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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 24, 1909)
TIIE MORNING OREGONIAX, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1909. 10 PORTLAND. OREGON. . r Entered at Portland. Oregon. postofnce ai Second-Class Matter. buhocriptlon Kates lovarlabljr in Advance. (By Mail.) Dally. SundiT Included, one year $S .00 Ball v. Sundar Included, all months.... 4.2j Dally, Sunday included, thre montha.. 2. PaiN. Sunday Included, one month 75 Dally, wtthojt Sunday, one yar 6.00 iJallv. without Sunday, si months.... 3.S Daily, without Sunday, three montha... 1. Iaily, without Sunday, one month.... -GO Weekly, one year Funday, one year Sunaay and weekly, one year 3-0 (By Carrier.) nally. Punday Included, one year 9.00 Datlv, Sundav Included, one month "5 How to Remit Send postofnce money order, express order or personal -check on vour lo'-al bank. Stamps, coin or currency ere nt the sender's risk. Give postofnce ad ores In full, including county and state. Postage Rate 10 to 14 pages. cent: 1 to panes. 1 cents; P0 to pages. 3 cents; 40 to to fanes, 1 cents. Foreign postage double rale. Kastera Business Office The S. C. Bk wi;n Special Agency New "ork. rooms 4S 50 Tribune building. Chicago, rooms 510-512 Tribune hulltling. PORTLAND, WEDXESDAV, NOV. 24. 1909. SIMILARITY IN' DirFERKNCES. There is a cry for "tariff reform" in England which means, there, a cry for "protection." It is part of the conservative or tory scheme of politics. It ought not to be mistaken in our country for an argument for tariff reform, as our "insurgents" name it and urge it. Conditions are so dif ferent, in different countries, that the political and even the economic crises in one country should not be regarded as the enuivalents of those in another. "Words mean different things; in differ ent places and circumstances. No translation from French into English has a meaning quite the same as the original: no use by us of a term in economics though we use the very, same term used in England, and in the same language has quite the same meaning in both countries and Indeed their meanings may differ very widely. When we talk of tariff reform we mean, in a general way, reduction of duties. When men or parties in England-talk of tariff reform they mean a protective tariff a change from the present free trade basis. No more than about ten commodities imported into the United Kingdom are required to pay duty; and that duty is wholly for revenue, not for protection at all. "Tariff reform," then, in Britain, means introduction of protect.ve du ties. It is a conservative or tory scheme for taxation of imports whether of raw materials, foodstuffs or manufactures. Its tffect would be to throw increasing burdens on the mass of consumers, and to relieve the landowners and holders of securities of somewhat of their obligations. The British Islands must import largest part of their food, and most of the raw materials of their manufac tures. Any tax on these must there fore be a tax on the working masses. Tables of imports necessarily show far higher values than those of exports for the country lives on the difference, through its labor and -wages. Labor, in such a situation, bears.the burden, and It must. There Is no pos sibility of throwing it off. But it has a right to resist increase of its bur dens, attempted either in open or in sidious ways. The demand for "pro tective" duties is one of these. The object of protective duties is to pro tect the property, the land, the capital of the country; not to make life and living easier for the "workers. In -what, then, does the demand for . "protec tion" in our country differ in the last analysis from Its object and- purpose as entertained by the aristocracy and capitalists of England? The simple truth is that free trade in England is a method or scheme of democracy. It should be so, and it is so, in the United States; but "protec tion" Is disguised In so many and va rious Tvays that It Is made to appear as a policy lor the salvation of labor. Oregon, unquestionably. Is a protec tionist state. That is one great reason why it is so strongly for the Repub lican party. Even Oregon's Demo cratic Senator is a protectionist, for he is a politician who always has a nose for the wind. But this subject cannot be Juggled with In England to the same extent as in the United States. That is be cause the industrial conditions are so widely different. The comparatively email islands that constitute the head and heart of the British Empire must import both their food and many of their materials of manufacture, and must get them as cheap as they can. Labor must do the rest. But we, of the United States, have both our own food and most of our own materials of manufacture. The situations, there fore, are at opposltes. But in each country It is the capitalist who ex pects most benefit or profit from pro tection. In ours, however, the work ing man has been persuaded that he is the chief gtrlner by It. Hence the great majority of our people cast their votes for the protectionist policy. They 5o so especially in our newer states, which still abound in opportunities and in unappropriated resources; and Oregon is one of the strongest pro tectionist states of the forty-six. On economic subjects & great many people are asily misled. But It Is not likely that the English people can now Toe misled into acceptance of the ex pedient of protection, disguised as tar iff reform. After a while we shall reach a similar basis In the United States. INCREASING RAILROAD COMPETITION. The New York Central and the Pennslyvania railroads, the main traffic arteries connecting the two greatest cities of the New World, are said to be on the eve of a great battle for su premacy in the rich field they have served almost since the beginning of railroading. The Pennsylvania, at an almost fabulous expenditure, has at last effected entrance into New York City, and with the opening of its new terminals in that city, will be on some thing better than even terms with its longer-established rival. The New Tork Central, which came under the spell of the late E. H. Harriman shortly before the death of that greatest of railroad reconstructors, has recently expended $100,000,000 in reducing grades, elim inating curves and otherwise improv ing the system, and will spend an ad ditional $30,000,000 within the year. This enormous expenditure will, of course, become a fixed charge against the property until the end of time, but in the way of Improved service and perhaps lower rates It will equalize matters for the public, which in the end must foot the bills. The coming ef this Titanic battle will tend to dis prove some of the generally circulated theories that the day of competition in railroading is ended. The rulings of the Interstate Commerce Commission have practically eliminated all compe tition in the way of rates, but there still remains an opportunity for ex pensive competition in the way of train service. The fact that there are avail able for such purposes the enormous sums that these two great roads are' spending points quite clearly to the practical impossibility of making an effective combination of all railroad properties. New wealth is being created on such a colossal scale that it is ever seeking Investment, and, if it is not permitted to share in the profits of railroads al ready built, it soon finds employment in the building of other roads. Eventu ally many other roads operating be tween New York and Chicago will Contend for this big traffic, with the same high-grade facilities as are now being provided by the two lines that are arming for the coming fray. De spite the tendency toward creation of monopolies, the competition on some of our most traveled highways prom ises to increase rather than decrease. ALMA BELL. It is charitable to suppose that Spe cial Prosecutor Hamilton expects to accomplish some worthy purpose by extorting from Alma Bell the sensual particulars of her fall. Were it not for this supposition one could hardly help thinking that he revels in the incidents as some readers luxuriate in Boccaccio's frank narratives. However this may be, the wretched girl's story presents nothing moral and little of real interest except as everything hu man is Interesting. She was either foolish or vicious enough to yield to Joe Armes those favors which shrewd women, to say nothing of virtuous ones, reserve sacredly until after the wedding ceremony. 1 In balking at marriage after Alma Bell had lost her chastity, Ar:ncs mere ly followed a course of conduct which is almost universal among men. He was wicked undoubtedly, but not ex ceptionally wicked. This reluctance of a favored man to marry the woman whom he has deflowered is a common fact of life which- girls must reckon with. It is one among many conse quences for them to weigh when they nre debating with themselves whether it Is wise to risk all for love. As to Alma's guilt in shooting her recreant lover, opinions will differ ir reconcilably. Most men will be disposed to pardon her, even If she was not much deceived by Armes. Women, on the other hand. Judge these matters more severely, and find it easier to forgive a man in the situation of Joe Armes than a woman in Alma's. Very likely each sex Judges wisely in rating its own guilt as the blacker, because each knows best its own character. Women know each other too well to Judge leniently, and the same Is true of men. EDUCATIONAL VAI.IE OF PICTURES. The Multnomah County Teachers' Institute met in annual convention in this city Monday. Educational leaders of the city, county and state, with some from abroad, appear upon this occasion in the role of Instructors. Their themes as outlined have a wide range. Among the subjects treated, outside of the regular school curricu lum, was that of "Pictures, Their Ed ucational-Value, presented by Miss Simmons, of the Portland Museum of Art, followed by a "Picture Study," by the same instructor. This theme is by no means a new one in educational annals, though improvement in its pre sentment will no doubt be as striking by comparison as are the pictures in the school books of today with those of sixty years ago. It will not readily be admitted, however, by those whose memories run back to the pictures with which the reading lessons of Mc Guffey's old series of readers were Il lustrated, that the pictures in the mod ern schoorbooks convey any more dis tinct or even subtle Idea of the sub ject treated than did the rude but graphic wood cuts that embellished the lessons of the olden time. Take, for example, the picture, that made attractive before a word of the story was read, of "Old Lark and the Farmer," as presented in a lesson in the Second Reader of that series as illustrative of the value of self-help. There was the old bird keenly alive to the situation; her open-mouthed brood in the nest In the grain field; the farmer, sickle in hand, having tried In vain for two or three days to interest his neighbors and relatives in the fact that his grain was ripe and needed cutting, telling his son that on the morrow they must begin the harvest themselves. Hearing which the mother bird resolved to move out of the way of the reapers at once, wisely remarking to her brood: "When a man resolves to do his work him self, depend upon it, children, it will be done." Into the shaping of how many lives these plain words and this simple picture have gone who can say? Another picture, bold in outline, but crude in execution, was that of "Na poleon Crossing the Alps," given, as memory serves, in the Third Reader of the old series. The cocked hat, military boots, cloak streaming in the avind; the rearing charger and the for bidding mountains looming up in the direction indicated by the sword in the outstretched hand of the world's great est military hero did not this picture inspire the youthful student with the greatness of Napoleon's achievement in throwing his army across the Alps, before a word of the brief, but stirring account of this fact was read? What a lesson in the ability to overcome obstacles by determination was con veyed by this crude but heroic picture! APrLBG ROWING WEST AND EAST. An apple exhibit was held in Boston recently, the object of which, accord ing to the Springfield Republican, was "to show the farmers of New England that it lies within their power to raise Just as fine apples as are grown in any of the much-advertised states tf Colorado, Idaho, Oregon and Wash lngton." The display was heralded as the finest of the kind ever held in New England, or, for that matter, east of, the Mississippi River. While It is true that modern methods of aorjle- growing, originated and brought to j perfection in Oregon, have not yet been tried in the New England States, it is also true that climatic conditions there are not as favorable to horticul ture as those of this state. Mr. Ells worth, secretary of the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture, who re cently visited Hood River Valley, saw, wondered at and sampled its magnifi cent apples and returned to Boston with a generous acknowledgment of the beauty, size and brilliant coloring thereof, but with a reflection upon the flavor of the frujt. Mr. Ellsworth fur- ther draws comparison in regard to Oregon soil, climate and general con ditions in favor of. New England as art apple-growing section. He cites the relative cheapness of New Eng land land, hints at the advantages that must result to growers from being in touch with the old civilization of the East, and urges New England to enter at once into competition with pregqn in apple-growing. This is all right. It cannot be doubted that if the methods of Ore gon horticulturists were imitated and strictly followed a portion of the aban doned farm area of the New England States could in the course of ten to fifteen years be made to produce good apples. If the agricultural committee of the Boston Chamber of Commerce believes that the sa-called barren areas of New England can be made to produce ap ples equal in size, beauty and abund ance, and superior In flavor, to the product of the Hood River, Willam ette and Rogue River valleys in Ore gon, and of some equally favored sec tions of the State of Washington, It is up to it to declare in detail the methods whereby this can be accom plished, and induce the slow-going, long-discouraged farmers of that sec tion to adopt and persistently push these methods. RESURGENT WITCHCRAJT. The latter-day cult of the' Insub stantial is developing some queer no tions, as Mr. Edward Ezeklel de Young's letter In today's Oregonian shows. The statement that Dr. Quack enbos could paralyze the entire spirit world by a "suggestion" does not seem to feaze him. He placidly accepts the absurd idea as a genuine fact and proceeds to develop what he no doubt thinks is an explanation of it. Any body who finds Mr. Young's reasoning satisfactory Is welcome to all the pleas ure it gives him, so far as The Orego nian is concerned. We sympathize with a little girl's delight In her doll, and are not put out by the spectacle of a man befuddling his intelligence with superstitious fallacies. It takes a number of different things to make a world. What Interests one in Mr. Young's letter is his recipe for getting "satisfac tory results" at a seance. By his quo tation from Tennyson ho means to say that the investigator should not be too critical. He should be docile, recep tive, avid of mysteries. In other words, he should keep his mental mouth wide open to swallow whatever wonders may happen along. Others besides Mr. Young have noticed that this Is the best nay, perhaps the only way to get satisfactory results at a seance. If the spectator insists upon seeing how the miracles are done, the spirits are sure to flee in a panic. Nothing seems to frighten them so badly as a disposi tion to pry into the cabinet, peer under the table and turn on the light un expectedlj'. A match struck Inoppor tunely has been known to put to rout a whole room full of ghosts. Mr. Young's use of the phrase "fa miliar spirit" Is ominous. It takes us back at one leap to the dark ages when heaven and earth were full of splrit3 and controlled by witches. Indeed, there are numerous signs abroad of a great revival of witchcraft. From the minds of the vulgar belief in it has never perished, and now the intelligent elates seem on the verge of a relapse. Perhaps in another year or two we shall be hanging witches, or maybe even burning them. WORKING FOR THE WEST. "The Government should do every thing in Its power to develope every acre of ground within its own domain," says Senator Borah, in a defiant pro test against the policy of the faddists of the Plnchot school. Senator Borah has pledged himself to support a measure that will regulate the for estry service, so that there will be less so-called conservation of the forests and Tp.ore real benefit to the settler. "Out of the reform which Senator Borah suggests, he hopes to secure the adoption of a policy by which every acre of ground within the do main of this country can be developed, and thus prevent the migration of Americans Into Canada." Senator Borah,' like Secretary Ballinger, is of the West, and he knows the West, its requirements and its possibilities. Theories and fads are not given ser ious consideration by practical, well informed men of this type, and it is for that reason that their deductions are seldom faulty. No one from the West has invited the Eastern faddists to come to the Pacific Northwest and show us how we should conduct, our affairs; but Oregon, especially, has been receiving advice and suffering interference in liberal quantities. In the attack on Secretary Ballinger, in the current number of Hampton's Magazine, one John L. Matthews Is especially ver bose and egotistical in his assumptions of knowledge as to what is needed in Oregon. This self-appointed expert on the needs of Oregon assures us that "If the Deschutes could be developed along the lines I have suggested, the country would fill up with people and the increased passenger and freight traffic would very soon wipe out the extra cost of construction." For declining to elevate their tracks to a point where all of the value of the water-level grade would be lost, the railroads are accused of being "penny wise and pound foolish," al though elsewhere in his article Mr. Matthews states that "the old routes from San Francisco north circle the base of Mount Shasta, after a heavy climb in each direction, and make travel and freight hauling slow and costly either way." By the new route through the Deschutes Mr. Matthews admits that it Is possible to build a railroad from the Columbia River to San Francisco with a maximum grade of but 1 per cent. Every one at all familiar with the situation and with modern railroad construction knows that "along the lines I (Matthews) have suggested." there would be no railroad up the Des chutes, and wifhout a railroad there would be no development. The Borahs and the Ballingers of the Wset have the confidence of the Western people who are reclaiming this land from the wilderness and the desert. As true Western representatives of the West, they know far better what is needed here than either millionaire faddists of the Plnchot type or yellow muck rakers of the Matthews stripe. The negligence of a trackwalker on the O. R. & N. is given as the cause for the wreck of a fast freight at an early hour Monday morning. Striking a soft piece of track, the immense engine toppled over and carried down to a horrible death the young engineer who stuck to his post. The tragedy calls attention to the implicit and unques tioned faith displayed by englnemen in those who are supposed to give them the signals as their heavy trains dash through the darkness. It also shows the advantage of automatic machinery over man in protecting the men on the rail. The infallible block signal had given Engineer Rogers the assur ance that there was no danger from other trains within the "block" in which he was running, but it could not register the weakening in the track due to the heavy rains. That is a contingency against which there is no way of guarding except through the vigilance of the trackwalker. One brief lapse of duty on the part of this man, then we are horrified with an other of those frequent and distressing tragedies of the rail. The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad, which with a considerable blare of trumpets recently announced cut rates to the Orient, has receded from its independent position and will charge the same rates as are in effect on the other lines. One by one the newcomers in the trans-Pacific trade realize by actual experience that the Importance of that traffic is greatly overestimated, and that until we block the Suez Canal or muzzle the Inter state Commerce Commission very lit tle through freight will cross the Pa cific bound either east or west. It cost Mr. Hill more to discover this fact than it cost any of the other lines, but he was fortunate enough to secure $2,500,000 insurance rebate when one of his marine elephants, built for the trade, was wrecked on the Japan coast. The Milwaukee has the Japanese treasury to help out with a ship sub sidy, but, even with this, it is doubt ful about the traffic ever being worth the effort it costs. "The resources of our constitutional lawyers for interpretation are limitless, particularly when they are superin duced by the opportunity for well earned fees," said Samuel Gompers in a "roast" on lawyers at the opening session of the National Civic Federa tion in New York, Monday. Gompers is undoubtedly speaking from the card, for he has had exceptional opportunity for maklnr; the discovery. Had it not been for the "limitless" resources of the constitutional lawyers, it is almost a certainty that Mr. Gompers would have been serving a sentence for viola tion of the law. As Mr. Gompers ad mitted that he had violated the law as It appears on the statute books, it is easy to understand that limitless re sources must have become a necessity to prevent his paying the penalty at tached. Northward the course of empire takes its way. A tugboat steamed out of Vancouver, B. C, yesterday with a barge loaded with a 75-ton locomo tive, 24 flatcars and a caboose. This rolling stock Is bound for Prince Ru pert, where it will be the first to be used on the western division of the Grand Trunk Pacific. When the Ca nadian Pacific was built across the continent, it was thought that it ran too far north to prove a profitable in vestment. The same prediction has been made in the case of the new road now building. Our "frontier" is be coming so restricted, however, that It is not improbable that a few years hence some daring railroad builders will be spanning the continent with a line having feeders running up to the Arctic Ocean. Four more elephants have fallen be fore the bullets of the Roosevelt party, and the thirst for blood is still unsat isfied. The elephant in his native haunts is an innocent, good-natured hulk of animal flesh, whose only ef fort, when hunted, is to escape the en emy. The increasing number of big game hunters have driven the great animals so far back from the lands of the settlers that no possible harm re sults from their presence, and, as none but the "tuskers" yield anything of special value, it is difficult to under stand why they should be so ruth lessly slaughtered, even by so distin guished a hunter as the mighty "Bwano Tuambo." An Eastern deaf-mute wife has been given a divorce from her -deaf-mute husband, who called her names on his fingers. She was not obliged to "lis ten," but possibly curiosity got the better of her. She had less case than the similarly afflicted man whose deaf mute wife kept him awake nights by "talking." If this divorce fad con tinues, decrees will yet be given for simple suggestion. The cost of the Panama Canal will be more than double the first estimate $145,000,000. It will probably be fully three times that sum, and even more. The cost was estimated on bases that .no longer exist. Besides, every great work, in all ages, has cost far more than the estimates. Wise men, who wish to erect buildings, get estimates and then double them. There is a story of an effort to bring out Roosevelt to be Governor of New York. It is not likely he will desire that office. But he would make a splendid supervisor of the road district around the village of Oyster Bay. Turkey prices may fall after Thanks giving. If so, Oregon needs another Governor like Pennoyer, to declare a second Thanksgiving day. The logs that broke loose in the Willamette River last Monday didn't hold the draws open when they passed through the bridges. standard OH magnates think the anti-trust law should be repealed. So at last they think the law cuts some figure, do they? That $1,000,000 gift of Rockefeller will induce thrifty doctors to find out all manner of things about the hook- The annual precipitation in New York will show a huge excess. Wells Fargo has a new issue of $16,000,000 stock. Football is a busy foolkiller, but a lot of young fellows are in the game who might learn to do more useful things. Binger Hermann's trial is not yet set. Nobody is in a hurry, of course, to bring Binger to the mark. After all, it is possible to be thankful with chicken instead of turkey. And yet we can be thankful that turkey prices are no higher. HUNTING WITH MR. ROOSEVELT. Shooting; a Giant Rhlnot British Colo nial Rule la Criticised. "African Game Trails," by Theodore Roosevelt in December Scribner's. The huge rhino was standing in en tirely open country, although there were a few scattered trees of no great size at some little distance from him. We left our horses in a dip of the ground and began the approach: I can not say that we stalked him, for the approach was too easy. The wind blew from him to us, and a rhino's eyesight Is dull. Thirty yards from where he ; stood was a bush four or five feet high, and though it was so thin we could distinctly see him through the leaves, It shielded us from the vision of his small piglike eyes as we advanced toward it, stooping and in single file, I leading. The big beast stood like an uncouth statue, his hide bjack in the sunlight; he seemed what he was, a monster surviving over fromN the world's past, from the days when the beasts of the prime ran riot in their strength, before man grew so cunning of brain and hand as to master them. So little did he dream of our presence that when we were a hundred yards off he actually lay down. Walking lightly, and with every sense keyed up, we at last reached the bush, and I pushed forward the safety of the double-barreled Holland rifle which I was now to use for the first time on big game. As I stepped to one side of the bush so as to get a clear aim. with Slatter following, the rhino saw me and Jumped to his feet with the ajrility of a polo pony. As he rose I put In the right barrel, the bullet going through both lungs. At the same mo ment he wheeled, the blood spouting from his nostrils, and galloped full on us. Before he could get quite all the way round In his headlong rush to reach us. I struck him with my left hand barrel, the bullet entering be tween the neck and shoulder and pierc ing his heart. At the same instant Cap tain Slatter fired, his bullet entering the neck vertebrae. Plowing up the ground with horn and feet, the great bull rhino, still head toward us, dropped Just 13 paces from where we stood. The English rule in Africa has been of incalculable benefit to Africans themselves, and Indeed this is true of the rule of most European nations. Mistakes have been made, of course, but they have proceeded at least as often from an unwise effort to accom plsh too much in the way of benefi cence, as from a desire to exploit the natives. Each of the civilized nations that has taken possession of any part of Africa has had its own peculiar good qualities and Its own peculiar defects. Some of them have done too much In supervising and ordering the lives of the natives, and in interfering wun their practices and customs. The English error, like our own under similar f-onditlons, has, if any thing, been in the. other direction. The effort has been to avoid wherever pos sible all Interference with tribal cus toms, even when of an immoral and repulsive character, and to do no more than what is obviously necessary, such as insistence upon keeping, the peace and preventing the spread of cattle disease. Excellent reasons can De ad vanced in favor of this policy, and It must always be remembered that a fussy and ill-considered benevolence is more sure to awaken resentment than cruelty itself; while the natives are apt to resent deeply even things that are obviously for their ultimate wei fare. Yet I cannot help thinking that with caution and wisdom It would be possible to proceed somewhat farther than has yet been the case in the direction of pushing upward some at least of the East African tribes; and this though I recognize fully that many of these tribes are of a low and brutal ized type. Having said this much in the. way of criticism, I wish to add my tribute of unstinted admiration for the disinterested and efficient work being done, alike in the interest of the white man and the black, by the government officials whom I met in East Africa. They are men in whom their country has every reason to feel a just pride. American Tariff Help Canada. Boston Herald (Independent). Aocordinsr to the Department of Com merce and labor, there are now 147 branch factories in Canada, representing a capital of $125,000,000, established by united States concerns wnicn lormeny suppneu their Canadian trade with the product of industry on this side of the national bor der. This ie the result of retaliatory leg islation in Canada invited by our own tar iff aeainst Canadian imports. If further tariff war is invited by the Imposition of the maximum schedules against Canada, still more United States capital will go over the line to provide employment and wages for Canadian workmen. At the present time United States manufacturers of cotton are enjoying a rich Canadian market. In September we exported to British North America $167,533 worth of cotton manufactures, for the nine months of the year $1,69S.19 worth. What will these high protectionists of the cotton mills say of a tariff bill that compels re taliation and incurs a prohibitive duty de structive of thlc market? Duchess Seta Bad Example In Hats. , New York Press. The Duchess of Roxburghe. formerly May Goelet, of this city, has a hat dec orated with 200 egret feathers. The hat was bought in London for $500. These feathers are found in finest quality on mother herons on the nest, and the thoughtless cruelty of women practically means the extinction of one of the pret tiest of all birds. The dealer who sold the Roxburghe hat said that it made him ashamed to think that his sales of egrets meant the death of "many thousands of young birds by starvation," but that he had to sell the feathers to live and to keep In business. Women are credited with being tender hearted, still they are barbaric in their hardness when it comes to fashions. There is never a thought of the mother bird dead beside the nest, and fashion now decrees that hats shall be covered with egrets, where a small cluster served a year ago. Homeeeekers' Number. The latest edition of the Woodburn Independent ' is called a "homeseekers' number." and in addition to the news pages has a 16-page supplement dealing with all lines of business and Industry in that thriving town and its vicinity. As many opportunities get no mention, the inference is that they are open for the newcomer. Editor Ulll nas put ' good stuff" in his publicity number. largest Apple In the World. A Spokane Beauty apple at the Na tional Apple Show, grown by F. L. Post, of Chelan. Wash., is said to be the largest apple in the world. It measures 17 1-8 Inches in clrcumlerence and weigns over 41 ounces, A won rtiver appie from Sharon, Wash., is 18 3-8 Inches In circumference but weighs only 37 ounces, Fost s apple may oe reproduced In a metal apple of the exact shape and size. World's Smallest Book, Known. London Telegraph. The smallest known book in existence Is said to be of Italian make. It Is an unknown letter from Galileo to .Mme. Cristine of Lorraine. It was issued by the Salmin House 'of Padua a few years ago, and is 10 by 6 millimeters in size, and' contains 208 pages of nine lines each of 95 or 100 words. The type is clear, ex act arid quite readable. - - - NEW VACCINE FOR PNEUMONIA. Dr. Leary, of Tufts Medical School, Of fers It to Doctors Free. Boston Dispatch to New York Press. That a great step forward is probable in the treatment 'of pneumonia is the im portant announcement from the Tufts Medical School, being the presentation to the medical world of a new vaccine, one for the treatment of pneumonia. The new vaccine for pneumonia is the discovery' of the laboratories of pathology and bacteriology of Tufts, of which Dr. Timothy Leary is the chief. In his state ment. Dr. Leary announces that the new pneumococcus vaccine will be given to any registered physician of the state who applies for it, absolutely free of co'st. the only requirements being a specimen of the sputum of the patient and the filling out of a chart for record, and that there shall not be a price put upon the vaccine. ' "There have been published in this country," said Dr. Leary today, .'several large series of clinical observations on the disease. Foreign statistics on the sub ject are unsatisfactory. Different observ ers have made the rata of mortality from 20 per cent to 53 per cent of those taken ill. An appreciation by the New York City Board of Health of the growing im portance of acute respiratory diseases led to the establishment of a medical com mission. National in character, to Investi gate the gerat prevalence of the acute respiratory diseases of that city, with the hope that some means could be devised for reducing the excessive morbidity and mortality from this cause. "It "was thought that data obtained from the treatment of cases of alcoholic pneumonia would be at least suggestive. An appeal was therefore made to several medical groups, who were- advised to test the value of vaccine on the alcoholic and extreme cases. Pneumococcus vaccine was furnished for the treatment of 34 cases of this type, of whom 6 died (17.70 per cent), the- normal rate being from 40 to 75 per cent. In a larger series of cases of ordinary pneumonia (49), 15 per cent came to crisis in three days, and but two deaths were reported. The total deaths for the series of 83 cases were 8, or 9.7 per cent, the normal being 20 to 50 per cent. REHABILITATION' OF THE SOUTH Mr. Taft Can Bring; It About by Ignoring- the Carpet Bag Machines. Letter of "Southerner" in New York Sun. WASHINGTON. D. C. Nov. . 13. It is to be said of Senator Cullom's pronounce ment in respect of Southern politics that he has tapped, if without due under standing, one of the sources of its so called solidity. He has missed the fact that thousands of property-holding and tax-paying negroes are now voters in every Southern State and has therefore built a false structure upon premises that no longer exist. The white vote from the Potomac and the Ohio to- the Gulf now controls the local governments, and for some years past has controlled them. The question that holds the Southern people and with these we Include all the Northern people who have latterly transferred themselves apart from the Republican party is the question of the Government's attitude to the local Interests in the different States. Northerners become Democrats in the matter of domestic issues as soon as they place themselves. They vote the Re publican ticket in National contests. They vote the Democratic ticket at home. The reason is that they shrink from the" old Republican machine and know that if they strengthen it they will Injure and degrade themselves. President Taft has already declared himself In favor of local control of local offices, and he has furnished sufficient illustration here and there. If he does this everywhere and makes it plain that the readjustment is to be permanent and comprehensive the Whigs will emerge from their occultation. the sugar planters will assert themselves in Louisiana, the old and tiresome managers and referees will pass into a richly deserved limbo, and freedom of action will reign through out the South. There is no question of eliminating the "negro vote." That has already been accomplished. Tax-paying negroes vote. The trouble is that illiterate and Irre sponsible whites can vote also. But the South can easily be opened to Reubllcan evangelization by the simple process of destroying the bid carpet-bag machine, which still survives and still exerts Its baneful Influence. Mr. Taft has indicated his wish to obliterate that, but he has not realized his promise. Upon this con summation hangs the issue of Southern rescue and rehabilitation. Kyrle Bellew, Man of Many Trades. Kansas City Star. The most widely known ex-newspaper man on the stage today is Kyrle Bellew. His early history reads much like that of a hero in one of Richard Harding Davis" novels. Kyrle Bellew was born in Eng land. "Mis parents, to keep up family traditions, wanted him to ,"go down to the sea in ships," and so tried to have him educated for the mercantile marine. But the discipline was not to the young man's liking, and he was sent home from the training vessel. Still determined that he should be connected with the sea, his father apprenticed him to a shipbroker. This he found still more Irksome. He ran away from home at the age of 16 and went to Australia. He left his ship at Mel bourne and joined the procession to the gold diggings in Bendigo. Victoria. Noth ing daunted young Bellew. He started out as a lecturer after leaving the gold diggings. He was for a while manager of Kreitmayer's waxworks In Melbourne. He did newspaper work in a small Aus tralian township. Finally, at th" age of 19, he made his first professional appear ance on the stage at Solforlno, Australia. Hermit Dies Facing; Will on Wall. Savannah, Ga., Dispatch. Peter G. Leist, who claimed a dozen trades and professions, but who was a hermit, was found dead p.t his home near Savannah, . and had been 'dead several days. He was seated In a chair, appa rently staring at the wall of his room, on which he had written his will, leaving his property, which is considerable, to his son, who is in Schlatsharon, Ga., or in event of the son's death, to Henry Dreyer, of Brooklyn, N. Y. Two hungry bulldogs were guarding the dead man and threatened the police with their fangs. A year or more ago Leist's wife killed herself. He married again after an ac quaintance of eight hours and was at the time of his death seeking a divorce. Since he separated from l)'s second wife he be came an absolute hermit. High Judges I-'rovt n on "Whistling-. Washington. D. C. Dispatch. "Don't whistle" Is one of the rules which Is rigidly enforced about the Capitol. It Is not conspicuously posted about the walls of the establishment, but the Capitol po lice have strict orders to prohibit it. One might think an occasional whistle from some light-hearted citizen of the Republic meandering his sightseeing way through the Capitol would not do much harm and would not disturb the wheels of states manship. It Is happens that it was not Congress that complained about whistling. It was the Supreme Court. The venera ble Justices of the Supreme bench In voked the presence of Captain J. P. Me grew, head of the Capitol police, several years ago and told him whistling about the building disturbed t ielr meditations. Pianist Has Stretch of Two Octaves. New Y'ork Press. Rachmaninoff, who has been appointed "musical director of the Russian Empire" by the Czar, is here from Europe. Rach manloft is called the greatest of modern Russian composers and is one of the world's greatest pianists. His fingers are so long that he can stretch two octaves with either hand, and he has composed a great deal of music, which only can be interpreted by hlmsell. BOARD OF PARDONS NOT NEEDED. Why a Fourth Department of Our State Government. PORTLAND, Nov. 22. (To the Editor.) The Oregonlan's expressed opposition to the creation of a state pardon board seems to be well founded. It would be the establishment of a perfectly useless appendage to the state government, the most unnecessary. In fact,, of all those proposed innovations having largely in view the "placing" of ambitiously vain persons in positions before the public eye. There should be no pardoning board, first, because there would be little legiti mate work for It to do and, second, the responsibility for using the pardoning power should in all cases be fixed upon one person who would be compelled to shoulder it and answer to the public for Its exercise. There is no other privilege extended to the Governor which carries with it such an unlimited and, therefore, arbitrary power as that of granting an absolute pardon for the commission of any crime known in the history of the state. By the mere signing of his name he can upset every finding of our Circuit and Supreme Courts in criminal matters, and no matter what the expense of trial may have been to the taxpayers or how many re-hearings there may have been, or hew thorough an investigation has been carried on regarding it. the Gover nor has the power to annul it U11 in a moment, and that, too, without giving any reason whatever, if he so chooses. This autocratic power is enough to stagger the, average man and that type of man sometimes gets, into the Gover nor's office when he finds himself asked to exercise it and with one fell swoop of his pen to declare that the courts with all their deliberation, itself usually car ried to a provoking extreme, have failed to discover the real merits of the case! The power to grant pardons is properly invested in the Governor. It should he lodged somewhere to be exercised in cases where new evidence may have been dis covered since the trial and which might have affected or changed the verdict. And this sometimes happens, in which contingency justice requires that means be provided for righting the wrong. Bt, as a rule, the findings of the courts and the decisions of juries should stand, at least until a part of the sentence has been served, and the Governor who worries himself over the pardon question directly borrows unnecessary trouble and Is quite likely to offend the general public as well. It was almost amusing to read of the stupendous effort made by Governor Ben son to fathom to their very depths all the testimony, appeals re-hearings, trans cripts and pleas of the attorneys, in addi tion to the decisions of both the Circuit and Supreme Courts in the Finch case. The fact is, aside from treating respect fully the appeals of his wife and mother, the entire matter should not have occu pied any of his time to the exclusion of his regular duties. Everybody in the state was perfectly familiar with the whole case, it had been threshed out in the newspapers over and over again, the Circuit Court had thoroiiKhly investigated It, the State Supreme Court had unani mously declared that his trial had been entirely fair, and under all these circum stances it was acase where tie Gover nor should have decided his official duty regarding it in a minute. Not a juror had changed his mind, the Prosecuting Attorney opposed any interference and all the Judges remained firm in their de cisionsIn view of all which it was al most amusing to see Governor Benson wrestling with the case day and night for a week and finally retiring to his home for a whole day to avoid nervous prostration ! Practically all this worry can be "passed up" if the Governor will recognize that it is the duty of our courts to investigate cases where men are accused of crime and that no man is found guilty until the courts have examined the matter and de cided against him. The courts send men to the Penitentiary and the gallows they get there In no other way and the responsibility for results rests with them. That is. In fact, what they are for. At rare intervals a case arises where executive Interference will answer the ends of justice, but they are so few that little time of the Governor is re quired to dispose of them. The constitu tion has provided a comprehensive Judi cial machine, reaching from justices of the peace to the Supreme Court, includ ing an Imposing array of intermediate Judges, and to create a board of pardons as a permanent Institution would be the establishment of a tribunal for the de clared purpose of upsetting the findings of our criminal courts. A board of par dons would be really a fourth department of the state government, with final, su preme powers. The courts annul the work of the Legislature and the board of pardons would annul the decisions of the courts. Oregon has no more use for such an adjunct to Its state government than It has for an official astronomer. To sure, some of the statos have such boards, but they have a great many things they would be better off without. AMERICUS. GREAT AMERICAN HARVEST OF 1909 In fpite of Bumper Yield of Leading Cereals, lrices Are IliKh. A summary of the estimated yields In different lines of American agriculture has been complied by Bradstreet's. U makes a fine showing; for the country for the car 1909. The summary follows; Torn, hu Wint. wht.. bu. prg. wht., bu. All wheat, bu. Oats, bu Barley, bu.... Rye. bu Fiuekwh't, " bu . 7n7.ti6.ono 2 4:t2.n 2o,imm) 2n1.s4s.00o' . 724.7lH.OOol I)H.S.Sl.S.OOn lIVl.tUtUHNI1 .H.OIHi.OOOi Hi. 11112. fX 927.41rt.nm lOOfl 4H2.sss.nno 1'nii-, 2i:t. I.s.i.;i22 is:i 74S.4rtO.21S 1ml !s7.S42.7n( lllo2 17S.lilil.4s; V.Mi :i.;.ivin..-,'.i;: umi 22.791. S3!) .1 Still n.irs.sso'ifKii :!.T2-.s:in;;n I'.int 70.7s.rnfi inns SrtS, 1 I2.KK.Y1WA9 tfit,unn.isn lsiit; 1.474.000 l'.Xls 1.1,S2.').0nO liios T't'l fl cer'ls bu 4,HSs.o.Srt.ooo Flaxseed, bu . . Potatoes, bu . . Hay, tons Tobacco, lbs. . Apples, bbls. . Sugar, tons. . . Cotton, bales.. 2.'i.7ti7,nOO 3'i7,47.rxn K4.ltlfl.IVOO 8Sto, l S.-,,fKH 22.7."t.",000! l.i48.w'l ti.ooo.oiKi! Only two of the country's Important crops cotton and hay show a smaller yield than last year, says Bradstreet's. but the lltOS outturn of those crops was the largest ever known, and both products bring higher prices, in somo measure offsetllng the smaller yields. Two other crops potatoes ,and tobacco show record-breaking yields. Increases over last year are shown in the case of corn, wheat and oats, and those three crops closely approach the maximum yields of the past, with an aggregate value exceeding any previous year. The six leading cereal crop show a, combined aggregate yield of 4,688.036.000 bushels, a sum 7.6 per cent above WOS, and only 4 per cent below the aggregated record yields of the past. Despite this abundance of food crops, prices of cereals, meats and provisions generally are still higher than a year ago. which lends support to the theory that consump tion of agricultural products may have over taken production.- t A Goldsmith Boolt Brines 440. A first edition of Oliver Goldsmith's "Vicar of Wakefield," in the original binding as issued by the publishers, B. Collins, at Salisbury. England, in 17fiG, brought $440 at Anderson's book sales. This edition was Issued on March 27. 1766. and the second, or first London edition, B-ppeared on May 31 of the same year. Thomas Shelton was the first to publish an English translation of Cervantes' "Don Quixote." A good copy of the first complete edition of this translation, two volumes, small quarto. London, 1620, brought $161. A copy of the first complete edition of Spencer's "Fairle Queen," calf binding. Ixjndon, l.wti, brought $160. "German Popular Stories," translated from the Kinder and Haus Marchen, two volumes. Svo., London, 1823-26. first edi tion, illustrated by George Ctuikshank, was sold for $100 - - I - ? s