The San Francisco call., 1898-10-09
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By HENRY JAMES.

| not only without warrant in law, but 1t is direct insult to the navy. The people. of this country are proud of their navy. They want it manned by reputable citizens. Youth are being trained for its service. It is hoped re- | cruits will come from good families. There is no excuse for viewing it as a rendezvous for scalawags, and such a view ought not to be and will not be | tolerated,
 Sometimes the intelligence of an | Eastern paper, its wealth of infOrma- tion, is a pleasing surprise. In re- cent number of the Cincinnati Commer- cial Tribune note was made of the fact that Portland, Or, desired to build one of the new monitors, and the editor added: "Go on. If the Olympia and Oregon are fair samples of your work, give the country a few more like them" An impression had prevailed here that the ships mentioned were samples of the work done at the Union Iron Works of San Francisco, a con siderable city of California. Indeed, this impression got abroad, and at Washington was so trustfully accepted that the Secretary of the Navy sent a long letter of congratulation to the | management of the Union Iron Works on the excellence of it's product. The people of San Francisco saw the Olym- pia and Oregon launched, saw them steam proudly away, and still enter tain the notion that they were built here. What sort of a place is Cincin- natl anyhow7 Is it the same seat of culture which glories in the tradition that once it packed more pork than any other city in the Union?
 Observing the progress of the investi- l gation into the management of the medical and commissary departments of the army one is not impressed by the evidences of sincerity. It seems to me that to question some of the sol diers would be the way to ascertain the truth. Let a few of the boys who came back from Cuba, gaunt, ex- hausted, starving and neglected, take the stand and tell about it, and then let the responsible officers explain. Mo- body has ever charged that the off, cers mess was infected with rotten ba- con, or that an officer in need of a dose of quinine had to wait a week for it. The allegation has been that the priv ate soldier, a boy in many instances as tenderly reared as the epauletted gentleman commanding him, of as good a family as thorough patriot was permitted to lie in the trenches before Santiago with nothing to eat, although there were stores at the wharf; that in the hospital he lacked deIicacies, not withstanding the Red Cross had for warded a plenteous amount. People would like to know the truth about these things. So far as the investiga> tion shall tend to souse Alger in a sea of whitewash, I shall take the liberty of regarding it as a fraud. No admir- atiOn for Mckinley can make me think his Secretary of War was ever fit to hold the position.--s
 Once more there has bobbed up the old question as to the relation between newspaper man and a journalist There is habit of regarding the term journalist" as a sign of affectation. This habit is founded on a lack of knowledge, and Is in itself an affecta- ton. A man who earns his living by writing for the daily press is a jour nalist or a mistake. He has a right to all the distinction the title affords It must be remembered that every en- ploye of newspaper regards himself as newspaper man. The employees who run linotype machines, make stereotype plates, send out the mail sweep the office or stand in attitudes of impressive dignity behind the coun- ter of the business department are all newspaper men. They are as useful as the people who write, but, neverthe- less, the people who write are not pre- sumptuous in asserting themselves to be journalists. I know this is not popular view, not fashionable, not in accord with the fad of insisting upon being known simply as a newspaper man. I strive to be a journalist. The people with whom I intimately asso- ciate are journalists. When a writer has specific place to fill in the per sonnel of a paper he may be otherwise classified. There are the reporters, the telegraph editors and the other editors. Nevertheless the man whose implement of toll Is his pencil and whose business Is to make copy" whatever may be his temporary position, is a journalist, and it is silly for him to deny it. If he doesn't like the job, there are others.
 It Is strange that J. J. Valentine, president of the Wells-Fargo Express Company, cannot issue circular with out giving a Salvation Army twist to it and slavering the document with the emulation of profound yet bubbling piety. In recent circular to employees regarding the care of horses he gives utterance to many humane sentiments. If Valentine cared as much for the welfare of patrons as for the livestock of the concern he directs and adorns he would be all right. He introduces the circular with a quotation from Proverbs: "The righteous man re- gardeth the life of his beast" So he does, and the unrighteous, too, if he has any sense and owns beast, par ticularly if said beast Is entered for a race and the stakes are worth hav- ing. Still, his advice is good It is almost goodygood. Then follow in- structions as to the care of property, these also enforced by a proverb of great antiquity and merit. The joker is at the bottom It is an aIluSion to