The San Francisco call., 1899-02-26

what they are there is no hope, Oh re-
form for them. Among the WI
fools 1 would give a place ~
Haas. He was certain that d lihe wo'
unloaded, and to justify the 1alth "iiioli
was in him pointed the weapon d
boy and pulled the trigger. Al tl,i9
writing there remains a nope tna' tue
boy may recover and depressing a9
surance that Fritz will. There shouiu
be a severe penalty for TINS sort ol
homicidal jocoseness. To term sucn
| shooting "accidentaf' is folly. IL Is ue-
| liberate, inexcusable, and snouio oe
punished by long term IN the pehi-
tentiary. The person who VIII IN jest
point a gun or any other deadly weapon
| at another person is not MT 10 pe d
large. He is either a criminal, an luiot
or a lunatic.
The decadence of Joaquin Miller is a
sad instance of the going out OF a great
| intellect The author OF some OF the
finest poetry ever written in America
and of virile prose, bespeaking gen
ius, he has descended to the position OF
vaudeville freak, clad in uncouth raj
ment and singing senseless dltty IoI
the amusement of crowd that Wouio
with equal interest gaze upon the TAT
lady or the ossified gentleman. He be-
comes the object of contempt or OF COM
miseration. In earlier years he reacheo
| the climax of achievement possible to
him and instead of pausing there mas
started down the hither side. some
friend ought to enjoin him.
- hn
city cemeteries seems to be in abey-
ance, but when the Supervisors nave
accomplished the routine of their du-
ties 1 hope this subject will be taken
up again and a decision reached to stop
at the earliest possible moment burials
within the limits of San Francisco. The
reasons for doing this are so many and
so incontrovertible as to leave no room
| for argument. In a city a cemetery
not only impedes progress, but it is
| likely to poison earth, air or water, or
all of these, and to preserve for the
| peril of the living the germs of deadly
disease. Far away from the busy
| streets, yet within easy reach, beauti
full cemeteries have already been pro-
vided for Protestants, Catholics and
Jews. They are where for an incalcu-
|
a detriment and perhaps by the time
they shall be found in the way the
method of burial will be obsolete.
Any American citizen must be inter
ested not alone in the future of the
Philippines as bearing on the welfare
| of his own race but in the discussion
the condition has provoked, and the
| mi nf
| equally conscientious. 1t seems to me
the fuss is greater than the occasion
warrants, and the fear that in either
| outcome the United States will go to
the bow-wows is entirely without foun-
F. dation My respected friend, Henry E.
Highton seems possessed of terror
that the constitution is being rent into
! small bits He says the constitution,
| like the Ten Commandments, is eter
nal as eternity itself, wherefore I am
| of belief that he errs. The constitu-
! ton was formed under stress of cir
cumstances which have passed away,
| to meet the requirements of people
who have long been dust. Wise and
glorious as the document is, 1 do not
see how it could at that time have been
so contrived as to fill the needs of gen
erations then unborn, to deal with situ>
ations of which no statesman had the
remotest dream. ''Is George Washing
ton a back number" asks Mr.. High
ton. That magnificent personality will
ever remain, and so long as this ma
| ton exists, be to it a pride and an in
spiration. Solomon was a learned man,
but he would be out of place to-day as
president of Stanford University. The
first builder to construct locomotive
understood the principle of steam, but
placed on board modern engine such
as hauls a lightning express now he
would have to ask the location Of the
throttle bar, how to apply the air brake
and. the meaning of the semaphore.
Despite my regard for the erudition of
Mr. Highton, 1 am unable to see aught
in the constitution forbidding us to ad-
vance, directing US to be a walled-in
nation or thrive upon our own fat in
the manner of hibernating bear. The
oft quoted precedent set by the Ro
man republic is of no value. The ways
of the Romans were not our ways;
their capabilities were less, their NOR
ais lower. Washington never recon-
mended the use of the horseless car
riage, never sent message by wire,
never scratched a match on the rear of
MS trousers, never lElcQ HIS eyes ny
electric light, never lolled in a Pullman
at sixty miles an hour The majesty
of the individual we may justly vener-
ate, and his memory cherish rever>
ing his unselfish honor and honesty, but
while Washington is not back num-
ber'' his ashes are not UP to date.
When Dewey destroyed the Span
ish fleet at Manila, my impulse was to
glory in the fact that the American
flag would go up there and stay. Later,
as the natives seemed so valiantly TO
object, regarded them as patriots, and
hoped this Government would find an
opportunity decently to withdraw. The
F'ilipinos have shown that part of them
need killing and the rest to be gov
erned by a power capable at any time
of crushing them. 1t will not do to af-
firm that the United States undertook
the task as a high and holy mission,
but in great measure the task was
pressed upon this country in such man