Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 25, 1907)
THE MORNING OREGONIAN, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1907. (Bfr &te$wnm SUBSCRIPTION RATES. INVARIABLY IN ADVANCE. (By Mall ) Daily. Sun. lay included, one year 18.00 Dally, Sunday Included, six months.. . 4.25 Dally. Sunday Included, three months. . t.lo Dally. Sunday Included, one month 75 Dally, without Sunday, one year 6-00 Dally, without Sunday, six months. .. 1.15 Daily. -A-lthout Sunday, three months. . 1.76 Dally, without Sunday, one month 50 Sunday, one year 8-50 Weekly, one year i Issued Thursday)... 1-50 Sunday and Weekly, one year 3.50 BY CARRIER. Dally. Sunday Included, one year .00 Dally. Sunday Included, one month TS HOW TO REMIT Send postofftce money order, express order or personal check on your local bank Stamps, coin or currency are at ihe sender's risk. Give postofftce ad dress In full. Including county and state. POSTAGE RATES. Kntered at Portland. Oregon, Postofftce as Second-Class Matter. 10 to n pages 1 cent 1U to 2S Pages 2 centa 30 to 44 Pages 3 cents 45 to 0 Pages 4 cents foreign postage, double rates. IMPORTANT The postal laws are strict Newspapers on which postage is not fully prepaid are not forwarded to deattnatlon. EASTERN BUSINESS OFFICE. The S. 4,'. Beckwlth Special Agency New Tork. rooms 43-SO Tribune building. Chi cago, rooms 510-312 Tribune building. KEPT ON SALE. Chicago Auditorium Annex: Postofftce News Co . I7h Dearborn street St. Paul, Minn. N. St. Marie, commercial Station Colorado spring. Colo. Bell. B. H lUni ... 1 1 - . . . j 1 . . .. .1 ,,..4.1.1. .- tt 1 0 ii. r u.ivi ivciiuiiuk. irvw v " , RftVMntwanrh Ureal ' Ttfmtt Uft.l. Ctrtr 114 ! Fifteenth street; H P. Hansen, S- Rice, Geo Carson Kansns city. Mo. Rickeecker Cigar Co.. Ninth and Walnut- Yoma Newa Co.; Harvey News Stand Minneapolis M J. Cevanaugh, 50 South Third Cleveland, O Jeme jeushaw, HOT Su perior street Washington. 11. C Ebbltt House, Penn sylvania avenue. Philadelphia, Pa. Ran's Theater Ticket Ofnce; penn News Co. New York City -L. Jones ft Co.. Aator House; Broadway Theater News Stand; Ar thur Hotaling Wagons; Empire News Stand. Atlantic City, M, J. El! Taylor. Ogden D. L. Boyle: Lowe Bros.. 114 Tn Mil -flf tii street. Omaha Flark.tlow Bros., Union Station; ilsgeath Stationery Co. Des Moines, la. Mose Jacobs. Sacramento, Cul. Sacramento News rjo., 4 K street: Amos News Co. Salt Lake Moon Book & Stationery Co.; Rosenfeld & Hansen; a W. Jewett. P. O. corner Los Angeles B E Amos, manager ten street wagons. San Diego B E Amos. Long Beach, Cal. B' E Amoa San Jose, Cal. St. James Hotel News Stand Dallas, Tex. Southwestern News Agent. El Paso, Tex. Plaza Book and New! Stand Fort Worth, Tex. F. Robinson. Amarlllo, Tex. Amarillo Hotel News Stand New Orleans, La. Jones News Co. San Frnnclsco Foster & Orear; Ferry News Stand; Hotel St. Francis News Stand; L. Parent; N Wheatley; Falrmount Hotel Kews Stand; Amos News Co.; United News Agents II M Eddy street; B. E Amos, man ager three wagons Oakland, Cal. W. H. Johnson, Fourteenth and Franklin streets; N Wheatley; Oakland News Stand; B E. Amos, manager flva w sgons. GoldOeld, Nev. Louie Follin; C. B. Hunter Eureka. Cal. Catl-Chronlcle Agency; Eu reka News Co. PORTLAND. MONDAY, NOV. tS, 1907. RECENT AND PAST TREASVRY TRANS ACTION. The Oregonlan has not been able to approve, because it has not seen the necessity, of the Issue of J 100.000.000 of Treasury certificates, at S per cent, to run one year; and it notes the ob jections to the Issue offered by Chair man Fowler, of the House committee on banking and currency, who, how ever, desires another measure more objectionable still. The purpose of the order for Issue of the 3 per cent Treasury certificates is to draw money out of private hoards and put It to use again; and also to furnish an addi tional basis for issue of bank notes. To the advisers of the Administration this has seemed a way of relief; but there Is reason to fear that It will lead to difficulties later, when contraction becomes necessary. Expansion is easy, restriction always difficult; and the road to Inflation has many allure ments and dangers. Patience, with Judgment, will work the country out of the present difficulties, for it has not too little money; say rather too much. Already the crisis is past, and credit will right itself after a little further time, through natural move ment, which clearly Is making steady progress, and only requires to be let alone to make Its own adjustments. Chairman Fowler has his own scheme of Inflation, which he calls an "asset currency." That is. the banks are to be authorized to Issue notes on their miscellaneous assets, and be no longer restricted solely to Government bonds. We believe this a dangerous expedient, and think the course the President has taken though we do not approve It the preferable one. There is grave reason to fear any and every plan of further paper inflation. A letter from a correspondent at Forest Grove puts sundry questions on financial matters, present and past, to The Oregonlan. First, it may be said that he does not correctly remember the position of The Oregonlan as to Cleveland's bond issues. They were treated by The Oregonlan as neeessary though the necessity was deplored. In his message to Congress, dated Feb ruary 8. 1895, President Cleveland an nounced th: great sale of bonds for support of the gold reserve. The ac tual transactions under the contract were the delivery of $62,315,400 in bonds in return for $65,116,244 In gold. The objection of The Oregonlan was that the amount was not sufficient; "it furnishes no margin of protection against further drain." Further, it said the bond sale was "only a tem porary expedient," to serve till "the Democratic Administration and the Republican House (the next House was to he Republican) could come to gether on the issue of currency re form." In direct approval of the sale of bonds by the Cleveland Adminis tration, The Oregonlan said (February 13, 1895): "The executive authority has been and will steadily be exer cised, as the President declares, 'for the purpose of reinforcing and main taining in our Treasury an adequate and safe gold reserve." Therefore we shall not go to the silver basis, we shall not reject the gold standard and accept the silver standard: but It Is injurious as well as foolish to keep up the agitation for a change and thus prolong the country's financial and in dustrial distress." The Oregonlan continually held that we should never get out of the pit till we quit Juggling with silver, and that was true; for the trouble continued till the final victory for the gold standard In th election of 1896. Throughout his second term The Oregonian con tinually gave Mr. Cleveland the credit of saving the country from the Im pending slump to the sliver basis, and repeatedly declared that I', was for tunate for the country that Mr. Har rison had not been re-elected, since In the state of politics and parties exist ing then he could not possibly have accomplished what Cleveland had done. Unquestionably there were Republi cans, and many of them, utterly with out sense or Judgment on the money question, or eager to play the dema gogue with It, who denounced every thing done by President Cleveland to sustain the financial credit of the country and keep the gol I standard. He fell also into disfavor with the rul ing element of his own party for this same reason; for which his party, clad In weeds and sitting in ashes, has been paying the penalty ever since. We are by no means sure that the measures taken by the present Ad ministration are wise, or the wisest possible, but the President must take a responsibility, and he has taken it. The policy that heretofore has been employed, of lending money from the Treasury to National banks, on secur ity furnished by them, has been re sorted to again; for there could be no calamity to all classes equal to the failure of the banks of the country. But the money Is not lent without compensation to the Treasury. Truth Is that we are in the tolls of a most Irrational financial system, that Is like ly at any time to land us In gravest difficulties, if not in bankruptcy, of which the present crisis of credit af fords some indication. The simple fast Is, there Is too much paper currency. It leads to all kinds of excesses in speculation, to prices inordinately high, to extravagance of every de scription. Into what conclusions It may yet land us nobody can predict; but we do know something about the strenuous effort It requires us to make every few years to avert the dangers of the excesses of wild speculation and abuses of credit into which It period ically leads us. We have not yet re covered from the consequences of the silver Inflation, and the present diffi culty is part of them. MONEY AND HOARDING. In 1R9B the people were told that if the gold standard were adopted there never would be another panic like that one. The people voted to adopt the gold standard and now, with abundant crops of every de scription and In the midst of the grsatest prosperity that the world has ever seen, we are confronted by conditions In the financial world far worse. We believe that it' Is necessary to have a monetary standard and now that the gold standard is In force we say let It remain In force, but prohibit the coining of gold Into money. Let It be de posited, when necessary, as collateral at the present ratio of so many grains for a dollar and Issue good Government money for it, but destroy its power to oppress the people by hiding away In times of need. Forest Grove Times. Much of the go'.l of the country is in the Treasury now, and notes are. out against it. The hoarders are hid ing away these notes, as well as green backs. National bank bills, silver and gold all alike. Paper based on gold will be hoarded in a panic Just the same as gold itself: and if silver were the basis. Just the same. Some of our people seem to want money based on nothing, which nobody will care to hoard. LOAFER. I'NFED AND CHILLY. Gaunt Winter follows the sleepy Summer, to behold a host of erstwhile Idlers, unroofed, unfed and but half clad, infesting the places of thrift, beg ging of its bounty and sometimes seiz ing of it store. Talcs of the Summer loafers, who are now hungry and cold, come from Salem, Albany, Eugene, Roseburg, Medford and other towns along the railroad highway of the gen try, telling of their flight southward with the swallows. A Eugene paper says of them: Their begging is a nuisance, and they are even going further. The story is told on the streets that there have been five hold-ups between here and Sprlngfletdln the past week or ten days. From Cottage Grove comes a similar story. At that place an effort is being made to Increase the night police force, as the "travelers" are getting saucy. But two months ago these men could have earned $2.75 and $3 a day. Farm ers, lumbermen, builders and all em ployers of hand labor were seeking their help, unable to get It at those wages. Sometimes the idlers were em ployed, but dawdled for the most part and were pert and saucy when asked to speed their languid strokes. Employers found that such men fre quently did about half as much work at $3 a day as they used to do at $1.50. The men received high wages for pocy service. They took a large part of the money store of the country, frittered it away on wasteful things, and, with the frenzied financiers, did their part In stretching the money medium to the limit. The country could not endure this waste any more than that of Wall street gambling. The frequent proph ecy of the employer, "Something has got to happen," has come true. Now the loafers are following the railroad tracks southward. Few of them, however, will leave us. They will prey on the country all Winter, railing against the capital! itlc system that has enslaved then and denied them their "per capita" of the world's fruits. It will do them good to hun ger and shiver for a while, for next Summer they will be more provident. A grasshopper once in the Summer time laughed at the toiling ant and went on singing. But when the cold came he approached the ant and begged for food, only to receive the chilly answer: "Since you sang all Summer, you may dance all Winter." There is work yet waiting for many a man in the country, if he Is indus trious and sober. The loafers need not dance all Winter, If they will take to the country and convince the farm ers that they will work. MR. BRYAN ON BANK DEPOSITS. Mr. Bryan has Just made a visit to the White House, where he spent an enjoyable hour in swapping opinions with the President on the topics of the day. It is reported by the vera cious chroniclers of the interesting lit tle tete-a-tete that after the President, had outlined his plans for reforming the currency, Mr. Bryan "expressed approval." Not to be outdone In po liteness, or in the courtesy due a dis tinguished guest, the President In turn is reported to have "expressed his ap preciation of the Idea of a Government guarantee on National bank deposits." which Is Just now the pet Bryan idea. The Nation at large doubtless also "ap preciates" the great Bryan idea. That's the reason it will not be adopted. It appreciates this and other Bryan poli cies at their true worth, which Is noth ing, or next to nothing. If the Government Is to guarantee National bank deposits, then for Its own protection It must see that the bank Is safe. To be safe it must be well conducted; and to be well con ducted its loans must be honestly made and its business otherwise must be properly and conservatively con ducted. The Government, then, must run the whole business. It will have no alternative. The first effect of Government insur ance upon National bank deposits would be to drive all other banks out of existence. The absolute security, or what passed for such security, of deposits in these favored institutions would draw all the money in the coun try to their vaults; and since a bank thrives upon deposits and expires without them, all except the National banks must, of course, close their doors. We should then have none but National banks, with their notes and deposits completely guaranteed by the Federal tjovernmcnt. That they would be safe is beyond question, provided we agree that the promise of the Gov ernment to pay insures safety. What the Government would pay, or how the means would be obtained, are questions which have evidently not dis turbed the philosophic calm of Mr. Bryan. Trifling details of this sort are beneath his notice. Very likely he would have the Government print sun dry ingenious devices upon slips of pa per and call them money. With these talismans, or magic tokens, at com mand In unlimited supply, of course there would be no difficulty in paying depositors, and everybody else. Bank failures would perhaps become a pleasing pastime for dull Summer af ternoons, since they could be retrieved by the mere activity of the Govern ment printing machines. But hold! To criticisms that the National banks would drive the state banks to the wall, Mr. Bryan genially makes answer that the "states should take up the same scheme." Trust companies and private banks of all kinds, too. would then have to be In cluded. And safety deposit vaults, no doubt. Tin-can and back-ard depos its would come next. But why stop here? Let the Government guarantee Investments of every kind In any sort of scheme, and then there would be no danger in the weaker schemes and no advantage for the stronger. Why not? Of course Mr. Bryan is always seek ing expedients of any kind to keep himself in the public eye and his can didacy tn the .general favor. Some day he may strike it right, if he lives long enough. THE LIMITATIONS OF JAPAN. A report Is wafted from the Fa East to the effect that Japan will be Invited by China to recall the numer ous Japanese subjects who have over run Manchuria and North China since the work of reconstructing that coun try began. This Is said to be partly in retaliation for the action of the Japan ese iri ordering deportation from Japan of a number of Chinese. Along with this report, which comes by way of Victoria, is a statement that the United States has protested against the landing at Victoria of any more Japanese bound for this country. Meanwhile Canada is taking steps to shut the little brown men out of that province. This growing feeling of re sentment against Invasion by the al leged "Yankees of the Far East'.' and abandonment by Japan of the haughty and warlike attitude so recently as sumed, might Indicate that perhaps after all the men of Nippon are only ordinary individuals. In one of the November magazines Dr. Woods Hutchinson, who is well known In Portland, contributed a very interesting article on giants, in which he proved, with an array of facts, that the rapid growth which produced a giant was In reality a disease which ended In early death. There is some thing in the Japanese situation that suggests that the Nippon empire maj' be the victim of the disease of grow ing too fast. There are signs of the times which indicate that this abnor mal growth is unhealthful. and it is possible that Japan may meet the fate of the. giants and sink into early de cay. There was a time, a few months ago, when it was feared that she was in deadly danger of the fate which be fell the frog, which, according to the late Mr. Aesop, endeavored to swell to the size of the ox. The Japan head, at the close of the Russian-Japanese war, was undoubtedly in need of a steel band to prevent its bursting from excessive swelling, and the strain was still much in evidence when an at tempt was made to dignify a slight al tercation between San Francisco hood lums and Japanese Immigrants by making it an International affair. The Japanese, still drunk with the wine of victory, began breathing vengeance of the most pronounced type against the United States. Then came the Vancouver incident, and fail ure on the part of the Japanese to re ceive anything like a courteous apol ogy for the conduct of the Vancouver hoodlums seems to have had a sober ing effect on Japan. Whatever her belief might have been regarding her ability to conquer the United States, she was apparently not inclined to in clude England at that time. There is quite a field of usefulness for Japan In the Far East, and if she will keep her subjects at home or colonize them on the territory which she won from China and Russia, and confine herself to peaceful pursuits, she will get on well with her neighbors. But Japan must learn to keep her cheap labor out of countries where it is not wanted, and she must abandon the habit of strutting up and down the earth with a chip on her shoulder. There is more or less danger that the chip might be knocked off, and in the ensuing developments the island em pire would learn with sorrow that vic tory over Russia or China has failed to establish a precedent that Is not subject to change when a real live power Is attacked. Ten years of con tact with modern civilization has placed even ancient China in a posi tion where she might reverse the re sult of the last mix-up with Japan. The printed measurement by feet and tons displacement give a good idea of the Immense size of the modern steamers that ply in the trans-Atlantic trade, but a still more accurate es timate of their Immensity is gained by the size of the crowds which they can accommodate. The steamship President Grant, which sailed from New York for Europe November 16. carried 3220 steerage passengers, with enough people in the cabin and with the crew to bring the total number on board up to more than 3800 people. This is said to be the record for steer age travel on one steamer, but there are fourteen steamships plying regu larly out of New York with a net ton nage from 1000 to 12.000 tons greater than that of the President Grant. It has been less than four years since Mr. Hill's mammoth liners were the larg- est ships in the world. Now there are ten steamships of greater tonnage than the Minnesota, even diminutive Holland having one which registers 24,200 tons. "I am not going back to Wall street for the present, and perhaps never again. I am going to Texas to look after some land," said John W. Gates, who was "trimmed" In the early stages of the rich man's panic. This is en couraging in the extreme, and the whole country will be a distinct gainer if Mr. Gates and the rest of his kind will only keep away from Wall street and turn their attention to land. It requires talent and nerve of a high de gree to play the Wall-street game, and if a few more of the victims learn that it is "not worth the candle," they may devote their surplus energy and cash to developing something that is worth while. Not only Texas, but a dozen other Southern and Western States have land that is worth looking after, and If it is exploited in the proper manner It will yield safer divi dends than can be taken out of that maelstrom of speculation In "little old New York." The Chinese Boxer, like the Ameri can Indian, will be obliged to accept the teachings of modern civilization or else get killed. The American Indian klllled the white settlers and mission aries because they interfered with his freedom, religious and otherwise, but the cause of religion and civilization triumphed and the Indian outbreaks are no more. The Chinese Boxer, like the original Americans, to whom in the long-departed past he might have been a blood relation, is blocking the wheels of progress, but the obstruc tion Is temporary. The doctrine of survival of the fittest Is still In force, and the Boxer must mend his ways and become one of the "fittest' or he will not survive. The religion which is offered him by the missionaries may be of a different brand from that to which he is accustomed, but it can not be successfully resisted, espec:hlly when It is backed up by bayonets. Having stood the test of the dryest Fall season for many years. Portland's twenty-flve-foot channel to the sea will now show a rapid increase in depth. Despite the low stage of water, there has been no delay in taking the deepest-draft vessels through to Astoria. The Port of Portland has successfully solved the problem of getting ships up and down the river, and, with the completion of the jetty next year, there will be no more delay below Astoria than now exists on this side of that port. Government officials in Germany have determined that drunken men shall be expelled from railway cars. Not a bad plan to adopt here in the United States. Many a woman travel ing on the cars has suffered for hours from fear of a drunken passenger who is permitted to ride merely because he has bought a ticket. Railway con ductors and brakemen, though vested with authority, often have neither the courage to expel the disorderly passen ger nor the judgment to telegraph ahead for police assistance. President Gary, of the Steel Trust, says that It Is not the' desire of that monopoly to crush Its competitors. In an interview In New York he Is quoted as saying: "We believe conditions will be better with healthy rivalry." The recent acquisition of the Tennes see Coal & Iron Company, the last re maining vestige of competition worthy of the name, was undoubtedly for Ihe purpose of having that "healthy rival ry" right at home, where it could bo controlled. The wonder of the late apple shows in this city is not that the finest apples on earth were exhibited, but that the Judges were able to apply to the apples the comparative adjectives "good, bet ter, best." To the admiring public the exhibit singly and as a whole was the "best ever." 'Nothing as tame as "good" or "better" was shown in either of the rival exhibits. Every apple was the best of its kind, and its kind was of the best. So there you are. The agent of the company which is surety on the official bond of State Treasurer Steel say3 that the Title Guarantee & Trust Company was never solvent, and In the same breath he asserts that Steel did not exercise poor judgment in depositing twice as much money in that bank as he did In all the rest of the banks of the state put together. Somehow that doesn't sound logical. "Opposition to the Pacific cruise should stop," says the New York Her ald. Certain newspapers have been making themselves ridiculous by de claring it an intentional menace to Japan. But now, since Baron Aoki, speaking for Japan, has said that nls country will not regard It in that light at all It Is time to drop the twaddle and be sane again. The Hon. Thomas Taggart is report ed as wishing to be relieved of the chairmanship of the Democratic Na tional Committee. Which desire is also felt by his party. More than six months remain to de liberate over a choice of candidates; still no one is going to pick a winner without considering Roosevelt and the plain people. They who look for relief by legisla tion should remember tha. the most successful physicians are those who prescribe the least medicine. French gold, they say, seeks the new certificates and English g4)ld the new bond issues. Is this a part of the psychological problem? Other troubles nearer home made us almost forget that Fish and Harrl man haven't had it out yet over Illi nois Central. At least we have been spared the convincing argument that the gold standard held down the price of wheat. Carrie Nation says she wouldn't kiss a man who uses tobacco. But this isn't likely to Injure the tobacco mar. ke:. Perhaps it was the storm predicted by the Missouri prophet for early Oc tober, but delayed in transmission. Apples of Oregon are getting notices in newspapers, in all parts of the United States. THE THE A SCRY PALLIATIVE. A Careful Estimate of the Possible Results of Recent Action. The most careful and Judicioue article 1 we have seen, on the recent action of ; the National Treasury and on the j means that have been adopted through It to get the finances of the country back to normal conditions, Is published by the New York Times. The Tlm.-s. like ourselves. Is by no means sure of result, and like ourselves It fears difficulty In effecting the necessary con traction, after a while, for it surely will be resisted. This article is worth careful consideration: The first aim of the Government in Its Issue of bonds and of Treasury certificates must be to draw from its hiding In thou sands of more or less secret places, partly In banks, the very large amount of currency which has disappeared from circulation within the past month. Tnis is shown In the President's emphatic statement and ap peal. In the statement of Secretary Cortel you Is shown the group of measures by which It is expected that this result will be reached. In the first place, both bonds and certificates, if the latter be registered, can be used as the basis of Increased Issues of National banknotes. in the second place, the Secretary will be enabled to meet public expenditures without withdrawing any con siderable part of the public moneys now on deposit In National banks throughout the country. In the third place, the pro ceeds of the sale of the certificates can be made available for the movement of the crops, "which will give the greatest mea sure of relief and result In the most imme diate financial returns." Finally, as a cor relative effect, the Importation of gold. If required, will be accelerated. By these actual additions to the currency, and the increased mviituM iur me canas in maKing ine move- j mer.t of the crops, it is expected that th j "c'""u nu supply oi currency win leno. io resume their normal relation. that the premium will vanish, and. as the President puts It, ' the whole difficulty disappears." The policy is an extraordinary one. It will be Justified, or the reverse, by the event. So far as the trouble has been in the hoarding and hiding of currency. It may be said to be in great part psychological, and the action of the Government may prove the Impulse needed to dispel an unreasoning distrust. It is to be noted with satisfaction that this action is taken with avowed confidence on the part of the President that "a currency bill which will meet In permanent fashion the needs of the situation" "will be passed at an early date after Congress convenes two weeks hence." The currency bill pre dicted may be expected to provide adequate and effectual means for the adaptation of tho currency to the actual needs of legiti mate business. This Involves provision for automatic and sure contraction as well as for expansion, as legitimate business re quires, and unquestionably contraction will ultimately be Imperatively required. If that provision cannot be made, we shall face very serious consequences. Again. It must be kern in mind that al though much of the current distress Is due : to the hoarding and hiding of currency, i a very considerable reaction from the ex treme activity of the country w-as bound to j come, and bound to produce depression when it did come. That process will have j to be worked out despite any effort to pre- j vent It. and the measure's the Government has taken cannot possibly relieve us from j that, or greatly defer It. They may lessen its abnormal and acute operation. They may. as we have said, affect the minds of Indl- i vidual hoarders. They may relieve the bankers, especially In the interior, of the ! sense of obligation to maintain each his i own reserve. They may. In various wavs. i reawaken that general confidence which has I oeen so suddenly broken down. But they will not, because they cannot, dispense the United States from the ill-effects of a bad system of banking. Still less can they con vert Into quick assets the slow assets result ing from excessive expansion. We shall still have grave problems to solve. The bright side of the situation is that we shall be In a mood to try to solve them practically and sensibly. A FEW SQl'IBS. "Dictated, but not read." is now stamped upon the busy man's letters. Another needed rubber stamp Is. "Written, but not spelled." Louisville Courier-Journal. Ma Johnny got home from school ao hour earlier than usual today. Pa Why. was he sent away? Ma No. he Just wasn't kept in. Cleve land Leader. "What's the trouble? You look as if you had lost your last friend." "My wife has Just found a place where she can do Christ mas shopping and use Clearlng-House cer tificates." Chicago Record-Herald. "Now. we must admit." began Woodby Wise, "that woman Is naturally more hope ful than man "Yes." Interrupted Marryat. there's my wife; for Instance; every time that she's bought fish since we've been married she has asked the dealer If they were fresh, hoping, I sup pose, that some day he'll say, no." " Pnna delphla Press "Are you working hard these days?" asked one New Yorker. "Yes." answered" the other "I haven't seen you at the office." "No; one day I've been busy getting my money out of the hank for fear the finan ciers would get It. and the next I've been busy putting It back for fear the burglars would get It." Washington Star. A correspondent writes: "On reading your paper this morning I find a pretty little poem signed Leigh Hunt. I have one or two at present I would like to have you con sider. Hoping for a favorable reply, I am. tc." That's the way It goes. We Just knew that If we let Leigh Hunt contribute some verses a lot of others would want to. Send your poems in. iady. But understand, we didn't pay Leigh a cent for his. so don't Jxpect any pecuniary advantage. Hunt is attsfled with the honor he got -you must be the same. Cleveland Leader. Cows' Musical Milkmaid. Boston Herald. Miss Phoebe Stannard. who resides on Blue Hill. Great Harrington, has an unusual way of calling the cows In at milking time. She sits in the stable and plays an accordion, and so Inter ested have the cattle become In the music that the minute they hear it they file Into the barn and into their stalls ready for milking. Variant Ambitions. Philadelphia Press. The toller In the city had been given an advance In salary. "Now," he said Jub'lantly, "I can begin saving to buy a farm." Out in Oregon the agriculturist looked at the check received for his season's wheat. "Another such crop or two and I can move into the city," he mused. The Airship nt Daybreak. Don Marquis in Putnam's. The Morning Star sinks swooning down, the pale Moon quits the chase. We race the rushing Sun across the clam orous fields of space: For, though our prow be wreathed about with purple sprays of Night, Our pinions flick the Dawn that strives to gain upon our flight. And now. with forelocks fluttering and. manes blown out behind. Come thundering down the sunward slopes the Coursers of the Wind For God's sake, t'P! give place to them. wild thoroughbreds of air; The rush of those tempestuous hooves no man-wrought wings may dare! Ahead, no mirrored gleam flares up from stream or mere below; Behind, our cloud-wake catches fire and sets the East aglow. Poised on the very tip of Time, a spinning satellite. Wre float between the flood- of day and ebb of yesternight. "Today," "tomorrow," "yesterday" each Is an alien name! We bear our own time in our wings, that rearward, ribbed with flame. Fling downward, backward from our course. In aureate gleams of mirth. The fiery sign that its "today" broods over drowsy earth. Awake, look up. O cynic world! as In the days of old fitlll godlike progress stabs the sky with shafts of shaken gold. For now bold Science grasps the myths tha dreaming poets tell, And rings our heedless star about with merry miracle. COMPARISON AND CONTRAST. rendition- In 1808. and (end it Ion- In 1907.' Brooklyn Eagle (Ind. Dem.) In 1892, Immediately following the Presidential election, which had re sulted in the choice of Grover Cleve land, there was disturbance in the commercial and financial world. There was a fear of tariff revision, j so the manufacturers were apprehen- I slve. They began the process of slow- ing down. Labor was thrown out of work. The Sherman silver coinage j act was in operation to the detriment of financial conditions. And the crops were disappointing. The outlook was not assuring. Gold had already begun to flow from the country. This was the condition when Cleve land took office. One of his earliest acts was to suspend the operation of the Sherman silver coinage act. At the time the United States Government, considered as a financial Institution, was in a sound condition. Its income was greater than its current obliga tions. It was not in need of money. . But commerce was. As the Summer of 1893 advanced it was perceived that conditions wen- growing worse. There was need of currency expansion. Re luctantly and in full appreciation of the fact that it would be an unpopular act wtth those who had not an under standing of the situation in Its entirety, but deeming it necessary to relieve the financial and commercial situation. President Cleveland authorized the Issue of $50,000,000 worth of bonds and their sale to a syndicate of bankets, so that the currency might be ex panded for the general good. This wns heroic. But the clamor of the unthinking and the uninformed fol lowed, as was anticipated. Even the personal integrity of as honest a man as ever lived was assailed. Now, while the conditions are not wholly the same, but when effects that are alike are threatened, a similar problem confronts the President of the United States. Crops are abundant; business condi tions are aound. As a financial insti tution the United States Government is sound. It is not in want of money. It has money to loan. In 1893 the Gov ernment had reserves of all of $100, J00. 000. Now it has nearly a billion dol lars. The country is ten times richer than it was In 1S93. Yet there Is a stringency of currency. There is a hoarding through a loss of confidence. That loss is unreasoning, but it oper ates to contract the currency at a time when there should be expansion. Again the Government comes to the rescue. President Roosevelt has au thorized the issue of $50,0,10,000 of Panama Canal bonds and $100,001,000 of Treasury certificates that there may be a $150,000,000 expansion of the cur rency. Perhaps he has even strained a point in the matter of the Treasury certificates. But It will relieve the situation. This also is heroic. It is done with a full appreciation that it may lead to criticism and condemnation. It may be that the personal reputation of an other man also as honest a man as ever lived will be assailed, but It is right. And when history is written. It will be justified. Just as the act of President Cleveland has taken its proper place in history. AN IMPERIAL CITY. Enormous (irowth of Public Expendi ture In New York. New York World. In ten years the population of Greater New York has Increased less than 25 per cent, but the budget has Increased 85 per cent. In 1898 it was $77,590,832; for 1908 it will he $143,572,286, an increase of $13,150, 176 over last year. Although more than $60,000,000 in taxes has poured Into the city's treasury since October 1, the administration has ar ranged with a syndicate of bankers to sell $30,000,000 of 6 per cent revenue bonds, with an option of $30,000,000 more. New York spends Its revenue before It collects tho money. The taxes now coming Into the treasury must be used to retire the 1907 revenue bonds, and so the city will proceed to borrow more money to meet Its bills. It Is In the position of a man who spends his salary nine months before he earns it and must then borrow money at a high rate of interest in order to live. The new budget means a per-capita expenditure of $36 a year for every man, woman and child in New York, or at least $144 a year for every family. With the most extravagant National Adminis tration that the country has ever known in time of peace, the Federal expenditures are only $10 per capita. Nobody escapes this excessive taxation. Those who do not pay their money direct ly to the city government pay it through the medium of th landlord, the grocer and the butcher. Their taxes are added to their rent and their living expenses. If every laboring man In New York realized how many weeks he had to work every year In order to earn his taxes it would be a long time before there was another $143,600,000 budget. While the budget represents the amount that is to be collected in the form of taxation. It by no meana covers all the city's expenditures. The bonded indebted ness increases by leaps and bounds, and the present annual expenditures of New York City must be more than $225,000,000. The interest charges alone in the new budget are more than $24,000,000, or almost as much as the regular budget of the City of Chicago. New York is a great city. Somebody has called it an Imperial city, but Im perial cities are usually maintained by looting provinces, and New York has no provinces to loot only taxpayers. That tenia Fatuua. Penaleton East Oregonian. When the free silver enthusiasm held the West In rapturous embrace, as It were, both Oregon and Idaho had a num ber of prominent Republicans who were "led astray" by its enticements. They simply followed off after an al luring public sentiment, as a hungry pup follows the scent of frying hot cakes to the kitchen door. But because these men followed this enticing public senti ment, this democratic allurement, this very brew of the devil, they were reviled1 by their brethren, cast out of party coun cils, branded as deserters and placarded as unsafe. But in a free country, and especially a big country like the West, strange things happen in politics, and today Ore gon and Idaho are represented in the United States Senate by men who fol lowed off this ignis fatuus. Wisdom Comes to Nehrnskan. Chicago Tribune. Mr. Bryan of today Is vastly different from the Bryan of UN. He was a poverty-stricken and briefless lawyer then. He is almost equally briefless now. but he has made money legitimately In the lecture field and through his newspaper work. The mere possession of a com petence naturally has changed his point of view, and there Is a temperateness In his Commoner which It would have been impossible for him to assume ten years ago. ONE THING AND ANOTHER You may talk of your turkeys, your chick ana and geese, Of endln- your dinner with mince pie and cheese. Of drinking sweet cider by the b!:tzc of tha log But give me the bones from the back of the hog And give me the meat that adheres to the r!h. While the rich gravy drips from your month to your bib; 'TIs a feast for the gods, don't deny It. by heck ! Is he nrlme roasted hog from hl3 tail to his neck. "Noah, do you know what day next Thureday is?" asked his wife, one day late in November. B. C. 2G4T. "Yes. ma'am." replied the Commodore, "but there's only a pair aboard, and you let em alone. I tell you what, o'.d lady." a bright light striking him. "I'll roast Ham that day." The department store has had its doll show, and scon the banks nil! have their dollar show. This is what the school ma'am might call comparative progres sion. Forecaster Beats has had a "sub" on for a few days, which may explain some things. Old-timers look back to tee days when Farmer Pague made weather to order occasionally. "Women dress very ridiculously." re marks an Olympla paper. Well. If sit ting on the floor to pull on hose Is ridle uloue. perhaps there is truth in the re mark. Storce, an Indian, held at Sheridan for killing his affinity. Is a graduate of Chemawa and shows the effect of edu cation. He simply crushed her head. A Morn potato-grower planted 62 eyes last May. an eye to the hill, and has Just harvested 40 sacks, which Is pretty nearly unanimous. Mrs. Lillian Schaffer. a Chicago club woman, would hang all Idiots. Yet many wives would strenuously object to being widowed. Whether or not turkeys become cheaper, it will be well to remember that it is tough to be an orphan on Thanksgiving day. One of the new canal bonds, framed in mahogany, will make a handsome Christ mas present to hang on the parlor wall. A ripping good storm of thunder and lightning is needed occasionally to make some men remember they were raised Christians. As school does not keep this week, it is up to the boy of the family to go to tr:s woods and spot the Christmas tree. A little common sense is all that is needed during this holiday stress. But a few common dollars are handy. May be "Uncle Bill" Brown, who is to give all the widows of Dallas a big dinner this week, thinks himself Immune. With Oregon apples slumping to a dollar a box In New York, one may be able to speak for the core at home. The preachers are making very little fuss because the motto is left off the clearing-house certificates. These Oregon mists are nothing more than asset rains from the J. Pluvlus clearing-house. Already the dollar la going farther than formerly. Many of them are out of sight now. It will take more than the ner -fangled machine to extract the milk of human kindness. Just when the banks need succor along comes a St. Louis man to make a, sucker of them. More s the pity, a good many laboring men will celebrate a "canned" Thanks giving. The Bradley trial is showing no new way of lovemaking. It is the same old frensy. They may change his name to Buffalo Bill as the evidence accumulates. Cortelyou bslm should be a popular medicine Just now. Asset currency: Bar checks. the: new issues. New York Evening Post. It may properly be asked, whether the existing emergency was not grave enough to warrant recourse to any ex pedient, however objectionable at an ordinary time, which would bring re lief and avert overwhelming disaster. Our answer Is, that In our Judgment the situation did not call for such measures of relief, and that the ulterior consequences of the measures taken may of themselves, later on, threaten complications of their own. Springfield (Mass.) Republican. The scheme would be objectionable even were It certain that the notes so Issued would be retired as the crisis passed. But that is not at all certain. The chances are that the notes will continue In circulation after the crlslj. and In the money congestion sure to follow the present squeeze they will be the means of forcing gold out of the country. Furthermore, It will be. difficult to prepare the notes and get them into circulation before the critical period has largely gone by. It seems to be a needless as well as a most objectionable step. Slinkeup In the Parties. Leslie's Weekly. The shakeup which President Roose velt's reforms have given to the politics of the last few years has made sweep ing changes in the personnel of the working leaders of both parties, as well as in their Ideals and their meth ods. The six years which have passed since Roosevelt entered the White House have placed new men at the helm In the control of both the Re publican and the Democratic parties in most of tiie important states. Burden of Knarlond's Tnxntlon. Toronto Mail and Empire. Mr. Asqulth. Britain's present Chan cellor of the Exchequer, lowered tho Income tax on earned Incomes. I ut ivj has succeeded In increasing the reve nue from this rlasa of Incom-s by nearly $50,000,000. This greater yit-M from a lower rate has been obtained by requiring employers to give full state ments of the salaries of all emp'oyes. The Hnpiiy Family. Louisville Courier Journal. The trouble here Is simply that Mr. Bryan and his friends will not have It. They will knife any Southern nominee as they knifed Judge Parker. They do not mean that anybody shall ride In the band wagon except themselves. That spells defeat, hut they had rather be beaten than give up their primacy. Recurrence of "-3." New Y'ork Tribune. It seems that the percaplta circula tion In 1893 was $23.23. while now It Is $33.23. We hope none of the hoarders Is alarmed over that 81.