The San Francisco call. [volume], June 03, 1904, Image 8

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

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8
THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, 'FRIDAY, JUNE 3, 1904.
reason.
A Chicago; ghoul, placed on trial" for an atrocity
committed in connection with the Iroquois fire, went
mad the other day in the courtroom, driven frantic by
the tormenting of a guilty conscience.- Humanity still
has somethingof good to its credit when even intuitively
it will rebel in insanity against the deviltry of. debased
ACCORDING to .the reports of our Consul at
Three Rivers, Canada, the merchants of the Do
minion are about to inaugurate a unique system
for the protection and advancement • of their * trade
abroad— nothing else, in-short, but; an unofficial consu
lar service, which shall be designed to do for their
business interests what the regular consular service of
the empire seems to fail of doing.. The Canadian Many
facturers' Association will, place in every^ foreign city
where Canadian commerce has a foothold p\id business
agents whose duty it shall be to perform all the offices
CANADA'S UNOFFICIAL CONSULS.
When he regained consciousness
after the accident his mind was that of
a child with strong receptivity. On
dlsc'oveting that he 1 could move his
limbs hi imitation of. his medical at
tendant he, crowed with Joy like a
baby and lashed out vigorously, cry
ing with annoyance when his move
ments were restrained.
. He could hot feed himself, get upon
his feet or walk. After he had learned
. Most remarkable psychological phen
omena have been observed In the
case of the Rev. Thomas Hanna of
Jenklnstown, Pa., -who has been un
der treatment in New York after be
ing thrown on his head from his trap.
His Three Selves.
An effort is to be made to induce the police chiefs of
the United States and of Canada to meet in annual ses
sion in San' Francisco next year.- By all means bring the
thief catchers along and have them here at the Height of
the racing season. Our worthy sleuths might then be
introduced to the crooks ; of the continent and the general
public would reap profit and some peace.
FEMALE MASONS— J., . Janesville, •
Cal. The Dictionary of Masonry says:
"The landmarks of speculative Masonry
positively excludes females from any
active participation in its mysteries, but
there are a few instances in which the
otherwise unalterable rule of female
exclusion has been made to yield to the *
peculiar exigencies of, the occasion, and
some cases are well authenticated
where this 'Salique law' has been vio-~
lated from necessity and women have
been permitted to receive at least ths
first degree. Such, however, have been
only the exception which have given"
confirmation to thei rule." In the case
of Hon. Lady Aldworth,* not Adolphu«.
she managed to remove a brick from •
the wall of a room where' a Masonic
lodge, No. 44, of Donerale, Ireland, was
in session, and she managed to learn
all about the first and se«ond degrees,
and when she was' discovered she was
initiated Into those two degrees. She,
being a woman «?f influence and cul
ture, profited by the lessons she learned
by stealth, and thereby Initiation, and
became a good, charitable, second de
gree Mason.- Mrs. Beaton was Initiated •
Into a lodge in Norfolk. England, and
Mme. de Examtralller "was initiated
into a lodge in France.
Townsend's California Glace fruits hi
artistic flre-etched boxes. 715 Market at,*
Special Information supplied' datiy t»
business houses and public men tor th«
Press Clipptn* Bureau (Aliens), 3J» rjZ
LCornla street. Telephone Mala 10U» «7
# ¦
The aged rascal who used the mails of the United
States Government as an implement in his scheme to
cheat gudgeons of their coin in wild-cat mining opera
tions must pass a period of punishment in San Quentin
for his pains. Meanwhile the Federal mails are ¦ still
open and the world moves merrily on. with its burden of
fools waiting to be plucked. A very large part of the
American public insists upon an inalienable privilege of
being foolish. . •
The little army of men who live and have their being
in the remunerative service of the municipality have lifted
their eager voices in loud acclaim and want a half-holiday
every Saturday. It is quite possible that they have speci
fied Saturday to round out a week of half-holidays. The
discernment of more than an ordinary observer is neces
sary to detect a full day's service for a full day> pay in
the City Hall.
The Board of Public Works is exceeding wroth at
what it is pained to consider an inadequate appropriation
to it of public funds for the next fiscal year. This ap
pears to be the first cheerful sign in connection with the
administration of . this municipal department, which on
times without number has indicated an alarming disregard
for the city's money. - Economy or wise expenditure
certainly is not an attribute of the Works Board.
FRASER RIVER SALMON— 8ub.,
City. Fraser River Is in British Co
lumbia, and the law regulating., fishery
in that territory says: "No salmon
shall be taken in any of the waters of
British Columbia between the 15th of
September and the 25th of September
of any year, nor from the 31st day of
October to the last day of. the fol
lowing February, inclusive."
COUNTY OFFICES— S., Naps, Cal..
In California no person is eligible to be
elected^ to any county office who at the
time of election is not of the age of
21, a citizen of the State and an elector
of the county in which the duties of
the office are to be exercised.
WOMEN— S., Napa, Cal. In the
State of California women are eligible
to hold any educational office. - There
is nothing in the laws of the Stats that
says that a woman shall not be ap
pointed to a deputyshlp. -*."-v-
"King Edward has been taken to
task by the London Times editorially,"
says La Marquise de Fontenoy, "for
his altogether too conciliatory attitude
toward the Irish people, on the ground
that it is likely to imbue the Inhabi
tants of the Emerald Isle with alto
gether fallacious ideas and hopes con
cerning tl*e policy of his Government,
and reminding him that, no matter
what his personal sympathies may be,
he is bound by the restrictions incum
bent upon a constitutional ruler, and
that the policy which will be followed
is 'that of a constitutional ministry
supported by a parliamentary majo"b»
ity.' Then the Times proceeds to des
cant . on the unwisdom of his saying
anything either to the Irish or about
then, since he cannot afterward 'de
scend into the arena of controversy to
protest against illegitimate" inferences
from his words to explain away ambi
guities and to correct misrepresenta
tions,' adding that under the circum
stances It is well to avoid giving the
Irish people 'a chance of plunging into
speculations so unfettered by rule.' Un
less I am 'much mistaken, this is the
first time since the early portion of
the reign of. Queen Victoria that the
London Times has ventured to thus
read a lecture to the sovereign. . In
those days the Times was continually
attacking the King's father, the late
Prince Consort, on account of his al
leged unconstitutional influence upon
the late Queen, to whom the abuse
caused much" pain and annoyance. But
since then the Times has always been
the first of the great organs of the
English press to champion the cause
of the sovereign against even any sus
picion of criticism. That the Times
should now have come out in this
fashion against the King is, to say
the least, remarkable."
Calling Dozvn a King.
A sadder and wiser mar»
He rose the morrow morn.
SADDER MAN— S., City. "Sadder
and wiser man" Is. from "The Ancient
Mariner." by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
1798. The lines are: v:'
T Anszvers to Queries.
The thrilling stories which are com
ing home from the war tell of magnifi
cent bravery on both, sides! and ap
parently of deep religious sentiment In
either army according to Its faith.
Much of it sounds strange enough to
English ears, particularly the dedica
tions by the Japanese of themselves to
strange gods. But It was ever thus
in war. Dean Ramsay's famous time
worn story of the two old ladles of his
church is applicable to-day. "Was It
no' a wonderful thing," said one of
them, "that the British were aye vic
torious over the French in battle?"
"Not a bit," said the other, "dinna ye
ken the Breetish say their prayers be
fore gaen into battle?" "Aye," re
turned the first, "b%t canna' th«
Frenchmen say their prayers as
weel?" The reply was characteristic:
"Hoot! Jabberin' bodies, wha could
understan' them ?" — St. James Gazette.
French Prayers Futile.
BAKERSFIELD points with pride to the fact that
there are as many boys as girls in the grammar
grade of its public schools will, this year,
apply for admission to the High School. Heretofore in
.Bak'erafield, as in other cities, the girls entering the
High tchool have been much more numerous than the
boys.
. Why should there be fewer boys at any point who
appreciate the advantages of an education? Why should
the girls a.ee more clearly the good that resides in cul
ture? It is probable that, generally speaking, the boys
and girls have very little to do determining whether
they shall continue to attend school in the upper insti
tutions of learning after they have completed the gram
mar school course. The parents regulate that.
For this reason it is to be inferred that the fathers
and mothers of boys in Bakersfield, in this year of grace,
are wise in- their day and generation. Never have the
-benefits to be derived from judiciously directed study
been more evident.
Applied to the lowest and fundamental condition, it is
easily to be seen that assimilable information and, even
more than that, the habit of thinking in a definite direc
tion makes easier th r e earning of a livelihood. If the
boys leave school when they are very young the very
strong minded may succeed, but the majority are not
as well equipped to struggle with material conditions as
the girls are who remain at their books. In any city
the forward march of the girls into paying occupations
is noticeable. They win place by what they know and
what they can do. They are qualified to become con
fidential clerks, stenographers, teachers, searchers of
records, bookkeepers, and are found later in the per
formance of duties that not many years ago devolved
mainly upon men.
As" to the pleasures derivable from cultivation and asso
ciation with those of kindred mind there need be no
argument. Birds of a feather flock together, according
to an ancient proverb. Knowledge and general mental
refinement unlock so many doors to enjoyment, to
which they are the sesame, that whosoever learns will
strive to learn more. From any point of view, then, the
parents of/Bakers field, who are caring for the minds of
their boys as well as for their immediate /bodily needs,
are doing well. They are setting a good example for the
parents of boys everywhere.
WISE BAKERSFIELD PARENTS.
Sir Thomas Lipton is the generous giver of a cup to
be held as a trophy for the competition of American
yachts in American waters. Sir Thomas is evidently a
believer in the truth that to him that hath shall be giveri.
He can't lift our cup, so he will give .us another. Pos
sibly he wants to show some Americans at least how it
feels to lose. /
Come back!
My little lads, come back!
My little maids, wtth starched frocks; •
My lads, my maids, come back!
The poplar trees are black
Against the keen, lone, throbbing sky;
The tang of the old box
Fills the clear du»k from wall to wall,
And the dews fall.
Come back!
I watch. I cry;
Leave the rude wharf, the mart;
Come back!
Else I shall break my heart.
t .
Am I forgot:
My days as they were not? —
The warm, sweet, crooning tunes;
The Sunday afternoons,
Wrought but for you;
Tho larkspurs growing tall.
You wreathed in pink and blue.
Within your prayer-books small;
The cupboards carved both In and out
With curious, prickly vine,
And smelling far and fine;
The pictures in a row
Of folk you did not know;
Tho toys, the games, the shrill, gay rout;
The lanterns that, at hour for bed,
A charmed but homely red.
Went flickering from shed to shed;
The fagots crumbling, spicy, good, "
Brought In from the great wood;
The Dark that held you all about;
The Wind that would not go? —
Come back, my women and my men.
And take them all again!
Come back!
Come up the still, accustomed, wistful
lands —
The poplar-haunted lands.
You need not call.
For I Bhall know.
And light the candles tall.
Set wine and loaf a-row.
Come back!
Unlatch the door
And fall upon my heart once more.
For I shall comfort you, oh, lad;
Oh, daughter, I shall make you wholly
glad!
The wreck, the wrong.
The unavailing throng.
The sting, the smart.
Shall be as they were not.
Forgot, forgot!
Come back!
And fall upon my heart! - ?.**
— Llzette Woodworth Reese in the June
Atlantic.
The Old Home's Call.
Belasco and Long's "Darling of the
G«ds" is about to be withdrawn at His
Majesty's TheaUr, where it will have
been played for about 150 nights. Tree
will follow it w-Ith several Shakespear
ean revivals, by means of which he
expects to finish up the season.
At one of the chief London music
halls a King's protege is to appear
next week. This is Yvonne Lamor,
w'ho is of Spanish-Irish extraction, and
who will give a sort of musical mono
'-?sue- Mile. Lamor'a kingly protector
was, not Leoj>o!d, this time, but : the
ill-fated Alexander of Servia, When
the actress wan a girl the monarch
came to see her frequently at her fath
er's house in Madrid, "but never al
lowcd # her to suspect his true rank.
Finally. vrith her father's consent, he
««nt. her to the Paris Conservatoire
and then to Frankfort and Vienna. But
aerer, until in company with her fath-
pick: Com-, off. You didn't 'ave a
line In the . papers after Alexander's
show.
Tom: Didn't I? 'Oo said, "Keep
your 'air on," then?
Dick: I dunno.
"Tom: They 'ad it in the Telegrawf,
anyvay.
'Managers, however, have the remedy
for " this eort cf thing in their own
hands. They could snuff it out by the
simple American expedient of number
ins the seats In the gallery and selling
tickers Sor them- Just as they do for
the other rarts of the house Then
It would be simple enough to identify
boo-crs and other no'isy. ruffians and
refuse to admit them after one o.rense.
And th"ls wculd also do away with the
queues of -people waiting in all weath
ers for the gallery and the pit- Here
tofore, however, .the proprietors I Lon
don theaters have been' too penurious
to inaugurate such a reform.
DJck: Why, don't yer remember me
callhV out, "¦'Ow about organized ap
plause?" They've, all got that.
Tom : And I yelled out, "We want ter
get ier bed." It's In all the papers,
Harry: Of course you : did, an 1 so
dial- .
Tom: You did?
Harry: Didn't yer 'ear me? I *eld my
'ands like that and 'ollered fer all I
was worth. ¦
Tom: It was epoch-making, I tell
yer. What '11 yer 'ave to drink?
Dick: Small Bass, please. I say, the
papers 'ave done me proud, eh?
Harry: 'Ow d'yer mean?
IN THE PLAYBOOERS' CLUB.
"boo-ere" arrested at Sir Charles
"Wy'ndham's playhouse the other night
declared that although they disliked
Arthur Law's new play, "The Bride
end Bridegroom," most heartily, they
made a row because an actress who
had pleased immensely In. Wyndham's
previous production was not re-en
raged. The .fact that it Is "booed"
doesn't necessarily mean, either, that
a play is doomed. William Gillette had
a lot of this sort of thing to face on
the first .night of "Sherlock Holmes"
In London, but he played it at the
Lyceum for nearly twelve months.
Perhaps it should be observed that
some 'boo-ere" "boo" as a matter of
conscience. It Is a London first night
custom to "dead-head" all of the house
except the pit and gallery. The "ear
reft students of the drah-ma" seated
fn these r>art» declare that the stalls
and dress circle are in duty bound
to applaud a piece whether It be good
or bad, so Jf the pit and galleries deem
a* play to. I e. the latter t: e *Wieve
in voicing their opinion as loudly as
f^csEibls in order that the dramatic
critics may not be able to write that
the rJiece was favorably received.
Ry the way, Wie writers on theatri
cal matters are. largely to blame for
the abuse, greater even than "booing,"
that has sprung up in London lately.
Tor- some time, mixed up with the
"boos," there have been expressions of
opinion shouted Jrora the gallery and
these sorne of the critics have been
foolish enough to quote. As a conse
quence there is reason for believing
that the kind of Jibes with which
Wyndham was literally deluged the
ether night are now delivered by their
authors for the simple purpose of "get
ting into the papers" — a tendency
which the following skit, published the
ether day, hits off rather amusingly: ¦
'booed" off his own stage the other
evening, it Is being declared on every
land fhat sem>tk!ag must be done to
check this peculiarly Biitish means of
oipre^slr.s disapproval in a theater.
Probably nothing actually will be done.
The "pit-queue" has been threatened
many times with abolition, likewise
the custom of charging for pro
grammes — not to mention the censor
ship and the theater dinner that re
sults in fashionable folk arriving In
the middle of the first act; yet all
these drawbacks to play-going In Lon
don we still have with us. However,
it If rather" amusing to compare the
various opinions that, have been of
fered on this portentous subject since
the affair at Wyndham's. What is the
origin of the "boo" as an uncompli
mentary manifestation j no one seems
tc know, but it is a rare thing for
(he final curtain to fall on a London
production without some boos being
hoard. • And when the pit and -gallery
are really on the war-path, the bovine
pounds /that come from them are ab
eulutely deafening. The "boo," how
ever, may mean anything. Some of the
EEEADQUABTERS OF THE CALL,
> HENRIETTA STREET. COVENT
.'AIIDEN*. LONDON, May 22.— Since
= :r .Charles Wycdham was practically
Specie*. Com-Epor.denee cl Tte Call.
London Theater Xuisances.
"The agony I suffered when I real
ized my condition." says the victim of
this strange\ experience, "was beyond
all words to express. I was one of
two "personalities, but could not make
up my mind which one."
At this stage a most extraordinary
development took place. A third per
sonality, which Mr. Hanna believes to
have been his "soul," gradually estab
lished Itself. In this third state be
was conscious of the two others, and
for a lojig time the new "soul" strug
gled for mastery, finally absorbing the
other states of consciousness. Then
the mind and memory of Mr. Hanna
returned and his cure is now com
plete.
By progressively reducing the hours
of sleep, however, the specialist .at
length succede<Jjx narrowing the gulf
of transition separating the two phases
of consciousness until Mr. Hanna
would pass from one to the other
while awake.
Finally he led a boy life and an
adult life side by side, in the latter
showing himself an accomplished
scholar and-4n the former a child, but
in neither state did he remember his
parallel existence and if he- went to
sleep in one condition he invariably
woke up in the other.
At this stage Dr. Siddis. a noted spe
cialist, took charge of him and his
efforts to make Mr. Hanna remember
his former life were gradually attend
ed with success. First the patient be
gan to dream of his past and on awak
ing would mention names and places
without knowing their significance.
to stand he had to be taught to move
forward, which he attempted to do by
making high steps as if he did not
know where the floor was. Not for.
several weeks did he learn first to talk
and then to read and write.
The stage in olden times was more
closely allied to the church than now.
Thomas Betterton tottered off the Hay
market stage into a grave In Westmin
ster Abbey. He was old and crippled
with gout when he trembled through
his last triumph before a house packed
with great people, and in two weeks
the same great people were gathered
again in the abbey to see the actor go
dumbly through his last part. Here lies
Mrs. Bracegirdle, and here, too, Ann
Oldfleld, her rival for fame. Born in a
tavern, she went on the stage almost
before she was in her teens, and she
grew up a woman with a great gift and
no character. The ready dean of the
abbey found her a place when she died,
and Ann went to her grave as she
would have gone to a play.
One would not, sure, be frightful when or.e'«
dead.
And. Betty, give this check a little red.
Pope makes her say, and the actress
was laid in her coffin decked with Brus
sels lace and wearing new kid gloves.
The preacher in the abbey buried her,
he told the mourners, "very willingly
and with much satisfaction."— London
MaiL BCIHlPlfr - ¦-..—_ <. _
In the same company lies Aphra
Behn, the barber's daughter, who was
the first woman >to live by her pen in
England. She was a notorious and
scandalous person, fit for the court of
Charles II, who used her as a spy, and
some of her plays were the worst ever
acted. She delighted in her wickedness
and rests with the saints.
More bitter was the Insult paid to the
dead when Thomas Thynn was laid in
the abbey in 1632. He was an infamous
man, murdered in' Pall Mall by the
creatures of a Swedish Count who
wanted to marry Thynn's wife, a girl
three times married at 17. The men
were hanged at the scene of their crime,
where Waterloo place now is, and the
assassination is pictured in bas-relief
in Westminster Abbey, where the vil 7
lainous Thynn lies with Chatham and
Dickens and Wilberforce.
There would be room for all our
great men in the abbey if great men
only had been buried there. The doors
in centuries past were thrown open
very wide. The Duke of Buckingham
buried a Scotsman there for no other
reason than that he was his friend,
and on. the funeral day a dog was
buried in.Tothill Fields in public ridi
cule. Thomas Parr, though he did not
write priems, was not a poet, could ad
vance, at any rate, one claim to lie in
Poets' Corner. Was he not the oldest
man alive? That is reason enough,
clearly, why he should lie where
Shakespeare does not lie, and it was
reason enough in his day, it would ap
pear, why he should lie among our
Kings. 'M-j : .
Parr, if the inscription in the abbey
speaks the truth, was 152, and lived
under ten rulers»of England. He mar
ried again it is said at 122 and threshed
corn at 130. He began life as a farm
servant in Shropshire, and would have
died no doubt on his. Shropshire farm
if the Earl of Arundel had not un
earthed him. brought him up to town
by stages and presented him as a "piece
of antiquity" to the King. "What,"
asked Charles Stuart, "have you, who
have lived longer than other men, done
more than other men?" And Parr in
formed the King that he had done
penance in a white sheet when he was
100. Parr was exhibited as a curiosity
at a tavern in London until he died,
and in 1G35 the "old, old, very old man"
was buried in — Poets' Corner! He had
perhaps of.e other claim to the honor
than his years — he adopted the religion
of his ten Kings and Queens. He came
into this world raw, said he to Charles
Stuart, and he saw no good in being
broiled out of it.
John Broughton, if he had ever any
title to a place at Westminster, has
certainly not left it clear to his pos
terity. He was a waterman, who lived
through most of the eighteenth century
and revealed his bent for fighting and
knocking his brother down. He
knocked his brother down so well that
he left his "boat to become a "public
bruiser," and his booth in Tottenham
Court road was the resort of the elite
of the bruiser-loving fraternity. Tou
would have found even royalty there,
until one day when the Duke of Cum
berland backed him for £10,000 and
Broughton lost. The Duke never for
gave him, and though he had made
his -protege a Yeoman of the Guard,
he took away his patronage and left
Broughton to grow rich alone at his
theater off Oxford street. There he
fought ujftil he died and was carried
to his grave by five pugilists appointed
by himself. He has a niche in fame
asUhe father of prizefighting in Eng
land, and it is surely the strangest
claim that any man has ever had for
being honored in the most sacred spot
of English earth, among statesmen
and poets and kings.
It is a strange and startling com
pany that would fill the abbey if its
honored and dishonored dead could
wake up in the night. The son of
Charles Stuart would meet the daugh
ter of Cromwell: "William Pitt would
be standing, it might be. wjth a pugil
ist or a spy; Robert Browning would
be in the company of a writer of dis
graceful plays. Great and little, good
and bad, famous and infamous, meet
-at this shrine of immortalities. The
shelter of the abbey has not always
been so jealously guarded as it is to
day. Here, in the holy quiet of the
cloisters, is a monument to — a prize
fighter! Why it is here probably no
man knows — no man in the v.'orld
knows why some of the people buried
in the abbey should ever have been
there.
Should the Dead Awake.
The management of the Royal Ba
varian Court Theaters sends me an
announcement that the Richard Wag
ner and Mozart festivals in Munich will
run from the 12th of August to the 11th
of September and from the 1st to the
11th of August, respectively. Among
the artists already engaged are Ma
dame Milka Ternina and R. Van Rooy
of New York. '\y
er, she paid a visit to Belgrade a few
months Lefore his death, did Mile.
Lamor know that her munificent
friend was Servia's King. After he
died, she appeared successfully in Vi
enna and other European capitals. She
spent her early years in Ireland,
speaks English perfectly and expects
to make a success in London.
Property rights are Equitable rights, and a jury cannot
pass upon a question of equity. To make such a propo
sition and have it backed, as it was in 1896 and 1900, by
one of the great parties of the country, and to renew it
now, is evidence of the rapid growth of the anti-property
sentiment among the people caused by .the loose teach
ings of the Democratic party since it laid ._aside its
brains. The process has been a distinct advance into
socialism. The motto of that cult is "Property is rob
bery." If that premise is granted, property is not
titled to judicial protection, and allv property rights fall,
including the right of contract, which the courts hold to
be not .only a property right but the foundation of all
property.
A party that has this virus in its blood, as proved by
Mr. Hill's expropriation platform in New York and re
affirmed by this last utterance in Nebraska, is not a
party to be trusted with power in this country. Of
course all good citizens regret that this is so. Parties
are a necessity in republics, and their general purpose
should be so in line with the constitution as to make
personal and property rights safe, no matter which wins.
It is among the political vagaries of the day that Mr.
Bryan's platform. Which makes necessary the destruc
tion of the constitution, attacks President Roosevelt for
disregarding 1 "constitutional limitations." We have often
called for a bill of particulars to back up that charge.
It is one that the Democracy habitually makes. So fixed
is that habit that it denounced Mr. Cleveland, its own
President, for conspiring against the constitution and
striving to destroy that fundamental law. ' The charge
was as little true then as it is 'now. .But evidently that
is to be the campaign slogan of a party which proposes
to destroy every constitutional guarantee of the rights of
property.
Governments are instituted among men to secure the
inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happi
ness. For that the constitution was devised and for
that it is administered. All men have under it the liberty
to acquire and hold property and have it protected.
When that right fails and falls the constitution is a dead
letter. 1
THE Nebraska Democracy set the pace in 1896 and
1900 and proposes to keep it up. In its State Con
vention Mr. Bryan ruled supreme. He wrote the
platform. and took his place upon it, as the leader of the
delegation to the National Convention. This means
that there will be no complaint of a dull time in St.
Louis^when he gets there. He is better seasoned than
in 1896, when he caused such a stampede as was never
before seen in a deliberative body. He retains all of the
gushing and impulsive quality that won his first candi
dacy, made more persuasive by his experience in hand
ling men. With him and Hill, and perhaps Bourke Cock
ran and the" Southern contingent of spell-binders, at
work the National Convention will be as lively as a
swarm of grasshoppers.
In the Nebraska platform he rewrites his long digested
views. He demands the continued issue of paper cur
rency by the Government, and that the silver dollars
shall remain as a full legal tender lien upon the gold
held by the treasury. This monetary programme is lit
tle less offensive than his free silver issue, and in many
respects has equal capacity to disorder our national
finances. He demands a revenue tariff, and proposes a
constitutional amendment for an income tax. The socialr
istic features of the platform of 1900 are reaffirmed.
These include the New Zealand and Australian plan of
government ownership of public utilities and that sys
tem of forced arbitration of hours and wages which has
helped make the Australasian colonies the highest taxed
countries in the world.
The most radical plank is that which demands direct
legislation by the initiative and referendum of course.
The party has been going rapidly in that direction. It
means a complete revolution of our constitutional form
of government by eliminating its representative feature
and practically abolishing its legislative branch. In its
working this plan will finally abolish the judicial branch
also, and leave the executive standing as the sole rem
nant of the scheme of constitutional government so
wisely and carefully devised by the fathers.
This radical, scheme is urged by the cry that the peo
ple are to be trusted, and by frequent reference to Jef
ferson's views on that subject. There is no evidence
that Jefferson ever contemplated such a system as di
rect legislation. He gave many signs of being aware
that the direct rule of the majority, by the plan now
proposed, would terminate the rights of the minority,
and of course thereby end a republican form of govern
ment.
It has been wisely said that Mr. Bryan's plan of di
rect government, consisting of an executive only, charged
with the administration of laws made in the ballot box,
would be a failure, if every citizen were as wise as Sir
Isaac Newton. The plan pieces in harmoniously with
the denunciation in this platform of the\ use of the in
junction to protect property. It is the final dependence
of property rights, as the habeas corpus is the final pro
tection for the rights of person. Mr. Bryan demands
that such issues as are now taken into the courts on
application for an injunction to protect property shall
be decided by a jury. The motive for such a demand
lies in the desire to prevent courts from protecting
property in labor disputes. If, in such a dispute, the
partisans of one side desire to enter upon private prop
erty and confiscate it by forcibly denying its use by its
owner, Mr. Bryan would submit the issue to a jury, of
course composed of the partisans of one side of the con
troversy or of their sympathizers. •
The shipping clerk nearly bit his pen
in two as he saw Mr. Blank shoot past
him to the store room In the rear. Like
a threatening storml cloud the senior
member charged back with an ax
swung at full poise over his shoulder.
There was a crash, a blur of words —
and then they told him about the new
phonograph attachment.
"Tou impertinent hussy, you disre
spectful young bundle of skirts— what
do you mean by—"
"Line's busy; call again."
"Well, no need of getting: so sharp
about it," breathed Mr. Blank, threat
eningly. "If you — "
"Line's busy; call again," came with
metallic persistency.
"Well, .do you think I can't hear
you?"
Mr. Blank's face twitched and the
crimson began to mount up into the
zone of his collar.
"Line's b — "
Now he has just paid the telephone
company for a new instrument.
Rfr. Blank, a sonjewhat irascible old
gentleman who is the senior partner in
a wholesale firm down on Front street,"
had just returned from a ten years'
absence from San Francisco, during
which tfme progress in the arts and
sciences here in the city of the hills
had gone on apace.
On the first day that Mr. Blank oc
cupied the office so long: vacated by
him, something happened.
"Give me Larkln 411, central," Bald
the senior member as he swung round
in his easy chair and 100K the tele
phone receiver from its hook. There
was a pause, a click and then came
the Answer: ••Line's busy; call again."
"But are you sure you got my num
ber?"
"Line's busy; call—" 1 i
"Line's Busy."
of a Consul in relation to trade and whose reports will
be embodied in the trade journals published by the,as
sociation.
The Manufacturers' Association has this plaint to
make as the excuse for their organization of this irregu
lar consular service: "Canadian manufacturers have
found themselves much hampered," says the associa
tion, "by not being suitably represented in foreign cities
likely to prove. trade centers for the Dominion. The
United States consular service, extending of course to all
foreign countries, looks after such matters and thus the
American manufacturer has long enjoyed an advantage
which Canada and even England does not receive, for
the British consular representative is still a diplomat
and not "a business man such as the United States is ac
customed to send out."
The projected move on the part of the Canadian
Manufacturers' Association will be an innovation in the
trade relations existing between British colonies and the
mother country, for it will signify that, the colony feels
justified, by the implied inadequacy of the British con
sular service, in becoming independent of the mother
country in the matter of trade reports from foreign
centers. The power of the association that fosters the
project and the extent td~which the system of paid agent3
is to be incorporated will make practically a rival corps
of unofficial agents to the regular consular system of the
empire. How the champions of the pan-British Zollve
rein in England will view this indication of sturdy inde
pendence on the part of the Canadians is problematical.
It would certainly appear that the merchants of the Do
minion feel able to stand on their own feet, irrespective
of Chamberlain's schemes.
Our fellow business men on the north cannot be
blamed for "going it alone" if, as they claim, the British
consular service is not adequate to fill the needs of
Great Britain and Greater Britain also. The compli
ment the Canadians pay our consular corps may be de
served now, but will be far more appropriate when Con
gress shall have organized our service upon the broader
lines of the merit system lof selection and promotion.
Then our country will have the excellence of British
consular organization, with the added merit of the fine
business practicability that has drawn the envious com
ment of the Canadian merchants.
BRYAN'S PLATFORM.
THE' SAN FRANCISCO GALL,
JOHN D: SPRECKELS, Proprietor • ....,.¦ ; .:. . Address All Commentations to JOHN McNAUGHT, Manager
Publication Office .... .Third and Market Streets, S. F.
FRIDAY ..¦ .-.-. JUNE 3. 1904
MEN AND MATTERS IN
THE FORE AS THE WORLD
MOVES
TALK OF THE TOWN
AND TOPICS OF THE
TIMES