The morning call., 1893-08-28

unfortunate, sir; truly unfortunate, SIT.
Ii the discovery had been OF lead or iron,
sir, it would have been well; but gold, sir.
gold Will demoralize the country and ruin
the people. Look at South America, sir,
Tor an example. All history tells US what
VIII be the result 1t will make our men
gamblers and our women reckless. All
OF which dismal foreboding has not come
true. The Senator forgot the differences
In the Spanish and American stock, and
the comparison has also been Degatlved
by what has happened in Australia, New
Zealand and even South Africa. Gold
digging does not pOllute or demoraliZe
those who have the seli-goVerning spirit
In their nature, and that is characteristic
OF the English-speaking stock. To-day
gold-getting in California has become sub
sldlary AS an industry. though still impor-
tant. Fruit, wine, WOOL and wheat raising
are forms Of industry in which the mine
does not peter out. and the ore in sight
would give employment to twenty times
our population.
Is the swallow-tail doomed as an even
Ing coat for gentlemen? The question has
often been asked and as often negatlveG,
but it surely cannot last forever. Its con-
venience is admitted, for it is apparently
always gentlemanly garb, and as 1t lasts
dozen years when treated decently and
brushed and not soled with wine or the
sobs of the lachrymose and emotional. it
is also the most economical of all gar
ments. But in Vienna the men of fashion
have cast 1t aside for walters use abSO-
utely, and are introducing cOlored coats
blue, green. red, possibly Zebra-tinted
gayeties-which will render them as hand
some as parOquets, fiamingos or mackaws.
The young men who desert sObriety and
uniformity for the gauds of color will soon
comprehend the length of tailOrs' bills,
but that may be matter OF indifference to
the happy mOrtals who can afford to spend
thousand or two on clothes per anpum.
or who have the Savoir faire 10 get that
quantity of apparel from the tailor any
how. All this may be the prelude TO the
fantastic attire of the last century in laces,
silks, knee Dreeches and stockings.
France, who used to welcome the for
eigner and has never objected TO take his
money. is officially making bis residence
as disagreeable as possible. 1t is at pres
ent afflicted with severe attack of the
spy mania, which shows itself in absurd
regulations and precautions of which fear
is this basis. On railways no foreigner,
man OF woman, is to be employed at sta
tions. A sharp lookout is 10 be kept for
spies at bridges, ferries, museums and
monuments. Tie district around the forts
OF Paris is very strictly guarded against
the intruding foreigner. Those foreigners
who follow trades or professions are under
stringent law OF registration, and any
failure of compliance with lis provisions
entails severe punlshment, and even eX-
pulsiOn. Those who employ unregistered
foreigners are also liable to punishment.
AS far as guarding military secrets Is con-
cerned, all the precautions possible are
probably wholly useless. The results of
the next war will not turn upon the sue
cess OF kePping secret the defenSes II forts
or The composition of explosives. Prob
ably what Germany does not know Is not
worth knowing.
Gold in the Randi continues to come 10
the surface in extraordinary quantity. The
total this year In seven mOuthS Is actually
794. 40 ounces. In January last it was
los, ,374 ounces, and, with the exception of
February. it has gone on advancing. so
that in July there was an output OF 126, ,169
ounces. AT this rate the total for the year
will amount to 10000 ounces or more,
with a value of about S25, 600 The
totals OF previous wears are as under: 1889.
3S1, ,75S ounces; 1890, 494, ,S69; 1891, 729, ,23S; ;
1892. 1,210,S6S. South Africans now know
that the Randi ores go very deep and can
not soon be exhausted. and in Mashona-
land and elsewhere the aurifeious deposits
are remarkable. The Cape is, in short, the
new FL Dorado. Yet there are practical
men who hold that from S25. 100000 year
upward could easily be extracted from
mines in California were capital and enter
prise to 90 hand in hand.
Two years ago the potato was intro
duced in India, but was so badly planted
late in the season that most of the seed
tubers rotted. Such planting as came
above ground did remarkably well, how
ever, and further efforts are to be made
As food ii may prove a good alternative
to rice, on which the natives mostly exist,
but 1t is not likely to prove cheap per food
unless it is possible to raise several crops a
year. Asia has given the world long
list of useful fruits and vegetables, but
America is entitled TO credit for the pO-
tatO, although it is rOpularly assigned TO
Ireland in the United States.
James Stillie, bookseller. of Edinburgh,
has passed away in his ninetieth year. He
was an employe OF BallaDtyne 81 Co..
printers and publishers. when Sir Walter
Scott was a partner and was accustomed
TO carry to the Great Unknown the proof
sheets of his novels. He was not. how
ever. in the secret. although he may have
drawn lnferences as to the authorship.
Scott used to come to his booksellers shop
in the High street. Nearly all the literary
celebrities of the century ranked Stiliie
among their friends. Lately he was i'm
posed upon by a manuscript autograph
fOrger and certain New York purchaser
found out The fact TO his cost.
The DIR. Edison who has been exposing in
one of the magazines the absurd unreality
of stage deaths from pistol wounds, stab
bing, poison or consumption. or any dra-
matte cause, must have Californian ex-
perience. He selects a few of his illustra-
tions from tragedies in California to show
that stage villains and stage victims do not
know how to die. Among other realities
he describes Harry Larkn's run through
house with Muybridge's bullet in his
heart. and the athletic spasms of man
killed by Joaquin Murietta. As rule the
actual mode in which people pass away,
whether from violence or the normal drib-
bling out of vitality, is not dramatic Ac-
Qualities are not suitable for shams. But
dramatic people make mistake when they
die twice on the stage, or. after being slaiD,
get up and walk off to the wings. Absur-
dties are also perpetrated in the gladia-
tors arena. as was lately observed among
the Olympians.
The odd thing about the desperate at