The San Francisco call., 1898-03-13

| While the German Empire is long way from us and its affairs not partic- ularly our concern. We have at least the 1 right to wonder how 1t permits it's des- tiny to be guided by man who buD- bles over so frankly with the symptoms of lunacy. The Kaiser can in meas ure disguise his game arm, but his game intelligence is something not | to be hidden. While he sends to jail such subjects as may speak or write disrespeetfully of him, his course would seem naturally more objectionable to | his subjects than to outsiders. If they | choose to endure it, when they have | the privilege of coming to America, perhaps it Is as we'll that a few thou sands of them should be locked up. But the exuberant William must not at tempt to lay down the law for the folk he Is pleased to term Yankee" These 1 do not recognize his jurisdiction nor stand in awe of his God-given wealth | of nerve. It seems to me that Boast | ing Billy in attending to his own busf- ness would find his time amply em- ployed
 That man Waller of the Board of Education needs sitting upon. Why he cannot do the public the small favor of keeping out of sight is a mystery. He annoys the senses. When an off, cial is under indictment for attempted bribery and the opinion that he Is guilty finds so many enthusiastic supporters as this community affords, 1t is not too much to ask that in the name of de- cency he assume an air of modesty, even if the genuine arcticle is absent from his composition. Waller now seeks to have new text books intro duced in the schools. Coming so soon after the late outrage in the same di- rection, this is perhaps as striking an instance of cheek as has been thrust into notice. Not long ago pupils were obliged to load themselves with worth less but expensive books, since thrown aside. Now Waller wants them to re- load If Waller had as much Judgment as clam or the sensitiveness of a mud turtle, he would be now in con- cealment within his shell. It is not to be expected of him that that shame will prompt him to resign, but the most distant recognition of decency would cause him to keep silent unless he had something to propose besides a new scheme of robbery. Were I engaged in compiling a list of local rogues I would turn to the Board of Education as of fering rich material to draw from, and first on the list of WIS would be the name of Waller.
 During discussion in the House of the war appropriation at least two gen. tlemen fell into poetry, mixing the feet sadly as they alighted. Both tried to quote some lines almost as familiar as if taken from a Mother Goose melody, and each made a mistake. However, they voted better than they quoted, and all is forgiven.
 It would be a boon to this community to observe an instance of the death of a rich man not followed by the up- springing of a surprising widow with a lot of brats trained to call the lamented papa In cases where the widow gets premature and announces herself be- fore the grave has claimed her lord and master the period of annoyance to which the public is subjected Is merely heightened As Adolph Sutro lies in mental darkness on the borderland, the inevitable woman appears. Perhaps nobody would go so far as to say that Sutro's life has been faultless, but for one I believe the woman lowering with her brood awaiting his death is on the moral plane of the buzZard, bird of carrion prey which has no morals at all.
 As if to add to the gloom naturally following an event so somber as the destruction of the Maine, George Par sons Lathrop wrote some poetry about it. This poetry, it is safe to affirm, is the worst the occasion produced It lacks every element Of song save the one of sentiment, and this is marred by the crude form of expression. Doubt less any writer of less renown would not only have been refused space for it, but would have been advised by an ed- itor of average discernment to essay no literary work higher than the com pilation of daily reports from the stock yard. One verse of the stuff l quote. There are several others as bad:
 Men of the Maine O. men of the Maine,
 Sad though your fate beyond words.
 Still your true souls mid the fire and the pain
 Rose high with the wind and the birds.
 I do not profess to be literary crit ic, but the ability to detect such rot as this on sight is not denied to any man on whom heaven has bestowed intelli- gence which has enabled him to mas ter the alphabet
 Last week man in Oakland beat his wife so that she had him arrested. When he appeared in court the Judge at the fearful solicitation of the beaten, 1et tho prisoner go free I think that