The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, April 6, 1906, Page 8

OCALL THE SAN FRANCISC JOHN D. FPR}:FK I.S JOHN APRIL 6, 1906 THE CHICAGO VOTE.. result of the vote on public ownership and operation in ago shows a very mixed and. uncertaig state of the public nd. When Mayor Dunne took office:a year ago he an- nounced: that Chicago would -at once have municipal ownership and of the street railroads. To facilitate 'this he sent for Mr. ntendent of the municipal railways of Glasgow, to tell him how it could be done. Mr. Dalrymple took operatic Dalrys Je to investigate, and then reported to the Mayor that it; be done at all, if the public interests were to be con- port seems to have been so unanswerable in its con- s veto of the proposition that the Mayor has never If he had published it and then contintied his nanicipal ownership and operation, he -would have to answer the conclusions of Dalrymple. As:he be fairly concluded that the arguments of the nanswerable. Still, it must be said 'that entire people required the publication of the.report. As erned them, their interest in it was of more impor- the Mayor's pride of opinion: recent election the questions of public ownership and ilways were submitted separately. The street r vads assured.the Makor that they were | to the city, taking its certificates of indebtedness in That was submitted to the people in a propo- 73,000,000 in securities for the. purchase of the street railr <. It received 110,008 votes, to 106,669 against it, i majority of 3339. The proposition that the is when acquired needed a 60 per cent affirmative 120,011 votes, against 110,260, a majority of only the necessary 60 per cent. The third proposition e subject had no legal effect whatever and was “Shall the city without delay acquire and ilroads?” and it had a majority of 3837 votes. As 1e roads was included in the first proposition that needed 60 per cent, but received a majority of 10651, e curiosities of the ballot that in this advisory ques- 4 less votes. hows a recession of the tide in Chicago. The feel- ownership and operation has declined in the bt the decline has been influenced by the un- Mr. Dalrymple. The owners of the street rail- 3 perfected and installed many improve- rvice, required by the rapid growth of the city, and attitude toward municipal ownership. This oved the element of prejudice and pique supporting municipal ownership. Another thing sobered the public mind is the bad condition of which keeps before the people the er- of municipal ownership and operation of public the street supply, 1ow the power, with the consent of the City ,000,000 in securitiesand apply’ them, as far as the purchase of existing roads. If this is done, t be leased to private corporations for operation. n admonitory clause in this question as submitted and ncludes “the maintenance” of the roads. This means all 1 betterments and extensions. ~If the city buy the.roads ase them, retaining the responsibility for their maig- J ft open a margin for endless expense or endless 1 accidents result, it, and not the lessee, will have ges. If the city, on the other hand, pass main- he lessee, it is an incalculable quantity which will aid to the city.on the leasehold. So the whole cated as the minds of the voters seem to have he only straight deduction is that the municipal rship and operation of public utilities is declining in popularity. was very full and there was but little at stake besides the tion of public ownership and operation of public utilities, observed that one vital point was not considered at ’00,000 in rities authorized by a small majority general fund. Proper policy requires that they ve been based entirely on the property that is to be bought them. Whenever Mayor Dunne and the’other advocates of ownership rise to the full courage of their convictions and to making each public plant carry its own credit and cost of operation, we will be persuaded of their sincerity, and.their policy will then, and not till then, be in a position for accurate testing. 1S as o« been confused. T sec en on_ the 1 val TULARE LAKE ON THE MAP. use of the flow of Kern, Kings, Kaweah, Tulare and Tule and of Poso, Deer, Cross, Mill and other creeks, for ir- 1, cut off the source of the waters of Tulare Lake. It a pulsating lake always. When the rainfall was not ex- was fed only by the normal flow of those streams, and its waters receded. When flood years came it rose and extended its boundaries.” The diversion of its tributary streams and the lapse of, many years with no flood extirpated the lake and its bed became dry land. The land is rich, fertile, easily tilled. ‘It was taken up in various ways by many speculators. Promeoters followed and the whole bed of the lake was turned into ranches and filled by set- tlers. Old residents in the upper San Joaquin Valley who had known the lake for sixty years warned promoters and purchasers. But no warning ever was heeded by men hungry for land and’lucre. More than 400 square miles, formerly under the water of ‘the lake, has been s and settled. The crops of a few seasons have.been mar- vel "owns have been built where the little steamer ‘that for- merly navigated the lake used to float. But the watershed that had found its sump in the lake remained intact. The recession of the water changed no law of .nature. The vear of excessive rainfall on that watershed has come again, and the diverted streams have risen over dams and headgates and.ditches and their floods joining have rushed in one broad river over the plains, and Tulare Lake is again on the map and to stay for some time. The destruction of property is great, the disappointfiwnt of high hopes is pitiful, but after all, only the expected has happened. It is probable that the actual loss is worse than that caused by the overflow of the Colorado into Salton Sea. “Farm stock and imple- ments, homes and houses, are overwhelmed by. the flood. Moreover, |- it is demonstrated that no engineering works can avert such a catas- trophe. The lake is the natural reservoir of a vast watershed. Dikes and levees cannot be built high enough nor strong enough | to keep the water- out of its natural bed. We regret the catastrophe, and lament the 16ss. But wise fore- sight would have avoided it all by respecting the conditions of na- ture. The good repute of the San Joaquin Valley should not suffer, |- for the conditions at the lake are exceptional and do not affect that valley, that has land enough and water enough, without having to go into the bed of 2 lake for either. Halifax reports a schooner long overdue. \There’s many a thirsty man hanging around the barrooms of the country who has the same report ‘o make.—Los Angeles Times. i B . If any Chinese pirates .got away with a Standard Oil boat they mugt raise & sup gram. — = IRD AND MARKET STREETS, SAN FRANCI:DOJ fail to make the almost daily repairs and better¥ “i== hrand of pirates in the Orient.—New York Evening Tele-| ARMY. OF THE Wish. GREAT army marched across the A plain of life, and the army was di- vided into numerous companies of varying size. “What is this army?” a traveler inquires of the commanding general. “Why, you certainly do not mean to suggest that you do not know?"” the gen- erai responded, with every indication of surprise. “Unfortunately I do not,” was the re- ply, “as T'am a stranger in these parts.” “This is the Army. of the Wise,” the commanding officer proudly remarked, at the same time assuming & particularly martial air, “and I.am the far-famed General Ignorance I suspected as much concerning you as soon as I looked at you,” the traveler re- marked. “But what makes you think that vour soldiers are wise?” “Why, they themselves /have admitted 4t,” was the response, ‘“‘and, moreover, they have demopstrated it.” “How have they demonstrated itz “By abjuring the childish religious su- perstitions of their fathers. They havi become so wise that they will have noth- ing to do with those -simple faiths which have soothed and tranquilized countiess generations of men and women as they sank to. their long sleep; to them the prayers breathed by-loving mothers by the couches of their little ones are but mmeantrigless prattle, and the heaven of their fathers is but a country of eternal blackness. Many of them ‘aré so wise, 80 extremely wise, that they steadfastly re- fuse to recbgnize. the. existence of a God because they t_put- their finger on him. This is mfl:fiw truly enlightened, the peeri of superstition réiouncers, the “But why are there so mia ‘of ithem?" the traveler inter nience, as I find that it conduces to har- mony in my troops. Let me explain. For example, -here is ‘a company composed of bellevers in astrology. When they abjured the religious superstitions of their fathers they “turned to the beautiful belief that men and the stars are mixed in a con- glomeérate mess, which only an anclent Egyptian could thoroughly clarify. Here are the believers in palmistry, who can tell all about your life by the wrinkles on your hands, if you are careful not to get your hands scarred and thus knock the life line, for instance, into picturesque frag- ments. These are the ones who are a Soft Snap and an Easy Mark for any old me- dium: These know more about healing than all the physicians with all their med- ical science. These’ would not start an enterprise on Friday—not on your life! These hear a dog howl and hunt for the resulting death. These see the moon over the wrong shouider and faint away. And so they run. At the present time I have 439,718 such companies under my com- mand. Wouldn't you like to step in the ranks and march with us?"* “No,” responded the traveler, I am a Plain, Ordinary Fool, who knows that th religion of my mother, whether or not it was_mistaken, resulted in high living and beantiful devotion. On the whole, it looks better to me than any article in the long catalogue of claptrap and bunkum.” So while General Ignorance attempted to get his multitudinous companies dnto some sort of a line the traveler departed on his way. Moral-When a man abjures-the relig- jous superstitions of his fathers, keep your eyes open to see what sort<of a supersti- tion he sets in the place of it. “If all the ghosts could ‘come back to earth from all the years, which one of them all do you suppose would be most surprised at the deserved fame which Shakespeare has attained?” “Give it up.” y “Well, I shouldn't be afraid to bet two to one that it would be that of Shake- =peare.” 2 CONCERNING BACTERIA. It is a great gratification to me to know that there are bacteria, and I could not well be too, grateful to the doctors for discovering them. I used to condemn. myself if anything serious alled me, but now I do not, for I realize “Oh' that is. mérely a matfer of conve- | .ARTISTIC ARTIE’ " OCCIDENTAL ACCIDENTALS. | By A. J. Waterhouse. + — ————— that it is ‘'not my fault. How can I help it if the bugs take a notion to make a skating rink of yry system? Of course, I cannot. I may deprecate it, but I cannot help it. But it is the bacteria of laziness that give me special comfort. Some doctor, somewherg—I . forget his name and place of residence—has discovered such miérohes, and I, for one, hold him a benefactor of his race. For example, today I am feeling—no, not lazy, but I realize that several bugs are playing peekaboo in my system. Once this® would have worried me, but now I ren- der grateful thanks to the unknown doctor, and let them play. Begone with vour talk of laziness! nothing ails me except. that a few bugs are taking a | bath in my red corpuscles. What a sweet satisfactlon it is to know it! Then there is the microbe of the in- nate cussedness. To be sure, the doc- tors have not discovered it yet, but. it is a cinch that they will. And when they. do, what a relief it will be fo a multitude of us! We will know what ails us then, and we merely will order a germicide and get down to'business, unless we prefer the cussedness, as some of us will. Yes, indeed, these bacteria are a great thing! They relieve us of a dread re- sponsibility and make us realize how truly noble we: will be when the bugs hdve ‘been eliminated. To that bright day let us look forward, ‘and in the meantime let, us rejolce that nothing worse than-insects ails us. “I hear that they are engaged.'”, “They are." . . & adt | & “But I understood that she gave him the mittgn?” by e “She ald, Bit—did size Df her hand?™: BL- “I—think s0.” s g 351 “Well, he found It impossible to carry the mitten, and so, under the embarrass- ing circumstances, she considered it ad- visable to take it back.” Vou ever notlce the \ LOVELIGHT OF HOME. Oh, the sunlight brings us blessing as it shim- 5 “mers on’our way, - And the moonlight “holds the silver that was scatteged by the day; / In" all the rays of starry light some angels whisper “‘Cheer!” 4 Until we feel the host of God fs very, very near; And all the little lights of man go_twinkiing to and fro, - - ) To point us on our journey and to show the . way to go; But wheresoever we may wend, and. howsoe'er Wwe roam, " There Is ho light that blesses ltke the lovelight in our home. ' I mee the faces, wan and white, of those who walk with care, And, “They need pity,” “Decause their lives are bare.'" 1 see the crowds that basten by, intent some end to gain, s And on each face is writ the screed of worri- ment or pam. B s But evea comes, the world lles hushed in twi- . ‘Mlght of the day, And, one and all, they seek thelr homes, to rest them from the fray; And there they know—God grant they do— while gleams: the starry dome, Ther? is no light that blesses like the lovelight in thelr home. AT THE WOMEN'S CLUR. The Bright Member—What is a fac- tor? E £t ‘The Presidentess—It Is'one of the causes that produce a certain result.. “Then if the cause were bad, leading to a bad -result, how would you express it in one word?” s “I—why—I—" . “Oh, you'd never guess it. You would simply indicate its sex by calling it a male-factor. Te he!” ¢ Other members, as fast as they catch on, or make 'believe that they do— Te he! . So the bright member was elected secretaryess. : — “If there is truth in the rumor that John D. Rockefeller'’s mind and health are failing, he will leave a magniffeent monument behind him, will he not”? " ““What monument?' “Why, the Standard OilCompany.” “Yes, but’ think -of the “epitaph the r&gple are preparipg to engrave upon T sigh, S ANTICS. ' SINGING 'AS EXERCISE. | 3y Do-rothy Fenimore. HE amount of singing that Améri- cans do not. do is something esur- orising. The number of men and women who never open their lips and throats to warble from one year's end to another is one of the most discourag- ing things in our national civilization. It is doubtful if any other pewple on the face of the globe from the begin- ning of ‘recorded time is vocally so dumb or éver has been. 2 In the Orient the better classes hire some one tu do their dancing for them and ‘langh at the Western practice which séts & man or woman to dancing for the sake of pleasure. We keep on dancing, nevertheless, and smile at the Oriental’s ‘smile. But we have come to pretty much their position in regard to singing. We no longer sing as a peo- ple—we hire somebody to sing for us, and it is generally a foreigner who does the singing. Those of other lands always wonder at the too solemn fact that not one American in a thousand knows the words of our national thems. We can sing one stanza of “America” or “The Star-Spangled Banner”; some of us know a stanza of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” or “Hail, Columblia, Happy Land,” in addition; but when it comes to the second stanza of any of them a mute awe descends upon the singing band, and we taper off into ignorance. A ‘Various explanations\have been given for the fact, but the true one is that we sing so little after we leaye school —where we sing because we have to— that we simply forget. There is nothing that a grown person looks back to with more affection than the evenings when there gathered a merry crowd about the plano and the “good old songs” were sung. Robert Burdette, it may be observed, has told us that the real reason why we “can- not sing the old songs” is because “we do not know-the words"—that is, we have forgotten them for lack of prac- tice. Now observe a crowd of grown men and women who gather about a piano in joyous anticipation of having as good a time as they used ts ave when they were boys and girls similarly placed. Listen to the result! Isn’t it appalling? And yet nature intended us to sing un- til our vocal chords begin to suffer from senile decay. < . We forget, too, that singing is one of the best, the very best, exercises known to mankind. Any number of men and women are making strange motions in the solitude of their apartments for the sake of exercise who would get three times the good from singing in a merry company—and have some fun besides. i BEING IMPOSED UPON. l HAVE =a friend, a man of dignity and education, who holds a po: tion requiring absolute devotion to the intellectual interests involved. His | employer, the man whose money he fs spending in order to produce results, is a man of wholly different training, a pushing, energetic man of affairs, who has risen to an estimable place in the commercial world from humble begin- nings. n Being the man he is, the employer has imposed upon my friend shame- fully. He has taken every advantage that the terms of his contract give him; he has been wholly regardless of the other's comfort and decency; he ‘has injured his health and shortened his life in consequence. The worst of it all is that notone of these things was done intentionally nor with the slightest knowledge thatshe was doing them. He has merely acted toward this unusually ‘fine nature as he has toward everybody else upon whom he could impose himself from the beginning of his business career. My friend is going to resign his posi-' tion to accept another of much greater consequence and remuneration. If he were to state to his present employer in set terms just what it is that has taken place between them, the man of By Wallace Rice. affairs would be seriously hurt by such charges. Being Innocent of all Inten- tion to offend, he is absolutely uncon- scious of offense. And, I repeat, that is by much the worst aspect of the case. I think I could get along far better with a man who I knew was deliberate- ly trying to impose upon me fhan with one who was continually so imposing and did not know that he was. The man who knew he was doing it could be relied upon, for one thing, to draw the line somewhere; the other fellow certainly would not know even that. The man” who was gullty of conscious imposition could be met with argu- ments—or bluffs—that would put an end to it by degrees, if not at once; the other chap weuld not know what you were talking about when you carried your.complaints to him. could not be convinced or bluffed—you might quite as well speak another language in em- deavoring to persuade him. The world is filled with people like this unconscious inflictor of imposi- tions, He is one of the great order of Those Who Mean It for the Best. Hus- bands, fathers, elder brothers, and a great array of benefactors of humanity and philanthropists are members of it. And they probably do as much harm in the world as the habitual criminals. ANSWERS TO VARIQUS QUERIES. O 5. T TR S SETVIDN S R | T e T S s, . VIRGINIA -CITY FlnE—Snbscrlber,' City. The great fire in Virgina City, Nev., occurred October 26, 1875. UNITED STATES DEBT-F. R,, City. On November 1, 1905, the public debt of the United States was $2,203,346,382.34; same date in 1904 it was $2,304,697,418.64 and at the same date in 108 it was 32%- 218,883,772.89. BIG BEI A. O, S, Oakland, Cal The weight of the largest bell in ? world, said to be the king of bells, It Moscow, is, 443,732 pounds. Other big bellg are St. Tvan, Moscow, 127,830 pounds; great bell of Pekin, 120,000; Vienna, 40,200; Olmutz (Bohemia), 40,000; Rouen (France), 40,000; St. Paul's, 38,470; “Big Ben" (West- minster), 3§,350; Montreal, 28500; St. Peter's (Rome), 18,600. e THE PRESIDENT—M. V. and X. Y. Z., City, There is no law ‘which says that the President of the United States shall remain within the territorial limits of the United Stotes, nor is there any law which says that he shall not during his term of office visit a foreign country. Some are under the impression that the constitution prohibits the President leav- ing the United States during his term 0f office, but that is a wrong impression. It is a fact, however, that no President has as yet officially crossed the boundary to visit a foreign state. HARMONY OF COLORS—Subscriber. City. Some colors whe brought together ‘| mutually set each other off to advan- tage, while others have altogether differ- ent effect. This must be carefully at- paper as smooth as possible; go over every part with a brush dipped‘in furni- ofl, and let it remain all night; have ady powder of the finest red brick ‘tted cotton SMART SET By Sally Sharp. 5 % S A Soclety will be fully in evidence this evening at the Maple Room of the Palace to greet the well-known tenor, Frank Pollock, in an operatic eoncert. A fine programme of classics will be presented, Mr. Pollock to be assisted by Miss Ber- tina Boffa, the young violiniste, and Frederick Maurer Jr., planist. Among the compositions will be those from “Donizeiti” and rmen,” with songs of Hahn, Massenet, Tome, Brahms, Rich- ard Strauss, Chadwick and Mrs. Beach. This evening’s patrons and patronesses include: ' Mr. and Mrs. Willlam Babcock, Miss Bourn, Mrs. Joseph B. Crockett, Mr. and Mrs. Horace Davis, Mr. and Mrs. Norris King Davis, Miss Sara Drum, Frank Drum, Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Folger, Mr. and Mrs. James Follis, Mr. and Mrs. Mark Gerstle, Mr. and Mrs. Horace Hill, Mr. and Mrs. J. Downey Harvey, Dr. M. Herzstein, Mr. and Mrs. James Horsburgh, Mr. and Mrs. Homer King, Mr. and Mrs. Jesse W. Lilienthal, Mr. and Mrs. Latham McMullin, Dr. and Mrs. Herbert C. Moffitt, Mrs. Eleanor Martin, Mr. and Mrs. Walter McGavin, Mr. and Mrs. George H. Mendell, Mr. and Mrs. Walter Martin, Mr. and Mrs. Horace Pilisbury, James D. Phelan, Mr. and Mrs. Henry T. Seott, Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Sutro, Dr. and Mrs. Grant Selfridge, Mr. and Mrs. James Eillis Tucker, Mr. and Mrs. George Whit- tell, Mrs. Ynes Shorb White and Mr. and Mrs. Mountford Wilson. > . . Signcr Ventura was host at an elaborate dinner last evening given at a downtown restaurant, amid the surroundipgs and color of Ttaly. As a large number of the guests were Sequoians, there were intro- ductions of cartoons and toasts bearing pointedly and wittily upon matters dear to Sequeian hearts and tastes. The guests included Mrs, David Bixler, Miss Helen Hyde, Mrs. Louis H. Long. Mrs. Gerritt Livingston Lansing. Miss raldine Bonner, Miss Grace Llewellyn Jones, Willlam Greer Harrison, Dr. and | Mrs. Stapler, Dr. and Mrs. Gutsch, Dr. and Mrs, Mace, Mr. and Mrs. R. V. ‘Whiting, Mrs. C. Risley, Mrs. Le Breton, | Miss Bretaler, Miss Montgomery. Dr. and Mrs. Edwin Arnold, Mr. and Mrs. A. E. Graupner, ‘Mr. and Mrs. L. Eugene Lee, Mr. and Mrs, Maynard Dixon, Royden Willlamson, Charles Sedgwick Aiken, James C. Sims, Sherrill Schell, Barnett Franklin, John Gamble, Rothwell Hyde, W. B. Knapp and H. N. FM ¢ =4 Raphael Weill will be host at a dinner at the Bohemian Club Saturday evening. April 4. in honor of “Uncle George” Bromley, whose eighty-ninth birthday it will be. ¥ Tty Miss Ruth Merril! will entertain at a tea today at her home on Washington street. The affair is to . introduce two young Eastern visitors—Miss Mary Roy- ster and Miss Nannie Royster of Nor- folk, Va. . = Mrs. Marriner-Campbell directed a very delightful musical evening at the Sequola Club on Thursday, speaking upon “Glimpses of Early Colonial Melodies.” At the close of the talk vocal solos were given by Mrs. Klippel-Schafiter. poprano; Mre. M. E. B. Robinson, contralto; Her- bert Williams, tenor, and Walter C Campbell, basso, with Miss Therese Ebr mann at the piano. Next Thursday evening Sequoia will pre- sent Professor Blodgett of the musical chair at Stanford University. He will talk upén “The Genesis of Modern and Ro- mantic Music,” and selections will be heard from Mendelssohn, Chopin, Wag- ner and Schumann. .- v s Abistin Lewis gave a ' reading before the dramatic and literary section of the California Club yesterday = afternooun, which proved to be one of the most in- teresting discourses that has ever been heard in this city. Oscar Wilde's “Salome,” the subject, was eomprehensively analyzed and in a2 vein commanding the absolute atten- tion of the hearers. . . Mrs. A. W. Scott will receive today at her home on Buchapan street. ——— “Yes,” remarked the professor, “I rather pride myself on the discovery of another hypothesis.” “Indeed,” replied Mrs. Cumrox, a little doubtfully, “I bad an idea they were quite extined”—Washington Star. — FASHION’S MIRROR it ; : g% i i I i i H H i : f § § j