yH3B0XEg& -QBESOKIAJT, WEBjipKpAYi JAKTJAHY S. . 9&.
matt
Catered at the Postofiice at PortUafl, Oregon,
ts second-class scatter.
REVISED SUBSCRIPTION KATES.
By Mall (postage prepaid) In Advance.
Daily, with Sunday, per month... .-. . .$ 1 00
Dally, Sunday excepted, per year ..... 10 00
Dally, Trith Sunday, per year .... 12 00
Sunday, per jear... ........ -
"Tie Weekly, per year...... w
Slae Weekly, three months - W
TO CITT SCBSCIUBERS.
Iaily, per -sreek, delivered, Sunday c-ccepted-.SSe
Xai2y. per week, delivered. Sunday included-SOs
7evre or discussion intended for publication In
The Oresonlan should be addressed Invariably
"Editor The Oresonlan." not to the narie of
any individual. Letters xelatlnj- to advertising
cubucriptlon or to any business matter should
he addressed simply "The Oresonlan."
The Oregonlan does not buy poems or stories
from Individuals, and cannot undertake to re
tarn any manuscript sent to it without solici
tation. No tsamps should be inclosed for this
purpose.
DAILY METEOROLOGICAL REPORT.
PORTLAND, Jan. 1. 8 P. M. Maximum
temperature, 87; minimum temperature, 32;
.ejght ol rtver at 11 A. M., 3 0; change in the
jat 24 hours, 0.1: total precipitation todaj,
.X total precipitation from September J, 1SU4
fwet season), to date, 11.11: average. 0.57; de
1 -lency, 0.40; number hours of sunshine Satur
tjaj, 4.18; possible number, S:4S.
WEATHER STNOPSIS.
V decided fall in the barometer h&iin? oe
t urred over Washington and Oregon, especially
m the coast, it is thought that a storm is ap
j roaching the Washington coast. It is mow
.1' cast of the Cascades, and light rain fell at
Tatooeh island and Port Angeles. In otheTvSec
t -s the weather was fair. East of the Cas
tries the barometric pressure has greatly les-
t aed.
WEATHER rORECASTS.
T recasts made at Portland for the 21 hours
tiling at midnight January 2:
I or Western Washington and Western Oregon
Kain or snow; warmer, with fresh southerly
rsds, high off the coast.
rr Eastern Washington, Eastern Oregon and
Idaho Snow; warmer, with fresh southerly
i mis.
I've Portland Rain or snot; warmer, with
fresh southerly winds.
PORTLAND. "WEDNESDAY, JAN. 2.
A TYPICAL SILVER STATESMAN.
There is a person at Salem named
Bofer, who publishes a little paper
called the Capital Journal and is a
member of the legislature. Any time
lie might be worth notice or mention
as one who would afford a subject to
those who devote themselves to study
i f some of the infinite varieties of men
tal alienation. Hofor indeed has some
sense; that is to say, it is not neces
bary to put him in confinement for
his own protection or for that of soci
ety; bat he has no sense of a practical
or useful kind. He is flighty, crotchety,
isIonaryt vituperative, full of vagaries,
nnd, like all unarranged intellects,
pours forth an endless stream of. words
en subjects that he Is incapable of
Imowing anything about. He is usually
as rancorous as voluble and absurd;
and if his betossed mental bark ever
had an anchor to windward it clearly
was lost when by some mischance or
oversight a republican convention per
mitted him to get a nomination for the
legislature last spring, in a county
whore a republican nomination is
equivalent to an election. He now
ttruts as a megacephalous prodigy,
talks maudlin statesmanship with in
co'ierent vituperation, and fills his pa-
pr with violent diatribes against all
things outside the bedlam In which he
dwells.
Naturally, The Oregonian has long
bn the main butt of his fury. That
Ejrt of mental disorder is always ex
tremely violent toward everything
Ftrongly rational and sane. As the ses
i inn of the legislature approaches, poor
Hofcr grows worse in his lunes.
Ho rails and raves and rages
without intermission, chiefly at The
Oregonian, which he instinctively
J'ates as an exponent of the
laws on which order, property, busi
ness, industrial and social morals and
the general welfare of society are
founded. Naturally, such as he attack
"with fury those who stand In the way
i f that inverted order which would pre
scribe shams, humbugs, delusions,
breaks, frauds and follies as rules or
experiments for the government of
mankind. Frantls desire for innova
tion, and rabid fury against economic
laws as ascertained and established
through human experience, are among
tho chief qualities of this type of mind.
Poor Hofcr therefore is a type of
many who do not see things in their
entirety nor in their relation to other
things; who do not understand how
Bmall a part any one man or any one
country bears in the general world of
affairs; wlio therefore are tortured with
i pinions silly, chaotic and unrelated;
"who know nothing of history or of the
Jesuits of human experience, but think
that In this contention about money
"e are dealing with a subject entirely
Sicw to mankind. .This narrow igno
Jance begets the most irrational and
dangerous opinions. It makes men as
absurd as if they were to deny the
primary truths of geometry, or the
lauses that produce the changes of the
seasons. The evil consists in the fact
that all these persons can vote, and
that some of them aie elected to con
tress and to the state legislatures; and
the result is the desperate condition to
which the Intrusion of this fatuous Ig
norance has brought flnancial affairs
in the United States. Oregon is now
asked to make it worse, and there are
Hofers in the legislature. It is as if
The reservation Indian should dispute
the law of chemical affinities, or reject
the laws of the tides or of planetary
motion; only worse, for this would be
harmless, while the other throws into
i oaf usion all the affairs of civilized so
ccty. Of course, Hofor is a silver fanatic
It matters not to him that the world's
latio of silver to gold is 32 to 1; his
ratio is 16 to 1, and the legislature of
Oregon must elect a senator who will
i lake the world accept it. He pretends
that the national republican platform
calls for free coinage of silver, saying:
That platform treats silver fairly by
j lacing it upon Its right to coinage in
American mints upon equality with
gold." That platform so clearly
does nothing of the kind, but so
txactly the opposite, that noth
ing but inability to understand
tLe meaning of plain words, or un
landid dullness in interpreting them,
cuuld put up such a. pretense. The
2Iatfonn distinctly declares that there
are to be such "restrictions" as will
riaintain the parity restrictions of sil
or coinage, of course, for no restriP
t' in of gold is necessary for the pur
pose and no honest Intelligence has
ever Interpreted the platform in any
ither way. Even the populists, quick
t seise upon everything favorable to
-ueir idea, have steadily denounced the
Tenublican latforra because It calls
i r restriction ef the coinage of silver,
a "d they carry in their own platform
au unequivocal demand for "rce and
unlimited coinage of silver and gold at
16 to U' Free coinage of silver there
tore Is exclusively the populist idear
it is not the republican or the demo
cratic idea; the stwo great parties, al
ternately In power during the last
twenty years, have always refused it
and always must and will, because no
party in power can permit the country
to lose the standard of best money and
fall to silver monometalism, with the
world's market 32 to 1 and silver
money, unsupported by gold and parity
lost, worth only the market price of
silver that is, at 1& tol, only 50 cents
on the dollar.
This demonstration? always unan
swerable, never falls to make the silver
fanatic, the advocate of base money,
the person of flighty imagination and
disordered intellect, who chafes at the
world's law of values and thinks he
can reverse it, roar and howl and spit
out his epithets of "goldbug," "pluto
crat," "monopolist," "tyrant," or "min
ion of tyranny"; and no doubt poor
Hofer, upon seeing this number of The
Oregonian, will.have another violent at
tack of his silver and fiat-money 'jim-jams-.
But we suspect his greatness
as a member of the legislature op
presses him more than his influence
and power will affect the market rela
tions of gold and silver and their use
as money throughout thff world. Hofer
is the type of the blatant crack-brain
who hasn't sense enough to devote him
self to his incorrigible stupidities with
out continually assailing with per
sonal Invective or rank vituperation
those who talk sense and mind their
own business. Taken alone, he is not
worth this attention, or any attention
at all; but he is a member of the legis
lature, through one of those curious
slips sometimes made in conventions;
and he is a spokesman through his
travesty of journalism for a squad who
are making an effort to elect a senator
committed to a demand for debase
ment of the money of the country. Of
these unarranged or disordered intel
lects Hofer is an excellent type, in some
respects the best perhaps of them all
in Oregon.
A SUBSIDY, OP COURSE.
The correspondent who contends that
exemption from taxation of church
property is a direct subsidy to churches,
charged upon other property which
does pay taxation, is perfectly right.
The churches get the benefit of state
protection, and other property pay3
their share of the cost. This is as direct
a subsidy as if money were raised Jjy
taxation and paid direct to the
churches.
Any argument for exemption of
church property which takes issue, with
this contention is sure to break down.
If the exemption cannot be defended
without proving that it is not a sub
sidy, it cannot be defended at all. The
subsidy must be justified, or the ex
emption must be given up, and churches
must submit to taxation, like factories
and warehouses. This is why nearly
all the arguments of the clergy for
exemption of churches from taxation
are worthless. Most of them evade
the principle that exemption is a sub
sidy, or, so far as they recognize it,
justify the. subsidy on grounds not ad
mitted by the secular citizen. The only
ground on which churches may justly
expect support form, the state Is their
efficiency as a- moral force- Through
their constant inculcation of fhigh
standard of morality; through thelH
rigid enforcement of sound rules of
conduct upon all within their influence;
thrqugh their perpetual service in the
cause of spiritual order and beauty, of
ethical culture and moral enlighten
ment, they serve the civic purpose of
the state in a way not to be Ignored
and which it is right to encourage, and
reward.
The clergy are inclined to dodge the
police theory of religious effort, on
which alone state subsidies to churches
can be justified. It is un-American, as
our correspondent says, If not uncon
stitutional, to subsidize churches as
agencies for dissemination of theo
logical dogma or denominational doc
trine. It is even improper to maintain
at cost of the state organizations for
teaching Christianity as a system of
theology, as differentiated, for example,
from Buddhism or Mohammedanism.
The state has no more to do with Jesus
as putative founder of a religious sys
tem than with Confucius or Gautama.
It has no right to subsidize a church
as a mere church, and-does not recog
nize the benefit of religious teaching
merely as such. - -
But there is no plainer ,fact in the
whole field of civic effort than that
the churches sustain and advance the
highest effort of the state in their
ceaseless labor to repress vice and
crime and inculcate good conduct. They
are schools of good citizenship, as well
as of good, bad and indifferent theol
ogy. The state may Ignore them in
the latter capacity, but cannot afford
to despise their aid in the former. The
are a mighty auxiliary police force,
bringing positive and constant bene
fit, which costs the state nothing,
though the state could afford to pay
Well for it, If It could be separated
from the theological teaching, 'whose
value is doubtful.
This is the only justification for ex
emption of church buildings and
ground, pure and simple, from taxation,
and it Is justification enough; direct
subsidy though the exemption be. The
churches are subsidized as an auxiliary
police force, as mail steamers are sub
sidized as an auxiliary naval force.
This does not raise the question of
theological "differences: Dispute would
be fierce enough about the public ben
efit of the theological teaching of the
different churches. There is no dis
pute of the value of the ethical prin
ciples which all profess and teach. It is
for this alone that they are subsidized,
and, of course, the subsidy exemption
should be confined strictly to property
which is used solely for religious and
ethical teaching, without pay. All
church property which is held for sale
or to yield an income should pay tax,
precisely like secular property.
High compliments were paid to The
Oregonian yesterday from all sources
for its New Year's number. The de
mand for It proved that it was just
what was wanted. The scope and vari
ety of its matter, and the number
and excellence of " the illustra
tions made it the most at
tractive paper ever Issued, here. An ex
tra edition of 21,000 over the regular
dally issue was exhausted early, and
at noon the plates were again on the
press for an edition of 25,000 more.
Never before were so many papers soid
In a d3y in Portland as The Oregonian
sold yesterday. The secret of It was
that the number contained the
special matter, amply Illustrated, that
the people wanted in a New Year's is-
l sue. The papers, sola by armruis, were
mailed by buyers to every part of the
United States. There has been no such
opportunity to make Oregon known as
that afforded by this issue of The Ore
gonian. They who may want copies
may still get them.
A THEOCRATIC REACTION.
The trouble with Dr. Farkhurst is
that he does not recognize the limita
tion of his usefulness as a public re
former. This is partly the fault of the
people of New York, who, in the first
bubble and gush of enthusiasm over
the destruction of Tammany, fed him
doses of adulation liberal enough to
turn a much stronger head. Many a
man has been taught to overvalue him
self all his life because an emotional,
fickle populace overvalued him for a
few days. This has spoiled Parklmrst,
as it has spoiled many another citizen
cf good intentions but infirm judgment.
Dr. Parkhurst did the community
high service by helping to rouse public
sentiment against entrenched corrup
tion, at a time when it was growing ripe
for overthrow. Tammanv would have
been broken down without him, be
cause its time had clearly come, but
the work would have been slower- and
harder. He served the useful purpose
of the preliminary beaters, human or
animal, used In hunting large game,
to drive it out of the bush within reach
of the peal hunters, whether hounds or
sportsmen. He startled Tammany into
public view, where practical agencies
of reform could get at It.
This service has been fully recognized
both by the legislative committee of
investigation and by the municipal re
form committee which carried the city
election. Both these bodies treated Dr.
Parkhurst with great consideration and
endured with exemplary patience his
theatrical posing as the sole prophet of
municipal reform, and his treatment of
them as mere subordinate instruments
called into being by his creative fiat
to execute his supreme will, so long
as the effect of this performance was
merely sentimental.
While it was merely a question of
destroying a corrupt system, the com
mittees and Dr. Parkhurst could work
together, though his real usefulness
ended when the legislative investiga
tion was begun seriously. Or, to be
more exact, Parkhurst could pose while
the committee worked, without offering
it serious impediment. But when time
for reconstruction came, Parkhurst
was as useless and troublesome, with
his Ignorance of practical conditions,
his pride of opinion and his arrogance
of assertion, as, men like Thaddeus
Stevens after the civil war. The com-
mittee had to drop Parkhurst or see
their work made fruitless "by a fanciful
and impracticable conclusion, sure to
bring reaction worse than the original
corruption they destroyed. They did it
as gently and decently as possible, and
they are bearing the railing he pours
upon them for the necessary divorce
as patiently as they bore his" pompous
assumption of creation and ownership
while his union with them lasted.
The practical problem for the state
legislature and the new city govern
ment is to establish a police force
which shall repress cr'me, limit vice
and deal honestly with the vicious
classes as with the decent classes. If
they can do this best by reorganizing
the police department under its present
head and with some of its most effi
cient and least tainted members, they
wish to do so, realizing the difficulties
of a clean sweep and the embarrass
ment of an entirely green force. More
over, these practical reformers do not
expect to abolish certain forms of vice.
They do expect to put an -end, to black
mall for their toleration. That, 'after
all, is the worst crime proved against
the present system. They expect to
govern the city in the practical spirit
of men of affairs, who know the neces
sary limitations of social repression.
Here came necessary separation from
Parkhurst, who wishes to govern the
city in the spirit of a Puritan theocracy
by edicts fulminated from his pulpit;
whp expects to put an end to vices older
than civilization and deeply rooted as
human existence by the imperious de
cree of a priestly dictator; who wishes
to govern legislature and mayor and
city administration as New England
ministers of the seventeenth century
governed town meetings, by priestly
thunders and pulpit decrees. The break
between Parkhurst and the committees
came finally upon the question of
Byrnes, whom he had sworn to destroy
because Byrnes once showed contempt
for his dirty spies, but It was inevita
ble from the beginning of their joint
work. The city of JJew York Is not
likely, in "this generation, to endure the
enthronement of a Cotton Mather as
dictator in civil affairs.
Mr. Levi Ankeny, of Walla Walla, in
the hope of being elected to the senate
by the legislature of his state,, says if
elected he will contend for free coin
age of silver. This is so contrary to all
that Mr. Ankeny knows to be prac
ticable, desirable, proper and Tight fa
so contrary to his knowledge and, ex
perience, and, as he well knows, to the
interests of business and the general
welfare of the country, that we think
he could not be trusted to act In the
senate with those who would debase
the, money of the country. If Washing
ton wants a silver man she would do
well to take some one else. Mr. Ank
eny's bid for election to the senate is
a pitiful self-abasement, which The
Oregonian regrets exceedingly to see.
It isn't important that any man should
go to the senate. But It Is important
thathe should stand for what he knows
to be right. We think Mr. Ankeny will
not fool any of the silver fanatics.
The heralds of municipal economy are
abroad with the New Year proclaiming
a substantial reduction In' certain offi
cial salaries. A saving of $S00O a year
to a taxridden community is a pretty
good New Year's gift from the board
of police commissioners. It may, be
hoped that this truly generous action
will be emulated In other municipal
departments, and extend in due time to
the county offices. The taxpayers of
Portland and Multnomah county,
though valiant strugglers in the race
for prosperity, cannot reach the goal
under the heavy handicap laid upon
their necks by official jockeys in the
way of salaries out of all prdpqrtion to
the Income of those who must paV
them. Let the superfluous weights be
removed and those that remain b"e
lightened. So shall the stereotyped
New Year's wishes be divested of their
emptiness and an era of good-will be
inaugurated.
There begins to be doubt whether
cither China or Japan is sincere in the
desire for peace, though China undoubt
edly would like to gain time fOF mili
tary preparation by a truce. Japan
probably will not be beguiled into stop-
ping offensive operations by anything
short of a definitive treaty to her mind.
If China is foolish enough to think she
can keep up the war, the empire will be
beaten, province by province, in detail,
and the longer the war lasts, the harder
wll be the terms of the final treaty.
Secretary Carlisle's refusal to stand
for the senate in Kentucky leads ob
serving persons to Interpret his scheme
of financial reform, as a bid for the
democratic presidential nomination in
1895. The man under whose adminis
tration of fhe"ttreasury revenues never
were equal to expenditures and the na
tional debt increased 5100.000,000 In two
years Is pot likely to be an available
candidate for president on a platform
of wildcat state banking.
Pennoyer. let yesterday pass without
pardoning anybody. 'He cannot afford
to rest even on a holiday, if he means
to empty the penitentiary before he
goes out of office. He has only ten
more working days, and several thieves
and murderers, embezzlers and violat
ors of women remain in confinement.
Parkhurst wanted to be pope of New
York "and feppoint apd remove police
commissioners, superintendents, in
spectors and captains, like cardinals,
bishops and deans. Disappointment of
this ambition is the ground of his quar
rel with the Lexow committee.
Strong is how mayor of New York
and the resignation of most of the high
police officials leaves him a, clear field
for reform in the most important muni
cipal department.
The rumor was abroad yesterday
that the governor had been. asked 'to
pardon a coirvict and refused to do so
or at least Had only taken the case" un
der advisement
-STATE LIEE DIPLOPIAS.
One Wlio Desires an Amendment to
Our School Laws.
WOODBURN, Or., Dec. 3L (To the Edi
tor.) In the department of superinten
dence last week, School Superintendent J.
G. Stephenson, of Linn county, chairman
of the commission on needed school leg
islation, reported many very timely and
excellent changes amendatory of our
school act, among which was one asking
for- the repeal of the section that author
izes chartered institutions throughout our
state to issue; on examination, to their
graduates, state certificates, state diplo
mas, and later on, state life diplomas. In
my opinion, it is high time that this was
done, for several very weighty reasons,
sorao of which are:
As was well said in the discussion of
this question. "It matters very little who
prepares tHVquestions for the candidates,
but it matters very much who examines
the papers submitted." "Ay, there's the
rub!" There are now too many standards
in the state, good, bad and indifferent, and
what Is the logical sequence? Our state
papers abroad are regarded well, permit
me to Illustrate by a personal experience:
Some three years ago, upon applying to
the board of education of the city of San
Francisco for a city high-school certifi
cate, the gentlemen composing the board
said to me, in effect, "We do not attach
much importance to your Oregon life dip
loma, but we will issue a certificate to
you on your Illinois state (life) certificate,
foe. that is MttjB. $2ft.gold piece, good for
its" face anywhere," and I am assured
that in the state'0f' Washington they are
regarded in the same way.
The state of Illinois, whose educational
rank was, athe tlme.of which I speak,
the second irijJthe-Unfon, With"a pppula
tion magy'tlmes' "that of Oregon, with
only two normal schools with large at
tendance, efficient faculties and generously
supported by that progressive common
wealth, for a number of years authorized
normal schools to grant to their graduates
state life certificates. The result was that
many incompetent persons thus obtained
papers that they were not, professionally,
fit to hold, and as it militated
against the reputation and success of
said schools, the best friends of these In
stitutions, if I mistake not, induced tho
legislature to repeal that part of its
school act, and certificates now are issued
on examination by boards appointed by
the state superintendent of public instruc
tion. Were such a course pursued in Oregon,
it would, we feel confident, greatly en
hance the value of our state papers, and
our state normal schools would, instead
of being a by-word and reproach as some
of them now are, take that dignity and
rank that such schools richly merit. It
Is true that the first effect of such a
change might, for a short time, unfavor
ably affect their attendance, but as it is
their special province to give prospective
and actual teachers that technical and
professional training that is so vitally
essential to the successful educator, our
Stronger and- better equipped normal
schools would be enabled to Increase their
spheres for usefulness and the less fa
vored ones wpuld go to the wall in con
formity to that inexorable law of the sur
vival of the fittest.
Why should not the educational papers
issued by this grand state standon a
parity with those of other states? They
may and ought so to do; and by radically
changing the plan that now obtains for
a better one, that desideratum will be
attained.
S. T. ADAMS, principal public school.
PERSONS. WORTH KNOWING AP.OLT.
The Duke of York will visit "Canada
next spring and spend the summer -in
Australfa.
Philo Norton McGiffin, who is com
mander of the Chen Yuen, the largest
warship of the Chinese navy, is a native
of Washington, Pa.
Andre Reclus, the nephew of the famous
geographer of that name, was recently
condemned to one month in prison and to
pay a fine of $100 by the Algerian courts
for crying "Long live anarchy!"
By the will of the late Leon Abbett, of
New Jersey, -his estate, consisting prin
cipally of stocks and bonds, is to be di
vided share and share alike between his
two sons, Leon Abbett, jr., and William
F. Abbett.
Emlle OUIvier, the minister of Napoleon
III, in 1S70, who entered Into the war with
Prussia "le cosur leger," is on the point
of publishing his account of the fall of
the empire in l'Emplre Liberal in seven
volumes. The preface has just been
rrinted in the Figaro.
Mrs. Nat Collins, widely known as the
"Montana Cattle Queen." will soon issue
a volume of reminiscences, giving a his
tory of over 40 years of life In the -camp
and on the prairie. Mr. and Mrs. Collins
have a pleasant home at the foot of the
Rocky mountains, in Teton county, near
Belleview.
Baring Brothers & Co. will soon be
ready for business again. The great
liquidation is ended, a syndicate having
taken the last block of securities, amount
tag to $7,500,000. held by the Bank of Eng
land. It is thought that about S3.000.00C
will be left over from the settlement for
the'Baring family to divide.
A curious-tfact in connection with the
change in the reichstag quarters is that
the furniture of the present meeting-room
of -the socialist deputies was brought
from the old building, and the very arm
chair from which the socialist chairman
now calls his associates to order was
Prince Bismarck's seat for many years.
Robert Louis Stevenson was entirely
unaffected in manner and simple and can
did to an extraordinary degree. He. like
Henry Irving, always looked uponan in
terview by a newspaper man ""-is"a.
matter to be carefully considered and
thoroughly wrought out. He would go
to trouble to see that his views were
properly put forth, and was always anx
ious to read an Interview over after he had
dictated it, and. what is of more Import
ance than anything else, he invariably
said tnlngs of Interest to the public
Dr. Edward S. Holden, director of the
Uck observatory, has just received,
through- -the secretary of state of Saxe
Meiningen, the diploma, -and cross of com
mander of the Saxe-Ernestine order.
This order was founded in 1690, and re
organized in 1S33, and is given in recogni
tion of distinguished services in high of
ficial position, either military or plvil.
A COMING CENTENNIAL,
The Hundredth Anniversary of the
Louisiana. Pnrchnse.
New York World,
The people of St. Louis are taking steps
to celebrate April CO. 1S04, as the 100th
anniversary of the Louisiana purchase.
It is proposed to make the celebration an
event that will rival the world's fair at
Chicago.
Certainly no event since the discovery of
America has had a greater influence in
the history of the world than the Loulsl
ann purchase the single stroke of states
manship which assured the standing of
the United States as the greatest power of
modern times.
Long before the purchase was made, the
danger to the United States of attack
from the west had been fully recognized,
and both in the purchase and in the Lewis
and Carke expedition, which gave us the
Pacific as a boundary, Mr. Jefferson
showed that prophetic sense of our possi
bilities of greatness which, next to his
love for individual liberty, was the dom
inating idea of his life.
If the purchase of Louisiana had not
been made we would have lost the Missis
sippi, the Northwest territory and every
thing else we now hold except the terri
tory this side the Alleghanles. The ques
tion of the control of the continent would
have been left between France and Eng
land, with all the chances in favor of
England, as Napoleon saw when he sold
theontinent tor, a song. He said to Ver
gennes, .asheMald down the pen with
which he had signed the treaty: "I have
this day founded a power that will yet
humble the pride of Enghmd as mistress
of the seas."
It is a curious contradiction that Mr.
Jefferson, who more than most men feared
the effect of national ambitions on liberty,
should have changed America from a lit
tle group of Independent states to a vast
federation that is practically an empire.
A COMMON MISTAKE.
"Why" Robert Louia Stevenson
Shunned Americans.
Atlanta Constitution.
When Robert Louis Stevenson was last
in New York the society people of the 400
circle took charge of him, and he was
bored to death by a crowd of brainless
fops and a number of silly women who
vainly tried to talk up to him. The result
was that he went away with a distaste
for New York society, and ever afterward
be made it a joint to shun Americans.
We are always making just such mis
takes when literary lions from Europe
come over here. Men and women who
are in society simply because they have
money seize upon a famous writer, hur
riedly learn the names of his books, and
their general character, and then pro
deed to talk about -matters concerning
which they are almost absolutely igno
rant. A man like Stevenson would have en
joyed himself In New York with a set
of bright Bohemians, journalists and
story-writers, but he did not understand
the common herd of rich people and they
did not appreciate him.
Society should change Its programme
in regard to the entertainment of distin
guished strangers. There Is no sense in
forcing a visitor to spend his time with a
mob of uncongenial people. If it is really
the purpose of hisentertainers to make
his yhUt pleasanj he "should be protected
from bores,- an bright men and women
who will interest him should be intro
duced. Stevenson, of course, went away
thinking that the New York society people
were superficial or stupid, and yet there
were plenty of people in the metropolis
who could have impressed him very dif
ferently. THE SUBSTITUTE BILL.
Let Us Have More Bonds and. Redeem
the Treasury Notes.
Philadelphia Public Ledger.
'The question regarding places of re
demption, which is a most important one,
is to be provided for, by the controller
of the currency designating them. This
is a slight improvement on the original
bill, but it is not a satisfactory arrange
ment, and cannot be made so. There
must be a central point of redemption.
We "cannot perceive that the changes
made from the old bill to the new are of
such character as to warrant the serious
consideration by congress of the substi
tute measure. The original scheme was
fatally defective, and the latter one is al
most, if not quite, equally so. It is worse
in its discrimination in favor of" a state
banking system, the possible evils of
which can be gauged in advance by no
man. One of them would almost cer
tainly be the destruction of the national
banking system, and the consequently in
evitable and sudden throwing upon the
market of the 5200,000,000 of government
bonds held by them.
Instead of destroying this admirable sys
tem that has served the country so well,
the secretary of the treasury should Im
prove and strengthen it by recommending
to congress that he be given authority to
issue long-time, low-Interest bonds in
amount sufficient to serve as a basis of
currency security, and redeem the cur
rency which is so plaguing the govern
ment by draining Its gold supply. In this
case the safe way "out is obviously the
short and easy one.
- a
WATER ON THE EAST SIDE.
PORTLAND, Jan. l.-(To the Editor.)
I notice the matter of turning over the
water works plant of the East Side is
again to be considered by the mayor and
common council. I desire to present the
question as I understand it, that they
may act intelligently upon the proposi
tion. The water committee have expend
ed for reservoirs on the East Side about
$400,000, to supply that part of the city
with Bull Run water, and are prepared to
make the connections at their own ex
pense (the committee's), and to extend
the distributing system on that side as
fast as the income from the system will
justify; but they cannot see their way
clear, at the present time, to assume the
$250,000 bonds issued by the East Side,
without increasing the present water
rates. The cost of operating and main
taining the new system is uncertain, and
the committee cannot assume greater ob
ligations than they are confident they can
meet from the income of the water sys
tem. -If, by the transfer or the East Side
system to the water committee, $10,000 to
$12,000 per annum can be saved, in expense
for pumping, for care of machinery and
care of a separate system, that saving
can be used In extending the distributing
pipes: whereas, if it Is still operated by
the common council, no such distributing
system can be proceeded with, as they will
have no funds with which to do it. Since
the city Is now being furnished with
water for city and fire purposes, for which
no payment, is made, the value of which
is about $20,000 per annum, it is thought
the city canwell afford, for the next two
years, to pay the interest on the $250,0u0,
amounting to $15,000. If at the end of two
years the Income from the entire system
will justify, such legislation may be had
as will take care of the interest as well
as the principal of those bonds. But it
would be unwise at this time to ask the
water committee to assume any greater
burden than it has already contracted to
meet, and they have no legal right to do
so. The larger portion of the general tax
comes from the West Side, where they
i have already expended on the distribution
system $700,000. wholly collected from
water Ten s over and above operating- ex
penses. Is ifnot wise' to make the trans
fer On fhese terms and let the savings be
made and the Ea3t Side enjoy Bull Run
water as soon as possible?
H. W. CORBETT.
o
FLAT UNDER DISADVANTAGES.
Aa Interesting: Experiment Made
Some Years Agro in Linn Connty.
AXFORD, Wash., Dec. 27. (To the Ed
itor.) Now that the subject of flax cul
ture is being discussed, I would like to
report a case which came under my ob
servation some 15 years ago. A man liv
ing some 12 miles scuth of Albany, Or.,
was induced by men in that town, per
haps the same mentioned by J. M., in
your weekly issue of the 21st Inst., to
plant a tract of some 10 or 15 acres with
a lint variety of flax, the product to be
all taken at a certain rate per ton, which
I have now forgotten, but which was suf
ficient to inspire him with high hopes
that h had found something to take the
place of wheat, a crop that he was not
making a great profit out of. Tho flax
made a good average growth, but his
troubles came when he undertook to
gather it. As I remember it, he and his
boys pulled a wagonload by hand, but
when it came to be weighed, they found
they had very small wages for their
time. Then he hired Chinamen, probably
at about a dollar a day, but only realized
barely enough to pay their wages, say
ing nothing of his day's work with the
team, hauling it to Albany,
Next he tried to mow it with a mow
ing machine, but the machine totally
failed to cut it. It, however, was old and
badly wcrn, and perhaps a new one might
have succeeded. By this time he was
disgusted with the whole business and one
bright day set fire to the remainder and
burned it. But that is not quite all. The
ground had been cropped in wheat until
it was co foul with wild oas, dog fennel
and French pink, that it was practically
impossible to rUse more than 10 to 12
bushels per acre, but after the flax crop
he plowed it up and sowed it into fall
wheat and the next year that piece of
land was absolutely free, from 411 trash.
and he harvested a crop of some 1G or IS
Bushels to the acre .from it.
i M. W. WALKER.
, . '
&EED TO STUDY.
Boston Herald.
The nation has come into the feeling, to
a great extent, that the currency ques
tion Is one too difficult for ordinary com
prehension. Certain general ideas as re
gards it are expected to be held, and they
differ very widely, and run their lines
through both the great parties of the
country rather than unite one or the oth
er party in favor of any view ;f but when a
measure is to be framed that bears upon
the currency, it is assumed that only a few
experts are competent to grapple with It.
The people generally who are Interested
in public affairs have not studied the cur
rency as they have other questions. For
years the currency was the dominating
question in the country. It then took the
precedence of everything else in the pub
lic mind. Public prosperity or adversity
was traced to the effects of the national
policy with regard to it. A sound curren
cy was thought to be, as it unquestion
ably is, the life blood of the nation. The
humblest man supposed he understood
enougn about it to form an intelligent
opinion, and he could not well have been
more insulted than to Insinuate that he
did not." A considerable part of the diffi
culty at present is that this interest has
been relaxed, until the time is reached
when it is too often admitted that not
the mass of the people alone, but the pub
lic men themselves, are not capable of
grappling with it as intelligently as with
other questions of public policy.
TL'ut the Marines on Shore.
New York Herald.
Among the measures most desirable for
Congress to adopt for the benefit of the
'navy is a. bill .abolishing the use of ma
rines on shipboard. The more homogene
ous a service can be made the better It will
be. On this score alone it would be well
to drop the marine guard from the com
plement of each navy ship. But there
are other important reasons. Sailormen
who feel that they are watched by a spe
cies of bea police will not be as efficient
as they would be under the control of
their own commissioned and petty offi
cers. And it is nonsense to talk about
bluejackets ilsing to commissioned rank
if they are so unworthy of trust that they
must be watched by a corps of special
constables. The marines have done splen
did duty, but they are not only no longer
needed on shipboard; they are in the way
as well. Congress can not do better than to
reorganize them as a part of the army a
heavy coast artillery body.
o
Let There He An End to Them.
Astorian.
It is said that another raft will be con
structed in the big frame at Stella early
next spring. It Is the opinion of men
who know the eccentricities of Mother
Ocean, and have spent a life-time on the
bounding billows, that about the only
way the promoters can get their raft to
San Francisco, is by taking it overland.
They should never be allowed to go to
sea with it, for history shows plainly
that they are a source of great danger
to navigation. One dose like that of last
winter is enough for more than a gener
ation. They Find All Excuses.
Cleveland Leader.
Governor Flower of New York has once
more refused to honor the requisition of
Governor Hogg of Texas for the officials
of the Standard Oil Trust who were in
dicted by the grand jury at Waco recent
ly for violation of the anti-trust laws of
the Lone 'Star state. -Governor Flower's
excuse for his-action is that the indicted
officials have never been In Texas nor com
mitted any crime In 'that state. If a pos
sible excuse for refusing to proceed
against a trust can be found, democrats
in office are always sure to find it.
Its Weight in Gold.
Philadelphia Record.
The largest Bible in the world is in the
Vatican library at Rome. It weighs 520
pounds and it is written in Hebrew.
Three men can hardly carry it. As well
as every relic preserved in that valuable
library, it has its history, or, more cor
rectly speaking, its legend. In the year
1512 a syndicate of Russian Jews sent a
messenger to Pope JuliusIIofferinghlm its
weight in gold for that Bible. Julius re
fused to consider their offer. At this
rate the Bible would be worth nearly
fiOO.OOO.
America for Americans.
New York World.
A Greek church priest at Pittsburg is
administering to all the Russians in that
region the oath of allegiance to the new
czar. A little longer residence in the
great republic will teach these poor peo
ple that the only allegiance that is profit
able to any man here Is allegiance to the
principle of human liberty and the rights
of men as exemplified and enforced In
our government. No man who come hith
er to improve his condition has any need
of loyalty to any despot.
A 3Ioucst Reqnest.
Willapa Pilot.
The editor had the misfortune to lose a
fine cow one night last week. There was.
quite a large whisp of hay hanging in
plain sight of the cow, but through pure
greed and cussedness she tried to get into
another stall through a hole a foot square,
and in the melee she broke her neck.
And now the editor is willing to take a
No. 1 fresh milch cow and two tons of hay
on subscription, and hopes that no one will
get hurt- in the wild scramble to comply
with this modest request.
Generous Colonel Parker,
Walla Walla Statesman!
To our morning contemporary we wish a
happy, prosperous New Year.
NEWS OF THE NORTHWEST '
OrejcoB. -
Grandma Yates, the aged mother of
James Yates, is lying at the point of death
at M. Martin's residence, four miles west
of Eugene. She is nearly So years olef.
H. E. Schmidt, of Monroe. Benton coun
ty, tells the Independence West Side that
he Intends leaving for Guatemala in a
few weeks, as the representative of the
Oregon colony.
N. C. Myers, a brother of Colonel Jeff
Myers, Bf Lipn county, died at Needles,
Cai., last Saturday. The remains are "to
arrive at Scio this morning, and will be"
buried by the Odd Fellows.
Mitchell's new "county" embraces 33
sections of Wasco county's territory, to
wlt: A portion of the P. L. & L. Co.'s
and Hon. Robert Mays' property: also a
large scope of valuable grazing land.
The livestock belonging to Douglas coun
ty is marked with a hole in the right ear
and a split in the left. The county is now
the owner of a number of fine hogs and
several head of cattle, beside some horses.
Archbishop Gross was, at the Roman
Catholic church in Pendleton Sunday, and
preached an interesting sermon. Monday
he invested two sisters with the black.
veil, a ceremony pledging the sisters to
five years of convent life- Yesterday he
was to say mass at the reservation
church.
"During the week returns have been re
ceived by a number of our sheepmen
who shipped thir wool to Boston last sea
son," says the Prineville News. "Upon
looking over the prices received, we find
they do not come up to the prices received
by those who sold their clip in The Dalles
last summer."
Hon. William Galloway, of McMinn
ville, president of the state board of agri
culture, has appointed the following three
members of the board as a committee on
programme: Jeff Myers, Z. F. Moody and
J. H. Albert; also D. H. Looney to fill a
vacancy on the speed programme. The
committee will make arrangements to run
excursion trains here during the next
fair week, and will try to .secure the O.
N. G, encampment for that week also.
" William Fletcher, father of Frank
Fletcher, has shown a tenacity o pur
pose in befriending his sen which is re
markable. In 1S92, when his boy was, ar
rested for the "murder of Petrie, William.
Fletcher, although somewhat in debt, was
prosperous. He Immediately pledged his
name and property, and raised money to
secure counsel for defense, and hi3 friends
assert that the trials cost him $5000. He
did not stop when his son had been con
victed, but paid the expenses for defend
ing Peter Gaskell in both trials, and to
the last was hopeful of success. The boys
went to Salem, Frank for life on a charge
of murder in the second degree, and Peter
10 years for assault with a dangerous
weapon. Mr. Fletcher still kept at work.
He finally secured a pardon from Gover
nor Pennoyer ,and both boys came home.
Now, in spite of his son's record, Mr.
Fletcher still stands by him.
Wnahingrton.
A Congregational union has been organ
ized in Snohomish county.
An ineffectual attempt to hold a mass
meeting of farmers In the interests of
lower freight rates was made at Dayton
Saturday. t
Mrs. S. J. Owens, aged Si, mother of Car
Foreman Owens, of the Dayton yards, and
Conductor H. C. Owens, left Dayton the
other night for a journey to McKune,.
Kan.
At Chehalls, E. A. Lowry sold 1SS bales
of hops at 7 cents, and M. C. and D. II.
Lowry 152 bales at 7 cents. This Is the
biggest sale there this season, and tho
best price.
Interviews with two ex-mayors of Spo
kane and Its present mayor all agree that
that city must have still fewer officers
and less luxury. Charter revision will be
the means considered.
The officers of the "Tacotna Equal Suf
frage Club" have called a state convention
at Taeoma June 5. Everybody Is invited.
The purpose of the meeting is to secure
the enfranchisement of women.
Captain Bubb, Indian agent of the Col
ville reservation, has issued an order di
recting all whites to move off the reser
vation. His order is based on a similar
one issued by Secretary Noble, of the in
terior department, under Harrison's ad
minibtration. The captain will enforce
his order if it requires the aid of the mil
itary. President Bryan, of the Pullman agri
cultural college, announces by circular
a winter school for farmers from January
2S to February 16, 1S93, inclusive. This
means three weeks of study and experi
mentation on the scientific and practical
questions connected with agriculture, hor
ticulture, soils, fertilizers, stock-feeding
and breeding, dairying, Insect pests, plant
diseases, spraying apparatus, road-making
and sugar beets.
Walla Walla is pained to find, after
carefully searching the last report of tho
Interstate commerce commission, no no
tice of that town's application for lower
rates on wheat. The commission took up
the complaints of Pullman and RItzvllle,
but Walla Walla, which subscribed $500, to
be paid to a Taeoma attorney to attend
to the business, is left out altogether.
The question i3 therefore loudly asked.
Why is this thus?
About a week ago an old gentleman
from Lewis county appeared before the
local board of pension examiners at Mon
tesano, by order of the pension depart
ment, for re-examination. Besides being
well advanced In years, he was a cripple,
scarcely able to walk with the aid o
canes; was totally deaf in one ear, and
could hardly hear out of the other; wa3
almost blind, and could be said to be a
total physical wreck. As remarkable as
it may seem, this was the fourteenth time
he had been ordered re-examined. He is
drawing $12 a month pension, and the Idea
seems to have been to deprive him of even
this paltry sum. if possible.
FARAGRAPHERS PLEASANTRIES.
"John, were all those those living pic
tures er nude?" "I I think one of them
had a cold on her lungs, Marfa.' New
York Recorder.
"Dad, I'm a-waltin' for a Christmas
present." "All right, take a bale o' cot
ton an go an' buy you a tin horn!" At
lanta Constitution.
Superintendent Byrnes Is atter the liv
ing pictures in New York, and they'll
have all they can do to make a bare liv
ing. Philadelphia Record.
Populist When we dictate the country's
financial affairs, you'll have money to
burn. Banker Yes; and that's about all
it will be good for, too! Puck.
"I see she has broken off her engage
ment w ith him. What was the trouble?"
"He tried to make the engagement ring
do for a Christmas present." New York
Herald.
Little Dick Teacher says If I study
hard I may get to be president. Little
Dot Great president you'd make!
"Why?" "You're 'fraid to take a fish off.
the hook." Street & Smith's Good News.
Chesney Women would never be able
to vote seriously. Radburn Why not?.
Chesney Because they would want to go
round and get samples of the candidates
before making up their minds. Brooklyn
Life.
A Wabash girl of 19. who recently
eloped and married, took the precaution to
paste the number "21" in her shoe, so that
if the preacher asked questions she might
truthfully say she wa3 "over 21." Indian
apolis Sun.
"Do you expect to get anything In your
stocking this Christmas?" asked a face
tious congressman of a colleague. "No,"
was the reply; "not in my stocking. I get
everything in the neck nowadays."
Washington Star.
Little boy What's the difference be
tween an advanced woman and any other
woman? Little girl Why, don't you
know? An ordinary woman doesn't let
her husband know that she Is bossln' him,
but an advanced woman does. Street Sz
Smith's Good News.