The morning call., 1894-02-04

escaped, but the defeat of the Wilson tariff
bill would bring a profound sense of reliet.
American heiresses who marry into the
British Deerage may incline TO differ with
Grant Allen when he inveighs against the
want of nobility which these titled per-
sons are distinguished BY MANY owe
their titles to vulgar wealth and lackev
services TO Prime Ministers and sovereigns.
To-day the honor comes to those who
huck ter and grovel for it in the political
arena. Grant Allen says the peerage
should be so arranged that "any man who
owned so many thousand acres of LAID or
brewed so many million bottles of beer
per annum should ips0 facto be elevated
to the peerage. Why should not SO many
gallons OF gin confer an earldom direct
and so many Brighton AS be equivalent
10 marquisate? Why not allow the equal
claim of screws and pills with coal and
iron |' This IS hard hitting because il
prlcks the snobbery of the hole system.
1t is pOinted out how anomalous it is to
make peerages out of beer and Dublin
stout and TO neglect whisky; to frown
upon chocolate and soap anG consider
banking and colliery ownership eligible
for the peerage. Ii there must be second
chambers in Legislatures it would be bet
from time to time, than with feeble
minded hereditary members whose opinion
on anything is not worth asking. Grant
a lien lays the blame for second cham bers
all over the globe on England. There was
no necessity, he thinks. for the Senate of
the United States. Its work could other
wise have been arranged.
Executions in public may cease in
France after Vailiant's head drops into
the basket. The crowds that assemble in
the Place ROauette to witness the gull
lotinng of criminals is always horribly
callous. brutal and demoralized. Through
out the night it keeps up orgies of the
most revolving indecency. and far from
being an example to evil-doers the execu-
tons positively operate as an incentive to
crime and debauchery, and culprits ex-
tract a species OF glory from being so con-
sDicuous on the scaffuld. These disgusting
traits of public executions begin to be
understood in France. as tDey are realized
in England and In some OF our own States,
California included. The gross error OF
the past was in suppOslng that the sight of
fellow human being dying al the end of
rope or under the knife was an edifying
moral spectacle. whereas 1t only produced
brutality and indifference 10 suffering.
France is also shortening the interval be-
tween sentence and execution. Rivere
had ninety-six days allowed. PranZini
f0rty-four, Prado forty, Campi thirty
eight, Ravachol eighteen and Vail
liant possibly will have less time. In Eng
land two clear Sundays are allowed to
elapse. This expedition is merciful. 1t is
greatly in contrast with the years that
frequently pass before the moose is tied in
the United States.
Nevada has been visited by meteor of
large size-now large nobody can yet saw.
1t is doubtless not as large as haystack.
and might have caused good deal of
noise by an explosion if no bigger than a
handball. Its luminosity as it flashed
through the atmosphere at possibly eight
cen miles second was very impressive.
Curiosity will perseveringly dig
up the i'm bedded fragments and chemists
may take the trouble to analyZe portions,
but there is little probability of anything
new being found out about these erratlc
visitors from space. In the whiriing career
of the earth and the whole solar system
through space the track OF our movement
is SO immense that we do not draw breath
second time in the same part OF the uni
verse. The marvel is we should not en-
| counter larger fragments OF matter courS-
| ing through space and swerved to the
| earth and absorbed, as by a huge magnet.
Millions of meteors fall on the earth
| every day, but most of them are tiny
specks, or become so from atmospheric
| friction.
Emperor William Of Germany is said to
have expressed wish to visit the United
States. If he could only throw aside the
red tape which restrans the free move
ments of all sovereigns and is especially of
strong quality in Germany. he might
enjoy month in America with great
profit and enlightenment. There is no