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SUNDAY i -,-j-L- j-u-j <-»i-» ■* COMMENT AND OPINION {ALWAYS feel a little thrill of racial pride when the recollection occurs to me that the very first of our Saxon poems is a manly laudation of freedom. "Freedom," says the ancient bard, "is a noble thing: Freedom gives liking." It is the high boast of our race that.it has been always free— from such a time as the memory of man runneth not to the contrary, in the quaint language of the old writers. When the barons of the realm had ringed the pusillanimous John with their battle axes and spears at Runnymede, they demanded of him no gift of new freedom. They demanded a guarantee of old rights. "The undoubted and immemorial rights and liberties of this realm" —such was the lan guage and such the tone in which they firmly spoke to the sovereign. The Great Charter was not grant of the king's grace; it was a confirmation of inherited freedom. And it is that distinction which makes to beat fast, with swelling pride, the heart of him who reads, when through that heart runs the blood of the men who compelled their king to set his hand and signet to that glorious affirmation. # * * I READ the other day a declaration that "the people's government has been taken away from them"—meaning that the people of this country have been in some manner deprived of their political freedom. Something is allowable, of course, to the fervor of declamation and the ardor of political debate —which, when all is done, is much like the crackling of thorns under a pot and the pother and fuss of him whose laughter the wise man likened to that crackling. But there is no excuse for the quoted declaration. This government has endured a hundred and twenty-three years and not during one day of that time has it ever ceased to be in the control of the people of the land. The will of the majority has always had constitutional metlfods of asserting: itself; and even the consti tution itself has binding authority solely by common consent. For. seldom as it is mentioned and little as it seems to be known, there is an inherent right, reserved by implication and by expression, by which the people of these United States can at any time assemble in convention and alter, abolish, make over or enact a substitute for their form of government whenever it suits their sovereign will and pleasure. The wise and good men who framed the constitution fitted that constitution to the people, and not the people to the constitution. And they wrought that great and admirable fabric of order and liberty with an intense jealousy of tyranny and a far more intense love of human freedom. They had as guides to their feet and as lamps in their hands the histories of all the experiments in government men had ever made; there was nothing at all known to us of the science of politics with which they were not thoroughly familiar; and there lives in the land today do man whose natural powers or acquired learning fit him to sit in condemnatory judgment upon the result of the labors and counsels of our famous and glorious fathers. Not one—no, not one. # * # THAT noble and sufficient charter of our orderly and guaranteed liberties has received the encomiums of the ablest statesmen and the ripest scholars in every generation which has succeeded that of the men of '89. Mr. Gladstone declared that he weighed well his words in assert ing the constitution of the American republic to be the greatest constructive work of human genius the world had seen. The most powerful of our native intellects have always regarded that instru ment with proud reverence. I have heard my father relate how the imposing form and the lion port of Daniel Webster took on fresh majesty, and how his noble countenance glowed with patriotic pride, and how his organ tones vibrated with emotion when there flashed upon the field of his impassioned and wonderful oratory the recollection of the consti tution and of the men who framed it. And we all know the profound reverence in which the greatest of all Americans held the work of his fathers' hands—a reverence expressed as never human lips reverenced before or since in that deathless oration on Gettysburg's famous field. THE guiding principle of the men of the great convention was a well founded distrust of the wisdom of the people, in a collective capacity, during periods of passion and excitement, and an equally well founded trust in the wisdom of the people when they had taken time to consider and counsel together. They were anxious to preserve for their children an orderly and permanent freedom and were as fearful of the arts and blandish ments of the demagogue as they were of and capacity of a despot. They knew well that every pure democracy had always led to the exaltation of the cunning and unscrupulous politician and ended at last in the absolutism of a tyrant. And they judged that they could best perform their task and most surely establish liberty in the land by steering a course midway between these rocks upon which so many nations had met shipwreck. They resolved that they would have neither the monarchy to which Hamilton leaned nor the direct rule of a popular majority to which Jefferson was, in his heart, inclined, but a federal government of delegated powers, held in check by a written constitution and administered by representatives of the people, chosen by their free suffrages in general elections. They greatly feared, and with reason, to instrust overmuch power in one man's hands, and accordingly they provided that the president should be merely a ministerial officer, to enforce the will of the congress, and bound the congress to legislate within the con stitutional limitations by lodging in a supreme court the final power to mark out andNjefine those limitations. Such is the theory of our system of government, and with all the imperfections of its actual workings—for no device of human v. it can possibly be without imperfections—it has proved itself the be?t system of tree government of the people, by the people and for the people that the world has ever seen. * * # 1 CONFESS that k is with foreboding only that I see the tendency of some of our people to depart from our well tried system, to disregard the theory °f U*« fathers, to exalt the presidential office above the equal co-ordinate branches of our tripartite form of government. I his tendency is not at all confined to one party. It is in all. And it is encouraged and stimulated by many men whose patriotism of purpose no one doubts. But for all that, it is an extraordinarily mischievous tendency and it will result, if not checked by a more sober public opinion, in such troubles and disasters to the republic as no one who loves his country can bring himself to contemplate without a heavy heart. •* * * MEN and brethren, if there is one thing precious above all other tilings in this world, without which life is not worth a brave mans living, that thing is freedom. And, depend upon it, that freedom never has been and never will be enjoyed by any people. for any considerable time, without order, without some surrender of individual rights for the common good, without checks and balances of authority, restraining alike popular passion and individual ambi-i tion, without enforced compromises between the power of a majority j and the rights of a minority. ! The most unstable and the most inefficient government is a i government of expediency, a government from hand to mouth ; today the whim of this demagogue, tomorrow the caprice of that one. And it never has profited a people and never will profit a people to « PHIL FRANCIS EDITORIAL PAGE OF THE CALU SUMMER DIVERSIONS throw down all its guideposts and destroy all its landmarks and fare forth into a wilderness of experiments. The healthy, permanent growth of a people in> righteousness and liberty is by degrees—first the blade, then the corn and after that the corn in the full ear. Desirable freedom is no wild mountain torrent, rushing down in a riof of swirling strength and devastating the valleys before fertilizing them. No, indeed. But desirable freedom flows from its sources in a thousand gentle streams, green ing the vales with new grass and cheering the hearts of the husband man with promise of harvests to come, and finally uniting in 'the tranquil and majestic river upon whose bosom floats in peace and security the ark of a mighty people's everlasting covenant with Liberty. * • • 1 BELIEVE in and hope for progress as much as any man can, with all my heart and intellect —the progress not alone of my own people, but also of the race of man, which I do most faith fully trust has in it an indomitable virtue that will not permit it ever wholly to thwart the Divine Purpose and return again to those lower planes from which it has ascended by so many painful steps. I am more radical in my economic views than most of those who 1 may do me the honor to read these Sunday thoughts. I believe with all my heart in the philosophy of Henry George and yield to his splendid genius the tribute of a proud and grateful homage. But because I do believe in and hope for and to the best of my strength work for the progress of my fellow men aad the happi ness and prosperity of my dear native country, I do not and I can not believe that any real good comes from these incessant political battles. They begin in noise and end in smoke and dust, and meantime the true progress of the nation marks time and goes forward not one inch. And the most popular of all political pana ceas—this substitution of paternalism and meddling interference with all men's affairs for the ideals of individualism—is to me peculiarly distasteful in its retrogression from liberty and manliness to depend ence and subserviency. The vitality of the Republic will flever be conserved by emascu lating the bold independence of the individual citizen, nor by any odd device of paternalistic government, nor by any superhuman virtues of a ruler, but only and always by the virtue and the civic good conduct of each man and woman. As the units are, so will be the whole. That is the inflexible law which no wit of man can alter or set aside. ♦ * ♦ THIS is the one thing needful, that each man serve his country by asserting his own freedom—freedom of action, freedom of thought, freedom of conscience. Each must, in orderly society, surrender a portion of his individual freedom of action in order to insure an average of freedom and safety to all; otherwise we have anarchy, which, however beautiful in the abstract, is preposterous as a working formula of human association. But on that higher plane of life, where the mind ranges unfettered by the physical lim itations, a noble independence of all authority is the exercise of the strong and happy. One can, indeed, and one ought, indeed, to be the captain of his own soul; and whether he elect to sail out into the tempest and be wrecked gloriously, or whether to lie snug in harbor, at his ease and delight, still he should give the sole command and be the sovereign master of the ship. * This intellectual freedom is not to be learned at the feet of teachers, nor to be reached by treading in the paths beaten by others' travel. The inquiring thinker must often reject the guides and go forth into the jungles and deserts of doubt; the brambles will tear his face and his hands; the sands will scorch his blistered feet; and not seldom there will be lions in the way. But if he follow his star, and gird himself with courage, and fight with the wild beasts, he will surely come to the land of his heart's desire. Nothing can hinder any man from going to be an inhabitant of that happy country if his heart is valiant and his hand strong. It all rests with himself whether he will be a free man or a serf, whether his soul flies on bright wings to what realms it will, or whether it crawls, on groveling belly, at the feet of superstition and authority. * * « Forth from the casement on the plain, Where Honor has the world to gain, Pour forth and bravely do your part, O, Knights of the unshielded heart! I orth and forever forward!—out !' r om prudent turret and redoubt \nd in the mellay charge amain, To fall, but yet to rise again! < aptive? Ah, still to honor bright, A captive soldier of the right! Or free and fighting—good with ill— Unconquering, but unconquercd still! ■ THIS MAN SHOULD NEVER BE LATE P. C. Fabens Receives Gift of Clock From Fellow Employes F*RANK C. FABENS. recently made of the pass bureau cvf the Southern Pacific company, was ten dered a complimentary banquet at a downtown cafe last night by a number of hie fellow employes. The entire affair was a complete surprise and was arranged by P. J. Klndelon, chief special agent of the railroad. Follow ing the merry making, Fabens was presented with a handsome clock. Those present at the affair were: P. J. Klndelon, T. F. Eagan, E. R. Anthony, Joseph Kindelon, John Naw man, H. G. Jenkins, Thomas L. Ryan and James Regan of the local detec tive department, Frank P. Kelly, Ed ward J. Murphy, Michael Lynch, John Woods, E. Reinhart, Thomas Madden, Daniel O'Connell, Barney McShane, F. E. Hillyer. O. E. Thomas, Peter E. Kelly and John J. O'Conner. * * * C. F. Dutt, private secretary to C. H. Schlacks, first vice president of the Western Pacific, who accompanied his chief to New York and saw him off for Europe, is expected back today. * * • Watch Inspectors of the Southern Pacific company applied to the state railroad commission recently for an order rating them and their families as "employee" of carriers, and thu-s en titled to free or reduced rate transpor tation, but the commission yesterday denied the application. * * * The total number of persons reported as on the pay roll of the steam roads of the United States on June 30, 1911, was 1,699,809, an average of 6?S per 100 miles of line. * « • Delegates to the national encamp ment of the Grand Army of the Re public at Los Angeles, September 7, 8 and 9. will leave here at 3 o'clock Sunday afternoon. September S. in a special train under direction of Na-« tlonal Delegate Henry T. Smith. * * • Hearing upon the contract between the Southern Pacific and the Santa Fβ relating to the Joint use of the rail way line between Mojave and Bakers field will be held before the rairoad commission August 20 at 10 a. m. New Process for Making Rubber In a lecture before the Society of Chemical Industry in London, Prof. W. H. Perkin of Manchester University de scribed a process for the production of rubber in the laboratory which has been widely commented upon In tech nical and other papers in the United Kingdom. It was stated by the lecturer that the synthetic production of rubber offers the probability of a profit at a price of 60 cents per pound, with a possi bility of it* production at 24 cents per pound or less. There has been keen rivalry between England and Germany In the effort to make synthetic rubber, and priority of discovery is claimed by each country. It was contended by Professor Perkm that the English had anticipated the Germans by about three months. A Scientific Defense "You are charged with selling adul-' terated milk," said the judge. "So I understand, your honor." said the milkman. "I plead not guilty." '•But the testimony shows that your milk Is 25 per cent water," said the Judge. "Then it must be high grade milk. , returned the milkman, "if your honor mill look up the word milk In your dictionary you will find that it con sist* of from 80 to 90 per cent water. Id ought to have told it tar cream."~ Answers to Queries CHICAGO TlfOD—O. W.. City. What was the date ef the great are is Chicago, extent of daro ««e. loss (money Taloation), loss'of life sod enact The date of the fire wae October 8 and 9. 1871. The fire swept over a stretch of the city 3% miles long by 1 mile at Ite greatest width, laying waste 2,124 square acres containing 73 miles of streets and 17,450 buildings. The number of persons rendered homeless was 98,860. The Joss, money valuation. wm $192,000,000 after allowing $4,000. --000 for salvage on foundations of build ings. The loss of life was estimated at from 260 to 300. There are no correct figures as to this. The cause of the fire is Attributed to a cow belonging to a widow named O'Leary, kicking over a lighted lamp in a cow shed. COCXUM OF THB HEABT—D A. F.. Oak laed. What is the origin of the "eockUi of the heart." ? The wore "cockles" la net la aay of the dictionaries in connection with heart. Nothing in literature tells of its origin, but the word "cockles" is of frequent oceurance in old English. The younger Colcman, poet 1732-1336, uses the word in "Vagaries": Polyglot tossed a hamper off: it cheered It cneered the cockle* of hie heart. The heart has been referred to in olden times to a furnace and in old English, "cocklee" means the fire cham ber of a furnace. From this it is believed that the expression "to warm the cockles of the heart" meant to heat the fire chambers of the heart. * » * SOLDIER'S WIDOW—D. L.. City. What Iβ the prorfaton to the law paaaed by the last legis lature In Sacramento as to the burial of the widow of a soldier by the state? It provides that it shall be the duty of the supervisors in each county to decently inter the remains of an honorably discharged soldier, sailor or marine, who shall have served in the army or navy of the United States, or the widow of any such, who shall die without sufficient means to defray the expense of a funeral. That such burial shall be in a cemetery other than that in which paupers are buried. The county allows $75 for such a funeral. # * * CANADA—B. I*. Berkeley. What is the number of members In the two bou«es of parlia ment of Canada? How are they elected or ap pointed? The senate is composed of 87 appoint ed for life by the crown on the nomina tion of the governor genera] in council. The house of commons is composed of 221 members, who are eleoted under the several provincial franchises, in ac cordance with a federal act passed in 1898. They are elected for five years. * * ♦ WASHINGTON—R. 8.. City. Give birthplace and place of death of George Washington, also the number of battles at trhieh he was In com mand and bow many be won. Born Pope's Creek, Westmoreland county, Va., died at Mt. Vernon, on the Potomac 15 miles below, Washing ton, D. C. He was in command at 7 battles and won 4. # # * BEAUTY—Subscriber, City. Which nation pro duces) the most beautiful women? What nation ality of women hold their beauty longest and wßat nationality of women lone their beauty quickest? This department is not opening its space to what would be an intermin able controversy. w * • SHADOW PICTURES—Q-. City. Is there tnr book published which tells bow to throw shadow pictures on a screen or wall? In the public library, in Hayes street near Franklin, you will find the process described in "St. Nicholas' Book of Plays," to be had in the reference room. LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE SEAJPS FOR EVERYBODY Editor of The Call—Sir: Aβ your paper is taking quite an active part in the endeavor to improve San Francisco in more way* than one; and accomplish ing a great deal with your earnest ef fort and the publicity that you so kind ly give to all communications. I take the liberty to call your attention and direct your efforts to the elimination of that" ancient nuisance. "The lack of eeatins; facilities in our street cars." Aβ an example of what the people of San Francisco patiently endure. I sub mit the following;: On a Hayes street ear. route 6, out bound at about 5 or 5:10 o'clock p. m., there were more than 130 persons got on the car between the ferry and the corner of Hayes and Market streets. The teats run longitudinally and are capable- of seating approximately 20 persons on either side, 40 in all. thus causing the remaining 70 persons to be PERSONS IN THE NEWS MAJOR 3. H. H. PESHINE, V. S. A., retired, accompanied by Mrs. Peshine and Mr«. Louise Ord. arrived here yesterday from Santa Bar bara and have apartments at the Palace. Since Major Peshine , s retirement from active service in the srmy be has been making his home at his ranch in L* Huerta. one of the show places in that community of handsome country homes. * * * MB. AMD XBS. J. STODDARD JOHNSOH JR. and Perdval Moore of Louisville. Ky., who are making a tour of the Pacific coast, regis tered at the St. Francis yesterday. * « * LOUIS GARFINXLEB of San Jo?e and his bride were among the arrivals of yesterday at the Palace. He is a well known business man of that city. JOHN Q. BROWK <*f Sacramento Is at the Belle *ue. accompanied by Mm. Brown, who has Just returned from an eastern trip. * * * GEORGE I. LANEY, a real estate operator of Los Angeles, and Mrs. Laney were among the arrivals of yesterday at the Manx. * * * L. J. LUBIN, a dry goods merchant of Sacra mento, arrived at the Palace yesterday, accom panied by his wife and son. * ♦ » J. H. BUSS, a business man of VieaJia. Is a guest at the Manx with Mrs. Bliss. He is in town en a business trip. * # * CHARLES 3. KAPPLER, an attorney of Wash ington, D. C, registered yesterday at the Palace. * * * W. F. LUKDIO, county surveyor of Teharaa county, is a guest at the Argonaut, from Red Bluff. JOHN X. GARDINER, a Loe Angeles capitalist, arrived here yesterday and is at the Stewart. » * * B> NICHOLATJ, proprietor of a restaurant at Sacramento, is registered at the Argonaut. * * » Q. X> IXDEB. a manufacturer of Angeles, and Mrs. Elder are guests at the Batter. * « * ■WILLIAM WATSON, a mining engineer of Quincy, is a gu«st it the Squtra. * * # 3. H. KIBBEY. formerly provisional governor of Arisona, 1» staying at the St. Francis. * * # SZT. V. W. JTOBBIB aod Mrs. Norria of Brook lyn, N. V., are at the Bellevue. « * * E. fr. ELDBJSD and P. O. Boyd, insurance men of Fresno, ar* at the Stewart. * * * F. W. WAIBLZT, realty operator of L«s An geles, is staying at the Dale. * * * WILLIAM HZVRY, capitalist of Philadelphia, Is stopping at the Turpin. * » ♦ L.. B, WOODHULL. merchant of Stockton, is rtgtatered at tbe Turpin. * * • ft. J. HXQHLAJTD, a mining uaa £rom Tonopah, to staying at the Paiaca, AUQUST 11, 1913 LINCOLN—F. S.. CitT. Who were the parties implicated in i~e conspiracy that resulted in the assassination of President Lincoln? What cabl- Det official was asaaulted at the time the presi dent was assassinated j What became, of the parties to the assassination and assault? The conspirators were J. Wtlkeei Booth, Lewis Payne Powell, David E. Herrold, George A. Atzerott, Mary E. Surratt, Michael O"Laughlin. Dr. Sam- Uel A. Mudd. Edward Spangler and Samuel Arnold. At the same hour that Lincoln was assaulted Powell stabbed William H. Seward, secretary of state. Booth was shot while evading arrest. Herrold, Atzerott and Mrs. Surratt. In, whose house the plot was formed, were, after trial, condemned and hanged. Powell, after stabbing Seward, escaped, but was caught later, convicted and hanged. O'Laughlin, Mudd and Arnold were sentenced to imprisonment for life and Edward Spangler for a frm of six years. Mudd, Arnold and Spang ler were pardoned by President John son, and O'Laughlin died in prison. * # * SLOVAKS—Reader. Los Gat*?. Who are the SloTaks, and where do thex lire? They are the Slavir inhabitant* of northern Hungary who 'in the ninth, century formed the nucleus of the great Moravian kingdom, but after the battle of Presburg <»07) were gradually sub jugated by the Magyars, to whom even yet they bear no friendly feeling. The Slovaks, probably the closest repre sentatives of the old Slavic type, are industrious and of soft pliant disposi tion. They travel in great number* over Germany and Poland ac peddlers. Their language is generally considered; to present an earlier form of Czech or Bohemian. * * * INSANlTY—Subscriber Santa Clara. Are there any states in the unioa in which insanity is a ground for diroree? If so.name them. V Marriage may be annulled in the dis trict of Columbia on the ground of lunacy; in Maine for insanity under certain limitations; in Mississippi for insanity at the time of marriage; in New Jersey for idiocy at time of mar riage; in North Dakota for insanity; in Utah for permanent insanity; In Wash ington for incurable insanity: in West Virginia for insanity, and in Wyoming for insanity. * ♦ * HOME GT'ARP—M. S.. Oakland. Tβ the widow of a man who served in the -home guard dur ing the clxil war entitled to a pension? If the man was a member of a com pany that was mustered in the volun teers of the United States army, but whose organization was not ordered to the front and remained on duty at home, his widow, would be entitled to a pension, otherwise not. * # ■» FROM THE BIBLE—A. M. 0., Orel. What Iβ the passage In the bible that refers to the wiping of a dish? It is in the second book of Kings, xxi:l3: 'And I will stretch over Jeru salem the line of Samaria, ad the plum met of the house of Ahab; and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wlpeth a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. ,, * * * THB INITIATIVE , —L. J.. City. Where can one obtain informntlfm as to the manner of start ing an initiatlre in this state? Go to the reference room of the pub- He library in Hayes street near Frank lin and there consult the law of the last legislature on the subject. * * * OCEAN LEVEL—H. P.. City. What is the difference of the ocean lerei. Atlantic and Pa cific, at the iethmue of Panama? There is no difference as to the level of the oceans, but there is a. difference in the tides. jammed together as cattle durlftg transportation, and every one* in awhile cheerfully ' reminded to "Step forward please," that a few more nick-' els , may be gathered in. When Fill more street is reached the conditions are somewhat better ac quite & num ber of the victims transfer at this point. This Is not an unusual oocur rence as described above, but the gen eral rule each day after 5 o'clock p. m. Can't there be something don* to better conditions? In "Washington, D. C, they run two cars at a time, the second being known as a trailer, and there are no dissatisfied straphangers in consequence. Can not San Francisco do as well? Let us hope for the b«et and trust that this , taking up of your time and space may be amply repaid by get ting some action. Sincerely youre, DISGRUNTLED CITIZEN. Per P. L. K. San Francisco. Aug. 9, 1912. T, H. ALEXANDER of Washington, D. C, ac companied by bis sister, Mrs. John Bldw*n of Chico. sailed yesterday for a plea stir* trip to Honolulu, where they will pass soma months. Mrs. Bidwell recently sold her property in Mendocino county, amounting to nearly 29.000 acres, for a sum in six figures, closing one of the largest land deal 3 in that county for some time. * * ♦ X. F. FITZSIMONS of Redlanda arrived her* yesterday with hie family oa a motor trip from tlie sooth. They si* stopping at the Stewart. * * * DR. FRANK H. PATTERSON of San Jose aod Mrs. Patterson motored to town yesterday and are stopping for a few days at the Uaiaa Square. * * ♦ H. R. JTJDAH, publisher of a newspaper at Santa Cruz, and Mrs. Judah are recent ar rivals st tbe Argonaut. i * * # *«■ LEE LANDIS, general manager ef the Ocean Shore railroad, is a guest at the Manx for a few days. * * ♦ C. L. NEUMILLER of Stockton, a member of tbe state prison commission, is a guest at the Palace. * * * FRANK BAJLRATT. a banker of Redondo, is staying at the Stanford. * * * DR. F. T. BROWN and wife of Vallejo are guests at the Baldwin. * * * A. W. ADLER. a lumberman of Sonoma, Is step ping at tbe- Argonaut. « • « 3. H. TON DEB LOHE of Los Angeles is regis tered at the Sutter. * * * W. 0. MILES, a banker of Fresno, 1* a guest at the. Stewart. * * * DR. C. W. BXTTH of Los Angeles Is ragiatcred at the Stanford. * * * RAYMOND SPEARS, an attorney of Danver, la at the Bellevue. * * # J. F. McBEAIN of Los Angeles is registered at the Arlington. * * * H. H. RZESX and wife are recent arrivals at the Columbia. * * * E. V. TAHKER of Columbus, 0, is registered at tbe Court. * ♦ * P. F. HATES, a Woodland banker, is staying at tbe Dale. * * * W. A. McORAW of Chicago is stopping- — Arlington. W * * * 3. C. PEARSON of Sacramento is staying at the Baldwin. * * * J. C. HARRIS of Liverpool is a guest at the Colouial, * w 41 3. X. MOORE Oi Seattle la stopping at the Caurt.