The morning call., 1893-10-13

Yachts OF 150 tons like the Valkyrie
are very delicate gossamers when it is
supposed to be possible by adding ton of
ballast to alter their racing measurement.
No doubt ton is ton, but that one more
or less should give a better chance in
breeze or alter the time allowance seems
irife absurd. If this is to be the nice
shading In yacht racing the vessel had bet
ter, when all the crew and the guests are
on board, be lifted out of waller and
weighed, as they easily could be, like jock
eys and their pigskins. In case of dis
pute the last fat man on board could be
sent ashore, or proper size Of man added,
and should a micrometrlc scale be intro
duced the captain could send ashore his
tobacco-box and the crew their pipes as
last resort. A ton more ballast is very
forlorn hope for the Valkyrie In the re-
naming contests.
A compliment is paid to the Traffic
Association from an unexpected quarter.
The firm of Huntington. Hopkins e. Co. is
going out OF business. The great man who
once was in the trade is now at the head 0f
colossal railroad enterprises, but he
recalls with gusto the time when in the
early fiftcs he carried a deal in shovels at
Sacramento which netted him 300 or 400
per cent. A report has got abroad that
the reason the firm is retiring is the fierce
competition of Chicago in iron goods.
This is declared by . member Of another
large house not to be true. Rates are so
low from the East. owing to the competi-
tioD by sea against the railroad, that
dealers are underselling Chicago and the
Eastern cities in our local marke cts. This
is as it should be. Surely our merchants
should have command of our own markets.
But the advantages at present are mere
bagatelle to those they would enjoy were
there well-devised system OF local rail-
roads.
The canyons of the Colorado appear a
formidable obstacle to any system Of irri-
cation, but the electric power they are
capable of generating would go far to
neutralzs any disadvantages connected
with hosting the water to the mesa levels.
The electric power available on this river
for haulage and pumping must be enor-
nous, and it will in these days Of advance
ment in electrical machinery be eventually
successfully applied. The mechanical
engineer Is certain TO do wonderful things
with the new forces at his command. He
has it in his power by turning the waters
OF rivers and the waters beneath strata
| over the land. instead of letting them flow
or percOlate into the sea. to convert many
| thousands OF miles OF waste country. abso-
lutely va'ueless at present. into positive
fertility. With that change must come
many advantages, climatic and otherwise.
| The young who live to the middle of next
century will ses it.
1t is perhaps diplomatic on the part of
! Charles A. Wetmore to say soothing things
to John Boyd Thatcher on the sH)oint.
ment of British Commissioner TO PASS an
opinion on California wines. but he is
needlessly apologetic. Had the official
method Of judging our wines been entirely
satisfactory Dir. Oidham's services would
| have been of little consequence. Mr.. Old
ham knows California wines very well, for
he sells them, and he was in this State a
few weeks ago. and could no doubt write
an able and learned connoisseur report on