The Placer herald., 1870-04-23
SAN FRANCISCO LETTER.
[From our Regular Correspondent

Of ideas an expcctant editor with q column re-
served for an expectant letter, and an apprecia-
tive pablo waiting for their regular installment
Of San Francisco gossip--anl what is the result !!
One result that know of will be most uninter-
esting epste; for, if the people of this city are
so lost 10 all sense of what is right and proper
as not TO furnish your correspondent with spicy
elopements, racy divorces and sanguinary sui
cides, the readers of the Pacer HERALD will have
to content themse,v yes with unsensational matter.
Commercial intelli gence is not generally con-
sidered very lively mental food, so you shall
have ii in very small doses and sugar coated to
| make it paatabe. and perhaps the intelectua
medicine may act ms 4 tonic to brace you Tor
fresh corqucStS over nature and circumstances.
1t is reported in financial circles that a new
bank is soon to be organized to operate in a
somewhat different manner from any doing bust
ness at The present time. which is understood to
mean that they will discount paper with less
scrupuousness than any institution at present
established. That may be all very well Tor the
merchants who desire cash in exchange for "ac
commodation sake" but hardly likely to he sat
isiactory to shareholders. The Bank of Caiior-
MIA is perhaps litte too speculative for a large
monetary &C ncern, but it is governed by smart
busincs. men who will always lend gold on good
security, personal or otherwise. What this State
essentially wants is a sound National Bank on a
SpIu DlSlS, Win DflHcOeS Ill every agricultural
burg and mining town, one that the people could
depend on and deposit their dollars in without
fear OF a collapse. The capitalists who invest in
such an undertaking viii reap rich harvest and
well deserve it.
In my last weeks letter | mentioned that the
pioneer steamer from Australia to this port was
on her way here. 1t is the Citv of .adeiaide not
the Hongatoonga, though, as Romeo says, what's
in name?' She left Sydney the 9th Of
March, crowded with passengers and, as our
British residents deem the occasion to be an i'm
p0r ant one, a meeting was held during the week
to make arrangements for the reception Of their
colonial cousins. 1t is proposed to meet the YES
sci at the Golden Gate, lire a salute, have good
time generally, and, of course, finish up with the
Indispensable roast beef and plum pudding.
Commercial item number three is the excite
ment caused by the Savings Bank withholding g
Sl5 600 OF depositors' money, being ten per cent
of the amount OF mortgage tax paid by property
holders, but which the late Legislature abolished.
The Corporations say they spent that sum in
counscls fees and other cxpenses,-in plain En-
| glish, "lobbying," and think that the public for
whose benefit they fought 30 hard should remcm-
Der them. This the gentle public fail to see,
and as the latter have law if not strict moral
! right on their side it requires no prophetic spirit
| to divine that the "Savngs and Loan Societies.
will come out second best. Commercial item
number four is the arrival of twelve hundred
more Cinnamon, slowly steadily, surely to drive
| the white labOrcr from every avenue of employ
mcnt curail the field of his industries and over
run this !air State with their paupey influx.
In the Atlantic States although the evil with
which California is cursed is neither felt nor un-
| dcrstood; the Government interieIcs TO protect
/ Eastern against European labor by means of a
tariff. But here. whore the laborer has a compet-
| tor much more formidable than his Eastern COM
peer has in the English or German workman. no
protection is extended. Can nothing be done in
the interest of the toiling masses whose bone
aud sncw have made America, to-day, the hope
and desire OF trampled humanity everywherc ?
a fearful duty rests upon the shoulders oI-some-
| one. Wisdom, Grmncss. honor and courage are
demanded oi-sOmcone. And yet the times show
| no Indication OF the coming Statesman whose
task it will be TO grapple with this tremendous
| subject. Our State Legislature shrank from ii;
Congress is too busy forging chains for the
Southern sisterhood to notice it.; the successor #
Washington and .4udrew jackson has his soul
absorbed in West India Treaties; the mantle OF
Jefferson, Webster and Clay is thrown in the dust
and the finger of Providence poiuts ~ none as
worthy to wear it, The future is dark wish the
threatening OF coming storm. and il this Chinese
question is not quickly met with vigor and abili
ty, the results viii soon be such as to awaken the
most apathetic.
Believing that these four Commercial para
graphs are as much rs any decent man can read
at one time without going to sleep, will post
ponc the consideration Of the Fee Islands an
neXaton scheme; the grade OF Mont gomery FIVE
nre; the debate in the Board OF Supervisors on
street contracts and many other important aud
interesting subjects to some future datc-say this
day tWclvcmonth.
That Bloom Rock explosion is most tantal
izing affair, il is always coming off and never
does Three days this week have toiled to the
top Of Telegraph Hill with several hundred 9th
ers in expectation ofwitnesssng the great blow
up, and each time made mental vow, swearing
to it in cocktail, that never, again, would
put mith in private Information. However,
Colonel Don Schmidt, the clever engineer who
has charge of operations. promises to let me
know the exact oatc shortly, an1 the result shall
be duly chronicled for the benefit of Auburnites.
Strawberries are coming into market and every
city paper is singing peaus Of praise at this un
usual manifestation of na lures bounty. The IA
vored land (latitude 36) that can raise this fruit
in the middle of April is solemnly contrasted
with sterile snow-clad Maine (longitudc 92o no
atlas at hand to verify) and we are told to be
eternally thankful for the good luck that has
cast our lot in such pleasant places.
.4ppropos OF these foolish para graphs it is a
fact not generally known that in the .aha build
ing is a secret room, a mysterious chamber as care
fully guarded as the anatomical Museum in
BuebedTd's Mansion. Ranged round the wall are
hundred of Postoilice boxes, each one laLled and
containing stereotype ready for use. One
Nublt TOW II tlhfu up WIFI WIChcu utteUlplS 10
make New Englanders dissatisfied with their eli
mate, another contains descriptions Of mammoth
turnips, giant bcets. monstrous apples and extra
ordinary peaches. ali neatly tcketed in the order
they are to be used. .fbove are the Pioneer
obituaries with blank left for name and date of
death. These were written by contract many
years ago, put in type, and are worked up nds
criminately, the only regard being to sex. Then
come the paragraphs beginning, ".4nolher old
landmark gone" followed by annual prophecies
Of wet and dry seasons, and one huge pigeon hole
filed with a ten column biography oil Emperor
Norton to which daily additions are made. In
slack times the notsis are. by proyident fore
thought ordered to d. scribe coming Fourth Of
July Celebrations so these are already typed ten
years ahead and the Editorial attention is now
turned to filing up the Earthquake disporag-
ing compartments; proving Incidentally that all
future shakes are merely playful ebolitions, gen.
temanly fellows as harmlessto to use petty sinlie
as an cunuch in a harem, This information ]
had from respectable burglar whose business
eye WAS attracted by the eviIent mystery that
surrounded the room. How he got in would be
a breach o confidence to say, but the story he
tells is evidently reliable. | am satisfied OF its
truths and perusal of the .4ha confirms his
I