The San Francisco call. [volume], February 13, 1898, Page 6, Image 6

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

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6
SUNDAY. .....~mT. -.FEBRUARY 13, 1898
JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Proprietor.
Address All Communications to W. S. LEAKE, Manager.
PUBLICATION OFFICE MarKet a n<l Thlrd Stt - *■ F« ;
Telephone Main 1868.
EDITORIAL ROOMS SIT to £21 Stev«n»on strtet |
Telephone Main 1874.
THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL (DAILY AND SUNDAY) tt |
•erved by carrier* In this city and surroundlna towrjl
for 16 cents a week- By mall $6 per ytar. per month ,
£5 cents.
THE WEEKLY CALL One year, by t«all. $1.53 J
OAKLAND OFFICE ■•-.".. 903 Broadway j
Hasten Representative, DAVID ALLEN.
NEW YORK OFFICE Room 188, World Building
WASHINGTON 'D. C. OFFICE RI«H« House
C. C. CARLTON, Correspondent.
SRANCH OFFICES— S27 Montgomery street. «orr,er Clay
open until 9:30 o'clock- 339 Hayes street: cpen until
5.30 o'clocK- 621 MoAlllster street: open untl! 9:30 ;
e'ctocK- 615 Larklrj street; open until 9:30 o'clock
SW. corner Sixteenth and Mission streets: open untl!
S o'clock- 2518 Mission street: open until 9 o'clock
KM Eleventh st.: open until 9 o'clock. '505 Polk strees
cpen until 9:30 o'clock- NW. corner Twenty-second
cod Kentucky streets; open until 9 o'clock-
AMUSEMENTS.
Baldwin- "Girl from Paris."
California— Blac* Paul Troubadours.
Columbia— " What Happened to Jones." ;
Alcazar— "Charley's Aunt"
Morosco'B— "The Unknown "
Tlvoli— "The Pearl of Pekln."
Orpheum— Vaudeville.
Bush— Thalia German-Hebrew Opera Company.
Metropolitan Hall— Lecture Tuesday evening.
Olytnpla, corner Mason and Eddy streets— Speolaltles.
The Chutes— CMquita and Vaudeville-
Sherman & Clay Hall, 223 Sutter st.— Concert Tuesday night.
Mechanics' Pavilion— Mining Fair and Klondike Exposition,
Coursing— lng leside Coursing Park, this morning.
Caliiornla Jockey Club, Oakland Racetrack -Races to-morrow
AUCTION SALES.
By Yon Rbeln & Co.— Thursday, February J4, Real Estate, at
636 Market etreet. at 12 o'clock.
THE BEAUTY OF A FIGURE.
T — ; ROM a little town in the South comes the story
of a woman named Crow— whether a relict ot
*■ the justly celebrated Jim Crow does not appear,
But on her own hook she was a remarkable woman.
Mrs. Crow had done something contrary to the peace
and statures, so that necessity had arisen for arresting
her. This task was undertaken by two officers, and a
little later the turmoil began. She did not want to be
«i rested, and was a lady of determined character. Her
daughters were of similar mold. For does not a cor
respondent relate that one of the daughters "flew at
them like an enraged tigress with a big knife"? It
may be supposed that when an enraged tigress with
a big knife essays to fly the prudent would feel an
impulse to get away from there. An enraged tigress,
even unprovided with a knife, is no pleasant spec
tacle, but give her a big knife and set her flying and
she would be a terror. Hence the conclusion is
reached that Mrs. Crow was a remarkable woman.
The past tense is used advisedly, and is an emphasis
to the easily discerned beauty of the figurative lan
guage employed. While she and the younger Crows
were fighting, some of them probably like enraged
tigresses with six-shooters, her spirit took its way to
a new jurisdiction. The correspondent, however, is
believed still to be on earth, and we shall live in the
hope of hearing from him some more.
BUSINESS IN SACRAMENTO.
I" N RESIDENT STEFFENS of the Sacramento
L_y Chamber of Commerce was able to make a
* most encouraging report of the business and
progress of that city in his address at the annual
meeting of the chamber on Friday evening, while at
the same time pointing out how much must be done
in the way of public improvements, particularly on
the river, before Sacramento will have the full meas
ure of commerce and prosperity which her people
have a right to expect.
The rich extent of the fruit industry of California
is well illustrated by the statistics given by President
Steffens of the fruit shipments from his city. From
these it appears that for the fiscal year ending June
30, 1897, there were shipped from Sacramento and
adjacent points 4593 tons of dried fruit, 4505 tons of
canned goods, 1938 tons of vegetables, 1658 tons of
hops, and in 1897, from May to November, inclusive,
the vast total of 41,560 tons of deciduous fruit.
Along with these large overland shipments there
was in the city during the past year an excellent and
prosperous retail trade, due, as Mr. Steffens points
out, to the wages paid out by the large shops and fac
tories for which Sacramento is noted. By reason of
this the financial affairs of the people have been on a
solid foundation, and the progress and development
of the city have been steady and continuous.
All the business and industry now carried on in
Sacramento, however, only emphasizes the need of
river improvement, or, as President Steffens terms it,
"river restoration." The work is one which the Gen
eral Government should undertake, and the argument
for action on its part is now the more potent because
the State has appropriated $300,000 for the enterprise.
This display of State energy cannot fail to have effect
at Washington since it demonstrates the importance
which Californians place upon the proposed improve
ment, and accordingly the outlook for a Government
appropriation in the near future is now more promis
ing than ever.
It is gratifying to note the stress which the Sacra
mento Chamber of Commerce places upon this much
desired work. The improvement of the Sacramento
and the San Joaquinis the State issue of greatest mag
nitude now before the people of California. To pro
mote it there should be cordial co-operation among
all classes of citizens and in all sections of the com
monwealth. It should occupy the attention of
chambers of commerce everywhere and be kept to the
front so long as any portion of the river system re
trains in need of improvement or restoration.
While there is naturally a feeling of sympathy for
the man who swallowed a mouse, the mouse got
distinctly the worst of the arrangement. Evidently
the human stomach is less fitted than that of the
whale to accommodate lodgers, or else the mouse
lacks the power of endurance possessed by the
human as attested beyond dispute by the affair in
which Jonah obtained notoriety.
Tt is an accommodating burglar who will kill him
self rather than be captured. The preference of the
average burglar for killing somebody else is so well
established that the police ought to gratefully ap
preciate an exception.
In all probability there will soon be a settlement
with Canada of the Alaska boundary. All the people
of this country ask is that they may have a fair dea*
hue they do not go so far as to expect it.
WIPE OUT THE SCANDAL.
REPORTS from Chicago, published in The Call
yesterday, disclose a shameful scandal in con
nection with the management of the exhibit es
tablished in that city by the San Francisco Alaskan
Trade Committee. As matters stand the exhibit has
been virtually abandoned, the city discredited, and its
trade injured to an extent which will prove serious
unless immediate steps are taken to repair the wrong.
According to the reports the agents left in charge
of the exhibit have been guilty of almost every con
ceivable form of betrayal of trust. They neglected the
work required of them, they wasted the funds in their
hands they permitted some of their number to ad
vertise the business of a particular transportation
company to the disadvantage of other San Francisco
companies engaged in the same trade, they indulged
in dilations carried to disgraceful excesses, and
finally became so outrageous in their conduct that the
proprietor of the hotel in which they lodged threat
ened to turn them out.
It appears the neglect of duty and the debauchery
began as soon as the agents found themselves in
charge of the exhibit and the funds. When ex-
Governor Sheakley arrived at Chicago to direct the
work of the exhibit he found the committee's reputa
tion had been ruined, the funds wasted and everything
in such confusion that it was impossible for him to
do anything more than to dismiss the dishonest
agents, pay their bills, save them from expulsion from
the hotel, and then pack the exhibit off to railroad
depots and arrange his affairs to return to his old
home in Pennsylvania-
It would be worse than useless to try to cover up
a scandal of this kind. It might be hushed up in San
Francisco, but not in Chicago, and it is in Chicago
where the evil of it is felt. San Francisco has been
discredited there, the money her merchants sub
scribed to promote their trade there has been wasted.
The only thing to be done is to make the scandal
known here in order that our people may be aroused
to remedy the evil before it is too late. It Is to that
end The Call addresses itself. The wrong to the city
has been done, and we expose it for the purpose of
bringing about some action to redeem our credit as
speedily as possible.
There can be no differences of opinion among in
telligent men concerning the value of prompt action
in this emergency. The Alaska trade already active is
quickening itself for the great rush of the spring and
the summer. Experts estimate the rush will continue
for at least two years and will lead to the develop
ment of industries in Alaska that will bring about a
permanent trade of great importance. We must ad
vertise in the East to get that trade, and the Eastern
advertising must be done very largely in Chicago.
Every da^ f lost in redeeming the wrong done by the
agents of the exhibit sent there is a loss of money to
our spring trade and to the prestige of our commerce.
Immediate action should be taken by those in au
thority to investigate the Chicago charges and see if
there is not some way of punishing those who have so
grossly abused their trust. The offenses have not
been petty misdemeanors growing out of incompe
tence and idleness. They have been, according to the
stories, shameful outrages against decency as well as
morality. Such offenses cannot be hushed up and
should not be condoned. The Alaskan Trade Com
mittee will be expected by the public to act at once.
STILL UNEXPLAINED.
EVER since The Call requested Senator Stratton
to make an explanation of his extraordinary re
lations to the various litigants in the Harbor
Commission case now pending in Judge Belcher's
court he has been asking witnesses for the plaintiff all
sorts of questions bearing on the subject. Among the
witnesses questioned has been Mr. Slade himself.
According to the newspaper reports this gentleman
testified to having searched for Senator Stratton and
found him in the vicinity of Stow Lake, to having
employed him as attorney in some cases, to having
paid him for advice and to having listened to his
conscientious scruples concerning his relations to the
Harbor Commission and Slade.
Mr. Stratton has asked other witnesses about his
dual legal character without eliciting any satisfactory
information. He has not come forward with his own
testimony, nor has he, so far as we know, taken Judge
Belcher into his confidence. This is remarkable,
since there is no person in the world so well informed
upon the subject as he, nor so well qualified to pre
sent the public with a full, true and specific account of
the part played by him in the curious transactions be
tween the Dundon-Slade syndicate and the Board of
State Harbor Commissioners.
In default of his testimony, therefore, we are bound
to assume that Senator Stratton has been enacting the
part of a sort of Dr. Jekyll with the commission and
a sort of Mr. Hyde with the Slade combination. In
other words, while advising the former what to do
in the Paraffine Paint Company's and other cases he
has divested himself of all recollection that he ever
was the paid attorney and advisor of Mr. Slade.
While advising the latter what to do in order to get
contracts from the Commissioners or defeat them in
litigation he has blotted from his mind all recollec
tion of his obligations to the State. To act these
parts would, of course, require of Senator Stratton an
extraordinary control of his conscience, but in default
of a more complete explanation from him there is
nothing left for us except to assume that he would
have us consider him equal to the emergency.
We are not disposed to judge Senator Stratten
harshly; he is a reform Senator from Alameda County
and that ought to be sufficient to get him out of al
most any equivocal situation. But we respectfully
submit that he is taxing our credulity rather severely
when he asks us to believe that as attorney both for
the Harbor Commission and for Mr. Slade he could
look out for both parties at the same time. The tes
timony in the Paraffine Paint Company's case shows
that the interests of the two clients were antagonistic.
That is, the Dundon-Slade combination were getting
collusive contracts out of the commission to the
great detriment of the State treasury. Unless Mr.
Stratton can establish that it was a good thing to de
plete the State treasury in this way we shall be dis
posed to stick to the apparently absurd theory that
when he advised Mr. Slade how to carry on his busi
ness to the detriment of the State treasury he was
playing both ends against the middle and was ac
tually getting his fees out of the people.
We regard an explanation from Senator Stratton as
more imperative than ever.
The wires tell a story about a rich Californian who
deserted a home in the East long ago and who, going
back there, found the only survivor of his family to
be his daughter, who was being cared for in the
county poorhouse. Of course he took her out and
tried to make amends for a lifetime of neglect, but
this does not alter the truth that he ought to be kicked
clear back to this State and on out into the Pacific.
If Waller was glad to be indicted the fact of being
under arrest must fill htm with absolute joy.
THE SAN FBAKCISCO CALL, SUXDAY, FEBBUARY 13, 1898.
THE persistent recurrence ever since 1875 of the
financial issue in American politics points to it
as the one selected especially by all the rule-of
thumb politicians as the easiest to talk about and the
most capable of exciting the people. It does not
merely relate to the kind and quantity of money in the
country and the source tf its supply, but it furnishes
a subject which in its discussion enables attacks upon
ownership and an assault upon the laws that uphold
the rights of property.
The greenback movement was the earliest shape as
sumed by this movement. It rapidly ripened into a
demand for fiat paper, issued by the Government, a
full legal tender and irredeemable. This idea is still
in existence in the demand that the Government sub
stitute non interest bearing bonds as a means of
raising money in place of taxation. But all of these
ideas merge readily in the demand for free coinage
of silver at 16 to I. That policy is represented as
satisfactory to the fiatists, because the difference be
tween the bullion and nominal value of the dollar will
be fiat. All those who believe that more money is
needed are easily led to hope for a pecuniary flood in
the form of silver. Another class, who believe that
gold is the rich man's money and silver the poor
man's, join the ranks in the hope of despoiling the
rich and enriching the poor. Then there is a class
who insist that we must have a kind of money that the
bankers cannot handle, and they are enthusiastic in
the belief that the "white metal" will be too hot for
a banker to hold.
As recruits to the ranks made up of the foregoing
there are the classes who adopt, in one form or an
other, the ideas of the socialists, communists, an
archists and even of the nihilists. Free silver is the
captain in command of all this force in politics. The
advocates of that policy in Congress propose to
prevent any permanent adjustment of the financial is
sue because that will remove the cohesive principle
which holds these elements in fusion. Remove that
and their differences put them at angles which make
common action impossible. There is at present a
constant temptation to politicians to seek personal ad
vantage and get office by joining this combination.
The good of the country, the permanent foundations
of general prosperity, the constitutional limitations,
are not considered by these people at all. Facts
make but little difference to them. Even knowing
that if they get power they cannot perform all they
promise, they count with confidence upon their abil
ity to shift the blame from their shoulders and stand
acquitted by their disappointed dupes.
In this situation it is plainly seen that the friends of
sound finance, the men who desire to see the world's
financial center come where it belongs — to this con
tinent, richer in all resources than any other part of
the planet — must get together upon a common policy
and oppose it to the plans of the fiatists. It is not
so much a party as a public question. The President
adopts it as an administration policy because it is a
vast, far-reaching public necessity. If they are wise
the Republicans will make standing room on that is
sue for all men who agree that a sound money policy
must be pleaded in the campaign issues. We see sil
ver Republicans, who believe protection to be a pub
lic necessity, in alliance with silver Democrats who
will use their power, if they get it, to tear down pro
tection, and with Populists who will use their success
to tear down everything. In the emergency presented
by this alliance the sound money men of all shades
of belief on other public questions must feel that there
is room for them to meet in defense of a principle that
underlies all conditions and every requisite of na
tional prosperity.
There is probably nothing in the report that
Spain must apologize or be rebuked by the severance
of diplomatic relations with this country. Spain has
up to the present been permitted to do as she has
pleased, and there is no particular reason for suppos
ing that the administration lias experienced a change
of heart. If Spain were to bombard Key West doubt
less there would be something in the nature of a pro
test, but as it is peace at any price seems to be the
rr.le.
The freak who is on exhibition in Chicago where
she amuses and instructs by swallowing poison,
getting snake-bitten, having nails driven into her
flesh, and doing other things of an equally edifying
character, ought to blow herself up with dynamite.
She is unnecessary. The public can eat pie and ac
quire all the nightmare that is good for it.
A contemporary announces that as a result of a
shooting accident a gentleman has been deprived of
his pantella. The pantclla is a new part of humati
equipment, apparently, and it is to be regretted that
the only person provided with it should have
met with such a loss.
The arrest of ex-Senator Dunn for renting a room
to be used for pool-selling is a start in the right direc
tion. Experience has shown the difficulty of convict
ing a guilty man for this offense, and yet a persistent
series of arrests might discourage him to an en
couraging degree.
It would seem to be part of the duty of the gentle
men having in charge the Miners' Fair to see that the
couple married the other night in public get an early
start for the Klondike. It may be unkind to interfere
with a honeymoon, but the loving pair appear to have
been bluffing.
Whether or not a person who works for a living
shall be admitted to society seems to be a question
with a peculiar faculty of keeping alive. Nobody
outside of society cares what the answer to it may be,
and it ought to be the least of the working person's
troubles.
Kentucky shows symptoms of desiring to be the
scene of pugilistic events like the one enacted in
Nevada a few months ago. Evidently the State feels
that it is not living up to its reputation as dark and
bloody ground. Even its duels are now fought
through the papers at space rates.
Members of New York's four hundred are to give
a function which is described in advance as a veget
able dance. Each guest is to appear as a specimen of
garden truck, and doubtless there will be "some
pumpkins" in the lot.
When an actress announces that she intends to
leave the stage "for good" she leaves a room for
doubt as to where the benefit of this good is to rest.
It is said that De Lome will seek quiet. The plan
is excellent, but followed to a successful end will
necessitate the gentleman's going under an opiate.
Prisoners at the City Jail must indeed have been
kept on short rations when one of them has been de
tected calling for a second help of hash.
"Death to Zola!" shouts the populace of Paris, and
to its cries he responds "Cowards!" Zola seems to
have a useful faculty of siring up m«v
THE FINANCIAL ISSUE.
WITH ENTIRE FRANKNESS.
Mr. Lynn of Oakland possesses ap
parent confidence in the theory that
the Lord commanded him to kill Mrs.
Lynn. The conclusion that Lynn is a
homicidal liar is the one naturally
drawn from the situation. There is a
lack of evidence that the Lord would
communicate with a creature of the
Lynn stripe, even if an exchange of
ideas were common between the Al
mighty and his subjects. There is an
improbability that an order contrary
to the peace would have been issued.
But granting that Lynn might have
received the instructions under which
he claims to have acted, certainly had
he done so he would have been clothed
with power to carry them out, and
would not have fired five bullets with
out fatal results. It seems to me the
best course would be to treat Lynn as
a dangerous criminal rathet- than as
one inspired. As a rule authority to
kill doea not come from heaven, but
there are reasons for supposing that it
comes from the other place. True,
Abraham thought he was told to sac
rifice Isaac, but the fact that he was
willing to do so is one of the darkest
spots in a record, which was more
than ordinarily reprehensible. Abra
ham should have been clapped into an
asylum or a jail, and this man Lynn
is no better. If Mrs. Lynn chance to
succumb to her injuries, then her as
sailant ought to be hanged with all
reasonable dispatch. If he was acting
on divine orders he will have nothing
to fear beyond the gallows, while if
spared he might get some more orders.
Several men had the misfortune to
be carried over Willamette Falls last
week. I am unable to see, however,
why the sad event should have been
confidently chronicled In the Examiner
under the heading "Swept to Perdi
tion." The victims were not Exam
iner men.
• * •
I have not the unhappiness to know
Ruth Ashmore. "Whether she is old or
young, single, married or a widow are
matters not of public knowledge, and
possibly of no consequence. Ruth
writes advice for girls, all of it based
apparently on the idea that girls have
mush where they ought to have brains.
If anything could induce a good girl
to throw discretion to the winds it
would be such stuff as Ruth drools at
her through the columns of Bok's
comio monthly known as the Ladles'
Home Journal. The worst feature
of Ruth's pious ooze is the undercur
rent of nastiness which is never ab
sent. So keen an eye has the lady for
the vile, so acute a scent for moral
decay, that she detects iniquity where
another would find innocence. She be
lieves man to be possessed of the idea
that every girl is legitimate prey, the
most ordinary courtesy a veiled insult.
She thinks that a young woman who
fails to resent the overture of mere
politeness has been lured to ruin. She
wants our sisters and daughters to be
a lot of vinegary spinsters treading the
path of life with no object but to ob
serve and rebuke the affronts lining
the way. What the gentle Ruth needs
is a clean mind. If she has a real re
gard for the young she will quit writ
ing for them. Her ebullitions of
bogus righteousness are disgusting
and corrupting. She <loes not know it.
I am forced to the conclusion that she
does not know anything. Yet Ruth
harmonizes beautifully with her en
vironment. The male Impersonator
who runs the concern is also sweetly
modest to the point of Indecency. In
the same issue in which Ruth demon
strates that there is no middle ground
between the prude and the outcast
Bok announces that hereafter there
will be nothing more printed in re
lation to styles in ladies' underwear.
The details, he explains, are "ex
tremely and pardonably offensive to re
fined and sensitive women," Noble Bok!
lovely women! The refined and sensi
tive will have to secure their under
wear without the guiding Intelligence
of a Bok, it might be said, the Bok.
Looking on a different page of the same
number I was surprised and made sor
rowful by observing that the reform is
not complete. There was a picture
there of a girl who had on an under
shirt and nothing more. Think of the
horror of it! To be sure, the picture
represented a tot of 3 or thereabouts,
but a tot grows, and in later years may
not the memory of this picture cause
her pain and blushes? Then a bed
shoe was not only described, but ac
tually portrayed. I marvel at such a
lapse into depravity. If a shoe, a foot;
if a foot, a leg; if a leg, then under
wear or influenza. Thus Bok sets a
trap where by easy stages we are car
ried to the forbidden topic. There were
female figures in corsets, over which
they gracefully bulged, with naked
shoulders and bosc-ms as bare as your
hand. I ask Ruth, I ask Bok, is it
right? There was an angel with noth
ing but the shadow of its wing -to
shield it from the eye. There was a
lass on a bike in a position plainly in
dicating that she had two legs, and
that with an abandon imperiling her
soul she had thrown one of them over
the wheel. There was a buxom kitchen
girl, with her sleeves rolled so high as
to show a round and wicked arm al
most to the top, and the glimpse of an
undervest. Ruth and Bok, their hands
clasped and their faces turned toward
the light, may be battling against the
hosts of sin, but they have still before
them the task of expurgating the ad
vertising columns.
• •
The analysis of Joaquin Miller by
Ambrose Bierce, recently printed, was
one of the best things he has written,
to say which is to say much. Miller
is a poet, and as such his critic gives
him liberal praise. But Miller cannot
write prose, and he is unable to keep
out of such as he tries to write his
own unpleasant personality. I do not
know the thickness of the Miller hide,
but unless it is abnormal it has been
as thoroughly perforated as the lid of
a pepper box. The only regrettable
possibility Is that Miller may try to get
even, salving his wounds with the es
sence of bad English.
Objections from the editor of the Post
to the newly manifest habit of confess
ing are not surprising. He wants to
check the practice before he shall fall
victim to it. His feelings are not hard
to understand, and yet he 6hooild not
permit them to smother the possibility
of a good news story.
• • •
Almost every newspaper man of my
juJciiflirLtanca lias at some time been
By HENRY JAMES.
seized of the notion to send out to the
world a eyndlcate letter. Several years
ago came my turn to be Infected by
this idea, and I wrote to a number of
editors about it. Their responses were
not notable for enthusiasm, yet among
them were enough acceptances to show
the scheme to be feasible. However, a
change in regular work deprived me of
the time I had expected to devote to
the letters, and the plan was dropped.
With the exception of one, the replies
received were courteous. That one
came on a postal card, a distinct gain
to the sender of 1 cent, over which I
doubt not he chortles to this day.
Thinking the yahoo needed a lesson in
manners, I returned his own card to
him accompanied by a little advice, and
then forgot the incident. Had it been
vaguely recalled memory would still
have failed on the point that the cor
respondence had been with Dune. Mc-
Pherson. I often noticed that he was
spoken of as a clown, dense, uncouth,
and in after years, that his paper was
the essence of stupidity, and yet the
Incident was not brought back. Not
long ago I wrote a bit of doggerel about
Dnnc, and 10, he comes to the front
with our brief correspondence, explain
ing by it the "animus." There was no
animus. I look upon Dune as upon
any other simpleton. It was easy to
realize that he was a dullard, but I
confess to surprise that he should glory
in the fact that my discovery was not
recent. Having neatly been branded an
ass, a man with a grain of sense would
have resented it, but here is the im
mortal Dune, proudly proclaiming that
he received the brand long ago, and
bringing forth exhibits to support the
allegation and establish the justice of
the branding.
• • •
The clergyman who the other day
said that prayer as an institution was
dying out, may have spoken hastily.
At any rate, people continue to pray.
In instances the act seems to do them
good. I have never been able to ob
serve that prayer had any effect be
yond this. It does not stay the flood,
nor turn aside the cyclone. The blis
tering drought defies it. Pestilence and
famine lay waste the land, nor pause
as the victims voice their fervent wish
es. Christian nations go panoplied for
war against each other, each side for
tified by the prayers of millions, and
each calling with confidence upon the
God of Battles. It is not logical to
claim that the right always wins, for
it doesn't, and frequently both sides
are wrong, so it couldn't. Political con
ventions are opened with an invocation,
and from the first word to the amen
every listener is planning how to break
the slate of his neighbor. In fact,
prayer is a fixed habit, and is so gen
eral as often to lose its sacred charac
ter and its "dignity. From my boyhood,
and I speak not with irreverence, it has
always seemed to me a presumption to
ask the Unchangeable to change, to
suggest to the Almighty how this little
world ought to be run. That the sea
sons come and go undisturbed, that the
sick die, the hungry starve and the
seed of the righteous beg bread, seems
an evidence that events are not direct
ed by human petition. There is
another side to the matter which
tends to detract from the re
spect naturally due. It is that so many
whose wickedness is flagrant pray
with peculiar unction. George Clark,
fresh from the murder of his brother,
flopped abjectly by his bed and prayed,
not for forgiveness, but that the peo
ple might turn to Christ and be saved.
The street evangelists who knee the
cobbles and try to raise their voices
above the clamor of traffic bring
prayer into the contempt bred of famil
iarity. They mean well, but they over
estimate their influence. The tendency
to pray is natural. The cornered rogue
sees in it a possible chance of escape,
the hypocrite finds in it a cloak, the
good think it brings them in touch with
the divine, and the careless may still
cling to the pretty custom learned at
a mother's feet. I believe the reverend
gentleman to be unduly alarmed. Peo
ple are bound to pray; they couldn't
help it if they would. As to results,
there will, of course, be differences of
honest opinion.
• •■ • *
It is refreshing to see that Charles
Coghlan Is engaged in portraying the
immorality of the stage. He does not
speak as one uncertain of his subject.
Some traces of immorality have here
tofore been detected making their head
quarters about the theater, and in the
midst of them it was not unusual to
find Coghlan. He has been star actor
in a number of episodes which had no
angels in the caste. His present lament
may be in token of penitence, or, per
haps, the old sinner has merely got
tired of familiar roles.
• * •
There is a lawyer in this town who
Is an endless source of joy to every
body but his clients. I /efrain from
mentioning his name because It would
be regarded by him as an advertise
ment, and costing him nothing/ add to
his happiness. Not long ago this law
yer did business for a woman and got
his hands on some of her money. Nat
urally she had to sue, and received
judgment. But the lawyer introduced
during the trial of the cause a paper
purporting to be a receipt showing that
$100 had been paid over. I noticed that
in the view taken by the court the
receipt was ignored. Now, as it was
ignored, the thought arises that it must
have been regarded as bogus. It would
almost seem that a lawyer who would
introduce a fraudulent receipt ought to
go to jail. There is where others are
sent for similar inadvertence. Or at
least that august body known as the
Bar Association would be clearly with
ADVERTISEMENTS.
The marvelous leavening power
and keeping qualities of ROYAL
Baking Powder make it invaluable
for service in the Yukon Country.
ROYAL BAKING POWDER CO., NEW YORK.
in Its jurisdiction were it to make c few
i inquiries.
• • •
That Ned Hamilton has left the
'• service of the Examiner is common
knowledge among members of the
craft. That in losing him the paper
lost its strongest man there will be no
question. How a reporter who is at
all times a gentleman could so long
have borne association with the boor
ish incompetence which directs the
yellow journal's destiny has been a
puzzle. For a Journalist of brains and
character to be subject to the orders of
one lacking these essentials, and yet
to maintain his dignity and do his
work, is little less than a triumph. I
suppose Hamilton had reached the
limit of endurance. Even under un
favorable conditions, rasped by petty
annoyances, one of these being his offi
cial superior, Hamilton has been a
tower of strength to the paper he has
left and will be particularly missed, as
the Examiner is notably short on
towers of this kind.
• * •
If Spain were to discover that she is
engaged in war with New York's yel
low journalism doubtless she would be
property surprised, and upon a full
realization of the circumstances
alarmed. When a yellow journalist
has been aroused to fury no burning
tan yard could be more imposing nor
more terrible.
• • •
The doctor would not advertise, to do bo wert
a sin,
A violation gross of code most holy:
Tet he was glad to have announced that "thej
had called him in,"
This being for the public welfare solely.
HIS VALENTINE.
I send my heart in rhyme to you,
"With love in every line,
And should it come In time to you
To be your valentine.
Then listen how it beats for you.
And should you chance to gruess
The question it repeats to you —
Say "Yes," sweetheart, say "Yea!"
Oh! send young Cupid back to mo
Nor let him know a tear.
And may the word not lack to me
I long so much to hear.
Without It all Is dumb for me
And life Is loneliness.
Then let your answer come for me!
Say "Yes," Bweetheart, say "Tea!"
—Frank Dempster Sherman, in February
Ladles' Home Journal.
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.
TO ALASKA— Subscriber, City. For tha
information that you desire about Alaska
and the mines in the vicinity of Dyea you
should make application to some of the
transportation companies that are carry
ing passengers in that direction.
CHINESE PHEASANTS— E. J. D.,
Flshermans Bay, Sonoma County, Cal.
A person desiring to secure Chinese
pheasants from Oregon should file an ap
plication with the Fish and Game Com
mission in this city and then the order
will be filled in the order of Its filing. At
this time it is impossible to obtain any,
the demand for them is greater than the
supply,
CHESS— Several Subscribers, Sacramen
to, Cal. These correspondents say: "Stan
ton's Hand-Book in Chess defines in rule
13 the penalty for an illegal move, as:
Ist. The move to stand as played. 2d. To
move correctly. 3d. To replace the piece or
pawn moved and move to king. Tn rule
17 it says: If a gieee or pawn be touched or
be played, when by moving said piece or
pawn the king would be in check, the
player must replace same and move the
king, and if the king cannot be movou
there is to be no penalty. A contends
that if a player moves a piece or pawn
when by so doing the king is in check, it
is an illegal move and if so wished any of
three penalties as provided in rule 13
could be enforced. B contends that in
such case it is an 'unlawful' move, but
not an "illegal" move, as in case the king
should not be in check by the action the
move would be proper, and further says
that the meaning of 'illegal' as governed
by rule 13 is to be applied to a move that
could not be possibly made, as for in
stance to move the castle like a bishop,
etc."
The answer to the above is: If a piece
be moved exposing one's own king to
check the move must be withdrawn, and
for penalty the offending, player must
move his king. If the king has no move,
however, or cannot move without placing
himself in check, no penalty can be en
forced under either of the rules cited.
Broken horehound 15c Ib. Townsend'* .•
E. H. Black, painter, 120 Eddy st. •
Gulllet icecream. 905 Larkln. Tel.Eastl9S.»
Cal. glace fruit 50c per lb at Townsend's.*
Special sale for Klondikers. California
glace apricots,3sc lt>. Townsend's, Palace.*
» ♦ ■ . .'
The best and most nutritious food for
Klondike is California glace fruit; 60c a
pound at Townsend's, Palace Hotel bldg.*
— . ♦ . — .' ,<r",.
Special information supplied daily to
business houses and public men by the
Press Clipping Bureau (Allen's), 510 Mont
gomery street. Telephone Main • 1042. •
— ■ — ■ ♦ ■ ' — ■ —
Trunks Moved 25 Cents.
Furniture moved. San Francisco Trans- '
fer Co. Office, 12 Grant aye. Tel. M. 505. •
PROMOTING THE SILK INDUSTRY.
One beneficial effect of the Dingley
tariff upon the industries of the United
States Is shown in the silk trade. Its
duties have so encouraged the home
manufacture of silk that the French
makers have discovered that they are
losing the trade of this country. So now
they are going to help us make it at
home. A prominent Lyons firm an
nounces its intention to start a silk
weaving plant at Bethlehem, Pa.,
equipped with Massachusetts looms and
operated by American workmen. This
unprecedented departure in conservative
French trade will be cordially welcomed.
— New York Mail and Express.
Time Reduced to Chicago.
Via Rio Grande Western, Denver and Rio
Grande and Burlingrton railways. Passengers
leaving San Francisco on 6 p. m. train reach
Chicago 2:IS p. m. the fourth day, and New
York 6:30 p. m. following day. Through Pull
man Palace Double Drawing Room Sleeping
Cars to Denver with Union Depot change at
9:30 a. m. to similar cars of the Burlington
Route for Chicago. . Railroad and sleeping car
tickets sold through and full information given
at 14 Montgomery st. W. H. Snedaker. General
Agent.
Get a home; $1000 cash and $40 per month for
a few years will buy the prettiest bouse In
the prettiest suburb of San Francisco. Call on
R. E. McGill, 18 Post St.
Peddler— l have a most valuable work
to sell, madam; It tells you how to do
anything.
Lady (sarcastically)— Does It tell you
how to get rid of a pestering peddler?
Peddler (promptly)— Oh, yes, madam;
buy something of him.— London Tit-Bits.