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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (March 5, 1907)
niEJIOKXIXG OREGONIAN, TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 1L07. SrBSCKIPTiON RATES. t INVARIABLY IN ADVANCE. "CJ (By HalL) Dally, Sunday included, on year $8.00 Iatly, Sunday Included, six months.... 4.23 Daily, Sunday Included, three month.. 2.25 UaUy. Sunday Included, one month 75 Dally, without Sunday, one year -00 Daily, without Sunday, six months 3.25 Dally, without Sunday, three month. . 1-75 lisily, without Sunday, one month ft0 Sunday, one year. z-50 Weekly, one year (Issued Thursday)... Sunday and Weekly, one year BY CARRIER. Dally, Sunday included, one year . 9.00 Dally-. Sunday Included, one month 75 HOW TO REMIT Send postottlce money order, express order or personal check on J cur local bank. Stamps, coin or currency are at the sender's risk. Give postoCflca ad dress in full. Including county and atatsv 1'OSTAGK RATES. Entered at "Portland, Oregon. Postofflca as Second-Class alatur. I" to n Pagea 1 nt l to 28 Pages....... 2 cents BO to 44 Pages cents 4 to 60 Pagea cent Foreign Postage, double rates. LUl'UKTaM The poatal laws are strict. Newspapers on which postage is not tully prepaid are not lorwarded to destination. EASTEKN BUSINESS OFFICE. The 6. C. Becknith Special Agency New Tork, rooms 4-D Tribune building. " Col cago, ruoms 510-512 Tribune building. KEPT ON SALE. Chicago Auditorium Annex, PostoBlca Kews Co., 178 Dearborn street. ht. Paul, Minn. N. Bt. Marie, Commercial Station. Coiorudu bp rings, Colo. Western News Agency. Denver Hamilton Jfc Hendrtck. SO0:1" Seventeenth street; Pratt Book Store, 1214 Fifteenth street; L Welnateln; H. P. Han sen. Kantns City, Mo. Rlcksecker Cigar Co, Zvlnth and Walnut. Minneapolis M. J. Kavanaugh, 50 Couth Third. Cleveland, O. James Pusbaw, SOT Su perior street. Atlantic City, N. J. Ell Taylor New York City I Jones & Co., Astor Bouse; Broadway Theater News Stand. Oakland, C'al. W. H. Johnson, Four teenth and Franklin streets; N. Wheatley: Oakland News stand. Ogden D. L. Boyle, W. G. Kind. 11 Twenty-fifth street Hot Springs, Ark. C. N. Weaver & Co. Omaha Barkalow Bros, 1612 Far nam: Mageath Stationery Co., 1S08 Farnam; 240 Couth Fourteenth. hacrumenlo, CuL Sacramento News Co, 43U K street. Salt Lake Moon Book 4 Stationery Co, Xtoaenfeld & Hansen. Los Angeles B. B. Amos, manager seven street wagons. Pan Iiirgo B. B. Amos. Long Brnch. Cel. B. K. Amos. Pasadena, Cal. A. P. Horning. tan i'rancLsoo Foster & Orear, Ferry News stand: Hotel Bt. Francis News Stand; L. Parent, N. Wheatley. Fnrpka, Cal. Call-Chronicle Agency. Washington, D. C. Ebbltt House. Penn sylvania avenue. Norfolk, Vs. Jamestown News Co. Pine Beach, Va. W. A. 'Cosgrove. Philadelphia, Pa. Ryan's Theater Ticket Office. rORTLANI, TUESDAY, MARCH 6, . 1907. SENATOR SPOONER. The resignation of Senator Spooner retires from public life, temporarily at leat, a .man of sterling character and great ability. During the sixteen yearn of his eervice in the Senate he has given all his time to his country. Doubtless, like Mr. Bailey of Texas, he might have received large retainers from Individuals or corporations and might have replenished1 hit? private punse by making merchandise of his position and influence; but this Mr. Spooner declined to do. Very likely there are numerous monopolies which would gladly have given him fat directorships, or even made him their president, ae the Express Trust made Mr. Piatt, of New York; but he resist ed the voice of the charmer, though such resistance, was rather unfashion able among his colleagues. In thi long: term of distinguished and conscientious public service Mr. Spoon er's private fortunes have been consist ently subordinated to the public wel fare. If he is not a poorer man than he was sixteen years ago, he is no richer. No person can honestly acquire wealth in the public service, and Mr. Ppooner i honest. The bet public servants of ail nations encroach more on their personal means rather than fall short In their duties, and few who know Mr. Spooner's record would class him below the beet, Cicero, in his oration for Marcellus, tells Caesar that "he nasi already done enough for glory and that the time has now come when he can do an act of kindness for the pure pleasure of it." Mr. Spooner has done very little for the sake of "glory." He has acquired a great and enduring reputation, but it is not so much for brilliant oratory as lor deep knowledge, persistent industry and sounds Judgment. In his younger days he belonged to a group of lawyers who illustrated the bar of Wisconsin and placed the Supreme Court at Madi son among the two or three of the first rank in the Nation. In the Senate he stands with the best constitutional lawyers of his day. It is one of the disadvantages of a written constitution that men who wish to abide strictly by its provisions necessarily clash with National tendencies, and sometimes seem to prefer the sterile letter of the law to plain justice; for a written docu ment is by its nature fixed, while the life of a people develops by incessant change. Hence in our own history there has been perpetual conflict be tween the letter of the constitution and the evolution of the National spirit: and it was thus the fault rather of our system than of Senator Spooner's char acter that he sometimes found himself in opposition to progress. In many capes, with us, progress means oppo sition to the. Constitution. Throughout the long and bitter cort tuft which Mr. La Follette has waged with the corporations in Wisconsin for railroad regulation, for direct pri maries, for equitable taxation, Mr. Spooner has for the most part sided with the corporations. It would de mand a hardy cynicism, however, to believe that he did so from unworthy motives. Conservative and aristocratic by temperament, nurtured in the older school of political and economic thought, which taught reliance upon a superior class and .distrust of the "mob," averse to radicalism, classical, legal, technical and, above all, loyal to the friends of his earlier years who had become corporation magnates the won der le not that he inclined to favor the corporations, but that he could see any good whatever In the reformers. Though he has lone little for " glory" In Cicero's sense, Mr. Spooner has done much for his country. Like a good ol dier he has earned his discharge by long and faithful service. All will re gret to see Mm go, but nobody can accuse him of lack of devotion to his country. He has given us sixteen of the best years of his life sixteen years' work of 'one of the finest minds and soundejn hearts of this generation, l-vw have done more. Many with greater pretensions have done less. He belongs to a passing age. His point of view and modes of thought are foreign Iie theire. le younger men who now make .entries upon th stage of public life. . To the needs of the new time they are perhaps better adapted than he 'by their "sympathies, but some of them might well take lessons from Mr. Spooner In sanity of thought and poise of Judgment. THE FIFTY-NINTH CONGRESS. The closing hours of the Fifty-ninth Congress emphasized anew the utility of the Senate. The freedom of debate which that body enjoys enabled a few members to talk the unspeakable ship subsidy bill to death, as other bills have been talked to death before and none more deservinglyv Upon the whole the recorS of the Senate is more respectable than that of the House. There are Individual Senators who sur pass anything In the way of corrup tion and imbecility that the House can exhibit, but the general tone of the membership is higher. The House has shown increasing subserviency to the Speaker during this Congress. Mr. Cannon has wielded a despotic author ity, and his use of It has not always been wholesome. - For example, by his single will he prevented the adoption of a bill to create a great Atlantic forest and mountain reserve after the Legisla tures of seven states had petitioned for it after every Important commercial body in the East had asked' for it and after the Senate had passed It by a heavy majority. Power of this magni tude In the possession of one man is undemocratic and possibly dangerous. Yet the House sees no way to escape from its fetters. The laws passed by the Fifty-ninth Congress undoubtedly mark an epoch In the history of Federal legislation. It is the first Congress which has definite ly undertaken to curb the predatory corporations, and it has passed several bills which directly tend to accomplish that end. The most conspicuous is the rate bill, whose effects for good! or evil have yet to be developed! One of the most popular measures of the short session is the amendment which per mits farmers to distil denatured alco hol and destroys the nascent monopoly of the Standard Oil Company in that product. Among the most useful bills are those introduced under Mr. La Follette's influence restricting the hours of labor of railroad employes and increasing the common law liability of employers. The Fifty-ninth Congress was liberal with the public funds, especially dur ing the short session., The appropria tion for river and' harbor improvements ran up to some eighty-three millions. Those who are frightened at this sum may as well try to compose their minds, for It will be a great deal larger in succeeding years. There is an in creasing determination in the public mind to have our natural and! artificial waterways made useful and Congress must respond, to it. The river andi har bor bill will be no longer a 'pork bar rel" but one of the great and profound ly beneficial appropriations. , WELCOME, EAST WIND. Piiougi dreaded) the world over, the Ktst wind 'has no terrors for Oregon Springtime."-. The lore and annals of manyV reoplefeare fUu" ear ' the East vSind. HuJ t hurt not Oregon, yesterdays . True, we jd nof ,llte ,ts blustery breath. It placed h5-'"oc "with, miladi's skirts at the coiner gfi blew her hat to pieces those fln plumeo too, and ribbons that cost W'j It whirled up the dust and drove .specif? 1 our eyes ana germs into our -ose it cov ered us over with a coat Idust and bedizened the bloom, of Jur com plexions. It made the fire bell clang wlkL, like a thing bewitched and almost scared us out of our very boots. But the visitor froze never a water pipe. Had it come a month earlier it would have lined the pockets of the plumber with our hard-earned gold. It is tamed on this trip, by the recurring Springtime. The wild caller chases away the clouds andi lets in the sun shine. It carries away the surplus moisture and makes plowing easy. Our friends, the snow peaks, renew their greetings after their Winter's seclusion. Welcome to the Bast wind, even though It makes us squint our eyes and) twist our necks and chase our hats. Not harbinger of evil, at this season. Is the East winds as elsewhere. In Pharoah s second dream, the seven thin ears of corn were blasted with the East wind. It was the East winrj that brought the locusts and parted the sea and then engulfed the Egyptians. Job thought no wise man should "utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the East wind." It was the East wind that broke the ships of Tarehish. Jonah's gourd was withered and him self was scorched by "a vehement East wind. The very name. East, hisses with the sound of violence. But none of this took place in Oregon Spring time. This welcome, let it be understood, will not last through next Summer, when the visitor might parch the wheat fields, nor through next Winter, when it might burst our pipes and cost us dear for fuel. No, we want none of the East wind then. COLUMBIA'S PRESTIGE SAFE. For the first time since its inception, the Columbia River jetty is assured of sufficient funds to guarantee its. com pletion. There has of course never existed a doubt about ultimate com pletion of the great work, but the difficulty in securing adequate ap propriations and the attendant delay, when these appropriations were held up have been the cause of much worry and anxiety to those interested in the improvement that means so much, not only to Portland, but to the entire Columbia Basin. The river and harbor bill passed toy Congress which ad journed yesterday, has provided a liberal appropriation for immediate use on the jetty -work, and has also placed the project on the continuing contract basis so that In the future there will be no stoppage of work and loss through lack of funds with which to keep the plant In operation through out the year. With this great work beyond the reach of filibustering schemes or other obstructive tactics which dn the past have placed it in jeopardy, the future of our ocean commerce is assured. The effective work of the Port of Portland Is a guarantee that the river channel will always be maintained at a suffi cient depth to accommodate the largest ships that car enter the river, and the Port of Columbia will improve the tug and pilot service on the bar so that it will be in keeping with the condi tions which from "now on 'will show a constant change for the better. The river and harbor bill a!so provides funds sufficient for a substantial be ginning on the upper river improve ments, and fortunately these have been secured without the necessity bf paring the appropriation for the more impor tant work at the mouth of the river. The increaiing business that will fol low improvement at the entrance of the river will . quickly demonstrate the value of the great waterway, and from now on we can reasonably expect ap propriations ample for all requirements until the river is in condition for steamers to run through from Lewis ton to the sea without breaking cargo. This is the kind of transportation that will make the Columbia River impreg nable ..from a commercial standpoint. With a free and unobstructed water way from the great producing regions of the Inland Empire to tidewater on the Pacific, and with three or four great transcontinental railroads follow ing the lines of least resistance along the banks of this mighty river, no power on earth can prevent the growth and development of the cities and towns to which that great region of wealth, the Columbia Basin, is tributary. VALE, SHIP SITBSIOT. The ship subsidy bill -was quietly laid to Test at Washington yesterday. It would be hardly proper to say that it Is dead, for if history repeats herself, there will at the next session of Con gress, be another awakening from the semi-comatose condition into which the measure sinks whenever it gets a re sounding whack over the head. As the iniquitous measure Is not yet dead or, to be more accurate, as. its pro moters do not know it is dead, it will hardly be a violation of that sacred admonition "De mortuis nil nisi bonum" once more to call attention to some of its shortcomings. The all-powerful plea that was made for thin illegiti mate offspring whose parentage was credited to patriotism instead of mon opolistic greed, was that it would in crease our commerce by Increasing our facilities for handling it. The inference to be gained from this plea was that In the absence of Ameri can ships there would! be no foreign commerce. An object lesson appears simultaneously with the defeat of the subsidy 'bill. Over on the coast of Japan the magnificent American steamship Dakota, of the Hill line, is pounding to pieces in the surf, and will probably be a total loss. According to the Humphrey line of reasoning, a share of our ocean commerce, propor tionate to the tonnage of the Dakota, will vanish, with the loss of the snip. But will it? Not so you could notice it. Long before the underwriters have be gun paying the claims for the lose of the ship, Mr.' Hill will have chartered under eminently satisfactory terms a fine, fast steamer to take the place of the Dakota. Of course, undfer our absurd, an tiquated and trade-hampering naviga tion laws, Mr. Hill will not be permit ted to purchase and place under his National flag some of the fine, fast steamers which are available In. such emergencies for the citizen of every other nation on the face of the earth. Mr. Hill is patriotic and is fond of the Stars and Stripes when they trail out from the mast head of hie steamers, but he has already announced that he will not build any more American steamers. The Teason for his refusal to do so is, plain. His experience with the Dakota and Minnesota clearly demonstrated that they could steam no faster, carry no more freight per reg istered ton, and in no particular ex celled the fine British steamers of the Holt ' line ' which alternated with his own .ships on the Oriental run out of Puget Sound, and which cost about one-half as much as his own ships. Both lines carried Oriental crews, so there was very little difference in the cost of operation, but the enormously greater cost of the Minnesota and Da kota ran against them -whether they were running or laid up. If Mr. Hill replaces the Dakota, it will be w-ith a foreign ship and American trade will not suffer thereby. Some day a few of our statesmen will see a great light on the shipping question, and; will pass a bill which will enable Mr. Hill and all other Americans who so desire, to secure ships at he same prices as are paid by the foreigners. Then we shall have an American merchant marine secured by natural methods. CHECK TO GOOD ROADS IN OREGON. Governor Chamberlain has made sev eral fit vetoes, but one of them, we think, will not be uifTVersally approved that on the Johnson road bill. There is one matter upon which all will agree that Oregon needs and must have more good roads. We must have highways permanently improved so that they will toe suitable for hauling twelve months in the year. The farm ers cannot expect to. obtain the best prices for their produce unless condi tions are such that they can hold their crops until they get ready to sell, and then haul them to town. The man who must haul at harvest time and place his crop in the hands of the prospective buyer is at a great disadvantage. The buyer not only charges storage, but fixes the price to suit himself. It Is useless, however, to argue this phase of the question, for recognition of the need of rock-surfaced roads is universal. The Johnson bill provided that the property-owners within two miles on either side of a road and within one mile of the end may petition for perma nent improvement thereof, and if the project be approved by a state road en gineer and by the County Court after remonstrances have been heard, the work shall be done in a systematic manner and the cost be borne equally by the state, the county and the prop erty within the limits mentioned. With out attempting a detailed statement of all the provisions of the act, this is in substance the plan proposed. The bill carried an appropriation of 1200,000, but limited the amount that may be secured by any one county to $20,000 until each county desiring state aid had secured It. By no construction could the act be said to favor any one section of the state. Everyone who advocates good roads should agree thatthey must be paid for. The trouble in the past has been that we have been wishing for good roads without being willing to pay the price. We have continued in the old plan of letting every farmer "work put" his road taxes pretty much when and where he pleased- There have been , some deviations from this, but wherever bad roads exist the same old policy is in force. To get good roads this unbusiness-like policy must be abandoned and the road work must be done systematically. The farmers must do the teaming, as they have in the past, but Instead of "working out" taxes in a haphazard manner, those who do he work should be employed at reasonable wages under the direc tions of competent roadbuilders Only in that manner can work be properly done, . But the expense of this systematic roadbuilding cannot and shouid not be borne entirely by owners of property adjoining the road improved. They are not the only ones who receive the ben efit of the improvement. Moreover, the expense is too great for them to bear. The city merchant receives the benefit of the improvement of a county high way. The professional man and the man of leisure are also beneficiaries. Every owner of an automobile and every man who drives a horse for pleasure or profit is better off for the improvement of a county road. The city should help pay for highway im provement, and this it will do under a plan of requiring the county) and state to contribute to the fund for permanent work. - The Tuttle road law, over which there has been so much controversy, provided that the property along the highway must ' bear the cost of the Improve ment. Against this there was strong protest, led by the Grange. There was reason for that protest, for the cost of the improvement should not be thus placed upon only a portion of the bene ficiaries. Now it is reported, that the Grange also opposed the Johnson road bill. This ie scarcely credible. The Grange advocates permanent Improve ment of highways. Old methods will not secure them. If the Grange op poses improvement at the expense of the local property-owners, and also op poses Improvement by co-operation of state, county and local property-owners, upon what plan would it have the roads improved? A man who opposes every plan of road Improvement must be set down as an enemy of good roads, and this attitude the Grange cannot and will hot take. The Johnson bill was perhaps not perfect. But it seemed to present the most promising plan of road improve ment, yet devised in this state. It was not materially unjust or inequitable In any particular. It offered the farmers the best opportunity they ever had for road improvement at least cost to them selves. If a mile of permanent im provement cost $2400, the property within two miles on either side would bear but $S00 of this sum. This bill would have encouraged road Improve ment where It would not be undertaken upon any other conditions. Unless the Johnson bill contains objectionable pro visions not now known to the public end not mentioned in the Governor's veto message, the defeat of this meas ure is a misfortune to the good-roads movement. The assessor of Whitman County, Wash., is levying an assessment of one-half cent per bushel on all grain In warehouses, and as much of this has been sold several times, no end of con fusion promises to result. One of the statesmen at Olympia two years ago, In urging tax reform, said that he hoped to see the day when the wheat kings of the Palouse would pay as much In taxes on their big wheat hold ings as the widow paid on the sewing machine with which she earned her liv ing. It would seem that a move in this direction is on, but it is not clear that the wheat kings are going to 'be caught, as most of them sell their crops early and placa the money out of reach of the tax collector. The recont?t ruction of San Francisco has caused such a demand for labor that complaint is arising of a labor shortage in all parts of the state. The outlook is not very bright for the fruit men. Last year they were heavy losers by reason of the car shortage, and this year there are indications of both a car shortage and a labor shortage. The million immigrants who entered the United States last year, have apparent ly nearly all settled east of the Mis souri River. Several thousand of them could be used to advantage In Oregon as well as California. The deputies for the second Russian Parliament are already assembling at St. Petersburg. A dispatch from the Russian capital states that an oppor tunity will be given the "hot heads" to vent their hostility on the ministers. If the coming session of the Czar's Parliament is in keeping with the last one, the venting of the hostility of the "hot heads" will be about the only opportunity that will be afforded them. It might prolong the lives of some of the ministry if they paid a little more attention to some of the demands of these "hot heads." The "blue laws" in Canada are in effect again- and all kinds of amuse ment are tabooed on Sunday. The sell ing of foreign newspapers is forbidden, and all business and labor .must be sus pended for the day. Work of necessity or mercy is permittedi and under this schedule there are two dozen kinds of work which can be engaged in. The new law has Just gone into effect, and; as Canada is in reasonably close prox imity to the United States, it will be repealed or ibroken into small pieces before the roses bloom again. The terrible famine in Russia still continues and along with it, heavy shipments of Russian wheat act as a damper on the market in this coun try. If the famine-stricken Muscovites would keep their wheat at home and feed it to the starving people, instead of dumping it on the market and de pressing prices, the American farmers would feel more kindly disposed toward the relief fund. A New Yorker has discovered that he is the rightful heir to the Servian throne. The recollection of what hap pened to King Alexander and the promise of what will happen to King Peter, ought to make the Job so un attractive that the New Yorker would not find competition very keen. A race for a throne of that kind ought to be won In a walk. The only way to get rid of the ship subsidy was to talk it to death. Once more the Senate nrings strikingly to mind its great similarity to an old ladles sewing circle. The Spaniards are worrying over the report that the expected heir apparent is to 'be twins. When the Spaniards have no trouble, they borrow It. . The hidden rock In the navigable sea plays no favorites. It impartially wrecked the great Dakota as well us the little schooner. The late session of Congress appro priated nearly $1,000,000,000. Congress wael an Oregon Legislature on a billion dollar scale. Railroad building down the Coast should afford some splendid opportuni ties for townsite booming. Senator Bailey got back to Washing top and was "cordially welcomed." Same at 26 Broadway. THE LATE STATE LEGISLATURE Loner and Happy Interval. North Y'amhill Record. It Is certainly fortunate that the fiasco can meet only once in two years. What Else Can It Dot Wallowa News. Will Eastern Oregon remain meek and allow the western portion to play "leech" always? Loolc Oat for Clackamas. Oregon City Courier. At least the "Clackamas bunch" at the Legislature did nothing to harm the county especially. The Limit. Santiam News. As an extravagant non-production-of what-t he-people-wanted Legislature, the 21th biennial session is the record. Golna; Some; .Now Happily Gone. Hillsboro Independent. The 1907 session passed a few . good bills and saddled something like $4, 000,000 on the taxpayers, which is go ing some. Somebody Wa Helped. Medford Southern Oregonian. At a rough guess, the truth would not be missed far by saying that near ly 50 per cent of all the bills passed have provided for an increase of salary for somebody. Load Call for I'Rcu. Woodburn Independent. Now, U'Ren, you have the opportu nity of your life with the referendum. Don't show the people you are a cow ard on some questions, and don't make any more intentional errors. Couldn't Be Worse Off. Echo Register. Eastern Oregon could not be any worse off in the proposed State of Lincoln than it is now tied up witl Western Oregon, its irrigation inter ests and other special conditions en tirely Ignored. Eastern Oregon Call for Fork, Baker City Herald. Poor old Eastern Oregon got little enough out of the last Assembly. It was a session of monster appropria tions and out of $3,000,000 spent by the Legislators, this part of the state re ceived but $3S,000. Nothlns; Like It for Fifty Years. Jacksonville Times. Since the first State Legislature 'way back In '5D, there has been noth ing to compare with the unhindered onslaught upon the State Treasury for increased salaries of public offi cials by the late Legislature. Money Might Have Been Saved McMlnnvllle Telephone-Register. Yet it must be conceded that in near ly all cases the appropriations were justified by the people's demands. Some exceptions may be found, notably in the normal school appropriations, where some $60,000 migljt have been saved. Good Word for the Normals. Newberg Enterprise. The expense of keeping up so many normal schools makes quite a heavy, drain on the pockets of the taxpayers, yet with the present shortage of teach ers it would look like good judgment to retain all of them, and if they are not doing good work, make them do it. What the Corporations Got. Elgin Recorder. . . Everything considered, there was as little good accomplished for the people at large by the recent legislative as sembly as at any time during the his tory of the state. The corporations, Marlon and Multnomah delegations got all they wanted, and tbat was the ex tent of the work accomplished. Are the People to Be Trusted? Pilot Rock Record. In the selection of Senators from Multnomah County the "dear people" who nominated and elected them will hereafter perhaps consult the old-time bosses as to the fitness of those seek ing office under the direct primary. It is easy to make laws, but it is a most difficult matter to change the hearts of men. How to Get Better Results. Forest Grove Times. The Legislature is a thing of the past and it has not done as much harm as it might. When the people pass a law themselves to give them selves the right to recall a member of the Legislature at any time he does not . do- as he should, then we may expect to get better results than we have in many cases been doing here tofore. House Members Not Satisfied. Lebanon Criterion. The members of the House them selves do not agree as to their work, and perhaps the most remarkable thing about the House was that the major ity of ltsniembers were dissatisfied with the work,,ind did not believe that the'rfeeord made would justify the people in, semling 'them back, while a very considerable number frankly said they dld-not want to return. Betrayed the People's Intereata. Castle Rock (Wash.) Advocate. The four members of the Oregon Senate from Multnomah County who caused the defeat of the bill to repeal the Portland Gas Company's franchise, covered themselves with a kind of glory that should make the most hardened turn from them .with a shud der and shun them as lepers hence forth. Not caring anything for the obloquy they were bringing upon themselves, they have deliberately voted away the people's rights for an other two years, at least. Comfortable Kind of Hole. Hillsboro Argus. The Legislature put Governor Cham berlain "in a hole." As the doughty Governor has a mountain of public sentiment behind him and a good, heavy siege veto gun in front of him, he appears to have a comfortable view of the situation, and the little man appears to have a good marksmanship. It must be real nice to have people put an executive in a hole that is lined with opportunities and upholstered with the cushions that have springs strong enough to throw a man out of the aperture. The Message of Joy. Atlanta Constitution. Tori talk about trouble. -An won't understand That Joy's just a step From the troublesome land! He's there with his fiddle. An' leadin' the band. An' he'll a-lve you the top o' the. mronln'! Tou talk about trouble, As if it were all That comes to the folks On this sky-rollin' ball. When Joy plays a dance tune From Spring-time to Fall, An' gives you the top o' the mornln'! Sometimes when old Trouble Is blockln' the way A feller can fright him By shoutin' "Hooray!" While darkness. a-danc!n'. Swings corners with Day, An' gives you the top ' the mornln' I ' HIGH FINANCE IX RAILROADS. Time la Coiulns When People Will Fnt a Stop to It. Chicago Journal. . This amazing Harriman robbery of ! the public in the Alton deal should in duce Congress to give the Interstate Commerce Commission greatly enlarged powers. One thing in particular the Commission should at once be author ized to do, and that is to prevent the issuance of stock ,beyond any railroad's urgent and apparent needs. Another measure will come later, which will provide that railroad divi dends shall never be permitted to ex ceed 6 per cent. But keeping them down to that figure will not be done according to the Harriman method, which is to pay 6 per cent on one real dollar and one dollar of water, in stead of 12 per cent on one real dol lar. Rather, It will be to take earnings in excess of 6 per cent and apply them to improvements until the limit of ne cessity has been reached. When that times comes then passenger and freight rates will be reduced by the Govern ment power, so that eventually freight rates will be one-third of what they are now and passenger rates will be not over 1 cent a mile. The people will wake up one of these days and object to being milked for the sake of paying dividends on wa tered stock, and railroads will be reor ganized on a different basis from that which prevails now. Doubtless enor mous losses will be experienced when that takes place, but the people at large will be the gainers, and those who find themselves out of pocket can blame the Harrlmans and other rail road adventurers of the present day. The Harriman system of financiering, as exposed before the Interstate Com merce Commission, makes even Stand ard Oil methods look respectable in comparison. Rockefeller's company may be guilty of murder, arson, bribery and other, serious crimes, but it has reduced the price of its product to the people and has not robbed the public directly, as was done In the Chicago & Alton affair. This style of financiering, so popu lar in Wall street, may succeed for a while, but the time is doming when the people will put a stop to it. They will not consent to go on forever playing the part of victims of daring highway men, while the country's railroads are being slowed to go to destruction. After the inevitable great disaster, Involving the railroad properties of the United States, railroads will be managed by railroad men, 'and Wall street pirates will be compelled to keep their hands off. Tobacco Heart and Never Smoked. Baltimore Dispatch to New York Herald. The case of an (eminently respectable woman of Baltimore, who Is suffering with " tobacco heart in one of the city hospitals, but who never used tobacco In her life, has been brought to the atten tlon of Commissioner of Health Boley. The name of the woman has not been divulged, but the physician explains the case as follows: - "The lady in question .has been living in a tobacco smoke Infected atmosphere for years. First her father, then her brother, next her husband, and finally her sons smoked. In the Winter, es pecially when the house is tightly closed during most of the day, she was living entirely in a smoke-filled atmosphere. "It was natural that she and the hun dreds of other women who live under the same conditions should inhale to bacco smoke. It is the inhaling that hurts. Women living under the condi tions I describe are actually eating to bacco smoke for long periods, and al though they don't feel the ill-effects at the time, may eventually develop a to bacco heart." Face Exchange May Be Next. London Punch. Professor Posner, of Berlin, an nounces that surgeons have now achieved such success In grafting op erations that they are justified in be lieving that arms, legs and even heads severed from the body may be replaced. The prospect of being able, when one gets tired of one's head, to replace it with another Is certainly alluring, and a face exchange will no doubt soon be advertised. What Might Be Done. Dr. Charles Mackay. "What mlsrht be done If men were wise What glorious deeds, my suffering brother. Would they unite In love and right. And cease their scorn of one another? Oppression's heart might be Imbued With kindling drops of loving-kindness; And knowledge pour. From shore to shore. Light rn the eyes of mental blindness. All slavery, warfare, lies and wrongs, All vice and crime, might die together; And wine and corn. To each man born. Be free as twarmth in Summer weather. The meanest wretch that ever trod, The deepest sunk In guilt and sorrow. Might stand erect In self-respect. And share the teeming world tomorrow. What might ne done? This might be done. And more than this, my suffering brother More than the tongue E'er said or sung, Tf mr-n were wise and loved each other. STRAIGHT FROM PRINCIPLE BEFORE PARTY-POWER. Latter Should Be Sacrificed. Mr. Svcrtt Tblnks, for Greater Good. PORTLAND, Or.. March 3. (To the Editor.) A letter in yesterday's Orego nian from Frank Hayek, calling atten tion to the fact that perhaps neither Re publicans nor Democrats can be relied upon to enact needed legislation, allows a larger presentation of this subject. Why are party lines so strictly drawn in the election of legislators? Does it become the function of the Legislature to distinguish between party principles at Salem? The one large feature of partisanship the election of a United States Senator is eliminated. What is the difference to the Republican, Demo crat or Socialist, as to whether or not a candidate for the Oregon Legislature allies himself with any party? Why will The Oregonian favor the election of Re publicans en-masse. over Democrats or those of any other party? Surely it can not argue that the Republican candidate without exception are better men than any candidate not a Republican? I am afraid that another election will witness tne same story every power in Republicanism will strive to elect every Republican candidate Irrespective of the worth of other candidates, and in spite of past failures again elect men who will do no more than was done by the last Legislature. . The average Democratic candidate may be no better than the average Republican candidate. But is it not the duty of the citizen and the newspaper press to con demn the petty partisanship that will elect weak men and defeat strong, hon est men on the petty grounds of pariy affiliation? Never in the history of the state was there a .greater or more popular demand to curb corporate power. Never, as in the last election, were so many pledges made to conform with this popular will, and never was less done by a Legislature than did the last. Is the next election to be a repetition of the last? A local City Council Is to be elected soon. Will party questions again govern? This Council, like our Legislatures, ignores public demands, refuses to enact ordinances the people want, gives away public property, .and refuses to curb in jurious corporate power but it is a Re publican Council. Will men again be elected to the Coun cil because they are Republicans? Will men again be defeated because they are Democrats? Is there no way for the elimination of the little party differences and the election of men honest and able enough to do what they are elected to do? There should be continuous. Increasing agitation for clean politics and clean men, but also, in local politics, for honest, Ann, able men Irrespective of party. As a Democrat, I can see that much strength can redound to the Democratic party in this state, as a result of the acts of the last Republican Legislature and the present Republican City Council. But my love for Portland and Oregon would make me willing to sacrifice party ISAAC SWETT. Queen Alexandra C'hldea Her Daughter. London Dispatch in New York World. Queen Alexandra, who is accustomed to be obeyed, had a spat with Queen Maud, of Norway, when the latter was recently visiting at Windsor. It Is known how the English Queen headed the movement to suppress the slaughter of birds for the purpose of or namenting the headgear of ladies of so ciety. On her recent visit Queen Maud, who Is now every inch a Queen, ap peared at a prominent reception with a bunch of feathers in her hat Some of the court ladies present noti fied the English Queen, and she strong ly remonstrated with her Queenly daugh ter over the unbecoming adornment. She insisted that Queen Maud should there and then remove the offending orna ments from her hat, and this was done, not without some tears. Gambling Raid In the Philippines. Manila American. - An illustration of the value of military training In civil pursuits is furnished In a recent raid on a Binondo gambling house. Two American plain-clothes men, for months baffled In their efforts to raid the game, hit upon a plan of scaling a blank wall forming the side of the house in whose upper floor the game, they were satisfied, was progressing. Se curing a short ladder, one' American mounted to its topmost rung, the other scrambling to his shoulders, while the third detective, a Filipino, was raised to the pinnacle of the human tower, and bolstered into the window, surprising the gamblers, and causing them to flee into the hands of the waiting police at the several exits. Of the Blood of Mahomet. London Globe. Ralsuli, of Morocco, we learn, is of the blood of the prophet himself. He takes after his great ancester In one way at least. When the mountain would not come to Mahomet. Mahomet went to the mountain. Similarly, when the wealthy wayfarer does not come near Ralsuli, Ralsuli gets after the wealthy wayfarer with a whole-hearted abandon and a turn of speed that would do credit to a springbok wing-three-quarter. Cultivation of Sponges. London Times. About ten species of "vegetable sponges" are now cultivated in the warmer parts of Africa and Asia," espe cially in Algeria. The fruit is edible before maturity, but on ripening the pulp separates from the fibrous ma terial, which then becomes an excel lent substitute for real sponge for the toilet, bathroom and many other purposes. The Algerian sponges are in large demand in Paris. THE SHOULDER From the Washington Post.