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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 13, 1903)
rOS llUKSUIXOr UJtflSlSUIXlAir. IHUKCSDAl, -a.-JcrUSXr . JL3, 1903T. -Satan. ct-the Postcrno at PorilancV -Oregon, as eecosd-daes matter. REVISED SUBSCRIPTION" BATES. By JiaJJ (postage prepaid la advanced e Xsy, with Sunday, per month fO.K; Daily. Buaday exccptec. per year..-,., o Dillr, with Sunday, per year -w 6 uncty, per year .............. The "Weekly, per year 1-50 The "Weekly, 3 months M To City Subscribers . . Pally, per week, delivered. Sunday :ePle5'ic ally. per week, delivered. Sunday Included. 20c POSTAGE RATES. XJotted State. Canada aid Mexleo SO to H-page paper. 18 to 0-pag paper...... .... m"""tX S to 44-page paper foreign rate double. Xeiti or discussion Intended for publication in The Oregonlan should be addressed Invari ably "Editor The Oregonlan,' not to tbe name of any Individual. Letters relating to adver Urics. subscription, or to any business matter should be addressed simply "The Oregonlan." Eastern Business Offlce, 43. 44. 45. 47. 48. 43 Tribune building. New Tork City; 610-11-12 Tribune building. Chicago; the S. C Beckwlth Special Agency, Eastern representative. For sale In Ban Francisco by L. E. Lee, Pal ece Hotel news stand; Goldsmith Bros., 230 6tttter street; F. "W. Pitta. 1003 Market street; J. K. Cooper Co.. 740 Market street, near the ipalace Hotel; Foster & Orcar. Ferry news wtand; Frank Scott. SO Ellis street, and N. tVheaUey, 13 Mission street. For sale In Los Ang-elee by B. F. Gardner, !36 South Spring street, and Oliver & Haines. 1 206 "Boutfi Spring street. For sale in Kansas City, Mo., by Blcksecker "agar Co., Ninth and "Walnut streets. For sale la Chicago by the -P. O. News Co.. SE17 Dearborn street; Charles MacDonald. 53 "Washington street, and tbe Auditorium Annex tews stand. For sale In Omaha by Barkalow Bros.. 1012 (Ffernam street; Megeatn Stationery Co., 1306 iFarnam street; McLaughlin Bros., 220 S. 14th XtreeU For sale la Ogden by W. O. Kind. 114 25th tret; James H. Crockwell, 242 25th street: B, Oodard and a H. Myers. For sale In Salt Lake by tbe Salt Lake News Co- 77 West Second South street. For sals In "Washington. D. C., by the Ebbett 'Bouse news stand. For sale In Denver. Colo., by Hamilton & Xendrlck, 006-012 Seventeenth street; Louthaa A Jackson J3ook & Stationery Co.. Fifteenth vand Lawrence streets; A Series. Sixteenth and Curtis streets. , 1 TESTERDAT'S WEATHER Maximum tern peratcre, .70; minimum temperature, 60; pre cipitation, 0. ' TODAY'S "WEATHER Fair; northwesterly winds. OPOItTLAXD, THURSDAY, ATJGCST 13.: "BALANCE OP TRADE." One would think that enlightened men were done, had long since been done, with the medieval philosophy of "balance of trade." This term has been commonly used to express the dlffer ence between the value of exports from and Imports Into a country. The bal ance was said to be favorable when the value of the exports exceeded that of the Imports, and unfavorable when, the value of the Imports exceeded that' of the exports. Long time this was' profoundly believed to be a funda mental principle of economic science. It was based on the notion that gold or silver was the only real wealth that could be possessed by Individuals, or nations; and, consequently, that a "bal ance," expressed in gold or silver, was the result to be contended for in com merce. Though long exploded, frag ments of this fallacy remain, and it is curious to see one of them presented as a truth in a recent address by the Sec retary of Agriculture. One might sup pose that a man fit to be a member of the President's Cabinet should be too Intelligent and too honest to indulge In any of the old fallacies about "favor able balance of trade." But Mr. Wilson, in a recent address In New Hampshire, said we ought to foster every kind of industry in our country by "protective" laws, because it is by this policy that "we, keep the balance of trade in our favor." But the truth is, the policy Is a wasteful one, because strength and energy are employed under It, In the effort to de velop many kinds of industries at home in circumstances not favorable to them, or not so favorable as elsewhere; while those in which we might excel are often passed over or neglected. Thus we at tempt to make our profitable industries support unprofitable ones, which is the real waste of our so-called protective system. The truth Is, the actual wealth of a country and the profits it makes are measured, not by the excess of exports over Imports, but rather by the reverse rule. The most advantageous com merce in the world Is that carried by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In the United Kingdom the value of the Imports exceeds that of the exports by nearly two to one; and It Is out of this difference that the wages of the country are paid and the enormous profits of the British factors accumulated. Restriction, however plausible the ar gument may be. always Involves a fal lacy. "When labor and capital are free to move where they desire, commodities will be produced in those places where the absolute advantages for producing them are greatest. The localities that offer the greatest advantages will be come the exclusive seats of production of each commodity. Each country will invest its labor and capital so as to make the best of the advantages It pos sesses. Our own country can produce many commodities at rates practically beyond competition; but other com modities, again, can be produced more advantageously in other countries; and It Is our interest, as well as theirs, to make the exchange. Nations that trade together render themselves a reciprocal service; if one has an interest in buy ing, the other has an interest In sell ing, and all commercial transactions are founded on mutual need. To the erroneous notion of the "neces sity of creating and holding a "favor able balance of trade" a very large pro portion of the restrictions on commerce, maintained throughout our history, is due. Unless we are to-be gainers by it, we shall Import nothing; whyT then, suh apprehension of Impoverishment by importation? "Oh, but we must keep the money in the country!" Gold Is nothing but a commodity; only by part ing with it can we obtain any of the "objects of actual utility or desire, and it Is alike our Individual and National interest to exchange it in the market where we can get most for it. "We want other countries to take our exports, that we may bs able to take Imports from them. place there could be no motive to expptV any species of produce, or gold ei)4er, unless'that which It is Intended 10 import in exchange were of greater 'value. If these things are academic, they are none the less fundamental, "Bal ance of trade, as the term has lcg been used and still Is used, though long since exploded embodies -sot a truth, but a figment to truth op posite, since an excess of exports over Imports, bo far from being any criterion of aa advantageous commerce, is di rectly the reverse, and must appear so to every mind open "to the facts The jjreat French "economist, J.B. Say, wrote: "Almost all the wars fought during the past one hundred years, in the four, quarters of the earth, have been for a balance of trade which does not exist; and whence comes the importance at tributed to that pretended balance of trade? From the exclusive application that has been made of the word capital to gold and silver." Besides, reduction of our imports, for the sake of a "fa vorable balance of trade," would have the effect of reducing the ablljty of for eigners to take and pay for our produce and manufactures. It would be a sorry condition for trade If trade could not triumph, to an extent, over the obsta cles Imposed upon It by misdirected legislation. . SAUXOV SEAS OX LOXO ENOUGH. How ardently the Astoria fishing In terests are consumed with a desire to see the salmon get up to the headwaters and spawn was in evidence a week or so ago, during the unusually heavy run. Traps were packed so full that the fish stood endwise in the water, with their tails sticking out. Gillnets almost burst with their burdens and horses could hardly haul the seines, so full were they of fish. Now, did the Astorians turn these supernumerary fish back into the river, so they could go to the headwa ters and spawn? Not they. Every man in town carried a thirty-pound salmon home on his shoulder for dinner. "What couldn't be sold were given away, and what couldn't be given away were used by the boys for baseball bats. Again the river Is full of fish, and there Is some chance for the salmon to get up to the hatcheries and headwaters and spawn. The close season will be here In three or four days, and there will apparently be a good run for breed ing purposes. But the only effect of this prospect Is to bring out again the proposal that the season be extended. No responsible salmon Usher or canner should, lend countenance or support to the suggestion. The open season is long enough now. There Is reason, Indeed, to believe It Is too long. Marshall Mc Donald used to say that the fishing sea son, should be strictly limited to the months of May, June and July. "We already run over to the 15th of August 'as' it 'Is, and the Ashing should be stopped short when the season ends. This Iniquitous proposal In the selfish interests of a few case-hardened can ners Was broached once before some years ago, but it no sooner met the sober second -thought of public opinion than it was frowned down, as it de served to be. Just this should be Its fate this time. The law was made to be obeyed, arid not to be nullified at the whim of avarice. No official has the slightest warrant of authority to set aside the law. There is too much dis position to treat the law as a mere con venience, to be used or violated as pri vate ambitions require. Bight here Is -a good place to give It a set-back. ' THE AGE OP RETIKE31EXT. The Washington correspondent of the Charleston (S. C.) News and Courier in sists that the statutory retiring age of 64 is entirely too early; that nine-tenths of the Army officers at that - age are still, mentally and physically, as capa ble of efficient work as ever In their lifetime; that the date should be de ferred to 68, and quotes General Miles recent horseback ride In Indian Terri tory as an object lesson on this point. The statutory retiring age of 64 might occasionally find a man as fit physically and mentally for the field as he ever was, but the exception would be so rare as only to prove the soundness of the present rule. Napoleon's judgment on this question ought to be conclusive. He said that few Generals were at their best when past 50; that a General who had reached 60 was not physically com petent, and therefore not mentally com petent, to endure the hardships of a severe campaign and meet the dread responsibilities of a great battle. He attributed much of his own military success to the fact that, with the excep tion of Massena, all his leading Mar shals and division commanders were, like himself, young men. Napoleon said that Massena failed in 1S10 and 1SU. against Wellington because at 53 he had become too rheumatic to un dergo the hardships of the field. Wel lington and all his leading subordinates were young men; that is, none of them exceeded 45. The experience of our Civil War .sup ports the conclusion of Napoleon. The first year of the war found a number of men past 50 in the Union and Con federate armies In command of army corps, divisions, brigades and regi ments, but if the roster of the armies on both sides be examined. East or West, for the Summer and Autumn of 1863, it will be seen that, neither in the armies of Meade, nor Lee, nor Grant, nor Bragg, were there any "old men" left in Important commands. The disas trous battle year of 1862 was so destruct ive to the reputation of menof the age of Sumner, Keyes, Helntzleman, Casey, McDowell, Abercromble, McCali and Hunter that when Meade fought Get tysburg he had but one old General, a brigadier of 62 years of age. Few of his other Generals exceeded 50 years of age, and the majority of them were men from 35 to 45 years of ago- Meade was about 47 years of age; Humphreys was something over 50; Sedgwick was about 50, but they were among the oldest ofr fleers In the Army of the Potomac at .this date. .At the West, Grant was but 41 and Sherman about 44; Rosecrans was about 42, and Thomas about 45. Two years of war had winnowed out the old officers, both East and West, and in 1864 the presence of young men in the prime of life in high commands, like Warren, Barlow. Brooke, Sheridan. Merrltt and Mjles, was noteworthy. Sherman's subordinates in his -Atlanta campaign were none of them over 45, and the best of them all, McPherson. was. but 35. General C F. Smith, a gal lant old man at Fort Donelson, died soon or disease. The same story is told by the records of the Confederate army. The besom of war in 1S62 swept out of Lee's army old men like Huger, Holmes, Toombs and Magruder. There were no Confederate Generals who rose to distinction that were over 50 when the war broke out, save Lee and Joseph E. Johnston. Sidney John ston was considerably over 50, but he was a "military failure at the time of his death. There were no Union Gen erals who rose to distinction who were over 50 when the war broke out, save Humphreys and Emory- When we re member that our Civil War lasted four years. Its records are convincing that Napoleon was right when he said that after 50 years few men were mentally and physically fit for war; that at 60 about all were worthless for the hard ships and responsibilities of the march and the -battlefield. It is true that both Scott and Taylor were over 60 when they won their laurels in Mexico, but the Mexicans were an easy mark, and Scott had the flower of the young offi cers of West Point under hlm. It is true that some English Generals' have won victories hi India when, over 60, but the native troops of India are not a for midable foe, and Lord Clyde was a man of exceptional endurance. The. rule is the other way, as Napoleon pointed out. Napoleon did not say that an officer was not mentally and physically fit for many military -duties; he only said that the combined physical hardship and mental responsibility of a great cam paign were more than the average Gen eral officer of 60 could bear with credit to himself. The laws which regulate armies are like the ordinary laws which govern civil life In this that they can not always be adjusted to individual cases. The retirement today of Army officers at 64 undoubtedly puts out of active service men whose mental powers are unimpaired; men who are competent for pen-and-ink work for some years to come. In event of war, these men could be used for the pen-and-ink work of military business, as they were in our Civil War, when they acted as superin tendents of recruiting, disbursing offi cers, etc. In our war with Spain, Lleu-tenant-General Schofield, of the retired list, was a member of the Government's Board of Military Strategy. While these men of 64 can still he of service when necessary as military Instructors and professional advisers. It Is doubtful If many officers of 64 would he physi cally and mentally competent for an important command in a severe cam paign. To ride a horse day after day in a severe campaign, in all kinds of weather, Is a very different thing from the ride taken by General Miles for pleasure, when his mind Is charged with no responsibility of life and death. Furthermore, to ride three days as you please is not like riding three months, when your sleep Is broken at night and you ride without sparing yourself whenever the bugle call of duty sum mons you to your saddle. Exceptional men may do an officer's best work on the battlefield after 64, but the average officer, as Napoleon said, cannot do it, and the law of retirement Is made for the mass of men, and not for the ex ceptional soldier. MINISTERS SOyS. The Paclfip Churchman quotes a num ber of names of men of literary distinc tion who. were "ministers' well-trained sons, abiding witnesses that -ministers' sons turn out well." The Churchman, among other things, says: Dugald Stewart, Re! 4, Abercromble and'Ben tham were parsons' eons. In general literature we And multitudes of ministers' eons Swift, Macaulay, Thackeray, Klngsley aad Matthew Arnold were clergymen's sons. Dugald Stewart was not a minister's son; neither were Macaulay, .Bentham and Thackeray sons of ministers. This is a matter of small consequence, but the absurdity of such articles becomes evident when we recall the names of several ministers' sons who' turned out, but did not turn out well in moral worth. Goldsmith, who was an Invet erate gambler, a rake, a hard drinker, a past master In all the vices of the vagabond Bohemian, was a minister's son. The famous Admiral Nelson, who deserted his excellent wife for the cor rupt wife of Sir William Hamilton, and was the father of an Illegitimate child, was a minister's son. Aaron Burr. was a minister's son, and his mother was the daughter of that famous minister, Jonathan Edwards. Stephen Bur-, roughs,,! famous criminal of New England-origin and career, was a minister's son, and Gray, a famous forger and check-raiser of Wall street some thirty years ago, was a minister's son. Robert G. Ingersoll was a minister's son, and so was Hazlltt. Physical characteristics seem to be not seldom hereditary traits, but spir itual virtues and moral worth are not always among the hereditary gifts to children. Very commonplace men have been the fathers of great sons, and great men not seldom have been the fathers of very mediocre sons. Men emi nent for all the virtues have been the fathers of sons distinguished for noth ing but the grossest depravity. Why, then, should ministers be expected to escape the misfortune of discreditable offspring?- Some ministers' sons have marched true to their father's flag, and some have spurned It. Just as other good men and true, who were not min isters, have had sons that were not a pleasant memory to their sire. Minis ters' sons an? very like other good peo ple's sons sometimes they do honor to their father's memory, and sometimes they are conspicuous moral degen erates. You can bequeath a child money and landed property, but you cannot endow him with virtue or brains. It may be possible to breed a good colt with com parative certainty, but we can never be sure that the son we get will become a good man. Speed and endurance may be bred In an animal, but the spiritual and moral endowments that make a man are too subtle and elusive for sure hereditary transmission. Stlrplculture might assure bone and muscle, physical beauty, but Is no assurance of the breeding of beautiful souls. OPULEXT INVALIDS. The news as It has been disseminated from day to day for "some time indicates that the great captains of finance are, as the Kansas City Journal expresses It, "hardly as well as usual." Specify ing, we find that Mr. Rockefeller con tinues to suffer from indigestion; Mr. Schwab appears to be suffering from some mysterious disorder which calls for seclusion and special treatment; Mr. Morgan does not feel as robust as he did before the late shrinkage In stocks; John W. Gates Is a sick man, practically worn out with the load that he has long carried, and even the Iron nerves of Uncle Russell Sage show un mistakable signs of the erosions of care. These opulent lnvallda are entitled to the sympathy that Is the invalid's due whatever his station in life. The tradi tional "worst enemy" would hardly re joice in the physical suffering or dis ability of his foe. He might, upon provocation or opportunity, take his ad versary's life, but he would still be far from wishing to have him stricken by disease. The man who Is deprived of the boon of sleep, or he who la unable to eat, enjoy and assimilate food, is one to whom wealth can bring no pleasure. He- envies, and well may envy, the humble toller who is only conscious that he has a stomach when he gets clamorously hungry, and who sleeps from 9 o'clock P. M. until 6A.iL with out awaking. The opulent Invalid sees here something priceless, something which money cannot buy, and, taking a backward glance at the years that have brought him wealth and deprived him of health, he probably thinks the price paid an exorbitant one. Ncr are reflections based upon the declaration, "Whatsoever a man sow- eth, that shall he also reap," calculated to soothe his perturbed spirit or cause him to take his legitimate crop of aches and alls philosophically. Looking back to the sturdy, striving years when he was poor, he no doubt recognizes the recklessness with which he staked health for wealth. While careful to keep his credit good at bank, he over drew upon his fund of vitality, against the timer when he could afford to rest and recoup. The time has come, but long-banished rest refuses to be lured, even by golden bait, and the opulent In valid can only wait as does the Im pecunious Invalid the release that puts them upon the same footing and haply relieves all from suffering. The New Orleans Times-Democrat, referring to an article in the Chicago Chronicle written in warm praise of Will H. Thompson's noble poem, "The High Tide at Gettysburg," recently stated that Mr. Thompson did not write the following verses of this eloquent battle lyric: They fell, who lifted up a hand And bade the sun In heaven to- standi They sicote and fell, who set the bars Against the progress ot the stars; And .stayed the march ot Motherland! They stood, who saw the future como On through the fight's delirium! They smote aad iood, who held the hope Of nations pa test slippery slope Amid the cheers of Christendom! God lives I He forged the Iron will That clutched and held that trembling hill. God lives and reigns! Re built and lent Tbe heights for Freedom's battlement Where floats her flag la triumph still! The Times-Democrat said that the late Charles A. Dana was assured by Mr. Thompson that these verses were not written by him, but were added by an unknown hand. A letter from Seat tle Informs The Oregonlan that this ar ticle in the Times-Democrat has started an endless chain of Inquiries from dif ferent parts of the country, to all of which Mr. Thompson has replied that the Times-Democrat is in error, and that he wrote the whole poem. The verses referred to Include the highest poetic mark reached In these splendid verses, and to rob Mr. Thompson of the credit of their authorship would be like robbing Shakespeare of the authorship of "Hamlet," The whole poem, signed Will IL Thompson, was published in the Century on the twenty-fifth anni versary of Gettysburg. A petition for the use of the streets by another telephone company is to he presented. It Is. a convenience to the public to have a single telephone serv ice, not a double, triple or quadruple one. And there Is less obstruction of the streets. Moreover, a new telephone system, In order to be serviceable, must have wide extension and strong finan cial backing. And then the double serv ice will cost the users more money, and the annoyance of finding some of those whom they wish to, call up on one line and some on another? At last the com petition between the two, if carried far, will force a combination, and again there will be one. The two may hurt each other very much, and the public, too, for, If the combination shall be very strong, most persons will be com pelled to have both phones; but finally the competitors will get together, be cause they must. There Is no other line of business that presents quite such conditions as. these. The outcome of telephone service is monopoly, or a sin gle system. It cannot be otherwise. Combination is at the end of every vista. There is no need of -sympathy: with any of the parties In this business except the public Are the streets to be occupied with additional lines of poles and wires, or torn up again for an additional underground system? Are those whose business requires them to use the telephone to be compelled to support two system? And to what re sult? Combination at last, for that Is Inevitable. Ex-Governor Lubock, of Texas, wealthy and In his SOth year, is about to marry his third wife, a young woman of a third of his years. Perhaps the vanity of the nonagenarian is flattered by the consent of a young woman to become his No. 3. It is possible, indeed, being past the reasoning age, that he thinks she has fallen a victim to his overripe charms and Is marrying for the love of him. It Is a pity that some friend has not come to his rescue with a recital of the incidents of the old-age marriage of Cassius M. Clay. Though possibly this would have been useless as against the winning smile of the young charmer at his elbow. The con soling fact In such a case Is that at most the marriage of a man of 90 can not be followed by many troublous years. Nature, kinder than human be ings sometimes deserve, will step In and take care of that. Secretary Cortelyou's idea that Ore gon's new sailor boarding-house law puts it in the power of the commission to withhold licenses to undesirable ap plicants is attractive on Its face, but Is now Ineligible by reason of the Circuit Court's-interpretation of the law. We understand the court to hold, also, or at least to intimate, that no such pur pose was contemplated In the act when framed and passed. It Is possible that the decision might have been otherwise had the question at Issue been more specifically the one Mr. Cortelyou has in mind, Instead of the legality of the commission's frankly avowed determi nation to be guided by, the desires of the shipping community. As it Is, how ever, and if the Circuit. Court's decision stands, there is no hope of purifying the service through, the commission. The Secretary will have to guess again. Now the City of Portland would do well to proceed to the construction of a fireboat at home. Owing to the un fortunate loss by fire of the Wolff & Zwicker establishment, -a steel boat cannot now be built at Portland, but a substantial wooden boat can be built here, which will last 25 years, or In definitely. Upon such boat less-, .proba bly, will have to be expended for re pairs than would have been required on the light steel structure offered at Seat tle. The best thing we can do now Is to go on and build the fireboat here. The steel craft offered by the Seattle build ers would be but a slight and frail one, with extreme thinness of shell and light throughout. A substantial wooden boat might be as good, or much better. Let us now build the boat at home. General Joshua L. ChamberlaSn, de partment commander of Maine, will not be able to attend the National grand encampment of the G. A. R. at San Francisco on the 17th Inst., because of renewed trouble from the wounds he re ceived in the Civil War. He was wound ed six times, and one of his wounds left him with a permanent Injury from which he has suffered more or less acutely for nearly forty years. THREE STAGE THEMES, My purpose Is to add to the recognized number of. the nne arts one other, the art of acting that art which Voltaire spoke of as the most beautiful, the most difficult, the most rare. The great bulk of think ing and unthinking people accept acting as one of the arts. It Is merely -for a formal and official recognition of the fact that I ask. Where, then. Is the proof that acting Is not one of the sister arts? What is there la It that disqualifies it from, holding a place among them? To assert such a thing Is to assume the attitude ot Cin derella's sisters .In the fairy tale. Let me offer a suggestion in the shape of a logical problem. Hogarth painted a picture of David Garrick at a moment of his life and In such a way that all who ever saw him recognized the prototype of a certain historical character. No one de nies that this Is a work of art. Now, Shakespeare wTote a play In. which Richard III is a character. Can any ono deny that this Is a work ot art? Garrick In his- playing appeared on the stage in such wise that those who saw him knew that the man before them was the man Garrick. while at the same time he seemed by many signs and In many ways to bo the Image, copy, what you will, of Shakes peare's Richard HI. though Garrick gave his Shakespeare adulterated with Clbber. Yet Garrick's work In producing this im pression was, we are to be told, not. a work of art. Why It was not so I leave to those to say w4io assert that acting Is not an art. The eyes of the sculptor and tho painter beheld at some time the elements of the beauties which they produced. The archi tect found his Ideals In the rising stems and tho sweeping branches of the forest aisles, or, mayhap, in the piling up of sunset clouds. And music, every note of it, is to be found in nature's choral forceg, that mighty gamut of creation which rises from the tiniest whisper of whirring wings, through the sighing of the night wind, the crackle of swaying corn, the roar of falling water and the mighty voice of the sounding sea, up to the hls3 of the lightning flash and the crash of the thun derbolt. Now. as to endurance of expression, is it to be seriously put forth by any one as an argument that art ceases to be art because Its works do not endure? Acting may be evanescont. It may work in the media of common nature; it may be mimetic liko the other arts; it may not create any more than does the as tronomer or the naturalist, but it can live and can add to the sum of human knowledge In the ever-varying study of man's nature by man, and Its work can, like the six out of the seven wonders of tho world, exist as a great memory. SIR HENRY IRVING. Among other charming people in Paris I had the privilege of meeting that most noble of actresses, Mme. Ristori. Her manner was warm and unaffected, and there was a genuineness about her which put one immediately at ease. It is a fallacy to believe that all players must of necessity act off as well as on the stage. Many of them do, I admit, but most of the famous ones aro extremely simple in real life. I remember once, in an animated dis cussion on the theater with bis Eminence Cardinal Manning, citing many excellent examples to prove that his theory that all actors must eventually grow Into "shams" was not true. This was after my retirement (which event, he Informed me, he had prayed for), and he saw that I spoke dispassionately. He listened, at tentively to all I had to say upon tho subject, but was not In the letAt con vinced. - ' . His prejudice against the stage was deep-rooted. "From our cradles, he said, "we all have a tendency to act. Small boys pretend to be men, soldiers, any thing but what they really are. Tiny girls play at being mothers, cradling their dolls. The so-called art of acting In creases this tendency in those who wit ness it almost as much as in those who practice it, I cannot conceive how the latter can escape being led in time to .an unconscious iVrvelopment of artificiality or exaggeration In their thoughts, and. as a natural result, In their speech and man ner." His dislike for the theater was so marked that he could see no good in it. To quote his own words, "Its tendency is downward and pernicious." He was not to be moved, from his con demnation of the effects of play-acting, and repeatedly congratulated me upon es caping tho stage before age and habit had made Trie a slave to it. Among other things, he said that when those under hi3 tkirection asked if he for bade them frequentmg theaters his In variable answer was. "I wish I could!" In saying that acting does not necessar ily produce affectation, I mean In those whose characters are already formed. I do not allude to the young and undevel oped, who arc wrongly taught the mere outer semblance of the art. MARY ANDERSON. With regartl to the art of acting, who shall say it is better or worse today than It was CO or 100 years ago? "The old play goer" always tells us that It was better. But Is not the "old ,play-goer" simply the young play-grower grown old still Im bued with his first Impressions his fav orite and most lasting ones, and with a jealouse desire never to have those first Impressions disturbed? If one talks of the actor of today, the playgoer of a past generation speaks of Macready, Charles Kean and Phelps. Peo ple living In the times of, those three great actors would surely hark back to the Kembles and Mrs. Siddons, and when these great artists were in their prime, they no doubt underwent disparagement at the hands of veterans who had sunned themselves in the great art of Garrick. But Pope, friend and admirer of Garrick as he was, lauded Betterton to the skies. "I ought to tell you at the same time." he candidly admits, "that In Betterton's time the older sort of people talked of Hart being his superior, just as we do of Betterton being his now." In this way we could keep going back ward until If we believed contemporary critics at all points of stage history we should find that the first actor presum ably the serpent was the best that ever trod the boards. Stage progress Is not to be gauged "by the Little-less of the electric light or the Little-more of half a yard ofaccuracy. I close my eyes and I see a stately pro cession of great men and women march ing through the years. I see Edmund Kean, John, Charles, Philip and Fanny Kemble, Mrs. Siddons, Liston and Charles Matthews I see Charles' Kean, Ellen Tree and Mme. Vestris; I see Mrs. Keeley, Mrs. Stirling and Helen Fauclt; I see Macready, Phelps, Robson, Buckstone. Webster and Fechter; I see Tom Robert son, Tom Taylor; Charles Reade, Dion Boucclcault and Planche; and I see the gifted authors of "Richelieu," "Ion" and "Becket." These all smile at me from the other side of the bourne; and I see the noble and friendly faces of those workers who are with us still, and who keep bright the path that their departed brothers and sisters have gloriously trodden. With Bacon, who paraphrases tho prophet, one only asks: That we make a stand upon tho ancient way. and then look about us and discover what Is the straight and right wa and so to walk in. lt" MRS. BEERBOHM TREE. Thin Is "Sorkasnu" . New York Sun. The very first section of the very first article of the Texas constitution of 1S76 recorded this elementary principle of an American commonwealth's existence:' Texas is a free and Independent state, subject only to the ConsUtuUon or the United States. What a mockery that proud description will become if it is ever so amended as to read: Texas Is a free and' Independent state, subject only to the will of tbe labor unions concerning. the right of citlzens-to bear ansa In defense ol the state and the United States. No state is free and Independent when that condition and confession of subjec tion is interllneated. IS MATTER ONLY MOTION? Minneapolis Tribune. Scientific men seem to think that they aro trembling on the verge d a great discovery. This Is connected with the ultimate form of matter, and seems to be growing slowly out of discoveries In relation to vibratory rays, made through the Roentgen ray experiments and the revelations of the properties of the new metal radium. These fit on to earlier fragmentary knowledge of the electrical emanations of the -cathode ray, which are not considered vibratory, and of the novel form of wave discovered by Hertz and used in wireless telegraphy. The phenomena of the new discovery are curious and Interesting enough, such as taking photographs In the dark or through opaque objects by dark rays from radium, or the making of "a nasty blister" on Sir William Crooke's leg by a tiny bit of radium carried In his pocket. The new scientific theories beginning to be built on these, of which the magazines have been full and which are beginning to get Into the newspapers, are not very Intelligible to the vulgar; but the, funda mental Idea of them seems to be within grasp. This Is not so very unlike the old Idea of Tyndall's time; that every ultimate item of matter might be a sort of tiny cyclone of perpetual motion. This pri mordial motion was imagined by the poets ot science to be the origin of all the energy In the world, as the lowest form of vital -cell In the ocean ooze Is tho origin of all life. Tho new Idea seems to bo that the ultimate atom. Instead of a tiny cyclone. Is a tiny electric battery " mado of two germs ot positive and negative attraction, coupled together and giving rise to energy by their reaction. There Is Increasing agreement on the name of ions for these ultimate atoms; so that pretty little word seems to be a good thing to commit to memory. Probably laymen will not begin to under stand the new theories for a generation; but all c,t us can learn the new name to astonish our friends with. The Situation at Folsom. Minneapolis Tribune. Tho San Francisco Argonaut, which is a better authority on California affairs than any dally paper, traces the astonish ing outbreak of convicts in the Folsom penitentiary to - the mistaken tenderness with which prisoners have been treated. It says that there Is a mawkish sym pathy with convicts In California, and that4prlson wardens influenced by It have nursed convicts for murderous outbreak by overfeeding, liberty of action that gave opportunity for conspiring together and laxity In guarding them. For one thing, It appears that the prison is with out walls and that those in command of armed guards are too soft-hearted to or der them to fire on rebellious prisoners. The nature of tho prison delivery gives some color of probability to this theory. Is , it not possible that modern scientific penologists have overdone the fad of prison reform? You may coddle an irre- clamablo criminal to such a degree that ho will have far more power to Injure society than before, and no less dispo sition. There is a new story of a con spiracy in the Ohio penitentiary to kill tho superintendent and bring on a general outbreak with a lot of arms stolen from a storeroom some time ago and success fully concealed. What kind of discipline must there be in a penitentiary whose in mates havo enough freedom to plunder storerooms, conceal a supply of weapons and plan an outbreak almost as extensive and elaborate as a revolution In tho Balkans? He Will Be Thorough. Kansas City Star. President Roosevelt Is not satisfied with any half-way housecleaning. The Post office Department, which is being thor oughly renovated. Is only one apartment. .as it were. The custodian bt tho Govern' ment establishment proposes to ..go' through 'the whole place and put things m order. Already investigations are un der way in the Interior, Agricultural, Treasury and Judiciary Departments, all of which are based on more or less seri ous charges. Some of these departments may be found in good condition, but the experience of those who have conducted the postofflce investigations would Indi cate that there has for years beert a sad degree of looseness, to say the least. In several of the departments at Washing ton. So far as these derelictions apply to the present Administration, they seem to be the continuance of systems originated years ago, but until now not taken In hand by the administrative head. Some of them go back to or beyond the last Cleveland Administration, and, for this reason, the irregularities cannot be charged wholly to one -party or tho other. The only thing that could make them a strict party Issue would be to Ignore the charges or "smooth them over," now that they have been made or are being made. President Roosevelt will find In the task of department reforms a fitting culmination of his career as a civil serv Jce Puritan. Fined for Plnckinp; Live Chickens. Philadelphia North American. Thirty women, all neighbors of Ferdi nand Wolfron, followed him in triumphal procession recently to Magistrate Pul llnger's court, where Wolfron was ar raigned on a charge of cruelty- to chick ens. Wolfron. who lives at 2414 Ridge avenue, has a pleasant custom, tho near-by resi dents say, of plucking chickens before he kills them. When he declined to abandon tho prac tice at .their solicitation notice was sent to- the Pennsylvania Society for the. Pre vention of Cruelty to Animals. Agent Lepper arrived at Wolfron's houso in time to see him denuding a living fowl of feathers. "Why do you treat fowls that way?" the Magistrate asked ot Wolfron. "It's a shame that a man can't do what he pleases with his own chickens," re plied the prisoner. "I'll fine you 512 and costs," was the Magistrate's judgment. "Good. Serves him right," commented tho women spectators, who set up a cheer. Swimming Time. El Comancho In Field and Stream. Other day we went a swlmmhV. me 'n Tom 'a Bill. Down to th deep hole In th crick right by Slmpklns' mill. Gee! We had a pile o fun a layla la th sand 'X buryin one 'nother where th' sua was hottest and Then we'd run. Jump Jn again headfo'mos' like a frog! D you ever do that? Tom says "Way to learn to swim Is not to fool eroun' "Where y kin touch, but go right out where y gotta swim 'r drownd." I tried it other day 'n sunk Juss 's quick. s lead 'N- third time I was gola down Tom got me out 'n laid, " F-1 hadn been here you'd a drowned "a what you'd a done." ' 'O you ever do that? Ma says Just th' yuther day, "It's coraln' dog days" time, Tou stay at home frm swlmmin now for th crick Is all green slime." I don't see why a feller can't go swlmmin' while It's hot. But Ma says. If X do ril git plzened like as not. So I doa't stop to ast no more, but Jus go down n ko In D you-ever do that? Tbther day Ma says t' me when she see my hair all wet. "What you been a doln' now? Swlmmin' azala VU bet!" JCen cee! I ketched It! '2T now I dry m' hair all good. X oomin' home I Juss stop n split -up a little wood Out 'n th shed so Ma.ll think I'm sweatln' ccs If a hot. D you ever do that? NOTE AND COMMENT. Tn& face.of Paris clears or- clouds as quickly as April's. Miles has not yet exDressed his renret at Root's resignation- Portland's postoffic has cause for nrlde. It is to be -renovated Instead of Investi gated. Nellie Dove, of ToDeka. Is sulne wniinm Dove for divoixe. Marriage seems f n hnvn made her turn turtle. Some readers may remember that a. lall- break occurred at Folsom this year. The convicts have not yet returned. The Pittsburg Dispatch heads its meteor ological statistics "Official Weather," but says not a word, of the unofficial brand. Fifty prisoners in a Missouri jail went on a strike lately. Strangely, there was no trouble over nonunion convicts; tho row was caused by bad grub. Hearst having been Indorsed for the Presidential nomination by the National Building Trades Council, It Is unlikely that his papers let themselves bo scooped on the story. PORTLAND, Or., Aug. 31, (To tho Edi tor.) Since It seems to bo the proper thing faithfully to record the college yells and swear words of educational Institu tions. I herewith hand you an accredited sample of tho 3203 vintage from Wellesley College, the noted Institution for young women: Darn, darn, double darn. Golly, gosh, gee whizz. Hang devil down by the jumping: hind leg of a craw-faced cricket, I'll bo Jlm-pam-saulsxled If I care a continental By gosh, by gum. H. If "H." can furnish satisfactory assur ance that tho above collection of broken words is tho production of a Wellesley girl, and not of somo male relative, then we are thoroughly In favor of co-education. Before this intellectual tour de force came to light It always seemed . that women were mentally so Inferior to men that it was folly to mako a pretenso of educating the sexes together. Tho In feriority of women was principally Indi cated by the fact that none of them had ever been known to Invent, evolve, pro duce, achieve, or whatever may be tho correct expression, a college yell, although the deslro of co-eds and of girls In exclu sively girly colleges to do so was very strong, as evidenced by the way they adapted or Imitated the males' war cries. The Idea was mistaken. With the Welles ley yell emblazoned on their shields, out; college girls may boldly charge with tho van of tho battle array. The Xevr Photography. . This advertisement in tho Sioux Valley (la.) News seems to hint at the use of X-rays: I am prepared to tako both Insldo and out side views at reasonable prices. Robt. illch- aelis. Faro's Fearful Pane. You may have taken Kitty to tho restaurant -or I ' show To And that In your hurry you clean forgot your dough; You may have put your signature on some slick swindler's note. Or sunk your hard-earned money in a scheme that wouldn't float, But oh, the awful feeling, that you. can't ex press In song, When you've called tho turn correctly and tha cases pan out wrong I You may have met a robber Just after getting; rr trtort tn hull thn ma'r&ei. .when tha bears 1 wentTrat torald;'' - You may have had four sixes sent sky-hooting-1 by four eights. Or may have met with all of these exceeding bitter fates, But none of them are markers to the subject I of my song To call the turn correctly and. to find tho cases wroncl You may havo been a- miser and have saved up I all your dust. To lose it by the thousand when your chosen! bank went bust; There are lots of things to hurt us la this world of grief, I know. But one alone that fills us with. an. everlasting I woe. And It may be down In hades It will happeaj right along That we'll call the turn correctly Just to and I the cases wrong. Another State Song. Colpnel John Quantock, of Breathitt County, Kentucky, has forwarded a state I song for entry In Gorge Wl Lederer's $5001 competition. In reading tho stlrrlngl verses. It Is necessary to study atten tively the accompanying notes if a clear understanding la to be gained of the man- ner In which tho song camo to bo written. The state of all states Is Kentucky, Where whisky and grief are at feud. And delusions are nothing but moonshine. In which half the state Is imbrued. The Bourbon Is cheerful aad Joyous (1 No doubt for; the man with tho still. But It's fatal to hopheads that buy It, And at forty rods certain to kill. I'm In favor of strict prohibition, Aad as for the man with the gun (2) I hope that he'll get all tha Quantocks, And may I be there when It's done (3). Notes (1) Colonel "Walter Hardguesa, who 'began the song, was shot by Colonel Jamesl Quantock, leader of the opposing feudist fao-l Uon, before he could complete his work. ,(2) Thomas Hardguess, who was unfortunate enough to spend- his early life In New England,! was a prohibitionist, and was heartily hated I in the county. Jew therefore regretted his death at the hands of a dlvekeeper. (3) Colonel Joe- Hardguess, a boy of 15, tb last survivor ot tbe family, was shot from am bush by Colonel John Quantock, who courte ously complied with hjs enemy's dying re quest to forward the poem trf Mr. Xiederer.l and to devote the $500 to practical Instruction in pistol shooting. PLEASANTRIES OF FAItAGRAPHEltS I "My pa's got so much money he don't knov how to spend lt" "That's nothing. My pa's got so much money that ma can't spend it."! New York "World. "Lemme once git my han' on de chickor wld a Straight road befo' me." says a Gttargla darky, "en I'll settle de race problem so qulc It'll make you" head swim." Atlanta Constl-j tutlon. Muggins Men live faster than women. Dug J gins That's right. My wife and l were- the same age when we were married. I m now, and she has only turned 30. Philadelphia Kecord. t Church They say that It Is no use for person to try and signal a atreet-car in New-j ark. N. J., wltp his hands, uotnam No; suppose the conductor would think that he wa3 only brushing away mosquitoes. ionker Statesman- "That drug clerk is a chump. I kept wiak-l ing my eye for a 'stick' In the soda." "Did he give it to you?" "No. He said therd must be something tho matter with my eyetj and directed mo to the optical department.' Chicago News. Uncle Reuben says: "If we could go bac an' lib our lives ober again none of us would make de mistakes we hev. We'd simply makfj others Just as bad. Pact Is. Natur calkerlate on a man plckln up a bumblebee by da wrong end now an den." Detroit Free Press. "Photography is a strange profession," muse the young man. "Because it develops negai lives?" ask3 the young woman with a- knowlnd look. "Not that exactly. Boc, as an example the other day. I had my picture taken In. m-Jt riding togs-riot on a ' horse, you know, bui Just standing, in my riding outfit, with my cro;i held in my hand. And today she photograpbe-j i writes me that the pictures are ready for ma TJ and that they are all mounted." Judza. " !