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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 26, 1907)
8 THE MORNING OREGOXIAN,- TUESDAY, XOVE3IBER 28, 1907 bl'BSC P.iPTION RATES. 1XVARIABLT IN ADVANCE (By Mall.) Pally. Sunday Included, one year .0I Dally. Sunday Included, six months. . . 4.15 Dally. Sunday mcuaeo. tnrea mon'.ni. . S.2S Dally. Sunday included, one month 75 Dally, without Sunday, one year BOO Daily, without Sunday, six months ... S.25 Dally, without Sunday, three months. . 1.75 Dally, without Sunday, one month 60 Sunday, one year 2.60 TVeeltly. one year itssued Thursday)... 1-6 Sunday and Weekly, one year S.50 BY CARKIKK. Dally. Sunday Included, one year 9.00 Dally. Sunday Included, one month 75 HOW TO REMIT .Send postorfice money order, express order or personal check on your local bank Stamps, coin or currency are at the sender's risk. Give postofflce ad dress !u full. Including county and state I'lM '.'.I RATES. Entered at Portland. Oregon, postofflce as Sscond-Tlass Matter. 10 to 11 pages 1 rent HI to 2S pages 2 cents SO to 44 Pages 3 cent! 46 to CO Page 4 cents Foreign postage, double rates. IMPORTANT The postal laws are strict. Newspapers on which postage Is not fully prepaid are not forwarded to destination. EASTEHN '.I ':-.! OFFICE. The 8. c. Beckwith Special Agency New Tork. rooms 4S-50 Tribune building Chi cago, rooms 510-512 Tribune building KEPT ON BALE. Chicago Auditorium Annex; poatofflce News Co . ITS Dearborn street. tt. Paul. Minn. N." St. Marie. Commercial Station Colorado Springs. Colo. Bell. H. H Denver Hamilton and Kendrlck. 004-912 Seventeenth street: Pratt Book store. 1214 Fifteenth street; H. P. Hansen, S. Rice. Uso. Carson. Kn City. Mo. Rlcksccker Cigar Co.. Ninth and Walnut; Yoma News Co.; Harvey News stand Minneapolis M J. Cavanaugh, 50 South Third. Cleveland. O. Ja.nP7 rushaw, 307 . Su perior street Washing! tin. D. C Kbbltt House. Penn sylvania avenue. Philadelphia. pn. Ryan's Theater Ticket Office ; penn News Co. New York City I. Jones ft Co.. Astor Kouse; Broadway Theater News Stand; Ar thur liotaling Wagons; Empire News Stand. Atlantic t lT. N. J. Ell Taylor. Ogdn--Li. I. Boylo; Lowe Bros.. 114 Twenty-fifth street. Omaho--!arl;a:ow Bros., Union Station; Hogcnth Stationery Co. Dcs Moines, la. Mote Jacobs. SHirramento, tnl. Sacramento News Co., 430 K" street; Amos News Co. halt Lake Moon Itook Stationery Co.; Rosenftid Hanson; G YV Jewett. P. O. corner Los Angeles B. E Amos, manager ten street wagons. hnn Diego B. E Amos. Long Beach, Cal. B E. Amos. Kin Jose, Cnl. St James Hotel News stand Delias. Tex. Southwestern News Agent El Paso, Tex. Plaza Book and News stand 1-nrt Worth, Tex. F. Robinson. Atnnrillo, Tex. Amarlllo Hotel News Stand New Orleans, La. Jones News Co. San Francisco Foster ft Orear; Ferry PCews Stand; Hotel St. Francis News Stand; L. Parent; N Wheatley; Falrmount Hotel News Stand; Amos News Co.; United News Agents ll'- 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 Ave wagons. Goldfleld, Nev. Louie Foil In; C. E Hunter. Eureka. Cal. Call-Chronicle Agency; Eu reka News Co. VPKTLAND, TUESDAY. NOV. 26, 1007. ALL SHOULD UNDERSTAND IT. Prodigious speculation, straining credit to the point .of breaking, has landed the country In the condition we now find It. Excess of credltcur rency, which has provoked excessive speculation, lay behind that. It was this excess of credit currency that begat the thought of exploitation of the natural resources of the country beyond limit of reason or realization. Electric development has been one of the greatest of the factors. It has forced values, or supposed values, of real estate, beyond all rational limits. It has caused men to put prices on lots and land and timber, and to es timate values on potatoes and cab bages and prunes and cordwood and milk, yet to be produced and marketed throc.gh years to come, to extremes beyond all possible realization. Based on these expectations, the speculations in New York on copper, chief agent in the use of electricity, was pushed to a far greater excess and still more absurd extreme. Then the whole thlngscollapsed, on the cop per speculation. It was first to fall. Rut It did not fall alone. The break was on copper, because It was the weakest point. All speculation In Eastern cities, based on electric de velopment, has tumbled Into the "hole." The whole tramway system In New LYork, elevated, surface and subway, nas been gutted by the plung ers who have controlled it. To a sim ilar, yet perhaps less, extent elsewhere. This Is but one side. Another has been presented in the steam railroad system. Basing calculations on re sources known to exist, yet unwilling to wait for and to assist their progres sive development, the stock specula tions in railroad futures have been bladder-blown to the highest. Instead or building the railroads that the country actually needed, and deriving from them moderate and reasonable profits, the stock-jobbers have dissi pated their resources in attempts to work "corners" and to get advantages over each other. Look at Harriman, agent of a group of them, who has wasted ,180.000.000. drawn from the traffic of the West. In the endeavor to control Eastern and Southern lines. Again, the timber of the West. It has been among the. leading or promi nent subjects, or objects, of this spec ulative exploitation. Men who never had a dollar honestly earned have been dabbling and plunging and "harking in timber, on credit of course, for they had nothing of their own. Put they fell In with so-called bankers, who had the money of others on deposit or in trust, just as the gamblers in copper. In New York and Boston, gained access to bank depos its. The results are the same. Both the objects and the methods of this craze of speculation, this Infatua tion to get rich quick, have been In finite. Had all such men as Hclnze and Sweeney, and in Jess degree all men like Moore and Thorburn Ross, been content with moderate riches, there would be no trouble now. But money was too easy; money was too abundant. It has misled ail but the most prudent. We are carrying too much paper on the gold basis. It leads to excess and abuse of credit. The country la in this plight because it has too much money or currency, not too little. Money and credit have been too easy to obtain. Hotv should Lafe Pence have got a creMIt of a quarter of a millldri? How should M. B. Rankin have obtained a credit of half a million? How should an un developed scheme In Omaha have got half a million dollars from Portland? How should one Lowlt. whose gift was his tongue, have persuaded a bank in Portland out of more than $100,000 that belonged to depositors? Why are these things recited? Be- J cause It Is necessary to kn .w just where we are. in order to understand what Is the matter, and to take les sons agralnst future error and dis aster. The people, of course, did not know what was being; done with their money or they never would have placed it where the gamblers could reach it. As soon as they found out they began to withdraw their money. It Is a les ( son that will make them very careful: j and they will deal henceforward with l banks that have a record for conservp i rive and legitimate business. One of j the worst of the consequences is the : fall here and there of a bank like the 1 Merchanis National, of Portland, that hasn't deserved the suspicion. WE QUOTE MR. BRYAN. A lot of our Democratic and per haps some of our Republican brethren, who never knew and never could learn anything about money, have been wofully- upset recently by the crisis in money affairs. They are just beginning to pipe for free coinage of silver again. Take the following i from the East Oregonian (Pendleton): If there was plenty of circulating medium. If gold and stiver were used as money, and i -the volume of the circulating medium were i kept out of the hands of a favored few. j such a ludicrous panic as the present would be Impossible. The gold standard house of cards has I tumbled down upon Its builders. The "safe , and sane" monetp.ry system of the United I States Is simply a tVv In the hands of half I a dozen criminal magnates who play with It as though It were a rag baby. This is made possible because of the single money standard, the scarcity of money and the close control wjiich eight or ten men are able to exercise over the limited circulating medium of the country. Now, though "eight or ten men," having access to great trusL and bank funds, have been able by their ex i esses to start this panic, It Is a fact that they not only do not control the circulating medium of the country, but that the masses of the peopie who do control it have made money scarce by taking It out of the banks and locking it up, to keep it away from the plun derers: and this, chiefly. Is what Is the matter. But let us admit that The Oregonian is no good authority with those who. like the Pendleton paper, know nothing about the. matter, but simply follow their emotions and pal pitations. For the benefit of such we reprint the following from Mr. Bryan and ask them to read it. and on the heat and flame of ' their distemper to sprinkle cool patience: Ra:tlmore. Md.. Nov. 24 William J. Bryan lectured at Ford's Opera-House this afternoon under the auspices of the Y". M. C. A. prior to which he was given a lunch eon by friends and admirers. Just before the latter event. In response to a question as to whether coinage of silver as advocated by him would have prevented the money stringency from which the country has been suffering, he said: "The coinage of silver has no bearing upon the monetary conditions which exist today. The restoration of bimetallism would have given more money than we have at j present, but the unprecedented discovery of ; gold has given us such an increase in the volume of money that prices have risen. The present stringency 13 not due to the scarcity of money, but to the scare that has spread among depositors." We trust this sedative will have a soothing effect. Mr. Bryan Is becom ing sane. Can't his followers take some of that same Anticyran hellebore that has proven so physical for him? THE CITY BEAUTIFUL. The remarks of Mr. John C. Olm sted, reported in Monday's Orego nian. amount to a lesson In civic im provement from a man whose lessons are worth thousands of dollars each. Had he charged the city a good, round price for what he said Instead of giv ing advice for nothing, doubtless many j citizens would have valued it more. But the intrinsic merit of his words I is not dependent upon their price. Were his advice to be followed, Port land would place .itself in a fair way to become one of the show cities of the world, one which travelers would visit as they do Venice, for the sur passing loveliness of the picture It pre sents to the eye. It is vain for us to boast, as we are prone to do, of the beautiful mountains which surround Portland, while much of the interior of the city Is abandoned to ugliness and squalor. Visitors derive their Im pressions of a place quite as much from what they see upon entering and leaving it as they do from its sur rounding natural features. If one enters Portland over the Northern Pacific road by daylight his eye is tortured for miles by a succes sion of horrors. Had some malignant enemy of Portland's good name delib erately planned to make the town re pulsive to travelers he could have done nothing more or worse than to contrive such an entrance as that by which this railroad penetrates to the depot. Along the whole urban reach of the road there is not one pleasant spectacle, not one break in the se quence of tilth, squalor and ugliness. If a traveler comes to town by the O. R. & N. line, things are not so bad perhaps, but if we award the prize for horrors to the Northern Pacific it Is hesitantly. The gulch which the O. R. & N. traverses offers incom parable opportunities for scenic dis plays of many kinds, but the only scenery along its sjdes which the traveler beholds Is heaps of rubbish, while the bottom of the gulch fairly reeks with everything that decency would perforce keep out of sight. What Is the use of advertising the beauties of Portland In the East while such things remain to contradict everything that the advertisements have asserted? The railroad ap proaches to a city ought to attract travelers, not sicken them. One notices with satisfaction that Mr. Olmsted treats the river front as the central problem la our future park system. He speaks of "a park up the Willamette on one or both sides of the river." and a park "down the Willamette along the west side." The key to the incomparable beauty which Portland might possess is not in the mountains at all, but in the river. With a stream like the Wil lamette traversing the heart of a town It can be made charming no matter how flat the country around it may be. The mountains are all very well. They are a treasure for eternity, but with our river front as it is, with the ubominati-ns which defile the course of that stream whoso rival the whole world can scarcely produce, the lovely hills roundabout look very much like the silk:; and diamonds which certain fine ladles of Peru are said to display w.hile they forget to send, their under garments to the washerwoman. Why not put the river front in a condition such that at least it will not shame the mountains? The stretch of the Willamette River within the city of Portland should be a continual delight to the eye. This could be accomplished without Im pairing its usefulness to commerce at all. In fact, clean concrete quays would be much better for commerce than our present decaying structures are. No building shojjld be permitted to turn its unspeakable back to the river. The Willamette deserves more respectful treatment than that comes to. No building should be permitted to extend out over the water. There should be a wide, clean street between the first row of buildings and the river on both- sides. Where traffic does not forbid, this street should be adorned with tlower beds and shaded with trees, and there should be seats where mothers and nurses may rest while their children play. Mr. Olm sted is quite right in making it of the first Importance for children to have desirable playgrounds. The ultimate business of the city, as It Is of the country. Is to rear healthy men and women, and this cannot be done, as the great civic artist so well says, un less they have light and air. The area of the Willamette must one day become a place of recreation for all citizens, both young and old. At present there is small inducement for anybody to take a boatride unless he enjoys boating for its own sake. But if the banks were beautiful, as they ought to be. It would be as de lightful to float up and down our river as It Is to drift In a gondola through the canals of Venice. There Is no rea son In the world why the quays and bridges of Portland should not rival those of Paris In solidity and beauty. The Willamette Is a much finer river than the Seiner It is only the very best scenery of the Rhine that begins to compare with the landscape that we slight and defile so carelessly. But. it will be said, "Portland Is not Paris either in age or wealth." Of course not. But there was a time once when Paris was not Paris either. There must be a beginning, and for us the time of beginning is now. when for a little money we can do things which In a few years will cost millions where thousands now suffice. INSTRUCTIVE PARALLELS. Ill Conant's "History of Modern Banking" we read: ''The crisis of 1837 in the United States was one of the consequences of that discounting of the future in a new country which results in overspeculation and the sinking of capital in unproductive en terprises." In this world that we live in there Is not much that Is wholly new. It is a good time to read history; it will help us to find ourselves. "The success of the Erie Canal." one of our historians tells us, "led to tho projec tion of many similar enterprises in the Middle States and the West; cities were laid out in the wilderness, and city lots sold at prices which in con servative times could hardly have been realized in New York and Philadel phia. The valuation of the City of Mobile in 1831 was $1,294,810; It rose In 1837 to $27,482,961, only to fall back in 1846 to $8,638,250. The price of cotton was pushed up and negroes became as active a subject of specu lation In the South as the timber lands of Maine in the North." The timber lands of Maine, then, not of Oregon. Banks then were organized in many cases by land speculators, who issued notes, borrowed the notes and bought the land. In the modern time It Is done quite as neatly by borrowing de positors' money. Nor are the recent cases the first of it. It is remembered that large part of the money placed by depositors in the Fortland Savings Bank was drawn out on timber land speculation Just before the failure of that bank In 1893. President Jackson, In 1837, broke out in fury against the swindlers. The historian adds this statement: "The shriek of rage which was uttered by the defeated timber land and other speculators was echoed by the ene mies of Jackson, and the legend still has believers, that the crisis of 1837 was duo to Jackson alone, whose measures they say broke down the prosperity of the time." How history does 'repeat itself! So President Roosevelt is assailed foT" having broken down prosperity now. To search no further even than our own history yet with help of expres sion from the second epistle to Timo thy we shall find the parallels are ample for instruction, for doctrine, for reproof and for correction. TARIFF' REFORM INITIATED. In these weary days of waiting for the clearing of the financial skies, the gleams of sunshine are few and fleet ing for the millions of American con sumers who are beginning to feel the unpleasant sensation of being caught between the upper millstone of high prices and the nether millstone of re duced wages. But out of the gloom comes at least one lone ray of light in the announcement that reciprocal tariff arrangements have been perfect ed between the United States and Great Britain. Under the new agree ment, which has just been completed by Ambassador Reld and the British Foreign Office, Uie United States has agreed to admit at a reduced duty works of art originating In the United Kingdom. The magnitude of this con cession can be understood when It is stated that the redwrction is from 20 per cent ad valorem to 1 5 per cent. An explanatory dispatch from Washington says that the British made a special effort to have the duty on Scotch whisky reduced, but. as they had exhausted their trading stock, which consisted of the free admission of drummers' samples, the best we could get out of the agreement was the 5 per cent reduction on works of art. But let not the carping critic imagine that nil of this vast conces sion, which In the aggregate amounts to more than $30,000 per year, or a small fraction of one cent per year for each family in the country, will re dound to the benefit of such art pa trons as J. P. Morgan. The reduction is so heavy that it can hardly fail to stimulate trade in English art produc tions, and In consequence there must come a corresponding reduction in the price of the art treasures which Gul seppi Palermo retails from his basket. Herein s suggested the possibility of another blow to American Indus tries, Jor not all of the plaster-of-paris angels, nymphs and bulldogs which Gulseppi circulates are import ed stock. Many of them are of home manufacture, and, if this reciprocity deal is to flood the country with the pauper-made art of Europe, what show has art bearing the domestic brand? It might be argued that some concession was necessary in order to placate the British, and admission of their admirably woven textures, their steel rails which do not break and wreck trains, or their manufactured food products free of duty would have been such a serious blow to the Amer ican trusts that it could not for a mo ment be considered. Think of the widespread distress that would follow reduction of the duty on steel rails to a point where American roads could buy a safe rail for less money than they now pay for any kind the steel trust chooses to give them. The effect would be im mediately noticeable in curtailment in the number of free libraries which the Laird of Skibo annually distributes, and the Coreys and others of their stripe would have so much less money to invest in chorus girls that they might be forced to be decent and re spectable. Still, we have made a start in reform, and the time may yet come when an American can buy American manufactured goods at as low a price as" the foreigners now pay for them. It will be extremely difficult for the a-erage sea traveler to understand the laxity of care shown by the officers on the steamship President in permit ting three little children to be swept from the decks and drowned without an one being aware f the tragedy until several hours after it happened. The parents or guardians of children traveling on ocean steamers are, as a rule, unfamiliar with the dangers of the sea, but It Is strange indeed that the officers, who are responsible for the lives of the passengers, while in their car. should not have taken some precautions to keep them out of dan ger when the seas were running suf ficiently high to break over the vessel. Human life seems to be very lightly regarded on the Pacific Coast steam ers, and it might not be Inappropriate for the San Francisco inspectors to make a searching investigation of the tragedy which cost the lives of three little girls. The suicide of Alexander Good and wife in London, both good writers, who had tried to live by literature and failed, is a reminder of the fate of many who have preceded them. There was Thomas Chatterton, "the marvel ous boy." There was Richard Savage, of whom Johnson has left a memorial. There was George Crabbe. saved from unhappy fate by the.generosity of Ed mund Burke. A character in fiction, based on all these, is the hero of Lord Lytton's most powerful novel. Smol lett barely escaped the fate of those who have tried to make their way through literature in that great field of triumph and failure; and Johnson himself for years was upon the verge of starvation. The annals of Paris are as furl of distresses and triumphs. In our country they have not been so numerous; yet we do not forget the stories of the poverty of Hawthorne and Poe. On the railroads of the country there are frequent demonstrations of the inability of two trains going in opposite directions on the same track to pass each other without Injury. There have also been a number of demonstrations of a similar difficulty encountered when two steamboats ap proaching head-on attempt to pass each other without changing their courses. The oil-tank steamer Asun cion and the river steamer F. B. Jones attempted the feat Sunday night with the usual result, and the Jones now rests at the bottom of the river. An investigation w.111 probably fix the blame, for some one surely was to blame when a light-draft steamer is struck In ' a river channel through which two deeply loaded steamships can alway pass in safety if care Is exercised. A Jefferson sawmill laborer who had suffered the loss of three fingers was placed under the Influence of Chloroform while the fingers were to be dressed, but he died almost imme diately from the Influence of the drug. Fortunate for the surgeon that he Is not a Christian Scientist, or he might find himself considerably embarrassed. Fortunate, too, for manufacturers of patent medicines that the drug was not one of their preparations, for if it had been we should have had a storm of "I told you so's" from the medical fraternity. The incident merely serves to teach us that Infallibility exists no where on earth. A resident of Hubbard advises hop growers to turn the hophouse Into a barn, plow up the vines and put in kale; trade the stoves and wire for cows, and go to dairying. That sounds like good advice when hops are 5 to 7 cents a pound and butter 32 cents. But it will not always be so. How would It do to plow up half the hop yard for a kale patch and combine dairying and hopgrowing? Dairying is a good adjunct to any kind of farm ing. . One of the misfortunes of the Clackamas' County liquor dealers is that they made no effort to prevent the sale of whisky to children until after a Canby boy had died as a re sult of a night's carouse in which a number of his companions had en gaged. Their efforts now to suppress the law-defying dealers will of course be taken with a grain of allowance. The smaller streams of the Wil lamette Valley responded with their usual promptness to the heavy rainfall of Saturday and are running bank full. It Is impossible to guard wholly against damage from a sudden freshet, but, the violence of the storm having abated, the surplus waters will, it Is thought, be drained off without any great loss. Expressmen and drivers of delivery wagons, as also all others who must drive horses in the rain, should pro vide waterproof covers for their horses to protect them from the storms. This Is not only a measure of humanity, but is a matter of economy. A blan ket that protects a horse from a storm will save Its cost in feed in a few months. Chicago attorneys are trying to show that President Roosevelt knew of the methods of Banker Walsh and did not interfere. Fine prospect for additions to the Ananias Club. Make up your mind to begin jour ('hristfnas shopping early and save the clerks and the postofnee employes some of the hard work of an unneces sary rush. 'horus girls are to wear long dresses. The dresses might be long and yet be of the "one-struggle-mone-and-I'll-be-free" style. Twenty thousand Portland young sters rejoice this week over freedom; their teachers will do the going-to-school act. Among distinguished financiers who have not ofTered a cure for the present stringency Is "Coin" Harvey. M'E HUNDRED MILLIONS IK GOLD U. S. Trensurr Hns More Money- Than Other .Nations. Vet We're Hard Up: New York World. In his letter to Secretary Cortelyou ffimmrnrtlns flip nronoiid issue nf Pan- I ama hrtnrfn anil aVa ed4 t arm nnvarnmarf notes. President Roosevelt said: There is -ao analogy at all with the way things were In 1803. On November 30 of that year there was In the Treasury but $!M. Ofio.'HM) In gold. On November 14 of this year there wes S904.iWKi.OO0 of gold. Ten years ago the circulation per capita wa3 S23.2.1. It is now $n ; . : The marvel f a nation which Within one generation lias grown rich beyond all precedent or prophecy Is still more striking by comparison with an earlier date than 1S93. The Treasury on July 1. lf-61, with a great war just beginning, held of both gold and silver $S.W0.0C0 only $4 for every $10000 it now holds of gold alone. The circulation per capita was $13, but gold had fled the country at the threat of war and the Treasury had been sapped by Insufficient ineome. December 30. 1861. the New York -banks suspended specie payment. The bond sales of the Cleveland admin istration JO years later were undertaken to replenish the Treasury gold reserve. The endless chain of bond sales and gold drafts was possibly largely because the Government's income was less than its expenses. It borrowed money to spend. Since then all uncertainty as to what Is the standard of value has passed away. The Income of the Government exceeds its expenditures. So far from needing money. It has $230,000,000 deposit ed 'In the. banks. Every dollar of the gold certificates issued has gold In the vaults to back It a fact so well known abroad that the yellow twenties and fifties now pass as readily in Europe as actual gold from French or British mints. The country's total stock of gold coin. Including bullion In the Treasury. Is probably some $1,600,000,000. The banks of Austria-Hungary held on June 30, 1905, $236,000,000. The Bank of England held $185,000,000 in specie and the United King dom $533,000,000 in gold. France and Ger many probably now- have In vaults or in circulation $1,000,000,000 of ' gold each a litue more than the United States Treas ury, but far less than the total stock of our country. The gold in our Treas ury alone almost equals our total interest-bearing National debt. The public debt of France is six times all the gold In that country. Besides the Treasury gold, put Into circulation in coins and certificates, we have more silver money of full or partial legal tender quality than any other coun try; more even than British India. We have besides hundreds of millions of Treasury notes and of National bank notes based on Federal bonds and as good as gold. What stupidity in our currency system, what senseless hoarding by individuals must there not have been. In a country overflowing with material wealth and humming with Industry, so rich in gold and abounding in other circulating me diums, that business men should have been subjected to the outrage of buying currency at a premium! The money famine is not a consequence of poverty, but a freak of riches and of greed. OX ASSET CURRENCY, A TTioiiKfat About It From Klamath Connty. KLAMATH FALLS. Or.. Nov. 21. (Tn the Edltor.1 With the reassembling of Con gress, asset currency will again be urged as a remedy for our financial troubles. If It shall be Issued by the banks It will stimu late speculation and extension of credit be yond safa limits. Instead of chocking those evils which I believe to be responsible for all our panics. Asset currency Issued by the Government on the following lines appears to me not to bo open to these objections: Loaned on bank assets. In time of need, at safe valuation to be determined by Treasury officials or a local committee of business men who are not borrowers from the bank. The rate of Interest should be high, to prevent borrowing for the purpose of reloanlng the currency and to cause its early retirement when no longer needed. No bank would borrow money at such a rate as 6 per cent unless driven to It by necessity and would redeem Its securities at the earliest possible moment. The issue would be under the control of the United States Treasury and thus hard to manipulate, and would offer quick re lief In times of -stringency. It might he best not to fix the rate of Interest, so that at the times of moving the crops, the currency could be expanded In this way. temporarily, at a lower rate, but the loans should he on very short time say three months. Instead of increasing the hodge-podge of our currency, this plan would probably prove an automatic adjuster of the volume of cur rency In circulation, and It would prevent the Issue of clearing-house certificates, checks against warehouse receipts and cash iers' checks, all liable to serious abuse. In my opinio n. Its basis would be good security, and to make it doubly sure a part of the receipts from Interest, or the amount above expenses and 3 per cent Interest could be put into a guaranty fund to cover any loss that might be sustained, in case of the failure of a bank and depreciation In Its securities be yond the. loan valuation. C. C. HOOVE. John L. Pralsen Roosevelt. Indianapolis Special to New York Sun. John L. Sullivan was much con cerned when he learned here today that Governor Hanly had stopped prize- fighting at the request of the preachers. He said: "I don't believe Roosevelt would have stopped them. He's not that sort. He's not what does he call It? a molly coddle. He likes a good fight. It's natural for men to fight. "I remember the time Joe C'hoynski whipped Peter Maher. After the fight the police arrested Choynski and Ma her. President Roosevelt was Commis sioner of Police In New York then. He had been watching the fight and he told the police to let the men go; not to arrest them. 'Who are you?' the police said. "Never mind who I am,' he told them, 'you let those men go," and they let m go. "No." and he shook his head. "I don't believe Roosevelt would have done it." Fox Terrier Saves Master's Life. Poughkeepsie (N. Y.) Dispatch N. Y. Sun. ' William Doxey, of Mlddltbtish is in debted to his fox-terrier Bob for saving him from being burned to death In his home, which was damaged by fire. The dog tried to get Mr. Doxey out of bed at 2 A. M. His master was sleepy, and ; shouted at the dog to go away and keep ! still. Bob. finding that ordin.-ry methods j did not avail, returned and sank his teeth hi his master's ear. bringing him out of bed with a bound. Doxey chased the dog downstairs, where he found the kitchen In flames. With the help of two neighbors. Doxey got his family out of the house, and tne three men. alter a hard fight, subdued the flames and saved the building. America's Smallest Mall-Carrier. Montgomery (Ala.) Dtflj .itch. James Burnett, of Bristol. Tenn.. is the smallest I. O. O. F. and the smallest ma.. carrier in the country. He weighs 8$ pounds and is 3 feet 74 Inches high. His father weighs but two pounds more and Is I Inch taller than his son. DE 'POSSUM DO PI, AY DE (it'lTAB Uncle Remus Knows, "Because He Done Tole Me So." Washington Special to New York World The President tonight so far forgot his animosity to "Nature fakirs" as to entertain at dinner the pioneer Nature fakir of them all Joel Chandler Har ris. "Uncle Remus" was accompanied by his son. Julian. - The President is said to have insist ed, in course of the dinner, that the possum docs not play the guitar, and that to say that be does is to impose heartlessly on the credulity of innocent children. "I know he do." retorted "Uncle Remus." "How do you know, Mr. Harris?" de manded the President, heatedly. "Brer 'possum done tol' me so." re plied Uncle Remus. "At any rate." the President is said to have responded, shifting his ground, "I am familiar with bears, and I know for a fact that the grizzly does not lure Its prey hy singing coon songs." "Brer b'er done got a mighty fine voice." Mr. Harris Insinuated. At a late hour both controversialists were as far from agreement a ever, and the President was proposing to ap point John Burroughs arbitrator, while Mr. Harris was holding out for Dr. Long as referee. THIS CITI7.EX EXPLAINS HIMSELF He Wants n Better Credit Currency Than That Rased on Gold. PORTLAND. Nov. 2ft. To the Editor A I have the misfortune to be one of those peo ple who. as you say of Bryan, have "fixed ideas" on the money qacetlon. While this Is true. I read your editorials with much pleas ure and profi' and recognlz- their great abil ity, both as t.i logic and diction, and I might add their ability sometimes to mske sophistry appear to be logic.. Yesterday I read two of your editorials, "The CHearAm-Honse certificates" and "Just What Has Failed." in both of which you bol ster up the gold standard Idea with the usual arguments, very strongly put. While 1 eat wondering If It could really be as you assert, that a clearinghouse certificate. Is sued not only without warrant of law, but contrary to the plain statute of Oregon, and based, as It says on lie face, on farm pro ducts commodities could really be better than a flat Government dollar backed by all the law and force and taxing power of the Government, and while still further ques tioning whether and why the abuse of credit and the consequent panntc would have been worse with free silver than It is under a gold standard and If you really meant to argue against an abundance of money, as you seem to. my eye fell on a third editorial heading. "The Cruel Part of It," and finding it dis cussed the ware question. I read It through. Towards the close occurs this statement: "The moat important task that confronts our statesmen 1 to devise a credit currency based on gold which no gambler's trick can destroy and no inflation of credit can drive out of sight. A scientific currency would au tomatically correct excessive development of credit. But when can we hope for the ap plication of science to our monetary affairs? Probably not until every conceivable device of quackery has first been tried." Now. Mr. Editor, not only having the "fixed Idess" already referred to. but being from Missouri. I like to be shown. Why do you say the important task of our statesmen Is to "devise a credit currency based on gold." etc.? Ts it possible that you. too. have "fixed Ideas" and do not want any other kind except based on goid. even If It could be made successful? There Is one "ap plication" that has not yet been made to our monetary system, vis. : Let every dollar of money be Issued by the Government; take It entirely out of the hands of the National bankers, who are the very people who so manipulate our finances as to cause panics, with their attendant distress. "A credit cur rency based on goid" alone has always been one that "gamblers' tricks" can destroy and drive out of sight and It will ever be a fail ure. People with "fixed Ideas" can see these things, and suggest the "application of science to our monetary affairs." But as long as the great and wise as w-ell as the dupes and the gamblers and frenzied financiers insist on a gold standard, so long will the country continue to try "every conceivable device of quackery" that money .sharks and their suUet-rvlent tools In Congress suggest. HORACE ADDJS. Hasn't the Price of Nuptial Knot. Cincinnati Dispatch in New York World. George Wadsworth appeared before Magl.-trate John Marshall Smedes. and In a whisper asked what would be the very lowest coat of getting married. "Two dollars." replied the Magistrate. An hour later Wadsworth, Miss Annie Hunter, his bride-elect, and another man and woman called and Justice Sn.edes tied the knot. The bridegroom handed the Magistrate a sealed envelope, but it con tained only $1.50. "The statute says the fee shall be explained Smedes. Wadsworth dug down Into all his pock ets. He could raise but 45 c.nts. "Say, Jim, got a nickel?" he asked t -e best man. "Jim" was forced to own he was strapped, but he was resourceful. He whispered to the maid of honor. "Excuse me for a minute, please. Judge," she said. "May I go into the private office?" She soon emerged and handed the Squire 5 cents. A Ducking In the Big River. Washington Correspondence of the St. Louis Republic. Although some of the Democratic poli ticians hero are against Bryan, they are free to say that they believe it Is "all off" so far as beating him for the nom ination is concerned. They express the hopelessness of such a task ivy referring to Senator Stone's description of the strength Bryan possesses with the rank' and file of the Missouri Democracy. Sen ator Stone said: "If all the Democratic leaders in Missouri should get together and agree to send a delegation against Bryan to the convention and Bryan should let It be known in a letter to someone nobody ever heard of before, that he wanted tiie nomination, the Democrats would come out of the brush and wipe the whole tjunch of leaders into the Mis sissippi River." As the politicians see it, the sama Is true throughout the Middle West and South. His Confidence Restored. Indianapolis News. There is one man in this country whose confidence in banks has been restored. This man appeared at the First National Bank in this city yesterday with green hacks to the amount of $507. or rather what two weeks ago represented that amount of money. The man had drawn the money from one of the banks. He took it home and buried it In the hog lot. j Yesterday he was shocked to find that I his treasure had been rooted up by the I hogs and part of it eaten. A $100 bill was mtSSlng and the remainder of the roll. Which was in smail denominations, was ' chewed and torn to pieces. He washed : the money as cloan as possible and pasted the pieces together. The bank accepted the money and will send it to j the Treasury. The banking officials are Of the opinion that he will lose at least half of the money he burled. Mennlnc of "loeur d'Alenes." PORTLAND. Nov. 23. (To the Editor.) Can The Oregonian give us the signifi cance of the name Coeur d ..iene? Coeur in French means heart, and d'AIene means the awl But how can we recon cile those names with that of a lake or town. ? W. F. The name originated with the French Catholic missionaries, who. from some Incident or circumstance that seems to i Mrs. Wintile Bouillon, or St. Lot:is. sued be lost, called the locality or the lake j the Laclede Gas Company for $10,000 be "The Pointed Heart" "The Hea:t of the cause an employe of Ihe "concern during Awl." So the Indians of the locality his talk left a door ope-, and she caught were called the Coeur d'Alenes, or Point- I cold, which developed Into a serious ill- ea Hearts. i SILHOUETTES To be a saint must be easy. It requires only that one 3tay away from things and keep the doors locked. - Did you ever notice how much the bur glars in a melodrama look like plumbers? It would be interesting to know whether Mrs. Bradley wll! adopt the vatidevilTe stage or the lecture platform after her acquittal. I)iltl-Ciie No. 1. Time Next Spring. S ene Chamber of Commerce. . Oh. father, can you see the man? Yes. my sonA I can see the man. Is he a wild man or just a depositor. Neither, my son, he is a real estate speculator. Then why does he kick his calf? The calf is his. my son. and he has a right to kick it. It .Is a calf on him. He missed an option last Fall because be thought lots would take a slump after the flurry. Fortunately someone has been consider ate enough to turn out the lights on Jack London, Upton Sinclair and Rev. Thoman Dixon. s . : s John Manning's stock shows a decided advance among Portland newspaper work ers since he appointed John H. Stevenson one of his assistants. The senatorial candidates appear strangely quiet since the money market tightened up. John D. Rockefellerseems to be In the position of the man who laughs last. It often happens that he who starts out with a swagger returns with a stagger. It will be noticed that bald-headed bar bers always recommend hair tonics. No hero ever looked the part in his night-shirt. Poor Mayor Lane has had trouble Bruin for him ever since his administra tion began. The meek may be blessed, but I notice that they are the ones who oftenest get their feet stepped on. m m The new reading of the saw seems to be: "Marry at leisure and repent in haste." This is another sign of a hard Winter: Billy Barker has packed his best auto mobile away in mothballs and will worry along with only two until Spring. A sage Ib a large man with beetling eyebrows, who looks wise and talks about things he doesn't understand. We who are orthodox believe that life is a serial story with the addendum at the close of the chapter: "To be con tinued in our next." The woman who hesitates usually goes Into the store and buys it. Just about the time our troubles sem to be growing less, along will come the State University Glee Club and give a concert. I'm worried nearly to death for fear Frank Riley will come around and tell me about his new baby. Yes, Harold, if you must get into trouble it is better for you to shake dies than to flirt with a married woman. I gather from the department store advertisements that without lingerie lifa would be stripped of all Its joys. A well-known Portland householder re cently Invited an equally well-known bachelor, who is slightly deaf, to hie ' home for dinner. When the family had i gathered about the festal board, the householder, who Is somewhat devout, proceeded to ask a blessing. The deaf man, who sat next him. misunderstood the procedure and, turning to his host, inquired blandly: "Beg pardon, did you speak to me?" The head of the house answered, politely, in the negative, and continued his pre-prandial supplication. Again the man with defective hearing broke in with the Inquiry: "I didn't un derstand; again, please." "Dammit, I'm trying 'o say grace," answered the host, exasperation getting the better of his piety. t a Most any woman can be an adven turess by wearing a veil and A striped dress. s Secretary Taft's hasty decision to come home at once leads me to think he must have just remembered leaving some let ters on his wife's dressing-table. Long About ThanksRlv In' Time. 'Long about Thanksgiving time Funny how folks start to pine For the old home's humble cheer Thorn that's country-bred, I mean Cooped in town and haven't seen Early haunts for many a year How their thoughts that way incline 'Long about Thanksgiving time. Always talkin' 'bout the. days They are seein' through the haze Distance lends: and savin' fine Tributes to the simple Joys That they knowed when they were boyi On the farm; and 'bout the fun That they had 'fore they begun City ways, that make m pine "Long about Thanksgiving time. Arthur A. Grepne. Criminal-. Are the Inmsrrleii. Montclair (N. J.) Dispatch, in New Tors Sun. Professor Earl Barnes, in a talk before the Mothers' Congress at Upper Mont clair. recently said that bachelorhood tended toward criminality. "Statistics prove that the criminals of the world are generally those who arc not married." ha said. Professor Barnes condmr.ed the profession of school teaching, which, lie said, necessitated celibacy on the part of 360.000 women In the United States today. "There is no person happily married who says marriage is a failure." said Profes sor Barnes. "Devotion may be called slavery if you choose, but there Is no man or woman who knows the blessed in stitution of marriage who vill not say it Is the enviable and desirable state of being." An Open Door Cost 910.000. St. Louis (Jio.l DiSDe.ch. ness.