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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 28, 1902)
tjts? Tf.y? $pv"g? ',t vy; THE MORNING OREGCXNIAN. THURSDAY, AUGUST 28, 1902. Entered at the Postofflce at Portland. Oregon, as second-class matter. REVISED SUBSCRIPTION RATES. Br Mall (postage prepaid, In Advance) Dally, with Sunday, per month $ 85 Daily. Sunday excepted, per year... 7 BO Dally, with Sunday, per year 0 00 Sunday, per year. - 00 The Weekly, per year i.. 1 The Weekly. 3 months w To City Subscribers Dally, p-jr week, delivered. Sunday excepted-iac Dally, per week, delivered. Sundays mcludea-ZOc POSTAGE RATES. United States, Canada and Mexico: JO to 14-page paper lc 1 to 28-page paper Foreign rates double. News or discussion intended for publication In The Orcgonlan should be addressed invaria bly "Editor The Oregonlan." not to the name of any individual. Letters relating to adver tising, subscriptions or to any business matter aould be addressed simply "The Oregonlan. Eastern Business Office, 43, 44, 43, 47. 4S, 40 Tribune building, New York City; 510-11-12 Tribune building. Chicago? the S. C Beckwltn Special Agency, Eastern representative. For sale In San Francisco tor L- E. Lee, Pal ace Hotel news stand; Goldsmith Bros.. .30 Butter street: F. W. Pitts. 1008 Market street; X K. Cooper Co.. 740 Market street, near the Palace Hotel; Foster & Orear, Ferry news stand; Frank Scotv 80 Ellis street, ana I. Wheatley. 813 Mission street. For sale in Los Angeles by B. F. Gardner. E59 South Spring street, and Oilier & Haines, 505 South Spring street. , For sale in Kansas City. Mo., by Ricksecker Cigar Co.. Ninth and .Walnut streets. For sale in Chicago by the P. O. News Co., 217 Dearborn street, and Charles MacDonalO. &3 Washington street. For sale in Omaha by Barkalow Bros., lew Farnam street; Mrgeath Stationery Co.. 1308 Farnam street. , For saie In Salt Lake by the Salt Lake rews Co., 77 West Second South street. For sale in Minneapolis by R. G. Hearsey & Co., 24 Third street South. For sale in Washington, D. C. by the Ebbett House news stand. For sale in Denver. Colo., by Hamllto & Kendrick, 000-012 Seventeenth street; Loutnan & Jackson Book & Stationery Co.. 15th and Lawrence streets; A. Series. Sixteenth and Curtis streets. TODAY'S "WEATHER Fair and warmer; northwest winds. YESTERDAY'S WEATHER Maximum tem perature. 09; minimum temperature, 51; pre cipitation, none. PORTLAND, THURSDAY, AUGUST 23 THE LiaUOR INDUSTRY. Here are interesting: statistics from a census bulletin. They are presented toy The Oregonlan as facts, and are to be considered as such, apart from senti mental considerations. The people of the United States con mime too great quantities of alcoholic liquors; and those of the Northern States larger proportions than those of the states south. This is a universal law. It is a physical law. The con sumption of liquors by northern peoples has always been excessive; but there is steady and continuous substitution of lighter liquors for spirits, even in north ern countries. This fact Is visible In our time. Our census reports show It, in the short period of the decade from 1890 to 1900. While the value of the malt liquor, produced Increased in the decade from 5182,731.622 to $237,269,713, or nearly 30 per cent, the value of the distilled liquors shows an actual de crease from $104,197,869. in 1890, to $96, 798,433 for the year 1900. That Is, though there was great increase of population there was actual reduction of consump tion of distilled liquora Some idea of the magnitude of the liquor business in the United States may be obtained from the mere statement of theso census figures. For the year "fended May 31, 1900, the sum of $457. 674,087 was employed as capital in the production of malt, distilled and vinous liquors in the United States. The num ber of establishments for the three classes of liquors was 2835, which man ufactured 1,325,358,094 gallons of liquors valued at $384,000,000. The total esti mated home consumption, allowing for the excess of exports over Imports, was 1,322,166,685 gallons, or over seventeen gallons for every man, woman and child in the country. Observe, however, that the distilled liquor produced and con sumed is small in comparison with the malt product and the product of the vine. For the census year there were produced of the distillates 103,330,423 gallons only, against l,198j602,104 gallons of malt liquors and 23,425,567 gallons of wine. Moreover, as shown above, there was actual decrease in the production of spirits comparing the latest decade with the next preceding one. The domestic consumption of seven teen gallons per caput of liquors of all sorts makes it appear that we are a Nation of heavy-headed drinkers;' but this is much less than the consumption in England and other European coun tries, and the poisonous liquors which are said to be sapping the vitality of France have small sale here. Germany main tains, indeed has Increased, the enor mous consumption which Tacitus noted eighteen centuries ago; but it is con sumption of malt liquors chiefly, now as then. The physical appetite for strong liquors is a result, largely, of life in close quarters and in fetid atmosphere. with scanty, poor and innutrltioue food, It seems clear that progress of civiliza tion is gradually lifting the human race out of this condition. Substitution of lighter liquors for distillates is one sign of it But elimination of the appetite for the stimulation of alcoholic drink will be a slow process, and probably never will be completely effected. Greatest of all forces ever employed in this direction are those of modem Indus trial and commercial life; since sobriety is indispensable in those who seek and expect to hold employment in respon sible places. Every position, in the complicate affairs of modern life, more over, has its responsibilities. Growth of the law that makes employers responsi ble for the acts of employes does more for temperance and sobriety than all the work of theoretical and sentimental reform era An Intelligent public will not com ment adversely upon an ordinance the purpose of which is to secure scientific sanitary plumbing in the homes and public buildings of the city, unless, In deed, it fails in its object. It is bad enough when a jackleg carpenter, who may or may not be under the protection of his union, puts a roof on the house that leaks, windows In it that rattle and doors that drag and pinch, but it Is Infinitely worse for a dumber to nut iff drain pipes that discharge Into the cellar and neglect the appliances that shut out sewer gas from the kitchen and bathroom. Plumbing is popularly supposed to be the most autocratic of trades. Accepting this view, the peo ple served by it will be more than sat isrfed if due responsibility waits upon the plumber's labors, and If this can be secured, and only secured by a cast- iron ordinance curtailing the rights of the go-as-you-please plumber, they will not be disposed to cavil at its somewhat arbitrary or exclusive provisions. Plumbing inspection that inspects will naturally drive Incompetent jlumbers out of the business a consummation devoutly desired by a long-suffe'rlng public. CALIFORNIA OX RECIPROCITY. It is not at all surprising that the California Republicans mention reci procity only to censure. There are ex cellent reasons why, at a time when other Republican State Conventions are declaring for tariff revision, Cuban re lief and reciprocity generally, Califor nia sits back on her haunches and de clines to pull. Some of these reasons are selfish with California and reflect more credit upon her thrift than her sagacity, but others are for general ad monition and reproof. Reciprocity has dealt hardly by California, and her men are not of a sort to lick the hand that mites. Every reciprocity treaty negotiated by Mr. Kasson has aimed an ingenious thrust at California. A random cate gory of her menaced Industries would include fruits, wines, wool, hides, sugar. The benefits in European and South American markets sought to be be stowed upon Eastern and Middle "West manufacturers by reciprocity are pur chasable with concessions to French wines, Argentine wool and hides, and the sugar and fruits of the tropics. He who should count on devoted enthusi asm for this programme at the Sacra mento convention would earn a jolt commensurate with his temerity. When you want a great song for reciprocity, let none look at me. That is the Cali fornia sentiment. Now,- there Is no denying that this Californian selfishness deserves some what of reprobation. It exhibits the time-dishonored protective principle of grab in unrelieved outline. One could doubtless show, with sufficient effort, that in resisting tariff reduction the state is really standing In its own light. But the advocates of reciprocity have simply disqualified themselves for crit icism of the California contention by their own selfish and illogical position. When Boston and Philadelphia suggest free shoes in the same breath with free hides; when clothing mills promise free woolens along with free wool; when the steel trust offers to forego Its protec tion If the former foregoes his, then It will be time enough to complain of the California selfishness. We hear a great deal of talk about arranging reciprocity by concessions on goods "we do not ourselves produce." Well, why don't they specify? What are they? Name a few. What protect ive duties are we maintaining now on things that nobody can raise or manu facture in this country? Either there are such things, and we can use them to make reciprocity bargains, with, or else this whole reciprocity business, from Blaine and McKInley down to Kasson and Shaw, I a pestiferous hum bug. All the reciprocity treaties so far proposed do attack American industries. If the correct thing is some arrangement that "does not injure a single Ameri can Industry," It is about time a sample should be trotted out. Nobody need ever expect to win Cali fornia to a scheme of tariff manipula tion that reduces duties on everything California raises and keeps up the du ties on everything California must buy. It is possible that the state would not agree to tariff revision that would cut to the bone every unjust and unneces sary duty. But in such case the ground of her objection in fraud and hypocrisy would be done away. Now she is op posed to bogus tariff reform. Maybe she wouldn't oppose true tariff reform. The state went for Cleveland in 1892. At any rate, it is perfectly certain that the Kasson programme will win no votes in protection strongholds or hon est tariff reform districts. In a straight course is the only promise of approval anywhere. THE TRANSIENT IN MODERN LIFE. A natural reflection Drovoked bv wit nessing "Buffalo Bill's" Wild West show- is that the last thirty years have seen more rapid changes than any other period of the same lenerth for at least a century. The very animal from which "Buffalo Bill" obtained his popular name has become extinct In the wild state In the United States during the last twenty-five years. The rifle with which "Buffalo Bill" fought his duel to tho death with "Yellow Hand." the Cheyenne warrior, is today an obsolete pattern; the cowboy is become a reced ing figure. The Indian warrior as a for midable armed enemy whom "Buffalo Bill" tracked and fought in his youth is as extinct as the pony express and the emigrant train of forty years aero. The Indian either inhabits a reservation as a ward of the Nation or is become an Individual landowner. The transient in life is elsewhere in evidence. The horse in great cities is destined to grow as scarce as he Is in Paris. The cuirassier, save as an ornamental soldier, is sure to become extinct In the modern armies of Europe. The cuirassier can no longer hope to charge and expect urotection from his cuirass against bullets, and nana-to-hand combats between cavalry no longer take place. The cavalryman is today a scout and must be a light horseman. There is nothing in the Wild West show that did not exist in full life fifty years ago. and yet there is noth ing in It today that does not stand either for past life or for life that going If not already gone. And yet all this rapid change has taken place witmn thirty years. When -we remem ber that the cannon used by the Eng lish Navy at Trafalgar in 1805 did not greatly differ from those used against the Spanish Armada in 1588, we shall see that tho last thirty years has count. ea ror more radical changes in prac tical life than the two centuries which separated the England of Elizabeth from that of George in. This rapid, constant change in the surface o prac tical modern life began with the uni versal application of steam power and electricity to the business of the world. The rapid transmission of Intelligence from one continent to the other; the increased dedication of science to the work of both war and peace, has made modern life move at the charging step. Fifty years ago the tourist In Asia or Africa found no such thing as a mod ern hotel. "Today there is not a great Oriental city from Cairo to Canton that lacks a modern hotel. So it .is the, world over. Steam and electricity are carrying the comforts 'of our civilization to the fringe of barbar ism, and popular enlightenment Will fol low at no distant day. Today there are a number of persons who can remember all that is shown in the Wild West show as living realities. Any old pioneer of Oregon can remember the horrors of In dian warfare, the emigrant train, the buffalo hunt, the pony express, but twenty-five years from today there will be nobody left who has any personal knowledge of these things, and even that part of the Wild West show which Is today not extinct la modern life will be dead, eo rapid are : the changes, in the superficial face of o'ur time. New countries become old quickly be fore the advance off modern civilization armed with steam -and electricity ener gized by vast combinations of capital. To illustrate, look ajt Alaska. Today Its mines, fisheries 'and timber mean a yearly yield, when -developed, of at least $100,000,000. Sixty years ago full knowl edge of the resoqrees of Alaska would not have tempted the most enlightened government onarth to have paid Rus sia even the small price we paid her for It. Alaska was' then regarded as a com paratively inaccessible, bleak country, whose only revenue would be from "fur bearing animals. Today, since the min eral wealth of Alaska has become known, what a change has been wrought! The development of her min eral resources has called attention to her timber wealth and her fisheries. The result Is that. In spite of her climate, in spite of her Arctic night of six months, the wealth of Alaska has been revealed more rapidly In the last five years than it could possibly haveNbeen In fifty years had we bought it as early as we did Louisiana of France. San Francisco, Portland and Seattle, which are trad ing ports today for Alaska products, are all of them young cities. Forty years ago, had all been known of Alaska's wealth that. we know today. It could not possibly have been as rapidly devel oped as It has been In our day. There were no transcontinental railroads in those days. There would have been no adequate return in sight forty years ago for such an expenditure of money as has been Invested In .Alaska m so short a time. In five years transportation lines traverse the great river of Alaska, railway and water transportation reach from tidewater to the Klondike, other railways are being built, and Alaska is recognized as a very rich country in timber and fisheries, even If her mines should become exhausted. All this has been done rapidly In our own day, and It has been done under circumstances that would have repelled Investment forty years ago. If Alaska can be explolted'to the ad vantage of those who make the ven ture, there is no place on this continent. In Asia or Africa, that Is not likely sooner or later to be searched by the powers of steam and electricity. The British have already built a railway from the coast of East Africa to the great lakes of Central Africa; the com mercialization of Central Africa through the Congo Railway and steamboat navi gation is In full progress. A railway Is now 'being pushed across the Sahara Desert to French Spudan. Great Brit ain practically controls the Nile from Its mouth to the great lakes of Central Africa. All these remarkable changes In the face of the world have taken place within less than thirty years. Truly it may be said that in small things as well as great the face of the world has seldom changed eo rapidly as it has in the last thirty years. TARIFF AND LABOR COST. President Roosevelt's dictum that the cardinal principle of protection Is to avoid reducing the tariff eo low as to lose the difference between the labor cost here and abroad is not at all In keeping with the modern expert view that labor cost of manufactures Is less here than In Europe, owing to the su perior efficiency of American workmen. It is interesting to note, moreover, that this expert opinion is reaffirmed by a commission of the British Iron Trade Association, which has just made a re port of its investigations In the United States. This commission regards Amer ican labor a3 "at the same time the dearest and cheapest in the world." More specifically, the commission finds the American superiority to He In the workmen themselves. After all the talk of superior American, machines and more enterprising American capital, this report assures us thatn industry as in war "It Is not the guns which win bat tles, but the men who stand behind them." What the American admires and honors, in contrast with his Brit ish competitors, for example, this re port tells us, is the ability to do; that capacity in a man, through his own sa gacity, nerve, enterprise and skill, to create and employ a fortune. Nobody Is above his work. Everybody works, and for the sake of work, and thus has been produced in America within a generation an industrial potentiality more wonderful and more to be feared than all the factories and machinery and "plants" that these workers have created. All this result Is accomplished with out as much actual physical effort as the British mechanic has to put forth. "The workmen in American mills," says Mr. Jeans,- head of he commission. In his share of the report, "are generally supposed to be working much harder than they do in England, but this is not my own view. After much conver sation with many men in various branches, who had been employed in similar works in England, and some of them subject to my own control, the conclusion I arrived at is that the Amer ican workmen do not work so hard as the men in England. They have to be attentive In guiding operations and quick in manipulating levers and sim ilarly easy work. They are also much more desirous of getting out large quan tities than in England. They are better paid and more regular in their attend ance at the works, loss of time through drinking habits or otherwise not being tolerated." If we are going to equalize the "labor cost" between, the United States and Europe by means of the tariff, we shall have to enact an Import bounty for some of our handicapped rivals across the water. TRITE BUT TRUE. Some of the hortatory passages of President Roosevelt's New England speeches are calculated to do considerable- good In the public mind. One of the best was given his audience at Providence, in a speech touching indus trial problems, including so-called trusts, that underlie our present pros perity. There is abundant proof of the truth of the statement that a period of grat material prosperity is as sure as a period of adversity to bring mutter lngs of discontent. The cause is found in human nature, and that without much study. Not only, said the Presi dent, do the wicked flourish when the times are such that most men flourish, but', what Is worse, the spirit of envy and jealousy and hatred springs up In the breasts of those who, though they maybe doing fairly well themselves, yet see others who are not more deserving doing far better." And when he added, "If when people wax fat .they kick, as they have been prone to do since the days of Jeshurun. they will speedily destroy their own prosperity; if they go Into wild speculation and lose their heads, they have lost that which no ex planation can supply, and the business world will suffer In consequence; if in a spirit of sullen envy they Insist upon pulling down those who have profited most by the years of fatness, they will bury themselves in the crash of common disaster," he completed a statement that Is supported by the history of National prosperity and adversity as each has followed the other In past eventful years. The time of prosperity is the time for prudence. The American people are prone to reverse, this rule, spending freely of their substance In prosperity and pinching on expenditures with os tentatious parsimony and with much walling of hard times when adversity follows prodigality. He Is a wise coun sellor In economics who exhorts, the peo ple who hang upon his words to exer cise In the present period of material prosperity the qualities of prudence, salf-knowlcdgc and self-restraint. Con ditions have been created that have led to general prosperity. Under these each individual must achieve for him self, by his own thrift, intellgence, en ergy, industry and persistence. There is nothing new in this statement, but, presented by the President of the United States. It obtains a wide hearing and a respectful one, and it will carry weight If not general conviction. The Instance cited by a correspondent yesterday of an excitable man In St. Louis who shot his young sen as the latter was moving about the house at night, mistaking him for a burglar. Is an example all too frequently Illus trated of the danger of firearms In Irre sponsible handa The man who habitu ally sleeps with a revolver under his pillow or his shotgun within reach Is ordinarily more to be dreaded by the members of his household than Is the always possible but seldom actual burglar, who, If unmolested, will do nothing worse than load himself with money and valuables carelessly left to his hand and depart, whereas the. timor ous man with a gun, who draws his weapon when suddenly roused from sleep and shoots at a noise In the dark ness may. and, In fact, frequently does, become a murderer without the slight est provocation, his victim an unsus pecting member of his own household. Moreover, the plilow-kept pistol Is often discharged accidentally in taking the sheet or other bedding from the bed. with most distressing results. Many of our citizens will remember a case of this kind that happened In this city some years ago, a wife, and mother being the victim. There Is no justifica tion for n. habit that may result so dis astrously, and It docs not mend the mischief In the least for the careless owner of the weapon to be "heart broken over the affair," as he Is In variably reported to be. Good locks and other modern devices, together with the old-fashioned virtue of care fulness, may be safely trusted to guard the sleeping household from pre'datory night prowlers, while the pistol under the pillow may be dispensed with, with safety to the family, without adding greatly to the jeopardy of the burglar. This gem, from President Baer, of the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad, will bear still another setting. It was part of a message to a correspondent who had Interceded for the coal strikers: The rights and Interests of the laboring man will be protected and cared for, not by the labor asltatlons, but by the Christian men to whom God In his Infinite wisdom has given control of the property interests of the coun try, and upon the successful management of which so much depends. Do not be discour aged. Pray earnestly that right may triumph, always remembering that the Lord God omnip otent still reigns and that his reign Is one of law and order, and not of violence and crime. Here Is plutocratic Pharisaism, run to seed. Another Incident Is an Interview between certain politicians of Pennsyl vania and President Baer. They had called on him for the purpose of im pressing on his mind the political Im portance of settling the strike, when this dialogue took place: "Do you mean to say, gentlemen," asked Mr. Baer. "that the Governorship Is at stake in this matter?" "Yea," remarked Senator Quay, "unless tho matter Is settled, and settled speedily, Penn sylvania will elect a Democratic Governor." "Well, then, gentlemen," said Mr. Baer, "all that I can say la that I am glad of It. 1 have been a Jerry Black Democrat for forty years, and anything that caUj help the party Is In my way of thinking.". Precisely so. This question will be just the same whether one political party is In the ascendant or the other. Until men become willing to deal with It without reference to the fortunes of political parties, no advance will be made. The King of Spain has shocked his subjects, who are first of all faithful sons of the church, by expressing con tempt for eo sacred a relic as the toenail of St. Peter, kept In the cathedral at Leon. It Is, indeed, gravely intimated that he has, by his irreverent speech on this mater, endangered his crown. His apologists attribute his conduct to an exuberance of boyish spirits, he be ing but 16 years old, though hl3 remark discrediting St. Peter's toenail, accom panied by a contemptuous giggle, Is generally taken in Spain to indicate an unbalanced mind, and perhaps Incur able Insanity, as It seems Impossible that Alphonso, with the careful training that he -received from his religious mother, has deliberately accepted the teachings of infidelity. Perhaps if his subjects will be patient with the boy he will, in due time, curb his spirits and expiate his offense by making a kingly pilgrimage to Leon, to do rever ence to the sacred toenail, as did sev eral of his predecessors. California's opinions on National ques tions may be unique enough to earn at tention, but they really cut little figure in National sentiment. The Spanish War and Its various legacies have been the making of the state the past four years, and he who would upset this reign of Federal expenditures Is recog nized as a public enemy. That Is why the state's Republican plurality is 40,- 000, and why all nine of Its members of Congress are Republicans. Secretary Shaw has forbidden gam bllng by Treasury clerks. Three clerks guilty of playing poker were recently reduced and transferred to other posts In the department. One of the clerks was reduced In salary from $1800 to $1000 a year. Dangers of Political Prophesying. E. H. Hamilton in San Francisco Examiner, August 25. To be sure, Neff impersonally strong and will get some few votes that Gage or Par dee can afterward command. But if he defeats Metcalf, I should say that the jig was about up for both Gage and Pardee GENTLEMEN IN PEACE AND WAR Minneapolis, Tribune. After a thousand years of training In what becomes a gentleman. It is not strange that the British should know how to treat their gallant conquered foes with frank courtesy and delicate consideration. Besides. It is easier to extend the hand of fraternal welcome to the man you have beaten In any game than it is for him to accept It That sugar-coated con descension of the victor is one of the things It Is more ble.-sed to, give than to receive. Only those of the very finest breeding know how to do it without of fense. Mr. Chamberlain, for example, with the best, intentions In the world, never could have managed the reception of the Boer Generals In England so as to make them feel at home. One may trace the hand of their exceedingly well-bred King in the frank and simple and altogether charming way In which the British have received tho Boer commanders In London. It has the same flavor of largeness of mind, perception of the essential equal ity of strong men able to withstand one another in arms, recognition In foes of the same qualities that are valued In friends, and the gentle courtesy that be comes the Intercourse of noble natures, on throne or farm, which he brought Into the peace negotiations. After all. It Is worth while to tax your self to support royalty when Toyalty breedn gentlemen for such emer gencies as this. There Is a money value In having a gentleman to intervene at a critical point In war, which every taxpayer can measure. If the manage ment of war and peace had been left In the hands of the Birmingham screw mer chant, how many more millions would have "been spent and how many more taxes laid before the war could have been brought to an end? And If the recon struction of South Africa had been left to the same base mechanical hand, how " much longer would It have taken to heal the wounds of war and to consolidate two warring races Into a self-governing indus trial community than now seems prob ableif. indeed, the King shall live long enough to keep the affair under his finer touch. Something remains to be said, however. for the elevated spirit in which the Boers met British advances after the King had put these on a higher plane In the ipeace negotiations and In the social Intercourse that followed. These farmers have had no thousand years training in the ameni ties of social Intercourse. They have no King of Norman and Guelph descent to set them an example of noble courtesy. Yet they have matched the best royal British breeding at every point of inter course between the two peoples. At the outset and all through the war they themselves set the high example, slowly drove the British in the field into shame faced imitation of it, and finally roused the throne itself at home into imposing Its own higher standards of conduct upon the more vulgar Instruments of the war. The first step toward peace was the chivalrous treatment of Lord Mcthuen by his captors. This drove home the truth that the British had been as outmatched in courtesy as in gallantry by the farm ers of the veldt, and that the only way to close the war was one of which Mr. Chamberlain, Lord Mllner and General Kitchener knew nothing. The nature of this people Is discovered again by the frank integrity with which they have accepted the results of the war. and by the simple native courtesy with which their fighting men bear themselves in the hearty social Intercourse offered them in London. It is a common boast of republics that the duties and responsibilities of free citi zenship breed the same high standards of noble conduct as the Ideal conditions of royal birth and training. There are examples enough of wretched failure to realize the Ideal on both sides; but now and then a conspicuous Instance serves to keep the fine theory alive. The King Is receiving these heroic farmers as equals in the social Intercourse of London be cause they showed themselves in tho Af rican campaigns the equals of the noblest British, no less in chivalrlc generosity than In skill and gallantry. II ill's Doubts About the Canal. Chicago Record-Herald. James J. Hill's speech before the trans Mississippi Commercial Congress at St. Paul contains some remarkable coinci dences of opinion and self-interest. Mr. Hill looks dubiously upon the Isth mian canal project, which ha regards as a delusion. While he would not lay a straw In the way of the canal's con struction at an expense of 5500,000,000, he believes that better results would be ob tained for the country by the expend iture of from $35,000,000 to $40,000,000 lh the deepening of the channel of the Missis sippi between New Orlean and St. Louis. At the same time he believes also that money spent upon the Upper Mississippi would be wasted. He would rather have It go for tho Irri gation of the arid West. Finally, when considering our exports to tho Orient in this connection, he hinted at the possible benefits to the car rying trade. Turning now to Mr." Hill's Interests It appears: That the Isthmian canal will certainly promote sea competition with all trans continental railroads, and that unless our shipping is combined In a trust with them It will exert an Important Influence upon, freight rates. That the part of the Mississippi which he wishes to have Improved Is outside the territory of his railroads, while the part that ho thinks should not be improved Is within that territory. That the reclamation of arid lands would increase the business of those rail roads. Now, while It may be that some of his suggestions are In the line of good public policy, even a casual glance at his in terests would seem to indicate that his opinions were rather personal than Na tional. Apparently he made a Hill ques tion out of a public question, or several public questions, and his contributions to the public debate will be appraised ac cordingly. Cockran Protests a. Good Deal. New York Commercial Advertiser. Every one who has any bowels of com mission will svmDathize with Mr. W, Bourke Cockran in his disavowal of the connection with Northern Pacific merger proceedings which the enterprising coun sel in the case. Mr. George Alfred Lamb, has tried to put upon him. Mr. Cockran hates all trusts. He has said so on the stump, and only two months ago he told on the witness-stand how he wrenched away from one of them, the gas combina tion In this city, the goodly sum of $323,000 in a fit of virtuous Indignation before he allowed the greedy despollers of the public to go on with their scheme. That a man 'of so heroic a figure and such altruistic mold should have anything to do with a pelf-seeker like Mr. Lamb Is beyond be lief, and Mr. Cockran might well have passed in silent contempt his charge that the champion of all anti-trust agitation was one of Mr. Peter Power's backers The advisability of such a course on the part of Mr. Cockran is rendered the more apparent by reference to his testimony In the gas case alluded to above. In de nying Mr. Lamb's charge yesterday, Mr. Cockran, according to the report in the Times, expressed himself as follows: think it is safe to soy that If I had been concerned in this litigation I should not have employed Mr. Lamb as counsel. This is his account on June 20 under oath of how he engaged counsel In the gas liti gation which netted him J323.0C0: We tried to engage Evarts, Choate & Bz man, but they could not tako the matter ud. We were advised that we could never expect to set any old or prominent law Arm to tako the case, for the reason that any lawyer op posing such a large corporation would run up against difficulties with banks and cor poratlons downtown In their business, and socially as well. We were told the only thing we could do was to engage some young, strug gling lawyer, who had little practice, and therefore nothing to lose but everything to gain if successful, we then engaged Mr. Lamb, as Mr. Weldenfeld said he knew him well. I was glad to leave the selection to him. NOTES OF WARNING. Philadelphia Inquirer. The public patience is becoming ex hausted, if. Indeed, the point of exhaus tion has not been already reached. Even if the operating companies were obvious ly In the right, even if there could be no question as to whether they were or were not justified in resisting the demands which had been made upon them, such a conflict as the present one. which involves the supply of a prime necessity of life, cannot be carried beyond a certain point without Infringing upon the paramount rights of the community. The coal min ing companies owe a duty to the public, a duty which was Imposed upon them in consideration of the privileges which thcy recclved from the state in the act of their incorporation, a duty whose nonfulfillment can be justified by no kind of excuse. That duty is to exercise the powers with which for the public good they were en dowed, to discharge the functions for the sake of which they exist, to execute the obligations which they voluntarily as sumed. In other words, it Is their im perative duty, a duty which cannot with out wrong-doing be repudiated or evaded, to keep the public supplied with coal In quantities at all times equal to the de mand and at prices- which represent no more than a fair return for tho service rendered. They are not discharging that duty, and Bishop Potter say3 in effect that the primary reason why they are not doing so is because they are determined at any cost either to themselves or others to destroy tho miners union. That is a consideration which will not tend to as suage the rising storm of the people's in dignation. It will rather augment it- The truth Is that the companies are occupying a dangerous position. They are playing with fire, fooling with the buzz-saw, tempting Providence, doing all the things which express the combination of blind folly with rash audacity. The operators declined to arbitrate, not because there was no arbitrable question at Issue, as they have- frequently asserted and con tinue to reiterate, but because a submis sion of the controversy to arbitration would have Involved a recognition of tho organization through which the miners presented and are now seeking to enforce their claims. What the operators are really trying to do Is to disrupt and to de stroy the union, and the struggle Is being protracted for the accomplishment of this and no other purpose. President I II IPs Guiding: Principle. New York Times. Mr. Hill Is in the business of transpor tation. His transcontinental railroad lines have their termini upon Puget Sound. It Is there that the great steam ers of the Pacific line receive their car go. Mr. Hill not only has the habit of knowing what he is talking about, but he also has the reputation4 of being a very far-sighted man. When a man at the head of the great transportation companies he controls speaks .of the Puget Sound route as being the shortest between the cotton fields of the South and those .Oriental markets which al ready with our meager transportation facilities take $10,000,000 of. our cotton goods yearly, the line of his thought Is worth following, not only by Germans, but by Americans. Mr. Hill also said that while he would not oppose the construction of an Isth mian ship canal, even at the cost of $500,000,000, in his opinion $40,000,000 spent In deepening the channel of the Missis sippl between New Orleans and St. Louis would give far better results In the end; but he thought that it would be better to spend the public money in irrigating the arid regions of the west than In at tempting to Improve the upper waters of the Mississippi. Mr. Hill, of course, thinks and talks as a railroad man. The Chicago. Burlington & Qulncy system. now owned by the Isorthern Securities Company, has St. Louis connections. If the Mississippi were deepened and lm proved as a navigable waterway so that the cotton of the South could be sent to St. Louis by that route, Mr. Hill would with the greatest pleasure In the world tranfer the bales to his freight trains and whisk them away to' Puget Sound, and so on to the Orient. So what is tho use of deepening the Upper Mississippi? Xo American Tin. Chicago Tribune. In 1S93 the United States Geological Survey gave the pleasing Information that there had been produced in this country 152,000 pounds of tin. valued at $32,400. The product in 1S93, according to the same authority, was S93S pounds, since tnen no tin has been mined in the United States, Tho report of mineral products for 1001 recently issued, reads, as has been the case since 1893 "tin, none." This is the sad finale of the glowing predictions made a dozen years ago that the United States could with a little encouragement produce all the tin It needed. The public was assured In 1SP0 by sev. eral enthusiastic gentlemen that the Black Hills were full of tin. They found in Eng land and in this country men who had faith enough in their assurances to hand over to the promoters of tin mines about $30,000,000. Of this something like $3,000,000 was put into machinery, which was set up In mills at Harney. Some of the money was spent for advertising. Much of it stuck to the fingers of the promoters. The machinery Is rust and the mining stock Is waste paper. There Is tin in the Black Hills, but although spread over a wldo area, the formation Is extremely shallow- so shallow that it cannot be profitably worked. So great was the confidence in some quarters that the United States could sup ply Itself with tin that the tariff act cf 1S90 mode provision for imposing a duty on that metal after July of 1S93 to encour age and protect the new Industry. The duty did not have a long life and probably never will be reimposed. The American tin mines which were described in such bright colors a dozen years ago have quiet ly given up 'the ghost. A Poser for "Watterson. Detroit Free Press (Dem.). It Is exactly like Colonel Watterson not to want a public office that Is for sale In the political market places. All believe him when he says: "No unclean dollar has ever passed my hand either coming or going, and I am too old to turn ras cal." But the conundrum Immediately suggested is as to why the Colonel does not break away from the company that he Is keeping. How can he lend his bril liant support to men who go after what his conscience will not permit him to seek? Charcoal Eph's Wisdom. Baltimore News. "Dey ain no use talkin'," said Char coal Eph. in one of his ruminative moods, "de man dat spen all his time flndln out de shortcomln's of his nelgh bah will have t' take er vacation latah on an git his oldes' boy out'n de refo'm school, like as not, Mistah Jackson. Charity, as well as fault-flndln', ought t' begin at home." Under the Lindens. Walter Savage Landor. Under the lindens lately sat A couple, and no more. In chat: I wondered what they would be at Under" the lindens. I sa.w four eyes and four Hps meet. I heard the words. How sweet! how sweet! Had then the Faeries given a treat Under the lindens? I pondered long and could not tell What dainty pleased them both so well; Bees! bees! was It your bydromel Under the lindens? NOTE AND COMMENT. The full dinner-pail the workingmen de sire, but not with any Hanna guff In it. Alger may be right when he intimate! that worse things have happened in the Senate than In the Secretary of War's office. Of course, scavangers are abroad at all hours of the day, but what are we going to do about it? Women just will wear their dresses long. The Appletons are to bring out a biog raphy of George Francis Train.' The man affords a curious study in psychology and in extravagancy. The Cubans confess that President Palms does not reach their expectations. Tho only way they can get a President that do? is by annexation. These are the heydays of Carnival Queers. But they are also the glory of all the other Queens, for every American girl is a Queen In her own right. The Cubans may remove Uncle Snm's coat of arms, but they will find, if they get to monkeying, that he will remove they coat from hfci back of his own accord; Dr. Samuel Patterson Stiffonl. who has been appointed Government physician at the Yakima Indian agency, is a colored gentleman. Let us see if the red man will object to the black man. Half of the enchantment of the affair between the American girl and the Ger man Crown Prince is because thc: haven't seen each other. Such a romance Is Just too lovely for anything, and Papa Wilhelm Is perfectly horrid to break it up. "It was a $1.C.000.0( scc-slon!" yells and howls a Democratic paper of Oregon. Softly, friend; softly. What if the last session of Congress was a J1.0W.COO.0U one? Oregon got a good many of the mil lions that go to make up the billion. Ara these millions not wanted? Shall Oregon hand them back? There is considerable harmony In the Democratic party after all more than the average layman detects. What Bry an Is to Cleveland. Cleveland U to Bryan. and what Watterson is to each of them, both are to Watterson. Things equal ty the same thing are equal to each other. so we see the beet basis of common un derstanding that could possibly ex!st. Now it is alleged thnt whiskers are a fa vorite lodging-place of microbes. In Ger many the flat has gone forth that physi cians, nurses (of the male variety) and all attendants on sick persons must shave off the beard. The Emperor has taken up with the Idea, and will enforce It In the army. The wonder of the new century Is how in the world man ever lived by bread only, when now he has to live so much by his brains. A man must be Inured to a salary of $500,000 a year, and because Schwab was not raised to it. it goes hard with him. A farmer once lived to be 156 years old and was hale and hearty at that age. At that time he visited some of his kin In the city and 'then rich living killed him In one w-eek. The food to which he had been accustomed would have killed them just as quickly. After all there la really no telling who are the milksops and who are not. Once upon a time hopgrowers regarded 12 and 14 cents a pound for their product as fair prices. Now some of them are hopping mad because market prices are twice that high. Of course, the lower prices still afford as good profits- as the growers who made future contracts ex pected to get. but that does not keep them from jumping Into hops of chagrin. But they have only themselves to blame; or maybe the Lord Is at fault for be queathing the gift of foresight upon some of his children and the gift of hindsight upon others. The delicate seismographs, which are supposed to record volcanic eruptions, have been strangely quiet about the Pelce outbreaks, or at least they haven't said anything for publication. The professors who had the instruments geared up ex plained that the Pelee explosion was only superficial, and that therefore it has not been placed by the seismographs. They said that water vapor under enormous pressure had blown off the top of tho mountain. But the top of the mountain blew off long ago, and still .the mountain Is erupting, the last spasm evidently being as bad as any. What are the professors and their seismographs a vain show? A dapper young Lieutenant of tho Seventeenth United States Infantry- was seen at the Wild West show Tuesday, who acted In a rather peculiar manner for one of Uncle Sam's servants. "hn the Inspiring strains of the "Star-Spangled Banner" wtre sent forth by the band, he sat In the grandstand entirely ob livious to ail around him. with his cap put on the back of his head in a very Jaunty manner. Sereral among the audience were seen to rise and sa lute the National air in a proper manner, but this person did' not even remove the cap from his head. He might offer as an excuse for the action the fact that the music wa3 furnished by a circus band, but even this should not clear him for some censure for such a serious breach of military rules and civilian pride. PLEASANTRIES OF PAUAGRAPHERS The Church Athletics Mrs. Au Falt-r-We have been so fortunate in our clergymen! Mrs. Beau Monde Have you? Mrs. Au Fait Oh, yes! Tho last one was death on tennis; the one before that got up wheel parties; and now this one Is simply crazy about ping pong. Puck. Barnes I never saw such an ignoramus aa Skidder Is. He doesn't know anything that is going on in town. ShetM I know. nut it is no reflection upon Skldder's intellectual powers. He doesn't have the opportunities you and I have. Skldder shaves himself, you know. Boston Transcript. Method in His Madness .Biggs I had no idea old Grasplt was a philanthropist until I saw him circulating a petition yesterday for the purpose of raising money to enable a poor widow to pay her rent. Diggs Oh. Graspifs all right. He owns the house the poor widow lives in. Chicago Daily News. Worth Knowing. "Oh. my friends, there are some spectacles that a person never for get'." said an orator, recently, after giving a rapid description of a terrible accident he had witnessed. "I'd like to know wh?re they sell them," remarked a stout. elderly lady on the outskirts of .the crowd. Glasgow Evening Times. Another Complaint. "Speaking about find ing money." said the man who has the con tract for sprinkling the streets. "I'm actually ashamed to go around collecting any more. There's only one thing I hate about this kind of a Summer it's such a bother to take tha horses out every w ek or so for exercise." Chicago Record-Herald. The Race for Publicity. "I shall never trust him again," said the statesman bitterly. "But he has never failed to lend his Influence in your behalf." "Nevertheless, he Is a false friend." "What has he done?" onatched fame from my grasp. I told him a funny story and he went and printed It aa original before I had a chance to see an interviewer." Washington Star.