The San Francisco call. [volume], September 29, 1912, Image 3

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

Image provided by: University of California, Riverside; Riverside, CA

                
The San Francisco Sunday Call
Who's the Prettiest Girl Wage Earner in San Francisco?
W ho is the prettiest girl wage earner in San Francisco?
Where is she to be found?
Like the knights of old, The Call has entered the lists of beauty,
and it only remains to find the queen of the tournament. Qo you
know her?
San Francisco has long been known as the city of pretty women.
Its maids and matrons have been the toast of kings and heroes. The
wanderer within the city's gates, the globe trotter and the visitor
remark on the hundreds of pretty girls to be seen in their daily walks
abroad, and it remains an undisputed fact that the majority of these
girls are the city's clever wage earners.
The theory that beauty and brains do not meet in the makeup
of a woman has long since been exploded. The girl nowadays who
depends on her mentality alone to carry her along is due for any
amount of disillusionment. While mental ability is the main essen
tial to success in the realm of business, her beauty is a powerful
asset. And so while she cultivates and broadens her mind primarily,
she takes good care of the body which acts as its setting.
Which explains why the average wage earning girl is not only
bright and clever, but pretty as well. She may not be a dazzling
beauty, but she believes in making the best of such points as she has
in her possession, no matter how meager they may seem. Unlike
the man with his one talent, she doesn't believe in burying hers, but
looks about to see in what way she can improve upon it.
1 OUR GIRLS HAVE STYLE
She studies her face and figure in relation to the current styles
and selects her clothes as carefully in regard to their fitness as does
her more affluent sister in millionaire row. She takes good care of
her hair and teeth, her "hands and feet, and in consequence she is
decidedly good to look upon.
Stroll down Market street between 8 and 9 o'clock in the morn
ing, or, if that is too early for you, wander through Grant avenue,
Stockton and Powell streets about 6 o'clock in the evening, when
the official day's work is done. Or you might happen over in the
vicinity of California and Montgomery streets between the hours of
5 and 6, when the towering skyscrapers and office buildings are
'inning to disgorge their daily population.
Slipping thrtugh the heavy sliding doors, laughing and chatter
ing in ti»e relaxation of nerves stretched to tension with the strain
of business hours, they rush hither and thither in the late afternoon
sunlight. In twos and singly they speed on their way, some to their
The Life Preserver That Went to the North Pole Alone
Arthur H. Dutton
UNGTJIDED by stellar observations,
Impelled only by ocean currents,
a life, preserver from San Fran
cisco accomplished recently the
voyage that has been essayed In vain
by scores of daring Arctic explorers for
generations.
It passed from Japan across the north
polar sea and reached a safe haven
north of Scotland, where it was picked
up and restored to its former home on
the Pacific coast.
It now lies in the branch hydro
graphic office in the Chamber of Com
merce building in San Francisco. It
is a modest looking, simple little aff.', r .
and bears little evidence of its rough
experiences In the frozen north, buf
feted by naves and ground, no doubt,
by ice fields anr] berars. the l<t
tering upon it, by whjch it was identi
fied Is distinct. It is made, not of
rork. bit of ordlnarr tule frtwn th*
California marshes. Tts cover .s of
canvas. Of its buoyancy there can be
no question.
The life t*r*m*r*** h" 1 """"' 1 tn -"*
m. Stanley' Dollar, which for years
piied In and out of San Francisco bay,
hound to and from the orient. In Sep
tember, 1905, the Stanley Dollar was
wrecked In the bay of Yokohama,
Japan. That was one of the many ma
rine disasters of the Pacific oaean. It
made something of a stir in marine
circles for some months and then, like
i o i other mishaps,of the sea, it passed
the public mind.
was thought of the Stanley
.• •■ afterward by any but the own
t underwriter? and others directly
c .- ■ -rned. Then, on September 30,
1911, in a little cove in the Shetland
Islands, that group of great, bleak
rocks north of Scotland, a stroller
the beach noticed something
bobbing in the water as It was washed
up toward the shore. He stopped,
picked it up and saw that it was a life
preserver. Now. a life preserver is not
a rare piece of flotsam and Jetsam.
Life preservers are being constantly
thrown In the water, either by accident
or by design, or are used and then lost
or thrown away. But this particular
life preserver had strange features.
Upon it were plainly stenciled the
names of the steamer Stanley Dollar
and of James Guthrie, the United States
inspector in San Francisco, who had
inspected and passed it on June 1, 1905,
while making his regular inspection of
the Stanley Dollar, to see that It and
Its equipment compiled with the re
quirements of the federal navigation
laws.
Immediately the maritime world was
Interested. How did this life preserver,
lost at Yokohama in September, 1905.
arrive at the Shetland islands six years
later?
Plainly, here was a tale of a strange
and really remarkable arctic voyage.
Most people promptly declared that the
little mass of tule and canvas had made
the voyage on Its own hook, that Cap
tain Amundsen had made In the Frara;
that it had gone through the long
sought "northwest passage," but from
west to east instead of from east to
west. Even if Captain Amundsen had
not performed his feat, this, it was
held, would have proved conclusively
the existence of the northwest passage
from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Else
how could the life preserver pass thus
from ocean to ocean, borne only by
currents?
But others held different opinions.
Among them was Captain Marion D.
Baldwin, the arctic explorer, who holds
to this day that the preserver, instead
of passing around -North America, past
Point Barrow and Greenland, was car
ried to the westward, past Siberia, and
thence down to Scotland, past Iceland.
In other words, that it went to the
westward, instead of to the eastward,
after being borne north through Ber
ing strait by the northerly setting spur
of the Kuro-Slwa, or Japan current,
part of which, the southerly setting
spur, Is deflected by the Aleutian Isl
ands and passes east, southeast and
south along the Alaskan and British
Columbian coasts.
There Is fascination In tracing the
probable courses of the little arctic
voyager. It Is 1 not unlikely that It
passed right through the open polar
sea, and even by the north pole Itself.
In, fact, a glance at the chart of the
polar regions tempts one to the belief
that perhaps the Stanley Dollar's- life
preserver was passing the pole at the
time of, or before, the reaching of the
north pole by Peary. Across the pole
would have been Its most direct course
from Bering strait to the Shetland Isl
ands. These islands are on the meri
dian of Greenwich; that is, in O of
longitude, on the prime meridian, from
which all longitude is measured, east
and west. Bering strait is 170 degrees
west, or almost exactly opposite the
islands. As far as present day geog
raphers know, even in the light of
Peary's discoveries, there is no land
to hinder between Bering strait and
the Shetland islands. It is all open sea
between these two places, with the
north pole not far from midway be
tween.
The probable voyage of the life pre
server, after being cast overboard in
Yokohama bay, was to the northeast
ward, at first, borne by the swift Japan
current past northern Japan, Saghalien
and Kamchatka, into Bering sea,
through the Bering strait and into the
Arctic ocean. Having started on its
long voyage in September, it was sure
ly the dead of winter when it reached
the strait How long did It linger
there? For months, maybe. Ice beset
its path, violent gales struck it when it
was in open water. It floated, always
floated, though. It may have rested for
a couple of years, beaten by the waves
against the side of a great Iceberg.
After months of this strenuous life it
pursued its way. It may have gone
east; it may have gone west. More
likely, and more attractive, Is the
theory 'that It went right* across the
pole. No shores were there to obstruct
It, only floating ice, which was Itself
probably borne south again, toward
Franz Joseph Land and Spitsbergen.
If it went west from Bering strait It
made a long journey and one so rapid
that its accomplishment may be doubt
ed. To have gone east, encircling the
polar sea, would have meant skirting
the whole Siberian coast, then perhaps
becoming entangled around Nova Zem
bla and the many islands of the north
Russian coast. It may have done this
and have been borne south along the
Norwegian coast, but the currents
along the Norwegian coast set north
ward, for the most part, and would
have carried It back Into the polar re
gions.
If It went east, six years would have
been a miraculously short time for the
trip. An easterly course from Bering
sea would have carried It through the
\»
myriads of islands and maze of straits
and sounds north of British America.
The voyage seems almost impossible
that way. Even Captain Amundsen,
guiding his boat with human skill,
aided by the latest arts of navigation,
had difficulty in accomplishing it. Other
voyagers failed utterly to make it at
all.
Directly across the polar sea is a
straight stretch of water. Moving ice
is the only obstacle offered. Yet this
ice is not so solid, even In the winter
time, as most people think. Claus
Anderson reports that In Kings bay,
Spitsbergen, where he wintered in
1910-1911, "hardly any ice has been
observed except for a few small strips
•jf winter Ice and some brash Ice ap
pearing now and then." Barents sea
is frequently singularly free of ice In
the winter. What, then, could have
prevented the life preserver from be
ing carried by currents and favoring
winds right across the polar sea? This,
the shortest route from Bering strait
to the Shetland islands, seems really
to have been the only one possible for
the life preserver to have made in six
own homes, some to the modern apartment house home and some to
the hall bedroom.
And are they pretty?
Weil—go and take a look!
A TRIP TO HONOLULU
Now, out of all these hundreds of pretty girls The Call is trying
to find the prettiest. It's going to be a monumental task, but with
perseverance and the assistance of its great circulaion of readers
The Call is sanguine of achieving its purpose.
Have you among your friends a pretty girl wage earner?
If so, can't you persuade her to send or mail her picture to
THE PRETTY GIRL EDITOR. THE CALL, SAN FRANCISCO?
Or, in case she refuses through a mistaken sense of modesty, can't
you do it for her? She may be the prettiest of all the city
the very girl we're looking for. You will not only succeed in win
ning her everlasting gratiiude in the long run, but will assist The
Call in giving her a wonderful Christmas present —
A ROUND TRIP TO HONOLULU WITH ALL EX
PENSES PAID.
Isn't that worth the trouble?
Now, Prettiest Girl of All, won't you please make yourself
known?
A GOLD WATCH EACH WEEK
While the trip to Honolulu is to be the grand prize of the con
test, it is not to be the only one. Each Sunday the photos of a
number of pretty girl wage earners will be published and the original
of the picture judged the prettiest will be awarded a handsome gold
watch. This in itself should be sufficient incentive to bring about
the mailing of your photograph.
About the middle of December a jury of prominent local artists
will be selected. It will be the duty of thesa- men to go over every
photograph received in the contest and to select therefrom the most
beautiful/of all. And to the flesh and blood counterpart of the win
ning picture will go the Hawaiian trip as a Christmas present.
Remember, The Gall is depending on its readers to bring about
the lucky find. Stop and think! Who is the prettiest girl you
know? Is she a business girl? If she is, send us the picture you
have of her. She won't mind. Think of the compliment you're
paying her. That will appease her always.
Help us to find the prettiest wage earner in San Francisco.
Don't lose any time. Send her picture in at once. She may
win a gold watch next week.
Send all photographs to The Pretty Girl Editor, The Call, San
Francisco.
MAIL ONE TODAY.
years, for the velocity of currents,
which undoubtedly often set the little
traveler back and sideways, was never
such to carry it more than a few miles
a day. Probably its greatest speed was
on leaving Yokohama, where the Japan
current is strong, probably about 4
or 5 knots. Many days after reaching
the arctic, the preserver may have
made not a mile. It may have rested
weeks or months on the side of a slow
moving ice pack. Eddies may have made
it retrace its path for hundreds of
miles, only to be brought up again
and to resume Its old course. A favor
ing current may have been offset by a
head wind, for the preserver floats with
enough of its bulk above the water to
give the wind something to press
against. Surface currents, on account
of strong winds might have been op
posed to main underwater currents,
as often happens.
That there is a practicable passage
from Bering sea to northern Europe
has been definitely determined by Cap
tain Amundsen, but it is through «uch
tortuous ways that its commercial
value is inconsiderable. That there is
a route sufficiently open for easy pas
sage, even without the skill of the
trained navigator, has been proven by
the Stanley Dollar's life preserver. This
little witness, mute though convincing,
has shown that there is an open chan
nel from Pacific to Atlantic oceans,
that may be traversed without other
obstruction than ice and the rigors
of the Arctic clime.
The endurance of the little preserver
has excited almost as much wonder
as its deeds as a navigator. The tule
that gives it buoyancy is as sound
today, as it lies in the branch hydro
graphic office, as it was when it grew
on a marsh in the Sacramento valley.
The canvas is torn in some places, but
not sufficiently to damage the life
saving qualities of the whole. It can
bear a man today as well as it could
In June, 1905, w*nen Inspector Guthrie
examined It. Most remarkable of all,
the lettering is distinct and but little
faded. The lines on it are intact
If that little mass of tule, canvas
and manila rope could speak, what a
tale of stress and storm, of barren lanA
and icy seas, it could telL
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