The San Francisco call. [volume], December 06, 1902, Image 1

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

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HILL'S ADVANTAGE OVER RIVALS
MAKES HIM A PREFERRED BIDDER
Army Wishes to Have
- Freer Rein For
V Its Acts, . '
Department Officers
Claim That All
Is Fair.
DEFENDS
OFFICIAL
METHODS
C?oritinued on iPage 3, Oolumn ' l;
by transporting passengers and
freights between . Sari Francisco
and the Philippines for the Gov
ernment; see this . menace' and
make ; no , move" to rnake fast the
business iri sight , for thefnselyes
by bidding competitively when
invited r t6'*do. so by : the Govern-;
ment. ¦> -Why is this? c |-
- This; is the puzzle .that the bus
iness'men{of, this city, -'ho are
largelyi; concerned ¦; on - the;.'^vvn
account; have been. trying Vairily
to solve. "Meetings . Kave. .tTeeri
held -and Tall sorts of r discussions
she would have many millions
more, to which her transporta
tion facilities and. her geopraphi
cal position and the vast military
plant that has been established' at
the Presidio would seem to en
title/ her.
' Suddenly a "dark ¦ cloud has ap- (
peared . in • the . sky. v The removal
of the transport; service is threat
ened/ The' transcontinental lines
terminating 'here; arid the.; stearn
ship lines that "are their . allies and
connections, all having.^tHe ,ex
n«ctation' N df 'making: niuch money
pave taken place. ' Congressional
aid has ' been ' invoked : and ; the
wires between here and Washing-!
ton , have been ' kept hot with dis'-i
patches passing in both y diirec-;
: tions, to ; and \ fro, relative to; the'
; matter of great I public • concern/
[whi9^^^e* r possible|ibss|o^lie,
transport : service/ to ;.this' port. |:
"The ¦transportation men have
given ¦ out no ; facts $ heretofore v in
explanation ; Cof -this '? marvelous
trade phenomenon: . The -Gall haV
Government f^serves the Right
/ T7- HE Government is" to be given preference in .
4 the 'transportation' of passengers and
where, ,in;- the 'hpmiqn\pf:Hhe; officer], or} zgeht ofi_
the Quartermaster! s.Departtncjii, a military ex-;
¦ igency exists : therefor requiring, such] preferences
.in \ the 'interest* and- economy of J the service'. ¦'.•', . ¦
yT> ALL BUREAU, 1406
'M, ' G . '"STREET, 'N. W.,
WASHINGTON, 1 Dec.
" J 5;— The. War -Depart
ment officials; referring to" the
contract -for. carrying "troops and
freight for the Government to the
Philippines,^ for • which the de
partment invited" bids, say that
the specifications providing for
the resumption 'of the transporta
tion business, by .the Government
itself' at.any time were included
for the .reason that 'in time '..of war
or other emergency the Govern
ment might be /compelled to use
its own trans.ports,:in.addition to
the ; ships.of private concerns with
which it might; have contracted
to. do the business.
. : *The War Department \ should
•be free, 4hey say,' under such con
ditions to "command absolutely
the transportationof soldiers and
supplies and ' riot be tied up .with
an ironclad contract which would
place the'' department at the' mer
c'y of private_liries at a time-when
the facilities of ttieir service might
prove wholly "inadequate : to 'the
TEXT OF STERN PROVISIONS.
Transports Held Free to Re*
sume Business at Option.
\J OTHING in any. contract, made for service
} •* y ' herein specified' shall be soconstr'uecllasto
limit or abrogate the-righi [of the \ United States
to use any owned, ship' for service whenever, it may
.be deemed in the interest [of \the United States so
to do'. '..¦'.- ."*• : ' •"• : 'J- \
HONDTJBAS IS NEXT
WITH A BEVOLTJTION
Sierra Insists on Enjoying the Presi
dency and Bonilla's Partisans
Are Threatening^
PANAMA. Colombia, Dec 5.— A revo
lutionary movement Is threatened In
Honduras, j General Sierra has been in
duced to refuse to turn over the Presi
dential .power to Senor Bonllla,' who was
elected President In' October.
It Is believed that the Honduras Con
gress will try to declare the last election
illegal and Senor Bonilla's numerous par
tisans threaten to protect their leader's
rights by force If necessary.
CONE OF MONT PELEE
APPEARS INCANDESCENT
Volcano on Martinique Boars Con
tinually and Vessels Are Cau- .
tiered to Keep Away. .
POINT- A-PJTRE, Guadeloupa, Dec. 5.—
Mont Pelee, on the Island of Martinique,
has resumed its dangerous activity. Pro
fessor La Croix, in a bulletin - published
yesterday.says . that the previously devas
tated zone cannot be approached without
~ "rii. The volcano is . emptying ashes,
which rise as high as flve miles. Rum
blings are heard dally. The central cone
-.'ippears to be Incandescent, falls fre
quently pad is formed anew. Passing
ships are cautioned to keep* far from
thore.
SOME WHO ARE MOVERS IN NECOTIATIONS FOR IPHILIFTINE'S- SERVICE.
"With this Idea the King this evening
again summoned Senor Sagasta to a con
ference. On leaving the palace the e'x-
Premler said that the King declared that
he would announce his decision to
morrow.
MADRID, Dec. 5.-The Cabinet crisis
continues. The King has given an ex
haustive hearing to the views of all the
political leaders, showing himself ac
quainted with the details of the situation
and apparently anxious to avoid a dis
solution of the Chamber which, owing to
the divided state of the Liberal party; is
regarded in some quarters as Inevitable.
Political Leaders Explain Their At
titude to the Young Spanish
King.
ALFONSO IS ANXIOUS
TO AVERT THE CRISIS
s/ JT IM " HILL has a
M secret under
a S standing w.it h
**-^ some one in the;
War Depart
ment of. the United States
that enables him, as "a
business* man,* to bid fpr
carrying officers, .troops
and 'freight's- for the Gov
ernment to the Philippines.
The wily I transportation
magnate, whose, name is
synonymous with shrewd
ness and enterprise, has
found a' way to get in
formation which has been
denied to Sari -Francisco.
Why he has the full flood
of knowledge, for his own
use and benefit, while this
city has been treated s6
that its transportation
lines have not deemed it
safe to bid while existing
conditions remain, may be
another story.
At stake is the transport ser
vice which has been of such great
advantage to the -city by : the
Golden Gate. The conclusions
concerning Hill and the : advan
tage he has gained/ which are
mentioned in the foregoing, are
harbored by the shrewdest men
of business in this city, and the
evidence would seem to be very
convincing. v >
On the face of things/the situ
ation must appear to the most
careful observer to -singular,
to say the least. ] San Francisco
has reaped millions of [dollars
from the golden harvest that the
institution of the transport ser
vice between the Golden Gate and
the Philippines has. brought her. 1
A fair expectation has been that
San] Francisco Gets
Only Very Vague ;
iPointers. .
IS TOLD
COVETED
SECRETS
Reichstag Prepares a
Resolution Aimed
at Uncle Sam,
CALL BUREAU, 1406 G STKHi-LT, N.
W.. WASHINGTON, Dec. 5.— When tha
fast approaching crisis between Vene->
zuela and Germany and England, who are
preparing to coerce the South American
republic into payment of her International
obligations, arrives, the moral Influence
of the United States will bo thrown to
ward a peaceful settlement of the difficul
ties. •_•«¦•
While there Is no objection on the part
of .this Government to a forcible collec
tion of the debt on the lines of procedure
already - proposed by Germany, there la
a strong feeling here that the United
States would do well to go* far in using
its good offices to avoid ,r the Imminent
Imbroglio. ....
.With powerful fleets K of German and
English warships hovering outside Ven
ezuelan ports, international complications
might easily be precipitated by a blun
der on the part of a commander. The
South American situation, Involved as It
is "with the Monroe doctrine, Is extremely
delicate and an international blunder, even
though followed by no serious results,
would be harmful to the policies of tha
United States. ...
. Never in the past bias the Monroe,doc
trine been encroached upon. It has been
¦ threatened-. enee^^t^e^&SlTTretlcIel!?
Cleveland feund It necessary to warn
England. It Is felt here that should the
Monroe doctrine be violated even" In mis
take it would be weakened. /'¦• .
As Herr von Holleben, German Embaa
sador, outlined in his note, the method of
procedure will probably be the posting c *
an ultimatum, probably a Joint one by
Germany and England, followed If un
successful by a peace blockade of ports,
and again followed, if that is 'unsuccess
ful, by the seizure of custom houses and
the collection of duties to the extent of
the International obligation. The posting
cf an ultimatum would probably be fol
lowed) by a severance of diplomatic re
lations.
If the United States exerts Its moral
influence, it will probably be done
through United States Minister Bowen at
Caracas. At the present time It Is felt
here that President Castro' win come to
terms and promise payment of the obli
gations if Germany and England enter
In earnest upon their programme of co
ercion. His note to Germany, which was
rejected at Berlin, It is thought, was a
feeler. . •
demands of the situation.
It was claimed also that in case
of the necessity of the prompt
shipment of large bodies of
troops and supplies to the Philip
pines it would be of highest im
portance that the Government
should have transports of its
own at its immediate disposal and
not be compelled to rely on pri
vate parties whose * ships might
make infrequent trips and be in
sufficient in capacity and equip
ment to do the work. For this
reason the Government decided
to retain possession 1 of its trans
ports in case the ( contract was
awarded to private parties. It is
denied here that any element of
doubt entered into the terms of
the contract, bids' for which were
recently asked.
It is declared that bids were
widely advertised and that the
Seattle company had no advan
tage in responding to them not
possessed by any other concerns
that '. desired to compete.
• Secretary Root will doubtless
give his final decision iri the mat
ter of awarding the contract op
his return to' Washington next
week. / -
'J. J. Hill of the Great North
ern and Paul Morton of the Santa
Fe are both here working indus
triously. Morton is trying to otn
tain readvertisement forbids. He
expects' to get the contract. He
has the powerful backing of New
England Senators , Hale, Frye,
Lodge/ Hoar, and Platt of Con
necticut. .
Liberal critics point out that if the
above leads to a tariff war Germany will
get worsted, since the United States is
able to get manufactured goods from
England and France which Germany is
now supplying, whereas Germany must
have American raw materials, petroleum,
etc
The majority parties introduced an
amendment to the rules designed to fur
ther suppress obstructionists by limiting
all kinds of questions of order to five
minutes and also empowering the presi
dent to refuse the floor at his discretion
to members wishing to speak on such
Questions.
The Conservative papers have been re
viewing the history of American parlia
mentary practice, showing how filibuster
ing has been wholly eliminated from the
Hovse of Representatives.
The proceedings to-day were measurably
quiet and confined to hearing verbal re
ports of the work of the members of the
Tariff committee.
The House adjourned to Tuesday, owing
to Monday being a Catholic holiday.
nctJca .privileges will - be dibcontlnued -in
its case when the general commercial
treaties are renewed.
The resolution asks Chancellor von Bu
low, before renewing the commercial
treaties, to serve notice on any country
not giving German goods fair reciprocity
treatment that the existing most favored
Baron Heyl von- Herrenshelm. Count
von Kar.itz and Baron von Wardorff, to
gether with sixty-four Conservative, Na
tional Liberal and anti-Semite members
of the Reichstag, introduced a resolution
to-day directly aimed at the United
States.
BERLIN, Dec 6.— The reason th« Gov
ernment came to terms with the majority
parties In the Reichstag- on the tariff bill
was because it learned that Russia was
going to denounce the commercial treaty
before the year ends, hence the necessity
for getting the tariff bill passed as quick
ly as poEsible, in order to have a basis
on which to negotiate a new treaty. The
Government was also anxious to get the
treaty ratified by the present Reichstag
and remove the tariff and. treaty ques
tions from the realm of practical politics
before the general election of June. In
order to do so more effectively indica
tions point to the Government's intention
to bring up some military question like
the appropriation for the Improvement of
the artillery, on which the election fight
vrlll be made.
United States Is Beady
With Moral Ini. ;
fluence.
Venezuela Difficul
ty Now Nears
the Crisis.
May Discontinue
Favored Nation
Clause.
TARIFF WAR
THREATENED
BY GERMANY
UNCLE SAM
MAY INSIST
ON HARMONY
PRICE FIVE CENTS.
VOLUME XCHI-NO. 6.
SAN; FEAKCISCO; ; SATUKDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1 1902:
AN EXPLANATION is* this morning furnished why the transportation lines having: termini at this port failed to bid for trans
porting ttie : army/passengers and army freights between San Francisco, and the Philippine Islands. The specifications that
were issued by the War Department were so vague that no . business man, in the absence of additional information, would enter
into a contract with; the Government for the service proposed. J. J. Hill, who made _Va bid— the only ..'one—for doing the Govern
ment's work, is a business man. The inference is plain that he knew what
was left in the dark on all essential points. The omissions in the^information supplied by the army officers to San Francisco
are so obvious that they will occasion surprise . this morning in the business c^mmuhityi which is -vitally concerned. '
The San Francisco Call.