The San Francisco call., 1898-03-20


 It did not seem necessary either to landlady or tenant to explain this change to the gas reople, the circum- stances being, with an apparent show | of reason. deemed none of their bust ness. When my friend paid his first months bill the company discovered that there was a new occupant at the number and at once demanded another $5. The landlady told them that her s5 could remain to represent the house; but this did not satisfy them. They still clamored for the double security saying that if 1t was not forthcoming the gas would be shut off. Three days later they sent man up to shut off the gas, and my friend then paid the $5. This is what the company is pleased to term voluntary" contribution. l am pleased to ter14- it an example of imper- thence, imposition and theft, and have as much right as the company to be pleased. Yet after the transaction noted the landlady had much trouble to get back her original s5, having to visit the office several times, and this when the office was aw;y down in Tar Flat, not easy to reach nor attractive to see. All this leaves out of consideration the reckless charges made for gas never consumed. the wretched quality of the light, the deadly character of the suicide-promoting fluid, and the boor- ishness with which every complaint. however just, is invariably met.
 The present law against opium smok- ing Is worse than none. Under it's puerile restrictions the police are help less, for if they take any action the courts at once nullify it and make the efforts of the officers appear ridiculous It would be a better plan to wipe out the law and encourage the dope f1ends to smoke their shriveled carcasses off the earth which their presence now in a measure robs of joy.
 While the affair is none of my bust- ness, I cannot help feeling sorry that two doctors should have sued the es- tate of a rich man for sum over $2S,- 900. As representatives of profession useful, necessary and generally honor able, their action constitutes a grave reflection upon the craft. 1t appears from the complaint that they were in attendance upon the man just one month, at the end of which period he died. What may have been the srela- tionship between their ministrations and his taking off does not particularly matter. It may be taken for granted that he had the benefit of the highest skill; that in the absence of the care he received he would not have been permitted to finger so long as thirty days, and yet do not believe the doc tors earned any such amount as $23, ,O00 hot ir1Ir haV ing been called to treat rich man stricken with malady they had brought him back from the gates of death the element of gratitude would have en- tered into the settlement, and had he chosen to write them a check for $50,000 apiece there would have been no cause for complaint. But I contend that med ical services, covering but one month, . and then terminated by death, could not possibly have any such value as the doctors have chosen to place upon them They could not have had this value if the doctors had abandoned all their other practice and devoted them selves exclusively to the patient. When one has taken to the bed of pain from , which he is never to arise the boon of dragging out to thirty days an exist ence that might have terminated in less does. not seem to me to be. con- siderable It assuredly is not worth such a fortune as many worthy and in- dustrious men toll vainly for during an entire lifetime.
 [ An Oakland correspondent, evidently sharing the disesteem it has been my duty to express toward the Board of Education, sends me clipping from i The Outlook, New York publication of standing and dignity. Such Is the savor of decay thrown off by this precious board that it has been detected as far away as the Atlantic seaboard. Prob ably there is not another body any I where, supposed to be devoted to the interests of education and so utterly neglecting them; supposed to be on lofty plane, yet so reeking with the overflow of an internal rot. That the board is a nuisance and disgrace, that the good in it is powerless against the T evil, that some of its members deserve to be in the penitentiary, there is no question. Some who are not vicious are actually and painfully ignorant, with not the slightest conception Of what their duties are, the slightest desire to find out or the slightest ability to per- form them. ln6 OutlOOh pdSScS Dy lIc Waller and the Ragan with their en- vironments of scandal and takes up the Drucker, whom it regards as a queer specimen, whose openly avowed prac- tices should be classified as criminal. ''It keeps us busy looking after our friends" Drucker had said when dis cussing the matter of appointments. Each director appoints his own friends and relatives" continued this modern exponent of educational methods, ap parently without thought or care that by the words he was confessing him. self one of band of shameless knaves. School directors have no right to have friends" such as must be provided for regardless of worth. They are not elected for the purpose of being pur- veyors of pap to members of their fam- flies. No wonder The Outlook is shocked at the scheme of regarding teachers positions as spells to be par