OUR SAN FRANCISCO LETTER.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 12963, 16 November 1907, Page 2

OUR SAN FRANCISCO LETTER.

» {rti.ou ova qwx cobresponcixt.) SAN FRANCISCO, October 12. THE JAPANESE QUESTION. The gleaming whit© hulls and drab uppenvorks of six splendid cruisers lying in San Francesco's bay during these October daye haa revived the somewhat languid interest in thing* Japanese. Strange as it may seem, one hears less in San Francisco about possible international complications than might be imagined. The reader in this city who observes from many angles sees/references .innumerable in outside papers to "nob" and "ra<?e troubles" in California's metropolis. The plain truth is that two white men fought in a Japaneeo restaurant on Folsom street, end tho crowd that quickly gathers on euch a a occasion soon interested iUelf in hoodlum-Tike fashion in the animated dissuasion. There was a mixture of arms and legs, some white and some brown, ami when the police straightened out the combatante there was no evidence to show that anyone was permanently injured. On other days there have been rows of a minor nature, a not uncommon occurrence in a city whore some of tho cosmopolitan inhabitants are prone to take the law into their own hands. Once in Berkloy, a marine suburb, mischievous smatl boys threw stones at a Jap, and the cable told ue that wat might follow. Tho people of California are weary of tho "cocky" would-be world-beaters who aro a detriment to American citizenship, and whose ways, are not our ways and never can be. Interest in Japancso exclusion ha; been revived by the riots in Vancouver The Hindus who are coining by th< thousands into this western . count rj hnvp aggravated tho race oitestion. I is sometimes good to travel from honi< to hear the news, but when the Lo;n ■ don "Times" states that the same agi tators who were responsible for all tin tronble in San Francisco were th< wicked cause of tho rioting in tin north, it is timo to protest agains a statement either maliciously untrin or the result of a prolific*fund of mia information. Nearly three years ago the San Fran cisco "Chronicle" presented a serie of well-written articles showing the in roads the "little brown men" wer making in ' the cities end rnral dis tricts of California. The "Chronicle , claimed to bo actuated by naught bu a desire to protest against what wa I roally an evil to tho commonwealtF As a result, the Japanese and Korea Exclusion League was formed. It i > still in existence. Its object is t I promote legislation to exclude th J c<K>Ue> labour of the Orient. There i nothing illegal about tho work of tli League, and ite supporters aro mci of standing in tlip. community. The had nothing to do from any stam point with th« Vancouver rio+<;. T)i roughs who havo molested Japanes on two or throe occasions are sti hero, unfortunately, and the uprisin that caused fbe "Thunderer" 1 thunder should not be laid at the dooi of San Francisco. The latter city overworked in tho trouble line ac ;s, and there is nothing lost by clea< ing close to thf> truth. The main poir to bo deduced from t.heeo racial troubli is that J a p<l n is a good place for tJ Japanese, and that the white man moro at home in America. THE UNITED STATES NAVY. j Next spring Californians expect i &c* a fleet of twenty-four battleshii and cruisers in the bay of the ohii city of the West. It will be a fo mid«ble gathering of navy force-. Ad< ©d to the number Will bo the cruise and battleships of the Pacific equai ron. President Roosevelt seems d. termined that the voyage shall be vi derUkea, though there ifl oppositic on the part of some in authority t the ground that the Atlantic eeaboai will be left unprotected. It is no id statement to make that from tho tin the fleet moves in concert on the fir day of next December to tho day arrival in San Francisco Bay, the pc pie of tho United States will wati its progress with intense interest, at the reception that awaits tho wj vessels will prove truly California The movement marks an ©pooh in t] country's history. Deatiny 1 claim Fncle Sam as a world power. BUBONIC PLAGUE. That thore are cas?s of bubon

plague in San Francisco » admitted by the health authorities; Up to the. third d«y of October there were forty, serin verified cawe, and of this number thirty died. The number of sneS* has celled to forty-four. oToctober Sth, for the first time in Bereral weeks, no suspected cases wore reported. The Board of Health, aidJTbv Dr. Rupert Blue, reprinting the United State Government Health and Marine Hospital service, is enereeticallv doing its best to combat the deadly disease. On September 14th a signed statement was issued by the authorities to allay public alarm. It was stated that no reason existed for quarantine, that every precaution was being taken to stamp out the disease, and that bubonic plague seldom, became epidemic, except in the. tropics. The Health Boards of San Francisco and suburbs are otforinp cash bonuses for rats, ami the email lx>ys are reapir.f rewards a* a result of thoir lndiiv try. The public seem to be taking the matter philosophically. Thcro is ibsoiutcly no sif;n of panic. The officials lire cleaning the city, and it is believed that the sooradic casce will soon disappear. t'br years the Chinese quarter has been the harbouring placn of occasional plague victims, a not iinnspectefT concomitant of filth and unsanitary surroundings.

J NOTES.

The excitement of the graft prosecution cases arc spiced with election complications. The "oldest inhabitant' , avers that- lie never saw i similar situation. Tirey L. Ford, general counsel of the United Roilrords Corporation, was selected as the first mim to stand tri'sl for bribing a supervisor. The jury failed to agree, "and another trial "is about to tnke place. Interest rent res in Patrick Calhouns trial, which will take plneo shortly. The President of ihe United Railroads is vevy much in the public eye just_ now. nnd the prospects of sending him* to the penitentiary ore claimed by the. prosecutors to be good. iSan Frnncieco is. divided politically. There will be a threo-ooriiorcd fight for the Mayoralty. The Democrats and tho Good Government heagr* havo nominated Dr. E. R. Taylor, the Republicans have named a young attorrey, Daniel A. Ryan. and the Union Labour Convention has selected P. H. McCarthy as its standardbearer. Ryan" virtue Ily nominated himself, owiiig to his Dower «s "boss" of the Convention. Good citizens are rallying in support of Dr. Taylor, who has filled a short term iceeptably, end who is custodian of himself. Hβ ie c splendidly-educated man, an able citizen of cleen life, wlio hns not been involved in the unfortunate clese ware that hive rent tho town. Passion and prejudice , , however, control so meny votes, that it is somewhat difficult to forecast the result, but the indications are. that Dr. Taylor will succeed. So many side issues have cropped up over tho orosecution of tho rich men of the community, that the- political effect remains to be seen. The Union labour people went to see- tho office-holders who accepted bribes go to prisou. The prosecution is using the evidence of thtso men to convict the "higher-ups," claiming that tho Corporation influences have corrupted from time immemorial, and that to ollow those -who proffer bribes to escape will prove detrimental to the people at lxrge. > 60 the auestion of immunity to tho miserable "'boodlere" lies assumed & political aspect. Fremont Older, editor of tho San Francisco "Bulletin." Mas forced into nn automobile in broad diylight on one of the principal streets and placed on board c train bound for Los Angeles. Older has been vigorou* in his aid to the prosecution of the "boodlo'-givors, nnd an article in his paper resulted in the iseue of warrants in the southern city on charges of libel. He was refused permission to consult with his attorneys or notify his family, but his friends were informed of the kidnapping, and court proceedings enabled Older to escape from his captors seven! hundred miles down the coe'sf. The Grand Jury of San Froncisco has indicted concerned in the plot. Tho famous Cliff House was burned to the ground on September 7th. Standing at the entrance to the her-' bour. it wae one ot 'Jhe eights, of Sin Francisco, not because of any beauty it possessed, but because of tho viow of the broad expanee of the Pacific, the seal rocks near by, nnd the historic associations of the resort. Crowned heads have entered the portals of the. Cliff House, and tho banquets held with the roar of tho ocean as an inspiration of eloquence havo been J numerous indeed. On September 13th the boycott on the etreet care was raised, but the I union motormen nnd conductors are still out. The result has been that the j cars are badly overcrowded, tho ser- i vice demoralised, and the people dis- i satisfied. The- company claims that these drawbacks will shortly l>o rcm<v I died, and that it will bo able to do business without tho unionists.