Mesa free press., 1898-12-09


municipal taxes in California last
week.
The recanvass of the treasurer's vote
of Santa Clara county, requested by j.
A. Lott, who was defeated by one vote,
finds an additional vote for Lotz, MAX
ing it tie.
John w. Hall of San Francisco, who
was injured by stepping into an open
water box on the Southern Pacific
track at Redding, has been awarded
$500 damages.
Scarcity Of water in the streams has
made it difficult for the electric power
plants at Sacramento to supply their
customers. The recent rain, however,
has probably averted danger.
Attorney General Fitzgerald has be-
gun suit in San Francisco against
Wells, Fargo & Co. to compel the cor
poration to pay the one-cent war tax
on each bill of lading, instead of col
lecting the amount from each shipper
Dawson preparing for winter shows
piles of logs in front of houses for
fuel, with fortunes being made by par
| ties bringing in glass and oil lamps.
Butter sells at 81 per pound, and the
price Of other products is doubled.
The Board of Regents of the Univer-
sity of California has bought a valua-
BILE piece of property in San Francisco
at a cost Of $21O,OOO. This is the last
piece of realty owned by the Hunting
ton-Hopkins Company, and was bought
as an investment.
A number of prominent Filipinos are
registered at the Palace Hotel in San
Francisco. They have come to the
United States to present claims for
damages. on property alleged to have
been destroyed by American troops
during the recent war.
Amadeo Horace, a native of Chile,
has been arrested in San Francisco. He
has been travelling around the country
under assumed names negotiating with
all sorts Of business concerns and con-
tracing for battleships, immense guam
titles of wines and other commodities
The torpedo boat Davis, constructed
at the Wolff and Zwicker Iron Works
of Portland, was given her official
trial trip on thesColumbia river last
week. Not only did the Davis make
her official trial of two hours success
full, but she made an average speed Of
| 2312 knots per hour, full knot in ex-
cess of requirements.
The highbinders show contempt for
the proclamation of the Chinese Con-
sui bidding them desist in their MUIR
derous feud. The Consul's proclama-
tion has been torn from the bulletin
/ board in front of the Consulate, and
in it's place a placard referring to the
Consul in uncomplimentary terms was
posted, but quickly removed by attach
es of the consulate.
| When occasionally some Chinaman
1 in San Francisco kills another the pa
pers of that city make a great noise
about the "another highbinder war;"
But murders equally atrocious are
committed by white men in San Fran
cisco nearly every week, without at
tracing any particular attention. A
great deal of bosh is written and pub
lished about the highbinders, asserts
the San Jose Mercury.
A very patent fact is being brought
out by all this dry weather scare says
the Oakland Tribune, and that is that
we must provide against such condi-
tions in future by means of a moro
complete system of irrigation. Our op-
portunities in that line are so many
and the dangers attending drought so
severe that it indeed looks like crimi-
nal negligence to allow vast streams of
water to go to waste that may later on
be badly needed. The building Of
mountain dams for the storage of wa
ter is a work of necessity that should
no longer be overlooked.
So far this state has not suffered
greatly from the dry season Of 1898.
Exports from San Francisco by sea for
ten months, to October 81, were worth
$29, $4,000, falling off from the pre-
vious year of only about $5,000,000.
Shipments of deciduous fruits were
only a few hundred cars less this year
than last. There will be some def
cheney in prunes, raisins and other
cured fruits, but the higher prices will
more than compensate for smaller
shipments. Southern California has
sold the largest crop of citrus fruits
by nearly so per cent ever sent out of
the section, and prices have been fairly
good. The nut crop will be larger
than last year, and the crop is being
sold at a higher average range of
prices and with much greater dispatch.
Baldwin's property in San Francisco
and Los Angeles, with the exception of
small part of the Santa Anita ranch,
is covered by a blanket mortgage,
which calls for the payment of a debt
of $1,625,0O0, with interest at 6h per
cent year, except that money loaned
on property in the city of Los Angeles
to bear per cent year. OF the santa
Anita ranch, 2276 acres are included
in the mortgage and parts of the
Rancho San Francisquito and the Mer-
ced ranch are also included in the list
of securities, as well as all of Bald
wins holdings in the Santa Anita col
ony and the town of Ell Monte. About
100000 of the mortgage covers the
Baldwin hotel property, and the opin-
ion is entertained that the site alone
is worth at least $5OO,OOO over tho
mort gage