The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-10-16
sa.a.a SO 8; 8. So 8: 8. s: 8; So s.
WITH ENTIRE FRANKNESS.
: NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. sa@ &c g .a 60 g +. 50 @'s g s.
BY HENRY JAMES.

Z 10 % 90 90 90 % % % % % % 90 90 % 90 ~
I gatherings of intelligent men and wo-
men to touch upon, where, as some OF
my personal detractors would remark,
is his own consistency to get off at!
AS a matter of fact, there are subjects
which do not need to be discussed, nor
laid before the readers Of a paper. Sub
scribers have as much right to protec-
ton as people who go to a convention
where lot of theories are advanced,
each theory producing a series OF
bushes, wave of disgust, but having
no other effect. While Bach is treat
ing of delicate topics he would be wise
and kind to employ some of the foreign
languages, living or dead, which he in
Inmates are about as familiar to his un-
Outstanding as the English he uses so
admirably.
Not long ago the Visalia Times con-
tanned a letter from J. H. Morton. 1t
was headed, "a Warm Communica-
tion,' and the heat thereof was per-
ceptible even to the casual observer.
Mr.. Morton neglected to state that the
letter had appeared almost word for
word in Brann's Iconoclast, and that
for writing such stuff Brann has re-
tired from the turf and reposes under
it. Perhaps, however, Morton did not
know. Instances of unconscious cere-
bration multiply. The Times itself
cannot be blamed. All it said about
while it could have been pronounced
actually hot without causing the spirit
of veracity any distress.
Indications increase that the sort of
| peace commission to deal satisfactorily
| with Spain ought to consist of 100000
men, each carrying a rife. There is
something unspeakabIy irritating in the
calm assurance of licked and humili-
ated Spain that the privilege of nam
| ing terms rests with her. The forma-
ton of a peace commission was, in the
first place, a scheme to salve the
wounded feelings of CASTLE President
| Mckinley sitting in the White House
could easily have drawn up a bill of
particulars and made the Dons accept
it. To be chased out of Cuba at the
point of the bayonet would serve
rightly the cheeky Blancos of opera
bouffe war. Perhaps American troops
may yet be sent to Havana to impress
|
umph and defeat there is an apprecia-
BILE difference.
1t may have been observed that after
the estate of the late Jacob Davis had
been settled according to the will of
the deceased and the decree of the
court, up bobs a set of heirs from the
South with declaration of war and
H.
ter is none of my business, nor yours
for which reason we naturally take an
interest in it. There is much injustice
done in the making of wills, perhaps,
but it is small compared with the injus-
tice involved in the breaking of the
wills. When a man has secured for
tune by industry or luck it has always
seemed to me there should rest with
him some right in disposing of it. If a
man has wife and children he is re-
sponsible for their welfare and in honor
| bound to provide for them as best he
may. The wife probably assisted him
! in acquiring wealth, and the children
| appeared on the scene quite without
solicitation on their part. But what
ever is true as to the wife or direct de-
scendants, 1 do not see why cousins,
aunts and remoter connection have any
claim. The Southern aspirants for the
Davis dollars are said to be children of
brother. Davis was, 1 hope, in no
manner responsible for them. While
he lived to have supported them would
have been charity and made Of them
paupers. Now that he is dead I can
not figure out how they sustain any
more intimate relation to his fortune
than they did before.
There is a plan for putting Professor
| Schenks system, as the fad is known,
on the market in this country If it be
carried out 1 hope sincerely that every
cent invested in it will be lost AS the
| human race increases the exact proper
lions of the two sexes, this system de-
clares, can be regulated. I do not be-
lieve it can, and hope that it can't Ma
| ture has done fairly we'll so far and
there seems to be behind it a degree of
wisdom to which not even a Schenk' S
intellectually can rise superior.
|
/ It is war upon Shafter. Yellow jour
nalism has gone to such lengths that
the absurdity of the method defeats it
self. In a recent number of a paper
published in this city there appeared
something purporting to be a converse
ton between that general and Breckin-
ridge. Shafter was represented as beg
ging his subordinate to take command
and the subordinate as declining partly
on the ground that Shafter had planned
to retreat. The conversation is not only
! impossible but is actually silly. That 1t
| or anything resembling it ever took
place no sane person would for an in
slant believe. The fake is most clum-
silly contrtved. The man who wrote il
has not enough sense to write properly
1, line of English. The only acceptable
thing he could write would be a resig-
nation.
While the Cubans are wildly demand
| ing independence they should pause
and reflect, if they possess the appa-
ratus by which rejecting may be ac-
complished, matter concerning which
there is room for doubt. If the Ameri-
cans were now to withdraw from the