The San Francisco call., 1899-04-23
EDITORIAL VARIATIONS.
BY JOHN McNAUGHT.

and the purple deepS of the shadows
that make up the marvellous richness
of our atmosphere. Boston boasts of
her architecture, but she has no mu-
nicipal building with a facade so pic
turesque as that City Hall which we
| have shut out from sight of our main
thoroughfares, and to which we close
our eyes as if it were a den of thieves.
We have furthc re, a commendable
group of millionaires, for they have
! been munificent in giving as we'll as
magnificent in taking. Why pursue the
theme? We are in advance of Boston
| in everything except the gentle art OF
writing in such q way as to make the
world think we are criticising ourselves
when we are really sounding our trum-
pets to all the winds that blow and eX-
alting our horn to the highest heaven.
| Were it not for the seriousness of the
subject the announcement by Wash
ington officials that General LaWton's
expedition from Manila was intended
not to suppress the insurgents and es-
ltablish order in the country, but mere
/ ly to distribute broadcast the proc@-
nation of the Philippine Commission,
would be everywhere regarded as the
| best contribution yet made to the hu-
NOR Of the day. No comic writer. could
imagine anything funnier. The pro-
found respect we have for our Govern
ment enables us to receive the state
ment with something of the gravity
with which it was uttered, and yet we
cannot but feel that our honored Presi-
dent is moving toward the ridiculous.
His benevolent assimilation" speech
J at Boston was itself a hard trial to the
gravity of a people who have keener
sense of humor than any other Oh
earth, and if our august chief execu-
tive doesn't look out he will be known
as a great American humorist before
long, and people will be hunting for
jokes in his messages to Congress.
Whatever may be the fate which
awaits US under the new charter, we
can find consolation in the assurance it
cannot give us anything worse in the
way of a Police Commission than we
have been suffering under for some
time. When our municipal government
was exposed to contact with the mag
netic Markham by reason of his official
position as Governor of the State, it
had the misfortune to catch Nose
Gunst from him, and the thing seems
something like the seven years itch, for
it stays with us and keeps us scratch
ing in continual irritation. To make a
police or any other kind of commits
sioner out of such a Gunst was to in,
fict upon US the worst ever imposed
upon an American commonwealth.
Burns in the Senate would have been
bItf ha T.
and Congress adjourns occasionally, so
we should have had respites; but Gunst
] is local To get rid of him it was neces-
sary either to burn the town or adope
new charter, and we have chosen
what seems to be the least expensive
of the two remedies. When we begin
a new era under the new charter the
happiest shout of the time will be:
''Mose Gunst has went!"
Eastern femininity has been as con
spicuous during the past week as the
Easter bonnet, but not altogether so
lovely. Mrs. Lease has announced a
determination "to make money cheaper
than men in this country" and Mrs. Sen
ator Frye has tried to make that emf
nent man, DR.. Jordan of Stanford, feel
cheaper than any money known to our
currency. Concerning the Lease prop
osition, little can be said at this time
as we cannot estimate the degree of
cheapness she proposes to introduce
into our monetary system until we
know exactly what valuation she puts
upon men. Mrs. Frye, however, is
clearly open to discussion. In accusing
DR.. Jordan of talking of things Of
which he was ignorant, she wrote of
things of which she herself was igno-
rant; and in putting her tongue into
politics has put her foot in it also The
Doctors reply was neat, and while
Mrs. Frye is entitled to the last word
she would do better to take a second
thought than to take advantage of the
privilege.
The proposal to bond the city for the
purpose of providing funds for the ex-
tension of the panhandle" to Van Ness
avenue is doubly commendable. mas
much as the plan if carried out will
not only open spacious and beautiful
way to the park, but will establish a.
precedent which will open a way for
the improvement of the whole city. We
condemn our city officials from one
generation of them to another, because
San Francisco is neither so we'll paved
so we'll severed nor so we'll kept in its
public places in any respect as are the
large cities of the East Bad as they
may be, however. the officials of the
city are not wholly to blame for its
silurian condition. They may be plain
hogs, but they are not the swine into
whose bodies went to the devils whose
name was legion. I have no doubt thev
would gladly improve the city if thew
had the monev and the lack of monev
is no fault of theirs. for they put taxes
as high as the traffic will bear. The
obstacle in the way of progress is that
we have followed the methods of the
dark ages and done patchwork i'm.
provements as we, could pay for them
out of annual revenues, instead of doing
what is done in every enlightened city
in the world, and borrowed sums suf-
icient to make improvements on
comprehensive scale. Permanent bet
terments of any kind will be enjoyed
by future generations. and the pay
mpnt for thnD fbarafora ,,,o.- 10