The San Francisco call. [volume], April 26, 1895, Page 6, Image 6

About The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913

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CHARLES Al. SHORTRIDQE,
Editor and Proprietor.
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tising Bureau, Rhineiander building, Rose and
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FRIDAY APRIL 26, 1895
Nicaragua is our preserve.
Great Britain is getting brash.
The seven are solid, but the eighth is
shaky. _______
Public vigilance is needed to supervise
the Supervisors.
No man ever killed a rattlesnake by ig
noring the reptile.
#-
Festivals improve business by making
everybody cheerful.
♦
Silence in the presence of political job
ber*.* gives consent to it.
The murder case is getting to the point
where the plot thickens.
It seems that even Gresham is too much
of an American for Grover.
There are Democrats of almost all kinds
except Cleveland Democrats.
To preserve the profits of the fruit indus
try we must preserve the fruit itself.
If the Monroe doctrine doesn't cover the
field sufficiently we can make one that
does.
A man who breaks a solemn pledge to
his party cannot be trusted with any obli
gation.
It would be strange if China should find
that Russia is her best friend in the hour
of need.
"We have yet to hear a single man who
took in the fiestas complain of being
taken in.
Farmers are reminding the Weather
Bureau that it is time to open the rain
drawer again.
The spring bonnet does not keep the sun
out of the eyes of a girl, but it puts sun
shine in her heart.
It appears there is no way of settling the
Oriental muddle without starting a Euro
pean complication.
The untimely death of H. H. Scott does
not remove the only citizen whom Chris
Buckley had cause to fear.
A man may whistle to keep up his cour
age in a graveyard, but he never dresses
like a ghost for that purpose.
The Grand Jury would not be wasting
time if « inquired into the kind of cement
used in making Solid Eights.
The surest proof of the advance of bi
metallism is the continuous howl going up
from the gold monometallists.
If it should be found necessary to tear
down the ferry foundations some top-lofty
men will be buried in the ruins.
Public exposure may not even bring a
blush to the face of a corrupt official, but it
generally kills his best laid job 3.
Texas has had a storm that laid hail
stones as large as a goose's egg and they
hatched $200,000 worth of damage.
In her attempt to collect damages from
Nicaragua England runs the risk of pick
ing up a war with the United States.
The rapid increase in the use of sugar in
Japan is an evidence of the tendency of
civilization to sweeten life for the people.
If the British lion puts his foot on the
soil of Nicaragua, he will come very close
to stepping on the tail of the American
eagle.
There is really no sense in having a Solid
Eight when seven are just as effective and
there is a smaller number among whom to
divide the swag.
Men who climb into office over a Repub
lican platform cannot kick the platform
down without leaving themselves hanging
like political suicides.
If Supervisor Scully has been shouldered
out of the Solid Eight as a superfluity
about the only combination that he can
make is one with his sense of duty.
No recent innovation in journalism has
received more praise than the Call's re
production of pictures by telegraph, and it
may be fairly said that none deserves it
more.
It ii now about the time of the month
for the daily papers hereabout to assist
the lottery companies in the work of injur
ing the community by publishing the list
of "winning numbers!"
The great body of workers may profit
ably reflect that opposition to public im
provements which would bring them the
most benefits comes from selfish rich men,
who are too mean to pay taxes.
The Fresno Republican is of the opinion
San Francisco will never prosper until she
completes her sewer system, and it must
be admitted that sewers are the best me
dium through which to get rid of the Solid
Eight.
If the amateur writers of "theories" and
"suggestions" knew how ridiculous they
look in print they would not want their
"theories" and "suggestions" printed, and
if they really were inspired by a desire to
serve the ends of justice they would write
to Chief Crowley and not to the press.
■ Telegraphing without wires has been
successfully accomplished across the Sound
of Mull, in Northern Scotland, and while
the distance was only two miles, the re
sults are regarded as justifying the belief
that we will be rid of wires altogether in
telegraphy much sooner than in politics.
The latest edition of "California; her in
dustries, attractions and builders," com
piled and edited by J. C. Hoag, is one of
the most attractive and valuable of the
series. It forms a compendious pamphlet
of 144 pages, printed on heavy cream-laid
paper in the best style of typographic art,
is handsomely illustrated with picturesque
views and portraits of noted men, and con
tains a large amount of important informa
tion concerning all sections of the State.
It constitutes a splendid advertisement for
our industries and being sufficiently beau
tiful to serve as a souvenir should be
widely distributed by Californians among
their friends in the East.
THE EVIL OP NEGLIGENCE.
Recognizing the fact that in the case of
public construction there is not the direct
moral restraint which a private builder ex
ercises over his employes, honest political
governing bodies select for the work men
whom they have every reason to trust.
The men so selected are expected to be as
diligent and faithful as if the presence of
the builder were at hand to observe their
conduct. It is out of the failure of such
men to be diligent, or through their in
clination to be corrupt, that all the numer
ous scandals arise over public construc
tion. Sometimes it is difficult to disting
uish between negligence and knavery, and
it is equally difficult to say which is worse.
In the case of the ferry construction, we
are having a repetition of the shameful
scandals that arose out of the construction
of the City Hall. It has not yet been
proved that the contractors violated the
specifications and attempted to swindle the
State by employing inferior material, but
the suspicion that they have is so prevalent
that extensive machinery has been set in
motion to discover the truth. While the
Harbor Commissioners are having compe
tent scientists from the State University
make such a physical examination of the
foundations as is possible, the Grand Jury
is making an inquiry along other lines,
and the indications do not breed a cheering
hope that the work may have been
honestly done, and that it would be safe
to proceed with the erection of the build
ing.
The discovery that men, in order to be
diligent or honest, will be so only under
the presence of fear, is exceedingly dis
couraging. "When the ferry foundations
were begun and it was announced that
A. Page Brown would be the architect
there was not the slightest apprehension.
The improvement was urgently needed.
Nothing like negligence, rascality, delay
or danger was dreamt of. It entered no
one's mind to reflect that weak foundation!
might be constructed, and that hundreds
of human lives might be lost in a frightful
collapse of the structure. The mil of
men do not voluntarily suspect that there
are persons walking abroad among them,
with all the semblance of a well-rounded
manhood, who are capable, through negli
gence or duplicity, of deliberately setting a
mine in the springing of which men,
women and children would be slaughtered
wholesale and pitilessly. Until the popu
lar sentiment which establishes the meas
ure of accountability to which such men
should be held is reformed, the punishment
of minor crimes is a farce.
In spite of the fact that the architect has
not proved that he attended diligently to
his duties, and that the presumption of
improperly constructed foundations is
strong, we sincerely hope that the work
will be found done according to contract,
and safe for a superstructure, and that the
expense, shame, delay of condemning the
work and doing it all over again will be
avoided. But if the investigations now
afoot should discover negligence and crook
edness, every good citizen hopes that the
guilty ones will receive the very heaviest
blow that the law can deliver.
THE BEITISH AND NICARAGUA.
The vigorous and prompt action taken
by the British Government to exact dam
ages from the people of Nicaragua for in
jury done to British subjects residing
there, is not in itself to be condemned. It
is only by such swift action that civilized
nations can make their force felt in lawless
lands and protect the property of law
abiding industrious men from plunder and
destruction at every outbreak of insurrec
tion and war. There is therefore nothing
in the act itself for us to condemn. On
the contrary, there is much in it for us to
approve and to imitate in cases where
American citizens are deprived of their
property and denied redress in countries
where, under fair treaties, our people have
a right to go.
The affair assumes a different aspect,
however, when considered not in itself
alone, but in its relation to the Monroe
doctrine and to the proposed construc
tion of the Nicaragua canal. The
American people have learned to give a
very broad construction to the Monroe
doctrine and are ready to apply it to every
form of controversy that arises between
any country on this continent and a
European power. That the doctrine has
never been recognized in international law,
nor received any formal diplomatic sanc
tion, does not materially affect its real
validity, for it has come to occupy a great
place in the National aspirations of the
people of the United States, and this fact
is in itself sufficient to give the doctrine
importance in politics and diplomacy too
great to be overlooked and too pressing to
be evaded.
Not less important to the issue than the
Monroe doctrine is the proposed construc
tion of the Nicaragua canal. That also has
become a great aspiration of the American
people, and one that is of more than senti
mental interest to them. It is essential to
the development of American commerce
that the canal should be constructed, and
equally essential to the security of that
commerce that the canal when constructed
should be under American control. "We
have therefore two reasons for watching
the proceedings of the British in Nicaragua
from the standpoint of opposition. Those
proceedings are distinctly adverse to our
interests, and while we may concede the
right of Great Britain to demand redress for
the wrong done to her citizens, we cannot
favor any action on her part that shows
an intention to lord it too far on American
soil.
It is not altogether unfortunate that the
interests of the United States are intrusted
at this critical period to two such blun
derers as Cleveland and Gresham. A
blunder sometimes teaches wisdom more
effectually than reason itself, and the mis-
takes and imbecilities of the present ad
ministration may be needed to crystallize
public opinion in favor of a more vigorous
American policy when the next one comes
in. There can be no doubt that Cleve
land's attempt at tariff reform has made
the people of the United States practically
unanimous for protection, and it is quite
probable that his weak and meaningless
foreign policy may be teaching the people
an equally good lesson concerning our re
lations to Central America and the part we
must perform in directing its development.
THE NATIVE SONS ALEBT.
Following up the suggestion which it
made on Wednesday, to the effect that the
Native Sons of the Golden West, working
as a body, would be a powerful force in the
development of the State, the Call has
secured, and presents in this issue, a num
ber of interviews with leading members of
the order. These are very instructive, and
should be pondered by every member of
the organization.
Naturally the Call's suggestion appeared
to the Native Sons in the light of a novelty.
While every member of the" order is
pledged to a patriotic cherishing of the
best interests of the State, it seems to have
been taken for granted that this praise
worthy course should be pursued by the
members in their individual capacity of
citizens only, and not by means of definite
purposes pursued by the orgauizatioo as a
THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 1895.
whole. Hence it is that in the scheme of
the order there is no plan for a direct at
tack upon any line of action, the general
organization being maintained principally
as a bond of union and for the promotion
of sociability.
But it is pleasing to observe that the
members who were interviewed regard
the suggestion favorably, and clearly see
in it a plan for bringing the patriotic effi
ciency of the order to its highest develop
ment. It must be clear to them, as it is to
us, that the organized efforts of the mem
bers would be immeasurably more effective
than their individual work; and further,
that such organized work would be only a
logical development and extension of the
obligations which the members have indi
vidually assumed.
The prevailing impression of those who
were interviewed is that the subject is too
new and important to be brought up be
fore the present annual convention of the
order, that the proposed departure from
established usage is too radical for imme
diate action, and "that in any event the in
dividual parlors must take action before
the central body will have the power to
move. The members believe, therefore,
that the Call's suggestion will readily
commend itself to the attention of the par
lors, that out of the discussion which will
arise some general plan of action will be
evolved, and that the Grand Parlor will be
invested with authority to take the neces
sary action to secure the working harmony
of the order as a whole. Hence not until
the next annual convention, a year hence,
can the Native Sons as an organized body
be expected to take action in this very im
portant matter.
"With regard to political affairs, Grand
President Sproul has made some conspicu
ously commendable observations. He
thinks, for instance, that while the order
cannot enter into politics in the ordinary
sense, its members can properly bind them
selves to two obligations one to work for
the election of those candidates, without
regard to party, who represent California
patriotism in its highest form, and the j
other to prevent the re-election of any Na
tive Son who may have proved recreant in j
office. This covers generous ground, and
such a stand would be manly, patriotic
and beneficial.
The interviews, therefore, are most en
couraging, and are altogether what we ex
pected from this splendid body of young
men. It is well that there is a year in
which the great work of formulating a plan
for the material development of the State
can be accomplished, for that much time
is needed in which the wisest scheme may
be devised. Let us hope not only that all
Native Sous will at once apply their ener
gies to the solution of this great problem,
but that they will do all that is possible to
enlarge their power by increasing the mem
bership of their order. These young men —
the flower of California— the making
of the State in their hands.
A BEVOLUTIONAEY IDEA.
Some months ago Bobert Stevenson, a
civil engineer of this city, born in Scot
land and graduated from the Glasgow Uni
versity, startled the California Academy of
Sciences by announcing a discovery,
which, if it is true, overturns the very
foundations of the science of physics. We
remember that Mr. Stevenson was chaffed
unmercifully. That has had the effect to
rouse his Scotch blood, and now he has
issued his lecture in pamphlet form, with
expansions and a few demonstrations, and
promises to follow it with a book in which
his remarkable theory is to be proved to
the smallest detail. This publication is
awaited with the liveliest interest; even
the preliminary pamphlet is sufficiently
startling and suggestive to set students
thinking.
Until Mr. Stevenson has either proved
his case or failed in the effort adverse crit
icism makes the utterer more ridiculous
than the victim. Ptolemy's elaborately
demonstrated theory that the sun, stars
and planets revolve round the earth was
accepted implicitly until Copernicus
proved that the earth and planets revolve
round the sun; and while Mr. Stevenson's
theory completely overturns Newton's the
• ory of gravitation, and therefore, if true,
is the grandest scientific discovery since
j Newton's day, we may not yet say that he
; will not come to bear the same relation to
I Newton that Copernicus bore to Ptolemy.
Mr. Stevenson declares elasticity of mo
tion to be the true cause of universal grav
itation ; that is, there is nothing inherent
in bodies which causes them to gravitate
toward each other, but the persistence of
energy imparted by some extraneous cause
explains this phenomenon. Hence the New
tonian gravity is not reliable in determin
ing the masses of bodies.
According to Mr. Stevenson, suppose
that a body moving along a straight line
in free space is acted upon by a force equal
to the original force and transverse to the
original line of motion. The author flatly
denies the old law that this body will be
deflected along a straight line which shall
be the diagonal of a rectangle, of which
the two conflicting lines of motion, are
sides, and declares that instead it will pur
sue a curvilinear course, which, he says, is
an ellipse. He explains this by saying that
unless the secondary impulse imparted to
the moving body is infinity (in which
event the body wUI move on the straight
line of the secondary impulse), the original
impulse will constantly act on the body as
a force of restitution, striving to return it
to its original line of motion. This is
what he calls the elasticity of motion and
the persistence of energy, or '"kinetic sta
bility."
Hence Newton's theory of a centripetal
force (gravity) that keeps one body re
volving about another falls to pieces. It
is not gravity, acting as a centripetal force
against the centrifugal force of a body, or
its tendency to fly off into space, that
keeps it revolving in an ellipse, for such
revolution may occur without the presence
of a central body.
Such is the body of his startling theory.
There is not space here to give it any
elaboration, as he does, but some of his ob
servations may be noted.
He says that he has demonstrated the
fallacy of Newton's theory that gravity
acts independently and constantly. He
has proven that a projectile does not fall
sixteen leet in the first second after its
propulsion, and that a projectile traveling
at a velocity of 1036 feet a second (instead
of having to travel at d rate of 25.000 feet a
second, as we have been hitherto taught)'
would travel round the earth without fall
ing, if there were no atmospheric resist
ance. s v^ ;
In indicating the results which would
follow from his discovery, Mr. Stevenson
says that we could learn how the planets
are formed and constituted, what their
heat, mass and atmospheres are, and even
the character and bodily structure of their
inhabitants. And in applying it to
molecular uhysics we might reduce to an
exact science the problems of matter, soul
and spirit.
The recent exhibition of fine art at
Whitechapel in the slums of London was
attended, during its three weeks' term,
by over 72,000 people. On this basis, tak
ing into consideration the comparative
culture of the two localities, how many
people ought to attend the Spring Exhibi
tion in San Francisco ?
THE FAR-OFF PRINCESS.
Translated from the French for the Call by Mel.
The latest theatrical sensation in Paris is
"The Far-off Princess," a wonderful mystic
play by Eugene Rastaud, founded on a legend
of the troubadors of Provence.
The singular thing about the new work is
that its mysticism does not prevent it from
being intensely restless and modern in spirit.
When it was first produced on the 6th inst
Wagnerian s almost imagined that they were
witnessing a musicless representation of "'Tris
tan and Isolde," only Sarah Bernhardt gave a
more ideal rendering of "The Far-Off Princess"
tnan the most modern of prima donnas could
do. This is the strange part she is nightly in
terpreting:
"The Far-off Princess" is a sort of Queen of
Sheba, who reigns in Tripoli toward the end of
the dominion of the* Byzantine emperors. Her
beauty, her wit and her wisdom have made
her celebrated even in the west of Europe. A
French troubador, Bertrand d'Alamarion, has
taken her for the lady of his dreams and extols
her merits as Dante extolled tnose of Beatrice.
Bertrand has been pushed by his spirit of ad
venture as far as the court of Geoffrey, Prince
of Sicily, and to the Prince himself he has
talked so much of the beauty and graces of the
unknown Princess that Geoffrey himself falls
in love with her.
It is a Platonic affection, however, for the
poor Prince is dying. But he cannot bear to
leave the earth without having seen the Prin
cess, so he embarks with Bertrand and set
sail toward Tripoli.
The first scene shows the vessel bearing
Geoffrey. All is going badly, fever decimates
the crew, and it has been necessary to tight
against the barbarous pirates, the tempest,
hunger and thirst. Nevertheless the dreamed
of Princess has such a hold on the imagina
tions of the sailors that Bertrand has only to
evoke her name to give them fresh courage
and hope. Their faith is recompensed as the
sun rises, for the mist covering the sea rises,
showing in the distance the white walls of Tri
poli and the palace where tne mysterious Prin
cess resides.
The second scene shows the interior of the
strange palace, and which is full of marvels,
flowers and perfumes. Pilgrims just returned
from the Holy Land salute the Princess, who
distributes to them white lilies, her emblem.
But if pilgrims receive easy entrance it is not
the same thing for troubadors and knights.
The Princess is betrothed for reasons of state
to the Byzantine Emperor, who is jealous of
her, and under the pretext of supplying a guard
of honor has placed over her an officious guard
ian, the Knight of the Green Shield, a sort of
fairy tale giant, who keeps the Princess in
captivity. She, however, charmed with youth,
poetry and beauty, would like to meet some
knight to deliver her from the fate of having
to marry the old Emperor.
To the melancholy of legendary heroines the
Princess joins the restless nervousness of the
end-of-the-century woman, and it is with al
most extravagant joy that she learns from the
merchant Squarciafico, who has come to sell
her stuffs from Genoa, that a handsome knight
is roaming round the palace as if he would
force its gates. It is Bertrand. Geoffrey, at the
point of death, has charged him to seek out
the Princess — Melissinde is her — and
lead her on board the ship. Bertrand accepts
the mission and executes it valiantly. He
scatters the guards under the eye of Melissinde,
who has thrown him her white veil and car
ries it back to her stained with the blood of the
Knight of the Green Shield, whom he has slain
in mortal combat. Bertrand has been wounded
and he faints. The Princess binds up his
wounds and learns with sorrow that the hand
some knight is only the Prince's messenger.
On his side Bertrand is struck with love for
her, but, remembering his promise to his
friend, tries to persuade Melissinde to go on
board Geoffrey's ship.
In the next scene the Princess has yielded to
the troubadour's supplication, and Is about to
visit his friend Geoffrey. The more she sees
Bertrand, however, the more she loves him,
and at last decides to confess her feelings.
Bertrand is so overcome with the avowal that
for a time he forgets his loyalty. He is over
come with remorse when he sees a ship sailing
out to sea under a black flag, for it was the sig
nal agreed upon to tell him that Geoffrey was
dead.
However, thin was but a delusion. The ship
with the black flag was the one bearing the re
mains of the Knight of the Green Shield to Con
stantinople, and the lovers, seized with disgust
at their selfishness, prepare to visit the dying
man.
The scene changes to Geoffrey's ship, where
the Prince is anxiously expecting the return of
his messenger. Soon, on a galley, decked with
flowers, like Cleopatra's, the Far-off Princess
appears. Come back to the ideal, she consoles
the dying man, cuts off her flowing locks beside
his couch and makes his last moments happy
in the joy of a pure and triumphant love.
After his death, Melissinde, hoping for no more
happiness on earth, retires into a convent.
Although this action is simple it is adroitly
dramatized; indeed the legend.while retaining
all its philosophical and symbolic ideas, be
comes full of the intensity of dramatic action.
In the love scene between Melissinde and Ber
trand the fashion in which the lovers close the
window which commands a view of Geoffrey's
ship and the terror which seizes them when
the wind reopens it can either be considered
as a fine dramatic effect or as a powerful psy
chological study of passion.
The base of the play is the eternal struggle
between the real and the ideal, and from this
point of view one of the finest passages is the
discourse of the ship's chaplain, who affirms
that love, when it is part ideal, is as sacred as
religion, since it can put a consoling hope into
the heart of a dying man and can render the
coarsest beings capable of devotion and self
sacrifice.
It is the ideal that illumines the end of the
play from the moment that Bertrand and
Melissinde are seized with horror at the selfish
ness and perfidy of their love.
All through the performance Sarah Bern
hardt realizes the plastic ideal of the Princess.
There is not a detail of the performance which
she has not attended to herself, not an acces
sory which she has not ordered in person. She
has invented a process for giving the costumes
an air of not being brand new and for soften
ing the colors. There Is not even a shoe, be it
worn by the Princess herself or by one of the
pirates, which has not been exposed to the
atmosphere to make it lose the effect of being
worn for the first time.
There are only two scenes, but they are very
beautiful. The ship of the first act, with pink
sails painted with pictures of patron saints, ad
vances on a dark sea, that is gradually lighted
with the rosy tint of dawn, and through the
haze one sees the white walls of the palace
inhabited by the mysterious Princess. Then
there is the hall of the palace, an odd
mixture of Gothic, Byzantine, Roman and
oriental architecture, with a throne of Ravenna
mosaic. Then the audience sees the Princess,
hlerarchal and royal, in her hands the white
lilies, on her head a crown with gold wings,
and clad as if in a dream. Her robe of Indian
damask was especially woven for her, her man
tle of Venetian brocade is covered with jewels,
and her girdle is fastener! with a monster's
head. These garments that envelon the Prin
cess idealize her, so that one does not know
which one Is admiring, Sarah or the draperies.
PERSONAL.
Frank A. Cressy, a banker of Modesto, Is at
I the Lick.
Dr. J. D. Davidson of Fresno Is a guest of the
Baldwin.
Fred G. Wadsworth, a banker of _reka, is
at the Grand.
Rev. J. N. Maclean of Vacaville is registered
at the Occidental. —
R. M. Shackleford of Paso Robles registered
at the Occidental yesterday.
H. Guernsey, a cattleman of Golconda, Nev.,
is among yesterday's arrivals at the Lick.
;. J. Challer, the Consul of France to Guate
mala, and Mrs. Challer are at the Occidental. '
Louis Weinberger, a prominent wine mer
chant of New Orleans, is stopping at the Grand.
Ex-Harbor Commissioner C. F. Bassett has
gone to Southern California for a fortnight's
outing.
Major H. C. Dane, the lecturer, and Mrs.
Dane arrived from Boston yesterday and are
stopping at the Lick.
Judge A. Bockes of the New York
Court of Appeals, Harry W. Leach aud State
Senator O'Connor, all of New York, are in the
city.
General George H. Durand, a prominent at
torney of Michigan, arrived in this city yester
day and registered at the Palace. He is on his
way to Portland, where he is to appear for the
Federal Government in the prosecution of a
number of opium smugglers arrested there.
AROUND THE CORRIDORS.
"I've got a kick coming, and I intend to
kick," said Colonel K. B. Brown, as he sat in
the corridor of the What Cheer House, with his
heels higher than his head. "I want to protest
against a nuisance, I might almost say an out
rage, to which hundreds of restaurant patrons
are every day subjected. I refer to the practice
in vogue among restaurant waiters of giving,
unasked, a joint check to one of two or more
persons sitting at the same table.
"For instance, a customer enters, takes a seat
at one of the tables and gives his order. Pres
ently another person enters, takes a seat at the
same table, and gives his order. The two per
sons, we will suppose, are slightly acquainted;
recognize each other, and during the meal en
gage in conversation. When the meal is fin
ished the waiter comes forward, and having
noticed the exchange of words, looks directly
at one or the other, and with unwarranted pre
sumption, asks, 'One check?'
"If the person addressed has the weakness
which is born of politeness of a gentleman— a
quality which that particular waiter lacks—
will In all probability say -Ye 3,' take the
check and pay the bill, although having no
such intention when he sat down. If the cus
tomer is unprepared or does not feel like pay
ing for both, it is humiliating and awkward to
call for separate checks in answer to the wait
er-question. If either customer desires to pay
for both it is an easy matter to inform the
waiter of that fact by asking for one check or
by taking both checks to the cashier's desk.
"This criticism applies also where friends
enter the restaurant together, and likewise
parties composed of ladies and their several
escorts. Instances are, no doubt, numerous
where, in the latter case, gentlemen have been
placed in very embarrassing situations by
being presented with 'one check' for the entire
party by an unauthorized and presumptuous
waiter.
"As a frequent patron of restaurants, one
who sometimes either by accident or purposely
sits at the same table with a casual friend or
street acquaintance, though the Intimacy may
not be such that I want to pay his board or
have him pay mine, I emphatically protest
against this pernicious custom. I protest
against it whether the custom prevail to en
courage tae waiter's laziness, to display his
ignorance, to gratify his pleasure at seeing
others embarrassed or, it may be, to satisfy the
economic scruples of the restaurant proprietors
by saving the waiters' time and also the paper
upon which the checks are printed.
"In the interest of patrons, and incidentally
in the interests of the proprietors themselves, I
should strongly advise restaurant proprietors
to instruct their waiters to give a separate
check to each customer, making an exception
only where ladies enter in company with male
escorts or where an unsolicited request is made
for a joint cneck; and immediate dismissal
from service should be made the penalty for an
infraction of this rule. I speak earnestly on
this subject, by George! for I have been a re
cent sufferer, and it will be a long time before
my next pension day will come round."
Judge Seymour Thompson of St. Louis clev
erly captured a burglar who had entered his
room at the Buss last night. The fellow had
not noticed that the Judge was lying on a
lounge in the corner dozing, aud proceeded to
ransack the wardrobe. When the Judge woke
he saw the man's back and asked what he was
doing, but the burglar, without waiting to
explain, bolted out of the door. He did not
get far before the jurist had overtaken him,
knocked him down and collared him. This
seemed remarkable considering Judge Thomp
son's avoirdupois and the fact that the burglar
was an active, comparatively young man with
a good start. The Judge explained it by say
ing: "When I was a young man I was a mem
ber of the metropolitan police of Memphis and
so formed a habit of acting quickly in just
such emergencies. One instinctively makes a
rush without taking any time to consider,
while the average citizen would hesitate and
lose his opportunity."
PEOPLE TALKED ABOUT.
Alma-Tadema's "Glaucns and N'ydia" was sold
fox $1100 at a recent London sale, and air John
Mill-is' "Pippa" for $1200.
Signor Demetrio Alata, a telegraph operator
in Milan, claims to have invented a method of
transferring musical notation by wire.
Rev. J. T. Cole of Washington has been
elected general secretary of the American
Cnurch Missionary Society in place of Rev. W.
A. New bold.
The Turkish postal authorities seize and de
stroy photographs of Mr. Gladstone and Pro
fessor Bryce since the Armenian troubles be*
gan, on the ground that they are seditious lit
erature.
Premier place in the Queen's scholarship
(women) list for England and Wales was taken
this year by Miss Jessie Tomlinson of Stoke
Newington. There were 9000 candidates. For
several years the honor has gone to Liverpool.
The announcement is now made that the
famous Wagner museum of Herr Gesterlein
in Vienna, the disposal of which occasioned so
much controversy, has been purchased for $10,
--000 by the municipality of Leipsic, Wagner's
birthplace.
The widow of the famous Bohemian composer
Smetana intends to visit Vienna on the occasion
of the performance of his opera "The Secret,'
as she has never heard one of his operas in
German. She says that Smetana was absolutely
deaf when he wrote that opera and "The Kiss."
The statue to Emma Willard to be erected by
her old pupils on the grounds of the seminary
that bears her name in Troy will be unveiled
May 16. Work is to be begun this week on the
foundation. The sculptor has represented Mrs.
Willard as she was in 1821, when at the age of
34 years.
Rev. Samuel May of Leicester, Mass., one of
the few living veterans of the anti-slavery con
flict, who espoused the cause of the slave al
most at the outset of the contest, and who re
mained actively in the conflict to the end, cel
ebrated his eighty-fifth birthday anniversary
last week.
Rublnßtein left to his heirs, among other
things, two houses in St. Petersburg, valued at
340,000 rubles, but with a mortgage of 166,
--800 rubles on them. The artistic legacy of Ru
binstein includes 12 operas, 16 symphonies
and overtures, 18 pieces of chamber music, 35
pieces for piano alone, 196 songs, etc.
The grave of the beautiful Duchess of Lein
ster was laid with palm leaves, from which
rose & lining of arum lilies, mixed with aspar
agus fern, and round the edge like a huge oval
wreath were masses of violets and ferns. In
this bed of flowers now reposes England's
fairest woman, well named Hermione.
SPIRIT OF THE PRESS.
The golden trumpet which Grover Cleveland
blows is not the horn of plenty.— Fresno Re
publican. <_____
From present indications it would seem as
though Uncle Sam would have to point out to
England the existence of the Monroe doctrine.
—Santa Clara Journal. .
Fiestas and flower shows are all right, but the
broad valleys and eternal hills of California, as
nature adorns them at this season, surpass in
beauty all the works of human ingenuity.—
Fresno Republican. _
If counties were given the power to control
and regulate their internal affairs, the ques
tion of compensating county and township offi
cers would soon be settled to the satisfaction of
all concerned.— Dixon Tribune.
Smiling nature, the valley railroad and the
political revolution seem to have combined to
give California a brighter j year during 1895
than has been her lot for several years past.
Business is reviving, our mines never looked
so well as now, and these perfect spring days
inspire even the chronic growlers with life and
hope.— San Andreas Prospect.
. Just now all California Ib coming to the front
in making known to the rest of the world her
climate, soil and resources. Every town and
hamlet, from the metropolis at the Golden Gate
to the most insignificant mining camp or cross
roads town in the State, is doing something to
arrest public attention. San Francisco has set
the example and the rest of the State has
caught the boom fever.— OroviHe Register.
Never in the history of the State has there
been as much unity between the various com
munities as at present. There is also great
rivalry between different sections, a healthy
competition, which means that the people of
California are awake to their possibilities and
are prepared for the harvest which is sure to
follow. Now is the time for Lake County to do
something while the people are interested.—
Lakeport Bee. _____
The present year looks very favorable to be
one of great activity in this State, and one that
will greatly benefit the laboring masses, of
which California has her share. The building
of the valley railroad, the opening of new
mining properties in various parts of the State,
together with the good crops of grain and fruit
that are now assured, will all bare a tendency
to put the surplus labor to work and more
money in circulation.— Folsom Telegraph.
We hope the Republican National Committee
will select San Francisco as the place in which
to hold the next National Republican Conven
tion. The Democrats of this State should do
all they can to further the proposition, and
when the convention is held here to make
things as pleasant to the visitors as possible.
'Rah! for the National Republican Convention
to be held in can Francisco! San Francisco is
the best convention city in the United States.—
Vacaville Reporter.
An era of good roads is upon us. When will
it come? It will come with the return of pros
perity. The farmer who, for economy, must do
his own hauling demands it. The man who
breeds fine horses demands it. The man who
likes to drive a fast trotter demands it, and the
bicycler and the electric wagon and the gas
motor and the pedestrian and the health and
pleasure seeker and the capitalist who wishes
to invest in bonds, all demand it.— San Luis
Obispo Reasoner.
The gen aine opinion in this country is that
if England attempts to bombard Greytown or
land troops on Nicaraguan soil she will get her
self into a scrape with this country. England
•will hardly do anything that will cause her
trouble with the United States. She remembers
too well a couple of previous attempts to assert
herself In this country. She was then licked
upon both occasions, and if she makes a bad
break again she wall be wiped off the face of
the earth. We are not a country of unarmed,
inexperienced people, like England prefers to
fight.-Petaluma Courier.
SUPPOSED TO BE HUMOROUS.
Lucy 'single)— you think it is wicked to
smoke, dear?
Fanny (married)— No, dear; I'm sure it isn't.
Lucy— Why are you co sure ?
Fanny— Because my husband doesn't smoke;
and if it was wicked I'm sure be would do it.—
Spare Moment?.
If time wasn't money how could people take
it to pay visits?— Philadelphia Times.
An exchange asks what we would do with
Cuba if we had it. Why, tax it, of course.—
Dallas News.
As scon as a youth begins to fancy that he
knows it all he should be started off to school.—
Galveston News.
A teakettle can sing when it is merely filled
with water. But man, proud man, is no tea
kettle.—New York Observer.
Japan has agreed to civilize China. This
seems to be an infringement on England's pre
rogatives.—New York Journal.
An English Judge has recently defined gen
tleman as a term which "includes anybody
who has nothing to do and who is outside of
the workhouse." Tammany Times.
There is one point the woman voters have
not been able to make out yet— why it takes a
man from 6 o'clock in the morning till 11:30
at night to cast his ballot. But women are not
supposed to know everything. — Cleveland
Plaindealer.
This is the season of the year when the young
man who is going to graduate from college this
summer begins to wonder how many $5000 po
sitions will be offered to him tne first month
after he acquires his degree. He will know all
about it before August I.— Somerville Journal.
COMPETITIVE DRILLING
League of the Cross Cadets
Practicing for the
Contest.
Regular Army and Mllltla Officers
Will Review the Com
panies.
The League of the Cross Cadets are put
ting in some hard work these days in
preparation for the competitive drill at the
Mechanics' Pavilion on the evening of
May 3. There will also be a concert by
the Presidio band. Following the concert
there will be a review of ten full uniformed
companies. Colonel Sullivan and the staffs
of the First and Third regiments, N. G. C,
will officiate at the review.
There will be a saber drill by Company
A, an individual competitive drill and a
competitive drill by all the companies.
The cadets are very efficient in all the
movements and the keenest interest is
being taken by the different companies in
the competition. They present a hand
some appearance in their blue-black uni
forms. The result of their training ia
shown in their manly bearing.
The officers and soldiers of the Presidio
are expected to be present. In fact all the
military men of the city together with the
Boys' Brigade have been invited. From
the deep interest the friends and families
of the boys are taking in the exercises it is
certain that there will be a large gathering
at the competitive drill.
NEW ATTOEUEYS.
One Woman Among Seventeen Success
ful Legal Candidates.
The Supreme Court Commissioner-desig
nated to examine applicants for admission
to practice law in the courts of this State
have reported favorably on the following:
Francisco Ignacio de Lemos, John Chis
holm Crooks, Robert Martin Price, Miss
Luda V. Fulkerson, J. Richard Freud,
John Brown, Henry Newburgh, F. ' J.
Hambly, Michael Seleyson. Green Majors,
Herman T. Miller, W. A. Fine, Louis
O'Neal, Daniel A. McColgan, Carroll
Emerson, Archibald J. Treat and J. F.
Gawthorne, and the Supreme Court has
ordered them admitted to practice law in
all the courts of the State upon taking the
oath and signing the roll of attorneys.
The Commissioners were Belcher, Searls
and Vanclief. This was one of the first
orders made by the Supreme Court on its
return from Los Angeles.
State Horticultural Society.
President B. If. L*long has given notice that
a regular meeting of the State Horticultural So
ciety will he held at 220 Sutter street to-day at
1 o'clock. It is planned to have a general con
ference on the outlook for marketing California
fresh and dried fruits during the coming sea
son. Invitations to address the meeting have
been extended to the following gentlemen:
H. Weinstock of Sacramento, chairman of the
committee on transportation of the Fruit
Growers' Convention of 1894; B. F. Walton of
Yuba City, president California Fruit Union;
A. G. Freeman of San Francisco, manager of J.
K. Armsby & Co. Free discussion ot all points
advanced will be in order. Reports of local
fruit prospects are requested from all mem
bers.
Church Officers Elected.
St. Paul's Episcopal Church has elected the
following-named trustees and vestrymen for
the current ecclesiastical year: Rev. W. M.
Reilly, Joseph H. Wallace, Reuben Tucker, E.
P. Levey, Henry Euler Jr., Edward A. Sel
fridge, John I. Sabin, A. C. Rulofson and C. D.
« heat. A. C. Rulofson Jr. was elected clerk,
and tho following named were elected dele
gates to the forty-fifth annual convention of
the Episcopal Diocese of California, to be held
in Los Angeles on the 14th of next month:
John I. Sabin, Charles R. Hawthorne, A. 5?.
Hubbard, Henry Euler and F. C. Selfridge.
There are 6000 men employed on the
Lake Michigan-Mississippi River canal,
and it will be finished in 1596.
THE BALL TO COME DOWN
Mr. Sutro Wants Uncle Sam
to Pay Rent for Tele
graph Hill.
The Government TooßPoor to Pay
for Operating a Time
Signal.
The time ball on the top of Telegraph
Hill, which has been going up and down
for the last ten years, will come down for
good unless the Government pays the rent
inside of thirty days.
The property is owned by Gustav Sutro,
and for the ten years for which the ball
has been operated for Uncle Sam it has
been going up and down at Mr. Sutro's
expense. Now, the proprietor of the hill
wants to know why Uncle Sam cannot pay
for the location of the ball, and so he
asked the branch hydrographer's office
some time ago.
The result of the query was a corre
spondence between Lieutenant Fechteler
and the department in Washington, but
very little satisfaction was derived from
Captain Big-bee, the hydrographer. That
gentleman said the department was not in
a position to pay tent and called attention
to the fact that rent was not paid in any
other city in the Union, in Savannah,
Georgia, he said, the cotton exchanges
gave the department all the necessary con
veniences. In Chicago the Masonic Tem
ple has erected a ball at its own expense at
_ cost of |1400 and in Cleveland the city
put up a ball also at an expense of from
$400 to $500.
Captain Bigsbee also called attention to
the fact that the ball was not established
for the benefit of the Government, but for
tLat of the community, and hinted that if
any rent was to be paid, the beneficiary
might find it consistent to foot the bills.
Mr. Sutro fails to see where he is bene
fited, and thinks that he should be as
sisted in paying taxes and other incidental
expenses for maintaining the house on
Telegraph Hill. He argues that in view
of having supplied the Government with
a station for the past ten years, tho
Government should now pay him a rental
of $30 a month, and yesterday he gave no
tice to Lieutenant Fechteler that if the
rent were not forthcoming in thirty days,
the ball would have to slide up and down
some other poll than tnat on Telegraph
Hill. Unless the city comes to the assist
ance of the United "States, the ball will
have to come down, for no appropriation,
has been made for such an emergency a*.
! paying rent. The ball is mostly beneficial*
j to "ship captains in port for rating their
i chronometers.
_______________________
A "New Street-Car Guard.
Among the many suggestions which havo
been . '.milted to the street-car companies for
a guard attachment, is one invented audi
patented by John Craig, a local carriage
maker. The inventrsn consists of a fr&mo
made fast to the axles ofthe car. but which ia
so arranged as to be rigid, i. c. not working up
and down with the motion of the car. There
is, besides, a flexible or hinged Joint, which
permits the guard to be placed in a very low
position, and which also allows for obstruc
tions, moving up and down hills, etc. The in
ventor claims that it is not necessary to con
struct a new frame for each car. All that is
needed is to attach the flexible joint to the front
board of the present arrangement.
Bacon Printing Company, 503 Clay street •
•— — •
Vermont maple sugar, 15c lb, Townsend's.*
» o -
In Eastern Bengal a will cannot be made
in favor of a man. and the property only
descends through the women.
— «• — »
We guarantee our ports and sherries to be
pure. Mohns «_ Kaltenbach, 29 Market street.*
_ — —
Genuine eye-glasses, 15c. 81 1 . Fourth, nr. bar
ber. Sunday--- 736 Market, Kast's shoes tore. *
— ♦ -
Down to the Norman Conquest the
Britons had "living money" and "dead
money," the former being slaves and cattle,
the latter metal.
Hood's Sarsaparilla Is the best medicine to tats
in the spring. Every one needs to take a blood
purifier now. Get Hood's, for Hood's Sa^-pariila
is the only true blood purifier.
"Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup"
Has been used over fifty years by millions of moth.
ers for their children while Teething with perfect
success. It soothes the child, softens the gums, al
lays Pain, cores Wind Colic, regulates the Bowels
and Is the best remedy for Diarrhoeas, whether
arising from teething or other causes. For sale by
Druggists in every part of the world, Be sure and
ask for Airs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup. 25. a
bottle.
The chimney-tops of the big Williams
burg sugar refineries in New York are?
favorite warming-places for the many sea
gulls which loiter around that neighbor
hood during cold weather.
TEAS,
COFFEES,
SPICES.
BEST QUALITY. LOWEST PRICFS.
T FAS - - 20. 25. SO, 35. 40 and 50 cents pr _*3_|
CO FFEES 15, 20, -5,30.3. and .0 cats pr put
A Guaranteed Saving of -3 Cents on
Each Dollar Purchase You Make at
Great American Importing Tea Co.'s
STOI-ISS.
.JSP No peddler. _>o solicitors' profits to pay*
Goods delivered free.
A BEAUTIFUL PRESENT CITES FREE TO
EACH PURCHASER.
52 Market Street 1
140 Sixth Street
1419 Polk Street
_•__ Montgomery Aye.
2003 Fillmore Street
3006 Sixteenth Street
&52_3l££ } San Francisco
333 Haves Street
218 Third Street
104 Second Street
146 Ninth Street
2510 Mission Street
3259 Mission Street
917 Broadway . _ , i .
131 San Paolo Avenue V n__lKl___nLf
616 E. Twelfth Street ) - x,a, - u
Park Street and Ala- 1 gm nrf a
meda Avenue ■ nlallluUa
■
■————_——__—_——__—______—___—___—____—___—_—_—■—
1000
NOTE HEADS,
$2.00.
SEND FOR SAMPLES.
PACIFIC PRINTING CO.,
543 Clay Street, S. F.