California Correspondence

San Francisco, js'ov. 7th, 1871. EeITOH OS TOT A.BGU8 : - ■ Sinoo Bro. Pond is stil] absent, t propose to osolüiw politics lliis at loost California politics- but I havo a Htt.lo curiosity to know whethcr yont Board of Supervisors veré pulling political wires or not -whon they re-dietricted oíd Wajh tenaw. By tho figures giveu it would Beem that theydid not divide tho population quito :is ovenly as thoy might, and as L hold the map of the oounty up befare my memory, it looks as if thsy had made terrible ha voo with it.s geography, body must have had anax to grind, and it ïnakes very little differonce triioae nx it v.';is ; looking at it from tliis distanoo t does not strike rr.R os wi lï done. Fina. What a niaulstrom of firo you havo betm ïaving tiround tho lakos Itttely, and how ,ho world has rospondud to the cry of dn;i'0S8 tluit oumo np from thoso ahorca ' It does ones vory eoul good to witness that responso - it proves that mon ovorywhero iro coming into closorroliiticn.i with tll6XT ■idlow men, - that wo ore bcginning to ïv.iüzo tho fiiot Iluvt mankind uro so noary tilliod to cnch othor that ths niisfurtuno of ono is the misfortuno of all. We seo here lesa detail of the fires in Michigan and Wisconsin than of that at Chioago, but I am doeply improssod with the idea that thero h:is been mora real gulïuring in those grand old wooda that went down beforo tho cyclonu of fire, thnn iu tha freat oity that molted away in a single night. Out the world feols tho lattor most, not alone beoiuiso tiiore yroro more survivors to bo tod, but alf) beoauae noarly uil tho coiQTiiorcial wor'.d were interesfced in tlmt great city of tho Wost The fiiisn :ial loss of Chicago is not upon ñer peopie mono, but is sprcuu out ovor the whulo oivilizod oarth. California loses nearly thruo million dollars, tb rougli h;r Xnsuranoe Oompanies, but.it is a sourco of pridc to us all that mOBt of tho.se losaos will be promptly p lid. 0::e sirall company goos down, and that ono uever had the full confidonco of tho people at homo, and ought not to havo done busir.cs abroad. Tho Fircmen's Fuiid anc Pacific, the latter a vcry heavy lcisr ptomptly aiTWkged to moet their loase and continue business without interrap tion. As soon aftcr the lire as it conld be ascertainod whafc their loases were, a meeting of tho principal stockholdera o the Pacific ws held, when they were in fonued that to go on an immediato as RMSttefli must be mado equal to seventyHvo por cent, ot' the stock, and tho unanimous expression was to levy it, many of those prosent saking for a statoiuont of tluir proportiouate aniounts that they inight piy it at once. MAÍ'.INE LOSSES. JIow ofteu it ia demonstrated that misfortunes aever oome si:igly. For thrce weeka our Marino Underwritcrs have been laughing at the Fire Insuranoc men, becanse they had to " come dovra " ao hoavily, but this morning they sung another tuno, when the papera carne out íillcíl with tho details of tho total loss of thii'ty-throe whale ships in tho Arctic Ocoan. New Bedford is tho principal sufferer this timo, so far aa is shown by the ownership of vessols, but San Francisco ship owners suffer somo, and San Francisco ITnderwritera moro. Yon will got thuse details bofore this letter reaohes you, so I need not repeat them. The minimum statement of the loss is about two million dollars. TUE WEATIIEIt. Dry, dry. Two dry winters, and oí courso dry suminors, and no rain yot to speak of. But all tho woather prophete teil us that we are BUre to havo ileuty ot rain this winter, and its being so late about coming is certainly a fair indication. I certainly hope it inay rain abundaiiüy. A flood would do us loss harm than another dry winter. Tlierois a Urge and rk-h portion of the Stato whore they havo had no crops for two years. The couutry is new, tho Farmers were mostly poor, and now, over a strip of terrifory in tho San Joaquín Valley, from fivo to ten miles wido and forty milt!.; long, m-iuy aro aotually suíForing for tlie nocessavit'S of lif'e. But thuy ure plucky fcllows - they don't want peoplu to giva them anytbing, they say all they wani is credit till they can get ouo erop, and then thoy will bo all right. An association is being organizod for the exIjress parpose of giving them suoh credit, and makiug such advancos as they may need. IiAN'K FAXLVBE. It has been a long time sineo California 1; s liad a real sensatiou in the v. ..' ;; b.nk failurr. ilooney's thiving shop broke up two years ago, or noarly so, but it never did stand well, and its partial eollapso created 110 great excltement. A few days since, howevcr, one of the old banks, that will be remembered by many of your readorpi, took pcoplo by surprise, by failing to opon its doors, SlME & Co's , Bank is no more. Tho lossos, however, are not so heavy as might hove been auücipatod, eonsidering that it was one of the oldest institutions of tho kind on the coast. It carried down with it tho buiking hmso of B. P. Hastjxus & Co., of Sacramento, and to-day I see it stated that CAVALLEK, tho President of tho San Francisco Board of Banken, has gonu by tha board from tho Sítmo cause. Another conscqucnce was a run on a Sacramento Savings Bank, but in that cago il was the run rathor than tho bank that proved a failure. Tho city assessor practicad a good joke on somo of them at that time. Ho quiotly took liis roll up to tho bank, and caught aoveral persons drawing out cousiderablo sums, who had just before mado oath beforo him that thoy had no money on hand or in bank. Thc uniounts drawn out will have to pay taxes this year. Tin; CEAZY ÜODGE. I see you anticípate that tho bruto1 WAONEE, will try to got off on tho plea of insiinity. Was thcro ever a greater farce played in the nüinc of justice, than 11 witnessed now-a-days whon that defensa is sueci'ssfully made againtt a charge for high orime? California has not been exumpt from that contagión which commenccd to afïlict juries about the timo cf tho Siokles caso. Sho w.nt book on the record of several eastern jurios in tho Fair c:isc, but sho has just n.tiirned again to tho old groove. You will rcmcnibor the caso of Mis. Savioi , who shot hor husbana's mistresf, Mrs. Lako, at Stockton, a fow nionths siucn. The act was ono of tho coolest, most deliberate, ever couimitted. Sho has just been fenedj and the jury found that when shc firod the fatal shot she waa as " ciazy Ets a Maren hart-, and acquitted her: i jtead of going froin tho jailtothoasyluin, ' lio went ti the Yo Semita House, and .i it oaoo the lionesa of the day. It riy !e all right en )Ugh to say that pera'.in shuil nut be punished for taking tho ifi! of one who luis tratnpled upon tho ipa gacr -il rights of the avenger, bnt if hut i.-; the sentiment of the paople, it aght tobe m tdeihe rulo of law, and let uittal be baaed upon lega] jusiifiation, rathei than upon tho violutcd oiths of jurors. Did you ever realizo wkut u bleased hing the e&A JÍKINO ruivil.l-.cn t. I just received a letter onder the rank of dB .Vi. C, and upan opening it, ound it to bo the business circular (priv it;i) of tho man who wrote the frank, and who acknowludgos that he is not an M. C. at all. But ko was once, and I am auxious to kuow how long tho govornraent rocognizes the right of tin oxli ipreeentative to uso tho mails fr bis jrivato buaine33 frec. Pleaso cnagliten uio. Tours, Ca it los. In another column of this issue will bo fouu l ftn article from the 8t. Louis Reouilican headed " The Oonetüuticnal .we fvr 1872." Tho artielo, s tho mo.it casuil reader will not fail to discover, advocates tho iioption by tho Democratie prvrty of the mition, in the coming presidential campaign, of the poliey punued by the Domocracy of Missouri at the last election in that State : the making of no iiomimvtionf, tho (supposed) consequent división of the Radicáis, as in Missouri, and the atriking handd with the liberáis or dissenters and dcfoatiug tho r gul ir noiuineo. Tho schemo roads well, but it nttempted would provo an ulter failurc. 11 Porewarnod ia forearrncd," and it i:i at least doubtfol whethor or no tho same t'iing could ba dono again in Missouri. Tlo nrvtional osporirnent would be very rnuch liko attompting to " swing around the circlo " ig'viu with Anüy Joiixson. Such are our opinions brieily expresscd. "Wiutixo of tho wake or funoral held at tho Metropolitan Hotol- Tweed's headquarters - on the evening after tho election, Maj. Muldoojt sayg : " I hve known muoh of sadnoss in tife. I have seen a re.venuo office slip from me like ,i running horse from the word " tro i " I have had my writings rejected by numerous editors of bias and a lack of literary appreciation. I have soen tlie incumbont of tho highest office in the land fl.it on his back on the e-ibin floor of a steam-tug in our bay ; I havo suen a Senator of the United States very much incumbent. on thü coid und unfecling marble floor of the Sonate lobby : whon they oifght to havo beeii the one in Galena, and tho other in Detroit. But I never befo re witnessed so much official sadnePB as I met in that private parlov of the " Moi.ropolitan," when wegathered, aswo thought to pay (iur laat respecte in place of the taxos we had been accustou'ed to p?iy.' Poot "Major." Your suíFerings ü intolerable. That's a fact. Q-EOEQE W.MlLLKB, Supniintjndor.t of the Insurance Department of the Stato of Xow York, reporta the total losses of Xcw York companies - city and Stato - in tho Chicago iiro at $21,637,500, of whieh lio thinka $20,724,457 wiH bc pai. Tweoty companies havo coasod to lo business and gono into liquidation ; thirty-fivo companies met with no lossos; and fortythrce make their impaired capital good and go on. Including New York nnd other States the total losses are put at $82,821,122, vith assets aggrogating $133,420,425. Foreign companies Lose $5,813,000 and havo assets aggroguting $10,000,000. Wr. aro. pleased to see that tho Ypsilanti Sciitincl is gatisfiod with tho way th3 Supervisors distiicted tho county. It thinks that Ypsilanti and Aun Arbor have no oonflicting interosts, social or otherwise, and that they an vest peaccably in tho samo political bed, liko two innooent cíúldren. ín faot, it thinks that with " hourly communication (by that horso railway) we sliould soon perceive how really the two places are bat tlio extremitiea of ono largo city." - However, it is suggestcd that had tho Attaua not disapproved the arrangement tho Sentinel wouid. " Opposition is tho life of business," you know. The colorod merabors of tho South Carolina Legislattire liavo held a caucus, rosolved against any legislation providing for paying interest on tho State indebte Lm as, and declarod in favor of repudiatinfr Uk; entire dobt - old and new. Kadical financiring lias boen such as to disgust tho colorcxl wing, and ïvjmdiation is thougut bettur than banfcruptcy.