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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 22, 1906)
THE- MORNING OEEGONIAN, MONDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1906. SUBSCRIPTION KATES. INVARIABLY IN ADVANCE, "CJ (By Mall. . Tally. Suclay Included, one year S2 Iially, Sunday Included, six months -J Ia,y. Sunday included. three months.. iJally. Sunday Included, one month .'j Dally, without Eunday. one year .... Dally, without Sunday, six months 3. -a Dally, without Sunday, three months.... l."j Dally, without Sunday one month Sunday, one year 7'2a Weekly, one year (Issued Thursday).. .- j-jjj Eunday and Weekly, one year...'- ,-. "by carrier.- . Daflrrr Sunday lBCluded. one- yeerri...... "-"J Dally, Sunday Included, one month - HOW TO REMIT Send postofnce m" order, express order or personal cnec your local bank. Stamps, coin or c"rreIf are at the sender's risk. Give postoiiice ad dress in full, including county and state. POSTAGE RATES. Entered at Portland. Oregon Fostoftlcs as 6econd-Class Matter. 10 to 14 pases 3 to 28 pages ntl 80 to 44 paBe J 48 to 60 paees " Forelftn Postage, double rates. IMPORTANT The costal '.",, e Newspapers on which postage Is not tuny w paid are not forwarded to destination -EASTERN BfSINESS OFFICE. The S. C. BeckWlth Special Agency wew York, rooms 43-DO. Tribune building. -"' cago, rooms 610-512 Tribuns building. KEPT ON SALE--.Chicago Auditorium Annex. Fostoincs "News Co.. 178 Dearborn street. - fit. Paul. Minn. N. St. Marie. Commercial Etatlon. . . . . jtolorado . Springs-. Colour-Western News A DenTeri-Hamllton & kenartck, 808-012 Seventeenth street; Pratt Book Store, l-1 "rifteenth street; L Wtinstein;- H. P. Han sen. - . -. . - Kansas Clfy, Ho, Rlcksecker Cigar Co.. Nlnln and Walnut. . Minneapolis M. J. Kavanaugn. 60 South Third. Cleveland. O Jamf Pashaw. SOT 6u- - perlor street. Atlanllo City, N. J. Ell Taylor. New Vork CJly U Jones Co., Astor House; Broadway Theater News Stand, . Oakland, Cal. W. H. Johnston. Four teen:!) and Franklin streets. N. wheatlejr. OguVn D. L. Boyle; W. G. Kind, 114 25th street. Omaha Barkalow Bros.. 1611 Farnom; Hageath Stationery Co., 1308 Farnam; 210 fcouth Fourteenth. Sacramento. Cal. Saoramento News Co.. 431 K street. Salt Lake Salt Daks News Co.. 77 West (Second street Souh Roeenfeld & Hansen. Eos Angeles B'. E. Amos, manager seven street wagons. San Diego B. E. Amos. tunc Beach. Cal. li. E. Amos. 1'asudena. Cal. A. F. Horning. San Frunclhco Foster A Orear, Ferry News Stand; Hotel St. Francis News Stand. Washington, I). C. Ebbitt House, Penn tylvanla avenue.' Philadelphia, Pa. Ryan's Theater Ticket Office. . A ... ; . rOKTLAND, MONDAV, Ot JOBER 22, 106. SOME SOIL OF GOODNESS. In New York there is a contest that excitew unusual interest. At this dis tance it can be treated only as matter of news. The Oregonian's news col umns are full of it, and the reader can Interpret the phases for himself. But the position of the State of New York In our affairs, the power of the state, are so great that the course it may take at any time, in our political affairs, must concern the whole country. Hence, to understand what New York, is doing iti always a vital matter, Seldom, perhaps never, has any local content ki the-Stte of New -York awak jenfafso " much interesF as the present one either within the state or without It. The reason is that it makes an te eue, and consequently a party division, never heretofore known. The Hearst campaign is strictly an appeal to one class against another. It is an appeal to those who have little property or no property, to the "disinherited clawes," as they call -t-hemse-tyesr against those who possess some prop erty,, more or less, and who do busi ness above that lowest grade which has no competition and fears none. Not all wageworkere; but most of them, are on Hearst's side in. this contest; not all who own property and do business that 1 above- the lowest, grade, are on the . othcrslde, but 'most of them. Party Allegiance holds some Democrats of property and business to Hearst; the appeal ho makes to those who feel that hero is a chance to upset everything, taken some Republicans we think will take many over to him. This, simply stated, te the nature of the New York contest. We are inter ested in It here as spectators, but not merely as spectators; because the re ult, whatever it may be, will have ef f e-t throughout the United States. It matters not that Hearst, a plutocrat by inheritance, poses against plutocracy. Ho Is out for sensation; he strives for recognition; he has a great inheritance, derived from custom and protected by law, which he uses In Kays as objec tionable as any of those upon which he makes assault. When we come to clean up and clea'r out the plutocrats of this country, the overgrown fortunes, the rich by Inheritance, Hearst will go with the rest. On one eide of it his con test Is a farce. On another it may cul minate in a tragedy. When in this country men's heads are cut off be cause men are rich, and their estates received from ancestors are confiscated, will Mr. Hearst's head be eafe on his shoulders, and will his ancestral estate bo secure? Not unless his luck should belie history and experience. ; Yet we shall do well to be rid of our grasping, Krdid and unscrupulous plutocrats, .:Sfiv exist -riot "only; in New YotRV but' Jnfest every cue of our states. and Oregon, too. The support of Hearst by such people here also they support him is not the first time men have sharp ened knives against themselves, against the muniments of their property, egainst descent of property even over grown estates from ancestors; against the usages and laws that protect them In what not only was not earned by themselves, but was unrighteously earned but unjustly acquired by rob ber ancestors from whom they received it. When once we get a-gofyig we shall clear up all these things. Time has its revenges, and the unscrupulous rich very commonly are pioneers in their own undoing. Through personal, polit ical, social .and financial ambitions they attack the foundations on which their own pretensions stand. They are en gulfed In the result; and it Is very well. The Hearst millions are no bet ter, no more immune, than others. We think there is much probability that Hearst will be elected. It may be a way towards "cleaning out" "the un scrupulous rich, of whom he is one. For "he who of greatest works is fin isher oft "does them by the weakest (or worst) of ministers." If wealthy de pravity could always be in agreement there, would be a hard time of it" for the .bulk of mankind. '- Probably - the test thing that could happen would be the election of Hearst; on the principle that there is always some soul of good ness in things evil. The question "Where did he get it?" is not new In the field of ethics, either in its form or its meaning. Long before the Christian era the Greeks manifest ed their appreciation of the importance of -this inquiry as a test of morals. In a famous tragedy one of the players, who represented a covetous man, ex claimed: "If a man is rich, who asks if he is good? The Question Is, how much we have; not from whence or by what means we have.it." At hearing these sentiments voiced from the stage, the Athenians gave way to demonstrations of displeasure, showing that, in their ideas of virtue, the question "Where did he get it?" was highly important and that ill-gotten wealth carried a taint to the owner. Comparison of our own standards of morals with those maintained by a people twenty centu ries behind us in the great scheme of evolution is worth while merely as a means of marking progress. How much, advance have we made? ' CHURCH AND STATE IN i'RASCE.. . It is not doubted that a crisis ap proaches the Roman Catholic Church in its relations with the state in France, and probably in Spain. The London Times attributes it to "the inability of the present Pope, however pure his mo tives and lofty his character, to under stand contemporary religious prob lems." The Times adds: "Indeed his whole-souled piety and transparent sin cerity add to the hopelessness of the situation." The criticism is that "Pius X is impervious alike to argument and to personal considerations? he acts on fixed and absolute principles, which were formulated -in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries." The National Review (London) says: "This revival of medieval pretensions has gradually brought Rome into acute conflict with intellectual Catholicism in France and Italy, and threatens to exasperate the faithful in Spain, while it must ulti mately complicate the position of Brit ish Catholics." The question forced in France is separation of church and state, carrying with, it prohibition of clerical control over church property; against which Pius X has issued his de cree. Yet the separation bill was car ried through both houses by great ma jorities, and has since been approved or affirmed by an overwhelming vote of the electorate of the country. What ever may be the result, for the present there is an impasse between the Vatican and France. ..The French clergy are in a most embarrassing position-; for "they are forbidden by the Pope from form ing associations cultueiles, and they cannot parley with the government, as there is nothing to parley about, owing to the non poesumus of the Vatican." The new law will come Into operation December 12. Consequences will be awaited . with '.highest interest, in all countries. The Oregonian's purpose is simply to present an Interesting .fea ture of great current news. THERE IS YET. COAX. The two main nerves of war, accord ing to Milton's great sonnet on Vane, are iron and gold. But coal must be added, in our time. And not only as one of the main nerves of war, but of indus try and commerce, which have reached their present development through it. In one sense, and a very large one, coal is king. We may not suppose that the earth has coal enough to last man forever, but there is yet undiscovered coal. Who can guess Lwhat coal may yet be uncovered in Africa, Australia, Alaska; indeed in any or all parts of America, and of the whole world? It has long been supposed that the extent of the coal deposits in the British Islands was fully known.- But a striking discovery is now announced; namely, of coal fields, in the south of England, of vast extent and. lying at great depths, yet avaTISfiro for working. An eminent English geologist is reported as saying that there has been no more important event in England since the Norman conquest than this discovery of a new supply of fuel. The early exhaustion of Great Britain's coal supply has been solemnly predicted by the highest au thorities. Such an event would be. an unexampled calamity. It would mean the end of the accumulation of wealth and a rapid descent toward poverty. This immense find is a happy relief from dreadful apprehension. Its com mercial importance is simply incalcula ble. And bommeree is the basis of Eng land's prosperity in all other respects. Commenting on this announcement, the Washington (D. C.) Post says: The Dover coal revelation Is of great in terest to all the world in many ways. To our steel operators and our people generally it should be peculiarly interest!, for it in evitably suggests toe thought fffat since this vast field of coal has lain in that little country, its existence unsuspected, for many centuries, is it not highly probable that in this vast country and in Canada, which Is quite as vast, there are undiscovered de posits of both coal and iron, and that they are not unllltely to be brought to light long before the steel combine's ore beds shall liave been worked out? Compared with Kngland, America Is extremely young. And the hunt for coal and iron in England had been going on for centuries before it began here. The English geologists were ten times more sure that all of the great deposits of these minerals in their country had been found than any of our people Imagine they are that the hunt is up in North America, IN BEHALF OF THE MIDDLEMAN. Prejudice has prevailed many years in this state, as probably in other states, against produce-buyers, who reap a profit from handling the prod ucts of farmers. There has been a widespread feeling that the buyer js a ""middleman,." ' who levies toll which must be paid by the grower or the con sumer. Without stopping to inquire thoroughly whether this middleman renders service commensurate with the money he receives, the broad conclusion is reached that he is an unnecessary factor in the handling of produce and that all his profits are pure loss to the grower or consumer. How to eliminate the middleman is a problem that has enlisted the thought of the most pro gressive leaders of industry, but the solution is yet unseen. The unanimous judgment is that the middleman makes too much lives off the labor of the farmer and never misses an opportu nity to press down his foot when he gets it on the farmer's neck. The hopbuyer is one of these oppress ors, the apple-shipper another, and the prune-packer another. Every bale of hops, every box of apples and every pound of prunes pays toll to the buyer and packer. And what does the grower get in return for the toll he pays? Let us be just and give the middle man his due. He renders a service that is of value to the producer in more ways than one. The buyer is a con stant seeker for new markets. He pays the telegraph bills incurred in offering produce to distant markets. He con ducts the" correspondence, sends cam ples and employs agents to demon strate to the possible buyer in the East the merit of Oregon hops, apples or prunes. He takes the responsibility of delivering the goods and takes the chances of loss. He guarantees the quality. And it is right here that the middle man has rendered hia most valuable service to the grower. Having guaran teed the quality to the Eastern buyer, he stands guard here in Oregon to see that the grower brings his produce up to the required standard. This is a service many of the growers could not and others would not perforin lot them selves. If there were no buyer "here to inspect the hops. and. reject the. poor ones, how much less careful the grow ers would be in picking, curing and bal ing the hops? If the shipper were not standing by to scrutinize every box of apples, how soon would we notice small, scabby, scaly and wormy apples get ting, into the middle of a box? If the prune-packer were an unknown factor In the sale of that fruit. Oregon prunes would still be sold in cotton bags in stead of attractive boxes and the bags would be filled with every class of fruit from under-dried to burnt. ,The buyer who rejects hops, apples or prunes on account of alleged inferior quality, is denounced as a villain. Quite likely he is in some instances. Yet, if Oregon apples, prunes and hops have won a reputation to be proud of, the larger measure of credit belongs to the shipper rather than the grower. The apple-buyer-who first set a high stand ard of excellence, to which fruit must attain to be acceptable, did most to win a place in the world's markets for Hood River apples. The packer who first put Oregon prunes in boxes gained for that fruit a recognition it could not have secured in bags. Let us condemn and denounce the middleman when he deserves it, but give him credit lor the important part he performs in'- making a market and securing good prices for our products. NEW TAX LAW IN OREGON. The Oregon Tax Commission .wisely, recommended that no change be made in the time of paying taxes or in re bates and penalties. The present sys tem is working well, as every one knows, and there should be no tamper ing with it. New tax laws are needed for the purpose of placing a share of the burden of government upon prop erty that now escapes, but this does not necessitate a change in the time of pay ment. The rebate system, by which a property-owner receives a 3 per cent rebate for prompt payment, applies alike to all and induces people to pay promptly and willingly. Persons who would otherwise put off payment until the last day and then find themselves short of the required' amount of money now make their payments early in. or der to get the discount. The county has a comparatively small delinquent list, and the burden is. lightened for those who payr . The recommendation that County Treasurers, instead of Sheriffs, should collect the taxes, is also based upon good reason. The Treasurer is ' the proper person to receive public funds. The ordinary duties of a Sheriff- are in no way relf.ted to the handling, of funds; while a Treasurer is selected for his fitness as a custodian of money. Under the present system the Treasur ers have very little work to do, and in many counties the salary is so low that the incumbents find it necessary to en gage in other work in order to make a living. By relieving the Sheriff's office of this w-Ork the Treasurer would "be given enough work to keep him fairly busy through a large part of the year, and his compensation could be fixed ac cordingly. IN THE HEART OF AFRICA. The Congo is a great lacustrine river. broken at intervals by rapids fatal to navigation; yet the stretches of naviga ble water are so long that "portages" are deemed practicable; . and during more than a year'past a large force has been employed In grading a railway be tween some of the navigable reaches of the upper river, preparatory jto indus trial and commercial development of a great region in the interior of Africa. AH interruptions to the navigation of the Congo, one of the world's greatest rivers, are thus to be overcome, in suc cession. The work is in the Congo Free State, under the nominal sovereignty of Belgium, whose weakness is protected by the good will of greater nations. Railway materials are to be carried up the Congo, and as the portages are cov ered the route of commerce is to be extended. European engineers are di recting the undertaking, and assistance is obtained from native labor. In a survey of this new enterprise, whose design is to open the heart of Africa, the New York Sun tells us that: "The total length of steam transporta tion along the Congo when the last mile of rails is laid will be 2144 miles, of which 1548 miles will be by water and 596 miles by land; and the end of this long route will be in touch with the great mining region of Katanga,-which is said to be as rich as Rhodesia in gold, while the prospects of copper pro duction are perhaps unsurpassed in any other part of the world. The import ance of extending transportation to this regioSa is stimulating the efforts of the Congo government. It remains to be seen whether the Congo rail and water route will reach this southeast corner of the state before the branch of the Cape-to-Cairo Railway arrives at the same destination." Sure it is, bow ever, that exploitation of the dark con tinent will shortly add new resources of vast extent to the commerce of the world. THE RUSSIAN STRUGGLE. Some two weeks ago The Oregonian commented on Mr. Edward A. Steiner's contribution describing, 4n a recent is sue of the Outlook, a somewhat hurried trip "Into Russia and Out of-I-t." A sec ond article by the same contributor has since appeared in that publication, and it is by far the more interesting, for it deals with the actual state of affairs in that rapidly disintegrating empire. It is needless to say that the present situation, as seen by a foreign traveler, would appear as hopeless as it is terri ble, and, indeed, to the Russians them selves, it is fully as terrible, though not so hopeless. Otherwise they might have given up the struggle for human rights long before this, but, instead, we find thetn daily renewing their herculean struggle with increased determination to win a final victory over the com bined power of the hierarchy and mon archy. Of such final victory the world has no doubt whatever, and, though it deprecates the violence, and excesses throughout that unhappy land, it does not forget that there is scarcely a peo ple but what had to fight for its free dom; and in some cases the victories were but temporary and the wprk had to be done .over to make freedom tri umphant. Mr. Steiner appears more influenced by sentiment than by logic when he says: "I must confess that my love for them (the- Russian people) has almost turned to hate; for the brutality prac ticed by peasants and nobles, by sol diers and even by priests, passes my comprehension." The truth of the mat ter is that the brutality had its origin in the imperial government, of which the priesthood and some of the nobles form an inseparable part. Against this brutality the Russian people have final ly risen. If, in their vengeance against the governing brigands of the Holy Russian Empire, some excesses are committed,, they are due chiefly. If not entirely, to. , the. murderous gangs, known as the "Black Hundreds," and the so-called "Union of the Russian People," whom trie-government has or ganized to terrorize the people. The sacrifices the people have already made, the blood of martyred men and women, will not be appeased by any sham reforms, the nature and actual value of which are so well known to the victimized people in the land of the Czars. It must be no less than a full and square recognition of the inalien able right of man, if peace and indus try are ever to be restored in the Rus sian Empire. And come it will, even if it should require the heads of the en tire royal family. Including those of the chief managers and supporters of the present government. Portland needs a new water pipe from Bull Run, to cost $2,500,000. and a new bridge at- Madison street, to cost $500,000. These improvements should be made within the next five years, and w.ill add $3,000,000 to the bonded debt of the city, though the new water debt jvill be sustained by the earnings of the water department. - A movement has started to bond the city for $2,000,000 for parks, driveways and two river bridges, and there is another proposal to create a harbor improvement dis trict, including Portland, for deepening the Columbia bar a work that would require $2,500,000 to finish the south Jetty and between $300,000 and-$500,000 for dredging. Then, too, Portland property-owners will spend several million dollars for streets, sidewalks and sew ers in the next few years. The cost of improving a city comes high and it will be necessary to cull out some of the luxuries from the actual necessities. And the need of a new fireboat, to cost $100,000, should be added. An effort is making at one point or another . on the Great Lakes to compel reduction of the water-flow through the Chicago drainage , canal, on the claim that, the reduction of the Jake levels will be the con sequence of continuation of the present flow. This is to be considered at a con vention to be held at Buffalo, Novem ber 8. Chicago answers that the claim or complaint is absurd, since the flow through the drainage canal bears no appreciable proportion to the whole volume of the lakes or to their out flow. Probably true; yet there are those who Would give Chicago trouble if they could. It is human nature. From Canada objections come also; but Chicago answers that Lake Michi gan, from which the water is drawn for the drainage canal, is wholly within the United States. The Dalles Optimist has a long arti cle, addressed to the Legislature, enti tied "Defeat Bourne." The Oregonian thinks it cannot be done, should not be done if it could be done, and ought not to be attempted. Fairness In politics, loyalty to the primary law, and respect for the intent and will of the people expressed through .. the ballot-box, doubtless will be conclusive with the Legislature jrand though that body has the constitutional power to over rule the argument for fairness in poli tics, loyalty to the 'primary law and respect for the intent and will of the people, it certainly is no compliment to it to suppose or suggest that it will do so. . ' Hearst now, denounces Hughes as "a corporation attorney, unworthy of the support of the people." But Hearst's New York paper said, at the close of the insurance investigations: "No one will question the excellence of the work done by the counsel for the people, Mr. Charles E. Hughes. He has done per haps everything that could be done during the time at his disposal." Reports are that the political cam paign in Washington is dull, and yet it is admitted that the Anti-Saloon League Is taking an important part. A glance at the "wet and dry" map of Oregon 'should convince the Washing ton politicians that the antis have a way of making a campaign Interesting. At Coos Bay the canners have used up their supply of tin cans and a big run of silverslde salmon Is "going' to waste." On the Columbia River, can ners would consider that a woeful waste, indeed; that's the reason so few salmon reach the hatcheries. Oregon hopgrowers are somewhat like the Arkansas farmer, who did not need to shingle his roof in fair weather and could not shingle it during a rain. The growers can't sell when the price of hops is going down and won't sell when the price is going up. A crowd of young people who will form a disorganized mob and demolish the home of a newly married couple "just for fun" need something done to them that will change their ideas of amusement. A railway surgeon says that the out break of feeling against corporation's is an "epidemic of hysteria," Well wouldn't being held up and robbed every day in the year give anybody hysterics? Somehow or other those laws enacted by the people have a way of standing the test of the courts. Four local op tion suits have failed to knock out the liquor law. Palma is said to have left In the Cuban treasury $13,000,000. No wonder he was adjudged incapable of running a Latin-Amerlcan-mulatto republic. Oregon bank deposits increased more than $16,500,000 in the past year. But Oregon wants none of those Chicago or Philadelphia, bank escapades. Hearst is at least putting some good money into circulation, and to that ex tent his candidacy will be a benefit to the country. Physicians are said not to desire "phthisis" reformed. The more myi terious the name the more visits at $2.50 per. Heney has a new Job in San Fran cisco, and many anxious patriots in Oregon "don't care if he never comes back." Every man who has a corporation thinks he has a good corporation. So thinks Rockefeller; so does Hearst. Uncle Sam's bluejackets are fighting yellow fever. That takes more nerve than fighting Cubans. Half a dozen deaths from football al ready. Who said new rules were a fail ure? AGAINST THE LAND THIEVES. Commendation of Mr. Rsosevelt'i Re form Crusade. Springfield fMass.) Republican. If anybody Is puzzled over the appar ently well-sustained popularity of Presi dent Roosevelt he may find some ex planation possibly in the way the Presi dent reveals himself as through the steps about to be taken to prevent a- further diversion of public coal and mineral lands to private possession regardless or tneir value. This will be in the nature of an executive suspension of the operations of the Federal land laws, but the President hag been learning something of the wrong and injustice resulting, and doubtless con siders that an emergency exists as a consequence of recent revelations which will warrant him in taking such a course. And that people generally will approve is hardly to be questioned. Not only will the President proclaim the withdrawal of public coal lands from further entry, we are told in Washington reports, but steps are to be taken to re cover large areas of coal lands which have already been patented to corpora tions and private interests through al leged fraud and evasion of the land laws. It is said that in the Rocky Mountain states there are 100,000 square miles of coal lands, two-thirds of which have been patented to private parties, the other third still remaining in the hands of the Government. But It is beginning to ap pear that much of the lands obtained by corporations was acquired through eva sion of the laws. Interstate Commerce Commissioner Prouty has been making an investigation of the doings of certain railroads and railroad officials in that region, and his report will be the basis of suits to recover lands now in private possession. It has been made apparent that Union Pacific officials and the com pany Itself employed dummies to enter upon and obtain Government coal lands and that the power of the road over rates was used to make these mines valu able and destroy the value of others. . The relations of the Denver & Rio Grande and Santa Fe Railroads and of the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company to this looting of the public domain will not bear close in vestigation, it Is asserted. New scandals affecting the administration of the public land laws are likely to be developed ex ceeding in gravity those which have been revealed in the prosecutions of the In terior Department under Secretary Hitch cock. The American people are becoming very much alive to the aggressions of corpo rate privilege. They are also waking up to the iniquity of permitting limited and invaluable stores of nature to pass -into private hands regardless of their value or the conditions upon which they are to be exploited for private profit. There are said to be those among the older states men at Washington who shake their heads over the President's intended course regarding the public lands, and say it suggests and helps a policy of public ownership. But the President better un derstands the temper of the peuplo and is more keen to appreciate the injustice involved. Radical action of the sort he contemplates is better than revolution. Japanese Railways. From the Railway Age. Now that the Japanese government has undertaken to nationalize 17 private rail ways, having a total of 2S87 miles of lines. at a cost of 421,500,000 yen ($210,000,000). or about $73,000 per mile, the latest annual report of Ichlji Yamanouchi, director of the Imperial Bureau of the Railways of Japan, for the fiscal year ended March 31 1905, becomes of the highest historical and comparative value. The total mileage open for traffic In 1905 was 4693, divided as follows: Government railways. 1461 miles; private railways, 3232 miles. This showed an -increase of nearly 198 miles over 1004. Calculating the Japanese yen at 50 cents (commercially 49.8 cents), the cost of con struction of the mileage was: Cost. Per rfille Government- railways.. 7S.061.64H $52,054 Prfvate railways. 1S0,502,452 ,37.2S4 Total $196,554,101 $11,882 It will be perceived that" the ' Japanese government now pays almost double the original cost- of constructing the private railways, and there is no suggestion of graft or excessive valuation In the trans action. The price paid was 20 times the average of the net earnings from opera tions for 1902, 1903 and 1904. divided by the cost of construction and multiplied by the paid up capital. Origin of "Watered Stock." Buffalo Times. We hear a great deal about "wa tered stock" these days, reference be ing had to the injection of false values Into the stocks of corporations. The late Daniel Drew gave us this phrase, and it grew out of the fact that when he sold a yoke of oxen he weighed them to the buyer Immediately after they had drank copious quantities of water. After the old drover got to be a magnate of Wall street this prac tice of his gave addition to our finan cial nomenclature. It Is related that the late Commodore Vanderbilt was the first to practice the watering of corporation stock, and for his alleged reason that It was the only way to keep the New York Cen tral Railroad as then chartered out of perpetual bankruptcy. A great many purchasers of the "watered stock' were flooded out, but the "water" kept the corporation afloat. Since then the watering of stock ha been freely practiced. At the present time, according to a statement made by Senator La Follette. of Wisconsin, there is $7,000,000,000 of water In the railroad stocks of the United States. A Woman's Toneue Never Slips. St. Louis Globe-Democrat. "Did you ever see a woman who stut tered?" "No; low I come to think of It, I never did." "They are very rare," said the physi cian. "I think it safe to say that the av erage person passes through life without ever meeting a stuttering woman. "There are two. reasons for this. First, woman naturally I don't know why is less liable to the disease of stammering than man. Second, if she develops this disease, she sets out with the determina tion to cure herself, and she succeeds: whereas, careless man, rather than take the trouble of a cure, will go stammering on to the end." Rlsht Kind of Nneleus. Central Point Herald. Once upon a time there was an editor who went out on the prairie and started a newspaper, and in a short time they built a town around him. It would seem that Central Point people have been doing that very same thing as re gards the Herald. Antnmn Luxury In the East. Washington (D. C.) Star. Life seems a -whole lot sweeter When election day draws near. It Is neater an' comoleter Leastways, that's how things appear, Kearly every kind o blessln' You could wish for comes in reach When the candidate's addressin' Us constituents in a soeech. The apples, soriy bluaMn', Seem to smile an' welcome him; An' the breeze comes up a-rushln", So's to shake 'em off the limb. An' when he starts a-sayln' How he likes us, every one. It is Jes' like music Dlayin. . An we're sorry when it's done. You kin talk 'bout oysters growin", Pluroo an' fine in the bay: And about the reedbirds showln' Greater sweetness every day. An tbe other Joys that beckon To contentment in the Fall; But the candidate, I reckon. Is the one that beats them-alL FAKKHVRST'S "GOODNESS TRUST." Newspaper " Money-Quest, Balaaced by Fiona Pulpit Pretense. Brooklyn Eagle. The Rev. Dr. Charles H. Parkhurst said in his sermon of yesterday morning, which the Eagle prints in full today, that it is not the function of the press to be a world regenerator. He added: "The press is as definitely and as con spicuously a money-making scheme as is brokerage or manufacture, and you can register it as an eternal principle that no man ever does a great thing while com puting its cash value or while standing with his fingers in the till, with one ear to the ground, the other ear open to the cries of stockholders screaming for divi dends. . . . The fact that there is an. institution specifically ordained by God for the redemption of the Individual, the re construction of society and the raising from the dead the rotting body of munici pal and state politics, and then that insti tution is the church of Jesus Christ, should load with a burden of keenly-felt opportunity and responsibility the heart's of our clergy, first of all, and of our Chris tian laity" Now, the Tu Quoque argument is in effective. It might be argued that servil ity to wealthy contributors affects a num ber of clergymen as great in proportion to the whole number, as the percentage of editors who are servants of Mammon. But that is hardly worth while. The effort of Dr. Parkhurst to establish or to re-establish a Goodness Trust with the Presbyterian Church as the holding company is so old in principle as Arch bishop Laud, so old as the massacre of 9t Bartholomew, so old as the Egyptian priesthood. The world has hardly Been an age in which orthodox teachers of good ness did not claim a monopoly for their wares, and enforce that monopoly by rather barbarous methods whenever they had the power. The worthy Puritans of Salem stoned Quakers and cut oft the ears of Baptists to make good their Goodness Trust. But in the development of the United States the idea of Roer Williams has prevailed. This idea aims at making us all (even the editors) workers together with God for the betterment of mankind, each in his own way developing and distributing his own brand of goodness on lines suggested by his own God-given conscience. The Eagle has a suspicion that the Neo Puritanic Goodness Trust is a Parkhurst ian anachronism. CONNUBIAI TEAMWORK. Keeping: the Man at Work. Oregon City Knterprlse. If a man knows that his wife expects him to succeed, that she expects him to stand at his post and do his duty, no mat ter how hard it is, and that she will think him a coward if he gives up his Job be cause the work was unpleasant or there were difficulties in his way, it is easy to foretell what the future of that man will be. Noble Women. Sheridan New Sun. The women of this town have labored earnestly and long In an endeavor to maintain truth and sobriety in the home, teaching their sons and daughters that these are cardinal virtues, and are to bo prized far greater than rubies. They have recognized the fact that home life is the foundation of all life; and that municipal, state and National existence is pure only as the home life is pure,. The women of this city have been the silent force, the undercurrent, that .has been working so effectively through the years, the result of which has meant the ushering in of social conditions that are extremely wholesome. Joys and Sorrows. Astorian. A good . husband makes .a good wife. Some- men can neither do without wives nor with them; they-are wretched alone in what is called single blessedness, and --ey- make their homes miserable when they get married: they are like Tompkins' dog, which could not bear to be loose and howled when he was - tied up. Hnppy bachelors are- happy husbands, and a hap py husband is the happiest of men. A well-matched couple carry a joyful life between them, as the two spies carried the cluster of Eschoi. They multiply their joys by sharing them, and lessen their troubles by dividing them. This is a line arithmetic. The wagon of care- rolls light ly along as they pull together, and when it drags a little heavily, or there's a hitch anywhere, they love each other all, the more, and so lighten the labor. Sir Thomas I.lptoni Wife or CupT Chicago Evening Post. "If it were true that I am over here looking for an American wife, Chicago would be the place for me to come, but at present I am In the business of lift ing cups, and I think one worry at a time quite enough." Sir Thomas Lipton delivered himself of this diplomatic speech in regard to reports that that -his visit this time was made with possible matrimonial intent. "But when you have built your new yacht and taken the cup back across the water again, will you return for an American wife?" Sir Thomas was asked. "That's a very good thing to think of," he replied. A Kippered Snlutntion. From a Letter in the Spectator. A worthy French Protestant pastor was guest at a Scottish manse. One morning kippered -herring were served at break fast. The French pastor asked the meaning of "kipper." His host replied that it meant "to preserve." On taking his leave next day, the French pastor, wringing his host's hand, said: "May the Lord kipper you, my good friend." Her Experience. . Chicago Daily News. The pretty widow had finally Induced the bachelor to propose. "Darling," he said, "I fear that I am not worthy of you." "Oh, don't let a little thing like that worry you," she replied. "You'll get over it in a few weeks after we are married." PERHAPS HE DOESN'T From the Pittsburg BiBpatch. No word has been received from the Peary Arctic expedition, which sailed In search of the North Pole 15 months ago. The expedition we expected to return in the Spring of this year. News Item. , V OPIMONS IX OREGON COlTJiTRTt Land .W aste on the Farnu Woodburn Independent. Fortunately, new blood and new Uleas j are demonstrating to the 640-acre men. that it is more profitable to let others take care of the united portion of their big tracts. It Is a shame that so much good laad Is lying idle In this valley, principally because rich farmers, about on the retired list, do not like the kiea of being crowded. ' Probably others, if tney were so siiuait-u. "uu m m i,.. but that is not assisting in tne progress of the country. Never an Old Story. Baker Democrat. - Not the man who owns the lan ( number of acres, and who thereby 1' the largest number of his fellow b from owning any land at .all. but man who puts whatever land he owm the best possible use, Is wormy ot homage of his fellows. The farmer w by the use of Intense cultivation, irrig tion and "brains." draws an income $5000 a year from ten acres of ground I and there are such farmers is wor- 20 times as much to a community an 1 ' who gets a bare living off of 100 acre The country will, by and by. It is hope. abandon the false standard which make 1 the mere possession of many acr token of superiority, and award the- to the man who gets the most out. fi, Progress of Crook Couaty. Crook County Journal. . According to careful estimates made by Labor Commissioner O. P. Hoff. the population of Oregon for 1906 Is estimated at 504,649. AssuriUng that the commis sioner's figures are approximately correct. Crook county has nearly doubled In popu lation since the census of lSvO. The cen sus of that year showed a population of 3964. The census for 1905 showed 4713. Population basea on school children for 1904 was 5045. Population based on schoo-. census for 1906 was 8440. Popufation baseci on school enrollment for 1SH was 6594. Population bacd on school attendance for 1906 was 7201. Taking an average of census, enrollment and attendance for 1906 gives Crook county a population o 7412. Not a bad showing. River Deepening a Katlonal Work. Albany Herald. There is no Indication that" the peo ple of Oregon will consent to be taxed for an appropriation toward Columbia River improvement .' in the matter of Jetties, dredging. Celiio canal or other wise. The Herald has always taken the ground that Columbia River improvement is of first' importance in the state's neetfc, but Washington and Idaho have as much, interest In the great river, generally viewed as Oregon. It .is not to .be seriously considered that the three states will get together to help Columbia River improvement projects. The United Statea Government should do' the work, and must do it if It is done. Hence, the need of direct appeal to headquarters and the shaping of every influence possible toward the accomplishment of those good com mercial purposes in connection with navi gation of the Columbia. Flowers of Speech. From the Pall Mall Gazette. L a., ruui.aLi.iii iiii.u.iuis no vn,.. ,iu churchmen for having so long been tent to "take the crumbs from the senters' table lying down." lrt a lecture on Oliver Cromwell occurs the statement that his little -finger more heavily on . the people than King's loins had ever lain." g A correspondent of a religious Journal, I criticising a gross misstatement, insists I on the necessity of "promptly nailing all I similar lies to the mast." " A session or two ago an Irish Liberal was reported to have said in the House of Commons that by "letting In the thin end of the wedge of Land Nationalism the government were laying on all siri seeds of disease which would in the T ture bring down -the whole edifice ab. i their heads." -''. T How They Were Lost. - New York Sun. The .Venus of Milo explained. "I twisted 'cm off trying to fasten the three middle buttons in the back," she announced. - From this It was easily inferred than she had no husband. Hence These Compliments. Washington Post. Vice-President Fairbanks has warmly Indorsed Governor Cummins in an Iowa speech. Governor Cummins, It will be re-, membered, is the man who greased the rails ahead of the- Shaw Presidential spe- cial. The Poor Fellow I .',,'' - The Sketch. Gentleman (who has been asked for q trifle "ter buy bread, guvnor") For a beggar, you look very respectable with glasses on. ... . . . Tramp Ah, sir, I've ruined my eyesight lookin fer a Job. Not it Kentuekinn. From the Louisville Courier-Journal. A Missourian named Henry Clay tooK two drinks of whisky and -dropped dead. Which teaches us how futile it is ta hitch a weakling to a great man's name. A Frlirhtful Preillonment.' From the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Mr. Hearst has incorporated himself sa thoroughly that he often can't tell which is himself and which is a. New Jersey charter. Hughes Not An Officeholder. Pittsburg Dispatch. . Charles E. Hughes is the only Republi can to be nominated for Governor by the Republican party in New York, since Its organization fiO years ago, who had not previously held public oflice. The Unreformed Poet, Mexican Herahi. . ' ' "Mother, may I go learn to spell? "Yes, my darling Julia; Be sure you loarn the Btandarda well. Don't let the reformers fulla" CARE TO COME BACK