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TUESDAY The San Francisco Call JOHN D. SPRECKELS Proprietor CHARLES W. HORNICK .'. -General Manager ERNEST S. SIMPSON * . . . .Managing Editor ;i > Address All Communications to THE SAN FRANCISCO CALfc Telephone "Kesrar S«"— Ante for The'CalL' The Operator "Will Connect Yon With the Department Ton' Wish. \u25a0 \ ' . BUSINESS OFFICE Market and Third Streets, San Francisco Open Until 11 O'clock Every Night in the Year. EDITORIAL. ROOMS , • -- • • '•'. .Market md Third Streets MAIN CITY BRANCH '\u25a0• .1671 Fillmore Street Near Post OAKLAND OFFICE— 46B 11th St. (Bacon Block) . %&s£?£££?% 2375 ALAMEDA OFFICE — 1435 Park Street ...Telephone Alameda 559 BERKELEY OFFICE — SW. Cor. Center and Oxford-. Telephone Berkeley 77 CHICAGO OFFICE — Marquette Bldg. . C. George Krogness^ Representative NETS' "SORK OFFICE— 3O Tribune Bldg. . .Stephen B. Smith, Representative WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT Ira E. 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CRIMINAL NEGLECT OF DUTY BY BANK COMMIS SIONERS IT will scarcely admit of doubt that the bank commissioner who made the. last examination .of the California safe deposit and trust company knew it to be insolvent at that time, nearly a year ago. Whether such knowledge can be brought home to' him as matter of legal proof is uncertain, but it will not be dis- j puted that an effort should be made to have him punished as the law directs. Under section 7 of the act creating the bank commission, any commissioner, having knowledge of the "insolvency or unsafe con dition*' of -a. bank, who neglects to report the fe"ameto the attorney general may be fined $10,000 or imprisoned for two years in the \ county jail. The bank commissioner who neglects^ his duty in ! this regard is. in fact, a more "dangerous member of society than; even the reckless financiers who destroy a bank. The commis- ! sioner is paid a salary to. prevent just such financiering, and there] is no mystery about his work and no difficulty in compelling! bankers to follow legitimate methods*. The commissioner who 1 ; examined the insolvent bank found that it was engaged in reck-: less speculation, using depositors' money to finance a score of industrial schemes, some of them visionary and all more or less speculative. That is not the business of a bank and the facts- should have been at once reported to the attorney general. The fact is that the commissioners have disobeyed or ignored the law in a dozen different ways and it is time to bring them to "a strict accounting. They are as much. responsible for the failure \u25a0of the safe deposit company as are the bank officials. The law requires banks to furnish to the commissioners at least three times a year full reports of the condition of their busi ness, including their loans" and investments in stocks and bonds, specifying the nature of these securities." In past years it was the custom of the commission to publish these reports', with full sped licatjons of the nature of the collateral held by the bank as security for loans, but this practice has- been abandoned, notwithstanding the express injunction of the law that requires publicity for all proceedings of the commission. It is clear that if a report of the California safe deposit and trust company had been published a year ago, with full specifications of the collateral security held for loans, the insolvency of the bank would have been i manifest on inspection of the report. The commissioners preferred to let the concern go to smash at a time of financial stringency' and after increasing vastly, the line of deposits carried. The commis sion is responsible for- losses made by all depositors 1 who ventured into the trap set for them by the bank officials, with the full con nivance of the commissioners 1 . It is an unfortunate fact that the newspaper press -and the honest bankers of the city are in some degree responsible for the neglect of duty by the commission. Newspapers, out of a mis taken policy of tenderness for banking concerns, have not insisted on the kind of publicity that the law directs and requires as the one condition of financial safety. Honest bankers have followed the same course lest they should be charged with business jealousy and malice: The result is disaster. Xo kind. of banking that will not bear the light of full pub licity should be permitted for an instant, and the state official who neglects his duty to give that publicity should be punished to the THE APPOINTMENT OF A RECEIVER TF it shall appear that the California safe deposit and trust com- Jpanymust go into the hands of a receiver . certain imperative considerations govern, the; choice of the man selected : for that very responsible offrce. If some feasible plan can be devised by the depositors, who are the real parties in interest, to resume or take over the business of the bank^ that would,' be -best oiE all, but in the absence of such a solution of the difficulty the selection of a competent and trustworthy receiver is a matter of the highest importance. ' It has been in the past the practice of courts to treat such appointments as 1 political patronage.-.. The. : .gross- scandals attended the receiverships, of the McDondld banks' in' the : years following the crisis of 1893 were directs results of; this vicious practice. -. ... ' .-[-,.\u25a0'' In .the light of that experience the - choice of a receiver for ; the California safe deposit and trust company will be closely. scrutinized by the public. The receiver, for one thing, ought not t6 be a poli tician, nor should he be a business man in any way connected with the management that has brought this, bank to ruin. The wisest plan and the one least open to criticism will "be to allow : the depositors- to make their own choice. "They are the chief parties, in interest and should be consulted first. PROOF OF PULLMAN COMPANY EXACTIONS THE announcement that the Pullman company will shortly declare* an extra dividend, distributing $30,000,000 accumu lated surplus, throws a bright light on the plea made by rep resentatives of this corporation for a reduction of. its assess ment and taxation in California. Including the $30,000,000 'thus to be distributed, the company will have paid a grand total of $191,000,000 in dividends on an origina^capital of $36,000,000. The . simple statement of these - f actsj is sufficient proof that the corporation charges exorbitant and . unreasonable rates for EDITORIAL PAGE public service, and doubtless the interstate commerce commission will act- on the information as soon as the federal courts decide that the company is a common carrier. There^ is little doubt ihat {he decision on this point will go against the , corporation." The present dividend "is; the 1 second distribution of '<> 3. swollen and unwieldy surplus made by the Pullman - company. Eight per cent dividends have been paid every year since 1867; and, notwith standing these -liberal returns 1 ,- the company found §18,000,000. ( in the surplus, of 1898. fTh 1899 the company -absorbed the '-. Wagner corporation, with a capital stock , 0f 520,000/300, which was added to the Pullman capitalization. The usual 8 per cent dividends were paid on the increased capitalization, and now the company finds $30,000,000 on hand and undistributed. The facts speak for themselves. .'.",- . '. . / A':'S:. IN Ohio, where they do politics nights and days and Sundays. 1 , /off years and on years, the* Foraker alarum is already sounded, and. in a week orilen-days the big secretary of war will be on the ground to make his own campaign. Foraker's recent attack on Taft and his declaration of his own entry for the presidential race will scarcely be regarded as other than malicious. Foraker can not be nominated, but he may, be able to injure Taft by dividing the Ohio delegation to the national convention.. From the begin ning" Foraker has wanted a compromise with Taft on the basis of a division of honors. He was to go back to the' senate and Taft would be given the Ohio delegation. The " Washington corre spondent of the Boston Transcript gives some inside facts bearing on these negotiations*: / It was such a proposition which Senator Crane carried from foraker. to Taft last spring.^ The answer of the secretary of war: was ;' that- the presi dency was too high an office '- to- be bargained for in that way ; that . he was not opposing the re-election of Senator Foraker, nor , vvas J .he indorsing the election of Representative Burton toVthe ' senate; that . he ; refused to \u25a0 'pur chase" the. indorsement of Ohio:- by making any siichdeall Secretary Taft has never been implicated " in -. a : fight . to , eliminate - Senator Foraker; ; the sentiment in favor of elimination ; has come from the 1 people of Ohio; it is the firefrom the rear which has forced the, senator into the open. Such - is the way of the politician— addition, division and silence. Taft would have "none of . it. Three times he has declined elevation .to the supreme bench in order that he might •make the fight for a continuation.o f the Roosevelt policies in the presidential chair.: Some of his" friends have suggested to him that he was making a mistake. to. champion so vigorously , the Roosevelt policies. Again that' is the way of the politician. He fears- nothing so /much as- the outspoken "support of advanced measures. Such things make enemies/ In the politician's- view the way to office is like making a sneak. r • is; different and to the advice " of his cautious friends he replied.: . •"I am i in this fight because I believe with- all my heart ' in exactly,: the same "principles for 'which 'the president is lighting. , \u25a0 I propose \ that the people of this . country shall know that, if elected; president, I shall continue; my fight for those prin ciples and" shair carry fqrvvard.the priaciples with;, which this.admin istration has been /associated." . " ;'' , That is, the way a' brave ; man speaks, whvor lose. Tried talking through *ybur,. chest yet?- ' .?'.'\u25a0\u25a0;'\u25a0 : \u25a0•'-.'•"-\u25a0..,'\u25a0,\u25a0• -' : <% "Sell the publicand- occupy, a cell" is what some bankers " are - mournfully saying to themselves. 1 .' ; . The Bryan donkey* threatens to rival the' Fairbanks cocktail las "a ; means of killing a boom v by i . : ridicule." ' It ; may be .that ; a; sense of shame at \u25a0 last .;hasv.been^ awakened^ in ;."Big^' Jim, Gallagher, .'and he is i traveling incognito. ; The ideal man ;has been? described by 75 • seminary/, young ladies.; ;The standards: set aje\very;high';:but. there is ; ho,doubt that,'; as : time- passes, 1 some of : them -will , be iwillirig- to * take > just a -man., -^..r : : ' --:--: Cue for ihb Croakers TAFT AND FORAKER NOTE ANP COMMENT 'An ex prize fighter has been made pastor " ; of _ a ;; Nebraska i church. '-. Some straight«.frorfi the: shoulder ; sermons should' result." v- : : -.. \u25a0 " Socialists in Goldheld hissed the name of President^ Roosevelt, -'. Decent people 1 will Task' no better recommen^ datioh' for'him.' ~ : V A TELBPHOXE QUEEX ; .Western'Texas' is : proud" of Mrs. ; An ney.; McElroy > Brett, i^woman-" promoter.' Today she iis the telephone queen of the southwest.'; - She pis •; president y v of '_ r.the Southern 1 Independent' 1 telephone ; arid telegraph company, > and ;\u25a0 president land genoral mariagerJofitho^Brett^ construe-* tlori, ; telephone \u25a0 ahd|telegraph • company. These 7 companies;^; representing i> more thanfhalf ja^mllllohxdpllars'^werejor^ her' without a dollar' of capi ta^to start with:— Exchange.- ' - Answers to Queries DOUBLE PEDRO-^A. J. S., City. ' In the absence -of -any agreemeht in the game of double pedro as to who is en titled to , a pedro that may have been accidentally discarded it belongs to the player who makes the bid. HUNTERS' LICENSE -- a H. D., Berkeley, Cal. The state law of Cali fornia relative to Jflmter's license says: "Every person in th& state of Califor nia who hunts, pursues or kills any of the wild birds or animals protected by the laws j of: this state without first procuring a license therefor is guilty of a misdemeanor." The provisions of the^law-do not apply to any person who hunts on his own lands. THE RING FINGER— A. N. 8., Oak land. The wedding ring is almost in variably placed on the fourth finger of the left hand because many cen turies ago the Egyptians believed that a certain small artery proceeded di rectly from the heart to the termina tion of that digit. On this subject there is the following in "Attick Nights'*: "The motion of this artery may be felt by touching this finger to the pulse,-, it being . an- index. In case, of siokness or where persons are weary or overlabored, .always S informing when the heart is. overburdened or offended. This; finger, rarely- hath gout on'account of the sympathy and neighborhood it hath with- the heart. /It is the first finger that a new born babe Is able to move and the last, of which a dying person loseth control. -It is also the one last to swell -when the vital heat Is abating in*.one that is passing over." MOABITE STONE — A Subscriber, Oakland, Cal. The Moabite stone is a slabof. black basalt, 3 feet 8% inches long. 2 feet 3% inches wide. 1 foot 1.78 Inches thick; bearing ;a long inscrip tion in j Hebrew-Phoenician letters ; dis covered by M." Klein of; the British mis sionary society at Diban.;lß6B. It ap pears;; to ! have been erectediby Mesha, Jiing ; of Moab, mentioned in II Kings, vii. The inscription ; refers to his • wars with Israel- (B. C. tenth century). 'Its date ; may be ; taken as about 890 B. C. The negotiations, set on foot for the purchase of this' stone led to quarrels among ,the Arab tribes | claiming an in terest in it. During/one of. these quar rels the; slab; was broken -to pieces. The fragments' were, .", however,'; with considerable 'difficulty rejoined and | are now. preserved in the .Louvre, in Paris, France.' It is an interesting,; and, from the - standpoint of historians, : valuable relic v "..'.--. ' ." .- -,- MISTAKEX H For six years a' bitter feud had existed between the*. Browns and Rob insons,:: next .door neighbors.-.;. The trouble originated^ through ; the depre dations of Brown's cat, and' had grown so fixed*: an ' affair. :that:. : neither party ever dreamed' of -."making : up." - : One day, } however, Brown sent his servant next-door: with -a "peace; making note for -Mr.' -Robinson;' 'which read:' ; - "Mr. : ,- Brown,* sends 'his "compliments to ; Mr.;' Robinson,' and begs tQ say that his. old cat died! thls. : mornlng." : Robinson's \u25a0 written . regly ), was : bitter: "Mr.".:; Robinson • is ;\u25a0 sorfy ? to bear of Mr.^Brown's \u25a0 trouble, \u25a0 bburt r he \ had nn t heard ':\u25a0 that y MrsV Brown " was ill."-^-Tit- Bitso' • -.-: .-•-•"; \u25a0 -\u25a0\u25a0 - ' v. -. UNIVERSAL \u25a0LITERATURE ;: "Kipling's selection, for the -Nobel prize-Is not only the choice of the first Engllshman^on .'the:: list -during seven years.of , trial;- it Is the first: acceptance of * English-speaking. standards. • Of the seven -who have .preceded - him . in j the prize only .one^Sienkiewtcz,; is generally read ; ; here or in ; England. ?-' Carducci Is a poet/u Italian;- {"and" Italian alone? / ; So Sully Prudhomme = was ' French' alone "in his <i acceptance. rSMohjinsen is a his torian- read in \u25a0- all Hands,* but ' German in everyj page. Bjorsen.^Mistral^and > Bche gary,^ these ? all< are; men; i Norse.^of ; the French' Midi and j Spain. iNo'man'.reads or J knows •; them .* beyond ' j their -.tongue and*lahd.':;'::Kipliiig'siflction- is. univer sal.—Philadelphia'Press.* DECEMBER 10, 1907 THE INSIDER Narrates a romantic episode of the days of '59 when the .hand of a beautiful woman was the prize in a contest for the speakership Romance of the Fight for Speaker j you: It was in the winter of '59, and William C Stratton of Placer county and ; Charles R. Street of Shasta were rivals for the speaker's chair. They | were also rivals for the hand of a beautiful woman who had gone to Sacra i mento from New York. No one knew much about her except that she engaged rooms at George Newcome's hotel,, the Orleans, and had a crowd of -admirers soon. Stratton "and Street were the favored worshipers at her shrine and many a time she said she wished she knew which she loved the I best. ".. Finally she announced that she would accept the hand of the one ; who won out as -speaker. There was an exciting contest, which was won ;by Stratton, who married the lady from New York. Street consoled hi 3 J wounded heart by marrying Rowena Granice, an actress." Merry Afternoon at Bohemian Club Warren Stoddard gives an interesting account of a merry atternoon spent at the club's old quarters on Sacramento street. The gayety wa"^ started by Herr Muller of the Fabbri-Muller company, who played "Dixie,'* "Hail Columbia" and "The Last Rose of Summer" on the piano in such a manner that "the three songs were disintegrated and hopelessly mangled; recogniz able fragments came to the surface as the various' components of a salad appear,' only ' to disappear in a moment during the process of making and mixing. Sometimes we were regaled with several familiar bars and these we seized upon, as a drowning man his straw, only to be submerged in a maze of melody where floated, the flotsam of the triple theme with which Herr Muller was toying 'as a juggler toys with a bottle, an egg and a cannon ball as he keeps them revolving in the air. . . . At the conclusion, where the three themes seemed to have been braided or blended into one harmonious whole, our .cheers could have been heard a block away above the city's din. Then Tommy Newcomb, the first president of the club, rushed to the side board and, seizing a colossal bottle of champagne— it must have held a gallon and had been reserved for the great occasion that should strike 12 without a doubt — opened it, and the rest of the afternoon was ours and all went merry as a marriage bell. That was Bohemia in its infancy. It was a mighty promising child and no mistake." Stoddard tells of meeting : Colonel Richard Henry Savage, Archibald ClaveVing Gunter and others then unknown to fame, and of later day meet ings, with Rudyard Kipling and Robert Louis Stevenson. Of the latter he says that "when in his Samoan garden weeding — weeds grew knee high in a night iii summer land — he was forever framing sentences, and those that especially pleased him with their grace or beauty he would jot down on little slips of paper and reserve for future use. . Sometimes, perhaps, it _wa3 but a single word, or two or three of them, that caught his fancy." Of Kipling he- says:^ :;•;-'• "I have lounged in *Rudyard Kipling's den at Brattleboro, Vermont— before he deserted America for England — and seen him at his work. He sat at his table in a revolving chair. I had a book in my hand and said nothing unless I was spoken to, for I was enjoying a great privilege that was granted to no one else but his wife. He would write for a moment, per haps for 10 or 15 minutes at a time; if he was writing verges he would hum very softly, to himself an air which probably kept the rhythm in his mind. When writing prose he was silent, but often he would lay down his pen, whirl round in his chair and chat for a while. - It might be. something relating to the subject he was treating, or bear no relation to it .Suddenly he would- wheel back again and his pen would fairly fly over the paper. He can easily concentrate his thoughts and as easily descend from cloud land to the commonplace of the day, though ' in his mind and on his lips nothing is ever 'commonplace.' Some .61 his poems he has written ..when speeding'in a Pullman car at the rate of 6p^miles an hour." ', : Origin of Some Motices on Coins "I suppose you don't remember how it first happened to be placed on a coin, do you?" he asked. I pleaded guilty. "Well, it was ordered put or? the 2 cent piece, by James Pollock, director of the Philadelphia mint, in 1860, and later on the half and quarter dollars issued from that mint *E. pluribus unum/ still used on silver dollars, is without specific lawful authority. It was first placed on a copper coin struck off at a private mint in Newburg, N. V., in 1786, but in 1787 a New York goldsmith issued a 16 dollar gold piece with the -motto 'Unume pluribus/ Later copper coins all bore thi* inscription,' though at first 'Nova Constellatio' was the inscription. You'll find there's lots to interest you in coinage if you just look it up." •' QUIET wedding of a few days ago j\ • was that of Miss Florence Bel j-\ knap and John Guerin. Mr 3. Guerin . . was the eldest ' daughter of the late Attorney Belknap and an extreme ly charming and popular woman. She is a graduate of the University of California and has lived since her fath er's'death "in Sausallto,. where the Bel knaps, have a pretty home; Two years ago Miss. Belknap .went east for a lon& visit with her brother, who is promi nent in the New York colony of Cali fornia artists and writers and shares a studio with Charles Battell . Loomis. It was shortly after her return to San Francisco last- spring .that her engage ment to the young businessman of Ala meda jvas , announced. Immediately after their "wedding, which was wit nessed by only a few relatives and in timate friends, Mr. and Mrs. Guerin left for a honeymoon in the southern part of the state. After a visit of several weeks with her daughter,' Mrs. Edward Chapman, in Detroit, Mrs. George Hermann Pow ers ;\\ on her way hom,e. She will stop to" visit kinspeople for a few days en route./reaching California about De cember 22.. Dr. and Mrs. Powers have made their home \u25a0 In: San Rafael since the'nre artd" will remain there through the winter. Miss Ruth Powers will con tinue, her. musical studies in New York for another year. Mr. and Mrs. Dunphy. who returned ' recently from their wedding Journey to southern, California, have taken apartments at the San Xavier for the vrinteT. • \u25a0 Drummond McGavln returned to San Francisco last week, after a long so journ >in' Mexico,- where- he was. con nected >, with one of the large mines. Mr.'.'MacGavi.n Is popular. with the city's smart set .and .already is in demand for 'dinners- and dances. His sister, Miss Dolly. MacGavln, is one of the year's debutantes. . Mrs.' Knight White has sent out cards for a large' bridge party, to be given in" her home, this week. It will be followed -by an informal . tea, to which severalniore guests have been bidden. . Mra.- .William, Mintzer, who spent Thanksgiving^ week with ; her daughter in Santa Barbara, has returned to San Francisco,; and is: again !n her hand some home in Pacific avenue. - ,- Miss Helen* \u25a0 Robson left the city a few days ago > for "a visit to friends in the", southern , part of the state . and probably will not return until after the holidays. 'V^9Hin|Bßl • Mr. 'and 'l Mrs. Laurence Scott have come up to : town from their Burlingame home. ; and have - taken an .attractive house here for: the- winter. Mrs. Scott*3 4(T COULD tell yon lots of good stories «* \u2666 I early legislative sessions," said the old timer. "Here's one that may interest In an article on the earliest days of the Bohemian club, contributed to the December number of the Pacific Monthly, Charles I was talking with a mint "employe about the row that is still raging over the omission of "In God we trust" from the new coinage. Smart Set mother, Mrs. Crockett, will bo their guest for some months. The George Martins have sent out invitations for a large dinner to -be given at the Fairmont December CO. Their guest of honor will be Miss Alex andra Hamilton, and the list. of guests includes several other debutantes. This dinner was planned originally to pre cede the Greenway dance, but . • tha dance has»been postponed until tha second week In January. Evan Evans of San Rafael was host at a dinner to 12 at the Fairmont hotel last week- His guests included several of the year's girls, among them Miss Helen Baker and MlssLoa isiana Foster, and a corresponding number" of men. After the dinner host and guests attended the Van Ness the ater, where they saw Frltzi Sch«ff in "Mile. Modiste." A supper at one of the • popular restaurants finished - tha evening. Among the San Mateo people who came. up for ths Greenway ball Friday night were the Frederick Kohls. Mrs. Kohl, like almost all the ciatrons of the smart set. was Mrs. Walker's guest to the afternoon for cards. Mrs. Henry Ware Lyon, who sailed for Honolulu in October a few days before Admiral Lyon's departure for V New York, will return to California-*! next week and be for several weeks tne guest of Mrs. Riddell In Berkeley. She win Join Admiral Lyon la Boston early in February,, ai»d they will spend the summer In their charming country house in Paris, Me. ' Mrs. Lyon bas been much entertained while In Hawaii, where she has many friends. One of last week's Informal teas was given by Miss Edith Berry, whose guests numbered a score of the young er set. It took place Thursday after noon between the hours of 4 and S o'clock. Mrs. le Breton ar»<t Miss Marguerite le Breton are in Washington, where they are the guests of Mrs. George T. Marye, one of the,, national capital's prominent society 'women. Mrs. la, Breton and her daughter will leave in a few: days for New York, where they are ; to spend the winter, coming on to California in the spring. David ia Breton, who was temporarily stationed at the "Washington navy yard, la now on his way to California, and will be stationed here Indefinitely. . The many friends of Major Georra E. Plokett will be, glad to hear that ha is. again in ..San. Francisco, and win be;: stationed at the Presidio. Major Pickett and his family are Just now tha^ guests of Captain Charle3 A. Faulkener^ and Mrs. Faulkentr at the Presidio* but will shortly take possessloa o£ their quarters for the winter.