The San Francisco call. [volume], September 18, 1897, Page 6, Image 6

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

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ist Ist i!L&ll
SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 18, 1807"
_. , *
JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Proprietor.
Address All Communications to W. S. LEAKE, Manager.
PUBLICATION OFFICE 710 Mirket street, San Francisco
Telephona Main 1864.
EDITORIAL RCO.MS 517 Clay street
Telephone Main 1574.
. THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL (DAILY AND SUNDAY) is served by
carriers In th's city and surrounding towns for 15 cents a week.
By mail $6 per year; per month 63 cents.
THE WEEKLY CALL One yeir. by mail, $1.50
OAKLAND OFFICE 9 03 Broadway !
NEW YORK OFFICE Rooms 31 and 32, 3*l Park Row.
BRANCH OFFICES— S27 Montgomery street, corner Clay; open until
9:30 o'clock. 339 Hayes street; open until 9:30 o'clock. 615 j
Larkin street; opsn until 0:30 o'clock. BW. corner Sixteenth and
Mission street*!; open until 9 o'clock. 2518 Mission street; open i
until 9 o'clock. 12-3 Mission street; open until 9 o'clock. 1505
Polk street; open until 9:30 o'clock. NW. corner Twenty-second
sxad Kentucky streets; open till 9 ..'clock.
A CORRUPT ADVISER.
A NEWSPAPER has come to snstain a powerful and
a proper relation to affairs social and mental. A
paper that is conducted without greed to satisfy or grudge
to fatten, that tells the truth and totes fair, is an important
element in the good government of a city.
The expulsion of the Board of Supervisors has furnished
an object lesson that is made plain without the use of a cir
cus poster.
The members of the expelled board were counsuled by the
Examiner to commit the act which caused the loss of their
office, and then with a cheek compared to which brass is a
liquid the same paper attacked them in their misfortune and
while under the lash of punishment for following its advice.
The unfortunate men themselves and the public may learn
some valuable lessons as to the pretense of absentee and fake
journalism to a wholesome influence in public affairs.
If the expelled board were corrupt in not fixing water rates
within the legal time limit, its corruption was advised by the
Examiner. What was the motive of the local representative of
the absentee journalist, who prefers to roll the moral wators of
New York and make the air reek with the stench of new jour
nalism rather than come here like a man and face tht conse
quences of the crimes against truth and decency committed in
his name? Was there a negotiation on in February between
the absentee and the Spring Valley Water Company that could
be brought to a head by delay in the Board of Supervisors; and,
after all, did the swag miscarry? Was the Examiner faking a
howl to excite pubic opinion against Spring Valley, increase
the risk, and therefore the price of being officially friendly to
it, and finally missed its share of the profits of a market which
it had bulled so vigorously ?
No: hing is so dear to the absentee journalist as the control
of supervisors and legislators. He has taken the public into
his confidence in the claim that the Governor is a chattel of the
Examiner, and the person in charge of that paper acted upon
that idea in the conference over the new board only to find that
his master was mistaken — that he holds no mortgage on the
Governor nor on the new Board of Supervisors. They are all
free men, honest men. conscious of their responsibility to the
people for good government, and this is why tha absentee is
enacting the difficult role of tooting his horn and at the same
time gnawing a file.
The letter-carriers who have b*en in San Francisco gave the
impression of being men as able to take care of themselves as of
a mailsack. When an overland train refused to stop longenough
to permit them to eat they simply stopped the train and kept
it waiting until the last appetite had been sated ani the tables
were bare. Once in awhile a train hold-up seems to be justi
fiable.
Fordoing exactly that which the Examiner had urged them
to do the late Supervisors experienced the pang of being
bounced. Naturally anybody accepting counsel from such a
source could deserve nothing less, yet, the good taste of the
giver of counsel in lampooning those who had been foolish
enough to heed it may be questioned.
When a firm of lawyers can guarantee immunity to trans
gressors of a certain law there is something wrong. Perhaps it
is the lawyers; possibly the law itself. But in either case the
matter is worth investigation.
It is hard to induce an editor to accept cffiee. Naturally he
prefers to be in a position to direct and counsel the gentleman
who may choose to accept.
Mr. Hearst's friend* ought to notify him that his San Fran
cisco sheet is making an indecent exoosnre of itself.
NO PATRONAGE INVOLVED.
SOME of our contemporaries have treated the appointment
of the new Board of Supervisors as if it were merely a polit
ical move designed to bring about a redistribution of official
patronage. This view is not justified by anything in the situa
tion or in the events that led up to it. There is no question oj
patronage involved in the itsuc, and the Supervisors fully
understand the fact.
It would be a blunder of the rankest kind on the part of the
new officials to set about ousting the present employes of the
city government for the purpose of replacing them with others.
Such a policy would at once weaken public confidence in the
new board and go far tow; depriving them of that popular
support which is now so cordially given them by the great mass
of citizens.
The board will be required of course to exercise a careful
supervision over the work of ail city employe?, and if any of
them be found unworthy by reason either of negligence, incom
petence or dishonest practices it will be the amy of the board
to remove them and entrust the work to better hand?. That
much is essential to good government, but the new Supervisors
can be counted on to fulfill the expectations of the public and
the assurances of their friends by abstaining from anything like
removals from cffiee solely for the sake of distributing patron
see among their political supporters.
In one phase or another the emergency affects very materi
ally every interest of the city. Unless care is taken there may
result a confusion in our municipal .-.flairs that will seriously
interfere with effective administration. No one con be more iuily
aware of this fact than the new officials. They hive been
appointed to guatd the welfare of the city, and were selected
because their known integrity and public spirit cave assurance
that they would fulfil] the duty with an intelligent fidelity that
would secure the common interests of all. •"
Such being the condition of affairs questions of patronage
might as well be dismissed from the public mind. The new
Supervisors have more important things to attend to than that
of distributing offices. They will have neither the inclination
nor ihe time to engage in such petty politics when so many
problems of great moment to the municipality are to be studied
and solved.
The n?w board is one that can be counted on. The men
who compose it era well known to all citizens who have
watched the course of public affairs, and the character of each
has been so fully attested by past services rendered to the
community as to confirm public confidence in the expectations
of good service now. We are to have no unseemly scrambling
for patronage, but a well-ordered and efficient administration
of the city. It is safe to prophesy because the men are known.
A yellow journalist afraid to appear in San Francisco, rep
resented here by a person of similar hue, who would also be
absent if endowed with the quality of mind that can give rise
to the emotion of shame, really bas not much claim to consid-
eration in bis efforts to snaps the destiny of the city. True, he
is doing something for it by remaining away, but against this
is tho fact that he sustains a disreputable gang here to do as
much barm, perhaps as he could do himself.
THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER IS, 1897.
A MORAL PAPER.
YELLOW absentee journalism, as exemplified in the career
of the San Francisco Examiner, achieved a distinct
triumph yesterday. Had the slums been searched for a
! subject and the yellow kodak brought to bear upon the tender
loin of Cripple Creek nothing could have been produced ex
celling in genuine immorality and filth the "scoop" of the
saffron journal from Dawson. Its red-nosed poet, reveling in
the foul atmosphere of a Yukon dance hall and detailing his
experiences to an audience of respectable American people was
an achievement upon which the absentee proprietor of the
Examin.'r should be congratulated.
It is difficult to treat of such a subject in a decent news
paper. To do so is to advertise things over which the veil of
secrecy should, in the interest of respectable people, be drawn.
The scruples which prevented tlie exposure of the orgies of
Sausalito, which keep in the dark the frightful immoralities of
the pur ieus of ev*ry great city, and which impel decent people
to shun vice and crime whenever it thrusts its hideous head in
j view, rush in here to intercept reference to this triumph of
j yellow journalism.
Yet, what U a decent newspaper to do ? Joaquin Miller's
letter from Dawson, published in the Examiner, is the vilest
exhibition of colored journalism ever seen in a civilized com
munity. Is it to be allowed to pass unheeded ? Must this
whisky-drinking poet and his absentee employer be permitted
with impuniy to write up Dawson dance halls and the holy
Catholic church in the same paragraph, and garnish both
with a picture which would disgrace the Police Cattle? We
ask ourselves these questions because in this article we are
calling attention to a publication which should bring the blush
of shame to the face of every decent man in San Francisco.
Colored journalism has been thought equal '.o almost any
thing. Not long ago it gave two pa^es to the murder of a
miserable creature of the tenderloin, who was strangled to
death in her den. But no on; ever dreamed that it would send
red-nosed poets to the Yukon to write up the painted harri
dans of Dawson, and artists to depict them drinking cham
pagne at "$35 a quart." This is rather too much for re
spectable human nature. But what is to be done about it?
Will calling the attention of decent people to the fact that this
paper is taken into their families and read by their wives and
children have the effect of putting a stop to the spread of the
immoral sheet?
We cannot answer these qvestions. Unless we are mis
taken, however, it is time that a committee of safety was or
ganized to fumigate the Examiner. If this is not done pretty
soon the city itself will need fumigating.
The young woman who is aggrieved because she paid fare
for passage to the Klondike in a ship that never sailed of courss
wants her money back. Yet with her indignation should be
mingled a savor of gratitude. Had she gone as she wished she
could not have got the money back, and probably could not
have got back herself.
By being made the target of an assassin President Diaz of
Mexico steps up to the distinguished but somewhat precarious
plane of other rulers. The world is progressing so rapidly that
a man who occup'es a national executive position indicates
thereby a willingness to become a poor insurance risk.
Accusing the Examiner of a bad memory is cruelty to ani
mals. Even the lowest of created things is entitled to some
consideration. And the way an Examiner memory would suffer
if it were not for the privilege; of going into a trance.
A POLITICAL CHINESE DRAGON.
FOLLOWING the lead of the Sacramento Bee, the Record. '
Union of the same city makes a vehement attack upon th"
proposal of The Call that Equalizers should be elected, by
| the State at large instead of by equalization diuricts; and
i having no new objection of its own to advance, elaborates and
emphas zes the charge of the Bee that the proposed amendment
would result in giving San Francisco control of the entire board,
leaving the rest of the State without any protection whatever
Irom excessive taxation.
This charge the Bee was wise enough to slate without
argument, but the Record-Union foolish y spreads it out at such
length that even the most casual and indifferent reader can
perceive the folly of it. Under the proposed amendment, says
the garrulous objector, "The mining interest is to have no rep
resentation on the State Board of Equalization. The agricul
tural interest is to be equally ignored. Fruit-growing and
stock-raising are to have no voice. The concentrated and con
solidated vote of San Francisco is to be brought to bear as the
balance of power, and no man is to be permitted to exercise any
of the authority vouchsafed to the State Board of Equalization
unless he is wholly satisfactory to San Francisco."
Here is a political Chinese dragon made to order and
painted monstrously red and lurid to affright fools, if any fools
there be in Sacramento. "Tut concentrated and consolidated
vote of San Francisco" Is the phrase of a madman or a lunatic.
When was the vote of San Francisco ever concentrated and
consolidated?
In the last Presidential election the vote of San Francisco
was so equally divided that a change of less than 100 ballots
would have given the vote of the city to Bryan instead of Mc-
Kinley. The division was almost equally clo«e in the last
gubernatorial contest. All records show that the vote of this
city, so lar from I eng consolidated, is as fluid and unstable as
the seas. It is more changeable than that of the State at large,
and the vote of Alpine is more likely to counterbalance div.
sions in the We of San Francisco than is that of the city to
hold the balance of power in the State.
As if with the set purpose of exposing the hollowness of its
bugaboo, the Record-Union drags out the length of its dragon
: argument to a point where the joints are stretched to break
ing and the emptiness revealed. It says: "Nothing is more
dangerous to republican institutions than the influence of a
consolidated vote. A popular election of President of the
Us] ed States would turn over the choice to the 200,000 fquare
miles which comprises the manufacturing interests of this
country."
Can there bo any completer exposure of the futility of the
consolidated vote argument than is contained in that state
ment as it stands? When did the people of the territory
comprising the manufacturing interests of this country ever
Cist a consolidated vote? . They have not done so in any Presi
dential elec ion since the nation began its career. Even in
1860, when sectional lines were drawn with an intensity that
led to civil war, there was no consolidated vote in any State
either in the North or in the South. The Northern vote was
divided among Lincoln, Douglas and Bell; the Southern vote
among Breckinridge, Douglas and Bell. As matter of fact,
there has never been a consolidated vote in any American com
munity, large or small.
-San Francisco has never. cast a consolidated vote and her
people never will while party spirit and differences of opinion
exist among men. An attempt to frighten the intelligent vot
ers of the interior by a charge of that kind is as foolish as an
attempt to scare them from the street by trailing a Chinese
dragon through the town. ■ .... .:•■.■ „."..
The equalization of taxes is not a local issue, but a State
| issue. It should bs left not to local representatives, but to
representatives of tha whole State. Each Equalizer has equal
power with his colleagues over the taxation of every citizen,
and therefore every taxpayer should have a vole for or against
each candidate tor that office. The movement to that end is
not for the special interests of San Francisco, bat for justice
to all. It is right, and by the intelligence of the people it
will prevail.
If some of the ex-Supervisors would tell frankly why
Hearst's paper loved them once, and why the love grew cold,
it would moke reading more interesting than that sheet is in
the habit of printing.
The sins of Harry Westwood Cooper are said to be finding
him out, but if Cooper were to be interviewed at his cell door
concerning the matter be would probably opine Regretfully
tbat the sins were finding him in.
PERSONAL.
L. Walker of Ventura is at the Cosmopolitan.
J. Danny, a merchant of Etna, is at tne
Grand. "ffißßflß
T. J. Field, a banker of Monterey, is at the
Palace.
State Senator C. C. Royce of Chlco Is at the
California.
State Senator J. M. G.llett of Eureka is at
the Grand.
11. E. Pickett, a mine-owner of Piacervilie,
is at the Lick.
J. F. Smith and wife of Brentwood are al the
Cosmopolitan.
J. W. Linscott, the educator from Santa Cruz,
is at the Grand.
State Senator Thomas Flint Jr. of San Juan
is at the Grand.
E. F. Grillin, a car-builder of Detroit, Mich.,
is at the Palace.
J. B. Wilis, a Chicago hardware-dealer, is a
guest at the Grand.
Dr. Franklin j. Tower of Milwaukee, Wis.,
is at the Occidental.
I homas C. Carson, a lawyer of Pittsburg,
Pa., b at th* Palace.
Dr. A. H. Mcrarlane of Silver City, Idaho, is
a guest at the Grand.
E. J. Lowrey, a Fresno insurance man, is
registered at the Grand.
Dr. E. A. Tripp of Salt Lake Is at the Palace
accompanied by his wife.
John W. Howell, the Merced banker, is
among the guests at the Lick.
Warden W. E. Hale of the State prison at San
Quentin Is registered at the Palace.
R. P. Niles, a merchant of Los Angeles, is
among the late arriva s at the Palace.
, A. I'ugh, a mining man of West Point, Cala
veras County, Cal., is at tho Cosmopolitan.
E. T. Albert, superintendent of the Sierra J
Railroad of Oakdtle* Is at the Cosmopolitan.
Professor Nathan Abbott, head of the law !
department of Stanford, is at the California.
| J. F. Colley, a merchant from Nevada City,
is at the Lick, accompanied by his wife and
child.
G. F. Trenwith, proprietor of a large dry- >
good store at Santa PuiDara, is a guest at the I
j Gr.md.
J. S. Schweizer of New York, dealer there '
in chamois skins and sponges, is at the
Grand.
G. J. McCarthy, a mining man of Mexico, I
arrived at the Palace last night directly from i
London.
A. J. Webster of the Kern County Land Com- '
pany cf Bakersfield is at the Lick, accom
panied by his wife.
P. Ruh'man of the New York fruit buying
and shtppin? firm of P. Ruhlman & Son, is at i
the Gratia, accompanied by his family.
J. H. Morris, ticket agent of the Burlington
route at Kansas City, is here.'accompanied by
his wile. Ha is making a tour of the coast
Stales.
Professor Oliver Peebles Jenkins, head of the i
department of physiology at Stanford, is at '
the Palace. He is also a lecturer at Cooper i
Medical College.
Lewis H. smith, the bright City Attorney of
Fresno, who was graduated from Stanford I
university two years ago. arrived iv tho city
yesterday for a few days' visit.
Arthur W. Stanford, an Ep'scopal mission- ',
ary for the last four years at Kioto, Japan ar- >
rived at the Occidental last night from the ,
East. He i.i accompanied by his wife, and will I
siil in the Gaelic soon tor the Orient.
H.E. Huntington, director of the Southern
TO-MORROW'S
"CALL"
WILL CONTAIN
The Story of a ary Who Floated
' DoWh the Yukon ir. ar\ Operv Boat
With the Body of a Suicide.
Street Beggars and Jheir Wiles Studied and fortravjed.
Jhe peculiar Drugs With Which Local Chinese Doctors
Effect to Cure j\\ Ills.
An Amateur fJurse VieWs a Capita! Operation at the
Hospital.
These are a feW among many articles, noVel, interesting,
With Which the SUNDAY GALL Will be filled.
Pacific .and agent on this coast for President
C. P. Huntington; J. Kruttschuitt, general
manager of the company ; W. F. Herrin. chief
counsel of the law department of the com
pany, and William G. Curtis, the compauy's
engineer of the maintenanca of way, consti
tuting a party malting an examination ot the
Sonora Railroad from Noga'.e*. 10 Guaymas, in
Mcx co, have started on their way back to
this city, and will arrive here on Monday.
William W. Leeper, a merchant of New York
City, arrived at the Lick last night directly
from the East. He will remain here several
weeks. Speaking of Greater New York's ap
proaching election he9aidSeth Low, president
of Columbia College and representative of the
city's best people, will probably finally be in
dorsed also by the organized Republicans,
though it will be a bitter pill to them to be
practically dictated to by the Citizens' Reform
parly in order to defeat powerful and corrupt
Tammany.
CALIFORMANS IN NEW YORK'
NEW YORK, N. V., Sepr. 17.— At the Plaza—
C. D. Bradley; Warwick— A. F. En Stuart—
T. J. Kslly; Sturtevant— R. N. Mason; Im
perial—E. C. Gidfiey; Park Avenue— J. H.
Smith; St. Denis— Dr. and Mrs. A. H. Ticket.
CALIFORNIANS IN WASHINGTON.
WASHINGTON, D. a, Sept. 17.— E. J. Wolfe
of Sau Francisco is at the Ebbitt House. L G.
Holmes of Los Angeles is at the Raleigh.
MAUD MILLER.
Maud Miller ln the summer beat,
Kaked the meadow thick with wheat.
The Judge rode slowly down the lane,
biuoo.btng the norse's chestnut mane,
'•With wheat nt a do'.lar per," said he,
"This maid la about the sire for me."
Then he smiled at ncr md she olushed at htm,
And over the meadow fence he dim.
"Will you marry me. swe-t maid," he said,
And sh* told ui'ru yes, and they were wed.
Alas for maiden ! alas for Ju lge |
For o.d designer and wheat fi**ld drudge.
Lord pit ' them both and pity us all,
F.r Aiand unln't own me wheal at ad.
And the Judge remarket when he learned the
cheat.
"Don't :a.K to me about dollar wheat !' *
• - .-•- W. J. L.. In .New York Sun.
THE NICARACUAN CANAL PLOT.
Detroit i'r.'t- Press.
The half has not been told about the Kicara
gnan canal plot. Once having secured control
of the great waterway it was Japan's purpose
to sneak tbe island of Cuba through the canal
some foggy night and get it into Japanese
waters teiore the United Slates would have
time to suspect what was up. ,
UP IN MUNICIPAL LAW.
Sonora Banner.
We understand it will not be long until Don
Pedro will be incorporated according to John
Twisg's reports. ■■■• • - •
JHE L^PQESJ DVN/IMO \fi JjHE WO^LD.
The largest dynamo m the world in point of mere size is soon to be Installed in the new
station of the Brooklyn Edison Illuminating Company, says the .New "iork Herald. JtJ™
stand sixty feet in height from crown to base and will produce electricity at a higher pressure
or voltage than any other generator now in existence. __-_-_, ci__m_
The new dynamo, which » now almost completed at the works of the General t. ..ectric
Company at Schenectady, is only the firstoi several of similar size which are to be constructed
Its capacity may be judged from the fact that its output of current would be sufficten ; to keep
18,000 incandescent lamps burning at the same time. The pressure of the ?!«iri ££_••_
leaves the dynamos will be 0000 volts, or three times that 01 the great generators at Niagara
.^Nearly every one is now aware that a dynamo consist* of o ,l^.\^"^% B^' r
ture and the i eld magnets. The armature is made up of coils of Iron su rrov .tided by^ other
colls of insulated copper wire. When a loop of cooper wire is moved near a mat.net an eiectri
cal current is set up in il. When a current 01 electricity Is passed around a piece 01 iron it
BIGGEST DYNAMO YET CONSTRUCTED.
It is sixty feet from base to crown and will produce electricity of higher voltage than any
other generator now in existence.
becomes a magnet for the time being. In ordinary dynamos the armature is revolved on a
►pindie, while the field magnets are fixed. Sometimes the armature is ring-shaped and made
to revolve around the field magnets in the center, hut as the essential thing is that the field
magnets and tne armature should Le constantly changing their positions with respect to one
another, it is possible to make me armature fixed and cause the field magnets to revolve.
This is what has been done in the case of the Brooklyn dynamo. On the rim of a big fly
wheel, fifty feet In diameter, are p aced forty magnetic poles, each pole being rectangular in
shape aud wound with insulated cooper wire like a bobbin. Of course these poles are firmly
bolted to the rim of the llv-wneel. O.i the inner surface of the big guard, which completely
surrounds th" rim of this fly-wheel is placed the armature in forty triple segments, and these
are also also firmly bolted to their frame. To make the iron masses in the poles magnetic it is
necessary that they should have some of the current derived from the armature constantly
passing tnrough their coils. This is furnished ty copper conductors, which touch copper
rings on the axle of the moving fly-wheel, whence the current is distributed by insulated
wires to each of the forty poles. Is9__
THE GODDESS GRINS.
New York Mm.
There is pence in Warrensburg, Mo., at last,
and the Goddess of Liberty on the stall' of the
new Courthouse there shows a sweet smile as
the tender eye-dawn of aurorcan love. The
ball on the naff, which the goddess amuses
herself by holding, used to bo "a rich golden
color," to the delight of the -publicans and
the sorrow and wrath of the Democrats. The
Republicans fleered and jeereu or til the Dem
ocrats couldn't stand it any longer. The
member* of the County Court "are all Demo
crats, a.id secret orders were (riven to supplant
the go. den ball with .one of ►liver." The or
ders were obeyed. The unhai owed badge of
the money power was removed, and now the
end of tne staff glistens with a bail of silver.
The goddess grins radiantly. The Warrens
burg Democrats sleep in peace, knowing that
the people's metai is enthroned on the new
Courthouse.
H. B. M.'S AMERICAN SQUADRON.
London Dally News.
Although the admiralty have during the
past months made considerable changes in
the constitution of the various squadrons em
ployed on toreign stations, on no station has
the strength been so greatly increased as in
North America and the West Indies. Each
ship relieved in those water*] has been re
placed by one of greater tonnage; with the
exception of the cruiser Cotdelia, all are of
modern type, and now for the first time since
the formation of a North American squadrcn
the flat-ship will be a battleship Instead of, as
heretofore a cruiser. There are at the present
time no fewer than seven vessels in com-
HE SHOULDN'T BEAT AEOUT THE EUSH. j
(
Tulare .Register. <
Now that the Bryan pass question nas been started by The Call the Eastern *
papers have been looking up the matter, and, just as we predicted, it has been <
found that he habitually rides on passes, carries annuals from all the roads In <
his pocket and beats around the Interstate commerce law by having the patses «
charged to the account of the Omaha World-Herald, in which he Is a mere stock- *
holder, unmindful of the fact that annual passes are not given in exchange for '
advertising, for the good reason that, with an annual, there is no knowing how ,
many miles have been traveled and how much advertising it would take to cover. <
The whole advertising proposition is, as we have said, only a dodge to evade tho '
interstate commerce law, and tryan rides on passes through force of habit. We '
do not know that we think any the less of him on that account, for it is the custom !
of the country that those who can best afford to pay their fares do not do so. Our i
only objection to him is that he does not come out and acknowledge the fact '
instead of beating round the bush and making pretense of payment in advertising' '
when no payment is expected, and in . most cases no advertising done. The pass '
system should be utterly and absolutely abolished. [
mission at the home ports preparing ior
permanent service on that stat.on, viz., tho
battle-ship Renown (the future flagship of
Vice- Admiral Sir John A. Fisher. K. C. B.)\ the
turret-ship Hotspur, tne gunboats Medwav
and Medina, the torpedo-boat destroyers Quail
and Sparrow-hawk, and the *p<ciai service ves
sel Columbine, representing ro.lectively « dis
placement of 17,046 tons. With this strength
ening of th*; squadron it has been found nec
essary to moaernize and otherwise improve
the admiralty property at the depots. At Ber
muda a largo dock is to be constructed, the
admiralty house 1 . beinz repaired at a cost of
£1000, the breakwater is bsiug improved at a
cost ot £6000. the harbor is being dredged at a
cost oi £7000. a hospital building is being
erected at an estimated expenditure of £4500
and a gun-mounting store will cost £3000
At Jamaica £19,000 is being spent in improv- j
ing the water supply, and the staff at Bermuda
dockyard is being greatly strengthened.
NOT YET SHAKESPEAREAN.
The King of Slam is not as yet a Shakespear
ean scholar. On the recent occasion of his
visit to Denmark he accompanied the Crown
Prince Frederick to Hclslngfors and was duly
conducted *» the grave of Hamlet, Prince ci
Dinmark. Here he took off his hat and stood
fur a moment in reverential snenc*. Then,
turning to the Crown Prince, he said, with
deep. sympathy, "A relation ot your royal
Highness, I presume. Has be been long
dead 1" -..:.. ,' -
GALLIC- PAN-SLAVIC FRIENDSHIP
It Is not very surprising that the government
of the most despotic empire has entered into
an alliance with a republic as such a course
was distated by political reasons, but there is
much cause for astonishment that the people
of France and Russia, which represent widely
different and even antagonistic principles,
should profess the sincerest friendship for each
other. ... .
It will be remembered that up to the assassi
nation of Czar Alexander II the two nations
were at bitter enmity because Russia blamed
France for her defeat in the Crimean war,
while France would not forgive Russia for pre
venting Austria fr. m interfering in the war
of 187U71. The press of both countries did
all it could to foment the ill feeling and hurled
the most abusive invectives against each
other. All this was suddenly changed by a
very unique and interesting episode, which,
though very unimportant in itself, happened
to lead to f-ir-reaching consequences.
General Skobeioff, a young Russian soldier of
great ability and dsh, who had repeatedly
won distinction in the field, happened to bo in
Pari* on a private sit in January, 1882. The
rirst Independent command held by Skobe.off
was in the second battle of Plevna, where he
distinguished himself in such a manner that
Alexander made him general of infantry and
aid to bis person. While in Paris the French
officers gave a banquet in Skobeloff's honor at
which he proposed a toast to [ France. In this
toast he abused the Bismarckian policy, advo
cating at the same time an alliance of France
and Russia for the purpose of humiliating
Germany. This toast did not excite much
comment as Skobiloff was considerably under
the influence of champagne at the time. It
was very different, however, when this toast
was followed up by several others of the same
order wnich Skobeioff proposed to the officers
at Kew and Moscow on his return from Paris.
The Cabinet of Berlin took the mutter very
seriously and remonstrated so energetically
at St. Petersburg that Skobeioff was at once re
moved from his command and ordered to re
tiro to his estates, where he died a few months
afterward.
The seed sown by Skobeioff seems to have
fallen on a fruitful soil, which had been partly
prepared by Ignatieff, another Russian gen
eral and statesman. Ignatieff had acquired
world-wide notoriety in 187G by exciting the
people of Herzegovina nnd Bulgaria to revolt
against the Sultan: This revolt furnished
Russia with a pretense for interfering, the
outcome of which was the last Russo-Turklsh
war. On May 1, 1881, Ignatieff was appointed
Minister of the Interior in place of Prince
Loris Mellkoff. He was removed a year later,
as he had compromised himself and Russia
by his Pan-S'tavistic agitations and bf his toler
ation of Jew-baiting. Tnis was the end of his
public career, but his agitations have had an
effect on the Slavic race, not only in Russia
but also in those parts of Austria which are
peopled by S.avs (Czechs and Slovacs). The
entire race was now opposed to the Germanic
predominance in Europe and made overtures
to Franco, which country was ouly too ready
to take advantage of this newly developed
sentiment. The entire French press, with the
exception of the radical and socialistic papers,
commenced to foster and cement the friend
ship with Russia, and their efforts are at last
crowned with success, as is made evident
by the now concluded alliance. '
Little things have often (riven an impetus to
important political changes, and it is very
probable that the famous toasts of General
Skobeioff have more than anything else con
tributed to bring the two nations together. At
all events they must be considered the start
ing point of the sudden change of feeling.
A SANITARY MAUSOLEUM.
The Board of Hraith of Njw York has ap
proved the plans of a new mausoleum com
pany and the latter wilt establish a sanitary
mausoleum near High Bridge, with a capacity
of from 10.000 to 12,000 bodies. The idea Is
to seal up the dead in cement receptacles,
after exposing the bodies ior several months
to a current of air mode chemically pure by
nassing it over sulphuric acid and afterward
y * i e - ,_" hen the body is thoroughly desic
cated the receptacle is to be made airtight.
The sanitary authorities are reported to be
well pleased with ihe proposed scheme, which
avoids so many of the objectionable leatures of
earth burial. It ,a proposed to erect a build
ing , 2 '_. feet long, 75 feet deep and three
stories high. The receptacle will be lormed of
concrete, ionr inches thick and jointlesa, in
size a little larger than an ordinary coffin.
THE IHREE BEST BOOKS.
Ol.ver Wendell Holmes said to a young man
who asked him to name the three best books*
"Iheßib.e, -aakespeare, and a good diction
ary.
MEN AND WOMEN.
,
White ribboners recently gathered In larga .
numbers at North ; Danville, Vt., and planted 1
a tree in honor of Mrs. Willaid. mother -M-A
Miss - Frances Willard, upon the site of her \
birthplace. •
A story is told ot the late Baron Hlrsch that
conveys a valuable lesson. After writing a
message announcing the gift of a fortune to a
school, the great millionaire went over the
telegram carefully a second time, condensing
it so as to save a franc.
A monument to the memory of Niels Wil
helm Gale, the famous Danish composer, has
been erected on the St. Anne's Find, 'open.
hagen. Gade died seven, years ago. lie was
i born ill Copenhagen, and was for many yean
first director of the Royal Conservatory.
Mrs. Hitty Smith and Mrs. Deborah Hall ol
Barnstable, Mass., probably the oldest twin
sisters in the country, celebrated the ninety
second anniversary of their birth Inst weci,
They enjoy excellent health, and, it is said,
look as hale as many people twenty years
younger. ■ ■
The Governor-General of Algeria has given
the charge of a medical mission to th*? moun
tains beyond Biskra to a woman graduate ol
the University of Paris, Miss Chellier. Her
chief work will be the care of the native
women and children, and she has already
gained experience by making two successful
journeys into that part of the country, placing
trained nurses at the various stations.
One of tbe family of the "fighting Bells" oi
Augusta County, Virginia, has died at the
homestead at Long Glade at ihe age of 80. He
was Alexander R. Bell, one of five brothers
who together had nineteen sons that fought in
Captain Cushing's company of the Fifth Vir
ginia Regiment, Stonewall Brigade, and were
nearly all killed in battle or died of wounds'
A. R. Bell had been for nearly sixty years a:,
elder in the Prerbyterian church.
SON TILLATIONS.
Tommy— Paps, when a man is playing the
bagpipe he never stops, but keeps moving on
down the street. What makes him do it? j
Papa— policeman.— Glasgow Mail. "W
"Does that Kentucky politician have a big f
pull ?"
"Yes— when there Is a jog arouna."— Colum- .
bus Journal.
Perry Patcttlc— Please, mister, could you
help the victim of a washout?
Mister— Of a washout?
"Yes, mister. I ain't had nothln' but
wotter to drink for two long weeks."—Cincin
nati Enquirer. •
The circus rider— Say! what's the matter
with the lion-tamer? He's been hanging
around for two hours.
The Comorilonwt— He's afraid to go home.
He's heard his wife was at the show this alter
noon and saw him beat her favorite lioness.
"It's hard," said the menagerie lion.
"What's hard"? asked the kangaroo.
"To be starved when I'm alive and stuffed
when I'm dead."— Plck-Me-Up.
"That new cook from the country that the
Blueberries have been boasting about insisted
on sitting on the porch last night when they
had company."
"Didn't she feel out of pine:?"
"she did afterward." — Cleveland Plain
Dealer. _____
Bobby (admiring the India ink tattooing on
Dicker's arm)— Did it hurt much ?
Dickey— Not till my mother saw Boston
Transcript.
Tom Barry— Can you keep a secret ?
Peydita— if it isn't worth repeating.—
Truth. . " * . ■
READY FOR THE EMERGENCY.
Beaumarchais, the author of the famous
"Marriage of Figaro,"was the son of a Parisian
watchmaker, but had gained fame, rank and
wealth through his own talents and exertions.
A conceited and envious young nobleman
once undertook to wound the pride of B*>au*t
marchais by an allusion to his bumble origin.V
In the presence of a large company of peopJtJ
who had a regard for the talented young atji
thor this young man handed him hi* watciV
saying: "Ex -mine it, sir. It does not kee/7
time well. Y. v can doubtless* Ascertain th*
cause." Such was his rude naste that his hand
left the watch before taat of the surprised
Beaumarchais had grasped it, and it fell to the
ground. "Pardon, monsieur," said the author,
with grave courtesy, stooping to pick up the
watch and hand it "to its owner, "you see my
father was right when he declared that I was
100 awkward to be a watchmaker."
Califobvia glace fruits. 50a lb. TownsaaJTi."
« ♦ . .■_ . .
Justin Gates, Notary Public, removed to 14
McAllister st., room 31, third floor. *
• — ♦ — •
Special information daily to manufacturers;
business houses and public men by the Pres*
Clipping Bureau (Alien'!-), 510 Montgomery. *
~m *> •
MORTIFICATION SETTING IN.
New York Mall and Express.
Yellow journalism in New York is begin
ning to turn an envious green.
Age tends to kill the hair and turn it gray.
Fabkeb's aik Balsam renews color and life.
Hinjjebcobns. the best cure for corns. 15 on.
* .p .
MAKE HIM A BUOY AGAIN.
Detroit Journa'.
Debs would make a most admirable auto
matic siren to warn mariners to steer clear ol
fog-enveloped rocks.
NEW TO-DAY.
MECHANICS' FAIR
PURE FOOD „
Demonstrator and Lecturer Conn
mends Royal Baking Powder -
in Preference to All •',,
Others.
Miss Suzy Tracy, the '
cooking demonstrator in •;> ••'
the Model Kitchen at the y:
Mechanics' Fair, says s^K:*:
' * ■ ■ '-:' . ■'■■ -■'.'■'•' ■
X •'ln the practice of my pro-. ;. :
fession as a teacher of cook-
ery I have tried the different ,'y
brands of baking powder,; :••;■;'
and I find that Royal Bak- '' '
ing Powder gives the best
satisfaction/ I can accom- ' ;
plish the best results with a • .
smaller quantity of Royal
Baking Powder than of any *;.
other kind, and I find it J
always to be perfectly ttof/ .
form in its action."
;;-. (/ *->