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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 26, 1906)
THE MORXIXG ORF.rrONIAN, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 1906. SlTOSCRrPTION RATES. IT INVARIABLY JN 'ADVANCE. V3 (By Mail.) Dally, Sunday Included, on year $8 00 Dally. 8unday Included, six months.... 4.25 Daily, Sunday Included, three months.. 2.25 Dally, Sunday Included, ona months... -73' Dally, without bunday, ona year 6.00 Dally, without Eunday, six months 8.23 Dally, without Bunday, three months.. 175 Dally, without Sunday, ont month 60 Bunday, one year 2.60 Weekly, one year (Issued Thursday)... 100 Eunday and Weekly one year -o BY CARRIER. Daily, Sunday Included, one year . 9.00 Dally, 6unday Included, on month.... .75 HOW TO REMIT Send postofllce money order, express order or personal check on your local bank. Stamps, coin or currency srra at the sender's nek. Give poatofflce ad dress In full. Including county and state. POSTAGE RATES. 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There Is a world of truth in that old saying about "When thieves fall out, honest men get their dues." It Is, of course, not Infallible, for occasionally, after a falling out, thieves work Inde pendently to the disadvantage of honest men. For the good of the coun try, it is to be hoped that the ehip subsldy hunters who have Just had a falling out at Washington will not prove the rule by being the exception in illustrating the force of the proverb. It hae been apparent from the begin ning of this proposed raid on the Treas ury that the maximum amount possi ble would be insufficient to satisfy the greedy subsidy hunters, and now that the deadlock in tliecommittee had the effect of still further curtailing the prospective emoluments, there are eigne of more dissension than ever. . The President, probably unconscious ly, but possibly intentionally, damned the subsidy plan with such, faint praise when he said that he thought the present bill was "as nearly unobjection able as any can be," that many of its lukewarm supporters lost heart, the In ference being quite clear that the President regarded any subsidy bill as ''objectionable." The nearest the Presi dent came to making a direct recom mendation in connection with the bill was when he declared that "if It prove impracticable to enact a law for the encouragement of general shipping, then at least provision should be made for better communication with South America, notably for fast mail lines." In making this recommendation the President of course overlooked tne trans-Atlantic lines controlled by Mor gan, Griscom and the rest of the mil lionaires who have been the power be hind every subsidy bill that has ap peared at Washington for many years. The ld,ea which these maritime pa triots have of a ship-subsidy bill is a measure which will enable them to grab about 90- per cent of the swag for their own vessels. The Boeton mil lionaires' who operate a line out of Puget Sound, and the Harrlman-Rocke-feller combination out of San Fran cisco, would also object to favoritism being shown any line but theirs, al though, to the credit of both Mr. Hill and Mr. Harriman, neither of the gen tlemen has ever made any obnoxious efforts to further the Interests of the subsidy graft. With so much dissension, a dead locked committee, postponement until January, lack of public support and other unfavorable symptoms, it now seems highly probable that the pres ent subsidy bill will fill the same kind of a dishonored grave that has closed over so many of Us predecessors. The only thing that can save it from such a. fate Is a .good, strong message from the President, and even the effect of .this would be to a considerable degree nullified by the apathetic allusion made In his last mesage to Congress. OCR VICIOUS LAND LAWS. The Oregonlan reprints today in an other column some extracts from an editorial article in the New York Even ing Post which reviews and commends the President's opinions upon the re peal of some of the land laws and the amendment of others. The Evening Post recalls that since Secretary Hitchcock began his crusade against the land thieves 430 of them have been indicted and eighty-nine convicted. This leaves 401 whose cases have not yet been decided. Mr. Hitchcock has been relentless in his efforts to brlngj corrupt officials to justice, though he has had to overcome great political and personal influence before he could secure his results. The greatest difficulty in his way has been a public sentiment which seemed to lqok upon the breach of the land laws as a venial offense, and to one who wishes to understand the matter the origin of this sentiment Is Impor tant. The fact is that- in the laws themselves there are provisions which offer a premium for fraud. They are eo framed that the development, of the country by men who value honesty more than wealth has been Impossible. On their face, the laws permitted individuals fb acquire public land only in tracts too small rb be of use either for the coal or timber. To acquire control of areas which It would be profitable to exploit, capitalists had to resort to subornation of perjury. Indi viduals were Induced to obtain titl from the Government to quarter sec tions under the desert, timber claim and homestead acts, with an agree ment to convey them to the capitalist who provided the funds and paid their wages. No man could do this without forswearing himself. - Nevertheless, It seemed almost as if the good of the public required that it should be done. This was the predicament In which the law placed the Investor. If he were honest, he must decline the enterprise. Hence the control of the timber and coal lands went to the unscrupulous. Laws which act in this way,- the Presi dent truly says, are bad laws, and the Evening Post agrees with him that they should be amended or repealed. HOLD DOWN TAX LEVY. Look here: Is the very evil of high assessment, as prophesied early In 1905 when Assessor Sigler was preparing to raise tax valuations, then 40 per cent of actual, to full valuations, to be ful filled? Is the tax levy not to be kept down in the same ratio that the assess ment Is raised, and Is each taxpayer to pay more? The Council will break faith with taxpayers by putting up the levy to 6.7 mills, as recommended by the ways arid means .committee. Taxpayers sub mitted to the high valuations on the understanding that the levy would be lessened In the same ratio that the valuations were enlarged. The city assessment was trebled, but the city levy last year was cut only in half, and now the ways and means committee adds half a mill more for the next levy. The Oregonlan was averse, and so were many citizens, to the high assess ment last year when it was first pro posed, and foretold the raid that could be made under it on the pockets of taxpayers. But the promise was given out that expenses and levy would be held down. Objections were thus quieted, and the advantages of high assessment were then accepted. If the branches ' of government should be honest with taxpayers, there are ad mitted merits in the new system; not, however, If it is to squeeze more money out of overburdened taxpayers. The Oregonlan said April 21. 1905: ' "Should the proposal to double or to Increase greatly the assessment of Portland and Multnomah 'County be accepted, there would undoubtedly be much increase of city and county ex penditure, because the rate of taxation or annual levy certainly would not be reduced in proportion to the increase of th'e general valuation. A conse quence would be that, though there would be reduction of the rate, each taxpayer would actually pay more. High or full valuation means extrava gance poorly disguised. . . . For more and more things would be wanted by one and another, a low levy would be pointed at as proof that they could be afforded, and ere long we should be paying 40 mills again, on the increased valuation." Such, indeed, will be the outcome If the Council "shall fail to prune the report of the ways and means commit tee. Ten mills used to run the city government, that being the limit in the charter." Since the assessment has been trebled, the city ought to get along on a levy half as large as for merly." A 6-mill levy, collected next year, will supply $150,000 more revenue than was collected this year on 5.2 mills. This year's revenue was $192,000 larger than last year's. The city levy, if put at 5 mills, will, raise enough money and provide for higher salaries of city em ployes, if proper economies shall be enforced elsewhere. The Council can keep the levy down or the people will do It In the city election next year by means of the initiative. ' N A 6.7 mills city levy means a total county levy of more than 16 mills. The height was thought to have been reached in the tax payments this year when the total levy was 14.8. When high levy was proposed nearly two years ago, it was said that a full as sessment vfould allow the. levy to be reduced from 40 mills to 14 or 13 mills. Each taxpayer Is paying more than under the low assessment plan. . Is he to pay more and more? CAR SHORTAGE AND WAREHOUSE STORAGE. The remarkable agitation over the car-shortage problem has had he ef fect of giving the general public a fairly clear Insight regarding tlje re,la- tions existing between shipper and car rier, and it has also revealed the fact that at least a portion of the blame must be laid at the door of the ship pers. Interstate Commerce Commis sioner Lane, on his return from the West, said that "serious terminal congestion" due to shippers' delays in unloading cars was one of the chief causes of the car shortage. Commis sioner Harlan said that the publicity given existing conditions "had broken the coal famine In the Northwest, had induced the coal shippers- to declare that they could get along with less "free time' In which to unload cars, and had stiffened the backbone of some of the railroads to the point where they had agreed to cut down free time land impose a $2 charge on reconsigning privileges. it seems to nave been the practice of shippers all over the coun try to use cars for warehouse purposes for an undue length of time, thus de priving some other shipper of the op portunity to secure cars. Reports from the Willamette Valley are that there has been a decided Im provement in conditions since the In dignation meeting held dn Eugene a few weeks ago. At the same time, it Is explained that the Increased number of cars available have been obtained at the expense of the Northern Cali fornia shippers who aTe clamoring for cars. This "robblng-Peter-to-pay-Paul" system can never prove satisfactory, for it is unjust and unbuslness-Iike. It does not In thQ slightest degree Increase the facilities, as would be the case if shippers unloaded cars in half the time they .have been in the habit of consum ing. The primary cause of the car shortage is unprecedented expansion in all lines of industrial activity. That the railroads have failed to prepare fdr this wonderful Increase in traffic Is admitted -even by railroad men. There is the ever-present desire to move the maximum of tonnage with the min imum of operating expense. That there has been decided fail ure in the accomplishment of this-laudable ambition is shown quite plainly in the Commissioners' statement that the average movement of freight cars on some of the Middle Western lines was only twenty-three miles per day. But this low average cannot be charged up against the operating departments, nor can it as a whole be traced to the shortcomings of the railroads, for the Commissioners discovered that this low average v"as due in a large part to the long delays to which cars were sub jected by shippers at terminal points. Competition for freight between rival roads had become so keen in the days when there were more cars than were needed that abuses sprang up which now plague both railroads and ship pers. The traffic men, anxious to please large shippers, a few years ago learned that the' loan of a car for a few days, or even weeks, with perhaps a moderate demurrage charge, did not impair the efficiency of the service, but did attract business. The shipper learned that accommodations of this kind answered the purpose of a ware house, and the abuse grew and flour ished. We have witnessed examples of It right here In Portland. While some of our shippers , were lifting up their voices at Eugene in protest against the railroads, there were 1100 unloaded cars In the yards at Portland. It has only been within the past three years that iany of the big shippers of Portland have burdened themselves with, ware house property. They have never failed, however, to resist the efforts of the railroads to increase the demur rage penalties. For this reason, it would seem that the proposed recipro cal demurrage bill would not be a very bad thing for the railroads, as well as the people. It would at least have the effect of preventing some of the ship pers whose dilatory methods are par tially responsible for the present, trou ble from escaping the blame for It. The reports of the Commissioners, so far as made' public, display a fairness to wardsraiIroads Snd shippers which ar gues well for the recommendation of legislation that -will afford justice, to both parties. THE TOOL AND HIS PISTOL. Mr. Arthur McEwan Is entirely too hatidy with his pistol. It is fatal to disturb his slumbers. He hears some thing during the night, and he at once pulls his ready revolver .from under his pillow and fires at the noise, which, unfortunately, happens to be Ara Ta cashima, a Japanese servant In the household where McEwan Is staying. The Japanese will probably die, and McEwan is sorry, very sorry, "for," he says, "Tacaashima was my friend." The only criticism that Can be made of the poor Japanese In . his relations with McEwan is that he showed such fatal judgment in picking a fool for a friend. It was the habit of the Japanese, It seems, to go through McEwan's room to his own. Indeed, it was the only way to get there. " McEwan knew it, and he knew that the Japanese always took precautions not to awaken him. Tet he kept a loaded pistol under his uneasy pillow, so that he could shoot Instantly at anything or anybody who might arouse him ever so slightly. Evi dently he had practiced faithfully for Just such an emergency es arose Sun day night, for when the time came for him to show that his careful training had not been in vain, he shot before he was thoroughly awakened, and the bullet struck his unlucky friend, the Japanese, in the stomach. When Mc Ewan found that, having fired with un erring aim at a shadow, he had killed, probably, an Inoffensive Japanese, he aroused the other Inmates" of' the household, and they sent the poor fel low to the hospital. Then, no doubt, McEwan went to bed again, and fin ished the sleep so Imprudently dis turbed by the audacious brown stran ger from a strange land. - At least, it would seem so, from the fact that the police were not notified of the tragedy for sixteen hours. It is possible that by this time Mc Ewan "has begun to realize that, his deed is little short of murder. In any view. It is without excuse, and cer tainly without provocation. McEwan should sleep for a time In a cell, so that the danger to others may be reduced to a minimum. If he should not be held accountable, there may be Justifi cation for the view likely to obtain elsewhere In the world that the life of a Japanese Is of very little account In civilized America. GOOD ROADS AND CONVICTS AGAIN. Whether The Oregonlan' has made a gross mistake In its statement of the amount appropriated by the bill for working convicts, and the purposea to which the money is to be applied, as a correspondent today says, this pa per Is willing to leave to the Judgment of Us readers. Section 13 provides that "for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this act, there is hereby appropriated the sum of $250,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary." The amount stated is, therefore, cor rect. In summing up In one sentence the provisions of the act, room was left for a quibble, of which Mr. Harris seeks to take advantage; but the effect of the act was correctly stated. It is true that when convicts are working on the roads directly, the county must pay traveling and operating expenses, the state donating to the county first applying therefor the services of the convicts. But not all the road'ork is to be done directly upon the roads. The bill provides for the working of convicts in quarries, and, as they can be most easily guarded and most eco-' nomlcally worked in that manner, it is altogether probable that, ff this bill should become a law, most of the work would be done in quarries. There is demand for crushed- rock. Road work is done largely .with teams' furnished by farmers who drive their own teams. Upon the subject of supplying crushed rock, the bill provides that the state shall establish and operate rock-crush-lng plants and furnish the' rock free to counties. Any cdunty (the bill provides) desiring to procure prepared rock for making perma nent roads shall, by Its County Court or Board of County Commissioners, present a written request to that effect to the Convict Labor Board, stating .therein the quantity of rock desired, the quantity It can take each day and when It desires to begin re ceiving said rock. These requests shall ba filed, numbered in order and acted upon in the order in which they are received. Upon receiving such request said board shall de liver to each county making such request the amount of material requested to the full extent of the capacity of the camp or station, each county being served -tn the order of its request. No language could be plainer. If the first county asks for all the rock, it will get it. and no discretion is left In the authority of the board. Mr. Harris asserts that "not one cent of the money appropriated is t be available for counties who take convicts for road work." and In this he leaves the im pression that The Oregonlan said the money would be ."available for coun ties." The Oregonlan spoke of convict work in general, and challenges Mr. Harris to show how, under the provi sions of the bill, one dollar of that $250,000 can be spent without the coun ties first applying for the convict labor or rock getting the benefits of it. While the convicts are working on the roads directly, none of the $250,000 will be spent, except for salary of the board, engineers, superintendents and foremen. So far as it is spent,' the county first applying would get the benefit, whether the labor be directly upon the roads or in rock-crushing plants. The Oregonlan is-not drafting a convict-labor bill. If It were, it would provide that the superintendent of the penitentiary shall advertise the num ber of convicts that are available for work outside the penitentiary, and give notice that on a 'certain day he will receive applications for convict labor, together with a statement of the facilities the several counties have for caring for convict's. On the day fixed the applications would be considered, and the convict labor apportioned as equitably as possible. The same plan would be followed in distributing crushed rock. Some discretion would be lef,t to the distributing officials, in stead of providing, as does the bill un der consideration, that the board "shall" award to each county, in the order of their applications, the amount of labor or rock requested. It would probably not be wise to distribute rock or labor pro rata at all times, where the total amount applied for exceeds the amount available, for the amount apportioned might be too small to be of practical use. But neither should one county be permitted to "hog It" because it made application first. It Is scarcely necessary to reiterate The Oregonlan's criticisms of other features of the bill. Mr. Harris agrees that one man is better than a board of three, "if we can ' get Just the right man." He is evidently of the opinion that the appointment of three would Increase the chance of getting one good one, but does not remember . that the other two would be a majority and outvote the one. But The Oregonlan did not base its criticisms upon "granted Incompetency . and disloy alty," as Mr. Harris says. It said that one man will accomplish more than three. The bill allows $5 a day and expenses to each of "the three while employed, leaving the Inevitable con clusion that kthey are to devote only part of their time to this work, and make their living at other occupations. Men thus employed could not be ex pected to give good service as road builders and overseers of convicts. One man devoting his whole time to the work would do more at less cost. Mr. Harris conce"des the weakness of one feature of the bill when he says that if the plan falls It can be done away with. Yes, but tne bill emphati cally repeals all laws for the employ ment of convicts in the penitentiary. He proposes to cut out all existing methods of employment and try a new one. The Oregonlan said that it would be better to try the new plan by work ing up to It gradually, still retaining the old laws, so that convicts can be worked under them if tire new plan fails. Air. Harris asks: "Does our critic willfully make the misstatement that the bill provides that in case a county first applies for all the convicts that are available, and seems prepared to care for and guard them, that there is nothing to do but let them all go to one county, and let other counties go without?" To make a pointed answer to the question The Oregonlan will fully made the statement, and chal lenges Mr. Harris to show that It is a misstatement. The fact is, he admits that it Is a correct statement, as a reading of his letter will show. After many years waiting. New Or leans at last witnesses quite a "crimp" placed In the commercial prestige of her new and lusty rival, Galveston. Beginning next month, the weekly steamship service between Galveston and Mexican ports will be replaced by a semi-monthly service, and a weekly service will be inaugurated out of New Orleans. The Texas seaport has re ceived such a start, however, that the dropping of a steamer per week from a regular schedule will have no such effect as it might have had in the earlier days of the port. There is plenty of room, and plenty of business for a large number of Southern ports, just as there Is plenty of room for nu merous ports on the Gulf Coast, and Galveston will quickly recover from this temporary curtailment of her serv ice with the Mexican ports. . The dropping tendency of the New York 6tock market,' the high rates of call money and general weakness In everything of a speculative character for the past fortnight, are in a measure explained by the liberality in Christ mas remembrances. With something like $200,000,000 in January dividends to provide for, and a good many mil lions to be distributed ampng em ployes and friends, the New Yorker has. hardly been in a position to do very much plunging of a nature that would inject bullishness Into a stock market. That portion of the millions which was distributed among the em ployes was perhaps invested In a much better cause than It would have been had the giver bought A. O. T. in Wall street. . Raisuli, the Moorish bandit, is be coming more up-to-date in his rascal ity. A cable from Tangier printed in yesterday's Oregonlan says that he Is in control of the railroad in the neighborhood of the Moorish capital, and is actively arming bands of men for the purpose of fighting the trpops of the Sultan. While a great many Caucasians In Morocco will suffer by reason of the pending hostilities, in view of the past attitude of the Sultan toward Raisuli, the ruler will hartly come in for very much sympathy. If the Sultan had displayed one-half the energy in preparing a campaign against the bandit when he seized and held an American citizen for ransom, the task of putting down the present rebellion would have been much easier. Death by railroad collision, drowning, murder, suicide, burning and misery In a hundred other forms are all included In the news of the day which is served up on Christmas as on other daysC As perusal of the news columns of the daily papers quite forcibly, reminds one that for a. great many people in this hard old world, Christmas is anything but "merry." . I The steel trust's Interest charge for 1906 is $41,530,375. That is to say, the combine grafts this vast sum oft the country to pay interest on about three quarters of a billion watered stock. But the stand-patters tell us our in fant Industries need protection. PREVENTTO X OK LAND FRACDS Rascality Properly Punished, bat Lawa . Must Be Beformeil. New York Evening Post. If the solution of the public land prob lem consisted merely In punishing' all those who have violated the laws passed for the regulation of the public domain, then , the Roosevelt administration might already be credited with truly astonishing progress toward that solu tion. It is doubtful If ever before so many persons from such different sta tions In life and In so many different localities have been convicted within so short a 'time for the violation of Fed eral statutes which had previously been almost Ignored. Secretary Hitchcock, in the face of political and personal pressure of every form, has been re lentless in his pursuit of corrupt offi cials and corrupting outside operators, and the President has given loyal sup port to his work. As the Secretary sum marized results in his report for this year, there have been 490 persons indict ed for land frauds. 83 have been con victed, and 401 are under indictments still pending. Naturally, when such wholesale ras cality is exposed, the laws which have proved so easy to evade pome In for at tention. The United States land laws are bad because they facilitate fraud and deceit, and their shortcomings In this particular have already been widely noted; but they are also bad because they fall to make provisions for the needs of the legitimate interests of the coun try. The peculiar Interest of President Roosevelt's special message of yesterday lies In Its emphasis of this latter and less considered phase of the subjeot. AH over the West there have been conducted Industries useful to the coun try at large, Indispensable to the com munities in which they are placed, hon est in every relation of life except that the land on which they operate has been virtually stolen. Timber cutting, cattle raising, coal mining have been carried on under laws,- or rather In vio lation of laws, which bore next to no relation to their genuine requirements. As the President says with truth and force: "The present coal law, limiting the in dividual entry to 160 acres, puts a prem ium on fraud by making It Impossible to develop certain types of coal fields and yet comply with the law. It is a scandal to maintain laws which sound well, but which make fraud the key with out which great natural resources must remain closed." What he says here of coal lands " ap plies only in less degree to grazing and timber lands. Without employing a force of agents to make fictitious entries and then turn , over their holdings to hlra, a man could not acquire enough acres of forest to make it profitable for him to equip a sawmill. What was the result of a policy which would give a citizen no more land for mining coal than for growing cabbages? It did not stop the acquisition of great tracts of land nor the supply of those products which required large areas. It did, however, develop la the Western country a thoroughly unhealthy public sentiment regarding the public domain. To the already general conviction that there was no moral wrong in cheating the Government, was added a special contempt for this set of laws. Indus tries In which, for their own sake, the country took a genuine pride, were para doxically kept out of the hands of men with scruples. So long as these underlying conditions exist. It is vain to suppose that any series of prosecutions, even If the whole Senate should be put behind the bars, will scare away the land thieves once for all. The laws must be liberalized In one direction as they are made strict er In another. The timber and stone act, the desert land act, and the com mutation clause of the homestead act, are suggested by the President for re peal or modification, as they were by his Land Laws Commission of last year. JBut while the need for amending the land laws has long been perfectly well known, this may be a propitious time for President Roosevelt to urge their re form. The prosecutions of the last two years have interested EaBtern communi ties which scarcely realized before that thene were any such things as land laws . and the public domain. Let an other v period of apathy ensue, with the laws in their present condition, and the old frauds are absolutely certain to re appear. On the other hand, a carefully worked out system of leasing range land, selling standing timber without selling the land, and otherwise permit ting the most effective use of natural resources In conformity with the law, and under proper compensation, will do much to create a public sentiment that will help greatly In the future adminis tration of the much-abused Land Office. Wisdom In One Physician. Washington, D, C, Dispatch Senator Pettus, of Alabama, who is P85 years old, was working on a law case In his office In Alabama recently, when he was overcome by an attack of vertigo. "We're going to send for a doctor," one of his clerks told him. "All right." the Senator said, "but don't get more than one." When the doctor arrived he bundled Senator Pettus, into a carriage and got in with him and ordered that the Seri--ator be taken to his home. "You're a doctor, are you?" Senator Pettus asked. "I am." was the answer. "And you're all alone?" "Yes, sir," the physician answered, thinking tho Senator had some confi dential communication to make. "You're sure there is only one of you?" tho Senator persisted. "You and I are the only two people here?" "Yes, sir." "I'm mighty glad of It." the Senator said, with a sigh of relief. "I am sure I'll get well if there is only one of you fellows here, but I know I could never survive a consultation." Devotes Her Life to Charity. Sioux City Journal. Waneta , Toskatomba, a full-blooded Chickasaw maiden, well educated and worth $100,000 In her own right, has de cided that she will never marry, but will devote her life to charity work. In a short time she will take up her resi dence In Oklahoma City, where she will connect herself with some charitable In stitution. THE -MORNING AFTER. By Sergeant Stewart. TJ. S. A. Same old Christmas I had last year; Hame old lunches and the same old beer. Same old head and the same old thirst; Same old excuse I had at first. Same old nose and the same old clothes; Same lolrt bluff that never goes. Same old cop In the same old place; Same old feeling in an empty space. Same old Judge with the same old grudge; Same old story "that I couldh't budge." Same old sentence, same old flne; Same old phone to a friend of mine. Same old lecture; same old say; Same old pledge In the same old way. Same old vow with the same old tear; Saint old drunk I'll have next year. PRESS CLE AX AND INDEPENDENT. How Problem Has Been Solved By Great Newspapers. Hartford (.Conn.) Dispatch to New York World. At the banquet of the Get-Together. Club, which includes representative men of this city and Its vicinity, and which gives dinners once a month to hear experts talk shop In their especial lines, Don C. Seltz. business manager of the New York World, this evening convinced these citizens, who were drawn from all professional and busi ness walks of life, that the counting room does not dominate the editorial department of any successful news paper in this country. Replying to a direct question of his friend, the Rev. John Coleman Adams, of the Church of the Redeemer, Mr. Seltz said: "In my If years' experience jn the business office of the World I know that no one has ever gone from the counting room to the editorial room to consult about one nickel." ' The topic of the evening was "The Need of a Clean and Independent Press," and the other speaker besides Mr. Seltz was Ernest Howard, chief editorial writer of tho Springfield Re publican, who mentioned that the Re publican had banished free railroad and theater tickets from its office. Mr. Seltz said the press was Inde pendent, far more so than It was some years ago, and that to be successful a paper must be independent. He related a number of Incidents to show It, Among the speakers were "Pa" Corbin, the former Yale football rush; Edward Porrltt, the English writer, and Rabbi Elklru Saj-s Adam Was Probably a Negro. . Philadelphia Public Ledger, "Adam was probably a negro," said Rev. Edward F. Randolph, in a ser mon at Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church, Fifteenth and Mount Vernon streets. "The white races are . com paratively modern, whereas the an cient peoples were colored. The Jap anese and Chinese older civilizations than ours are yellow. The Egyptians. Assyrians and Ethiopians were black or brown. The weight of scientific evidence goes to show that Adam and Eve were colored. Dr. Pritchard, the greatest ethnologist who ever lived, says he Is convinced of the truth of this." The pastor said that the black man was held in higher esteem in ancient times than he Is today. He said that the monuments of the East pictured many black heroes. Fourteen of Egypt's Pharaohs were negroes. Mrs. Root Gives Away Secrets. Washington (D. C.) Post. Mra'Ellhu Root, wife of the Secretary of State, despises Washington, D. C, life as much as her husband likes It, and was Instrumental In getting her husband to resign as Secretary of War and return to New York. She did not know of the preliminary arrangement when the Presi dent invited Mr. Root to take John Hay's place in the Cabinet, and, while visiting up the state, was surprised by the receipt of a dispatch from her husband announc ing his decision. She thereupon turned to her friends and said: "I do believe that If (,hey offered thai husband of mine a place as pollcemaa in Washington he would take It he likes to live there so well." - Intlmatlont "It Is a Boy." Atlantic City Special in New York World. Friends of City Physician Chew, who knew of a visit of the stork, visited the Chew residence in the exclusive cot tage section before daylight, and posted large lettered placards on the house in forming the public of the arrival of a son and heir. "It is a boy," asserted one staring sign, while another bore the legend, "After many years." The signs drew a crowd, and friends of the official stopped aiitos and carriages to extend congratu lations. In the James J. Hill Line. Baltimore News. James J. Hill, president of the Great Northern Railroad, takes Immense pleas ure In recalling that he cut the first stencil and marked the first barrel of flour ever manufactured In Minneapolis. This was in 18S9 or 1860, when he was agent for a line of freight steamers run ning on the Mississippi. The particular stencil was kept by the milling company for years, but at last was destroyed in a fire. The Lost Boy. . i Washington (D. C.) Herald. The Boy I TIsed to Be would know How far It Is to Christmas Day, And every night In dreams would go Swift-paced along tho wondrous war; And he by day would count the weeks. The days the very hours, Indeed! "With eager eyes and flaming cheeks The lore of Christmas he would read. Ah! he knew all the Jolly tales The folk about the way would weave; . With boyish faith, which never falls. He had the knowlege to believe. He knew the legends all were true. He scrawled queer letters to the Saint. He heard fhe fairy horns that blew Their marvel-music, far and faint. Of all the Christmas wishes made This Is the deepest In the heart: That I, might find the light that played Through all the long days set apart. And might believe the legends quaint. The sleigh tracks In the snow might see. And know the jolly olden Saint As did the Boy I Used to Be! ANYTHING TO MAKE DEMOCRATS HERE," WHO ARE SOMEWHAT AT SEA FOR AN ISSCE. ARE THINKING OF TARING IP SECRETARY ROOT'S SPEECH ON STATE RIGHTS WASHINGTON DISPATCH. From the Chicago Inter-Ocean. NEW YORK CITY PERTURBED. Boston Accent and Pronunciation Too Much for Feeble- Minds. New York Sun. People who go to Boston may not care mtrch about the simplified spell ing, but if some kind soul would simplify the pronunciation of the Eng lish language as she is spoke around Boston It would save the stranger many blushes. If, for instance, you happen to be the stranger and by way iqi. showing an interest In local poli tics you remark that you are glad Jhat Guild defeated Moran you are courting danger. How does anybody pronounce "Guild?" Like "gild," rf course. But put a capital at Its head, go to Boston and tat once you must say "Gulled." As for Moran, it is ad mitted that some Bostoniuns do say as who else would not? "Mo-ran," with the accent on the last syllable, as. for instance, in also ran. But there are others who give It a pronuncia tion which is a cross between "Mo ran" and "Morran," .nd which really sounds more like 'Murrain" than any thing else. If you want to appear to be a na tive bean-eater of course you may not; there's no accounting for tastes you will not talk of Dorchester, but of Dotchester; not of Roxbury and Sudbury, but of Roxb'ry and Sudb'ry. Jf you think of sending your son to Groton you will know enough to call It "Grotton." You will go, not to Quincy market, but to "Quinzy mar ket," the same being In the lower por tion of, not Faneuil hall, but "Fannul hall," or even "Funnel hall." In Quinzy market you may be lucky enough to find some apples labeled blue pearmalns. But If you would ap pear to the manner born you will ask for them as "blue p'manns." Perhaps you already know enough to call Leo minster "Lemm'nster," to say "Ash by" when you talk of Ashby, and "Wall-thamm" when you rerer to Waltham, and "Wawb'n" for Waban, and "Hayv'r'll" for Haverhill, and "Kittry" for Klttery, and "Sawln Hill" for Savin Hill. But there remains the crucial test of Blllerica. If you call It as it is spelled "Bll-ler-i-ca," you must not wonder what causes that strange expression to pass over the face of any true Bostonian within hearing. The Btrange expression will not bo there if you say "Bill-rlkka," or even "Blll-ricky." 'You UK Pigs to Mark Esteem. Cincinnati Enquirer. Dr. W. G. Grace, the famous English cricketer, has been the recipient of many gifts from lovers of cricket as tangible proofs of their admiration of his prow ess. Some of them have been remark able in character, but perhaps the most embarrassing gift he ever received was one of three young pigs which a Wor cestershire farmer lately sent to hint In recognition of a great batting -eat which he had witnessed. Congressional Records va. Seeds. Philadelphia Press. Representative Watklns, of Louis iana, thlnk3 he has about the most Inconsistent constituent imaginable. He sent him a full quota of garden seeds and received this letter In reply: "I received the seeds, but they are no good. Send me a set of Congres sional records. They amuse the chil dren and make bully lamp-lighters." Roosevelt, Jr., Boss. Washington, D. C, Post. . Five or six youngsters were playing shinny on the. roof of the low building connecting the President's office , with the White House. "Which one is young Roosevelt?" a 'Visitor asked a policeman. "See that one bossing the others?" the policeman said, pointing. "That's him." Fire Department Ado's Coffee Wan-on. Boston Transcript. The New York Fire Department has added to its equipment a coffee wagon, which with three men responds to third alarms and dispenses coffee and sand wiches. This is more practical than the increase In salaried chaplains, recently proposed by the Fire Commissioner of that city. Legal Lights. As Walkers. Philadelphia Enquirer. Two of the greatest pedestrians In Washington, D. C. are Associate Jus tices Harlan and White. They walk every day from the Capitol to their homes In Northwest Washington, a dlstanoe of nearly five miles. It Is Now i "Blame-Mr" Storer. Chicago Journal. They have a new way of pronounc ing Belmany Storer's name In Wash ington, D. C. Since the recent sensa tional publication he has come to ba known aa "Blame-Mo" storer. Feminine Subtlety. New York Sun. X made this salad Just for you, Eat all that you can crami The mutton chops are pretty good, I do love Persian lamb. "I saw Eliza Jones today; She is a spiteful thing. Her husband has Just given her A handsome diamond ring. The run was sinking In the west, A pretty sight, but yet. Despite the beauty of Its hue, I Ilka a sabla set. T took the trolley coming home And stood up oh! so far; I wouldn't have to hang on. straps Had I a motor ear." HER PRESENTABLE.