MONDAY The San Francisco Call JOHN D. SIfRECKELS .'Proprietor CHARLES W. HORNICK .Genera! Manager ERNEST S. SIMPSON . . .Managing Editor AAArtmm AH Comrannlcatloß* to THE SAX FItANCISCO CALL Telephone "KEAKXT S6 W — A«k for The CalL The Operator Will Connect Yea With AJLAMEDA OFFICE— I43S Park Street .Telephone Alamefla 65f BERKELEY OFFICE— SW. Cor. Center and Oxford. . .Telephone Berkeley 7 7 CHICAGO OFFICE— I 634 M&rquette Bldff..C G«o. Krosness. Advertising Agt NEW YORK OFFICE— BOS Brunswick Bldar. . J. C. WilberdinEf, Advertising: Act WASHINGTON NEWS BUREAU— Post 81dg. . . Ira E. Bennett. Correspondent NEW TORK NEWS BUREAU — 516 Tribune Bldg.-C. C. Carlton, Correspondent Forelcn Offices Where The CaU Ia on File LONDON, England... 3 Resent Street, S W. PARIS, France... s3 Rue Cambon «^r-: "- BERLIN, Germany... Unter den Linden 3 SUBSCRIPTION nATES Delivered by Carrier. :o Cents Per Week, 76 Cents Per Month, Dally and Sunday Single Copies, 5 Cents rr TI?T I?I ?^ ll?»¥?l l?»¥? n Vr lor , u if ITE P STATES, Including Postage (Ca«h With Order): DAILY CALL (Including Sunday). 1 Year .. . . 18.00 DAILY CALL (Including Sunday), 6 Months " . ..$4.00 DAILY CALL— By Single Month '..!..'. 75c SUNDAY CALL, 1 Year $2.50 WEEKLY CALL, 1 Year . \u25a0 ... $1.00 FOREIGN tP a »y ../.s*.oo Per Year Extra POSTAGE i ™ Tid ,*, y 1 415 per YeaT Bxtr * rwcxAor- fweekly $1.00 Per Year Extra Entered at the United States Postofflce as Second Class -Matter ALL POSTMASTERS ARE AUTHORIZED TO RECEIVE SUBSCRIPTIONS „ - l- Sample Copies Will Be Forwarded When Requested Mall subscribers in ordering change of address should be particular to give both NEW and OLD ADDRESS In order to insure a prompt and correct compliance with their request. IN a well reasoned communication printed in these columns, James P. Brown gives credit to Mr. Taft for honest}% wisdom and cour age. On the subject of Mr. Taft's honesty and courage The Call is in cordial agreement with Mr. ; but we can not concur in the attribution of wisdom - to the chief executive and we have not failed on occasion to point out where we think Mr. Taft has made mistakes of judgment. Mr. Brown mentions the Chicago Tribune and The Call as pro ponents of such criticism, and he might have added that most of the independent republican newspapers in every part of the country have taken the same course, while at the same time giving Mr. Taft the fullest credit for good intentions. The fact is that the president is surrounded by an organized gang of politicians — all of them self-seeking and many. of them tricky — and these people contrive to keep from Mr. Taft the real sentiment Consider the disclosures of the sort of politics that has sur rounded the investigation of Ballinger. In view of these disclosures the reluctance of the interior department to surrender documents of important bearing on the case is readily explained. We find, for example, a cabinet' minister who admits antedating an official docu ment on the plea that in substance it was identical with a verbal statement previously made. We find Ballinger himself assisting in the preparation of a statement in exoneration of his" course which was obviously intended and written in the hope that it would be accepted and signed by the president as his own work. Mr. Taft did not fall into the trap that was set for him, and accepted the Ballinger defense only in part. But the very fact that he was unable to accept this ex parte statement as it was written might have warned a less unsuspecting man of the nature of the in fluences by which he is surrounded. Mr. Taft's worsfmistake of judgment was when he concluded he could do nothing with congress except by effecting an alliance with such men as Aldrich. These men know the game of politics to its most minute detail, and they fool Mr. Taft to the limit. They did this with the tariff and left him to carry the load out of mistaken loyalty to his allies. They will do the same thing, if they dare, with the president's pending legislative program. In this regard it is pertinent to quote an editorial in the Chicago Record-Herald, an in dependent and nonpartisan paper, which we think strongly reflects the prevailing sentiment in this wise: But there is one thing or appearance that even the most stubborn regulars must shun and avoid as they would the plague, and that is repetition of the new tariff's history in the case of the railroad bill, the star measure of the session. Already too much in the situation suggests the deadly parallel— the first reception of the bill, the discovery of alleged jokers and defects, the charges of "villainy," the resenting of amendments, the revolt of progressives, the smiles, silence and ground less optimism of the administration, the popular suspicion and hostility provoked by Mr. Wickcrsham's unfortunate invective and attempted mustering out of lifelong republicans, and so on. We know that the tariff has cost the party votes and confidence. We know that the insurgent view of the tariff is shared by legions of re publican voters. Suppose that the regulars succeed, with the aid of a few reactionary democrats, in putting through an emasculated railroad bill— a bill which all, or nearly all, of the insurgent republicans and progressive democrats continue to denounce as worthless or worse; would that kind of a bill, so passed, help the republican party or the administration? It is a grievous political mistake to suppose that useful legisla tion can only be secured by an alliance with the powers of evil. It needs a long spoon to sup with the devil, and it is safer to refuse the Mr. Taft might with advantage reflect on the line taken by Gov ernor Hughes of New York in this relation. • Governor Hughes made no alliance nor trades and held no conferences with the' "Black Horse Cavalry" and the corrupt politicians of the New York legislature. He told them very plainly what he wanted done in the way of legis lation. When they turned down his recommendations, as they did many times at the start, he appealed to the people, with surprising results for the politicians. > After a few sharp lessons of this sort. he had them eating out of his hand. The only argument that these people understand comes in the shape of a club. Mr. Brown's Review of Taft Administration AX interesting example of the disposition and point of view that inspire congress is* found in the fate of Secretary Meyer's plan for reorganization of the navy. For years the country has been hearing the blame for naval malad ministration laid at the door of the cumber some, awkward and confused bureau system; and nobody has ever seriously questioned the validity of the indictment. The nayyj depart ment is administered by seven bureaus whose functions frequently overlap and cause .delay and general inefficiency because these insti* tutions are all and severally intensely jealous of the: others and wherever there is a .suspicion of infringement there is a clash- of authority. _/ Secretary Meyer did not propose to abolish the system or^con solidate the bureaus under a single head, but he did recommend that one of these seven causes *of friction, waste and delay should be put out of, business. . He selected the bureau of equipment as most worthy of/ the ax. This looked like a mild measure of reform which in view of the The Salvation of an Imperiled Bureau EDITORIAL PAGE OF THE CALL MOTORING ON THE MILKY WAY volume of criticism directed at the department might be expected to commend itself to the wisdom of. congress; but congress does not look at things that way. To the congressional eye the secretary's recommendation was a measure to shorten the talc of official patron age, and this is. the last thing in the world that congress desires. Moreover the influence of the bureaus is very strong witli congress, and when one of them is threatened they all unite for the common defense. They may quarrel angrily among themselves in the off season, but when there is anything doing that threatens salaries all Washington is as angry as a hornet's nest" stirred with long pole. \u25a0\ Therefore the senate naval committee has voted to recommend for adoption the whole of the secretary's program with the single exception of that for the disestablishment of the '. bureau of equip ment. The country will get its battleships and submarines, its naval stations and its Hry docks, and the imperiled bureau isfcaved * r I A HE position assumed by Spokane and some of the other inland I commercial cities in relation to- the mileage basis for fixing **• railroad rates is peculiar, but scarcely ingenuous. They desire a strictly limited application of the long and short haul rule that will give them freight rates equal to or less than those enjoyed by the coast cities by reason of their geographical position and the effect of water competition. We need 'not now argue this contention which has been fully dis cussed here before, but these inland cities are seeking to graft on the mileage basis doctrine another which reduces it to absurdity. That is to say, they ask for terminal rates for themselves to protect their several "zones" of jobbing, trade. Spokane, for instance, enjoys jobbing rates that give the town the wholesale trade of an important territory of which it is the commercial center. If rates are put on a straight mileage basis Spokane would lose much of that trade. 1 The other day two important railroad systems asked the Spo kane council for franchises to enter the city and met with a refusal except on condition that the applicants grant terminal rates to the city. The sequel is told by the Oregonian thus: Spokane has had to back down from its demand for terminal rates in exchange for grant. of franchises to the; Milwaukee and the North Coast railroads. The railroads served notice that they could well stay out of Spokane and had stopped construction toward that city; that terminal rates were absurd and impossible and would disarrange the railroad map of the whole country, and that, moreover, if it were necessary for them , to have access to Spokane, the city council could not keep them out'nor impose successfully any conditions that they were unwilling to meet. Spokane wanted rates equal to those that prevail where there is water competition. The railroads refused because it would make their business impossible and then there was a return to sanity. The citizens xompelled the city council to back down, and Spokane was reduced to a realizing sense of its place on the map. Thisiong and short haul controversy is -not a question of moral nor abstract right, but one of -geography and the commercial neces sities that follow from geographical facts. Refused Terminal Rates for Spokane THE GALL discovers with delight a conspicuous if not unex pected "example of modesty displayed by a local contemporary, . and is -therefore pleaded to assist in a campaign of promotion — j and publicity conducted with SO; much indus try. In this amiable purpose it is no more than journalistic courtesy to quote the head -. lines of : an entertaining dispatch from London _^; printed on the front page of a local contem porary, to wit: . f. VISIT OF, HEARST AND ' ' \ / - ROOSEVELT STIRS. LONDON J. This is a guessing contest, and The Call undertakes to donate a big ; red apple to/jthe first of its readers who' may be able to discover the name of our'modest and industrious; contemporary. In further elucidation of the prevailing British state. of -mind, the dispatch goes on to say : , LONDON; ; May 14.-r-Much interest is excited im political circles by the news that \Vjlham Randolph Hearst; aird ; Theodore' Roosevelt will . .arrive in' London'-next; week.-- Without 'going so^ far* as. to; indorse the saying ,that it was: interesting to see thcrising ; and 'the* setting: sun at the same time from the meridian of London, , there is ; no doubt' that the " political- importance of ;Mr.l Hearst asia.factor;in American is . much more generally; recognized in London today than it has: ever been ..before."/"; '\u25a0;. .';;.'..;._... ,-. " \u0084.,/\u25a0;. : - ' \u25a0 .\u25a0- : ..., \u25a0; ,-. . \u25a0;\u25a0• .- '\u0084\u25a0 There' is^talk of gloom, in London; because, of a recent national loss, but with arising and a setting sun on view at thesame moment the tail ; bf..Halley;s:cometvshould^pale:itSvineffectual the, balance- of verse ; is disturbed^ by, this extraordinary astro nomical conjunction. More extraordinary yet is this ridiculous exhi bition of an inflated egotism. ; ' Mr. Hearst on Exhibition as a Star MARK TWAIN'S RESORT TO ARMS gjgWhen Mark Twain was a reporter on The Call in 1564 and lived with his friend, Steve Gillis, it was his habit to read and studs far into the morning. He abhorred noise in the small hours, and on one occasion, to secure quiet, he was compelled to resort to arms. The story is sent to The Call by Mrs. E. C. Parsons, now of Fresno, a sister of Gillis, and in those days one of the household in which Mark Twain lived. In the neighborhood was'a man named Moore, an enthusiastic chicken fancier, who owned a large and pugnacious game cock. Twain admired the bird and named it Goliath. He and Gillis be lieved it could whip anything that wore feathers and daily watched its training. But the unlucky Goliath suddenly de veloped the habit of * proclaiming his prowess 1 -by crowing incessantly be tween midnight and dawn, and as the rooster's quarters - were nearly under Twain's window there could be but one result. "Twain wanted the bird to live be cause he wanted to see it fight. Also he wanted to see it dead because he want ed to read and write. At first he fret ted, then he threatened, and finally about 2 o'clock one morning the Gillis family heard something stirring. It was- a moonlight night and looking out of their^ windows into the adjoining back yard they saw Twain, clad only in' a nightshirt and grasping an old Mexican sword "he kept in his room, creeping stealthily along the fence. The game \cock saw his enemy ap^ proaching and, jumping from its perclC tried to run away. Then followed \a spectacular ! chase up and down the yard, through the bushes, Twahi wildly waving his weapon as he made repeated lunges at the fowl and relieving his feelings with: a series of dashes. At last he caught the cock, there was a brief pause while he brought the old sword into play, and then he returned to the house with the makings of a pot pie. ' - When Moore brought the news of his 1 loss to Twain the latter sympathized with him and even put an advertise ment in The Call." offering ?5 for the re turn of the rooster. "That was a great bird," said Twain, "great in battle, and still greater in re treat." Shorter Railroad Ticket What is expected to revolutionise the universal passenger ticket system now In use is the Parker junction coupon ticket, the fruit of the inventive brain of William S. Parker, ticket agent at •the*; union depot at Ottumwa,-la. The new ticket is now in the hands of the committee on universal tickets. Aside from the fact 'that it shortens the long ticket, the new ticket; It" is said, will prove a boon to the. railroads adopting it. It cuts down printing bills, lessens the size of the ticket holders in, offices and practically does away, with nine-tenths of the cler ical; work of the ticket seller now necessary/ > The- new ticket. is in the form of a small , booklet,' ; f ast\ned . together by brass clasps, and is sufficiently small to be carried > in? the. vest pocket. ". '=. U By -; using- the Parker ; junction ticket the railroad "offices will no' longer have to I keep :in f stock!, from 1,000 to 1,500 different forms of tickets, but will have to'^employ/ not more than 45 forms. Five : forms "cover I all the business east of Chicago/; while ; 28 forms supply the want' of visitors to, westerns cities, no matteVihow/circuitoUs a route maylbe taken! Another feature. of: the Parker. ticket is T Sthat£the 'passenger ; knows exactly what? he 'or ; she . It'does not require \u25a0 a veteran railroadman % to ; un derstand Mt,^ and !/when; large cities are reached the -passenger will not have to suffer, the \ irritable {inconvenience now necessary, of /awaiting; the -process that 19 necessary! forithelong: tickets to go through at the hands of the gate "keep ers/."" •' •-. .--.-.. c . ..-:.'- _•>:•\u25a0 = To the railroads company >.- the new ticket will appeal ; as a ; g^eat Saver not only i in" office ; room -but in" fixtures -as :welUr-.ThV ". present^ tickets \f Sr: ions passage a! case seven " feet ' hig-h ,by jsix 'and" a half; feet* wide, Awhile": the Parkerf system^ will -rieed^only{a> small box nine incheswide-by IS inches lon<* HALLEY'S WANDERER IS BACK FROM ELBA Comet Is Harmless Queen of the May Respite Nervous People and Politicians 1 ARTHUR L. PRICE "You mast trake me," said O»« cora«t, "call m» early, mother dear; Tie morninr is the liveliest time la\ all the glad new ytsr; * The earliest hour of risiny, mother, the yawn iest, sleepiest day, For I ajn back from Elba, mother, and I'm to ha queen of the May." The activities which disturbed the eastern heavens for the last month came to a head yesterday when Hal ley's comet, back from Elba and other southern points, was crowned queen of the May. Venus was dethroned in the insurgent movement which has agi tated the eastern sky for some time. The new comet queen received the keys to the city and made a little speech, in which it said that while it was glad to be back from Elba and was doubly delighted to greet Gifford" Pin chot and other dignitaries whose ef forts In preserving the meteors from falling into tho hands of unscrupulous museums could not be too highly com mended, yet it must be understood that as a comet it was in no position to criticise planets, and would only add that while passing through the signs of the zodiac it had killed Leo, the lion; Aries, the ram; Taurus, the bull; Capricornus, the goat, and other crea tures of the sky. Gemini, the twins, had been spared for what they signi fied. In other respects the comet was mod-, est of its achievement. The proposition to have the comet crowned queen of the May originated in the minds of some of the real estate promoters in the eastern heavens. "We noticed," said the president of a large company that is putting on a tract to the south of Venus, "we noticed thaif all this agitation of last fall over the discovery or alleged discovery of the north pole has given an/unwonted impetus to the celestial real estate ac tivities in the region of the north star and great dipper. Now any one at all familiar with the characteristics of that segment of the heavens can not but know, that it is an undesirable neighborhood, particularly near the great dipper, which is little more or less than a drinking place for the great and minor bears. "Then the zenith became popular through the advancement of the al leged beneficial advantages of using the certified milky way. We saw that it was time to have a demonstration in the eastern sky. I n times of yore the east used to be popular. There used to be songs about 'The Dawn in Rus set Mantle Clad,' and such eminently proper sentiments. But of recent years, owing largely to the sleepyheadedness of the human- race, the dawn and all that pertains thereto has. lost its charm. We had to do something to attract cus tom to the sale of the large properties which we have developed there. "I admit it is a cold blooded business proposition that led us to bring Mr. Halley'a comet into our territory. We negotiated for several years before we could close our contracts. "There was the political prestige of the comet which we had to consider. This comet which Mr. Halley has on his booking circuit is known as a med I ANSWERS TO QUERIES PA.KAMA CANAL— J. M., Oakland. What is the length, width and depth of the Panama canal? The length will be about 50 mlle3 from deep water in 'the Caribbean sea to deep -water in the Pacific ocean. The distance from deep water ta the shore line in-Limon bay is about 4Vi miles, and from the Pacific shore line to. deep water is about 5 miles; hence the length of the canal from shore to shore will be approximately 40i» miles. The channel from mile 0 in the Carib bean to a point 4,000 -feet north of Gatun locks will be 500 feet wide. From this point to Gatun locks. 1,000 feet -wide; from the south end of Gatun locks to mile 23.50, not less than 1.000 feet wide; from, mile 23.50 to mile 26.50, 800* feet wide; from mile 25.50 to mile 27, 700 feet wide; from mile 27 to mile 31.25, 500 feet wide; from mile 21.25 to Pedro Miguel lock (mile 39.36), 300 feet wide, and from Pedro Miguel lock to Miraflores " locks and from Miraflores locks to deep water in Panama" bay, 500 feet wide. The av erage bottom width of the, channel in this project is 649 feet, and the mini munuwidth is 300 feet. The canal will have a minimum depth of 41 feet. .•\u25a0 • • ASSESSING— S.. Berkeley. Has a deputy as seuor a right to go through your house agd plait* bis own valuation on what there is there and re fuse to state the amount of his valuation? If a person neglects or refuses to make a statement to the assessor with in the time prescribed by law a deputy assessor may view the premises and place an arbitrary value on the prop erty and he makes the return to the assessor, not tho assessed. '''SEALING — B. "W. jr., Alameda.' What is the method of hermetically preserving asparagus? ( .Placing: the, cans or jars in -a bath of warm water, allowing the water to PERSONS IN THE NEWS 0. A. ROBERTSON, who Is at ~ the head of a syndicate composed of St. Paul and Minne apolis capitalists • that recently purchased the Haggin ranch near Sacramento, i* at the St. Francis. • \u25a0 \u25a0 • •" GEOBGE SUPF, for man; rears associated with the Palace hotel, has resigned his position to take up ranching. He • baa a farm adjoining i Judge Carroll Cook's In Sonoma county. •» • • A. H. LOCKBIDGE, a Xtw York capitalist who usually makes his home In this city, returned \u25a0 from : the east yesterday ' and took permanent apartments at the St.' Francis. • • '\u25a0. • • WILLIAM : DIEBOLD, clerk of the St. Franei*. / Is spending a few weeks In Los Angeles on a holiday.; Diebold Is well known In -hotel cir , cles in the south. . ..-'•« .. '\u25a0•'!'•- • • THOMAS FBIAKT, whi> has large timber Inter ests^ in "Michigan,- Is at the raise*. > Frlant * ha? a home in. Pasadena. / .. • . • \u2666 . M.'P. GOLDSMITH, proprietor "of the St.- Fran •;_'cls news stand," left on a business trfp of scr ' - cral weeks yesterday. ' E. A.* CUNNINGHAM 6fMary»Tltle and DrS\V. M. Shorne of Fresno are guests at the Manx. MAY 16.1910 dler and an insurgent. In It* various visits to this world it'haa usually man aged to turn things over pretty well. "This present trip has beea known as the back from Elba tour. \lt has been rumored that the sole object of the visit was to unseat the ruliny pow ers at Washington. So sinister did some prominent folks at "Washington consider the omen of the comet that they immediately served notica that they would not return to their jobs." All that made the comet a good at traction for the festival of coronation, yesterday morning. The little stars had beea trained to sing hymns to the music of the, spheres. The coronation hymn was as follows: "HAS EVERYBODY HZRE SEEN TH3 .V- COMET!" "Has everybody here seen comstf In th« mom at half -past 3! . Has everybody here seoa comet— HaT« you seen it fleet V" \>, It's time ia short, it's tail is bsf . , Yet all alarms are ringisff strong To wake yon up to se« th« eomst _; la tli» mom at half -past 3." ~"**\ "Already we are having a ready r«* turn on our investment." continued th« promoter. i*.W« demanaed a royalty on all alarm clocks sold during the comet period, and that stipend has more than remunerated us for what we must pay the comet. "Of course, we have had feminina jealousy to contend with. There has been Venus. .Venus ia a s^eafe beauty, though personally I don't sro in strong for such a purely Saxon blonde type as she Is. But I »dmlt her great personal attractlonr But Venus has been very jealous of the popularity of Mr. Halley's comet, and has threat ened to call all the clouds to her aid to blot the horizon, so that our festival will be spoiled. "But I think we have come throush all right. "The newspapers have made great eft*ort3 to get the comet to discuss Its trip during: the last 73 years and bow things were when it left Elba. On my instruction it has sedulously refused to join in such discussion^ All it. vrtll say is that it*\s going to Mars from here. for there is war en 3lars. I believe when It reaches Mars it will alight at Waterloo station. '"I want to inform all nervous people that the comet is quite harmless and will injure no one — not even those who mostly feared the return from Elba. Aldrich, Hale and Flint need not have retired from politics on its account. "Our contract with the comet closes Wednesday, May 13. on which date, I believe, the western circuit -will begin to book the attraction along with Mars. I believe that our carnival is a sue- f cess. We have got more people up at ¥ 3:30 o'clock in the morning than ever before got up before breakfast. On tho whole, and while I do not wish to make any invidious comparisons, I think wa have other May day carnivals faded. "Now I must go up to the LJcfc ob servatory and thank the "'gentlemen there for the gratuitous press notices they have made it possible for. me to receive. In this commercial age it la splendid to find such disinterest«dne?s ** come to a gentle bol! so a* to exeludo the air and then sealing the same in the manner that fruit jars or cans are loos :::::::;••• ;-,sJ-Jfi' MlFfc « :::::::: ::: SSBSJ [l« TROUT— Snbscrllwr. City la If »rr.- *v \u2666 trout ne^er gets .Dot* fiSt p^Suto hfSeftV' * There Is a record of a trout caught 'in En~ ran w.,°M th % AvOn at S*«SnxK En S ., weighing 25 pounds. Such » size is very rare; and even In ponds trout are regularly fed they sel dom exceed 10 pounds. • • « CANAL-j. M.. city. How m nch win th» It"" ?.*«£"" f - now belB * 3 railt *? thj c.it£w It is estimated that the cost will be 5325.201.000. which includes $20,053 000 for sanitation and $7,382,000 for admin istration. !« T^h^a^iV 5 - 3^^ ModMto - *** A reproduction of an object by" lay. ins in the shades In flat washes, with Zffi&mSS* an