented from the platform. To-night's decorative intent will com- bine unique and artistic beauty, as tl walls are to be covered with Japanese prints, while Japanese flowers will be dis- played and tea served by the little malds of Japan in costume. The absorbing topic with all progressive soclety people to-day is the organization of this body on this coast, and the spread- ing interest speaks well for the cullure of S8an Francisco. New York failed in the project, and not even to Boston, with her fine exhibits and museums, has the idea of such an assoclation occurred. To-night's reception committee con- sists of Mrs. Bowman H. McCalla, chairman; Mrs. Charles Austin Cool- idge, Mrs. Emma Shafter Howard, Mra. Garret W. McEnerney, Mme. Kisaburo Uyena, Mrs. Bernard Moses, Charles H. Lombard, Joseph Tobin, Richard Har- rison and Comsul Kisaburo Uyena. . . Mrs. Eleanor Martin will be hostess at a large dinner in her home on Broadway this evening in honor of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Martin, who are short- 1y to leave for New York. . v . Miss Mabel Hogg will be among to- day’s hostesses, entertaining at a, lunch- eon in honor of Miss Emily Chickering of Oakland, whose wedding to John Overbury will take place February 18. CEET ™ Miss Malsie Langhorne will give a tea to-day, honoring Miss Sara Cunning- ham, who is soon to leave with her mother, Mrs. James Cunningham, for Europe. Mrs. I. Lowenberg will entertain at a luncheon to-day in the Palm Garden, having bidden twenty guests to enjoy her hospitality. v mile Miss Marion Wright and Miss Jean- ette Wright will be hostesses this even- ing at a dance In their home on Scott street. . et e Mrs. Joseph Trilley entertained nearly fifty guests at bridge yesterday 1a her Fillmore-street home, which was most attractive in a lavish decoration of huckleberry and varied roses. The affair was most elaborate, the winners receiving handsome prizes and indulging in the game until & late hour. Among the players were: Downey = Harvey, Mrs. Louils Brech min, Mrs. Charles Krauthoff, Mrs. R. F. Schwerin, Mrs. A. H. Vail, Mrs. Pel- hamn Ames, Mrs. Mansfleld Lovell, Mrs. Horace Davis, Mrs. Henry T. Scott, Mrs. Irving Scott, Mrs. E. B. Pond, Mrs. Wil- llam Dutton, Mrs. E. P. Farnsworth, Mrs. Joseph Crockett, Mrs. Samuel Pond, Mrs. Barclay Henley, Mrs. Alex- ander Center, Mrs. E. B. Cutter, Mrs. George Gibbs, Mrs. Sidney V. Smith, Mrs. L. A. Kelley, Miss Gwinette Hen- ley, Miss Sally Maynard, Miss Lena Maynard M.H_.Andnwl . Two other very pleasant bridge events of less formal nature took placa yesterday also, Mrs. Henry Foster Dutton hostessing a few tables and Mrs. Bdward T. Houghton providing the enjoyment for a score of guests at her Hyde-street home and presenting Mrs. Hallett and Mrs. P. B. Lindsay as guests of honor. Mrs. Clarence Martin Mann is mak- ing most elaborate arrangements for the dinner at which she will be host- ess on February 3. Twenty-six gues are bidden to the affair and will en- joy a delightful musicale later in the evening. 9 LN Miss Ruth Foster will leave for he home in Los Angeles this evening afte} a fortnight's visit in town, during which time she has received much en- tertainment. Yesterday Mrs. M. H. Sherman and Miss Hazeltine Sherman entertained 200 guests at a tea in honor of Miss Foster. M e Miss Katherine Bunker and Leslie Hedger will be married ening at the First Unitarian Chu at 8:30. The bride will be attended by Miss Lucy Cormack, the groom to be served by his brother, Harry Hedger. Dr. Sum- ner Hardy, Benjamin Allen, Willlam Kingwell and Arion Kalenborn will act as ushers. BORROWING BONES. John Mitchell, in a description of one of the historical coal strikes of the last ceg- tury, sald: “There is a story of the privations of these poor people that has a grim pathos in it. Its pathetic, rather than fts hu- morous side mak:: the story worth e peating. “A child during the strike goes to Mrs. Simpkins on Monday morning and says: for the loan of your marrow bones to with.’ Townsend's California glace frus and cholcest candies u--»nm-': etched boxes. New store, 76T Market * —_—— information supplied Mlfllfl‘)?\lh-n Press Clipping Allen’s