The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, July 8, 1906, Page 4

i1 18 the lowed der a natura most stricken panic e portion nping and tower dissolvi clouds of dust and sand ing it & weird, pink and gaze beests a str carried o More nota Kilimenjaro, a I of snow rising mists six niles to the c Kenia, too, ma great cloud After m ing throu gle and of = from the Kik : Great Ri N n Man's Bu or & oo ¥ depends on the sex of the buyer is the wa buyrs it He i ehop, takes the ne draught of the do that e ha avoided, and says to the waitress, with = difficult smile Oh, would yeu bring me a cup of tea? The man tastes the tea, it is bitter from long brewing, slips out of his seat, pays the and hurries away from the shop. Now let us see how a wc bu cup of tea 8he marches In with a little boy ¢ one side of her a little girl on other. “I want a table for three,”she savs, in the manner of one about to order e dinner at a dollar a he Yes, madam.” replies ti eek tendant il you kindl vs the little boy, when is seated and the at- to take the two , wi has that ] as the building rose and sank with the |. Way, Woman's Way, - THE SAN FRANCISCO SUNDAY CALL. vibrating earth; my thoughts came thick and fast. I realized that I was the midst of death and I wondered all friends would fare. | spite of all ine terror and real- tion of almost certain death there 1 wild fascination about the whole nce which makes onc respect ghty forces of nature in their or to destroy the feeble efforts Everywnere buildings were | water mains were broken = filled with debris. an Francisco lay of nature's cfuel which spared man wrecked. W\ ) /Z/?/ 7 nor sinner, church nor I//“]m\\ good and evil all suffered i t was one of the greatest astrophes the world has ever knowh. : ere were no special providéntial shown to any spectal set, for.it! ng 's forces only at work and he pursues fixed laws which are un- ng and everlasting. nce the days of this awful disaster| , my co-worker in sel- | ve been carefully | possible causes of earth- | ering all the facts phenomena we have conclusion that the elec- | nesis furnishes the most for a solution of the hang asis found that the area of | bance of the earth- dily traced. I¢ ex- the Salinas, Santa Clara As is well known, mountains lles along the between the Pacific Ocean. the .Golden Gate, ng noma valleys. of cupying a position entrance to the harbor an opening or break, d coast range of moun- | a north and south wing. In| s Valley the town of Salinas | shaken, wnile on the op-| posite side of a range of mountains the | s Obispo felt very lit-| Along the Santa Cruz Moun- ng San Jose and the pe- n an Francisco, tremendous ibrations were felt. Near the sum- | of the Santa Cruz Mountains, or! a great rent or fis- | made by the active forces of | quake. Along the water and In the Santa Clara Valley { were many fissures in the earth 1age was done to brick | e Santa Rosa distriet, | of San Franci8co, there was much | f expenditure of tremendous | much of the evi- | of the earthquake it by fire, before it v studied; still, there is ft to show that great dam- phenomena of an btedly of electrical arise from either of | The first of these con- | chemical action taking waters of the ocean or in | ce of the land. The second | elec- | lie In interplanetary iction. The latter theory | more correct. The ocean, | chemicals held in solution, is , where constan taking place. Nature, under normal canditions, is harmonious; it is only when she strikes where causes Sulation of active electricity | eXtremely discordant notes that we A mek to inite with. the|Tealize the stupendous magnitude of her rieity in the air, and in so do- | POWer. produce an earthquake. The P ith its salime waters, is|&lways dual; it is when there is in- constant acted upon electrically | hermony between the universal and spe- by he sun. moomn . and possibly |clal activities that discordant phenom- lgeey 0 . = G ena result. Discordant phenomena are S e et ey 1 liable to occur in any part of the world, of circulations between the waters of | but earthquakes are especlally apt to ocean and the land. AIl circula- | Center along “he sea coast, though they whether atmospheric or elec- | Sometimes occur atong interior water cal, depend upon the interchange of | SOUrses. In the interfor these same elec- o et trlcaf! torce: wcluld be'moudnv( to !a’ke bl t o o . | the form of cyclones, tornadees or vio- O e arrvsnis | lent thunder storms. During the long lectrical phgnomena along | Summer days the influence of the sun- such actfve phenomena | l1ght falls upon the broad plains, cre- confined to the valleys | #ting great heat and consequent at- ranges of the interior, | mospheric expansion, which in turn e the temperature is more | produces differences in electrical po- t 1 v observer notes the |tential between the atmosphere and ospheric electrical storms | €arth. mountain ranges and water In the attempt of nature to equalize uneven. | charge of electricity, which may have many different forms of discordant phe- | nomena, such storms of thunder | ana lightning, cyclones, etc. It is | ing under difterent conditions of en- | vironment; In other words, an earth- quake as a ground electrical storm. Let us compare the maps of the lo- | calities where disastrous earthquakes have occurred. They will show many interesting facts of parallel conditions. For instance, take Lisbon, Portugal, and San Franecisco, Cal. You will find that these cities have a likeness of sit- uation; each Hes between a bottle- necked bay and a vast body of ecean | water; alse, each has similar moun- tain ranges in proximity. | edly, mountain ranges act as electrical 7RI ZLECIRICT Y, IH75 NOEHIL ez T THELBOIGY 7HE LAEI HOLLD BZE BZLZRSED LD HTTH EROIrE- QUARE BES5TZITs. BEUERSTZ itive electricity which naturally seeks | the water courses of the earth and the | ocean; the latter becoming the great | aistributor of negative or terrestrial The universe 1s one in princl- | tremely probable that an earthquake electricity. le, but in the action of its forces it is | I8 the result of these same forces act- | Atmospheric or positive electricity | naturally accumulates along the tops | of mountain ranges, while negative or terrestrial electricity naturally accu- mulates at the lowest level or the sea- shore. Under normal conditions no unusual phenomena occur. The dif- ference In electrical potential between these two points or poles of a mam- ourses; this i nature’s normal action. | her forces there sometimes is an over- | light charges the atmosphere with pos- | tricity A TEPRESZN TS “HIGHEST PO IS 707 ZLECTRICRL - B rrersrigs _Aprans ManE By OF CORRE T o is distributed and returns to the atmosphere as a negative force Thunderstorms, cyclones or tornadoes are disturbances caused by ,an over- accumulation of positive or atmes- pheric electricity. Earthquakes are disturbances caused by overaccumula- tion of negative or terrestrial elec- tricity. On account of its proximity to a great body of salt water, San Francisco seldom hi any overaceumulation of positive electricity, consequently a thunderstorm is almost unknown in its immediate vicinity. Because of this moth natural battery i8 the cause of lack of atmospheric disturbance nega- all circulations. Either of these op- | posite poles may become overcharged | amd present local phenomena. Between every range of mountains | ite, local, electrical circulation. [ | tive or terrestrial electrical charges are apt to accumulate. When this ac- cumulation of negative electricit and the excessive the currents between the sea Undoubt- | nearest body of water there is a defin- | level and the Under | ranges are naturally reve: tops of the mountain sed and dis- | accumulators or transformers, equaliz- | normal conditions the positive flow of | ruptive forces are set in action, mani- |ing the distribution of atmospheric and | energy from the tops of the mountains | festing themselves in the phenomena | terrestrial electrical forces. Every | electrical circuit must be complete be- | fore phenomena can occur. The sun- | reaches the ocean by means of | veins of water throughout the earth. the | of earthquakes. This reversed current passes along | By means of the ocean this elec-|the strata of the earth, which offer e ——— e — — llj il such resistance that mechanical motios results, with its consequent shaking. destructive force. In its endeavor to complete a circuit this current would create intense heat in its passage, which would, in turn, generate gases in the earth and at high pressure. Thus great fissures are opened, allowing the pent-up force to escape. If the strata of the earth are of suf- flefent strength to resist rupture the charge of active force will seek the top of the mountain and become volcanie in character, sometimes carrying away the entire top of the mountain, leaving it an open crater. Volcanic action may continue indefinitely, because of the chemical action set up in the substance of the earth by the electrical charge. Wherever there have been destructive earthquakes investigation will show almost identical relative conditions be- tween mountain ranges and bodies of water. That the earthquake of San Francisco was due to overaccumulation of terrestrial electricity scarcely per- mits of doubt. |was a wall of graceful bending papy- rus and overhead was a snowy Casplan- romised Land, and it is likel years, if not to flow with few ev & to be fre ’,’,I,LW\"?,-‘;F olim. | Atern. Among the lilles and on the de of 6000 feet and|open water beyond are a myriad coots ea is healthy for Buro- 1 the beauties of the Rift there is none that can be com- the lovely and mysterious| vasha. It is hard to believe s is Africa and but a few miles the equator. Naivasha has been likened to many different places; one writer was reminded of a gloomy Irish perhaps his visit was in a wet season, or possibly it was the snipe in swamps; another was reminded of Bay of Naples and the view from Posilipo. Te my mind there is some- thing of New Zealand the air and n the scene as well , the wandering naturalist. whether ard birds, beasts, butter- r plants, Naivasha is one of those Ay hunting grounds that he has jreamed of but has never expected to The margin of the lake is fringed and grebes, ducks and cormorants, and farther still huge pelicans. Overhead are circling and constantly crying a pair of fish eagles, sometimes 50 high up that we can barely make out two shouting specks above us, sometimes so near that we can clearly see the brilllant black and white and red brown of their plumage. On a shallow, sunken mud bank is a long line of white, which shows a tinge | of black and crimson, as the great flock of flamingoes rises and flaps siowly away. Happlly there are no crocodiles here, but hippos abound, and one may often catch a glimpse of nose and eyes as they lie In the shallows basking in the sun, or at night, when they feed, hear them crashing through the reedas. in is bent be to 1reeds are too thick and the ground too swampy for any but a waterbuck to pass. Along the outside, where the reeds meet the grass, |of the day in sleep, but make noise | enough in the evening and early morn- |ing. Here, too, are black ibises, wary as curlews, and sacred ibises in small parties of two and three, always busily searching for food, exploring every |inch of ground. Prettier and more con- fiding are the greater white heron and the smaller buffbacked heron, which | bardly take the trouble to move as one | approaches; they like to feed amonxg | the herds of native cattle, often perch- ing on the backs of the beasts, as T | have seen them do in Egypt. Crowned | cranes, generally in palrs, stride con- | eeltedly about within a dozen yards of us, evidently conscious of the law that protects them. | Of big game, though there is plenty in the district, one does not see very the lower slopes of the hills immense | flocks of sheep and goats find pasture. | At the time of our visit Masai boys, clothed in little else than cases. the graceful (locally called Tommies) mingling with ing with the others when the whistle, or even needing a prod with |the spear point to make them move | taster. Whether they do it for amuse- ment or for the sake of companionship, or for a batter pretection against their enemies, the prowling lion and leopard, whe shall say? Grant's gazelle, a somewhat larger It is only here and there that one can | much on the eastern side of the lake.|animal with beautifully curved horns. follow the water's edge; mostly the |Here on the wide grassy flats and on|!s found here, too; but he is not so with sedges, tall reeds and papyrus. the p rus ls a marvel of ies, red and white and blue, blue. Where the shallows t into the lake there must 2 mile of water lilies. fn the when the breeze ruffles the and breaks up the reflections of the green of the transparent| Under instructions from President leaves, the blue of the flow- | Roosevelt, the United States Civil Ser- the orange ":,,:l’:htg.bmnir:';m :‘;3: vice Commission has compiled statistics water 1 it mostly extend far o thae inikke s visky: opal of COIbE. relative to old age in the Federal de- One of the prettiest bird sights I|partmental service. The President's have ever had the good luck to e ,0t1on was the outcome of the recent as here; in a little bay of water lilies, nding on the leaves and preening |discussion in Congress over the pro- their plumage, was a party of long|posal to drop from the rolls all clerks legged, black winged stiits. winter more than 70, and to reduce the pay of migrants from the north; behind them | others regarded as superannuated. In order to get accurate data on the subject the President directed the com- mission to ebtain from all the depart- ments the fullest information as to | employes 65 vears of age and more, lady got 4 turne Want a scone, -up nose?” complains the little girl the quantity and the quality of the A pot of tea for one” orders “mum- | work performed by them, the method m nd “,,‘,my_u.u n]n;;l xlmngnlxs 20| of entering the service, salary, and ext », S0 that my B 3 e o et my. little, girl can| ., sther In &AOK case the ¥mploys Was One tea and one milk?" asks the|® War veteran or mot. Pyl | The whole number of employes in the | departments at Washington is aboyt thask 30 my \:—n;-' “fl‘n ”l‘-ml f:’]r‘)_ughlt I. g"'|25.flflfl. while those who are at least 65 o b o g o VANt 4| pumber 1626, Of this number only 127, L 80d an extra Cup.|or jess than 8 per cent, entered the : 7 | service through examination, and a$ Yes. macam,” says the meek attend- |44 of these entered through the sec- ant, and dr herself away with the tion of the Revised Statutes giving 3.»n— intention of becoming an actress, | preference to Veterans injured in the let the stage be what it ma | service, there are left 83, or only § ust one moment,” says “‘mummy,” per cemt, who were appointed through when the tea is brought. *“I should 1ike | strictly competitive examination. to make sure that it {s not too| As to the character of work per- 2{.0:]; Yes, it is much too strong.|formed by these old fellows it is shown you let me have a pitcher of hot | water, please? And I don’t think you| have brought quite enough milk.” Half an hour later she marches proudly from the shop, having paid exactly the same or these privileges as the wretch- an who could rot swallow & and who sat in a draught. that 7§ veterans and 381 civillans are engaged in work of an executive char- acter; 83 veterans and 69 clvillans in professional, technical and scientific work; 438 veterams and 329 civilians in clerical dutfes; %0 veterans and 121 civilians in work of a mechanical na- ture, 228 veterans and $3 civilians in sum fc ed mouth | work of a sub-clerical character, and 16 veterans and 49 civillans are em- ployed as unskilled laborers. The showing on efficiency is the feature of the report. It tends to miti. gate the impression that the Govern- ment's work s suffering severely at the hands of aged incompetents. Efficlency was determined by quan- tity marked in tenths, with ten-tenths to represent the amount performed by a thoroughly competent clerk, and by quality, graded as poor, fair, average, B0od and excellent. The work of 90 old employes {8 rated as poor, of 251 as fair, of 229 as average, of 682 as good and of 374 as excellent. Ag to the amount of work performed, 2 as doing one-tenth of the amount re uired; 5, two-tenths; 6, three-tenth 9, four-tenths; 124, five-tenths; 161, six-tenths; 236, seven-tenths; 357, eight- tenths; 275, nine-tenths, while 421 are glven as performing ten-tenths, or all of the work to be expected of the most efficient employe. When combinations are made of quantity and ‘quality of work per- formed it is found that 270 employes aceomplish all the work assigned them in an excellent manner, 222 do work of a good grade and eight-tenths of the amount required, and 8o on through all | the different combinations of quantity and quality. clerks are by no means all useless. The commission has drawn other in- | teresting deductions. Thus it is found | that here are 948 employes between the ages of 66 and 70; that they perfoem 81.7 per cent of the proper amount of work; that they draw an average sal- ary of $12563, and that the salary ad- %‘;zt;d to the work performed would be 4. It will be seen that the old | Similarly, the employes from 70 to 75| May Be Old but by No Means Useless. number 435, perform 78.4 per cent of their work, receive $1220 and earn $956; while those over 75 number 218, per. 72.1 per cent of their work, draw and earn $841. The total salaries of all 66 and over amount to $1,973,580.50. Were these salaries adjusted to the amount of work | performed the total would be $1,670,000. These figures take no account of the quality of work performed, as it is im- possible to reduce this to a numerical | equitvalent. On quantity of werk the average for all employes of the specified age is 79.5 | per cent, while for the veterans alone {the average is 80.3 per cent. There are 579 veterans between 65 and 70; 263 between than 75 years of age. Of these 934 veteran employes, 8§ are at one-tenth, 1 at two-tenths, 3 at three-tenths, 18 at four-tenths, 58 at five-tenths, 85 at six-tenths, 140 at seven-tenths, 197 at eight-tenths, 170 at nine-tenths, and 253 at ten-tenths. On quality of work the veterans are divid- ed as follows: 40 as poor; 146, fair; 137, average; 369, good; 233, excellent. Of the 1626 old employes, 1403 are men and 223 women. The Treasury |leads in number with 456;. the Interior comes next with 427; Government Print{ng Office, 226; War Department, 211; Postoffice, 89; Commerce and La- bor, 63; Agriculture, 61, while 28 is the | highest number In any other depart- ment or bureau. When it comes to salary groups, 218 are drawing less than $720, 185 between that figure and $840, 52 1 than $900, 102 less than $1000, 128 less than $1200, 315 Jess than $1400, 208 less than $1600, 147 less than $1800, 147 less than $2000, 29 between $2000 and $2500, and 32 draw $2500 or more a year. |a long spear, and round their necks a | string of beads or empty cartridge | It Is a pretty sight to see a herd of| little Thomson's gazelle | or more of them, as fast as they could 70 and 75, and 102 more| there were|as are big flocks driven in every evening to the boma|springs. |of Egyptian geese, which spend most | pear our camp close upon 20,000 bleat- | a flock of sheep and goats, and follow- | wire fence. boys | or they were too much frightened to | | 1 | tame as the former, and goes bounding away—bouncing s almost the word— though his body were’ bullt of A few lumbering hartbeests, hideous red brutes with all the ugl ing animals, to the accompaniment of | features of the cow and of the donkey | much shrill whistling from the boys| combined, are seen here and there; they who tend them. Ugly savages are these trot off until they are just out of range, then turn around and treat us to an inane stare. One morning we came suddenly over a low hill and walked into the midst of a herd of zebras. gallop, straight toward a newly strung Either they did not see it turn aside; not one of them swerved, but all dashed through the fence, as though the wires were cobwebs, and so far as we could see not one was damaged in the least. Zebras may be seen from the railway literally in thou- ands on the Athi Plains, near Nairobi, nd agaln on the rolling grass lands between Naivasha and Nakuru. At the Government farm, a few miles from Naivasha, experiments have been made In crossing zebr: but hitherto no very satisfactory hybrid has been produced. The pure bred animal is dif- fleult to tame and of very little use as a beast of burden; but a stromg hybrid, | capable of resisting the many diseases water buck play havoc in any unfenced of the country, would solve the horse problem of RBast Africa and would go far toward Insuring the prosperity of the colony. Near the southeastern corner of the lJake i{s an island, the largest in the lake, where we camped for a time. The voyage of a mile or more from the mainland is made in the relies of a boat, which, from its appearance, must have been brought here by the first explorers thirty years ago. It was never less than half full of water, Oft they went, fifty | G BIRDS AND BEASTS ABOUND which kept two bo busy bailing with | buckets, and the one and a hait | broken paddles threatened every mo- | ment to be reduced to none at all. Half way across are two small islets: one a favorite breeding place of herons and ibises, which nest here in hundreds; the other apparently a playground of' the hippos, to judge from the trampled rceds and the crashing and gruntings which issue from it by night. The tan- gle by the lake shore is the haunt by day of many water buck, which swim over from the mainland and find here a sanctuary from their enemies, the lions and hyenas. As the shadows grow longer and the sun goes down behind the Mau a troop of baboons in the rocks begin to chat- ter before they go to bed, 2nd there is, |a stir among the geese beside the lak ~Jackals, waking from their long siesta, |trot over the plain and creep cau- | tiously toward the camps of the na- |tives. Something brown appears at the ‘edge of the reeds; it is a water buck. | At first his head and horns alone are visible, then after a wary look about | him, he steps out from his shelter, and stopping re and there to crop & tuft of grass, strolls off to a favorite salt- |lieck a mile away. Like the red deer of Exmoor, th | garden or cultivated ground. They love to pull a plant up by the roots, |and after a single bite (not always | that) pass on to anothe The twilight goes quickly, and In half an hour ¢ is black night. There Is & croaking ehorus of frogs by the lake and the “konk™ of herons overhead fiying to their fishing. As we move toward th camp our steps are perhaps a little quickened when we hear the unearthly howl of hyenas and the discontented grunt of a lion. - The Navigable Airship. By SIR HIRAM MAXIM. It is my opinion that Walter Wellman has small chances of success in his airship. To my mind, any balloon, tion of balloon, whether called & gasbag or an airship, would be completely use- less in Arctic exploration. I think we shall have to wait until some very wealthy man puts up the necessary money to conduct experi- ments, or until the French Government has developed a machine for military purposes which we can copy. Regarding Mr. Wellman's proposed attempt to reach the North Pole by what he calls an airship, but which, in plain English, is a balloon, I would say that we have in Europe some very clever aeronauts and mechaniclans who have been trying for vears to build a motor-propelled balloon that would en- able them to return to the point of de- parture. modifica- | In every case these so-called navige |able airships have ascended, floated off n the wind and come down to the ground like any ordinary balloon. Not rated at nothing on, quantity of work, 1|attempt to reach the North Pole In an one has been under comtrol sven in & very light wind. What chance, then, will a balloon have in Arctic regions that has always | been a complete failure in England and ;tho United States? Motor-propelled ib-uoons can be managed omly In a dead calm. | I think that the Invention of & navigable airship may be accomplished in the near future, experimengts in Eng- |land, France, and America having demonstrated the practicability of suc 2 machine. » This has become possible by the im- prcvement in recent years of light and 1 ‘erful motors for motor-cares, [ The moter and the material are at hand, the necessary mechanical skill |s -\fmnable. but it requires a great deal | of money to conduct the ex; | That is the drawback. s | _If that be overcome we shall Bave 3 | means of conveyance to the North Pole &nd back again to a place of safety.