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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 20, 1909)
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Eastern Bolneaa Office1 The 8. C. Beck wlth Special Airncy New York, rooms 4H B" Tribune hu!Id!n. Chicago, rooms 610-512 Tribune building. PORTLAND. FRIDAY. AIT.VBT SO. 1909. TEMPTEHS AT COOS BAY. Many parts of Oregon need rail roads, and could well support them, built as commercial enterprises. One of the most promising; undeveloped fields Is Coos Bay. But no .part of Oregon Portland, Coos Bay, nor any other Is entitled to a state-built rail road. Orejron cannot afford to build transportation lines anywhere; experi ence amply proves that It could not make them pay, nor even save its original investment. The people of Coos Bay region, who today and to morrow will be entertaining the Oregon-Idaho Development League, and who may be flattered by the league's usual resolutions calling for a state built railroad for Coos Bay and Cen tral Oregon, should understand this matter thoroughly, and harken to plain talk. Oregon already has built a small line the portage at The Dalles and should know from this experience the futility of a bigger rroject. That road, as shown -by the records a short while ago. Is costing taxpayers a pro digious sum per ton for its ten-mile haul. The State of Indiana years ago was glad to get out of the railroad business, and, after losing heavily, in corporated into its constitution a clause prohibiting such enterprises in future a clause which Oregon adopt ed when it accepted the Indiana con stitution as a rrfbdel for Its own. That clause exists in the Oregon Constitu tion today, and has always barred "promoters" from inveigling the state Jnto transportation schemes, or using the state's credit for their pet projects. It is the clause which certain promot ers now heading the Oregon-Idaho De velopment League are trying to have revoked. Their plan would plaster a mortgage on every farm and home in Oregon for costly undertakings that are bound to lose money. If there is any neglect of the meet ing at Coos Bay, on the part of Port land and other citjes of Oregon, it is because the railroad scheme of the Development League is disapproved by the sober Intelligence of the stated The scheme cannot and will not- be accepted by taxpaying citizens; it means loss, and disaster. Besides, it is not necessary. An era of railroad-building is open ing for this neglected state. Numer ous promising areas are attracting railroad capital. The commonwealth is astir with new energy. Hill and Harriman are battling for division of untapped territory. One of the first regions to benefit from this activity will be Coos Bay. The people of that favorable district should rely on their resources and location, rather than on empty dreams and promises of the Oregon-Idaho Development League. There is a wide-open field for rational effort by the league, but no more room for fads and fooleries in Oregon. The organization will gain widespread sup port for its propaganda only when it discards the crazy notion of state-built railroads. With that propaganda. It can do Coos Bay no good. DISOBEDIErE CAISKS DEATH. The findings of the committee ap pointed to 4nvestigate the recent wreck on the Spokane & Inland electric line. In which 16 were killed and more than 100 Injured, hold the company blame less for the disaster. They go a step farther and compliment the railroad company for its efficiency and up-to-date methods, and In no uncertain lan guage hold that "The accident ,was caused by failure of Motorman Camp bell and Conductor Whittlesey to obey rules and orders of the company." This is only one of a long list of fa talities on the rail, in which the vigi lance and care of the corporation are set at naught by the criminal negli gence of the individual employe. An overwhelming proportion of rail dis asters are caused by failure of the em ployes "to obey rules and orders of the company"; but iw tho past'much of the loss of life and property has been due to contributory negligence or shortcomings on the part of the railroad companies. The block signal is practically in fallible, but It would not prevent wrecks' if an engineer, exhausted by long hours and heavy work imposed on him by the company, were to fall asleep and fail to observe the auto matic warnings. In recent years, how ever, there has been an Increasing ef fort on. the part of the railroad com panies to eliminate all chances for a possible lapse of vigilance on the part of the employe. That this effort has shown good results is apparent in the decrease in the number of lives lost on the steam roads. Train wrecks, even when there is no loss of life, are very expensive affairs, not only in actual cost for damages and repairs, but in lost prestige for the road, and viewed strictly from the selfish stand point of economy are things to be avoided. A great deal of unfavorable criti cism against American railroads as compared with those operated in for eign countries is made without taking Into consideration the difference in the economic situation In Europe and this country. Human life Is no more sacred In Europe than it is in America, but conditions in America make, a rad ical difference in the temperament of the railroad men to whom lives are entrusted. The European engineer or motorman secures his position only after long years of service at beggarly wages, which are not Increased greatly when he reaches the maximum. Stand ing behind him, ever in readiness to take his position, is an army of ef ficient men. A single lapse of vigi lance, or the slightest yielding to an Incilaa-tioa to "taia a, chance." sets him adrift in a land where re-employment is almost an impossibility. The American railroad employe, or indeed almost any American wage earner. Is very independent, and In most cases the loss of a position, un less the cause for losing It Is particu larly flagrant. Is not a serious matter, for he soon finds another equally as good. The incentive to keep keyed up to a high tension of vigilance, as Is necessary in Europe, is thus miss ing in America, and Its absence is re peatedly reflected in the failure "to obey rules and orders of the com pany." Public sentiment In the past has been inclined to censure the rail road companies for the great number of accidents and loss of life, but It will not require many horrors of the Spo kane & Inland class to divert that censure to the individual employes who take such wild and reckless chances with human life. CROeiSI(i RACKS. There is nothing novel or exciting in Professor Matthews' idea that an Infusion of foreign blood is good for a race-. In his opinion, a cross with the, American Indian would benefit the-wttira of the United Stales, but he hardly thirks negro blocd would be desirable. ,A!1 scholars who have stu died the subject agree that pure racea. If they were possible, would not be deslralil'?. Most of the great deeds of history have been done by people of stock that was crosted snd cros?d again, nooo.1 knows how many times over. It is common to think of the ancient Egyptians as a pure race, but the truth, is that their blood was ccn tamina'ed. cr enriched, a: frequent Intervals by l.ivading ir:ms. Th? (JreeVs, as.wc now know, were a composite of many stocks. Their claim to being autochthones, born of the soil whers they '.ive.l, was sheer fiction, and the Romans wire quite as far from unmixed descent. That they were repeatedly crossed with the Goths is certain, and we know from their own account what happened when they wanted Sabine wives. As for the modern nations, they are all composite. One of the best reasons whv the Anglo-Saxon race is the most progressive in the world Is that it is probably the most mixed. Our blood comes in driblets from a hundred springs. Whether a rivulet from the Indians would Improve It can only be ascertained by trial. The Virginia families who boast of their descent from the aborigines are not inferior In any way. Perhaps some of them have distinct bodily and mental adan tages. That races are Improved by crossing Is beyond all doubt. Just what crosses are best Is for experi ment to show. AS IMPORTANT WORK. Professor Edward A. Thurber, late of the department of English of the University of Missouri, has been em ployed by the regents of the Univer sity of Oregon as teacher of English and rhetoric in that institution. There Is a good opening for r strong teacher in this department of our State Uni versity. Professor Thurber comes with excellent recommendations, and it Is. hoped and believed that his -work will be satisfactory.. He will take the place In this department of university work vacated by the' resignation of Professor Luella Clay Carson'. The Important feature of Professor Carson's work, and that in which she was of paramount value to the univer sity, was performed under the title, of "Dean of Women." This work, strict ly of a supervisory character and com ing clo.se to the social, domestic and hvgienic life of the young women who attend the State University, is of great importance. It requires tact, skill alertness and the ' exercise of good Judgment the faculty of gaining the confidence and inspiring the respect of the. women students. In this department of her work Professor Carson will be greatly missed. A man may take charge of the classes in English and . success fully drill students in rhetoric, but it is idle to suppose that. any man, how ever generously equipped by nature, culture and experience, can discharge this subtle obligation toward . the young women of the sorority homes and boarding-houses of the State Uni versity. The state has established and essays to maintain in a wide,, useful and enlightened sense, a co-educational university. Its regents will cer tainly make a grave mistake If they neglect to place upon the faculty. In Professor Carsqn's place, a compe tent, cultivated, experienced woman a woman of influence and authority, whose position carries with It the re sponsibility Indicated by the title of "Dean of Women." VALVE OF ORIENTAL TRADE. The New' York Journal of Com merce accuses The Oregonian of pessi mism regarding the Oriental trade, the specific offense being some com ment in this paper on a Decent meet ing held in San Francisco for the pur pose of increasing our trade with the , - T..., .. Th l ire i'nn in n morel V com- I 111 -' v c mented on some broad statements made by Young Kwai, prominent in Chinese diplomatic circles, in which he assured us -that "China wants American commerce and the United States can get it by going after it." Young Kwai assured us that his coun try wanted manufactured products, "wheat, flour, cotton goods, railroad machinery." The natural interpreta tion of such language would be that China was not securing all of the wheat, flour, cotton goods and rail road machinery that she could assim ilate. As a matter of fact, American sales men, permanently located In China and making the most strenuous ef forts to sell the commodities men tioned, have been unable to bring the sales for the past fiscal year up to the figures reached in preceding years. This is not because the United States failed to go after the business, for our trade representatives, especially In the flour field, have . never been out of China since' they first began selling flour more than 20 years ago. They have simply sold up to the limit of the purchasing power of the people, and. until that purchasing power shall be increased, all of the personal representatives that can be maintained in the Orient will be powerless to In crease the business. China has been a land of mites and atoms since the dawn of history, but the meagre earnings of her people, working up from the lowest coolie to the mandarins, are ever increasing. The mandarins and the increasing number of foreigners will need more wheat, flour, cotton, even when the prices are high.' but this increase .will not offset the decrease In demand whenever high prices drive the sub merged milHons to a rice diet varied with semi-starvation. There may be great -possibilities lor trade develop THE MORXIXG ment in China when Manchuria and other new portions of the empire are exploited In full, but when that time arrives, the American dealers In all of - the commodities mentioned by Young Kwai, will be well represented, as they are at the present time. Oriental commerce is valuable, and Is worth striving for, but it is of less importance than it Is generally given credit for in American trade centers less favorably located than the Pa cifi3 Coast, for handling It. - THE BAD-BOY' PROBLEM. Prudence is taxed to the utmost. In the interest of public safety, to decide what to do with the boys twelve years of age or thereabouts who deliber ately planned to wreck the Council Crest car last Sunday by applying grease at short Intervals to the rails on the steep grade followed by that line. Having planned an accident, the results of which might have been a fearful harvest of death and mutila tion, these young reprobates stood one side to see the "fun." ) Humanity and Justice combine their ingenuity In vain to find a penalty for this transgression that will be at once punitive and protective. To turn such little' miscreants loose with a repri mand is to place the community in further Jeopardy; to send them to Jail is to make heroes of them in their own eyes, and . in the 'eyes of every evil-disposed lad in the city. The Keform School is tho only re course in such a case. Idle, revenge ful, vicious creatures, detention and discipline which their homes have evi dently not furnished, together1 with careful Instruction In the line of the it-nt nf others and of personal re sponsibility for the results of indi vidual acts, may by the time tnese boys have reached mannooa mane falrlv e-nod citizens out of them, not withstanding their late start. It is true that psychologists ten us that the character for good or ill is inM rinrina- the first five or seven years of the boy's life. Fortunately, it Is also true, and has often been demon stratorl bv experience, that theories spun upon this line do not hold good in practice, the "bad Doy,' so cauea, not infrequently- surprising himself, v.i frinniin nnrl the community by be coming a useful, law-abiding citizen. Inspired by this hope, ana oecause something must be done with him, the "bad boy" is sent to the Reform School. Let us hope that,. in tne case of the criminally mischievous lads in ociinn tho end will Justify ' the means. Certainly these boys have shown that they are not fit to run at la.rge, and that such home influence and discipline as they have had have not been strong enough to Keep mem from becoming a serious menace to the community. THE ALASKA INDIANS. Contact of the whites with the Alas kan Indians in recent years, and es pecially since the discovery of gold in the Klondiki&set the civilized world agog .with cSerness and rapacity, has caused rapid physical degeneracy among these people.- Stories, instinct with horror and disgust, have come down to . us through missionary and official channels. We have been told of the physical degeneracy, even to walking rottenness, of these creatures; of their infection with the virus of civilization through firewater and sex ual debauchery; of the filth in which they live and the vile foods upon which they subsist; of the wide swath that has been cut in their ranks by tuberculosis and other diseases of civ ilization, and of their utter ignorance of even the simplest dictates or rules of morality- Working for the uplift, physical, moral and spiritual, of these creatures, missionaries have spent years in worse than penal servitude, and, dying, have left their wards worse. If anything, than they found them, until now, a wretched remnant of a once numerous people remain. This knowledge of the Alaskan In dian has come to us through the com mercial touch and missionary effort. Hitherto but scanty attention has been given to the mythology and religion of the aborigines who found foothold and habitation in the vast peninsula of Alaska. Recently a book, the work of a Russian missionary of the- Greek Church, Anatoli by name, gives in de tail all that la known -about the re ligion, mythology and superstition of what, in the light of this Information, is one of the most interesting branches of the Indian tribes of the North American Continent. This writer lived many years among these people a race, he says, that Is bound to be eventually extinguished and that, though It has played a minor part in history, or none at all, presents a subject of keen Interest to the ethnologist and to a student of comparative religion. First, like all primitive peoples, In dians believe In a supreme being, and, in common with all savage and many civilized people, they have an Imag inative and more or less exalted idea of supreme power to recompense or punish. "Tekl-Ankaose" they call, the deity, and they invest him with roman tic and all-powerful attributes. His abode is on the summit of a moun tain, an Arctic Olympus, where a fresh breeze is always blowing. Per petual verdure and clumps of azure flowers surround the abode of the god and silence unbroken even by the voice of the winds and waves sur rounds his dwelling. This religion be lieves in a future life beginning imme diately on the death of the individual. The terrestrial sphere and the celestial are held to be so closely united that the passage from one to the other is both easy and natural. Dwellers In the uncompromising realm of cold, the Alaskans cremate their dead, thus kindly warming their passage from one world to another.. Perpetual warmth is their idea of happiness. Upon this point Anatoli says: A missionary was constantly threatening his Impenitent converts with the flames of hell. But he noticed that this threat In rtead of filling them with terror, waa ex ceedingly' agreeable to them, for the thought of being warm In the next world filled them with Joy. The missionary made a complaint on this point to the bishop, who understood at once that a Northern hell must be represented differently. He therefore told the missionary to teach his people to expect a hell of frost, where the cold Is ten times as intense as upon earth. This freezing Ghenna terrorized them, and the refractory onea were soon re duced to obedience. The recital Is an interesting present ment of the spiritual side of a people, which from observation we have been prone to believe was wholly without conceptions of "any life beyond that represented by their own. groveling needs and inhospitable surroundings. It furnishes a fund of Information con cerning a weird, uncanny race that has no place in history, and demonstrates anew the fact that a people's concep tion of heaven Is founded upon, that which they deem most desirably, but which is wholly unattainable by them In their earthly environment. It - is thus thai these primitive people", whose 'OKEGOSIAX, FRIDAY. greatest enemy Is cold, .make heat the chief element of happiness in the future' state and literally turn the fa bled hell of orthodoxy Into the heaven of their hopes. The state of Mr. Harriman's health continues to be the most potent factor in the New York stock market, and there was a further violent break yesterday in the price of securities in which the Union Pacific wizard has been prominently Identified. The fe verish changes that have been occa sioned by these reports of Mr. Harri man's illness might be taken as art indication of a most violent disturb ance in case his ' present trouble should prove fatal. That there would be at least a temporary disturbance of great magnitude seems to be re garded as a certainty. As to any per manent damage to prices, it is ques tionable whether the effect would be as great as might seem natural in contemplation of the effect of his ill ness. The Harriman prppertles have a matchless organization, and nearly all branches of the business are in the hands of masters of the craft. This talent for organization and standard ization, which has made Mr. Harri man famous, will In all probability be of rare assistance In preventing de moralization when his wonderful ca reer Is finally brought to a close. Nature has added another link to the great chain of wonders lh the Yellowstone Park. A new geyser, after several days of premonitory rum blings, broke out last Wednesday near the Fountain Hotel, throwing hot water and steam to a height of from 100 to 200 feet. At irregular intervals, the furies of the nether world hold carnival in the subterra nean depths underlying this vast wild area, and their explosive antics aston ish the world and tax the wildest im agination with wonder as to wriat they will do next. Mr. Heney ran on all three tickets Republican, Democratic and Union Labor for Prosecuting Attorney of San Francisco, and so did his oppo nent, Charles M. Fickert The latter got the Republican nomination and Heney the Democratic. Does this make Fickert a Republican and Heney a Democrat? Does or does not the di rect primary disrupt party and break down party lines? The Supreme Court of ''California will not accept the confession of Harry Orchard thac he blew up the Bradley home in San Francisco with dynamite, and affirms a Judgment for damages on the ground that the explosion was caused by gas. This may fix the status of the Orchard confession within the sacred precincts of Cali fornia's remarkable higher court; but nowhere else. Girls at Ocean Park, Cal.,' scamper from the beach to the postofflce at mail time, clad in bathing suits. The result Is a masculine congregation through which people . cannot move, and the indignant postmaster has re fused to deliver mail to the young women unless they are properly clothed. His action may be strictly of ficial, but it is not strictly popular. Jack Johnson, the colored pugilist, has sued a Salt Lake? City hotel for $20,000 damages, a portion of which is because he was "damaged In his feel ings" by being refused admission to the hotel. If his physical structure fails to bear suffering any better than his mental equipment, it will not take very much punishment to make him quit. " The exciting news is once more flashed from Spitsbergen that Walter Wellman has started. That will hold a gasping world for about a whole day, we opine. Tomorrow we shall doubtless learn that he returned In about ten minutes to get a new rud der for his balloon, or carburetter, or some such. Now Mayor Simon appears as the successful bidder for a contract to lay an eight-inch main on Everett street. Wait till you see the Mayor out there on Everett street in his shirt sleeves, after office hours, laying that main; then you'll know that he is an old hand at the business. Except for some miraculous Inter vention, the country may expect this announcement from Beverly, Mass., very soon: NOTICE Tne partnership existing be tween It. A. Balllnger and GlfTord Plnchot Is thU day dissolved by consent of W. H. Taft. k . John F. Stevens Is reported to be up 'the McKenzie River, looking at water-power sites, and down at Coos Bay, and also right here In. Portland. Mr. Stevens is going to get a lot of advice from now on as to where he should build his railroads. Seattle is not going to let our hon ored President retire to a nice quiet links and foozle around for a few hours in his favorite pastime. Never mind, Mr. Taft. Your itinerary In cludes a nice, long, quiet, restful Sun day in Portland. ' , The devout Christian Scientist who sent the aerogram from Alaska to Portland requesting absent treatment for a broken leg might have worked her faith a little stronger, and imag ined she sent the aerogram. Announcement of Bryan day at the A.-Y.-P. fair was followed by an nouncement of the discovery of a new and powerful geyser at Yellowstone. Those Yellowstone press agents know their business. Shortening of the time over the transcontinental . railroads between Portland and Chicago naturally re vives the query as to why any one should want to be closer to Chicago? V Next week Chicago will be seven hours nearer Portland. One of the drawbacks to the Windy City has been its great . distance from the garden spot of the world. It Is not safe, after all, to haze or kill accidentally a Sutton. Seven West Point cadets have been .dis missed for indulging in that style of pleasantry. When Mr. Hill cuts the North Bank time to nine hours, Spokana people can be neighborly and the thriftily-inclined run down here to do their shopping. All these fast trains will, kick Up a dust in Eastern Oregon ajid Idaho. In baseball, a season, like a- game, isn't over tiU it la played out. AUGUST 2Q. 1909. EASTERN PRESS LAUDS BALLINGER Editorial Comment Uatilly Sides! Asuiust Forester Plnchot. Forester Plnchot is not backed up in the East In his fight on Secretary Balllnger, as he has been In his projects of conservation. Leading newspapers of the East generally commend the Taft-Ballinger policy of keeping the Executive power within the letter of the law, in administration of the pub lic lands. Mr. Plnchot has been mak ing much of what he calls "Roosevelt's policy" which, according; to his ver sion, means elastic stretcn of Executive authority to accomplish whatever ob ject in conservation' that may be deemed desirable, regardless of the let ter of the law, on the theory that the end justifies the means. The New York ' Post remarks that the "merry war now being waged can not appeal to Mr. Taft as particularly dignified or conducive to good admin istration." As to the specific Plnchot charge that in Montana the Riverside Land & Livestock Company has been allowed to gobble up 15.8G8 acres of valuable water rights, the Post says "this little fiction proves on examina tion to be due to the error of a corre spondent who by omitting a decimal mark converted 1B8.68 acres into the larger amount. The only water on this arid stretch is two small springs, and the company that obtained it Is not in the power business." The Post prints the following statement of the Land Office: The only water power sites on the water sheds of the Missouri River not now under the control of the Government under Sec retary Ballinger's orders of suspension are sites which have been In private ownership for several years, and two additional sites which are- Improved and developed to run the streetcars and lighting plants of Helena and Butte and the mines In Butte. "The latter sites," comments the Post, "are, moreover, held under revocable permits approved before Mr. Ballinger took office. If these were the only in dictments Mr. Pinchot had against Mr. Ballinger, this reply leaves him in an exceedingly silly and uncomfortable position; In fairness to him, his counter-blast must be awaited prior to any final judgment. "The statement given out by the Gen eral Land Office would seem to leave but little of the contention that he has been giving away water powers to any one who knocked at his door." The Springfield Republican speaks appreciatingly of plnchot, saying his services "could not easily be overesti mated and it would be a calamity to have him retire from his present post." But the Springfield paper concedes that Mr. Plnchot "may take extreme views concerning the legal phases of the questions." It is possible to conceive of a situation, the paper goes on, in which the President would be forced to sustain his Secretary of the Interior, even at the cost of sacrificing his valued Chief Forester. The Spring field paper goes on: At the bottom of the differences between Mr. Ballinger and Mr. Plnchot may be discerned an issue involving this Adminis tration's attitude toward the law. Simply stated. It appears that the chief forester would not let the law stand in the way of preventing certain water-power, sites on the public lands from falling into the hands of what he calls "the water-Power Trust." By a loose construction of executive power he would have the lands where these sites are located withdrawn from settlement "by ex ecutive, order, and preserved for water power uses under Government supervision through lease at rentals consistent with the public rather than with private interests. In case Mr. Ballinger should be vindicat ed from the legal point of, view, the Issue might easily develop Into the broader ques tion of the supremacy of the Taft methods or the Roosevelt methods In this Adminis tration, for Mr. Plnchot gives strong indica tions by his public utterances of demanding that the Roosevelt methods as well as the Roosevelt policies should control the Gov ernment. If he Is to be serviceable, the Chief Forester must be made to accept Tart methods as the most appropriate under a Taft Administration, and these Involve, of course, the somewhat slower policy of per suading Congress to change the lawsfso that the ends desired could be attained by strict ly legal means. The Chicago Tribune avers that al though the Taft Administration is pledged to support of Roosevelt poli cies, "it is not obliged to adhere to the Roosevelt methods of carrying them out, when there are available what it considers better methods. If the last Administration made any mistakes in Its method of carrying out wholesome policies, this .Administration Is not obliged to stand by them." If certain withdrawal orders of Secretary Garfield were illegal, as the Attorney-General says they were, they ought to be rescinded. It is true, as Mr. Plnchot says, that laws should not have all the virtue squeezed out of them by rigid construction, but the other extreme should also be avoided. Manifest violence should not, be done to a law, even to promote a good policy. The New York World explains the clash by saying that "the two men represent who'lv distinct theories of government." The World goes on to remark that both are honorable men, seeking conservation of National re sources: But as a worshipful follower of Mr. Roosevelt Mr. Plnchot is suspicious of any departure from Roosevelt methods. Mr. Roosevelt's order -withdrawing hundreds of thousands of acres of land, made at mid night, a few hours before he stepped out of office, has seemed especially splendid to persons not troubled by scrupulous respect for the-, law. The kind of President tpr them was one who acted first and then, if need be, later considered the legal obstacles '"Mr BaUIn" as Secretary of the Interior had Mr. Taft's approval when he deter mined that he should be guided solely by the law In administering his office. He was old-fashioned enough to believe that there were legal restraints upon the authority of the president to withdraw lands, whether they were to be reserved In furtherance of the conservation policy or for any other reason that might be alleged. Because It was found best to review Mr Roosevelt s hasty work and undo it In good part, pend ing fuller Investigation of the power sites under the public domain. Mr. Ballinger has been Indicted, tried and convicted by cer tain zealous Individuals of selling out to the IhTTnc'rtent 'affords another opportunity to take the measure of the two Aim n s tratlons. Merely because" the Taft Adminis tration Is committed to moving strictly within the boundsrtes of the law. It is a safe prediction that five years from now more power sites will have been saved to the people, more substantial progress made In conserving the natural resources, than was to be honestly expected from the slap dash practice of overstepping the law to which Mr. Roosevelt habitually resorted. The New York Sun commends Secre tary Ballinger for being "brave as well as sensible enough to maintain that in the general Interest the law must not be overridden, even by the friends or conservation-.'" The Sun remarks fur ther: In the controversy that haa arisen be tween these two officers of the Government concerning the acquisition of wate r power - in the Northwest by companies and individuals, each is maintaining his view of the case in the light of his understanding and training. Mr Pinchot would resent the charge that he 'is putting foresight before the law, as Secretary Balllnger would repel the insinua tion that he is not as good a friend of the natural resources of the country as the Forester. The truth Is that Mr. Pinchot learned his lesson of conservation under Mr. Roosevelt, who was bent on preserving wood and waterpower by anticipating and defying the law. If necessary, and with no regard to any possible construction of the law by the courts. In the last analysis Mr. Roosevelt s Is the most reactionary of policies, for the reform desired is sure to he recalled like a runner who has made a false start. The New York Globe thinks the fight hinges on question of fact as to whether Balllnger has allowed exploiters to ac quire privileges to which they are not lega'ly entitled. It remarks that con servation is an object of President Taft and Secretary Ballinger quite as much as of Forester Pinchot. "The effort to impart Rooseveltism lnto-the contro versy and to rewarm a controversy that may protitably be left cold, is to ba deprecated."" RJ3AL MANILA CHEROOT AGAIN. New Tariff Will Admit Oscars That Used to Delight Old Smokers. Providence Bulletin. More than a few old smokers will sit up and take notice at the announce ment that the Government will guar antee the quality and cleanliness of the cigars and tobacco of which a lim ited quantity is to come in duty free under the tariff Just enacted. They will call up pleasant memories of the long-forgotten "Manila cheroot" which they used to smoke In their youthful days,- and their fathers before them. For it was a good cigar, not for a moment to be compared with the abominations which for a generation or two have masqueraded under the same title. Moreover, it was cheap, there being in that time of happy re membrance no sky-piercing tariff to double and treble the cost of good things coming from the four quarters of the earth. The old Manila cheroot was a cur iously shaped cigar, big at one end and small at the other, tapering straight and true from point to point. It was always a matter of doubt with the in experienced as to which end was des tined for the mouth and which for the match. Practically, it didn't make much difference whether you smoked it stem first or head on; you got the flavor Just the same, and you soon grew to like it if your taste in tobacco was catholic. A mild, aromatic taste It had, not in the least like the fat, full-flavored "Havanas." It goes without saying that's, good cigar cannot be made of poor tobacco, nor put together by inferior workmen. But the old Philippine clgarmakers. like their brothers in Havana, knew how to select the clean, straight, well curved leaf, and fashion it Into a cigar that would burn clear and yield its own distinctive flavor. If their suc cessors haven't lost the art, perhaps they may re-establish the product of the Islands in a favor it once enjos ed. The privilege of sending a consider able amount here, duty free, affords an opportunity denied for many years. If we can get the real Manila cheroot back again, we shall at least have reaped some reward for taking over the Philippines. NEW LIQUOR ISSUE IN ALABAMA. Proposal to Make United States License Cause for Prosecution. Brooklyn Eagle. A Bill passed by the lower house of the Alabama Legislature proposes to legalize the arrest of any person possessing a United States license for the sale of liquor, without the for mality of securing any other evidence or even of alleging any specific act in violation of state law. An old issue is thus formulated in a shape for logic to tackle it freely. We have no doubt that If the bill becomes a law, the logicians on the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States will do their duty. Maine made the possession of Fed eral license certificates corroborative evidence of violation of her liquor law. At one. time she sought also to use the records of the "United States Internal Revenue Department in her criminal prosecutions. In the latter effort she was thwarted. The Federal Courts, however, did not Interfere with the "corroborative evidence" clause of the state law. Alabama's scheme is to make tne possession of United States certifi cates primary and presumptive, not corroborative evidence. This Involves an attack on the revenue-raising laws of the nation, an attack absolutely unmasked and vital. With such a statute on the books of every state nearly 17,000,000 of revenue would be taken from the United States in special tax certificates alone, and the collec tion of $156. 000,000 altogether from taxes on spirits would be seriously menaced. Whether such a state law Is constitu tional or not will be settled, not by Alabama, but by the Nation's Supreme Court. That is the really significant fact. ' Another Flaw In Direct Primaries. Boston Transcript. One argument in favor of the pri mary system for nominat'ng candi dates has been that the class of voters who never go to the caucus would avail themselves of the opportunity to take part in selecting the nominees for important office and would thereby exert an Influence that would keep party machines on their good behavior. Judging by the accounts of two trials of the primary method made In states so far apart as Indiana and Virginia, this expectation is not conspicuously fulfilled. . The same complaint comes from both Indiana and Virginia, and it was heard in the latter state long before the Democratic primaries Indepe ndent Virginians say that the office-holders are as strongly entrenched as ever and that money, if it does not talk works. It is plain that the primaries in many places were so thinly attended that their decision was the verdict only of a minority of the whole vote In many of the rural counties not half of the party vote was cast, and in busy Danville the proportion of the Democ racy participating was the smallest on record. Yet the issues were such as might be expected to call out large attendance at the polls. Reflections of a Bachelor. ' New York Press. The reason the average person thinks he knows so much is he knows so little. A girl can hardly ever learn to hke a man that she can't teach to be ieous. A man can spend pretty much his wholj life learning that the thing he thought he wanted wasn't it. Even if a girl knows better than to marry a man, she knows better than to run the risk of not getting married at all. The average man would rather play tho fool at something anybody else could do better than do what he really can. The Cultured Cnlslne. Washington Star. "So your daughter has been to cooking school?" t "Yes," answered Mrs. McGudley. "I suppose she has helped along the household economies?' "Not exactly. She has made us appre ciate our regular cook so much that we have t'o raise her wages every time she threatens to leave." Editor Gllstrnp's Version. Eugene Register. In naming S. C." Beach, of Portland, as census supervisor as against Bourne's opposition- President Taft evidently thinks more of the Senator's ability as a golf player than as a statesman re flecting the will of his constituency. Joy Riding. Philadelphia Record. It would be interesting to know why the chauffeur is so much more determined on suicide when he has a party of friends than when he is out with his employer 3 family. "" Hovr Business Keeps Up. St. Louis Republic , We learn from a Geneva dispatch that Ethel and Archie Roosevelt viewed Mont Blanc. How did these United States get on bsfore the laying of the first Atlantic cable? Dead but Don't Know It. Minneapolis Journal. Do the dead return? Peoplo at the Na tional Capital say yes. Sometimes they come back for several sessions before the elections come around again. - THAW A PARANOIAC, INCURABLE. Public Safely Requires Him Kept l Restraint for Best of His Life. New York Times, i Paranoia Is incurable. The delusions which possessed the mind of Thaw three years ago still possess it. They were disclosed In a startling manner on that day of the hearing when Mr. Jerome questioned Thaw concerning his beliefs as to. White's manner of life. Those questions touched upon the central subject of Thaw's delusions, and at once they manifested themselves under the immediate observation of the court. From that moment there could have been no reasonable doubt that the. writ would be dismissed. More over, when Justice Mills asked Dr. Baker, of Aiatteawan, if. in his opinion, it would be safe to set Thaw free, and received an emphatic negative as the reply, the question and answer were of a higher significance than those put and given in the ordinary examination of witnesses. This was one officer of the state officially questioning another officer of the state, who gave an answer In his official capacity. Being an Incurable paranoiac, it is necessary for the public safety that Thaw spend the remainder of his life under close restraint. Experience with similtr cases teaches tnat, If released, he would in all probability attempt to commit, or actually commit, homicidal acts. The known wealth of the pris oner's family will, if they choose so to use It, enable them to make further Ill advised attempts to secure his relense. Lawvers may be found to aid them, although after Judge Mill's finding, and the Incurable nature of Thaws mental malady being well understood, it would seem that reluctance to be come an accessory before the fact of the man's next homicide might damp professional enthusiasm for fees In such an undertaking. As a wise safeguard against con tingencies of that nature, however, tho state should cause a transcript of the stenographic 'record of the proceeding h.f .TimtlcA Mills to be deposited at Matteawan as a part of tho Thaw case book. In any future hearing this record evidence could be introduced, thus obviating the necessity of a re stirring of the nauseous mess. This community would be very glad to know that it had heard the last of the Thaw case. RAILWAYS NOT SCARED BY TARIFF Only One Meaning: to Recent Large Orders lor Rollins: Stock. St. Paul Dispatch. The news reports contain many items indicating the extent of the pros perity the country is enjoying and the glowing prospect ahead of us. There Is nothing more significant than the an nouncements from all parts of tho country concerning the railway orders for new equipment. Railway companies do not buy mora locomotives and new cars unless the equipment is needed. They do not usu ally put in big orders simply to tld3 over a temporary rush in' business. When they go into the market, with record-breaking orders for rolling stock the outlook is for business that will warrant such expenditures. The Pennsylvania Road has placed an order for J8.500.000 worth of freight cars and engines, said to be the largest purchase on record. J. J- Hill has or dered SI. 000,000 worth of locomotives, and nearly every railway company in the Northwest Is in the field for more facilities for handling business. And all this was right in the face of an extra sossion of Congress to revise the tariff. It has been the popular no tion that the business world takes a holiday when there is a prospect of any readjustment of tariff rates. The pres ent prosperity is on too sound a foun dation, is too real, to be halted even by such an unsatisfactory result as tha Payne tariff. One Delusion Dispelled. New York Sun. "We trust that this decision in the Thaw case will put an end to the foolish talk which has been current about there bein? one law for the rich and another law for the poor in this country. Incidentally, tho result is a professional triumph for Dis trict Attorney Jerome, who, we believe, has always been of the opinion that Thaw was insane. NErprsPArEB waits. Great grafts from little duties grow. Llf". "He's starting out In the literary Held very confidently." "Yes: he expects to make em elongate that flve-fo.it ehelf by at le.tst IS Inches." Louisville Courier-Journal. "Great doings at the ball game today. Fvery anVbulance In town was on duty." "DM the crowd mob the umpire?" ".No, the umpire mobbed the crowd." Cleveland Plain Dealer. "Why is It nobody likes Smith?" "Oh. he's one of thee 'l told you pi- fellows '' "How about Jones?" "He's worse yet. He s one. of the 'I could have told you so if I d wanted to' variety." Puck. "Old Moneybags l afraid that prince he bought for his daughter is a bogus one." "Why eo7" "When it came to settling up, he asked for the prince's debts, and I he fel low told him he hadn't any." Baltimore American. When you started on your political career you made numerous mi.rni iv-.. n.. ...... "Y" nriNwered Senator Sorgnum peromely. "but I have tacked on a great many amend ments etnee then." Washington Star. Author I'll bet you looked at the last page of my storr to eee how It came out. Bead-r I did not. I read it through and then looked for the name of the publisher. And even then I couldn't figure how It came out. Cleveland Leader. IN THE MAGAZINE SECTION OF THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN BACK-DOOE LIFE AT THE BEACH Intimate view-of one domestic phase of a Seaside sojourn that isn't usually expected in news papers, by May Kelly. BEFORE APPOMATTOX AND THREE MONTHS AFTER Hourly life on a Southern plantation as pictured by an old legal document full of human in terest. WHERE TAFT AND DIAZ WILL MEET Scene. in El Paso and Ciudad Juarez, Yankee and Mexican towns, that face each other on the Rio Grande. WHERE WIVES OF CELEBRITIES SPEND , THE SUMMER Favorite resorts and favorite diversions of the families of noted Americans. LATEST FOOD FADS FOR PROLONGING LIFE These include Taft's no-breakfast and Dr. Eliot's ppttins; on the water-wagon, while Harriman takes to beer. - Order early from your news dealer. '