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A wall of purple cloud across the South,
Embrasured like the Great Gibraltar's face,
With giant guns upon the battlements

Firm-fronted to the mutt'ring North wind's ire-
Compact, immovable, commanding, stern.
High in the distant West, fleet after fleet
Of battleships all decked and turreted
Come floating down in orderly array-

The cloud-craft of the war roused hurricane.
Far in the East, where foothills, ridge on ridge,
Stand guard before a gateway to the South,
A panoramic battle scene is spread-

Puffs of white cloud, like field artill'ry's smoke,
Rise up and drift away, and rise again
From moving batteries far up the slopes.
Low down on the horizon's line, a strip
Of sky bright as a silv'ry stream, divides

The earth from warring clouds-in outline there
Dark-winged and lone, like some grave herald of
Defeat's import, a bird flies slowly on.

But, hark! from out the frowning North there comes
A thunder-shock-the stinging lightning's flash-
A sweep and shower of hail like bullets fall-
Torrents of autumn rain chill all the land;
Gray grows the sky-fade fleet and fort and fray.

What the Governor has to

Albert E. Mead, Governor of Washington.

You ask my opinion as to the advantages of the joint manoeuvre camp or camp of instruction such as that held this year at American Lake, where the soldiers of the regular army and the organized militia of the States are consolidated for field exercises on a large scale. I am thoroughly convinced of the great advantages accruing both to State and nation from camps of this sort, provided that they are conducted properly and the instruction given is of a high class. Since

has to Say

under the military system of the United States the greater fighting force of the nation in time of war is made up of volunteers, and since the regular army is the nucleus about which the war estalishment of the nation is built, it is but fitting and reasonable to unite the militia -the foundation of the volunteer armyand the regular army for instruction purposes in time of peace. This joint instruction promotes a better feeling between the two arms; it gives the militiamen and the regulars equally higher respect for, and greater knowledge of, the other, and in a camp such as that of this year at American Lake, it teaches those lessons so vitally needed by an army and so woefully unlearned prior to our wars. To put it briefly, such camps as these held in time of peace teach our fighting forces those things regarding camps and movements of troops that will prevent such enormous loss of life from disease as characterized our mobilizations in the war of 1812, in the Mexican war, in the Civil war, and in the war with Spain. The practical and professional instruction given at these camps cannot fail to be of immense value to both rank and file.

To my mind, the American Lake site is an ideal one for the purpose of these joint camps of instruction, and I know I am far from being alone in this view. I trust sincerely that the Federal Government will acquire the site and hold there annually camps of instruction and joint manœuvres, and also build up a large permanent camp.

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Montana

By Margaret Ashmun

ALBERT E. MEAD,

Governor of Washington.

No longer ruled by passion crude and rash,
She lies at peace through all her loyal length
Like some fierce creature tamed by love and lash,
Subdued at last, but joying in its strength.

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ITH every day that passes, it be

W comes evident that while the fire

destroyed San Francisco's business section, and practically brought everything to a stand-still for a time, the earthquake did very little damage in comparison. It is evident that earthquakes are not as serious as they are thought. The actual damage done is easily discernible, now that the fire debris is being removed, and this damage may be traced to several distinct causes. Land, in certain sections of San Francisco, fell away. This was, in every instance, made land. The sinking occurred over fills made over swamps or over streams, where no provision had been made to carry away the subterranean flow of water. Some of the larger buildings in San Francisco caved in. This was due to frauds, faulty building in municipal contracting. The same cause contributed to the destruction of a single church tower in Oakland, and to the demolition of the buildings at Palo Alto.

The great State of California is still the wealthiest in the Union. It still has the same climatic advantages, its agriculture is just as diversified, its mining has gone right on as if earthquakes had never happened; there is more commerce and more manufacturing than ever before. The chances for fortune-making are more abundant because the fire created larger opportunities for all. Young men are coming to the front by the hundreds. These young men are the builders of empire.

The knowledge has come to us all, by a succession of recent events, that earthquakes are not particularly Californian. Following close on the heels of the shake-up in San Francisco and along the peninsula, there came successive earthquakes in Maine, in Michigan and in Arizona and New Mexico, Manila, Japan, Italy and Germany, and so it is evident that all earthquakes are not Californian, and it also follows that while confidence in the stability of Californian underpinning was slightly shaken it was not permanently disturbed.

Some time ago, in October, 1903, the Overland Monthly published an article in which the prediction was made that Oakland would some day become "A Great Metropolis." In making the prediction, the writer of the article stated that it was only a question of time when Oakland would enjoy an immense wholesale trade,

be a manufacturing center, and become a great distributing point for the business interests of California, and from the entire nation to the Orient. It was supposed that this would be accomplished through a keen, though goodnatured, competition with San Francisco. It was not supposed that a great fire would drive thousands of the citizens of San Francisco to seek the hospitality of Oakland. It was not supposed at that time that the fire would send - a great many of the factory buildings to Oakland to remain permanently. Oakland, through the fire, claims an accession of a hundred thousand citizens, and Oakland is now a great metropolis. It is the purpose of the "Greater Oakland Edition of the Overland Monthly to show the world what Oakland has done since October, 1903, and what is the purpose of its strong men for the next few years. This edition wil show that Oakland is not pent in as to territory or opportunity, and that while San Francisco will undoubtedly arise from its ashes "A City Beautiful," a great commercial entrepot, with a splendid maritime and land commerce, that Oakland is destined to become one of the largest, if not the largest, of all the Pacific Coast cities, in truth "A Great Metropolis," and thus make good the prediction of this magazine.

"

The fire drove many away from San Francisco to permanent establishment on the Oakland side, but it is a strange fact that the great upheaval in the city by the Golden Gate has already taken on the appearance of a blessing in disguise. New men and new blood are appearing to take the place of old men and old methods, and while this is true of San Francisco, in its wonderful re-birth, it is also true of Oakland, for everywhere you may see new names and new faces, new firms and energetic methods. It seems as if thousands of people were finding their way to the city of Oakland to take advantage of the regeneration that is going on in California, not only as a commercial and a social change, not only in a political and ethical sense, but in all directions that make for great improvement and prosperity and larger opportunity, and nowhere in all California is the opportunity so open, so manifest, and the prosperity so easily grasped as in Oakland, the greater Oakland of to-day and to-morrow.

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