The San Francisco call and post. [volume], December 10, 1913, Image 4

About The San Francisco call and post. [volume] (San Francisco, Calif.) 1913-1929

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EDITORIAL PAGE
The San Francisco Call and Post
F. W. KELLOGG, President and Publisher
JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Vice Pi>e»ident and Treasurer
San Francisco Finds a New Car
Line on Tree
11 City Tonight Takes Over the Union Street System and |j
Municipal Ownership Takes Another Advance
San Francisco acquires tonight another street railroad line,
the Union street, which, through the expiration of its franchise,
reverts to the city. This line may be called the "exposition line,"
for its tracks parallel the southern boundary of the Panama-
Pacific inclosure for practically its entire length. With the com
pletion of the Stockton street tunnel, the car line which the city
will build from Market street will link the center of the city with
the exposition gates, via the Stockton street tunnel and the Union
street line. Now the city will have a line from the ferry to the
Presidio and the Golden gate, passing through the wholesale dis
trict, North Beach and the Harbor View section, on to the Pre
sidio grounds.
San Francisco is fortunate in that the street railroads built
here were franchised under charters that expired by limitation
after a period of years. In that way the city secured the Geary
street line and today secures the Union street line, and will
subsequently take over the California street line from First
avenue to Thirty-third avenue. Other cities chartered their street
railroad lines in perpetuity—that was a quarter of a century ago,
when the public had not learned that it had any rights which a
corporation was required to respect. But all street railroad fran
chises in San Francisco are of limited duration, so in time the
municipality will control and can operate all street cars. With
the enormous electric power which the Hetch Hetchy will generate,
as a by-product of supplying San Francisco with water, the opera
tion of these street railroad lines will be cheap, and the city will
reap the profits which heretofore have made magnates rich.
The Union street car line has been profitable to its owners, it
will be profitable to the city and the cause of municipal ownership
of public utilities will get another boost.
Is there any city in the land which will have such a full stock
ing as San Francisco will find on its Christmas tree—a stocking
holding a water system and a streetcar line!
Newspaper Style, Concise and
Most Interesting
lowa College Professor Gives Praise to the Writings Which
Report the News
"The newspaper style (of writing), which is becoming more
and more essential in the equipment of every successful writer, is
the clearest, most concise and most interesting style in which
things can be written," says Prof. F. W. Beckman of lowa state
college.
It has only been too usual for college professors, pedants and
such folk to abuse newspapers for their lack of a limpid style and
high sounding phrases. So it is refreshing to find a college man
approving the newspaper style for what it is, for what it is meant
to be, a concise exposition or narrative of essential facts concern
ing occurrences which are of public interest. The newspaper does
not aim to compete with Shakespeare in fancy, with Carlyle in style
or with Emerson in profundity. Therefore, k isn't written after
the manner of Shakespeare, Carlyle or Emerson.
What the newspaper seeks to do is to give as fair an account
as human nature will permit of current history. Naturally it does
not succeed perfectly in recording, in the heat of controversy or
excitement of tragedy, all sides and lights of a question. But was
there ever a historian whose works were received by all partisans
as being just and fair?
But the lowa college professor was speaking of the style in
which newspaper accounts are written. He praised it as being
clear, concise and interesting.
That is all that is required of it. In the hurry of reporting
and preparing copy grammatical errors may boldly intrude, the
precise word calculated to express a subtle shade of meaning
might not always respond to the regular beat on the typewriter
keys: a metaphor, which is seldom found, may be mixed and stag
ger across a line, or an expression which has been used since the
time of Ben Johnson may stick its hoary head into the mass of
words (such an expression, for instance, as "hoary head"), but on
the whole the reader is not confused on the salient points of the
narrative. The reader knows who were killed when the train and
the automobile crashed, who stayed by the ship and who escaped
when the great liner sank, what senators stood by San Francisco
and its rights when the Hetch Hetchy debate was on and what
senators opposed the city.
Those are the essential facts which the newspaper reports.
The function of the newspaper is to inform its readers of what is
happening in the world, and the average reader receives all his
information on current events from the newspaper.
Of course, there is a certain type of folk who say they do not
believe anything they read in the newspapers. Those people do
not know that Woodrow Wilson is president nor that there is a
revolution in Mexico.
Beware, You Vaudeville Folk
Who Jeer Marriage
The Cynicism of Divorce Courts May Recoil and Strike You
to the Heart
Married life has become the theme of vaudeville humor, the
butt of the performers' jokes.
From every stage is shouted the cynicism of the divorce court,
and successive audiences laugh at the anti-marital mirth of the
comedians.
If theater humor reflects life, then there are no happily mar
ried couples, there are no husbands who would not prefer a jail
sentence to domestic life and no wives who do not consider mar
riage like a leap off the dock. The most beautiful of human rela
tions is cheapened and ridiculed, the institution which the law
protects and the church sanctifies is the subject of countless jeers.
It is a dangerous procedure to consider seriously so trivial a
subject as vaudeville wit. However, societies have been organized
to protect the Irish and the Jew from stage caricature, but no move
has been made to protect marriage from insult at the same source.
The cheap jests of the vaudeville folk probably are not a serious
deterrent to matrimony; a young man in love with a girl will pro
pose to her, probably, on the way home from a theater in which
they have heard marriage abused as a condition milder than hang
ing, but more to be shunned than a life sentence.
All marriages are not eminently successful. The percentage
of those who live "happily ever after" in the fairy tales is grossly
exaggerated, as the divorce records show. But the fairy tale tellers
£,et nearer the average than the vaudeville folk do.
Marriage, of course, needs no protection from its detractors,
but its detractors should have a care and guard themselves from
the penalty of their own humor.
A man may make or laugh at a joke about corrupt politicians
and never himself become one; a woman may make or laugh at a
jest about her fat sisters and never stretch her tape measure beyond
the mystic 36 notch; but it is difficult for a person to ridicule mar
riage continually and escape a ridiculous marriage
THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL AND POST
Ritchie is also the only golfing champion of the world.
* * *
It's funny how few husbands intend giving their wives cigarettes for
Christmas presents.
* * *
Some people buy Christmas presents payable in January as if they
thought the world would end on December 31.
* * *
A woman in Pasadena paid her water bill with dynamite. The average
rate payer only expresses his opinion of the bill in terms of that
commodity.
* * *
So the white leghorn hen of Petaluma has to compete with the yellow
buff cochin of Cochin China. Oh, for an alien land law that will protect
the American nestegg (which is worth 7 cents apiece).
* * *
The girls who danced the tango during working hours in the state,
printing office have been suspended for a week. A courteous official way
of providing them with proper leisure in which to dance.
"Oh, George!" cried the fair young
vision ln blue, as she floated into the
drawing room and found her lesser
half reading the latest noved. "You
really ought to have oome to church
with me this morning. Such a beauti
ful sermon. I'm sure it would have
done you good. All about dishonesty
and stealing, and petty meanness 1 . No
one could help feeling better for it. I
do wish you could have heard lt."
•Ileally, my dear," murmured
i George, and tried in vain to stifle a
THE UNIVERSAL FLAG
AW, COME TO CALIFORNIA
Evening Calls &
Footnotes of Humor
yawn. "And—ah—did you walk
home?"
"No, I took a car. And, oh, George,
I had such a stroke of luck. Th©
conductor never asked for my fare,
so I saved a nickel.''
* # *
There was a rumpus at the chil
dren's breakfast table, and on com
ing down to see what it was all
about the mistress of the house found
the little ones crying out for spoons
to eat their eggs with.
She rang the bell sharply, and when
Champagne corks are preparing to do their Christmas "popping" early.
* * *
Another "most beautiful woman in America" has been found. That's
a superlative that calls for a carbon copy.
* * *
If your husband has a murderous temper, protect yourself by giving
him a safety razor for Christmas.
* * *
Two San Mateo county men bought a town up near Oroville. Any
thing to get away from the menace of the flying polo balls.
* * *
Eastern papers please copy: The magnolia trees are blooming in
Union square.
* * *
The comment has been made that Wilson is the tallest president since
Lincoln. From that we infer that the length of presidential messages is
in inverse ratio to the height of the president and the literary merit is in
direct ratio.
the maid, who waa fresh to service,
appeared she reproved her thus:
"Mary, Mary, when you lay eggs in
future be careful to lay egg spoons
also."
* * *
Mrs. Pankhurst, at a dinner ln New
York, said that the militant suffra
gettes could not love their country as
now constituted—they could not love
her till, transformed, she gave votes
to all.
"We are in the position, omlttllfg
the ignominy of it," Mrs. Pankhurst
said, "of the beautiful chorus girl of
17 who married Gobsa Golde, the sep
tuagenarian millionaire.
"The day of the wedding, speeding
Californlaward In Gobsa Golde's mag
nificent private car, the old man toog
his bride's hand in his and said:
" 'Dear, do you love me for what I
am, or for what I was?'
"Tightening her cigarette in its long
tube of gold and amber, the beautiful
girl answered calmly:
" 'I love you, Gobsa, dear, for what
you will be.'"
DECEMBER 10, 1913
Dr. Parkhurst's
Article on
k. Salvation Army Tri
umph: The Carnegie
Hall Meeting Proved
Religion Is Not Lost
in New York~~An En
gineer's Heroism, and
Why He Is a Hero.
DR. C.H. PARKHURST
TrIE splendid gathering
which packed Carnegie hall,
New York, recenty to hear
General Bramwell Booth of the
Salvation Army was proof
enough that religion is not a
lost art, even in New York city.
Any audience of 4,000 people
that will sit for an hour and
listen spellbound to the deline
ation of the character of an old
saint that gone to his rest be
lieves in religion when it is
quite confident that the speci
men of it that it is looking upon
is the genuine article.
People who are alive 2,000
yeras after Christ, and double
that number of years after Abra
ham, know what religion is and
what it is able to do fr a man,
and are responsive to the appeal
made to them by any man or
woman who transparently exem
plifies the religious spirit.
That to which the great au
dience answered back most im
pulsively was what the speaker
said about his father's love
power, that energy "latent" in
him by which he conquered the
hearts of all classes and condi
tions of men, a power which
lifted him above all denomina
tional, national and racial dis
tinctions, and that made him the
servant of all and, therefore, the
master of all.
The big crowd was moved by
it. People do admire what is
good, even if they are so busy
with other things that they
haven't time to be good them
selves.
We Are Born Into the
World With Fine Ap
preciations
We are born into the world
with fine appreciations. We love
beautiful objects, even if we are
not ourselves able to paint them.
We enjoy fine music, even if we
can not sing.
In the same way we revere
great and good men and women,
even if we ourselves arc mem
bers of the popular order of rep
robates.
It was a happy feature of the
occasion that District Attorney
Whitman was the presiding offi
cer. There was a fitness in it.
The territories of the Salvation
Army and of the district attor
ney's office overlap.
In their working they touch
each other, handle a good deal
of the same material, so that
Mr. Whitman's testimony to the
efficiency of the army came from
one who could speak with au
thority, and the eloquent cor
diality, therefore, with which he
gave his indorsement to it went
far beyond the range of ordinary
eulogy.
Besides all of that, there was
a distinct propriety in having
both the law and the gospel rep
resented on the Salvation Army
platform. It was a quiet inti
mation that the purpose of the
gospel is not to free men from
he authority of the law, but to
educate and discipline men to a
loyal observation of law.
It was a great afternoon for
the Salvation Army and gave it
fresh nerve for the prosecution
of its grand work.
* * #
That trainmen are not negli
Commends The Call for Crusade
Resolutions thanking and commending The San Francisco
Call for its active co-operation and assistance in the recent cam
paign against "quack" doctors being waged in San Francisco were
adopted by the state board of medical examiners in session at Sac
ramento.
Following are the resolutions:
Whereas, the San Francisco Call has undertaken the seri- |
ous task of informing the public as to the dangers incident to 1
' various forms of medical fakes; and whereas, the public health
is certain to be improved so soon aslaymen are better informed
M to the dangers of disreputable forms of medical practice,
Be it resolved, that we extend to The San Francisco Call I
a vote of thanks for its sincere efforts to benefit the people of
this state by assisting this board to carry out the provisions of
the existing medical law.
Curious Facts
The Mexicans have a turn for the
picturesque which displays itself in
the street names of the capital. There
is Love erf God street, the Holy Ghost
street. Sad Indian street, Street of the
Wood Owls, Lost Child street, and a
cautionary Pass If You Can street.
Shop names, too, ln Mexico are out of
the common, A drug store calls It
gent and unfaithful to the inter
ests and lives of passengers is
evidenced by the account that
has just been given of the engi
neer who was taking his train j
from Philadelphia to New York i
when the steam chest of his
engine exploded and he was
drenched with steam and boiling
water. He stuck to his post and
applied the brakes. When found
he was unconscious, his flesh
horribly boiled, but with his
hand on the throttle.
Such cases are not so rare ar
to be surprising, but they are so
serious and have so deep a
meaning as to be worth a word
of comment
Of course he was a hero. Ha
offered his life as a ransom for
the seven carloads of passengers
that his engine was drawing.
Why did he do it? What was
his motive? Did he in that sud
den instant enter into a mathe
matical calculation as to tha I
relative value of his own life and
that of his passengers? Thera
was not much time for think- |
ing.
It Is Evident There Was
Something Great in
the Man ']
Or was it that simple loyalty
to duty constrained him to the
sacrifice? Perhasp he would him
self have difficulty in making
clear what went on in hi 3 mind;
but this is evident, that there
was something great in the man.
Heroism is always a form of
greatness,' for it means losing
something in order to further
some one else's gain.
If Mr. Carr, the engineer, had
taken the risk, for the sake of
some reward that might come
to him in case he survived, his
act would not have been heroic.
It would only have been a spe
cies of investment, laying down i
one commodity with a view of j
taking up another that was bet- !
ter.
That was apparently not the
case in the present instance. '
What occurred was the fruit of
chivalry, not of speculation. Tie
would have been a man to be- i
lieve in and to bank upon in ;
whatever circumstances placed
and in whatever work employed.
"Crisis Virtue' Sustained
Him and Kept Him
From Slipping
He acted at the impulse of
considerations that form no part
of the experience of ordinary
people.
There was something out of
sight that sustained him. We
can not tell what; something
that kept him from slipping. It
might be called "crisis virtue.** 1
Such crisis he may not have en
countered before, but he was
ready for it whenever it might
occur. i
We may believe that there are
a great many more men in tha
world like Mr. Carr than tha i
world knows of. 1
They are undiscovered for tha
reason that nothing occurs that j
publicly tests their heroic sta- 3
bility; but be there more of therm
or fewer, they are what com- *
pose the rib work of society and
insure its strength and solidity.
self Gate of Heaven, and a drinking*
saloon describes Itself frankly as The
Bait of the Devil!
A lighthouse of 2,000 candle power
for airmen is to be erected at Ltebens
werda, in Saxony. It is to signal by
flashes to airmen flying by night in
dications as to their route and th*
probable weather conditions.