The San Francisco call. [volume], February 28, 1903, Image 1

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

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HOUSE ADOPTS NEW RULES
CURBING MINORITY'S POWER
TO OBSTRUCT LEGISLATION
Continued on Page 4, Column 2.
STANFORD UNIVERSITY. Feb. 27.—
Oorge T. Cochran, vl. a gTaduate of the
Stanford law school, has relinquished his
law in Calaveras County to ac
cept a legal position under the United
i-tates Government in Manila. Cochran
*.-a.- : . one of the most brilliant students In
the law cchool during his undergraduate
5aye at Stanford.
former Stanford Man Advances.
tiens and motions of celestial objects are
Influenced not* only by the motions of the
objects themselves, but also by motions
of the observer. Including several minor
disturbances, the observer's motion is
mado up of three components:
1— That due to the rotation of the earth
on its axis. The elements of this diurnal
motion are well known, and Its effects
can be eliminated completely from the
observation?. ' « * •
2— That due to the annual revolution of
the earth around the sun. The form of
the earth's orbit is very well known, but
there is at present an uncertainty of from
one-fourth to one-half of 1 per cent in the
size of the orbit. This introduces a slight'
uncertainty In the observer's speed, which
Is troublesome in a few cases. It is hopea
that as a result of recent observations of
the planet Eros we shall soon be able to
eliminate the greater part of this uncer
tainty.
3— That due to the motion of the solar
system (sun, planets and their moons;
through space. The elements of this
motion are not well known. In fact, a
general knowledge of them constitutes
one of the most pressing problems in as
tronomy, and it Is to contribute to the
solution of this problem that the Mills
expedition to the southern hemisphere has
been organized.
HEBSCHEL'S CONCLT7FIONS. -
More than 100 years ago Sir William
Herschel from. a consideration of the ap
parent motions of the . few stars
then accurately observed came to
the conclusion that the solar system
Is moving in - a straight line approxi
mately -toward the constellation Her
cules. This was In. fact one of the
chrewd sruecses for ' which Herschel is
justly famous. . Later solutions made by
other astronomers, uslngthe steadily in
creasing number of observed stars, have
confirmed the approximate correctness of
Herschel's result as to the point toward
which the solar system is moving. They
have, I think, without,' exception, located
this point either in. Hercules or In Lyra.
Nevertheless the various solutions leave
These displacements of the spectra, duo
Xo the -velocities of the stars, are on so
minute a scale that the errors of observa
tion may readily exceed' the magnitude
of the quantities to be observed. Fortu
rately the thorough understanding of the
problem, reached through what have been
bitter experiences to some observers, has
made it possible at the 'present time to
measure stellar velocities with a high de
cree of accuracy. The displacements of
the spectra referred . to, measured with
the Instruments now in use for that pur
pose, amount to only the thousandth part
of an Inch for a- speed of fourteen mllea
per second. Yet we are able to measure
spectrum plates ,very nearly to the one
hundredth part of a thousandth of
an inch, that is, nearly to the
one one hundred thousandth . of an
inch. * The evolution of Instruments
and - methods - and the precautions
taken to. enable us to reach this de
gree of refinement form an interesting
DISPLACEMENTS MINUTE.
The development - of the spectroscopic
method of measuring stellar velocities in
the line of sight of the observer has
Placed in our^ hands a means of making
decided improvements in our knowledge
of the solar motions, since this method is
entirely independent of stellar distances
It Is exceedingly simple in theory, but one
of extraordinary difficulty "In practice It
is based upon the fact, well known to
students of physical science, that If a
Etar Is approaching the observer its spec
trum will be shifted slightly aa a whole
toward the violet from its normal posi
tion, and if the star is traveling away
from the. observer its spectrum will be
shifted slightly as a whole toward the
red end.
have led to the assignment' -of values
ranging from as low as five miles to as
h-gh^as twenty-five miles per second.
aw these solutions were based upon the
observed directions, and changes in the ob
served directions, of the stars, and in
volved assumptions as to the unknown
stellar distances.
JCf^F rOR'K, Feb. 27.— Mrs. Balling
ton'- Booth e'f the Volunteer* of America
has addressed a letter to.the presidents
ef all large railroads. In xvhich she says
In part:*
"I aip an extensive traveler, spending
many days and riights of every month
Jpoa the road, end, therefore, any ques
tion which aSptcts the life or comfort of
passengers or of the brave men ahead
c?mes very closely home to me.
"I have noticed on reading of some
receipt railroad wrecks, as also many in
the past, tbat. the sun-Ivors have had to
the agony of fatally injured
victims," who. pinioned Inextricably be
neath°th© wreckage, have pleaded for
tie-'^elicf of death while uncontrollable
fiaraes have scorched or consumed them.
If 'a duRD^ animal were seen in similar
circumstances we could Instantly end
jts xnisery with a Bwlft blow or a raer-
Vlf ul shot. -*Th!R is not permissible when
the sufferer Is a human being.- whose
hffchly * organized nervous system is
capable 'of still greater suffering.
"Why not equip every train with a
small "case containing chloroform, ether,
stimulants, bandages, lotions for bruises
aLd antiseptic eolations for washing
wounds. These could bV packed in a
very email case and would represent no
very costly outlay. Would it not be an
unspeakable comfort to bystanders, as
well as to the sufferers, if those dying
in pjjposy could be rendered unconscious
by a. few breaths of a merciful anes
thetic' to say nothing of the prompt aid
which could be rendered to those who
iuight yet be saved?"
Eptci&I Dispatch to Tha Ca'l
REFLECTING TELESCOPE. W.HICH WAS SPECIALLY CONSTRUCTFD
FOR USE OF ASTRONOMERS, THE EXPERT IN CHARGE OF THE
EXPEDITION AND HIS ASSISTANT.
Mrs. Booth WouloVEnd
.the Pain of Wreck
: /\ ' .Victims.
"Resolved; That the announcement by
the Speaker pro tempore that said resolu
tions were adopted was in fact untrue,
and that the said James. J. Butler is still
entitled to his. seat in this House, and
that said George C. .Wagoner is not
now entitled to-' the same."
FLEMING IS SUPPRESSED.
Payne, the majority leader, was recog
nized, deepite , the protests of Fleming
that he could not be taken off the floor,
arid moved to lay the resolution on the
table. The Democrats forced a roll call
on .the motion. The motion prevailed— 161
to 106.- -
Cannon of Illinois then asked unani
mous' consent to disagree to the Senate
amendments to the sundry civil appro
priation bill and send the bill to confer
ence. - Reserving the right to object, Rich
ardson asked if by the Republican rules of
the House the bill did not go to the Cora
mitee on Appropriations. • . . -
."All the rules of this Republican
Housed have been and are being sacredly
enforced," replied the Speaker.
"All I ask is the enforcement of the
rules," said Richardson. "I demand the
regular* order."
"The gentleman from Tennessee ob
jects," answered the Speaker, who Im
mediately recognized Dalzell, who; pre
sented the two rules agreed to by the
Rules Committee this morning to expe
dite appropriation bills and to continue
the legislative day of yesterday until
March 4. As the terms of the rules
were read at the clerk's desk the Demo
crats Jeered.
DEBATE WAXES. FIERCE. ~ ',
When the confusion subsided Dalzell,
speaking, in support of the necessity for
the rules.. called attention to the refusal
of the minority to allow the sundry civil
appropriation bill to go to conference —
a request, he said, that had: never
before >been refused in the history of
the House. Amid Democratic jeers and
Republican applause, he characterized
the course of tho minority as a "child
ish proceeding."
Underwood of Alabama taunted the
Republicans with being obliged to make
the humiliating confession that they
were unable to "do business" under the
Reed rules.
Grosvenor (R.) of Ohio declared that
the majority was not abandoning the
Reed rules. It was simply.' doing: Its
duty. • t
De Armond (D.) of Missouri was giv
en five minutes and the entire Demo
cratic side broke into . tumultuous
applause when he arose. In bitterly
sarcastic terms he arraigned the other
side,: ridiculing the^ "pathos" in the
voice of Grosvenor and excoriating Dal-^
zell for his action while'in the chair last
night, declaring that the majority now
had one 'who always could be relied on
to do. that' which no one else would do
CANNON HAS LAST WORD.
Williams (D.) of Illinois was even
more Severe than DeArmond in his de
nunciation of the action of the majority
BUFFALO, X. T., Feb. 27.— Edwin I*
Burdick, president of E. L. Burdick €a
Co. and of the Buffalo Envelope Com
pany, I was murdered early to-day at
his home on Ashland avenue in one of
the finest residence sections of the city.
The theory first advanced, that the crima
v.as tho work of a burglar, wa3 aban
doned as the police probed deeper into tho
case, and to-night, while they claim to
have several Important clews, no arrest
has been made.
Mr. Burdick was last seen alive last
night at 10:30. o'clock, when he bade tho
other members of the household good
night and started for his room, apparent
ly with" the intention of retiring for tho
night. . This morning his body was found
lying on a couch in a small room off the
lower hall, used by Mr. Burdick as a
smoking-room. The body was covered
with a rug and a number of sofa pil
lows. The couch . was saturated with
blood. The head had been crushed with
some blunt instrument.
Chief of Detectives Cusack took charga
of the case. A thorough examination of
the house and its occupants was made
Nothing of value was missing. The out
side door was locked and the spring lock
was In its place when the servant3 got up
this morning. The inner door was ajar. A
kitchen window was partly raised, biu
there were no marks on the snow outside
or upon, tha window sill to indicate tha*
any one had entered there. AH the other
windows and doors of the house were se
curely fastened. This shattered the theory
that the crime was committed by an un
known Intruder.
v Some interesting discoveries were made
in other parts of the house. To begin
with, no weapon could b« found any
where. 1 The body . was clad In only an
undergarment. Tho trousers and other ar
ticles of clothing which Mr. Burdick had
worn were in his bedroom on the floor
above. The bed had not been occupied.
On the- table in the smoking-room the
detectives found a bottle partly filled with
whisky and the romains of a light lunch
eon. Members of the family declare that
Mr. Burdick never partook of the food of
which the' luncheon was composed and
never drank liquor while eating.
In, this connection Chief Cusack gave
out' the following statement:
"From what investigations I have made
I would conclude that Mr. Burdick was
called down stairs by a ring or a knock,
at the door after he was ready for bed.
He evidently admitted some one he knew
well and took the visitor into the den for
a talk and to partake of the luncheon
found there.
"There are some signs of a struggle.
The fact that two of the fingers of Mr.
Burdick's left hand were broken indi
cates that he put up his hand to ward off
r- blow which he saw coining."
. The force with which the blows that
killed Mr. Burdick wepe delivered seem3
to preclude the possibility that a woman
wielded the weapon.
Mrs. Burdick, the murdered man's wife,
left home two months ago with the In
tention, it is said, of not returning. On
December 5 proceedings for divorce were
filed In the County Clerk's office by Mr.
Burdick. It is understood that Airs. Bur
dick went to Atlantic City. What con
nection Burdick's- domestic trouble may
have had with the crime, the police do
not presume to say.
Tho police to-night found a hackman
who carried a man to the first corner east
of the Burdick house last eight about 12
o'clock. After leaving the carriage th^
roan, of whom the police have a gooU
description walked up the street toward
Burdick's hous»
PROPOSES USE
OE CHLOROFORM
FOR THE DYING
During the day Fleming of Georgia, ris
ing to a question of the highest privilege,
sent to the clerk's desk and had read the
following resolution:
"Whereas, It appears from the Con
gressional Record of February 26, 1903,
that by actual count and. announcement
by the Speaker pro tempore, .a quorum
was not present when the ., resolutions
were voted upon declaring that James J;
Butler was not elected and that George
C. R. Wagoner was duly elected a Rep
resentative in the Fifty-seventh j Con
gress from the Twelfth Missouri District,
and that the point of no quorum was duly
raised upon the vote of each of said reso
lutions and that the same .in each in
stance was overruled by the Speaker. pro
tempore, in violation of the "constitution,'
the rules of the House and the practice
of all parliamentary bodies:
ARKAIGNS.THE SPEAKER.
It was agreed on both sides that the
present situation sounded the death knell
of practically everything except tbe ap
propriation bills. The friends of the omni
bus public building bill, who yesterday
threatened to defeat the rules, if they
were not modified to Include their meas
ure, were placated by a promise, which,
it is understood, was given/, that- their
bill would be covered by a special rule to
be brought in later.
" Even with the special rules . in opera
tion, getting appropriation bills into con
ference was a tedious and laborious pro
cess, an eight-hour session and thirteen
roll calls being necessary to get the sun
dry civil, the military academy and the
postoffice appropriation bills into confer
ence and to adopt the conference report
on the Indian appropriation bill.
All overtures from the Republican side
to the Democrats to induce the latter to
abandon their filibustering have been
fruitless and there is every indication that
they will continue their present tactics to
the. end of the session.
seated they would do_
everything in their power to block legis
lation from now until Congress expires
on March 4. The- result- was another
stormy session,, prolonged from 11 o'clock
this morning until 7 o'clock to-night. Roll
call succeeded roll call and- at every pause
party passion manifested , itself In ..bitter
and acrlmlnous denunciation- Two spe
cial rules were brought in to expedite ap
propriation bills and continue the legisla
tive day of yesterday in order to reduce
as much as possible the minority's power
to obstruct legislation. During the debate
on the rules^the Democrats voiced their
condemnation of what they denominated
yesterday's outrageous action of the
chair. The Republicans declared that
they were willing to assume responsibility
for what they had done and explained the
necessity of the drastic rules presented to
day. Dalzell said that unless this course
were pursued the Democrats could, con
sume 137 hours, or twenty-seven legisla
tive days, on roll calls on tne ' Senate
amendments to the appropriation bills.
BLOCKS ALL LEGISLATION.
•rw- iar y ASHINGTOK, Feb. '27.—
la •« / The De ™ ocrats . ct tIle
ffi / i»/ House to-day 'earned out
tlr fir their threat of yesterday
» » that "if Butler were un-
Defeat of Resolution Questioning Veracity
of Spea her One Feature of an
Exiiting- Day.
Wealthy Buffalo Kesi
dent Victim of an
Assassin.
STRANGE CRIME
GIVES SLEUTHS
HARD PROBLEM
STATESMEN , WHO FIGURE IN
THE STORY OF PARTISAN WAR
IX THE HOUSE.
The solution referred to led to the re
sult that the solar system is moving ap
proximately in the direction of the
southern boundary of the Lyre, with a
speed of twelve and a half miles per
second. There is no doubt that this re
sult for speed is very close to the truth;
but it Is reasonably certain that the di
rection of the -motion is somewhat in er
ror. The weakness' of the solution lies in
the fact that the Observed stars are not
distributed uniformly over the entire sky.
The ' region ' from SO degrees south of the
celestial equator, of the south pole of the
sky is not represented at all in the ob-
SPEED OF SOLAR SYSTEM.
The velocities of some four hundred
of the brishtcr stars have In the last
seven years been measured with the D.
O. Mills spectrograph attached to the
great Lick telescope. These stars are
distributed more or less uniformly over
the three-fourths of the sky visible from
Mt Hamilton. Two years ago I combined
the results from these stars In an attempt
to determine the elements of solar mo
tion. It Is evident that while the individ
ual stars have Individual motions, one
moving In one direction, another in an
other direction, nearly all of them appar
ently independent of one another, yet if
the solar system is moving toward, a given
point In the sky the stars In that portion
of the sky will on the average appear to
be approaching the solar system; and sim
ilarly, that the stars In the exactly op
posite portion of the sky will appear to be
moving away from the solar system. Con
versely, If the velocities of the stars in
all parts of the sky be known, ft is pos
sible by mathematical analysis to determ
ine a point in the sky such that the stars
within a concentric area will , have the
maximum velocity of approach to : the
solar system: and in the corresponding
opposite area, a maximum velocity of re
cession; the stars in other areas of the
sky having systematically smaller speeds
of approach or recession.
Cullom then asked for an agreement to
vote on the treaty, but Morgan objected.
It was then that Cullom remarked that
from all he could learn the delay was
for the purpose of defeating the canal and
Morgan replied with his "imp-ln-hell"
simile.
part of the history of astronomy, but
need not be considered here.
"We can consider this treaty next fall
or winter," said Morgan; "there is no
hurry about it."
This remark also caused a sensation.
Morgan went en to say th.it the Senate
could take all the time it pleased In rati
fying the treaty. He declared the New
Panama Company had a pang of lobby
ists both here and in Colombia and they
would, corrupt the Colombian Government
and secure the ratification of the treaty
in order to get their hands upon the $40,
0TO.000 to be paid for the concession.
Oullom then told the Senator from Ala
bama that his present conduct was only
heaping (rouble upon himself and others
here, for If it was his piirppijjffttp^talk this
treaty to death he v,*auld|>«jr" requ»rpd;tu
tome back here a»d -rekew* his : tafk -when
there was more'time at t ho disposal of
the Senate. Cullom remarked that Mor
gan wuold be known as the "father of
the caral" and hia fame was not only
national, but international, on account
of his connection with the great enter
prise. Tt would be too bad, he said, to
destroy the value of years of work con
tributed to the success of the canal
scheme by defeating the treaty.
"I am repeatedly told that I am the
fattier of the canal." said Morgan. "I
don't want to be father to any such dirty
work as this."
Cullom did net make any reply to this
tirade of abuse Morgan heaped upon him.
The Senators were astonished, though
they had heard Morgan employ his vitu
perative powers before.
After Jlorsan' had talked for several
hour?, displaying vitality that surprised
his hearers, Cullon, In a conciliatory tone,
suggested thut, as a full hearing had been
given to all who cared to ' t>peak on the
treaty. a:i agreement should tc reached
for a vote before the session expired:
Morgan refused flatly to agree upon the
time for a vote. t
WASHINGTON, Feb. 27.-"That is as
false as though it had come from the
mouth of an nv.y in heli," shouted Sena
tor Morgan in th" executive session of
the Senate to-day in reply to an Qb'erva
tion made by Senator Cullom that Mor
gan evidently v.as speaking with the In
ttJitlon of delaying and defeating the
canal treaty. Morgan was livid with rage
and his frame trembled as he uttered his
denial.
"I don't take orders from the Senator
from Illinois," he continued. "When T
want somebody to act as my captain. I
will get a man with more mental caliber
and a broader mir.d.'
Special Dispatch to Tli» Cal!
Declares Canal Lobbyists
Are Debauching Two
Capitals.
Likens Illinoisan to an
Imp of the Nether
Regions.
Our knowldge of the speed of the solar
system has been much less satisfactory.
Herschel had almost no Information as
to the distances of the stars; but by mak
ing certain assumptions as to their dis
tances he was led to the conclusion that
the speed of the solar system Is probably
in the neighborhood of ten miles per sec
ond. Other discussions I of the question
an uncertainty of at least ten or fifteen
degrees as to the direction of the motion.
In the neighborhood of San
tiago, Chile. The work of the ex
pedition will be largely technical, yet its
purpose is to contribute to the solution of
a. perfectly definite i.Toblcm.
It is well known that the observed posl-
THE D. O. Mills astronomical
expedition from the Lick Ob
servatory, University of Cali
fornia, will sail from San Fran
cisco to-day, with destination
&y W. W. Campdeth
Director of Lick Observatory.
Morgan, Livid With
Rage, Assails
Cullom,
Astronomers Sail To-Day for the Southern
Hemisphere to Calculate Endless Path
of the Sun and Planets.
STATESMAN'S
IRE AMAZES
COLLEAGUES
WILL DETERMINE WHITHER
SOLAR SYSTEM SPEEDS IN
ITS FLIGHT THROUGH SPACE
Continued on Page 2, Column 4.
VOLUME XCIII— NO. 90.
PRICE FIVE CENTS.
SAN. FKANCII5CO, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1903.
The San Francisco Call.