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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (April 4, 1907)
8 THE 3fORNING OREGONIAX, THURSDAY, APRIL, 4, 1907. SCBSTUI1TIOX RATES. CT'JNVAJUABL.Y I.N ADVANCE. CI (By Mall.) Daily, Sunday Included, oae year $8.00 "Dally. Sunday Included, six rr. - , . . 12" Xally, Sunday Included, three mnnthi. . 2.25 Dally, Sunday Included, one month 75 Dafly. without Sunday, one year fi.OO Dally, without Sunday, six months .1.25 Dally, without Sunday, three months.. 1.73 Dally, without Sunday, on month 0 Sunday, one year 2.50 Weekly, one year (Issued Thursday)... 1.50 Sunday and Weekly, one year 8.00 BY ( ATUUER. Dally, Sunday included, one year 9. no Dally. Sunday Included, one month 75 HOW TO REMIT Send postoffice money order, express order or personal check on your local hank. Stamps, coin or currency are at the sender's risk. Give postoffice ad dress In full. Including county and state. POSTAGE BATES. Entered at Portland, Oregon, Postoffice as Second-Class Matter. 1 to 14 Paxes 1 cent 18 to 2 Payee 2 cents 80 to 44 Paxes 8 cents 46 to 60 Paces 4 cents Foreign postage, douhle rates. IMPORTANT The postal laws are strict. Newspapers on which postage. Is not fully prepaid are not forwarded to destination. EASTERN BC8INE8S OIT1CE. The 8. '. Beckwlth. Speeds' Agewy New TTork, rooms 4.1-50 Tribune building. Chi cago, rooms 510-512 Tribune building. KEPT ON HALF.. Chicago Auditorium Annex, Postoffice. News Co., 178 Dearborn street. St. Paul, Minn. N. St. Marie, Commercial Station. Denver Hamilton Hendrlck. 806-012 Feyenteenth street: Pratt Book Store, 1214 Fifteenth street; 1. Welnsteln; H. P. Han gen. Kansas City. Mo. Rlcksecker Cigar Co., Ninth and Walnut. Minneapolis- M. J. Kavanaugb, B0 South Third; Eagle , News Co.. corner Tenth and Eleventh: Toma News Co. Cleveland. O. James Pushaw, 307 Su perior street. Washington. D. C. HTbbltt House. Penn sylvania avenue. Philadelphia. Pa- Ryan's Theater Ticket office; Kemble, A. P., 3735 Lancaster ave nue; Penn News Co. New York City I Jones gt Co., Astor House; Broadway Theater News Stand. Buffalo, N. Y Walter Freer. Oakland, Cal. W. H. Johnson. Four teenth and Franklin streets: N. Wheatley; Oakland News Stand; Hale News Co. Ogden-D T Boyle. W. G. Kind, 114 Twenty-fifth street. Omaha Bsrkalow Bros., Union Station; Mageath Stationery Co. Sacramento, Cal. Sacramento Newa Co., 4.19 K street. Salt I.ake Moon Book ft Stationery Co.; Rosenfeld ft Hansen. Loa Angeles B. E. Amos, manager seven street wagons. Kan Diego B. E. Amos. T-ong Beach, Cal. B E. Amos. Pasadena, Cal. A. F. Horning. Port Worth. Tex. Fort Worth Star. San Francisco Foster ft Orear, Ferry News Stand: Hotel St. Francis News Stand; X,. Parent ; N. Wheatlcy. Goldfleld, Nev Louie Pollln. Eureka, Cal. Call-Chronicle Agency. Norfolk. Ya. Krugg ft Gould. Pine Beach, A'b. W. A. Cosgrove. "PORTLAND, THURSDAY. A PRIX 4, 1807. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. About the French Revolution opinions will always differ radically. With the same facts before" them some thinkers will continue to pronounce It the most thoroughly pernicious event In history, while others will maintain no less strenuously that modern progress flows from It as from a fountain. In the 'April number of the Atlantic Monthly Ooldwin Smith defends the former opinion with that wealth of learning and cogent logic for which he is fa inoua. "To me," he says, "the French Revolution has always seemed of all events in history tile most calamitous." He believes that It originated no ad vance which was not already well un der way, while it retarded many for ward movements and blighted others. Its whole course being marked by use less cruelty and crime. No defender of the Revolution, however ardent, would think of denying most of the particu lars of Professor Goldwtn Smith's In dictment. Ho would prefer to put his defense In that form which tho lawyers call a demurrer. Admitting the facts as charged, ho would maintain that they do not make out a case for the prosecution. The crime, cruelty and folly of the Revolution are matter of history. It Is senseless to deny and impossible to pal liate them. But. for all that. It did a work which tho world needed and which could not have been accom plished otherwise. In a word, it eman cipated tho human Intellect, it over threw the superstitions of the ages and broke the idols which made tyranny mdurlng. This was the legacy of the French Revolution to the world, and the boon was so far beyond all price that the evils it wrought appear only trlvlal In comparison. It was a riot of IconoclHsm. but none of the Idols broken was essentially sacred. It was a con flagration, but the flames consumed nothing but rubbish. In all that It wrecked there was scarcely anything worth saving. Professor Smith enu merates among the disasters of the Revolution "mob massacre," forgetting the incomparably worse massacres which feudal superstition had Instigat ed at Strasburg. In Paris on St. Bar tholomew's day. In Piedmont and in the low countries. The Revolution end ed feudal superstition at once and for ever. Where Its beneficent spirit has penetrated there never can be a repe tition of the Sicilian vespers nor of the exile of the Spanish Jews. Professor Smith charges the Revolu tion with judicial murder, forgetting the Judicial murders of alleged witches which feudalism had committed literal ly by the hundred thousand and which the Terror made forever Impossible In the world. Nor does he mention those Judicial murders In feudnl castles and In the torture chambers of the heresy hunters which made Europe one great slaughter-house before the Revolution swept away the feudal theory, with all Its works. What Voltaire Included un der his famous anathema of "L'Infame" and w hich he gave his life to fighting was neither more nor less than Judicial murder. What the Parisian mob did In thej way of slaughter was concen trated upon a narrow scene and within the limits of a few months: therefore It strikes the imagination powerfully. The crimes of feudalism were scattered over the entire face of the Christian world and continued for a thousand years; hence the imagination fails to grasp their horror. Moreover, the mob slew a few hundreds of the rich and noble, while feudalism had wreaked Its cruelties almost always upon the lowly. Throughout his argument Mr. Smith makes tie pagan assumption that a crime committed against a poor man Is of little or no cVinsequence. while the hand of a peasant uplifted against his lord Is something akin to sacrilege. The Terror committed crimes, but It also made a long list of worse crimes Impossible forever afterward. It in flicted suffering upon a few people who did not deserve to suffer, but it cleared the earth of a whole tophet of misery. It "let loose hellish passions." as Pro fessor Smith truly says, but It chained another horde of hellish passions which had raged unrestrained, for centuries, cast them into the bottomless pit and set a seal upon them "that they should deceive the nations no more." The whole number of those slain in the Parisian Terror was but a fraction of those who had been tortured and slain by the feudalism which It ended. One would think from Goldwin Smith's arti cle that there had never been such a thing in Europe as class hatred before the Revolution. It tainted "the move ment of political and social progress with violence and class war," he says. Ignoring the too-evident truth that vio lence was perennial In feudal Europe and class war almost continual; only the violence was of the strong against the helpless and the war was waged by the embattled mighty against the peas ant. Nor is there much weight In Mr. Smith's remark that a counter-revolution followed the close of tho Napo leonic wars. All movements of man kind are rhythmic. There Is always an ebb as well as a flow In the tide of progress. Luther's reformation was succeeded by a Catholic revival which swept away his work over a large frac tion of Europe. The Puritan revolution In England was followed by a reaction and a revival of divine right under Charles II. The exalted passion for hu man freedom which animated the North during our Civil War has been suc ceeded by the disfranchisement of the negroes and a dull indifference almost everywhere In the country to the ele mentary Tights of the colored race. The belief that there would, have been no reaotion If the reforms of the French Revolution had been accomplished peaceably Is probably mistaken; while the supposition that they could have been effected without violence affronts all that we know of human nature. Those who profit by abuses never have permitted reforms to be carried out by quiet and friendly methods, and they never will. They Invariably resist until the proposed reform has no choice but either to perish absolutely or fight Its way to consummation. No corrupt class or system of government ever re formed Itself. They never yield except to preponderant force from without. Those who condemn the French Revo lution implicitly condemn the entire trend of modern civilization. WHAT IB A DEMOCRAT? From the editorial sanctum of the New York World, one of the leading Democratic papers of America, comes the startling inquiry, "What Is a Dem ocrat?"" It Is an important question, sure enough, on the eve of the com mencement of a Presidential cam paign. It is a problem of National im portance, and consequently It requires attention In every state, for the next Democratic convention will be made up of delegates from all the states. "If Mr. Bryan Is a Democrat, what Is Mr. Cleveland?" inquires the World. "If Mr. Cleveland is a Democrat, what Is Mr. Hearst? If Mr. Hearst is a Demo crat, what ts Judge Parker? If Judge Parker Is a Democrat, what are Mur phy, Woodrow Wilson, Tom Taggart, Morgan, John Sharp Williams and Bel mont?" In truth, It Is a perplexing question, too intricate for solution by ordinary mortals. Does a Democrat be lieve In the gold standard or free sil ver? Does he believe in states' rights or Federal power sufficient to curb cor porate rapacity? Does he uphold or op pose Rooseveltlan prosecution of trusts? Does he denounce the progress of socialism or favor the public own ership of public utilities? These are timely questions, but they are too deep for us. We pass them up to General Killfeather, Mayor Lane, Pat Powers. George H. Thomas, Governor Chamberlain, Alex Sweek, J. B. Ryan, Colonel C. E. S. Wood, Colonel Burk hart, John M. Gearln, Fred Holman, John Manning, A. King Wilson, R. D. Inman, John Montag and John Van Zante. BIG FARMS AND LETTT.E ONES. In these days, when we of the West are continually urging the policy of di viding up the large farms and placing families on twenty, thirty and forty acre tracts, where 160 to 320 acres are now required, it is amazing to receive from the East the suggestion that in consolidation of farms lies the secret of successful agriculture. And this from Boston, within a few miles of the place where the Pilgrims landed and where agriculture had its beginnings on this continent nearly 300 years ago. When New England advises the farmers that their best hope lies in joining the farms instead of dividing thorn, what shall the West think of the future, when the present dividing process has been carried to Its inevitable conclusion? The Boston Transcript presents the plan and reason for the new idea in agriculture. A rural conference was recently held in Massachusetts for the purpose of considering schemes of agricultural betterment -for New England.. The Transcript says that one of the most practical suggestions was that more land should bo farmed under a single administration. The advantages of such a departure would bo two-fold. It would be easier to get farm help, now the great problem, because men could be employed in gangs and they are obtainable in that manner when they are not singly. Furthermore, it would then be possible to place edu cated farmers of business and execu tive abilities at the head of each com bine, while the small farmers, now get ting a precarious living, would find their calling more lucrative and less uncertain as superintendents, foremen, etc. This movement, the Transcript says, has had practical development to some extent in the West, and it is now attracting attention and arousing dis cussion in New York. The belief of the advocates of the plan is that system, method and ample capital would re deem the acres that are now going to Wiiste. Tliis view of the subject assumes that the sma.ll farmers who are now making a failuro of their operations could and would work to better ad vantage under the employment of one man who owned all the farms and em ployed them at stipulated wages, pay able monthly or at other stated periods. In other words, they are good enough workers, but they lack the business ability to manage a small farm and would make the farms pay if they had some one to tell them what crops to put in. what methods to pursue, and how and when to sell the product. Of course one man could not exercise au thority In those particulars unless he owned the land, and this would mean that the small farmers must sell to him and work for wages. It also assumes that the man who Is now making a failure because he is a little lazy would work better If he had an employer over him to urge him on. To some extent these assumptions are well founded. There are undoubt edly many farmers In every state who are not making more than a scanty living because they have poor business management. They go into the sheep Industry when sheep are high and sell out when sheep are low. They sow their fields to one crop year after year until the soil is depleted. They keep scrub cows that do not yield milk enough to pay for the feed. They buy machinery and let it stand out In the sun and rain. But it is doubtful whether some man of the class credited with business ability could take a dozen farms upon which other men had made failures for one reason or another, employ these men at wages satisfactory to them, and make the farms pay. Men employed at wages would expect more returns for the work done, and in time would begin the formation of unions for the pur pose of compelling the large farmers to pay the wages desired. In prosperous times the farm employer would be at the mercy of laborers and in dull times the laborers would be at the mercy of employers. Whatever the East may prefer, the West desires a multitude of farm-owners who will from year to year learn to make farming pay better. A RAY OK ROYAL FAVOR. Hail to the rising star. Whom do we mean to designate by this poetic term? Whom indeed but Mr. Jonathan Bourne? If to be invited to take a walk with the President in old clothes and hobnail shoes does not make a rising star of one, will somebody please tell us what does? The royal father of Frederick the Great was In the habit of manifesting his favor by thwack ing the happy courtier with his cane; Mr. Roosevelt invites the Senator upon whom he purposes to let the light of his countenance shine to take a walk. Whether the cane or the walk would be the more serious experience to a tenderfoot it is difficult to decide, and, happily, in this case no decision is necessary; for, as the President discov ered to his surprise, Mr. Jonathan Bourne is no tenderfoot. Oregon's junior Senator is of soundly seasoned timber all through. Not only can he walk with the best of them, but, as divers competitors in this part of the world well know, he can also run. To borrow a metaphor from the Salva tion Army, there are no flies on Mr. Bourne. His face glows with the ruddy hue of the Oregon apple and his feet are winged with the speed of the gentle but potent Chinook wind. Mr. Bourne has been dining for a series of years on Oregon salmon and slaking his thirst with Bull Run water, two articles of diet which make muscle, as Mr. Roose velt has found to his discomfiture. It Is understood that at the foot of a rather sleep hill the President, seeing that Mr. Bourne is a thin, not to say cadaverous, individual, who does not seem to have mucfi wind to spare, chal lenged him to a sprint up to the sum mit. San Juan Hill was nothing to that historic contest. But the result of it was such as to take down the Presi dent's athletic pride a peg or two, un less the accounts are incorrect. Mr. Bourne, in spite of his wan and meager aspect, got to the top first and had breath enough left to shout 'Hurrah for Oregon" before Mr. Roosevelt came up. But Mr. Roosevelt loves to be beaten in a fair raca He slapped Mr. Bourne on the shoulder and remarked in a hearty tone, "The man that can beat me sprinting deserves any favor that the Chief Executive of the Nation can grant. What shall I do for Oregon, Jonathan?" The answer of the Junior Senator is not recorded, but It is be lieved that whatever request he made was proffered with discretion and wis dom. ' ACE LIMIT IN RAILWAY SERVICE. The age limit for men entering the service of railway companies was fixed several years ago at 35 years. Clamor was heard, and much hardship resulted because of this order, it being claimed that ten of the most effective years of the life of the man of ordinary intelli gence and capability were sacrificed to this discrimination. While it is not probable 1 that the managers of rail roads were moved thereto by this pro test, nor yet by the individual hardship that resulted from this order, it is a fact that it has been within the past year modified by adding ten years to the age limit, subject to certain condi tions. That is to say, the directors of many of the leading railroads In the East, including tho New York Central lines and the Pennsylvania, have de cided that men may enter the railroad service at 45 years of age, other quali fications for service being left to the discretion of the official in charge of the employment division. This limit is applied to all classes of employes on Eastern roads; in the West, where an age limit is fixed, It is applied only to train men. It has been found that an age limit below 35, or even 45, years, arbitrarily enforced, deprives the railway service of many valuable men. In no other em ployment, perhaps. Is the fact that there are men and men in the ranks of labor so fully demonstrated as in railroad service. The man of natural ability, quick to see and prompt to do, is a better omployment risk at 45 than is the shirk or the dullard at 25. It is men of the latter class who are respon sible for the accident due to the open switch, the failure to set the brakes promptly, the misreading of signals, etc. Such men, at any age, are blun derers through carelessness and miscon ception of or inattention to duty, while the man whose head is clear, mind alert and sense of duty keen is one whose services at 45. or-even ten years later, the railway traffic can ill afford to lose. DIRECTORS WHO DO NOT DIRECT. The effort of the directors of a fran chise corporation to throw upon one of their number, who was manager, all responsibility for payment of bribes of Boss Ruef and the Board of Supervis ors in San Francisco may be success ful so far as criminal accountability is concerned, but they cannot escape moral responsibility for corrupt meth ods practiced. Directors of a corpora tion are not merely figureheads in the concern over whose affairs they are given power. If they did not know that money was being used Illegitimately, it was at least their duty to know, and their failure in this respect bordered very closely upon the criminal in its effect. While directors of a large busi ness enterprise cannot be expected to give personal attention to all details of management, they should be required to exercise such supervisory power as will control the policy of the corpora tion and disclose serious violations of law if any exist. It Is tho duty of directors to direct. That is what they are employed for and it is that for which they are paid. This duty Tests no more upon the board of directors of a telephone company than of any other. A man who has not the time or the inclination to give ta his duties the attention careful super vision requires should be honest enough to say so and make room for others who will perform faithful serv Ice. Having accepted a position oil such importance, he should make his influence felt in shaping the affairs of the corporation. Wrhen a board of di rectors says directly or by its general policy that It Is asking from the public nothing more than what is right and just, that it has and will have no funds to spend for corruption of public offi cials, and that any employe of the cor poration who resorts to dishonest meth ods will be discharged, there will be no occasion for going upon the witness stand to throw responsibility upon oth ers. But mere announcement of such a policy Is not enough. Boards of direc tors should inform themselves of the purposes for which large sums of money are spent. If the nature of the business of the concern will not permit supervision of expenditures In advance, directors can at least Inspect accounts after the expenditures have been made and require information as to the per sons to whom large sums are paid, and for what account. Payment of a small fortune to Boss Ruef, besides the pay ment of a regular monthly salary of $1200, was of too great importance to be passed over without Investigation if the directors were doing their duty faithfully. Their plea that they did not know of the transactions shows that they were willfully negligent or crim inally acquiescent. This, however, does not in the least lessen the guilt of the manager who performed the active part in bribery proceedings. John Barrett, our John, has hit upon a new scheme for raising funds for charitable projects. He recently at tended a meeting of the committee hav ing in charge the raising of funds for the proposed George Washington Uni versity at the National Capital, and when ways and means were under dis cussion he suggested, that every person present be taxed $2 for every minute he talked. Barrett talked fifty minutes and paid tlOO for the privilege. In the course of his remarks Mr. Barrett said that during his official life in foreign .countries ne has. time and again heard great surprise expressed that there was no National university at Washington. In all the Latin-American republics the national capital is also the national seat of learning, and he deplored the fact that Washington boasts of no such institution. If Mr. Barrett can secure general adoption of the plan of impos ing a tax of $2 a minute on talk, there will be no trouble in raising funds for the university he much desires to see established. He might induce the United States Senate to adopt a rule, of that kind at the opening of the session 'next December. A talk tax on Senators would be better than a mint. There is something amazing in the proposal made in Connecticut that the constitution of that state be so amend ed as to permit trial by jury In damage cases against corporations. There is no occasion for astonishment that the change should be desired, but the sur prising feature of the situation Is that it was not effected years ago. That state alone has such a restriction in its constitution, based entirely upon the theory that a jury cannot be trusted to give a corporation a square deal in a damage case. The people seem never to have grasped the idea that If Jury trial is forbidden because a jury will be favorable to the plaintiff, the pre sumption may fairly, be entertained that a court will be favorable to the corporation defendant. But they seem at last to have wakened to the realiza tion that there is no reason w hy dam age suits against corporations should not be tried before the samg tribunal that hears all other cases. The announcement that a building permit was issued to the Commercial Club for construction work to the value of $100,000 does not mean that this sum represents the total value of the build ing to be erected The permit covers only the steel and brick work. The building will cost in the neighborhood of $300,000, and when contracts are made for other portions of the work additional permits will be issued. Without an explanation of this kind the figures might convey an erroneous Im pression as to the cost of the structure. The same procedure is doubtless fol lowed in securing permits for other large buildings, so that the amount specified in any one permit cannot be taken as the total cost. Hill's son ascends the throne at a signal point in railroad history. If he has read aright the signs of the times, be may achieve greater fame than has come to his father. Working hand in hand with the producer, manufacturer and business man of the empire tribu tary to his railroads, it is within his reach to become the greatest American captain of Industry. His task is sim ple: Let the railroad be the servant of commerce, not the master. The depth of a mother's love was il lustrated a few days ago in the case of a Washington woman whose infant child had died.,She borrowed a neigh bor's baby, paying $1 a day for the opportunity of bestowing her affections upon It. When the mother of the child went to get It, however, the bereaved woman refused to give it up until she was arrested and the baby taken away by force. The old saying that men who live in glass houses should not throw stones might well be modified to read that men with false noses should not smoke cigarettes. Recently a New York man with a celluloid nose attempted to light a cigarette when his nasal appendage caught fire and burned so furiously as to put out his eyes. Even the best of playwrlters will make fatal errors. A famous author wrote a play in which the second act took place two years after the first, but the family was represented as still em ploying the same servant girl. How ab surd! Climbing to a confiding citizen's win dow and asking him to gather up and hand over his valuables is a new phase of twentieth-century burglary not des tined to be popular with the victim. All things considered. It is better and cheaper to buy a franchise straight from a city than crookedly through purchase of Councllmen or Supervisors. Let Mr. Hearst move on to Portland. He can get' here in time to lose an other election, if he can find a candi date who will stand for him. It can never be said of James J. Hill that ho didn't give his boys a chance. Senator Bourne walked as well in Washington as he ran in Oregon. SECRETARY CORTELYOl'S POLICY. Government Finances Are Not to Ad vance Private interests. Washington Dispatch to Boston Herald. Probably the day when Government money can be dumped into Wall street at every alarm cry of stockbrokers has passed for a time. Secretary Cortelyou has let It bo known In a quiet but em phatic manner that his financial policies are going to be conservative. The depart ment wiU be kept within its old moor ings. Government funds will not be used to advance private business interests. Neither the Secretary nor his .friends are making comparisons with the admin istrations of other Secretaries. Never theless, it is seen already that whatever the record of his own term as Secretary may be, he intends to steer clear of criticisms that have been leveled against the administration of the office in re cent times. It has been charged that there were leaks in Important financial news matters. Information was said to reach the National City Bank in New York before it was known to any one elso outside the department. The channels through which this information was con veyed to New York have been well known here. Since he became Secretary, Mr. Cortel you has directed that news of the de partment must reach the public through his office. The free and easy methods of the last few years have been curtailed Tnis has caused embarrassment in some quarters. The Aldrlch law, enacted by the recent Congress, will afford considerable relief in financial matters. There will be less necessity for extraordinary methods than heretofore. Mr. Cortelyou has already exercised his discretion under one clause of the law and directed that National banks be allowed to retire as much as $9,000,000 of currency a month. Ho pro poses to test this provision for a little while and ascertain how it works. If there has been any favoritism among the banks heretofore the new Sec retary will eliminate it. He intends to distribute Government moneys as impar tially as possible among National banks. It is within his discretion to direct that customs receipts be deposited with Na tional banks, but such deposits will no be made at present. OPPORTUHTTY TO BUST A TRUST Let the Public Cense " Wear Socks and There'll Be Nothing; to It. Washington Post. Some years ago the French military establishment ordered that the rank and file of the French army should not wear socks, and subsequent reports Justified the wisdom of the policy in the better health of the army. At an early day in the Ohio Valley hunters never wore socks when they went on a deer drive in coid weather. Some years ago Kansas reported a case of wonderful political success achieved by a statesman who discarded socks as an article of wearing apparel. It may be that a great many of us will he forced to it. The socks trust is after us. It met last Saturday and or dered a minimum advance of 15 per cent on all lines of hosiery. It was as uncon scionable as It was arbitrary this grab and as illogical. The domestic cotton crop of 1905 was less than 11,000,000 bales; the cotton crop of 1906 is above 13,000,000 bales. Here Is an advance in price on an Increase of supply. Like all trusts, this socks trust nullifies the law of supply and demand. The cotton schedule of the Dingley law was made designedly and outrageously high in the name of the great Republican ex-doctrine of reciprocity. For example, stockings, hose, and half-hose valued at not more than $1 a dozen are taxed 67.39 per cent; valued at more than $1 and not more than $1.50, the tax is 58.66 per cent; valued between $1.50 and $2. the tax is 52.14 per cent, decreasing as the article is more valuable, which must be edify ing to men and women who wear cheap socks and stockings. Armed with the cotton schedule of the Dingley law, our commissioner, Mr. John A. Kasson, went to France and negotiated a reciprocity treaty that would have re duced our tariff rates on hosiery consid erably, and it was estimated that at tlie same time It would have increased our sales of cotton seed oil to France by many millions. Mr. McKinley sent the treaty to the Senate and urged its ratifi cation. Thereupon appeared the socks trust and the treaty was done for. That was six or seven years ago. since when the hosiery trust has had a prac tical monopoly of the American market and made millions out of it. It has now conspired to squeeze another 15 per cent out of the public, though the present cot ton crop of the South Is upward of 2,000, 000 bales in excess of the last crop. We are not without hope that some of our more successful octopus chasers may feel called upon to get on (lie track of this concern and rim it to earth. REACHING A SERIOUS STAGE. The Growth of Skyscraper Construc tion In New York. Engineering News. With an enormously rapid growth In number of tall buildings In all districts of the city, residential, commercial and financial, the downward recession of the streets from the level of free light and air Is reaching a serious stage. In Eu rope, with vastly less pressing conditions, there is already a distinct recognition of the fact that the welfare of the com munity requires restrictive measures to protect against this. The question of interspacing of buildings and proportion of free ground area are of somewhat differ ent character, yet related. In some sec tions New York City Is already approxi mating a state where it has contact with the atmosphere only along the house fronts and the roofs. The worst feature of this is not the restrictions of light or air, because the buildings must be made attractive to tenants and self-interest therefore watches over these desiderata In a meas ure. The serious thing Is the transit question. Great assemblages of people are massed along narrow streets with usually only one tributary street, a street utterly inadequate to give passage to all In an emergency and badly congested even by the normal distributed traffic. May It not be feasible to secure by the general building regulations such pro vision of passages, courts and lanes in the skyscraper regions as would give more elbow room in the streets, at the same time insuring a more healthful con dition as regards light and air distribu tion and greater opportunity for esthetic development of the city. The subject of encroachment of build ings on street and sidewalk space, both at the surface and overhead, is a related matter for careful study. The unfortun ate, injurious conditions existing in most cities are so patent and have so often forced themselves on the attention of nearly every flunking citizen that no de tailed reference to them is required here. The Masher. Birmingham Age-Herald. The masher la A puny beast; Of living things lie 1b the least. His brain share Methinks, must ba No larger than The smallest pea. A nuisance he No doubt of that. What shall we do? The answer's pat. One remedy Has not been tried Destroy him with A germicide. FROM A FINANCIER'S DIARY. Market and l'rr Almost Drive Him To Solitude of a Cell. Wall-Street Journal. If the financial genius of a great rail road system had time to keep a diary a day's entry might read liks this: " A. M. Tile morning papers again! Now. what have I been saying? A good deal of what I say in the newspapers is as new to me as to anybody else. I'm still a front-page subject. No cartoons today, thank Heaven! 8 A. M. I bolt my breakfast, hoping for once to beat them, but fall again. Three gentlemen of the afternoon press! Will I see them? I can't help seeing them. They send word that it's very spe cial. There are eight all sociably im pertinent. They treat me as if I were a public character, but Im getting used to it. "Mr. ," says the spokesman, "the president of the Northeastern and Else where says you are going to retire. Is it true?" They hold me 20 minutes, help me on with my ooat. and escort me familiarly to my carriage. 9 A. M. More gentlemen of tho after noon press waiting at my office. I tell them I have just seen eight of their fraternity. That doesn't matter. They were assigned to my office, lest the others miss me. 10 A. M. The- market opens. 11 A. M. The market is falling all apart. I liave done nothing this last hour but answer telephone calls. What is the matter with my stocks? How do I know? What Is the matter with other people's stocks? The anteroom is full of reporters. My traffic manager is waiting. He says I sent for him. Per haps I did. I can't remember. My bankers are calling for me. What re markable foresight when I provided that private exit! 12 M- The gentlemen of the press will be no longer denied and are shown in. I liaven't any Idea how many. Was thinking more about the Interview Just ended with the bankers. There is a rumor abroad, the reporters tell me, that I'm broke, that my bankers have thrown me over and are selling my stocks. The cross-examination lasts nearly a half hour. All retire but one woman. I hadn't noticed her before. She wanted a very trifling thing the story of my life. How did I get my money; was It worth while, and what will I do with it? She works for a magazine. I finally unloaded her on a secretary. 1 P. M. I see my traffic manager. 2 P. M. There seems no bottom to this market. 3 P. M. I receive the gentlemen of the morning press, who eye me suspiciously. In their wake Is another magazine per son wanting material on "How to Suc ceed Though Honest." 4 P. M. I transact a little railroad business. 6 P. M. I reach the club without ad venture and meet several fTlendfi by previous appointment- 11 P. M. Home! If this thing con tinues I shall devise means to reach my house by secret passage. 12 Midnight Have had the bells taken out of the telephone. Wonder I never thought of It before. There Is a fiction that this is a private number, but though I have had it changed twice the last month nothing can be kept from the press. An Intimate friend must speak to me on a private matter and I such to the telephone to discover a gentleman of the press calling me up to say a cer tain somebody said I ought to be in Jail. Had I any answer to make? Forget what I said, but sometimes almost wish I were In- jail. Getting into bed the called up to make sure there was nothing I oared to say about anything I had or had not said. A man tried to see me today to act as my publicity agent! Beron In Overalls Turns Miner Joplin (Mo.) Dispatch in the New York Times. Baron Paul von Zglimski. until re cently European representative of the banking house oi Flint & Co., of New York, whose engagement to Miss Hel en Nicholson, a rich young woman of Joplin, was announced two weeks ago, has Just entered the mines of the Crown Crest Zinc and Lead Mining Company here in overalls as a common shoveler at $2 per day. The mines are the property of his flnancee's father. The Baron in a few months will be come art assistant in the office of his future father-in-law, Frank Nichol son, who is one of the best-known mining engineers In this section. "I believe the only way to learn the business Is to begin at the bot tom," said the Baron. Senator Spooner Hasn't Chosen Yet. New York Times. Senator Spooner of Wisconsin, ac cording to a friend in this city, has not yet made any plans for associat ing himself with a law firm in this city. It is understood that the Sena tor, who has announced his intention to come to New York to practice law, proposes to form such alliance, al though he has not yet taken any steps in this direction. Senator Spooner has alreadj- denied the rumor that he was to become gen eral counsel for the Hill lines. In denying this report he took occasion to say that he would not become coun sel for any single corporation. Tenor Boncl Attains Regal State. Washington (D. C.) Post Manager Ilamtnerstein's injunction proceedings against Tenor Boncl shows that great singers have quite regal state. Cabins de luxe and priv ate compartments must be provided for them when they travel, with pay ment of expenses of them and suite, and in the rase of Bonci $800 gold had to be paid down every time he sang. This Is whs there is so mucli talk about a tenor's high notes. ALL ROADS LEAD WORD PROTEST ON THE DIAMOND Wonderfnl tangusgf Now Needful to Tell of Baseball Battles, New York Sun. By request of many native philologists and foreign students of the ever amaz ing and waxing English language we present today a new exercise and lesson. Soon every breeze will bring to our ears the clash of resounding words. The or chestra is tuning up for the prelude. Soon the melodious burst will fill the world. Our artist today Is Mr. Charles Dryden, of the Chicago Tribune. His palette Is much richer than the English John's. "Within the lurid shadow of Mount Slag." Alabama, was fought this glorious fight. Neither side was In championship form. There was a beautiful array of boots and bum chucks. A sentence we especially recommend to beginners. Also to poets with a desire to enlarge their vocabulary. Now for more color words and tone words and strange accents of new broils: One chunk and a boot. Seebaugh took to the busks. The skintight diamond. Mcek's lowly chuck. Mike and ljttle Breeches. Ho had seen Bilt's hoave. Overall nosed out of a tight crack. With tho hags full Overall smoked Lister away from the plate. Vaughn's smoke eaters kicked all our runs across the plate and said welcome on the side. Poetical and mystical language. The bulletin which recounts the decisive strug gle within tho lurid shadow of Mount Slag has this presumably symbolic in duction: In many ways the closing game with the Barons looked and listened like a world's scries conflict. No cuff buttons or anything like that, but the noise, the color and the chow-chow effects were there. It saddens the heart to know that "See baugh was not feeling well and gave way to that gingerly kid, Kalioe"; but It is a satisfaction to be assured that the "gingery kid" "pegged the first one." It will also be noted wltli oontentment that "Chance threatened to give Taylor a quarter if he bumped one on the piccolo." We leave with regret the noise, the color and the chow-chow effects of this grand tongue, of which the ingenious Mr. Dry den is but one of many masters. Why insist on Esperanto? Why not stick to this gifted and romantic idiom of the "skintight diamond?" SOUTH DAKOTA DIVORCE REFORM People Grow Tired of Their Section Bel uk Held Bp to Ridicule. Chicago Tribune. The most striking and gratifying evi dence of the growth of the sentiment against easy divorce is seen In the action of the legislature in South Dakota. That body has just passed a law requiring a residence of one year in the state and three months in the county before a di vorce action can be brought, and pro viding that all divorA hearings shall be in open court. That is a blow at the Sioux Falls di vorce colony, and tho dispatches indi cate that the bill was passed for Just that purpose. The citizens of South Da kota have grown tired of being held up before the country as people willing to let out the machinery of their courts for farcical divorces, in order to attract men and women who are expected to spend money lavishly during their temporary sojourn ill the state. In putting an end to that scandalous condition South Da kota has merely followed the example of other states. Western and Eastern. It is not so long ago that the City of Chi cago was the Mecca for easj'-divorce seekers, and that a stock subject for Jokes in the comic paperB was the en counter of first, second and third ex-husbands and wives in the fashionable so ciety of that city. South Dakota is grow ing more wealthy, more populous, and as it grows in material things, it develops a higher sense of morality and of its responsibility to the rest of the country. The growth of that sense will finally put an end to all divorce colonies. If people are to be re lieved from intolerable marital relations by law, they should at least have reasons so weighty that they are not ashamed to stand up among their neigh bors and proclaim them. Says Extreme Age Due to Smoking. Butler (Pa.) Dispatch. Mrs. Elizaberth, Freeman celebrated her one hundred and thirteenth birth day In her home at Madison township, Clarion County, recently. For 90 years Mrs. Freeman has been an Inveterate smoker, and spent to day with her pipe, in her mouth most of the time. She says smoking lias been the greatest pleasure of her life, and she believes she would not have lived so ions had she not had her pipe. Make n Bluff. Houston Post. If there Isn't any pleasure Walts for you besldo tho way, If there's not a thing to grin at In your Journey day by day. If you've got excuse for kicking And for stirring up a row. Don't you do it! Don't you do it! Just be happy, anyhow. Just be happy, just be happy; Take the fiddle and tho bow. Smuggle it against your shoulder, lumber up and let her go. All the world Ik full of music And there's Joy in every string. Till you get all outdoors laughing And you make the echoes sing. It's a duty you are owing To the world to shake your feet, And to life your voice in fingfn' Till the music nils the street : If the world is dark and gloomy And you haven't got a friend. It's your duty to dissemble. It's your duty to protend. If you, meet the world a-grinnln. Thru tho world will grin at you. You can laugh the clouds to flinders Till the blue sky glimmers through; If you Just pretend you're happy, With your whole heart In the bluff. Then, almost before you know It, You'll be happy sure enough! TO ROOSEVELT From thr Wanhf nittnn Pout.