The morning call., 1893-06-15

trial for murder or robbery. Which in
dictment is first to be proceeded upon? 1t
is said they will be taken to Fresno and
arraigned for the minor crime. But if
| convicted of the major crime the trial on
the other charge would be quite unneces-
| sary, whereas sentence for robbery
could not be accepted as sufficient Put
ting sympathy and all glamour of free
! booting romance aside these on laws are
chargeable with murder. They cannot
| plead self-detense in shooting down men
who had the right onferred by law to
arrest them. They defed the Sheriff and
| his warrants, knowing the consequences,
and the issue between them and the COM
| monwealth admits of no equivocation.
Shotgun argument when n warrant is
produced by an authorized officer cannot
be paltered with as justifiable. or there is
an end of the utility of law. To try these
men for robbery is not now matter of
any consequence save to themselves.
An anarchist candidate for seat in the
French academy has been electrifying
! Paris by his eccentric methods of can
vassing. He has besieged the immortals
in a fashion that cannot but enlist their
attention and arouse their wrath. This
product of fermenting age has the odd
patronymic, sapping his principles, of LIE
tnguished people like NJ. de Freycinet,
Leon Say, Nine. Adam, the Due d'Au-
male, and the Duchesse d'UZes, with n
| swarm of Journalists in his four In hand,
and forces an entrance with n brusqueness
not to be bluffed. Then he ceremoniousIy
| leaves bundle of pamphlets and also a
stew pan. which Is perhaps facetiously de-
signed to "ceok his goose" as a presump-
tuous aspirant. He promises protection to
those who are gracious when the anarchists
f.. L
The farce has been curtaled by the police.
1t is a point W orth noting that the rail-
! road companies made no effort to take
people to Chicago at reduced rates. The
notion prevailed that concessions would
be positive folly, because there would be
| quite enough traffic on an ordinary basis.
But when it is proposed to hold an exhibit
tion in San Francisco it is said that the
companies can afford to come down iD
their terms in order to induce people to
traveh This is we'll and good, and the ex-
hibilion would be powerful magnet, but
what binders the companies from lower
Ing rates without this stimulus? If they
can afford it prospectively they can profit
by it at any time. Lower rates would
| immensely Increase the stream Of travel
Why not try TO bring to California. sight
seeing. those who have moderate means
lucy WOuiu CUIu6 again anu UlIRul come
| to stay. No one can visit California and
be disappointed. What the Southern Pa
cifc is not inclined to do at present it may
beIcompelled to do. The Great Northern
company is showing cOmmeDdabe iDde-
pendence in fixing rates TO hearten the
traveller.
| Writing from New York, where he has
been giving attention to high speed on
railways and swift ocean voyages, Thomas
Magee points out how essential it is for
speed to have good roadbeds and wel-laid
rails. Trains on some Eastern lines
almost go at double the rate averaged on
the Central and Union Pacific. and this
they can do with safety. But more is
wanted. Mr.. Magee says fifty-one miles
| an hour Will never do, aud that II the loco
| motives cannot do better they will have to
be elbowed off the track to make room for
electricity or some other means of travel.
| Steamships will soon make thirty knots an
hour, and the railroads must be logged in to
a faster pace. We live In fast age. but
the next century will be faster. Perhaps
by that time the transcontinental journey
will have been shortened to three days by
getting the speed developed between New
| 1ork and Chicago. But the roads must
be better laid and straighter.
The Dundee whalers who went to the
the great cetaceans. Ross long ago sighted
huge monsters playing about among the
lcebergs and coDlectured they were the
same as the bowheads of the polar regions,
but they seem now to have disappeared.
But far better than whales is the find of
great schools of fur seals. The herds were
so unaccustomed to man as g danger that
| they allowed slaughterng parties to come
quite close without showing alarm. They
even slept on the rocks until walked up,
and turned round for another snooLe If n OF
| further disturbed 1t was an easy matter
to club or shoot them. How long this mis-
placed trust in man will continue need
hardly be asked. The thinning process is
certain to impart to the remnant lively
sense Of apprehension when the marauding
sailor is sighted with gun or club. If
the outcome of the Bering Sea arbitration
should be protection to the fur seal. 1t may
be hoped that similar care will be extended
to the Antarctic seal.
In strengthening our feet in the China
Seas the Government is to send some Of
the new war vessels through the SueZ
canal. Were the Nicaragua canal in ex-
istence such voyage would be a consider
able detour and would never be counte-
nanced. The saving in time would be con-
siderable by the Nicaragua route, and the
whole United States navy would be in
much closer touch. No one can study this
project FROM the point of view of the direct
and permanent interests of the United
| States without becoming convinced that it