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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 20, 1906)
THE MORXIXG OREGOXIAN. TUESDAY. XOVE3IBER 20, 1906. 4 srnstRipnox bates. INVARIABLY IN ADVANCE. 3 (By Mall.) flally, Sunday included, one year $8.00 Ially. Sunday Included, alx month.... Iay. Sunday Included, three montoa.. 2-25 Daily, Sunday Included, one month Daily, without Sunday, one year 00 Dally, without Sunday, tlx montha 8.25 Dally, without Sunday, three montha.. 1"5 Dally, without Sunday, one month ".u Sunday, one year'. 3.50 Weekly, one year (Issued Thursday).... 150 Sunday and Weekly, one year BY CARRIER. Dally, Sunday Included, one year BO Daily. Sunday Included, one month.... -75 HOW TO REMIT Send poetofilce money order, express order or personal caeck on your local bank. Starapa, coin or currency re at the lender's risk. Give poetoftlce ad dress in rull, including county and state. POSTAGE RATES. Entered at Portland. OreKirt. Poatofflce as Second-Class Matter. 10 to 14 pages 1 eent 11 to 28 pages 2 cents 80 to 4 pages 8 cents ) to 00 pages cents Forelcn Posatge. double rates. InrOKTAM The postal laws are strict. Newspapers on which postage Is not fully Prepaid are not forwarded to destination. EASTERN BUSINESS OFHCK. The 8. C. Week with Special Agency New Tork, rooms 43-50. Tribune building. Chi cago, rooms 510-512 ''. e building. KEl'T ON SALE. Chicago Auditorium Annex, Fostofflcs Ktwg Co., 178 Dearborn street. St. Paul. Minn. N. St. Maria, Commercial Station. Colorado Springe, Colo. Western News Agency. , Denver Hamilton & Hendrlck, 008-012 Seventeenth street; Pratt Book Store, 1214 Fifteenth street; L Weinsteln; U. P. Han sen. - Kansas City, Mo. Rlcksecker Cigar Co.. Ninth und Walnut. Minneapolis M. J. Kavanaugn, CO South Third. Cleveland, O. James Fua'aav, 807 Su perior street. Atlantic City. N. J. Ell Taylor. New York City L- Jones Co.. Astor House; Broadway Theater News Stand. Onkland, Cal. W. H. Johnson, Four teenth and Franklin streets, N. Wheatley. Ogdcn D. U Boyle; W. O. Kind, 114 25th street. Omaha Parkalow Bros., 1612 Fa mam. Maeeath Stationery Co., 1308 Farnam; 240 South Fourteenth. Sacramento, Cul. Sacramento News Co., 43'.l K street. Salt Lake Bait Lake News Co., 77 West Second street South; Ilosenfeld & Hansen. Log Angeles B. K. Amos, manager seven street wagons. San Diego B. E. Amos. Ixiug Bench, Cal. B. E. Amos. Paxadena, Cal. A. F'. Horning. San Francisco Foster & Orear, Ferry News Stand; Hotel St. Francis News Stand. Washington. I. C. Ebbltt House, Penn sylvania avenue. Philadelphia, Pa. P.yan's Theater Ticket Office. PORTLAND, TUESDAY. NOV. . 20, 1006. HOW NOT TO DO IT. Usually it 1 found that the way not to get a thing done is to appoint a commission to investigate the subject proposed and to report to the Legisla ture upon it. The Legislature is very cure to table the report, and either do nothing or legislate without regard to the recommendations of the commis sion. Indeed this may probably be taken as a rule without exceptions, for we recall no case in which it has not pre vailed. About twenty years ago the Legisla ture of Oregon appointed a commission to Inquire into the subject of taxation, with instructions to make such recom mendations to the Legislature in their report as in their judgment would sim plify 'and equalize the processes and results of taxation within the etate. Among the members of this commission were the late Henry Failing and the late Judge Strahan, both of whom gave a great deal of time to the subject; and the report that followed was main ly their work. It was comprehensive and able; but the Legislature gave it no consideration, and no action on the re port was ever taken. We shall predict nothing as to the report recently form ulated by another commission, and now printed for presentation to the Legis lature in January next. Only we shall say that this is fact, namely, that Leg islatures are not fond of putting their own pfowers out of their hands. With the greater legislative body of the United Stater? it is the same. Ap pointment of tariff commissions has been a favorite expedient with that body; and several very able reports have been presented to it from such commissions. But no such report, or the recommendations it may contain, can satisfy or suit local interests here and there in various parts of the United States. Jiembera object to par ticular provisions and will not have them. All such band together and table the whole thing. Now again, as an expedient of avoid ing the tariff question during the com ing and last session of the present Con gress, and the eeaslons of the next one, or Sixtieth Congress, it is suggested that a tariff commission be appointed hy the new Congress, to consider the subject of tariff changes and readjust ments. As a way' of getting nothing done, this would be as excellent as pre ceding experiments, or expedients in the same line. It would merely stave off the whole matter till after the Pres idential election; and this, doubtless, Is the sole object of the proposition. Con gress either would turn the report down or would legislate without the slightest regard for it. Like all forms of tax or fiscal questions, the tariff is a necessary compromise of various in terests; some of which, of course, get an advantage in the shuffle, which they are loth to give up. ' Hence the stand patter, and standpatism. We believe that when our tax laws of Oregon are revised it will be either by the Legislature acting directly, or through an initiative bill, by a vote of the people. Also, that when tariff re vision is had, it will come directly from Congress, without the intervention of a commission. No legislative body Is willing to be governed by so-called ex perts, who offer a general plan, but will always allow a hearing to partic ular interests and claims. This con clusion is certainly verified by largo ex perience. AfiATXST TI.UTOCRATIC IESPOTlSM. Correspondents at Washington are, as usual, attempting to forecast the leading points of the forthcoming mes sage of the President. Owing to the strenuosity of the fight against plutoc racy, and President Roosevelt's course in It, his messages are looked' for with more than common Interest. The Brooklyn Eagle's report from Washing ton is that the message, a fortnight hence, will advocate a tax upon' inheri tance, Government supervision of all corporations engaged lr interstate com merce, and a uniform divorce law. What would the Fathers of the Re public have tho'ugh of such measures of centralization? Editorially the Eagle says: "Hamil ton is not alive and Madison and Mon roe are gone. They had positive opin ions about government Hamilton, es pecially. As a centrallzer, he was al ways prepared to go to the limit, not to say beyond it. He has become a mere novice by comparison. By and by we shall have at Washington the 'main office' of every large corporation in the country, which office will be under a governmental roof." This might be better than to allow the great trust corportions to "work" the American people, as they have been doing during the last twenty years. When the states are found too feeble to correct great and intolerable abuses, the people', rather than allow the abuses to continue, and continue as they would with an ever-increasing momentum, would have the National Government step in. But the states will still have a great deal to do: and a great deal more than they will have authority and power to do well. That the central government would swallow up all local rights and liberties was, in the olden time, one of the bugbears. Since the rise of an all-devouring plutocracy, it is coming to be understood that it is to the central government, mainly, that the people must 'look for redress of evils and control of the rapacious and preda tory exploitation that threatens the ex istence of government of the people, for the people and by the people. IN JUSTICE TO SENATOR FCI.TON. The Oregotjlan printed on 'Monday, November 12, an article in its news col umns under.the heading "Suspects Ful ton of Land Frauds." in which it was stated that the Government Land De partment through its agents In Oregon was endeavoring in some way to con nect Senator Fulton with the alleged fraudulent purchase of lands in the Umatilla reservation. Senator Fulton has complained to The Oregonian that the publication was an injustice to him, and has requested the source of The Oregonian's information. The request has led The Oregonian to make a new investigation of the facts, with the re sult that it cannot ascertain that the Government agents are endeavoring to involve Senator Fulton in the Umatilla transactions, or in any land frauds. On the contrary, the Government here, through its special agents, distinctly repudiates any suggestion or intimation that it purposes to attack the record or character of Senator Fulton. The Ore gonian is therefore constrained to as sume that it was Imposed upon in the publication of November 12, by a re porter who himself -made unwarranted deductions from insufficient information, or no information. The sole 'basis for his conclusions appears to have been a stenographic report of statements by Mr. Fulton before the Senate subcom mittee on Indian affairs, wherein the Senator was urging the passage of an act for the protection of settlers who had bought lands in the Umatilla In dian reservation. In this matter, the Senator was obviously doing his duty as a Senator; and if the lands were ac quired, or sought to be acquired. In an irregular or improper manner, it was plain, that no information to that effect was possessed by the Senator. It is easy for The Oregonian to ex culpate Senator Fulton from any possi ble complicity with the Umatilla trans actions, because it has not at any time believed that he has failed in doing his whole duty toward the Umatilla set tlers and to his constituents. At the time of the publication The Oregonian distinctly said that it did not and could not credit any suggestion or intimation of wrongdoing on the part of the Sen ator; for it was satisfied) that full in vestigation would entirely exonerate him. Investigation has exonerated him and The Oregonian takes pleasure in saying so. ' "A PI.EA FOR THE BOYS." Whatever opinion people of the old fashioned sort may entertain concern ing woman's clubs and clubwomen gen erally and it is well known that many good and worthy people regard these with disapproval no one can doubt the power for good of the home-training clubs and the mothers' and teachers' clubs as organized and working" in vari ous sections of this city. The proceed ings of one of each of these clubs were reported in The Oregonian Sunday and Monday. A careful reading is com mended to parents, as suggestive of helps along the way in lines designated by the names of these organizations. Special attention was called at one of these meetings to the pernicious and dangerous practice of allowing boys and girls to go, unattended by their parents or older members of the family, to cheap theaters and other places of amusement in which the seductive "ten-cent admission" plays a prominent part. Many of these shows are not harmful, perhaps, but it is for the par ent, and not the child, to decide this point. Govern the young people ac cordingly, and above all take them home when the entertainment what ever it is is over. This is a matter of prudence of such palpable wisdom that its mere presentment should appeal conclusively and without argument to the mind of all responsible, upright parents. Another presentment made before one of these clubs, however, is not backed up by actual fact in 'a majority of homes. Reference is here made to a paper read before the Mount Tabor Home Training Club in which a strong, earnest,- womanly plea was made for the boys in the home. This plea was based, upon the assumption that "the boy is out of place in the home every where; that he is found fault with,' no matter what he does or does not do; that he is rarely commended; is scold ed If he comes home with a rent in hl3 clothes or mud on his feet, and is gen erally made to feel uncomfortable." If this picture is drawn from life the so called home life of a' majority of boys, or of a relatively small number of them it is no wonder that the Juvenile Court has come to be a family insti tution. It may be well worth while for par ents, especially for mothers, to consider this charge and ask themselves lf4t is true. There is usually great joy in the home when a boy is born into it. "The best-pleased couple in the world be cause the child is a boy," is the stereo typed announcement of a physician in Washington County when noting the arrival, under his "attendance," of an other child in the family. And the pleasure thus chronicled almost surely follows the birth of a man child. This being true, is it possible, mothers; fath ers, is it possible, that there is a little later on no place in the home for the boy so proudly welcomed? For what were you glad when this boy scolded, jostled, blamed for what he does or does not do, systematically made "un comfortable" in the home, was born into It? If this gladness did not carry witli it an awakened responsibility, then in deed It was but the expression of fool ish glee over an ordinary event to which no individual credit is due. If it is true that thereMs no place for a boy In the home, it is high time that a place was there made for him in ac cordance with the welcoma that ha was given when he came into it. Otherwise, since he is here and must occupy space somewhere wlfile he remains, he will shiftily make, a p!ace for himself out side of the home, separate and apart from the home life, until society is constrained to take note of his mis chievous wanderings and appeal to the ' law to provide a place for him from which he must look out upon the world through bars. . ' , THE Pl'GET SOUND DISASTER. The crowning disaster of the year in Pacific waters was the collision on Pu get Sound Sunday" night between the steamer Jeanie and the little propeller Dix, with the loss of the latter vessel and upwards of forty of her seventy passengers. From such accounts of the disaster as are obtainable, the collision was due solely to careless, even reck less, navigation. With) waters as smooth as glass, under a clear sky and with plenty of room in which to maneuver a small fleet of war vessels, these two carriers the one of freight, the other of human life; came together and in a few minutes one dis appeared in 100 fathoms of water. The tragedy of the Valencia, due also to reckless navigation, was repeated in the loss of human life, though mercifully the agony of the shipwrecked passen gers and crew was in this last Instance much sooner ended. The master of the sunken propeller freely admits that he-does not ' know how it happened; his mate, who was at the wheel if the fault were, his paid for it with his life. The master of the Jeanie saw with dismay and amaze ment the coming of the collision after it became inevitable. How it happened he knows not. The story as told is simply that of the coming together, upon a broad, smooth waterway, of two vessels, the sinking of one in a few minutes, carrying down with her "like rats in a trap" more than two-score passengers, and the heroic rescue of half as many more. , ' A thing like this does not '"happen" in the abstract sense of that over worked term. It is a preventable oc currence, and can only result when ig norance or carelessness is at the helm of at least one of the vessels. The dis aster Is most appalling. If it has an explanation outside of that offered by ignorant or careless navigation, let us hope that it will be given, since such an explanation makes a most dishonor able showing in the maritime history of the Pacific Coast of a year already sad ly discredited in this line. SCHOOL "FRATS" AND I.TING. The Chicago investigating committee, which spent three years gathering in formation regarding the effect of col lege and high 6Chool secret societies, came to the conclusion that they de velop a propensity for lying. One high school principal declared that the secret societies had made professional liars of the pupils in his school for the boys would go to any extremity in what they were pleased to call loyalty to their fratertiity. Through their frater nity they engaged in mischief and then loyalty demanded that they He out of it. To be caught prevaricating was considered an honor so long as the fal sification was in defense of a member of the fraternity. To lie in defense of a brother "frat" was proof that the boy had the right kind of "stuff" In him and that he could be depended upon in any emergency. That school secret societies will have such an effect must be apparent to any one who stops to think of the'purpose for which they are formed, and of the spirit in which many of the college en terprises are conducted. . Perhaps the announced purpose of a secret society is "mutual improvement," but the real purpose is to have "fun," and when a crowd of boys starts out to have fun they lose sight of reasonable limitations and usually keep going until some thing happens to bring them up with a short turn. If the fun-seeking move ment is conducted under sworn secrecy the limits to which it will go are all the more extended, for the boys feel a se curity that could not otherwise exist. United in a compact to stand or fall together, they stop at nothing their busy imaginations can suggest. When trouble comes and investigations are begun by lawfully constituted authori ties, a great majority of the boys will ingly lie about the facts and those who would tell the truth darS not for fear of punishment from their fellows. But the evil of this feature of the school secret societies is not so much that it breeds lying, but that it estab lishes false ideas of honor and loyalty. When a boy enters school his chief aim in that connection should be to pro mote the highest interests of his school. A school society, whether secret or not, should be of lesser Importance to him and his first allegiance should be to the school as a whole. Above all else he should be true to himself, holding his own Integrity above any duty to fellow- students. He should hold to the princi ple that anything that requires dis honesty Is dishonorable. But school secret societies inculcate no such ideas. They encourage the view that dishon esty Js honorable, even In defense of dishonorable deeds Parents should see what this inevita bly leads to. The boy who places loy alty to his school fraternity above his loyalty to his school and above his own integrity will soon place it above his loyalty to his parents. "With this mis conception of honor woven into his character, he will, on entering upon the active duties of citizenship, place loy alty to friends above loyalty to his country and his country's laws. Fol lowing out the rules of conduct adopt ed in his school days, he will go the length of falsehood and perjury to pro tect his friends from the just conse quences of their evil acts. The people of Oregon have no need to reflect long in order to remember an instance In which this false sense of honor and loy alty brought to grief a highly respected member of the Oregon bar who thought that duty to his friend, a United States Senator, required him to give false testimony. This conception of honor is fostered by school secret soci eties and sooner or later it Is quite cer tain to leave its stain upon the life of the young man who has permitted him self to fall under the delusion. Lying is a first step in crime, and It's an easy step. The liar has no respect for himself and soon losea the respect of others. Having told one lie, he stands ready to support it with an end less series of other lies unless stopped by detection. So long as the lies suc ceed there is little likelihood of his changing his code of honor. Detection, punishment, humiliation and disgrace" will bring him to hlsNsenses and instill new and higher ideals of true manhood.' The more vigorously, therefore, the war is waged against the school secret soci eties, the sooner will their baneful In fluences be checked. The universal verdict of men who have studied the -subject is against the fraternities, and it will be well for parents and school authorities to unite in the effort to de stroy them. The second convention of the Na tional Rivers and Harbors Congress will be held In Washington, December 6 and 7. This body was organized in January of the present year. The pur pose of the convention Is to demon strate to Congress that a sentiment has arisen in favor of Increased and regular appropriations for rivers and harbors. It is backed by business men, by rep resentative commercial bodies, river improvement associations, . maritime exchanges. Chambers of Commerce and other organised bodies. Delegates irom every large city of the Union are expected to be present, and Congress will be asked to attend. In a body. Res olutions asking that'J30,000,000 be ap propriated annually for the improve ment of our waterways will be pre sented. A body of this magnitude may set Its mark high without appearing in the role of extravagance. Indians, according to Commissioner Leupp, are poor critters like the rest of us. That Is to say, their ranks are made up of good, bad and Indifferent, in the varying degrees of these terms, very much as are the ranks of the whites. This is a charitable estimate of "poor Lo," to which Western folk who have known him at close range will subscribe with emphasis upon "bad," and which those of the East who have made his acquaintance through Cooper's novels will accept af ter placing emphasis upon "good." Every man to his business, and the special business of Commissioner Leupp is to study the Indian and report his findings. It Is only fair, therefore, to accept his presentment as correct. The Southern Cotton Company has been formed for the purpose of buying and storing cotton, in order that the prices of the great staple may be regu lated, or, as stated in the prospectus, to "maintain a profitable price for cot ton against the conspiracies of Wall street." Something of this kind was proposed by the American Society of Equity which last Summer announced Its intention of forcing the price of wheat to $1 per bushel. The price of the ,cereal steadily declined from the date of the appearance of the ultima tum of the Society of Equity. Let us hope that the Southern Cotton Com pany will have better success in regu lating prices'. The man who "straddles the fence" on every political Issue and awaits the opportunity to jump to the winning side merits the contempt he invariably receives. He may flatter himself that he "won out," but he fools nobody else. The man who has positive opinions and who is ready to take sides in a fight and let his position be known, even though he stands a chance of rosing, is the man who merits and secures re spect. If the whole world were made lip of "straddlers," what sorry prog ress would be accomplished in any hu man undertaking.' ' The "straddler" lacks either intelligence or courage, and in either case he is of little use In an active world. The people of Eugene have for some days been in the plight of the "ancient mariner," as expressed in the plaint, "Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink." The main under the river has been clogged or the intake from the river choked, or some other disaster equally Irremediable, until the waters of the raging Willamette sub side, is responsible for this menacing condition of affairs. The inconvenience suffered by students would be sufficient to justify the closing of the university until after Thanksgiving but for the fact that most of them would be ma rooned in the town. It may be that gospel songs are as sacred issuing from the ' horn of a phonograph as. from the lips of paid singers; yet the Innovation introduced by the Sellwood Methodist Church is not destined to become popular. Hymns are a part of church service, and it grates on the sensibilities of genuinely religious people to listen to the wor ship of God with an automatic music box. Old-timers begin to recall with gloomy wagging of the beard the Fall of 1893, which was followed by the " '94 water" of fearful memory. That Fall was too much Ipte this one for pleasant com parison. The rain began earlier, buf it was no more persistent and much less violent than what we are now enjoying. Shall we see Fifth street under water again next May? fn December, 1861, there was a Wil lamette flood, higher than ever known before or since. Our plain old farmer Governor, John Whiteajcer, referred to It in his next message to the Legisla ture, saying that there had been heavy rains, that the valley had been flooded and that if rain had continued longer the water would have been higher still, The postal clerks of the Government are said to be the only wage-earners that are not enjoying the benefits of prosperity. How about the employes of the lifesaving service? They are gen erally supposed to be the most poorly paid servants upon Uncle Sam's great payroll, and withal at times the hard est worked of all. "To reach Portland," says a dispatch from Seattle, "it Is only necessary to go to Tacoma by boat, take the North ern Pacific to Olequa, going from that point by boat to Kalama, take the ferry to Goble, and thence by rail to Port land." No trouble. That's all. November Is paying his respects im partially to the various sections of the country. A stormy attendant Is this last of the Autumn , months. Let us hope he has-' borrowed heavily from December and that the latter will not exact payment of the debt. For the flrsrt time In more than forty years there will not be a single Demo cratic Senator In Congress from any state North of the Ohio River. Even during the Civil War there were al ways Northern Democratic Senators. Mr. and Mrs. Hendricks, of Eugene, have given a most desirable answer to the question as to what to do with un occupied property within a city's lim its by presenting forty-seven acres to the corporation for a public park. Mr. Hearst will find that his purpose not to be a candidate again" meets the enthusiastic approval. of everybody that opposed him in the recent election. Now it's canned music at Sellwood; but we suppose the congregation draws the line at-canned orthodoxy. VERY PROPER ANSWER. Jonathan Bourne and the United States 1 Senate. Arlington Record. The, Dalles Optimist says, in its issue of November 8, that "not a newspaper In Oregon makes an attempt to defend him," meaning Jonathan Bourne. A person reading The Optimist's tirades against Bourne would suppose he was on trial for some heinous offense, with Bennett as prosecuting attorney. When Mr. Bourne was before the people tor the office of United States Senator at the primary election last June every charge that was possible to be brougnt against him, whether true or false, fair or unfair, was studiously made and displayed in big headlines in the opposition papers of the state. The canvass for Senator was a free and open fight, and quite a. num ber of the prominent men or tne state were candidates besides Mr. Bourne. The election was fair and open. Every can didate was pledged to support the one who received the greatest number or votes. The primary law was adopted by the voters of the state by a very large majority, and, whether we like it or not. it is the supreme law of the state,- and in accordance with the terms ot tnat law the voters of. the state designated Jonathan Bourne, Jr., as their choice for United States Senator. The optimist is the only newspaper in the state that Is oDenlv oDnosinsr Mr. Bourne. It Is only natural to suppose that he is doing It for what there is in It. Surely a newspaper would not set itself in direct opposition to the wishes of the people, fairly ex presed In the most sacred manner men can make their preference known, unless some paramount inducement was offered. So far as The Optimist's assertion that not a newsDaoer In Oregon mases an attempt to defend him" is concerned. there Is notning to aeiena. jar. duuiho is not on trial. He fought a good fight and finished his cause ahead of all com petitors in June, and henceforth the Leg islature of Oregon will commissiuu mm to be one of its United States Senators for the term to begin March 4 next, not withstanding the frantic effors of The Optimist. Katser Slse Up Revolutionists. North American. The Kaiser recalled that he had pre dicted to Waldeck-Rousseau the Russo-Japanese war and spoke of the murvi-lmis secret service which the Japanese have established all over the world. "When you meet one of those fel lows." said the Emperor, "you never know whether you are talking to a trader, an artisan or an officer in dis guise. Why, in one of our barber's shops frequented by military attaches I have learned that one of the fellows who whisked the razors around their chins was a colonel on the Japanese general staff. We'll see in a little while in Asia and elsewhere what price the white man will have to pay for this opening triumph of the yellows. After thus touching on the yellow peril the Emperor switched off on the red one which hourly menaces the head of every state. It was all the same, he remarked, whether It was a despotism, a constitutional monarchy or a republic. He said: "M. Fallieres runs the same dangers as the Czar, and Mr. Roosevelt is no more exempt than the King- of Spain. There is in the army of revolutionaries an understanding which unhappily does not exist among those who rep resent order and authority." "Carmen Sylva's" Blind Colony. Washington (D. C.) Despatch. Mrs. Frances Fearn, widow of a for mer American diplomat, will come to this county early in January as an emissary from Queen Elizabeth, of Roumanla, "Carmen Sylva," with whom she has spent the Summer. Mrs. Fearn will bring plans of the Roumanian Queen's "blind city," the little colony she has formed for the benefit of the blind of her country. Her emissary is conversant with the small est details of the unique plan, that is apparently not designed to do away with institutions for the blind, but to place the unfortunates where they will have companionship, mutual Interests, occupations, amusements and higher educational advantages. Just what the Queen's plans are for founding an American blind colony will probably not be thoroughly understood until the arrival of Mrs. Fearn, who will bring pictures, plans and stereop ticon views of what has been done in Roumanla. Mrs. Fearn spent many years abroad during the career of her late husband In the diplomatic service of the United States. Roosevelt, the Master of Congress. Springfield Republican. The final reflection we must come to. in view of these facts. Is that the President of the United States has now atained a power, political and moral, over the gen eral government of the country which has not been equaled by any chief magis trate since Andrew Jackson, save pos sibly Lincoln alone, whose power was largely due to the conditions of civil war. All things, all events, continue to exalt Theodore Roosevelt In the minds of his countrymen and to make him the master of Congress and all political par ties. He promises to be even more In fluential In the next Congress than in the present one, since nothing has hap pened In this week's elections to shatter his personal prestige. He not only dom inates parties with imperious will, but he rises above them so far. in the confidence and affection of the majority of the peo ple, that Republican losses and Demo cratic gains, whether in state or National contests, alike seem to add to his altitude In the eyes of his contemporaries. This is the one towering fact observable in this year's elections. No EIrht-Hours-PeT for Him. Philadelphia Press. Representative Sereno Payne, the busy chairman of the ways and means committee, when Congress Is in session works 15 out of the 24 hours. He is a close friend of Speaker Cannon, and the two usually leave the Capitol arm-inarm, and stroll down Pennsylvania ave nue when the day's work is done. No News of Importance. Adams (Ga.) Enterprise. We are sorry to record that an un feeling sawmill cut off the left leg of one of our leading citizens last week. The accident was caused by his losing his head from getting tangled in the ma chinery, after which he lost his leg. There is no news to speak of. Be Shows the War to Millions. Montreal star. One of the first acts of a millionaire on returning to his old home in Ohio was to search for a dime that he lost when he was 5 years old. Do you won der that he became a millionaire? The Enigma. New Tork Times. "I pee why milk should please, " Snld the cow, "And butter, too, and cheese," Said the cow. "But why beefsteaks should be Constructed out of me Is what I fail lo see," Said the cow. "I see why men take trips," Said the fish. "In steam and sailing ships, Said the fish. "But why they make me bite . On hooks hid out of sight Is what gets me, all right," Said the fish. "I see wny people beg." Said the hen. "At breakfast for an egg," Said the hen. "But why a butcher lout Should send me up the spout Is what I can't 'dope out," Said the hen. JUTE MILL, OP" TRIFLING BENEFIT Better to Pat Convicts to Work on the Roads. Post-Intelligencer. In view of the well-considered project to employ on state road construction the surplus convict labor at 'the penitentiary, the specious agitation for an enlargement of the jute mill should be silenced. The use of convict labor in the construction of roads that will enable the farmers to reduce permanently the cost of freighting their wheat and otlier products to tne railroad shipping points will be of greater benefit to them than the trifling com petitive effect upon the grain sack mar ket made by the products of the mill. According to the estimate of the Boara of Control for the two years past, the sum of the difference between the market price and the penitentiary price lor tne grain sack output was little more than .126,000. Adopting an estimate of 30,000.000 busiieis a year of wheat product without con sidering other cereals to determine the profit per bushel, if the saving were equally distributed for the benefit of all the wheatgrowers, would smatter or a problem in inflnitesmal calculus. The re sult would show an annual increase of value of about .0015, or forty-five thou sandths of a cent a bushel. The fact is that the especial beneficiary of the Jute mill enterprise Is Walla Walla and the immediate adjacent country. Most of the sacks, at that, profitably filter through the hands of brokers. In the larger Wheat-producing sections at th,e north of Walla Walla the farmers would like to see the penitentiary sacks sold at the full market price, so that as taxpayers they might share in the reduc tion of taxation consequent upon' turning the profits of the jute mill into the reve nues for state government. Professor Bryan, president of the Agri cultural College, who Is in close com munication with the farmers of the Pa louse, makes this avowal In a letter to Governor Mead, In which he urges that the penitentiary grain sacks be appor tioned to the several wheat-producing counties on the relative basis of output. Wiry promote the interests of the wheat raiser above those of the potato-raiser, or of any other sack-using farmer? It is not apparent that the Eastern Washington farmers stand in need of any paternalistic aid from the state govern ment. They are prosperous and have fat bank accounts. The proper thing to do would be to make the Jute mill a factor In relieving the taxpayers of the state. Suarar From Porto Rico. New York Sun. Though Porto Rlcan coffee has not yet "caught on" in the United States, the su gar of the island has. Prior to annexa tion Porto Rico's shipments of sugar to this country seldom reached as much as 100,000.000 pounds a year. Since annexa tion there has been a steady increase in such shipments. Here are the yearly fig ures: ' Fiscal Tear Pounds. Prior to annexation 1 On.noo.ooo Jftol 14:i.0"0,ooo lima lsx.ooo.ooo inii.l sH.uiHt.ooo J304 !!., OOO. 000 1H05 B71.tMlO.OtH) joofl 411.00,000 1906 (calendar nine months) 46.000,000 Compared with 1901 nine months, the money gain to Porto Rico in the 1906 nine months' shipment was J9,0O0.000, or just $1,000,000 a month Increase. The money values were 5.O0O.0OO and $14,000,000 re spectively. Compared with Spanish days. Porto Rico's gain by sugar shipments to the United States Is practically fivefold This gain of $1,000,000 a month is equal to $1 a month for each man, woman and child in the island. A Misused Word, London Chronicle. As to that other Americanism, trie misuse of the word "claim." Mr. Roose velt ought to do something about it. For some years it has seemed to be only a slight error a little going aside from the ancient and appropriate custom. But In the November Harper's Magazine an American accustomed to write good Eng lish assails us with this extraordinary phrase: "He claimed to have lost his appetite." From Butterflies to Worth Gowns. Hartford (Conn.) Times. From the cabinets of Naturalist R. W. Denton, of Wellesley, Mass., go sugges tions for Worth gowns. La Farge win dows and many other results of artistic excellence. Mr. Denton Is a collector and dispenser of butterflies of the wonder fully colored beauties , of the tropics. He has one of the finest collections of butter flies in the world. Mixed Up In Maine. Machlas (Me.) Union. Elbert Hubbard announces that he Is Pericles, Sanford claims to be Elijah, the New York World says that Mrs. Eddy is Mrs. Leonard, and the Hon. Joseph P. Bass, of Bangor, calls himself a Demo crat. We are certainly getting all mixed up. The Original "VIHnsje Blacksmith." London Sunday Strand. Dunchurch, near Rugby, claims that Its smithy Is the original forge which in spired the famous verses on "The Village Blacksmith." It is a picturesque old place, and the "spreading chestnut tree" still flourishes in front of it. Ancient Graft. Rudyard Kipling. Who can doubt the secret hid Vndcr Cheop's pyramid Was that the contractor did Cheops out of several millions? Or that Joseph's sudden rise To controller of supplies Was a fraud of monstrous size On King Pharaoh's swart civilians? COMPETITION. BULLETIN- MRS.SAGE WLL GV AWAY ZO. ' From the New York Press. "This looks like competition, eh. Andrew?" "Ay. ay. John. Perhap we'd better see the widow Sage, and try if we can't form . a Philanthropy Trout." ONE MORE YOUTHFUL, PRODIGY Remarkable Accomplishments of a Boston ElRht-Year-Old. Boston Special to New York American. If little Willie Sidis, the eight-year-old son of a Brookline physician, keeps on absorbing knowledge at the rate he has been going since the tender age of two there will be nothing left for him to learn by the time he reaches the age at which mof-t boys enter col lege. At eight this youthful prodigy has the following accomplishments to his credit: He speaks four languages with ease. He is a freshman in high school. He takes sophomore physics with pupils twice his age. He Is proficient in higher mathemat ics. He has devised a new system of logarithms. He is writing an advanced grammar. He makes astronomical calculations. He instructs nunlls in classes in u.l- vance of his own. He Is a puzzle even to Boston and to famous Harvard educators. From the cradle Willie- Sidis has been a wonderful seeker after knowl edge, mastered the rudiments be fore his parents knew what he was about. They soon had to hide books to keep him within reasonable bounds. He rusned through ordinary arithme tic, hurdled fractions and was seen manufacturing problems for his own active brain. Tivo years ago. at the age of six. he was put in school. To reach the black board he had to have a stool yet at times he was able to stagger the. teachers. ' Now that he is in high school, with pupils twice his age and more than twice his size, he is still ahead of his class. His classmates do not know what to make of him, and he is not exactly popular, as his unusual ability shows normal youths up badly in reci tation. There are some ttrawbacks to being sucn an educated wonder. Already his eyes are failing, and he has to wear double lens glasses. ills phvsical health is causing his father. Dr. 'Boris Sidis of No. 41 University road, Brookline, some anxiety. Among the educators whose atten tion he has attracted Is Trofessor James, of Harvard, who declares him the most wonderful pupil of his years tnat he has ever seen. Willie is 4 feet u inches In height and very shght in build. He Is not pro ficient on the athletic field. A Great -Rallroiider'a Queries. James J. Hill. Are men going to invest their money In railroads as long as railroads are consid ered outlaws? Two great political parties preach the doctrine of the operation of the railroads by the Government. The Federal Government is to run the main lines they are the only ones that make any money nowadays and the private in vestors can have the branch lines there being no profit In them. Is that the way to get men to put more money Into the country's railroads? Is this the way to get more railroad mileage, so that the country's freight can be moved? Pennsylvania Setting; a Hot Paee. Wall-Street Journal. The Pennsylvania Railroad is certainlv setting a hot pace for the other railroads of the United States. It is snendinc $100 000,000 on new terminals In New York City. It has expended millions In other Improvements of its system. It has Just advanced its dividend from a 6 to a 7 per cent basis, thus increasing the income of its 40,000 stockholders. It has now an nounced an increase In wages to 1S5.0W employees, thus involving an increased outlay of $12,000,000. And its enormous traffic and profits enable it to perform these wonders. Earns AH the Money He Gets. Farher (Mo.) Forum. There is one satisfaction in being a farmer; it can not be said that he "wins" whatever fortune lie gets; he earns every dollar of it: he does not take a cent of It from some otlier man. It comes to him first hand out of the soil and his money is the cleanest in all the world. Settled by Arbitration. Leesville (Colo.) Light. Martin Gray, of Hedges, came into our office to whip -us today. The trouble was amicably settled by him buying us a drink. Yes, Thanks, Turkey for Ours. New York I'ress. Now for the turkey. Some of the fel lows are eating their political crow, but we will have a bit of the National bird for Thanksgiving. A Chap Named Taff. Louisville Courier-Journal. A man In Maine gets In a hole and Taft Is sent to yank him out. A New York chap ran't reach the goal un less Taft lends assistance stout. Oh! Tart is always rlRht or? hand to talk and lal'or with a will. But, Bttk.-s alive! Likewise, good land! Why not speak for yourself, Bill? Taft does a Jersey man a turn, then boards a train for Arkansaw, Makes speeches there that fairly burn; and wags a brisk and able Jaw. No matter what may he the task, Taft Is prepared the date to fill. And that is why I rise to ask: "Why not speak for yourself. Kill?" Taft Is a great and willing chap, cnock full of saws and timely Jukes. He travels clear across the map unloosing talk for other folk, But, William, think of A Men's Jolt; on earth there he Prlsclllas still. We know that you are not a dolt. Why not speak for yourself, pill? OOO. 000.