The San Francisco call. [volume], February 27, 1898, Page 6, Image 6

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

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6
SUNDAY FEBRUARY 27, 1898
JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Proprietor;
Address A<l Communications to W. S. LEAKE, Managw.
PUBLICATION OFFICE. . Market and Third SU, S. F«
Telephone Main 1868.
EDITORIAL ROOMS 2«T to 221 Stevenson etreet j
Telephone Main 1874.
THE RAN FRANCISCO CALL (DAILY AND SUNDAY) Is j
served by carriers In this city end surrounding towos
for 15 cents a week' By mali $ 6 P« r year, per month !
65 cents.
THE WEEKLY CALL Ooe year, by njali, $1.53 !
OAKLAND OFFICE 908 Broadway ,
Eastern Representative. DAVID ALLEN.
NEW YORK OFFICE Room 188, World Building
WASHINGTON D. C. OFFICE Rtftfte Hone*
C. C. CARLTON, Correspondent.
BRANCH OFFICES — 527 Montgomery street, corner Cloy
coer> until 9:30 o'ciocK. 339 Hayes street: open until
930 o'clock. 6S! MoAlllster street; open until 9:30
o'clock. 615 Lari<lr) street; open until 9:30 o'clock
5V. . corner Sixteenth and Mission streets; open until
* o'clock 2518 Mission street: open until 9 o'clock
iC6 Eleventh at.; open until 9 o'clock. 1505 Pol ß street
cpen until 9:30 o'clock- NW. corner Twenty-second
cod Kentucky streets; open until 9 o'clock. i
AMUSEMENTS.
Baldwin— Lectu re.
California— BlacK Pattt Troubadours. f
Columbia— "Shall We Forgive Her."
Aloazar— "Charley's Aunt."
Morosco'e— "The Last Stroke."
Tlvoll— "The Vice-Admiral."
Orpheum— Vaudeville.
Bueh— Thalia German-Hebrew Opera Company.
Shermau, Clay 4 Co. 'a Hall-Marluo, the Violin Virtuoso,
c-aturday afternoon. March 6.
Sherman, Clay & Co.'s Hall— Piano Kecltai, Thursday even-
ing, March 8.
Olympla, corner Mason and Kddy streets— Specialties.
The Chutes— Chlqulta and Vaudeville.
Mechanics' Pavilion— Mining Fair and Klondike Exposition.
Pacific Coast Jockey Clnb— Raoes at lugleside to-morrow.
Coursing— At Union Coursing Park, this morning'
AUCTION SALES.
By Frank ButWrflcld— Monday, February 28, Oriental Rugs,
at Uii Sutter street, at 2 o'clock.
by Vinc°nt &. Gallagher— Monday, February 23, Furniture, at
563 Bush street, at 11 o'clock. ■
By G. H. Umbaeri— Monday, March 7, Real Estate, at 14 Mont-
gomery sireet, at 12 o'clock.
By Madlsou 4 Burke— Thursday March 3, Real Estate, at 628
Market street, at 12 o'clock.
KNIVES IN PRISON REFORM.
L! NTIL yesterday it had been a considerable pe
riod since news had come from San Quentin
of one convict shedding the blood of another,
using for the purpose a sharp and ready knife. In
deed, a reasonable hope had arisen that the harsh
policy of 'denying to the convicts the boon of going
about armed for battle had found favor in the eyes
of the governing officials. This hope has been
crushed. Yet let us not look on the dark side. Let
us rather congratulate ourselves that there is still
deference to public opinion great enough to cause
the withholding from the convicts the comfort of
carrying revolver?, and that the blessed privilege of
lugging a slungshot through their daily routine is
not theirs. The public does not wish to be severe.
It remains out of reach of the gleaming blades, and
if there is anything in prison reform which makes
imperative the practice of allowing convicts a chance
to carve their neighbors, well and good. The public
does not profess skill in the science of penology.
But as a man even in prison has rights, it is clearly
meet and proper that it a portion of the convicts
are to have knives all ought to have them. The
tendency to show partiality has more than once cre
ated trouble among the inmates of restraining insti
tutions.
DAMSEL, DIMPLE, DAMAGE.
THE girl from whom nature has withheld the
boon of a dimpled cheek is apt to pine for one.
Helen Brooks of Denver came into the world
handicapped by the absence of this adornment, and
as she grew to years of indiscretion her yearning
to be thus ornamented developed into a passion.
Helen had visions of her own loveliness enhanced
and glorified as it would be by the presence of a
dimple, a cute little depression deepening with each
smile and seeming to radiate beauty as a hole created
in the placid bosom of a frogpond by the casting of
a pebble throws about itself a series of shimmering
rings. So Helen went to a doctor who claims the
ability to create dimples while you wait, and Helen
bought a dimple. She still has it, but it seems to
her a misfit. As she stands before the glass in con
templation of what should be her chief facial attrac
tion she is conscious of an inward pain. Sne pro
nounces the thing a scar.
To acquire a dimple is a simple matter. Anybody
may take a shoemaker's awl and punch into her own
damask cheek as many dimples as she thinks it will
conveniently hold. However, when a dimple comes
it is not a transitory affair. It has the element of
permanence. The only way to get rid of it is to
have the countenance amputated. Helen is not, ap
parently, a girl much given to habits of thought, but
that this course would be a greater mar to comeli
ness is probably clear even to her. Possibly Helen
got tired of seeing herself making dimpled grimaces
at herself every time she glanced at a mirror. It may
be that the sudden stoppage of the family clock
whenever she sought to read the time of day became
annoying. At any rate Helen sued the dimple ar
chitect and builder for damages.
It is to be hoped that she will recover the full
sum asked. It is unlikely, However, that she would
be wise enough to invest it properly, and therefore
a little friendly counsel in advance will not be amiss.
She ought to spend a part of the money in getting a
copy of that valuable work, "How Not to Be a Fool,
Even if One of Our Sex, and With Never a
Dimple," the joint product of Ruthie Ashmore and
Charlotte Smith. Of course the most faithful reading
will not remove the cavity already obtained, but it
may induce Helen to refrain from indulgence in
more freaks of idiocy until she sinks into a dimpled
dotage and is no longer responsible.
No report that men are dying by scores along the
Klondike trail serves to discourage the eager throng
bound in that direction. Each man goes with the
happy assurance that fortune awaits him, and that
the others whose bones bleach by the pathway once
were inspired by similar notions does not in the
least check the spirit of the gold-seekers. Human
faith is a queer thing.
Acquittal of the persons arrested for violating the
pool ordinance seems still to be accomplished with
the old facility. It may be explained for the benefit
of those not familiar with the matter that acquittal
in these cases is no indication of innocence.
Certain press correspondents have been warned to
leave France, and it might be a comfort to absent
themselves long enough to be able to express their
minds freely concerning the way people are acting
over there now
FOLSOM BOULEVARD BONDS.
I"" 1 HE fate which has overtaken the bonds author
ized by vote of the people of Sacramento
County for the construction of a boulevard be
tween that city and Folsom ought to sen'e as a no
tification to county officials throughout the State
that bond schemes must be carefully considered be
fore they are placed before the public. In the case
of the Folsom boulevard public sentiment in Sacra
mento County was almost unanimous. But at the
very outset of the bonding project the District At
torney rendered an opinion to the effect that it
would be impossible to carry it out on the lines pro
posed.
In their eager desire to put the scheme through,
however, the people appealed from their District At
torney to the Attorney-General, who adopted an op
posite view of the law. In accordance with the
latter's opinion the work was undertaken, an election
was held and the people voted to bond the county to
the extent of $75,000.
In due time the bonds were offered for sale. The
highest bidders were N. W. Harris & Co. of Chicago.
They offered $76,012 for the entire issue, conditional
upon its validity being indorsed by their attorneys.
Shortly afterward word was received that they had
submitted the question to Judge Dillon, the famous
bond lawyer of New York, and that he had pro
nounced the entire issue worthless on the ground that
under our constitution the property of municipali
ties cannot be taxed for county road purposes. This
was exactly the point raised by District Attorney
Ryan at the beginning and the point overruled by
Attorney- General Fitzgerald when he took a hand in
the controversy.
The result is that the popular scheme of construct
ing a boulevard from Sacramento to Folsom, a work
which the people favored by a vote of five or six to
one. has been brought to a standstill. What the
authorities of Sacramento County should have done
before entering upon the enterprise was to have se
cured opinions from other lawyers than the District
Attorney and the Attorney-General. It would have
paid them, as is now manifest, to have consulted
Eastern experts upon the subject. Had they pro
cured an opinion from some lawyer recognized as an
authority by the bond buyers a great deal of expense
and trouble might have been saved.
The matter will be taken to the local Supreme
Court before the boulevard project 13 abandoned,
however, and it is hoped that that tribunal will not
interpret the law as it has been interpreted by Judge
Dillon. The constitution is not at all plain, but it
must be confessed that if municipalities can be taxed
for county road purposes a certain inconsistency will
be introduced into the organic law. Counties and
municipalities are made by the constitution distinct
in many cases, and in none so pointedly as in tax
ation. The main point in the case ought to be, Would
the Folsom boulevard be entirely a county road?
If it is a county road in part only a new issue of
bonds might solve the difficulty.
A WORD TO MOYOR PHELAN.
\A AYOR PHELAN can best employ this day
/ \ of rest by passing in review certain acts of
his official life and testing them by the
standards of conduct which he accepts and honor
ably strives to live up to in private. A man so es
timable as a citizen should be equally estimable as a
Mayor. He who acts with decorum at home and
in the clubs should act with dignity in office.
Mayor Phelan knows right from wrong. He dis
tinguishes clearly the difference between propriety
and impropriety in all social affairs, and it is reason
able to assume that if he will give the subject some
consideration he will be able to decide with an equal
clearness what he should do and what he should
leave undone in the highest function to which he has
yet been called — that of acting as the chief execu
tive of the city.
Mayor Phelan of late has permitted himself to be
held up before the public as the friend and ally of the
most disreputable gang known to San Francisco.
He has allowed himself to be made the pet, as it
were, of yellow journalism and has shown a willing
ness to pose in that attitude before the public. He
has even stooped to become something like an ad
vertising agent and a solicitor of money for a dis
reputable newspaper, and has undertaken in public
and as Mayor to promote one of its schemes for ob
taining money from the people to be held "in trust."
When a committee was to be selected to take
charge of the entertainment to be given by the Min
ing Fair for the benefit of the families of the sailors
who were killed by the destruction of the Maine,
Mr. Phelan, as Mayor of the city, was of course ap
pointed a member of that body. It was supposed
that he would attend the meetings of the committee
in something of an official character and would act
for the municipality as far as that was possible in the
work with which the committee was charged. It was
therefore with amazement the members of the com
mittee saw the Mayor appear before them to solicit
that the money raised by the entertainment should
be given, not to the immediate relief of the needy
families of the heroic dead, but to a monumental ad
vertising fund to be held in trust by the New York
Journal as a self-appointed trustee.
The action of the Mayor in this affair is the more
regretted by his friends and the more condemned by
the general public because the monumental adver
tising fund for which he appeared as solicitor has
already become a scandal. The Call has published
the information that the New York Journal in seek
ing to get men to take up contributions for this fund
sent to a Seattle correspondent this dispatch:
"Can you get some one among the wealthy people
of your city who will organize local committee for
national monument to the Maine's heroes on basis
of 10 per cent on all sums he collects?"
"Wealthy people" who solicit money from a pa
triotic and generous people ostensibly for patriotic
jiurposes and with a seeming liberality of their own.
but with the secret understanding of a 10 per cent
rake-off, are not esteemed by public sentiment either
from a political or a social point of view. Mayor
Phelan as a citizen, as a gentleman, as a man of
honor in private life, would never ask popular con
tributions for a cause that appeals to the noblest sen
timents of humanity and then pocket 10 per cent of
all he obtained.
Why, then, as Mayor of the city and in his official
capacity does he allow his name to be enrolled with
such men? Why does he act with them? Why does
he personally urge that money to be raised in San
Francisco for the families of the nation's heroic dead
should be turned from their immediate relief and de
voted to a trust fund which "wealthy persons" are
collecting on a basis of 10 per cent?
Senator Proctor announces that his visit to Ha
vana has no significance. This statement invests the
affair with importance. It must be remembered that
the Senator has studied diplomacy and has at least
progressed so far as to state frankly exactly what he
doesn't mean.
THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1898.
THE GOLDEN WEST EXPOSITION.
THE movement started by The Call for the cele
bration of the semi-centennial of the admission
of California to the Union by an exposition of
the resources and industries of the whole of that
Great West whose progress and development have
been the result of Californian initiative has now so
far advanced that it is being discussed in detail, and
differences of opinion are beginning to appear.
These differences will not in any way militate
against the success of the enterprise. It was inevit
able they should occur. Men who are most har
monious with respect to a desired object do not al
ways agree as to the best means of attaining it. The
more keen public interest becomes in the proposed
exposition the more numerous and the more diverse
will be the plans suggested for carrying it into effect
and making it successful, and every step to be taken
in the movement from this time on will require con
sideration, discussion and careful judgment in de
ciding upon it.
At present the main difference of opinion turns
upon the question of the time when the exposition
should be held. The semi-centennial of the admis
sion of California falls in 1900, but in that year
there are to be an. exposition in Paris and a Presi
dential election in this country. To the minds of
some persons the election and the Paris exposition
are reasons for postponing our exposition until the
following winter or possibly until the following sum
mer. To the minds of others, however, it seems that
it would be well for us to hold our fete in the year
named because of the very facts that lead some to
object to it.
It is argued that a Presidential election will in
crease the life and movement of the people, and that
we would profit from the activity and might induce
all the Presidential candidates to visit the fair. It is
also argued that an exposition in California in 1900
would have the effect of retaining at home thousands
of persons who would otherwise go abroad, and
would thus be beneficial by preventing the drain of
wealth from the country that results from wholesale
pleasure-seeking in foreign lands.
Nothing of the difference between these divergent
views is vital to the project itself. At a meeting of
citizens called by Mayor Phelan to consider the mat
ter this aspect of the enterprise was fully discussed
and the problem was very wisely left for future so
lution.
The committee adopted a resolution declaring it
to be the sense of the meeting that a fair be held
commemorative of the fiftieth anniversary of the ad
mission of California into the Union; that a commit
tee of fifteen be appointed by the Mayor to devise a
plan and submit it to a meeting of citizens subse
quently to be called, and that they be given discre
tion in determining in what year it would be most ad
vantageous to hold such exposition and as to the
character and scope of the enterprise.
This resolution amply covers the situation at pres
ent. The essential thing is to provide for an expo
sition which will serve as a commemoration of the
admission of California to the Union and spread
abroad the fame of the great thing? that have been
accomplished in the Golden West during the fifty
years of American occupation. In that project all en
terprising citizens can join, and it is encouraging to
note how many are doing so and how warm is their
interest in the work.
TO the relief of all lovers of truth and fair play the
farcical investigation of governmental charges
against Emile Zola has come to an end.
That the novelist should have received an ad
verse decision was to have been expected, and
those who followed the case closely were therefore
not surprised at the action of his judges. If the
trial has served no other purpose, it has made patent
to the world the astonishing state of corruption that
exists in the French nation, and it needed no prophet
to foretell that M. Zola would find it possible dur
ing the course of his trial to substantiate the state
ments made by him in his letter assailing the Gov
ernment.
The Dreyfus case is not one which concerns France
alone. It is one which concerns the whole civilized
world, for it must touch every man's sense of justice
when he asks himself, Is it possible that at the end
of the nineteenth century, in a free country, a man
may be cruelly sentenced upon evidence which
would have been considered insufficient for a lettre
de cachet during the last century, and would not
even be thought grave enough in a despotic state to
send the prisoner to Siberia? Emile Zola has de
monstrated that it is possible. Without any motives
of self-interest and at personal bodily risk he cham
pioned the cause of Alfred Dreyfus. Those who
know and admire him are aware that he did this
not because he felt that Dreyfus was innocent, but
because he knew it, and to have remained silent at
so important a time would have been foreign to his
principles.
The French Government has by its action in M.
Zola's case exposed itself to suspicion. It has
pleaded "reasons of state 1 ' for failing to obtain ma
te! ial evidence, for closing the doors whenever deli
cate and confidential matters were touched, and for
stopping investigation at a point when it was mani
festly incomplete.
Now France is calling out for the honor of the
army. It can only be said if this is really affected the
blow to the republic will be terrible. As the Panama
canal scandal defiled political life in France, so has
the trial of Emile Zola discredited law and justice in
the republic. We do not know what remains which,
a Frenchman can respect except his army. If that
now fails the desire for a change of government may
become irrepressible. Nor is this all. If it is seen
coming the temptation to divert the attention of the
country by foreign war will be well nigh irresistible.
A nice question of ethics has arisen at the City
Prison, and it is to be hoped that it will be settled
in accordance with approved principles of diplomacy.
A white man whom circumstances have forced be
hind restraining bars objects to being locked up with
some Chinese who pine under similar misfortune. It
is unfair to punish a prisoner in any way not pre
scribed by law, yet the protesting white man should
remember that the Chinese are probably experiencing
pangs as keen as his own.
There was once a man who had the ill-fortune to
be kicked down three flights of stairs and into the
street. When he gathered himself up from the pave
ment he remarked, as though a great light had
dawned upon him, "I can take a hint as well as any
body; I'm not wanted here." One difference be
tween this individual and Councilman Woodward of
Oakland seems to be that the latter fails to grasp a
situation which was readily discernible to the intel
ligence of the former.
When Uncle Russell Sage openly indulges in war
talk'it may be concluded that the good man is prepar
ing to get on the bear side of something.
THE ZOLf? AFFAIR.
WITH ENTIRE FRANKNESS.
A. J. Waterhouse is not only a hu
morist with a happy faculty of drag
ging from almost any set of circum
stances material for a laugh, but he
can employ a facility of expression in
setting forth the sober truth. "When
he says in one of his weekly letters
that School Director Waller was heard
to remark that two San Francisco
school teachers, female, had been seen
drunk In the street, there is only one
of two conclusions to be reached. The
first is that the teachers were ob
served in this condition; the other,
that Waller lied. I cannot think that
even a Waller makes out a very good
case for himself in either event. Since
the election of that person to *a i>o=i
tlon for which he was in no way fitted
there has been but one chance lor him
to do a generous and gracious act, and
his mental and moral equipment seems
to have prevented him from grasping
it His early resignation would hays
been appreciated as Indicating a de
sire to promote the cause of education
and avert disgrace from the schools.
There Js something almost reprehen
sible In the conduct of the local pick
pocket. His persistency in extract
ing the purse of the stranger and bor
rowing the watch of the visitor with
evident intent not to return it, is bad
enough. The real lack of considera
tion, however, is manifest toward the
police. Anybody desirous of infor
mation can ascertain by inquiry at de
tective headquarters that the pick
pocket has been chased to other fields;
that he went so swiftly as to cause
his coattails to crackle like the week
ly wash hung out in a gale; that he
will never come back, and that his one
fear is for the law as applied by the
police of this city.
There are reasons for fearing the de
cision of Judge Dillon in relation to
the invalidity of bonds Issued for the
proposed Folsom boulevard is based
on law. One reason for believing this
is that Judge Dillon is an able man.
He was for years on the United States
Circuit bench in lowa, and had the rep
utation of being a jurist of srreat acu
men and profound knowledge. He re
signed because a private practice urged
upon him offered many times the in
come of the Federal position, and went
to New York, where he took charge of
the Gould interests, and accepted also
the post of lecturer at Columbia Law
College. The second reason is that so
many laws are bad, and apparently de
signed to prevent progress. It is a
strange thing if the people who want
a road and are willing to pay for it
cannot have the privilege.
It is hard to understand why, when
for a hungry man to pick a crust from
a garbage barrel constitutes him an of
fender worthy of arrest, a man rated
at $60,000 can do the same thing and go
free. Of course it's all right, because
Judge Campbell says so-, yet I believe
the law. should at least be exactly re
versed. No rich man has any right to
assume the guise of a beggar nor to
garner crusts a decent tramp might ap
preciate. If it is wicked to annex a
discarded and not wholly attractive
scrap of bread when the impulse to do
so comes from a vacant stomach, it is
doubly wjcked when the act can be
traced to sheer meanness. Far be it
frc/m me to encourage the practice
whatever the motive, but I would sen
tence the famished individual driven to
it to a short series of square meals,
but, taking th<? other fellow, dump him
into the barrel, with the less noxious
refuse, head up the barrel and roll it
into the bay.
"Soapy" Smith's desire to be Chief
of Police of Alaska may be merely his
expression of belief in the old idea that
setting a thief to catch a thief is good
detective policy. If there is any virtue
in this scheme it follows that the big
ger the first thief, the quicker the sec
ond will be caught. Then with "Soapy"
in the former role there would be ab
solutely no show for escape. I have
known "Soapy" for many years. There
was never a queerer compound. He is
genial" and generous, enjoys a fight,
pays his debts, gives his last dollar to
whoever wants it and steals the first
dollar the next man is rash enough to
expose to view. I cannot regard it as
probable he will attain the honor he
seeks. He is asking too much. If the
people in a community not beyond the
vigilance committee period refrain from
hanging him he should regard their
consideration as a distinguished favor.
It does not seem to me that Bateman
Brothers are showing the public the re
gard that is due, and even that they
are putting that excellent and benign
body, the Supervisors, to unnecessary
trouble is tolerably clear. They have
been, granted until October 1 of this
year in which to finish their contract
to erect the Hall of Justice. Anybody
who has observed the ability of these
gentlemen not to push the work which
should have been complete last fall,
must conclude that they intend to fin
ish it when, as the crude but emphatic
expression is, they get good and ready.
An extension to next October simply
means that when that month arrives
the Batemans will be in a position to
accept another extension. This involves
useless formality. They might as well
have been given an extension to termi
nate with .'the rolling up of the heav
ens as a scroll. Perhaps I ought to un
derstand why a city tolerates such
foolishness, but I don't. There was
only one proper course to pursue, and
that was to annul the contract the mo
ment the fact became plain that Bate
man Brothers were ignoring its terms,
and exact from them every prescribed
penalty. There is no particular obli
gation to allow the Batemans to hand
down to their heirs and assigns for
ever one certain contract for making
a monkey of a large municipality.
One crime j which ": has gone too long
unrebuked is the use of the improvised
term ■ "Foto." : : . How a ; man who makes
pictures • by- machinery •_ and utilizes the
bleßsed sunlight 7of heaven ; In the proc
! ess can employ this barbarism and ex
! pect nature to smile upon him' has oft
en puzzled me. il may be ; unduly prej
udiced against people I who ■ ; talk : and
i write j by 1 ear. A word, of- r combina
tion of letters, without a pedigree and
! having its origin rin ; the '_;; human I trait
of laziness is ; always . irritating. H It re
minds me of . a broken window stuffed i
with rags .while there is plenty of glass
to be had. ; Recently a 1 photograph gal
; lery in this city was visited by fire. I
I think the explanation simple. A suf
fering I Providence,, .patient :.- *nd long
s - >J -;- ; - v —^
By HENRY JAMES.
!88?8S2S2S$S2SS?288S8SS88S2S3S$S283
forbearing, had taken note of the fact
that in that gallery the "Foto" stalked
shameless ; and unafraid. What else
could a Providence, bent upon perform
ing its duty and possibly under heavy
bonds, be expected to do?
It is always a pleasing thing to see
a good man get his dues, and there
fore I hail with acclaim the pardoning
of Major Moreland of Pennsylvania. If
he happen to find this out he will ap
preciate It, for amongst our mutual
joys Is that of being strangers. The
major In 1896 found himself in posses
sion of $450,000 belonging to somebody
else. The police noted the proximity
of the major to the cash, his clinging
disposition, and made bold to arrest
him. I happened to remark the inci
dent, and as about that time our own
Judge Wallace was sending purlolners
of purses containing 45 cents to serve
twenty years, feared the major would
have to be careful of his diet and not
expose himself to draughts or have dif
ficulty in living long enough to sur
vive his term. But in Pennsylvania
there is respect for the truly great. The
major got three years, as he was tired |
and willing to rest a while. Now that |
he has been in prison two-thirds of the
time he indicates a willingness to come
out, and the Governor accommodates
him. The major made one mistake.
He should have stolen half a million.
I hope he will bear this in mind and
not be guilty of another $50,000 short
age. Such indiscretion for a second
time might be enough to place him be
yond the pale of executive regard and
clemency.
"•God help Spain," exclaimed Admiral
Gherardl. -I hope the solicitude of the
gentleman will be of no effect. It may
be true that Spain will need help, but
she will not deserve it. Besides, if
this country undertakes to lick Spain
it does not want to go against odda
when the situation is naturally in its
favor.
Colonel Mosby is a much older man
than he would have been had he been
hanged at the time he first merited the
distinction. He is entitled now to all
the disrespect due a certain sort of old
age. When the colonel says that Spain
was right in the Virginius affair I take
the liberty of saying he talks as if his
recent accident had knocked out his
brains instead of an eye. He adds that
the United States or England would
have done the same thing as Spain,
wherein he wantonly slanders two na
tions, neither of which has done anything
to deserve it. England may at times
have a strange conception of her rights,
but she does not do more than maintain
them as they appear to her. The United
States, acting on the principle now
advocated by Mosby, would have re
duced her population considerably, and
I do not see how the Mosby feet could
have reached the ground save through
the breaking of the rope. For the
Virginius affair, a matter recently ex
ploited anew in the daily press, there
was no excuse. It was murder, and
the bodies of the victims were treated
to indignities such as might have been
expected had the captors been Apaches.
That the matter was settled on a
monetary basis has been a shame to
America ever since and accounts in
great measure for the Spanish notion
that we are an Inferior people. Colonel
Mosby indicates a willingness to lead
an army against the Spanish, but I
would rather have It led by somebody
else, almost anybody who might be
mentioned. But if war come, and h«
get into hostile territory and suffer th*»
indignity of capture, the vision of his
own head adorning a pole, a jest for
the rabble, may not comfort his last
moments particularly, but it will work
within him a change of heart and dis
sipate the clouds of senility which seem
to have obscured his vision.
If Representative Mahaney of New
York ever comes out this way he can ex
pect at least one newspaper man to
hunt him up and do it with the object
of grasping his hand. Mahaney's at
tack on the heartlessness of the absurd
four hundred who danced merrily soon
after the Maine went down was a de
served tribute to their inutillty, Ido
not suppose they care much. It is not
probable that they read the papers
and certainly the Congressional Record
never intrudes in the sacred realm
where they fritter their lives away.
However, some member of the Guild
of Idleness might stray into the rudo
world, and by seeing a copy of Ma
haney's remarks be led to conclude that
he was not held in high regard, and so
induced to hurry back again.
Some time ago announcement was
made that the Rev. Mr. Wilson was en
deavoring to establish a home for re
spectaßle girls. The plan struck me
as being an excellent one. There ia
no reason why the respectable girl
should not have a home. Undue at
tention seems to be paid to the girl
who is not hampered by the possession
of respectability. She can always find
a home. There are good women in
plenty who are consumed of anxiety to
rescue her and thus win a star for the
crown they expect to wear. I must
confess to a regard for the girl who
has managed to be upright. If she
happens to be without a place of shel
ter she should have a place provided.
It is no wonder as she sees arms ex
tended to her erring sister if she re
pine at her own lot. "feven in this ad
vanced age there should be some con
sideration for the one who still clings
to the rigid idea that there is merit
in being governed by propriety^ But
I do not see anything more about the
projected home. Is it possible that
charity awaits the time when the girls
shall no longer be among the respecta
ble?
Distressing reports come from the
South that there is an epidemic of kiss
ing in Atlanta. Still, strange as it
may seem, there is nothing said about
a panic such as usually accompanies
an outbreak beyond the control of
science, and there is a total absence
of quarantine restrictions. These, if
in force, could not be of the or
dinary kind anyhow. They would have
to be directed, not against attempts
to leave the stricken city, but against
frantic endeavors to break in. No fa
talities have yet been recorded, an in
teresting fact since it disproves the
malevolence of the various microbes
which are supposed to be transmitted
during the process of osculation.
Evidently there is a false impression
extant concerning the integrity of re
porters. Ido not see how this has
arisen. From an experience of yeara
I have gathered the notion that report-
ers are hard to buy. They have many
opportunities to sell themselves, but
they do not do it. I have lately heard
the charge from a lawyer that any re
porter could be bought. The man has
an idea now that he erred, or else his
mind is not subject to ideas. It struck
me as a peculiar charge anyhow, to
come from a lawyer, member of a craft
which is for sale to the highest bidder
always, and not reckoned a worthy
member until worth purchasing. I re
member a man named Johnson, who
was a reporter for me long ago on the
Denver Republican. He is dead now,
but there others of his type. He used
to get very drunk, but in the intervals
was a model of industry. Johnson was
the mining reporter. One day he
heard of a strike in a placer claim near
the town of Boulder and went to see
the owners about it. There were three
owners. One I have forgotten. The
second was a pillar in the church, but
should have been a pillar in the pen
itentiary. The third was a. poor pros
pector who worked while his partners
supplied a grub stake. Johnson found
the first two, but they begged him to
say nothing of the discovery. When
he wanted to know why, thoy ex
plained that the working partner was
in New Mexico; if he heard of the
strike he would want a full share;, if
they could keep him in the dark ha
w >uld sell out for a song. The prop
osition, I am glad to say, did not ap
peal to Johnson favorably. It seemed
to him an attempt at robbery and to
make himself accessory. Then the pal?
delicately broached the subject of a
brlbo. Would $500 be any object? Thia
whh (II J kn**w about it thon. John-
Bon turned In his copy, giving a full
account of the strike. He was wear
ing a Hhfibby overcoat at the time. The
facts were related to me by the "pillar, 1 '
who made a great show of indignation,
but failed to blush, and did not ap
pear to be pleased when I gave him
an opinion as to his moral status. There
are exceptions, of course, Just as there
are honest lawyers; but the reporter
who can be induced by the offer of
money to be unfaithful to the paper
employing him is despised among his
fellows and put upon the same plane
as the upright gentleman who offers
the bribe and shudders at the venality
of the press.
THE STRANGE PART OF IT.
I love to hear a certain learned friend of mine
orate
On our modern institutions and their dire, de
generate state.
When he talks about the drama, how he scores
the coryphees!
And asks how long the public will permit such
things as these!
He speaks of our performers as mere pigmies
in an age
Where there is no chance of viewing real
genius on the stage.
And the plays are less than trifling and the
wit which men should prize
To buffoonery has weakened, which must
needs demoralize —
But he goes to see 'em.
And the novels that are published! How he
puts 'em 'neath the lash
And wonders how the people can endure such
tawdry trash.
The authors and their managers without ro
morse he scores
And declares that they're "pernicious" or "un
mitigated bores."
He vows that they are callow save In cases
where we find
Too much sophistication for the really well
bred mind.
And he wishes for a' bonfire which as sustfn
ance would claim
Most volumes that have been and are becom
ing known to fame —
But he buys 'em.
And when he talks of politics— that's when his
flinty Ire
Into the tinder of my dull Intelligence strikes
fire.
He shows how politicians with their mechan
ism bold
Have quite usurped the places that nt.i'i;.
should hold.
And how Home wily people will by plots and
tunning snares
Rank with the great and righteous Jn the
national affairs.
With scorn he. tells me how these politicians
bad have made
What should be patriotism Into usury and
trade-
But he votes for 'em.
— Washington Star.
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.
SECRET SOCIETIES— E. L. 8.. Bel
mont, Cal. Without knowing the particu
lar society to which you refer in your
communication it is Impossible to give
an answer. The question is not one that
admits of a general answer.
CASINO— M. 8., City. In counting In
casino the rule is that on the last deal
the points must be counted in the follow
ing order: Cards, 3 points; spades, 1
point; big casino, 2 points; little casino, 1
point; aces, i point each; sweep, 1 point.
CALIFORNIA EXCURSIONS— R. H..
New Orleans, La. Round trip excursions
from San Francisco to Yosemite Valley,
including the Big Trees, is $42; San Fran
cisco to Sisßons, the nearest station to
Mount Shasta, round trip in summer,
$14: San Francisco to the Geysers, round
trip, via Napa or via Cloverdale, $S;
round trip via Napa and return via
Cloverdale or vice versa, $8; San Fran
cisco to Monterey, round trip Friday to
Tuesday, $4 50.
POISON TO ANIMALS— X., Blue Can
yon. Cal. There is a section of the Code
of California which says that "every per
son who willfully administers any poison
to an animal, the property of another, or
maliciously exposes any poisonous sub
stance with the intent that the same shall
be taken or swallowed by such animal, is
punishable by imprisonment in the State
prison for a term not exceeding three
years, or by imprisonment in the county
jail not exceeding one year, an;l a fine <>f
not exceeding $500.-' There may be some
local county ordinance in regard to the
placing of poison in the county in which
you reside, and it would be ■well to com
municate with the District Attorney of
your county.
E. H. Black, painter, 120 Eddy Bt. •
A choice present. Townsend's California
Glace Fruits, 50c lb. in fire-etched boxes. •
Special Information supplied daily to
business houses and public men by the
Press Clipping Bureau (Allen's), 510 Mont
gomery-street. Telephone Main 1042. •
Abner C. Qoodell of Salem. Mass., who
has just celebrated his ninety-third btrth
day. Is said to have perfected the design
of the first printing press which- printed
on both sides of paper at once, and he also
discovered the process of preparing steel
ad copper plates fot engravers.
Get a home; $"000 cash and $40 per month for
a few years will buy the prettiest house In
the prettiest suburb of San Francisco. Call oa
R. E. McQlll, 18 Post st.
Don't forget Waller Bros. Gift Day. Feb. 2J,
1593. 33 Grant avenue, corner Geary street.
The widow of the late President Barrios
of Guatemala was Miss Alga Benton, and
was for some time an inmate of the Pro
testant Orphan Asylum of Mobile, Ala.
She afterward became an actress in New
York, and it was during her stage life
that Barrios met her.
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