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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 22, 1909)
THE. MORNING- jQREGOXIAy, WEDNESDAY, SEPTE3IBER 22, 1909. I ... fje (OiTjrtnitnn POKT-LAXT). OREGON. . Entered at Port!mnd. Oregon. Postofficc u Fecond-Clau Matter. 6ubcrtstiott IUtr lararlablr In Advance. (By Mall.) Dally, Sunday Included, one year $S.flO PaLy, Sunday included. ix month 4 .25 Daily. Sunday included, thre month... 2 25 Daily, Sunday Included, one mrnith 75 Daiiy. without Sunday, one year 6 M laily. without Sundav. six months 8 25 DaCy, without Sunday, three months.... 1.75 Daily, without Sunday, one month W Weekly, one year fc 1 50 Sunday, one year . 2 50 Sunday and weekfy. one rear 8 50 (By Carrier.) Daily. Fund ay Included, one year. 9 00 Daily. Sunday Included, one month. . .75 How to Katnlt Send postofflce money wraer. express oraer or personal cnecK on our local bank. Stamps, coin or currency are at the sender's risk. Give po?toffke ad dress in full, including count? and state. 1'Ofttaa-e Kates 10 to 1 pares, 1 rent; 16 id is rapes. cents; 30 to ( pa ices, 8 cenrs; 44 to 0o paces. 4 -cents. Foreign postage oo'inre rates. hintfro BaslnrM Office The 8. C. Peck- wit n F Deceit I A renrv mt York, rooms 4H rH) Tribune building. Chicago, rooms 510-512 a r;r-une Dunning PORTLAND, WEDNESDAY. SEPT. 22, 1009. A CENTRAL BANK OF ISSUE. Twice the Congress of the United States has created a Central Bank of i Issue but neither of the acts was popular. The first expired y limi tation; the second was destroyed by the arbitrary methods of President Jackson. But the people, green in matters of finance, opposed the bank from first to last, and Jackson was Able to persuade them that It was an instrument that might be . used for their oppression. In the hands of group of grasping and unscrupulous financiers. The first bank was the conception of Hamilton. In a brilliant report he outlined the plan. Washington sub mitted the plan to the members of his Cabinet, a majority of whom approved It: but Jefferson and Randolph oh, Jected. In general, those who had op. posed the adoption of the Constitu tion because of its centrallzfng ten dencies, and some who had Supported it, opposed the granting of the bank charter, upon the familiar ground that the Constitution contained no ex press grant to Congress of the power to establish a corporation, and they bewailed alike the Infraction of . the Constitution and the proposition (as they alleged) to set up a financial tyranny over the people. But Congress passed the bill and Washington promptly gave It his ap proval. The charter was to run twenty years. In steadying and set tling the disordered finances of the country, during the period following the Revolution, the bank was of im mense value. But Jefferson never liked it. ' Many of his views about banking and commerce resembled those of our modern Populists. How ever, when he came to the Presidency he found this Central Bank, with a charter having still ten years to run, and Jefferson wrote to Gallatin, his Becretary of the Treasury (July 12, 1"13): "I am decidedly In favor of making all the banks (the Central Bank and . lte branches) Republican by sharing deposits among them In proportion to the dispositions they show." (The party of Jefferson at that time was called the Republican; its opponents, the Federal party 7. This single passage discloses Jefferson's conception of the functions of a bank, and at the same time makes a revela tion of his political and party meth , ods. ( Both houses. In 1811, refused to re charter the Bank though the vote was exceedingly close one majority only in the House, while the Senate was a tie, and the Vice-President gave the casting vote against th Bank! Extinction of the Bank greatly crippled the finances during the War of 1812; the Government was com pelled to rely on the state banks, and their suspension of specie payments in 1814 almost paralyzed the opera tions of the Treasury. To this cause, chiefly, was due the Inefficiency of our military operations during the war, and the occupation and destruc tion of the National capital by a small British force, which there was no means to resist. ' In December, 1815, President Mad ison, who in the first Congress had opposed incorporation of the first Bank of the United States, on con stitutional grounds, and later had de nounced It as one of the examples of the usurping tendencies of the Gen eral Government, was forced by the helplessness of the Treasury and the deplorable state of business to suggest revival of the Bank. His Secretary, Dallas, drew up a plan, differing not at all in principle, and but little in de tail, from that of the first Bank, and Congress adopted it. This bank, llko the former one, had twenty years to run. It was as serviceable to the . country as the former one had been, but it fell under the displeasure and denunciation -f demagogues ignorant .of finance, chief of whom was Presi dent Jackson. The Bank, the people were told, was being used by an oligarchy for suppression of their lib erties. ; Extinction of this Bank was fol lowed by the wild-cat system of state banks, which continued down to the Civil War, when the present National Bank system was devised as a means chiefly of upholding and making a market for the bonds of the United - States. . " - In his Boston speech President Taft gave a cautious and tentative ap proval of re-establishment of a Cen tral Bank, saying: "The trend of the minds of the Monetary Commission is toward some sort of arrangement for a Central Bank of Issue, which shall control the reserve and exercise a power to meet and control the casual trlrgeney which from time to. time will come in the circulating medium "of the country and the world." We believe it would be wise, but we doubt whether the country ' would approve It. The politician will exclaim:. "Do ou realize what a tremendous power that Central Bank will have? ' It won't be long till It will have a corner on all the surplus cash In the United States. The small banks will all be crushed, and the people will be at the mercy of the great financial pirates of the country!" It will be useless to talk of the Bank of France, the Bank of Holland; the Bank of Germany, the Bank of England the banks of the civilized world. We shall have our campaign of "the rich against the poor and the poor against the rich," as soon as this effort shall seriously begin. Representatives of some of the tuppenny" nations of the earth will find a good example for their conduct on similar occasions In the action of Admiral von Koester. who will repre sent Germany at the Hudson-Fulton celebration. A question arising as to whether Von Koester or the British -rimiral. Sir Edwajd Seymour, was en titled to precedence In the celebration the German representative promptly declined to become a party to the dis pute, giving as a reason that he was an old friend of the British represent ative and that he was perfectly willing to leave the question of .precedence to the American- authorities, a decision which met with the approval of the Britisher. Many strained situations have resulted from this desire for pref erence by foreigners participating in public affairs, and the precedent here established will be a good one for others to follow. THE FAHM OUTLOOK. Mr. James J. Hill alwavs takes s sur vey of important things from high nolnts nt view. He has forecast: he generalizes; he looks to ultimates. And yet some of his ultimates are so rar -a ii- -it In tne riiatanf-e aa t n he. Keen only with long-range vision or the prophetic eye. There may be truti In his prediction that the time wil come when the United States will no lation, but that tremendous ultimate la tn far In thfe distance to be cal culable. Of " course we shall Import more and more products from trop ical lands, but It is not conceivable that our country "will be compeuea ti Imnnrt etnnle Articles of food to SUP port its population. Wool may as well be called an agricultural product, and we import large quantities of it. But we export cotton in Immensely greater quantities, ana aoumiess snaii con timiA fni n Indefinite Deriod. As OU DODulatlon multiplies and "small r-i -T-, imr" WnmM more eeneral. we shall produce relatively less quantities of wheat than heretorore, yet actually more than now. France still produces 340,000,000 bushels of wheat per an num, and more than 500,000,000 bushels of all cereals. Yet her area Is but little more than twice that of Ore gon, and her soil has been taxed by the production of twenty centuries, as we know; how .many centuries further back we do not know. Possibly our people may become such workers as the French are tooth as industrious and as intelligent in agriculture. But will not, so long as we still have immense areas of new lands. o long ua mo tr -- - shall not proceed with the restoration and cultivation of the oia ianas, as they have "done in France, cermany and Italv. Mr. Hill, in his recent ad- at Phloaen. said: "Good farms in the Mohawk Valley, in New York State, forty years ago,, were worth tiAn tn ti RA ner- acre: now many are sold at from 125 to 30. The younger generation throngs the cities, ana me land rented bv its owners to tenants careless of everything but Immediate profit, Is abused and robbed ol its rer tllity. In New York State 20,000 anna r fnr unlit-. The southern cen tral portion of the state shows a pro gressive loss of population." These are unquestionable facts. But do they indicate that the soil of the nnntrir in time, .will become so im poverished that we shall not be able to produce our staple articles of , food? It is the exploitation of the West that has caused the decline of agriculture in the Eat. The railroads have caused the change; and whq a greater pro moter of the change tnan Mr. -xiiu himself? - Yet It cannot be doubted- that after the Went nKn.ll have been filled with inhabitants, population will return upon the old agricultural districts oi the Cast, and the lands there will re- onver their old values. They never would have lost them but for the open ing of the West by the raiiroaas. jrop niarinn -aIll not Dress hard on the means of subsistence in this country vet for many a year, but more and more will make intelligent agricultural a neceaaitv. Think what the soil of France produces; how nearly It supports a population or 4u.uu,vuu, hnnr tnea e-er--the DODUlatiOn Of the United States is compared with that of France, and then judge, or conjecture, f.-.nr it- la llkelv to be till this country shall become unable to pro duce the staple articles or rood nec essary for its own consumption. But, .Aumo rhanee must take place. both In the methods of agriculture and In the habits of the people. mere he return of the old willingness to work the soil, coupled with the higher knowle;e ' necessary ior at tainment of best results. AN'OTMER COURT. Titr Taft advocates a special court A hour onnenl from the Interstate Commerce Commission, because he thinks It would expedite business. The court, in his opinion, ought to consist if five Judges, and sit only at w asn- ino-tnn Anv one of the judges may cnlnln a rullnfr of the Commission for the first sixty days after It Is made. but thenceforth no Injunction snail is sue unless the" whole court agrees to It. The President speaks for this proj ect with some zeal at Des Moines, Tnwa hut he. does not seem entirely nT-o that It would improve1 conditions. It would probably be a good thing, he says, but in. case It should turn out badly, we can use the five judges ior other purposes. An oversupply or juages is mcon- Kiv.hio of course. If they cannot find any other work, they can take va cations. An Englisn Juage, as a ruie, gets through about a dozen times as mnh work as one of his American brethren, but very likely it is done at ' sad sacrifice or dignity ana repose, 'ha fever is done to our courts, their repose ought to remain unmolested. Is pretty nearly an tnat some oi em have to show as an excuse for existing. . ... It is probable that Mr. Taft Is mis taken in thinking that a special court would expedite the work or nearing ippeals from the interstate toramera Commission. It might at first act like other new brooms, but Its activity would "be brief The history of courts special- Jurisdiction Is well Known A alwavs the same. They speedily encumber themselves la a mass of rules, precedents and lormuias in ,hlch both lawyers ana juages can uu nthins- hut floD helplessly. Ordinary courts are bad enough in. this respect, , j S: w but their processes are rapra as um ning compared with special tribunals, :r. Taft points, with rona expectation, . the-aneolnl tariff court.. Just estab lished, aa an example to follow. He has not seen that triDunai at worn ...t in vnr or two. when It is gasping for breath In the Slough of Despond, where It is likely to be wal- lo iwlng, he will not ieei so prouu ui It No human institutions nave ever hen devised which are so prone. yet special courts, to wind themselves -Hnra and feet, like a fly in a as up. spider web, until they can do nothing but wiggle, it our oruinary inuunais could be stimulated in some way to at tack their woTk with vigor and get it done with xeasonable celerity, there, would be none of those distressing de lays in legal business which the Presl- dent Justly deplores. When we have created a new court for each species of lawsuits," what will become of the courts we now. have? Apparently they wilj lapse Into a perennial vacation A NEW POIAK PROJECT. It may not be a great while before Professor Plckerines idea or a arirt ing observatory, in the Arctic- Ocean 1 ran-lpil nut. CaDtain Roald Amund sen, who made the first complete Northwest Passage, is now planning an expedition which coincides aptly with Professor Pickering's project, t-apidii Amnndspn nronoses to . refit the fa mous Fram, in which Nansen -defied the Polar Ice for a long time, and sail from Norway, around Cape Horn, to Point Barrow, the extreme nortnern point of Alaska. Thence he will make his a-av in the northwest, as far as he can go through the ice, and when the Fram Is firmly, frozen in tne pars ne will resign himself to drift whither soever the current may take him. He will be prepared to .spend five years in the ice, and may possibly be borne across the Pole to Iceland or Norway. The time Captain Amundsen allows hlmfcelf Is none too long. A cask, which' was once released ' at Point Barrow, Alaska, took six years to cross the Polar Sea. but it made the passage and landed in Iceland. " Of course one can only conjecture the course it followed, but very likely It did not miss the Pole very far. If Amundsen has' good luck he may hit r -rj-tlv hut. if he does, it will be luck purely, since he will have no con trol over his ship.. The rfnlert 1m hazardous, but not more bo than other Arctic adventures. and it promises a great increase oi lrnnn-ieVle-e. Amundsen will carry with him the best modern Instruments for deap-sea sounding, observing subma rine temnerntures and currents ana making magnetic, observations. Con cerning all these matters, as far as they pertain -to the higher Arctic re gions, the Ignorance of the scientific nrM la oi?nn-:t unbroken. Since he Is a trained observer and a competent commander, his results will prooaDiy be of the flr3t Importance, If he ever comes back with them. If he does not, then Polar ernloratlon will be fur- I nished with a new and lively incentive that of discovering nis remu.m the relics of his expedition. . THE WELCOME IMMIGRANT. The Rureau of Immigration reports a net increase of 573,531 In the popu- laKnn nf the TTnlterl Stftte from the arrival and departure of aliens during the last nscal year, it is turtner .tatoH that the errand total of immi gration, beginning with the fiscal year ending September 30, liszo, ana con tinuing up to and Including the last fiscal year, has reached the enormous total of 26,852,723. But brief consid eration of these figures is necessary to enuhie one to understand' the growing scarcity of the so-called full-blooded American .. This, however, cannot re a matter for retrret If we consider what the thrift. Integrity and good habits of a large number or - these ioreigners have done for the country. There Is American citizen In the country today who does not feel that the country has suffered a distinct loss hn- the rieath nf fiovernor Johnson, the son of Swedish immigrants who came over lri the steerage less tnan. nan a ent,irv aim And the case of Gov ernor-Johnson varies only In degree from that of thousands oi otner illus trious foreigners .or sons of foreigners who by their successful lives have added credit to the American Nation. . TTnfrtnnoteiv for the Immigrants and for the land of their adoption, an overwhelming proportion of the new comers have not settled in an environ ment conducive to either tneir own n,ifare nr -that nf the country. It is the great and growing West, the land of opportunity, that permits tne growth and development of the John Johnsons, the Knute Nelsons and other famous immigrants or sons or mmio-ranta who. hv their merits, have added luster alike to the land from which they came and to that wnicn now with pride can claim them. Min nesota and adjoining states are no longer in the "Far West"; but they ntlll rtreaent nn nortunlties for the im migrant that are missing in the con gested trade centers and ancient farming districts farther east. tt is nut here In the -Pacific States that opportunity still beckons to the newcomer, and it is in mis environ ment that lie the best opportunities incn and Intpirrltv to reap rich rewards. Completion of the Panama Canal will make possible" a vastly more favorable distribution of this alien population than has ever yet been pos sible. Many a bright, energetic imml- ....t i. tnrlav -wnarinir his life Out in the sweatshops of New York and other Eastern cities because the scanty iunos .iv, n-hinh he left the Old World were inai.mMent tn carry him beyond that hopelessly congested labor market. After completion, or tne canai tne TJaoifl,. TJnrthwest. the last' frontier. with Its millions of acres of virgin forest and ' plain, and its . vast umber of industrial opportunities, .in ho. n-irext urn! rhpan transit by hh nii wnrid nennle can reach our shores with but little more tronble and expense than is now necessary in reaching New York. Then, and not 'until then, will it be possible for this tn ..t the heat results from the Incoming immigration that Is seek ing new homes In the lanaoi tne tree. MISTAKES BOUNTY. The mistaken bounty of the Gov ernment in giving early Oregon set tlers 640 acres of land, under wnat 9 known as the donation land act or R50. was witnessed In the dreary Iso lation of Oregon farm life and the slovenly attempt to cultivate the land for many . years. . It Is rurtner em- haslzed in the fact that runy tnree nnrtha of the original donation land settlers were land poor throughout their lives ' and dying, lert entauea holdings to their heirs.. Many of the hlldren, born on -these lonely claims grew tired of the Isolation and poverty nf their surroundings and early drifted away from the cabin homes in the wilderness, not caring to return. The efforts tf the parents were at tended by disappointment, hard, un profitable labor, and, for the most part. 111 success.- They, too, grew to ..re little for the broad acres that mocked at their poverty and lone liness and so atiowea tneir title in tLem to' lapse, through indifference to tax J e vies or through the' eating away of the mortgage. Few have lived to see their former holdings De come valuable and sub-dlvlded Into suitable farming tracts, with prosper- s communities nounsning arouna them The Rtorv of their loner, half hearted struggle against - monotony id lack of demand ror any agncui ral nrndutt but wheat (which often brought only 50 cents a bushel), can never be told. It merely fills In the spaces of pioneer history In memory, and will soon be- lost, except as now and then- one of its more prominent Incidents is woven injo a folk-lore tale,' to be discredited as fiction or slighted as commonplace. A most careful, accurate and la borious work . has been executed by Henry H. Gilfry, of Oregon, Chief Clerk of the United States Senate. It is a compilation'of Precedents and De cisions on Points of 'Order,, with Phraseology, in the Senate, from the first Congress, in 1783, to the end of the Sixtieth Congress, ended March, 1909. This book covers a survey of the whole work of the Senate on the precedents and rules of the body, the methods of procedure and decisions of the forms of order. Gilfry's length of service in the Senate more than thirty years gives him special quali fication for such a work. He has re celved the compliments of many Sen ators, and others, upon it. The death of Mrs. Mary J. Wolver ton, which recently occurred at her home in Monmouth marked the end of a long and useful life. "Of her 84 years, Mrs. Wolverton had lived 53, or nearly two-thirds of the whole period. In Oregon, near the place where death came to her. A useful life, in which she wrought as woman may for the welfare of , those around her, and in the long twilight of which she waited serenely the change that comes to all, stands to the credit of this good woman. Practical, earnest, womanly these are the characteristics that marked the long, pathway of her life. Engineers engaged in the boundary line survey--oecween mis vuuinrj mm Canada have found a part of the ter ritory so rough that it Is impossible to survey it. Perhaps some time in the future, when it will be needed as a base for lieu-land scrip, some enter prising landseekers will be more suc cessful. Prior to the Oregon land fraud trials it was. always a source of wonder how some of the Oregon lands in the mountain districts weije sur veyed, Jjut testimony introduced by the prosecution cleared up some of the mystery. Some one-may yet take up a homestead on that boundary line. The harvest has not been an early one In the Willamette Valley, but it has been a plentiful one. Much of it remains to be gathered. October will be a busy month in orchards, gardens. and potato fields, while timely rains, without Interfering greatly -with this late gathering of crops, will send ithe plowman afield to prepare for the seeding of another year. In the agri cultural hive there are no drones-or there should be none. Unskilled labor, If steady and obliging, need not go begging In the country for at least two months yet to come. Certainly - it was not altogether a matter of good luck that-the great Chicago & Northwestern Railway sys tem did not have a fatality lat year among the 27,000,000 passengers car ried. .Contributing factors were better rails, better, equipment and better management. Clear records of other lines show that American railroads are learning how to make travel safer. They point to a time when the railway lines of this country will be as free from avoidable accidents as the best conducted roads in England, France and Germany. Dr. Rowland, of Salem, flew the gospel track, so to speak, after the bishop, with painstaking care, had made out his list of appointments: This necessitated a revision of the list at. the last minute.. He asked to be reieased from the ministry on the plea of business. When a school ma'am flies off at the last minute, on. a per sonal plea, causing the board much trouble In the readjustment of its ap pointments, we say: "That is Just like a woman." How now? , William E. Curtis, of the Chicago Reenrd-Herald . wrote from Portland,' September 14, a letter about the Co lumbia" River, that abounds in facts and descriptions which our people are o-iari tn ee In Drlnt in . newspapers published outside our own territory The descriptions on the whole are very readable. To our people, the matter is so familiar as not to require republi cation here. Bufc- we are glad Mr. Cur tis has written it for the Chicago Rec ord-Herald. The President will not be Invited to address the Virginia Baptist Associa- on because of his wen-Known uni tarian principles. This is -a serious blow to the Chler Bxecuuve oi tne ita. tion 'hut he has the satisfaction of knowing that he can still remain Pres ident of the land- which as yet offers equal freedom to Baptists as well as nltarlans. Society will be out in force on Octo ber 7, 8 and 9 at the Lewis and Clark Fair Grounds. From all Indications the costumes of the women will, be stunning and the millinery display gorgeous. Incidentally there Will be some fine horses on parade. Hence, the society event will be called the Horse Show. ' Suppose the National Dressmakers' Association does change the young woman's waist line, as It threatens to do at this week's convention. Who cares? Young men will find it quite as readily as ever before. Abe Hembree gets a "new" trial. Not very new, for It Is the third time. If part of the object is to distribute the money of the taxpayers among the "people,",' it is as successful as any body could desire. . , The latest In the anfl-raae-suicide free-for-all contest Is the thirty-second in a Michigan family. The dis patches fall to state whether Berkshire or Poland China. . The career of Governor John A. Johnsoa gives the lie' to professional Jawsmiths, who howl about. the poor man's hvlng no chance in the United States. -v' ' "' . ... The acme Of endeavor of. the press agent was reached In New York In the marriage of a prima donna to a business man, that was kept secret. - Detroit $nd Philadelphia are not the only cities with a pennant fight on hand. Keep your eye on' Portland the next four jveeks. Perhaps the Meyer girls. In the joy ride to Merrill's roadhouse Sunday morning had a narrower escape than they imagine. . PInchot caught a fish that weighed 180 pounds Saturday. . What he would like to land weighs nearly twice that. MR. HILI AND Ol'R FOOD SCPPLY, Hla Speech Before the Americas Bank ers' Association Is Commented On. James, J. Hill has again started the ball rolling, by saying in his recent art dress before the American Bankers' As soclation that agriculture is relatively de dining in the United States, that our sources of food supply are drying up. and that before many - years we shall have to buv wheat from abroad to keep us from starving. 'Not so very long ago the proud boast was made that ' the United States was feeding the world and would continue to do so. .The reading world Is getting to be familiar with the statement that country life is losing Its charm for the boys and girls who do hot remain to grow crops like their parents, but rush to the city, many of. them to recruit .the classes living from hand to mouth and whose chief idea of existence is to be within walking distance of thea ters, motion picture shows and profes sional baseball games. Some think, however, that Mr. Hill likes to be an alarmist, so tjiat he can attract notice, and among these ohserv ers is the Philadelphia Record. "We are less alarmed on Hhis occasion than we should be," says the Record, "if we did not remember that the last time Mr. Hill scared the country he told us that our transportation system would go to smash if we did not put something like a billion a year for several years into Its Improvement and extension. As no one had that amount of money with him the prospects looked dark, but at the end of the year It was found that, although business was not at Its best and a good many people were saying unpleasant things about the railroads, yet the amount of capital put into railroads was not far from the sum Mr. Hill had de manded, and no effort whatever had been made to get the money except the ordi nary efforts of the railroads to sell their securities and of capitalists to get in vestments. Twenty years ago C. Wood Davis, who had some reputation as an agricultural statistician. ' . was . predicting the importation of wheat as earnestly as Mr. . Hill Is now predicting It. It has not come yet, and we do. not believe It will come in the' next ten years. Less than 50,000.000 acres are under wheat, and we do not believe for a moment that this is anything like the amount of land In the United States available for the pur nose. A large proportion oly the land in farms Is wholly unimproved, and there Is an enormous amount of land not yet in cluded In farms." A doleful note comes from the New York Times.. "The American farmer. says the Times, "is still Ignorant of his business as compared with the European peasant,-.' whose production per acre averages nearly twice that attained in this country. But such Improvidence may be overcome rapidly by the right' methods. And recent statistics would in dicate that the right methods are being applied. -..' " 'Back to the land'. Is the reverse tide." states the New York Tribune, "and It is , due to a recognition of the fact that the economic opporuniy on the farms today is better than it on.ee was.. The high price for grain and. Indeed for all farm products; the prosperity of the farmers, their automobiles and bank accounts, are now having an effect. Men's minds turn to the farms as an opportunity for making a livelihood. ..The movement will bring new blood- td the rural resrlnnR. men who have n.t got into a rut, who are impressed with the" idea, that Intelligent, scientific metnoas are necessary on the farms. The coun try needs farmers of a better sort than It used to have, and It is already begin ning to have tlwsm. Mr. Hill will prob ably live to see his prediction that this country Is about to become a flour im porting country falsified, just as he saw his complaint disproved that tne credit of the railroads was destroyed. . "Mr. Hill complains of the enhanced cost of living." echoes the New York World. "So far as costs rise upon farm produced articles, the railroads f,or which Mr. Hill speaks and trusts of middlemen are largely responsible. If "the farmer got his share of the increased cost of culture," restore the fertility of his acres his product he ; would take up 'Intensive and stay upon his own land. It would oav him better. "It 1s not likely that bur agriculture has yet reached he ultimate of Its a velopment or the half of It. High values will surely attract both capital and labor to the farms, if not in a mad rush, with a steady trend," says he Baltimore American. "It will not be overlooked. of course, that Mr. Hill heads a big rail road system that permeates the rih wheat lands of Minnesota, tne uaaotas and. the provinces of Western Canada. If he can double the wheat-growing pop ulation of those areas he will double the business of his railroads." 'Mr. Hill may' have the statistics to prove his assertions that agrlculure as a whole throughout the country !s a fail ing business,but all th general' indica tions convey'a different impression," re marks the Boston Transcript. 'There are already indications or a turn of the tide and a checking of the. moment from country to city, states the ' Indianapolis News. . "Farm, life is becoming more attractive than tt was formerly and the inducements for young men to remain on farms are stronger. Mr. Hill himself was born on a farm and left It for a business Jife, a step which, considering his success, he prob ably does not regret. He is past 70 years of age now and does not see the rosy side of life any more, but that is no rea son why he should grow pessimistic. Cheer up, Mr. Hill!" . 'We boast of the American, rarm. says the Pittsburg (Pa.) Times, "and its pos sibilities and riches, but tho allurements of Community life continue to beckon the boys and girls from the' country with undiminished fascination. Unless this fan be checked by modiiying tne rural life, the consequences to the nation are certain. . ,. - If the farmers" sons and daughters ' are expected to stick to the land, In these days of multiplied op portunities ancT desires, their environ ment must be modernized." 'Our agriculture is, as tne rarmers themselves would say, just between hay and-grass. It is In a-state of transition. The old is passing away, and the new is coming. The new will be more profitable than the old: American enterprise will meet' the new demand as successfully as it "met every other demand. . . . air. Hill does not tell the whole story of American agriculture, says the JSew York Mail. 'The right or non-rarmers to lecture fanners on the vices of sloth and waste Is an ancient and Inalienable preroga tive," hazards the i-le x orK tiioDe. Some Prices Compared. .' St. Louis Star. An old memorandum book dug up at Clay City. 111., shows that whisRy sold at 12 cents a quart in xui niai. was moonshine. It would be cheaper than that today were it not for the ,,,e tav -Rut more siirniftcant are other figures, showing that calico was T 40 a varH and' corn 18 cents a bushel. Now the farmer sells his corn for about 60 cents and Duys nis cauco 7. cents, provided he Is willing for for- his family to. wear-anytning so -uney. Those were good old days -to ? talk about. Means or Mortgages T " New Bedford Standard. Since the first of January automo biles tothe value of more tnan 4u.uuu. 000 have been registered In this com- mwealth. Prosperity or- extrava gance? " What Every Man Knows. Atlanta Constitution. Indeed.-trousers for women "should hot create such a sensation." But here tofore they have not been wearing them in public. - DIRECT PRIMARY, ftV.VCK NOSTRUM Ohio's Experience With .Direct Nomina tions the Usual Sort- . Cincinnati Commercial Tribune. ' . Among the many theories of the well meaning people who would reform mankind-by law none has been more widely exploited than the direct pri mary law,' which it was claimed would do away with all the Ills that the body politic is heir to." The great, nostrum has now been . given a fair and squarre trial by the voters of Ohio and must be condemned as a ridiculous failure, having no virtue In itself to cure the alleged evils It was supposed to remedy and fastening upon the state a cum bersome, ' ill-adjusted system of nomi nating candidates in which the, people, as. shown by the initial electipn, seem to take very little interest. It was the claim of the promoters of the law that It would bring out the voters and make them select the can- . didates at the primary to whom they could give loyal support at the election. Never was there a more bitter fight than was -waged among the local Democracy at the last primary, but-the total Democratic vote, not quite 19,000,' was far less than was cast when the old convention system was lnc force. The same was true throughout the state,' all the large cities reporting a phenomenally light vote. The direct primary was fostered by Democrats and passed by a most en thusiastic" Democratic Senate. It has been a boomerang that, looally at least, has recoiled on the head of the party that hurled It. The Democrats, always divided, were never more widely apart than they are today as a result of the internal fight at the primary. Although soothing salve Is being applied the wounds are too deep f be healed be fore election. The direct primary has failed in every purpose for which It was intended. Its Intricate provisions keep voters from the polls, It is a vast burden of ex pense to the state and does nothing but accomplish clumsily -what was easily and smoothly performed by the system It replaced. LIQUOR' ABUSE IX TILLAMOOK.- But This Letter Should Have Been Sent to the Tillamook Herald. PORTLAND, Sept. 21, 1909. (To the Editor.) 1 notice that The Oregonlan has lately given considerable space and prominent place to various articles emanating from various sources, which report unfavorably concerning moral conditions prevailing In -prohibition territory. An article-" of this class, clipped from the Tillamook Herald, stands at the head of a column on the editorial page of. your Issue of this date. It is represented In this article .that Tillamook, one of the prominent dry towns of Oregon, Is suffering from a carnival of drunkenness and dis order, caused by the Illicit sale of the vilest kinds of intoxicants. In com menting upon the article The Oregonlan states that "this Is a very general ex perience in dry territory, but it does not give 'our prohibitionist brother any trouble." This is a mistake. Such re ports as these concerning conditions in dry towns and spread broadcast over the country by a great newspaper like The Oregonlan do trouble us. We know that they will be read by thou sands of people, and Jf they are ac cepted as true, our cause will be great lv Injured thereby; besides, experience has taught us that In every case these reports are grossly exaggerated, and In many Instances have been proven abso lutely false. - Local option does not do all that Its friends want It to do, but. the state ment that conditions similar to those described in this Tillamook report are quite general in dry territory is very far, indeed, from the truth. Local option victories have seen won in Ore gon, not bv the votes of prohibltldn ists, but by the ballots of temperance Republicans and Democrats, who for many years stood for license and regu lation until the flagrant excesses and abuses of the saloon business con vinced them that some more practical and stringent measures should be adopted, and after a fair trial of two years fad not local wptlon remedied to a large degree these excesses and abuses, certainly these practical men would have repudiated It at the ballot box and returned to the old system. The American people, as a rule, are not fools, "nor impracticable enthusiasts. They know a good thing when they see It, - and by their ballots they are substituting prohibition for the old system of segulation Just about as fast as they are given the opportunity.-- . x -E.F.ZIMMERMAN. Field Worker, Oregon Antl - Saloon League. '-.- No Store Like Harrlman. New York World. No railroad president should be a Wall-street gambler and manipulator. His undivided interest belongs to the public utility which he administers. No railroad should be allowed to issue securities for the purchase of other railroad securities. No railroad should be permitted to trade In other railroad securities for "investment" purposes or any pur pose not directly connected with its functions as a common carrier. The business of a railroad is to be a railroad, not to be a stock-jobber or a speculator or a Wall-street syndicate. - There are evils of Harrlmanism so inimical to the public welfare that they should end with his lifeand President Taft cannot afford to ignore them In the amendments which he will propose next Winter to the Interstate com merce law. Government and public opinion alike have trifled long enough with railroad lawlessness and railroad autocracy. Waste of Oak Trees. The Timberman. Timre u nn m oro utrikinir example on Jhe Pacific Coast of the ruthless destruc tion of timber tnan mat which lunuvia i. .thcritiff r.f nnk tanbark. Ia the counties of Humboldt and Mendocino In California the .Industry of securing oan tanbark has attained considerable pro portions. Oak trees 18 inches to 3V4 feet diameter, up to 40 reel to uie uinus - ,,n,mmnn Tn socure this bark the trees are felled and the hark stripped. The timber is left untouched on the ground to rot. Until raiiroau transpor tation can be furnished, this waste will probably continue. The bark, in many instances. Is secured rrom inniviuuai inin.B tatiin im hv h nm es tenders, -the timber growth being practically all oak. hich is sacrinced in oraer to ee oul arlnii. HvoKhfinH . FYnm 400 to fi00 cords of bark can be. obtained from a claim. Thousands ot reet or good oaK imber are sacrificed each year to the bark gatherer. Melba'a Spending-Money Cut Down. London Dlspatchi , Madame Nellie Melba. the prima donna, according to latest reports, is financially in low water. She was In. such great need of money a little time ago that she .determined,' to give a long series of concerts In Australia at nair the price she formerly received In the same towns. Melba'a personal extrava gance Is the main cause of her reduced fortune. At the pinnacle ot ner lame she traveled about with a retinue of at tendants and servants, spending money with - reckless prodigality to gratify every whim. " . . j. Substituted, Excitement. London Punch. Miss Helen Mathers thinks that the rfanlfn. nf the nnvp! is due tn a Inrfi-A extent to m&'tor cars. There Is no doubt that a large class of readers has been' almost entirely eliminated .by these vehicles. LAUDS DAIRY OFFICER BAILEY. Salem Man Says He Is, Able and Effi cient ConuniHstouer. SALEM, Or., Sept. 20. (To the Ed itor.) In yesterday's Issuo of a Port- . land newspaper I find several columns devoted to the I'airy and Food Com missioner of this state. One writer in v particular goes on to say that fe). should have such and such a man for that office. . Every meeting of dairymen and live- , stock breeders for the past 20 years has always recognized the ability of . Mr. Bailey in those lines. Search this state from top to bottom and you will not find a more capable man for that . office. The greatest trouble seems to lie in the ignorance of county officers. One county health officer says: "'I discovv ered tuberculosis in a herd of dairy . cattle, but did not" think it worth while to notify Mr. Bailey." etc. 1-Ljs duty was to notify the State Veterinarian, not Mr. Bailey. : The intent of the dairy and food law f was to prevent the sale of Impure milk and butter in the larger cities and towns. The appropriation will not al low the Commissioner to provide in spectors in all' the small places.. Should any county officer or private citizen In--form the Commissioner that he was satisfied , that the law was being vio lated in a certain locality, I am sure . Mr. Bailey 'would be on the spot in a short time. :. '. Every now and then I test my own milk, and I find that here In Salem we are getting a vefy good quality. Every consumer of milk can do as I do by tho expenditure of about $1. The -apparatus will last a lifetime wjth due care. From my own observations I do ' not believe there Is a state in. the Union which has a more efficient officer than we have in our Dairy and . Food Commissioner. And. taken alto gether, 1 believe there Is less adulter ated milk and butter sold In Oregon than in any state in the Union. To my own knowledge oleomargarine deal' ers give Oregon a wide berth. Dairymen, cattle - breeders, wool growers, sheepmen and farmers all recognize the ability of Mr. Bailey along those lines, and it seems to me to be merely a political move of some kind to Injure Mr. Bailey in some man ner. . t But the people who are well In formed on the subject will give Mr. Bailey -the credit of being one of tho most earnest and proficient officers ill the whole state. J. W. BAKER, NEW USE FOR IDLE OFFICIALDOM Coast and Geodetic Survey Offers to ' Mediate Cook-Peary Dispute. New 1 o'"k Sun. A very excellent use has been found for the Coast and Geodetic Survey, which' is that the Peary-Cook wrangle shall be submitted to that illustrious scientific body for .adjustment. Only a few days ago the Sun arose to in quire about the bureau's sudden and complete occultation so far as the gen eral public Is concerned,, and now for tune, dancing gayl'y with caprice In all her curls, proposes a halcyon solution. With 12 or 13 head of scientists im mersed In Government rocking-chairs and almosi ready for an interval of action, the time seems propitious. This unfortunate bicker has arisen. Some body must settle it In the absence of the great arbiter and omniscient referee." Why not the Coast and Geo detic Survey, which, has nothing else' to do that Is, noticing of Immediate urgency? The head of that great moral and Intellectual engine has gone, as ww understand, to Europe or somewhere to carry -an Invitation of some sort' for something or somebody. The field par ties, who do the work, we presume do not count. They cut no figure In the official register and are known but modestly to the payroll. The well-paid officials, however, bulk big in the Con gressional Directory. They are prob ably all within call, excepting perhaps the chief, Professor Tlttmann. who will no doubt return on some languid breeze ,as soon as the Washington weather moderates in the .direction of the frost point. The proposed arrangement seems nothing less than Ideal. We do. not press the point, for as a matter of fact we know nothing about the actual - merits of the controversy , in question "and still less of the bu reau's fitness for deciding It. We are told, however, that one of the militant explorers is an honorary officlar or a protege or something of the Coast and Geodetic 'Survey, and In that case, see ing that the Survey has nothing in particular to do, so far as concerns the occupants of the swivel chairs at least, M Is borne in up6n us that this pro posed arrangement may give them some healthful, much-needed occupa tion. - It is In their interests, therefore, and quite apart from any feelltig or predi lection in the Peary-Cook rumpus that wo second with Ill-concealed enthusi asm the suggestion of the enlistment of ,the Coast and Geodotlc Survey as a tribunal. What we want really is to furnish wholesome exercise and Inci dentally a raison d'etre for one of our most cherished institutions. Our Mad Financial System. Washington (D. C.) Post. How many billions the American peo ple have lost by faulty financial meth ods will nuver he known except to com- . pute that the aggregate is simply enormous, incalculable. The Treasury is a bank of issue only; and the" only elasticity it can practice Is to expand when It should contract and contract when It should expand. Given such a system, every suggestion, every hint of liquidation, brings disorder that be comes panic, that in turn becomes bankruptcy, that in turn again be coaies ruin. No such thing could hap pen in France, and rarely has It oc- curred- In England. B 1 THJ3 SQUIB COLLECTION. What will we do If f"od kwpi gettlnc fcirhor? ' "Resort to conilcmnAMon pro reAlings. 1 s"pose." Louisville Couilei Journal. Mr O'Kafferty fconflnod to his bed) Och, FrWr-t. phu-at did y-,. be "fher wakjii me up for? Mrs. U Kanmr a" ' Soother tell me to Kivo s'J-s a sl.lcepln powder ivlry two hourn! Juilfie. Cretn Poor Hllo is in hard luck, llo h one arm In a silns, a l.la. k ej e two tret,, misslnt:. and a mortice on his home Brown You don't say! How I"nK haa ho had the auto? Cljloago Dally News. I told them propln I vut wit Cook." And didn't It Bit o..e a handout ? ',: they're on the Peary side ol the contro versy. It's a hard world." Louisville Courier-Journal. -" "The ten commandments tiave never been repealed, so far as I know." jsuid 1 n-le Allen sparks, "but In these days, of course, yuu can't expect them tn bu enforced In communities where tho public sentiment Is against them." I'hlcaso Tribune. "Don't you find Jud Wank tiresome a5 a speaker?" "'No. Indeed. What makes '"U think he Is so?" "Hci-atmo he it such a severe Judite." "What has tha got to do . with him as a speaker '."" " " ell, It in. k -s him Inclined to long sentences." HiUtnnot u American. Town Marshal Ye can t g.-t a drink un-. der anv circumstances in this town, gran ger (fingering a roil of bills) Then I sup pose I'll have to give It up. T",vn Slar-j.al .lowering voice) Well, say I'll makti circumstances two dollars, just to accommo date ye. luck. "Why Is there so much discontent In the midst of plenty?" asked the demagogue. "I don't know." answered the substantial citi zen "unless It's because a bit of people would rather stand around, the same us I've been doing, and talk about their trou bles Instead of going to work." Washing ton Star. "Although he overcharged me terribly," says the returned traveler, "the cab driver, who took me over l'arls was most polite." "All Frenchmen are," wo observo. "Yes, but this one got nri . ui n'i ceiiJi-M ma to find the necessary profanity In my Krent-h- r.ngusii "" .'. --' - . what I thout-ht oi him." Life.