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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 21, 1910)
c THE MORNING OREGONIAN, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1910. PORTLAND. OREGON. Entered at Portland. Orezon. Postoftlce as econd-Class Matter. Subscription Kates Invariably In Advance. (BY MAIL.) Dally. Sunday Included, one year ?fJ2 Dally. Sunday Included. Bix months.... 4.5 Dally. Sunday Included, three month.. -J.a Daily. Sunday Included, one month .'5 Dally, without Hunday. one year 6 -00 Dally, without Sunday, six months i Dally, without Sunday, three months... 1.75 Dally, without Sunday, one month Weekly, one year - fc'unday. one .year -j Cunday and weekly, one year 3 50 (By Carrier.) Dally. Sunday Included, one year 9.00 Dally. Sunday Included, one month io How to Remit Send Postoftlce- monoy order, express order or personal check on your local bjnt. stamps, coin or currency are at the sender's risk. Give postofflce ad dress In full. Including county and state. Postage Kates to to 14 pages. 1 cent; 18 to 28 paces. 2 cents; 30 to 40 puges. 3 cents; 40 to CO pates. 4 cents. Foreign postac double rate. Eastern Business Office. The S. C. Be':k-K-tih Special Agency New York, rooms 4S 60 Tribune builuine. Chicago, rooms 510-612 Tribune building. PORTLAND, MONDAY, FEB. St, 1910. niE NEED OF rllACTICAL KXOWXEIXiE Clearly It Is quite hopeless to bring the East to - any understanding of conditions in the West, in the matter of development of natural resources. In the Pacific Northwest States we have many water powers and very great areas of timber lands. The East holds to the idea that the Gen eral Government should take perpet ual toll from the water powers and supervise the use of the timber, for its conservation. The policy will : simply put a check upon the use of either or both, and obstruct the de velopment of the country, All these properties claimed by the General Government should be sold; then the states can subject them and the im provements made upon them to taX- . ation, with such general regulation as ? the public interests may require as ' all other property is held under like limitations. A new bill has been drafted, under direction of the National Administra tion, to regulate the sale of public : timber land and of timber on such ; land. The bill was printed by The Oregonian on Saturday last. It shows a hopeless lack of knowledge of the conditions it proposes to deal with. It begins with the provision that all lands west of the Cascade and Sierra Mountain Ranges bearing milling tim ber which averages 8000 feet per acre, and all lands east of those mountain ranges bearing 5000 feet per acre, shall be disposed of only as pre- . scribed in this act." The timber is to be appraised and sold at public - auction, at not less than itsiappraised value; the land on which the timber stands is to be ajjpraised also and ' may be sold separately, at $1.25 per ecre; or. both land and timber may ! be sold together. All timber, so sold, if not cut and removed within twenty years, shall revert to the ownership of the United States, except in cases where the timber is purchased by enirysr.en cr locators to whom patents for the lands may have been issued. Sut If the timber only has been pur chased, then as soon as it has been removed from the land, the land itself shall become subject to entry or dis posal, under the public land laws of the United States. This is a perfectly unworkable plan. Greater part of the public land upon which our timber grows has little or no value except for the timber. Much . of the timber grows on steep moun tainous lands that never can be cul tivated, in canyons and on rocky ridges where there is heavy eno-w fall that riakes "Winter habitation imprac- ticable. On the lower slopes, where 4he timber Is heaviest, and where, in localities, cultivation would be possible if the timber- and stumps and under growth were removed, the cost of clearing, after the milling timber is cut and taken away, practically pre cludes the idea of cultivation. The price of $1.25 an acre for the land is a bagatelle to the cost of bringing stump land under the plough. Sub jugation of such land to tillage, after the timber has been removed, will cost from $100 to $250 an acre, and the land then will not be nearly worth : it. The timber should help to clear i the land. If settlement and develop ment of the country are desired, this course would be better, not only for ' the people directly Interested, but for -' all the people of the United States. Use of the resources is the result de sired. Use of the resources has given the country its great growth and made it what It is. The policy has not been a mistaken one. If the timber is first sold off the land, but little of the land ever will be cleared. The land, therefore, should go with the timber when sold; yet it is ex tremely doubtful wheHher land, or timber, or both, could be sold at val uations appraised by theorists, who have no practical knowledge of con dltlons. Exception might be made as to timber in high and precipitous mountain districts, where after the timber has once been cut away there s will be nothing Jeft but to wait for a new growth, Ifor a period of one hundred to three hundred years. A sop to the states is offered in the form of a promise to them of 25 per cent of the net proceeds of the sales of lands and timber. But the system -rwill yield no profits. The whole pro ceeds will be absorbed in the expenses of an immense and over-officered bureau. Legions of foresters, survey ors, rangers, inspectors, clerks and all the general pomp and circum stance of officialdom will take up the whole or equivalent proceeds, and probably call for more. Sale price of lumber is not to be taken as an indi cation of the value of the trees in the forest. The cost of getting the timber out. as leasers will show you, is well up to the sale value of the logs. Heavy capital is required and logging on a very large scale, if any profit is to be made. Here is a practical side of the subject beyond the knowledge and Judgment of "professional conserva tion." First thing -necessary to any prac tical dealing with thi3 subject is ac tual knowledge of conditions in the timber states. The faddists at Wash ington have no such knowledge, and never will get it, since such know! edge- requires personal contact and struggle with the conditions and dif ficulties of a situation to which they are utter Btrangers. They don't know that the policy of dealing with our lands is mainly a policy of necessity that timber must be destroyed that men may live; that forest trees, for the greater part, must give way to production of food for man and do " mestio animals, and for destruction of tho haunts of wild beasts. This new country of ours is not modern France nor Germany nor Italy nor England. The practice of those old countries will not fit here at all. Here we shall not be done with destruction of timber to get room for potatoes and grasses, yet these many years. They are not done with it yet even in the oldest of our states. On this subject we have a right of protest first, against obstruction of our development, and second, against diversion of these resources to the support of a vast official body of ob structionists who are aliens to our citizenship and have no part or lot with us in the real work of subduing the wildness of nature and opening I opportunity for the industry of man. The light of all these people is dark ness; and great is that darkness! What do these people know of a sit uation where man is in closest pos sible contact with all the untamed forces of nature and under necessity of subduing them? "FORESTALLING THE 1'KUIABV." Just think of it! They have the di rect primary in California, as in Ore gon, minus, however, "statement one." Yet, in the face of the right of the people to "choose for themselves," comes cranking in the Lincoln-Roose velt League, special champion of the .. direct primary, "tendering the nomi nation" for Governor of California to Hiram W. Johnson pledging him the support of the league! In Oregon there is "a set of fel lers" who pretend to think that this sort of proceeding is treason to the right of candidates to nominate them selves, and to the right of petty groups to try to force their special candidates on a majority of the peo ple. But Oregon, we are told, is "way ahead" of all other states. It has been hitherto, surely, in the practice of political and civic disintegration. Oregon has furnished the nearest approach in recent times to the Diet of Poland, which consisted of seventy thousand members, any one of whom could stop everything by his single veto. We have been drawing towards that condition of "political independ ence for the citizen" in Oregon. Co operation for the purpose of making effective the duties of citizenship means a machine, and a machine means a boss since in every organ ization some will take a more prom inent part than others. So Senator Chamberlain, during many years, has been boss of his party machine ex cept J. H. Mitchell the most success ful boss Oregon ever has known. But since Chamberlain heads "the reform movement" that doesn't count. He was even "tendered the nomination" for Governor, and then for Senator, before the primaries, by those who now resent and resist such process, as intrusion on the right of free choice by the people but only when their political opponents employ it. But this is mere divagation from the fact that the Lincoln-Roosevelt League of California a body of re formers, claiming special champion ship of the direct primary Is organ izing -tor the primary and "tendering nominations" to those whom it deems fit for its support. That is mighty good sense. But they who propose the like in Oregon if Republic are called mighty bad names. THE MARVKLOrS "PACIF1CS." When the late Edward H. Harrl man passed on to a world where neither the roar of trains nor the clink of gold is disturbing, friends and enemies alike admitted that as an organizer of capital and as a re constructive force in American indus try his equal had never appeared In all the world's history. The post mortem praise that was given the dead leader of the railroad world was profuse, and in most cases rang true, but nothing that was said about his accomplishments at the time of his death gave a more graphic illustra tion of the magnitude of his opera tions than that which appeared in the testimony given last week by Julius Kruttschnltt on the witness stand in the merger case. Under oath, Mr. Kruttschnitt testified that in the eight years ending June 30, 1909, there was expended on the Southern Pacific and Union Pacific alone a to tal of $363,452,000, a sum greater, than the original estimate of the cost of the Panama Canal. The immensity of the operations made possible by such a vast sum of money was shown in some of the de tails presented by Mr. Kruttschnitt, for during that period there was added to the equipment of the two roads 1472 locomotives, 3474 passen ger cars and 42,161 freight cars. More than forty miles of wooden bridges and more than ten miles of concrete and steel bridges were built in the eight years, and 6398 miles of new steel rails were laid on the two roads. In the contemplation of these fig ures, which In their immensity are almost beyond belief, it is not diffi cult to understand why Mr. Harriman broke under the enormous strain and was hurried into his grave while still but little past the prime of life. Many of the financial methods of Harriman were open to criticism, but there is no questioning the marvelous genius and daring of the man who could secure money in such sums that he was enabled for eight years to spend an average of nearly $4,000,000 per month in improving the physical condition of two of the roads In his charge. In addition to these two roads, on which he laid the foundation for his greatness as a railroad man, the late Mr. Harriman was also heav ily interested in half a dozen other big roads, ip steamship lines on the Atlantic and the Pacific, and in banks, trust companies and insurance com panies. The disintegration of the Immense transportation and financial system which he had welded together began very shortly after death had stilled the voice of the master. Mr. Harri man left no successors on whom his financial associates seemed to care to pile their millions as freely as they did on Mr. Harriman. In his reconstruction of the Union Pacific and the Southern Pacific at a cost almost staggering in Its immensity, the dead magnate has left a monument to his genius, and the testimony of Mr. Kruttschnitt, standing on the Government records, will still attract attention, and even excite wonder, long after the young est of Mr. Harriman's lieutenants have followed the chieftain over the great divide. Kansas is considering the advisa bility this season of invoking an old statute which clothes county officials with authority to call out all persons from 12 to 65 years of age to fight noxious insects. The chinch bug has , been selected as the first victim .of the onslaught, and while this annual visitor is still sleeping peacefully be neath the snows which cover Kan sas, he may be depended on to appear with his family and other relations, In time to stir up the Chicago wheat pit. By invoking the old law, there will, however, be much variety added to the situation. For example, the "bulls" can force prices up a notch, by reports that the chinch bugs are snowing signs of extraordinary hun ger. The "bears" can counter, with reports that squads of Rooseveltian families have taken the field, and are rapidly decimating the ranks of the chinch bug. Kansas "would not be Kansas, unless something out of the ordinary were always happening there. SPOKANE A8 AX EXAMPLE. The Spokane Spokesman-Review is the only journal in the whole North west which desires the Government to take toll in perpetuity of the nat ural resources of the states. That paper, strangely, cannot see that such policy would obstruct the develop ment of our new states, where much public land remains, whose resources, chiefly, are timber, ores and water powers. Mr. J. J. Browne, of Spokane, a prominent citizen, well known throughout the Northwest, objects o this mistaken "conservation"' policy. For one thing, he says, that for the General Government to charge a royalty for the use of water' power owned by it will place persons and corporations undertaking to develop such power at a disadvantage in com petition with companies owning water power in fee simple. This is a propo sition whose correctness is manifest. But the Spokesman-Review says it is "not true." This denial, delivered in such abso lute and dogmatic fashion, is followed by a most weak and inconsequential argument, designed to support it. Thus it is stated that the history of water power development shows that the ownership is first obtained by per sons who acquire title but can't Im prove, develop or use the power- so sell out to those who can. "Con servation," it says, would eliminate the pioneer "speculator" and "retain possession of the power till the time comes for its development." But the time never would have come for the development, if the first person had not gone to the spot, and striven and struggled to make the op portunities known. Others came gradually, after a while, when it be gan to appear that a town or city might be built. Then the first pion eers, unable to do much or go far, sold out to those who had money for development. In that fashion Spo kane arose, and the Spokesman-Review with it. There must be men always to give a town a start. Had the General Government retained ownership of Spokane Falls, Cheney would be the metropolis of Eastern Washington. Had it retained the site of Portland there would be no city here. No man can sit down and keep his property and expect it to grow in value. It will grow in value only as he parts with it and others part with it. Likewise property held in perpetuity by govern ment never can obtain development, nor have a commercial value. Of all places in the world, Spokane Is the one in greatest luck because the United States permitted individuals at an early time to get possession of the "great natural resource" whose un restricted development has made Spokane a city. Mr. J. J. Browne knows it, if the principal newspaper of his town does not. Spokane is the most striking example in the Great West of the beneficent results of our historical land system. CURIOUS THEOLOGICAL DEBATE. The common saying that it is im possible to prove a negative admits of many exceptions. It has been proved conclusively, for example, that the circle cannot be squared. Even historical negatives are not always be yond demonstration. The proposition that William Tell never existed has been established. So have a good many more of the same sort. Now a new knight of negation. Professor Arthur Drews, of Karlsruhe, has en tered the lists to defend the thesis that Jesus of Nazareth never lived. A challenge to debate, which he posted like cjreus bills on the walls was answered-by a score of famous theolo gians and the wordy battle raged until 3 o'clock in the morning before an excited audience. If it began at 8 o'clock it must have continued for seven, mortal hours. We do not be lieve an American audience could be hired to sit so long and listen to a theological Biscussion. Germans have always been more interested in theological innovations than most other people. The reforma tion began among them and was quickly followed by the rise of the Anabaptists and countless other sects. In our day they have amused them selves by. inventing dozens of theories to account for the narratives in the Old and New Testaments. ' Not many years ago Dr. Delitzsch drove the Teutonic mind frantic by his lecture on "Babel and Bible," in which he maintained that pretty nearly the whole of the Mosaic writings were to be found on Babylonian .tablets. The ories that Jesus either did or did not live have been almost as plentiful as beermugs In German universities, but Professor Drews is the first man to promulgate his views like a quack advertising a new cure-all. OTTl TKAJE-6TLFLXNG LAWS. Undismayed by the threats of enor mous fines for alleged violations of our coastwise navigation laws, the Hamburg-American liner Cleveland has gathered another big crowd of ex cursionists and steamed away from San Francisco on the return voyage, over the route covered on her round-the-world cruise from New York to San Francisco. A strict in terpretation of those antique trade stifling navigation laws that have made this country the laughing stock of the rest of the world, would un doubtedly show that the Cleveland, by carrylifeT passengers from one American port to another, has laid her owners liable to a fine of $200 per head for each passenger carried. This would amount to $13,000 for the inward passengers, and something over $150,000 for the outward-bound list. The magnitnde of the offense charged has resulted In attracting widespread attention to this absurdity of a law which makes a round-the-world voyage extending through many old-world ports a "coastwise" Jour ney. ' The incident has also brought to light further details of the workings of this law, by which travel and transportation of freight, on the Pa cific are .hampered in a most vexatious manner. Discussing the matter in a recent- number of the Independent, Rev. Mr. Doremus Scudder, a prom inent American Congregational min ister, now, pastor of a church at Hon olulu, states that freedom of travel between the Hawaiian Islands and the Pacific Coast is unknown.. Dr. Scud der points out that by forcing the Hawaiians to take passage on none but American vessels. It becomes necessary to engage passage many months in advance, and even then the 'service is irregular and unsatis factory. There are numerous foreign vessels touching at the islands, and not Infrequently passengers take passage on them and pay the $200 tine that is levied against the vessel, instead of remaining over for days, and perhaps weeks, to take passage on an American ship. The same influences, which make travel so difficult and vexatious, also interfere with the free movement of freight traffic to and from the Islands. It is possible to handle the export and import trade of the islands with Europe, on any kind of vessel which offers freight space for the business. but if the Hawaiian desires to buy Tj or sell with the United States, he must patronize Only an American ves sel, no matter what delays may be encountered in the proceeding. As a result of this difficulty of doing business with the United States, a scant five per cent of the population of our island dependency' are of Amer ican stock, while twenty per cent are Europeans, and the remainder Asiatic and Polynesian. Until we remove some of the trade obstructions which hamper trade and travel- between our Pacific possessions, almost to the point of impossibility, neither the Islands nor this country will develop the traffic which is warranted by the re sources. In return for streets which the Southern Pacific wishes vacated for the approaches to the Oregon-street bridge, the railroad should make reasonable concessions to the city. One of these should be free passage over the terminal grounds for the Broadway bridge. Another should be concession of -passage or transit of the cars of other railways over the new bridge, on payment of a reason able rate. Certainly the proposed bridge at Oregon street will be a fac tor of vast importance in the develop ment of the city, but the concession will be of corresponding value to the railroad, too. Proper regulation of the entrances and exits at the termin als of the bridge ought also to be reserved to the city. .Whatever con ditions may be required for improve ment and maintenance of -freest pos sible movement between the two parts of the city separated by the river should be insisted on and embodied in the grant of user to the railroad. The income from, resources should go to the states in which the resources are situated. Always heretofore the Government has sold' its lands, and the states have taken jurisdiction over the property, encouraged its develop ment, taxed it as it grew in value, and permitted the upbuilding to go on. Now, it is proposed to change this policy, pinch and check our newer states, refer everything to Washington, have the titles held there, compel payment there for use of our resources here, and make it Impossible for the man who would develop the new resources of our states to own anything. It is a policy against which there should be uni versal protest from the West. What's the use of advertising our resources and urging people to come and de velop them, if the Government is to put a stop to the whole business? Many persons, they say, are holding cold storage goods till prices go up. It may be so. But presently they can hold them no longer. Likewise many persons are holding lands and town lots till prices go up; and never is it possible to satisfy the ravenous man for "more." Again, great numbers are withholding labor till 1 prices go up. These are merely like the rest. What is the regulation of it all? The ancient law of demand and supply. Enforcement of It comes through what men and women call hard times. Then the other extreme. ' But there is one -maxim that will tend to reg ulation of everything, namely, keep out of debt. You needn't think it a notion of The Oregonian newspaper. Go back to Franklin for it, if you think the old philosopher better authority. The Springwater man who in formed on his boy Tor sending an ob jectionable valentine to him, was properly turned down by the Federal authorities. Instead of trying to send his son to a reformatory institution, the old gentleman might take a post graduate course himself. The last survivor of the garrison that surrendered with Major Ander son in 1861, when Fort Sumter was fired on, died in Erie, Pa., Saturday. Some one should convey the news to Senator Heyburn, of Idaho, as addi tional evidence that the Civil War Is over. The local drunkard, who served by mistake two days on the Linnton rock pile after his friends had paid his fine, would better ask for a transfer to the water-wagon, or at least con fine himself to buttermilk. It is not probable that "Uncle Joe" will be retired from public life. His district will continue to send him to Congress as long as he asks it, or is willing. But probably he will not be Speaker again. It is gratifying to learn that Sen ator Tillman is recovering. There is hope that he may be fully restored except as to the limitations which aphasia may impose on his violent speech. Fifty-two bridal couples, on a steamship sailing from New York for the Bermudas Saturday, mads a blissful spectacle. We all hope no accident happens. Smokeless fire is the latest. It will probably be exploited by a stockless corporation. , It must have been a hard Winter on the bug pests, also; so let us re joice. "Land-frauders" are not now so in dignant about the long delay- of their trials. REPt B L I C AX ASSEMBLY LAUDED. Beat Men "Will Be Nominated. Silver Lake Leader. Sentiment Is fast gaining in tho Repub lican party in favor of the assembly plan to place tickets In the field for both state and county officers. , We are glad to seo this and believe it to be one- of the best moves that could have been made, and the editor of the Leader heartily in dorses the proposition. The suggestion of a ticket by the as sembly does in no way do away with the primary law now in force, and the sug gested or recommended candidates will have to get up a petition and stand for the primary election as if no assembly had been called. It neither deprives any aspiring individual wishing to present his name to the people at the primaries as a candidate for any office from doing so the same as if no assembly had been called. The assembly If rightfully car ried out simply places the strongest and best qualified men geographically considered- before the people according to the delegations' opinion representing the as sembly. Let us have an assembly, by all means as we believe It will give us men to stand for nomination in the primaries that the people will have confidence in. and that the official positions will be divided up over the county more equitably and just ly than can otherwise be done under our present system. Curb on Petty Office-Seekers. Hood River Glacier. The Republican state committee has voted to call an assembly which will "rec ommend candidates to the consideration of the party at the subsequent primaries. This plan, we hope, will succeed in its purpose, which is to. re-unlte the Repub lican party in the state of Oregon. It will give the candidates selected by the delegates from the precincts an opportu nity to stand upon a platform to be adopted by these same representatives from the precincts, and thus preserve tne integrity of a united party. In the place of having numerous candidates all standing on their own little pet plat forms, which represent personal opin ion rather than party thought, the voter will be able to select a group of candi dates pledged to work for and carry out certain recorded principles. May the as sembly succeed. All ! Harmony. Gervals Star. The assembly plan is started by the State Republican Committee and the day for Its primaries are set. That It will be a success Is undenled. The Republi can party will soon be In working order and as powerful as ever. A state and county Republican ticket will be placed in the field and carried to a successful ending. RepnUlcans Want Assembly. Grants Pass Observer. It 19 quite clear that the great major ity of Republicans in Oregon are strong ly in favor of holding assemblies for the choosing of candidates for recommenda tion to the voters at the primary election next September. Curing Helter-Skelter Politics. Gervals Star. No more helter-skelter for Republi cans. From now on it is to be greater and stronger and more useful party along party lines backed by principles. And best of all run by Republicans. Restores Republican Party.' Grants Pass Observer. . This action renews the Republican party In Oregon, and makes it again an organized political power. CUT TIMBER; START A NEW CROP. Abolish Faddlsm and Formulate a Sane Timber-Tax, trees Writer. PORTLAND, Or., Feb. 19 (To the Editor.) Why not perpetuate the tim ber supply, as we perpetuate the grain or hay supply? Just let it alone. Neither hinder by Federal "protection" nor destroy by local taxation. Let men raise timber, men who make money at it. Of course, no true believer in con servation would think of raising tim ber himself. That would involve local, not universal conditions. His free fancy roves toward suspension of the law of supply and demand. The idea of Mr. Pinchot risking the good money left him by his father in raising timber is preposterous. As well expect Dr. Par dee cr J. N. Teal to build a dam. Why should not the timber be cut as soon as possible, and a new crop started? A perfectly normal perpetua tion of timber is, of course, unsatisfac tory to faddists. Why should not tim ber owners demand taxation that will permit them to renew their timber? When Oregon shall tax timber-producing land exactly as other lands and property are taxed, then we can with reason ask the Federal Government to dispose of the National forests. Timber owners do not demand their constitutional rights. The Oregon constitution requires that "all taxation shall be equal and uniform." The true tax on timber land, equal and uniform with the tax on other land, can be com puted from the average yearly growth and its present value. Average growth ( Vi M feet per year per acre), at pres ent value ($2 per M feet), should bear the average ratio -of crop to land value (1 to 6, since wheat, a $10 per acre crop, grows on land worth $60). The true assessment, therefore, is $3 per acre for land on which timber is the best crop, and the true tax about 5 cents per acre. We simply pilfer from posterity by collecting 20 cents to $1 per acre. Timber is taxed before harvest. No other crop bears a tax burden. Any tax, however small, upon one growing crop, discourages that crop so long as all other crops are untaxed. Either tax all crops along with timber, or ex empt timber along with all other crops. BEN IRWIN. The Ladle Always) Welcome. Jordan Valley Express. A. Byrd and his best girl favored the Express with a call Friday last. Mr. Byrd wished to show the young lady how the mechanical operations were conducted in the publication of a great religious paper and she took an intelli gent observation of the' works. The lady was Miss Gladys Senas. She prom ised to call again at the "newsenpaper" office when more wheels were going 'round. On Delicate Ground. , Washington Star. '"Father," said Little Rollo, "what is a democracy?" "A democracy, my son. is a form of government in which all the people look, here, Rollo. you'll have to wait till W. J. Bryan gets back. I don't know what he'd say if he thought anybody else as sumed to explain just what a democracy is." , "Not So Darned Unanimous." Oervals Star. The Hermann trial ended in no verdict being given, as the Jury failed to agree. The vote was polled at eleven for guilty and one for acquittal. The prosecution will at once retry the case. The verdict was not unexpected, but the majority was smaller than any one expected. More Cost, More Worth. Washington Star. An advance in the price of Bibles may have a desirable influence in persuading many to attach gerater importance to Bcriptural writings. For Morgan's Collection. ' St. Paul Pioneer-Press, j. Pierpont Morgan might Indulge his taste for antiques by purchasing the cold storage supply of eggs. ALAS FOR OUR FOREFATHERS. Hancock Was SmuKicler and Defaulter; Franklin Robbed Mails! New York Times. James Henry Stark, of Boston, has written a book called "The Loyalists of Massachusetts and the Other Side of the American Revolution." which refers to Samuel Adams and John Hancock as de faulters and thieves, and classes other Revolutionary heroes as "ne'er do wells," "degenerates" and "looters and betrayers of public trusts." The book contains 600 pages and the statement that in Virginia the Revolu tionary movement of poor white trash, or "Crackers," led by Patrick Henry, was against the planter aristocracy. It was only very deliberately, Mr. Stark says, that Washington identified himself with the "disunionist" cause. As for Patrick Henry, Mr. Stark de clares that he was one of the most un reliable of men. Byron called him a forest-born Demosthenes, and Jefferson, wondering over his career, exclaimed: "Where he got that torrent of language is inconceivable; I have frequently closed my eyes while he spoke, and when he was done asked myself what he had said without being able to recollect a word of it." Mr. Stark also recalls the circum stance that Henry failed as a storekeeper before he said: "Give me liberty or give me death." Samuel Adams, Mr. Stark says, was an other "ne'er do well." He quotes a let ter of Adams to prove that he was a de faulter, and as tax collector of Boston did not make proper returns of taxes, his bondsmen paying $5000. In telling of the Boston massacre the book asserts that the patriots .poured a "torrent of coarse and profane abuse upon the soldiers, astonishing even in its echoes across the century," while it com pares the Boston Tea Party with "the so-called respectable mob which on the 11th day of August. 1S34, destroyed the Charlestown convent, and a year later nearly killed Garrison and made tho Jail his only safe place of refuge. Had slavery triumphed, that mob would at this day be the object and subject of popular glorifi cation." Mr. Stark says John Hancock was the owner of the sloop Liberty, which was seized for smuggling, and even asserts that one-fourth of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were bred to trade or to the command of ships. More than one of them, and adds, was branded with the epithet of "smuggler." As treasurer of Harvard College, he declares Hancock received college funds amounting to upward of 15.200. Hancock, too, says Mr. Stark, proved to be a de faulter. He tells how "for 20 years the corporation begged and entreated him to make restitution, and even threatened to prosecute him. and it was only after his death, in 1793, that his heirs made restitution to the college." Josiah Quincy Is quoted as saying it "would have been grateful to pass over in silence the extraordinary course he pursued in his official relation to Harvard College had truth and the fidelity of his tory permitted." Mr. Stark also submits evidence that Benjamin Franklin, when 67 years old, was dismissed from the office of Deputy Postmaster-General of the Colonies be cause he stole letters from the mail. He relates in detail how Franklin was tried in England and dismissed from the serv ice. The reference is. of course, to the historic incident of the so-called "Hutch inson letters." Mr. Stark was born in London, but came to this -country when 9 years old. He is the author of several books, resides in Dorchester, is president of the British Charitable Association, vice-president or the Victorian Club, and a member of the New England Historical Genealogical So ciety. The Hermann Jury. Weston Leader. This paper believes that Hermann's guilt was not clearly enough established in a court of law to Justify conviction, and that banishment to private life for th.e remainder of his years is punishment enough. Ten years ago Hermann would have been acquitted by the jury without leav ing the box. That 11 jurors voted for conviction shows the present attitude of the public mind. These jurors voted against a lax and discredited system rath er than Hermann. They voted for the new and encouraging theory that a pub lic servant should be above suspicion. It is this theory that keeps Ballinger in the stew. It means the dawning of a better day. But it should not. and fortu nately did not, lead to the conviction of Blnger Hermann on insufficient evidence. Juror Selkirk saw more clearly than his colleagues. He saw that it was un just to make a single victim answer for the crimes of art outworn system, when a reasonable doubt remained in his favor. In the Leader's view he saw rightly, and his fellow-jurors were carried away by a praiseworthy but indiscrlmlnating senti ment. Hermann Acquitted at Home. Roseburg News. The failure of the jury to find a ver dict acquitting Blnger Hermann was a very great disappointment to the in numerable friends of the gentleman in this part of the state. Although the jury stood eleven for conviction the people of Southern Oregon feel that the evidence submitted at the trial was not such as to warrant such division, and that Mr. Hermann should have been acquitted. The way the matter now stands many people will be led to be lieve that Mr. Hermann had a part in the Blue Mountain forest reserve con spiracy, but those who know him best are sure that he did not. Their faith in his integrity and honesty has not been shaken in this Jury division, and all of his old friends in this part of Oregon are sure that if the matter comes up for another trial, as it now seems likely, Blnger Hermann will emerge from the trying ordeal completely vindi cated. Roseburg Leader. There was evidently one smart man on the jury, a man with the courage of his convictions. We hondr him. Familiarity Breeds Contempt. Portland Advocate. A fact that cannot be denied is that the colored people, high and low. the ignor ant and the educated ones, call one an other "nigger." "coon" and "shine." But Just as soon as a white person calls one of them a "nigger" or a "coon" they get mad and swell up. Colored people must first learn to respect themselves if they wish other people to respect them. Stop that nefarious habit of calling one an other such dirty names as "coon," "nig ger" and "shine." A Fox Reply. Westminster Gazette. One of the most caustic replies ever made during an election campaign was that of Fox when he called at a shop during one of his candidatures. The shopman happened to be a rabid op ponent. Taking hold of a piece of rope, he said, savagely: "Vote for you! I'd sooner hang you with this rope!" Very interesting." remarked Fox, blandly, examining the cord. "A family relic, I presume." Doar In Coyote-Trap. Dufur Dispatch. K. S. Houser's terrier dog was blown to pieces by a dynamite bomb last week. Mr. Houser has the bombs placed about on his ranch so that they will help ex terminate the coyotes that bother his sheep. These bomb traps were invented by a Tygh Valley man last Winter. One Editor Pleased. Cleveland Leader. This is a fine little month: only 28 days groundhog ' day, Valentine's, Lincoln's birthday, Washington's birthday and four pay days included) BABIES ARE BIO CITV BOOMERS. Stork Rivals Railroads In Adding to Portland's Census. Foremost of Portland's citizens who are adding to the city's greatness are tho babies. It is doubtful whether even the real estate dealers surpass the energy of the stork mites in building up this New York of tho Pacific Northwest. Race suicide, rampant 10 years aga when Uncle Sam m:ulo his census, pre liminary to President Roosevelt's doctrine, will show itself a banished evil this year when Seneca Beach gets dot-.o with Uncle Sam's newest round-up of adults, juven iles and midgets. More than three times as many stork visits will be recorded in this year of grace as were credited to earth's orbit of 1900 in the Oregon metropolis. Tho whole city census is expected to show twice, or twice and a half, the enumeration of 1900. In other words, the larger ratio of newcomers belongs, rather, to the credit of the home, crop than to that o the Pullman cars. Taxpayers foel that something of the kind has taken place, because the oily schools will spend three times as much, money this year an they did lu years ago. teachers' salaries will cost throe times as much, also fuel and accessories generally. Hut more than 10 times as much money will go into new buildings. When taxpayers came to view this year's budfjet in Portland they saw that more than one-third of their payments would go into the common schools. Now they see the- reason is that the occupants of the schools are makinp the city grow at a fast clip. Kach annual cycle brings home to the Bchool board the necessity of adding at least 60 rooms to the teach ing facilities. Six and eight years hence, when this year's newcomers begin going to school, tho demand for new rooms will be even more Insistent. This year's product of babies about 33tX will be 70 roomsful, when they begin the path of learning, six years henee. While tho mortality rate will cut into the crop a little, still, the loss will be made more than good by Pullman-car additions to the Juvenile population. These additions are large, too probably not less than one-fourth the younger ele ment. Last year's school census gave tho number of children of 4 and 5 years of age as 4127. Tho total number of births four and five years before that in and 1905 was 3293. So that about 1000 of the 4127 children of that year, came to Portland on the cars. The others ar rived, evidently, on the wings of the stork. Evidently Nature thinks she needs more boys than girls to boost Oregon'3 lumber, apples and wool, because the birth returns show considerable prepon derance of the male gender in Portland. Maybe this Is because in this new Far West there is more work waiting for male hands or male lungs than female. Last year in Portland, IS more boy babies than girl babies added their note to tho promotion chorus. The following table represents the births by sex in this city, in the course of the decade: Year. Main, remain. 19O0 . o74 -ITT 19(11 - 10 B4 inoa "T .".92 1 903 ., 712 BS I 1904 : 791 mon 'M inoG l.or.S 977 1SI07 - 1.197 l.K'.t. 1905 1.445 l.sns 3909 !.". 1.4 IS 1910 (estimated) 1.761) 1.5.". Total 9,495 S.77T Or, perhaps Nature has sent more boys than girls because of the larger male mortality. Last year in Portland there were 2S4 more male funerals than female, in a total of 1874. In the ten-year period, during which 18,272 births were recorded, the deaths numbered 14,199. so that the net gain, by natural increase, to the city's popu lation was more than 4000. If the en tire growth of the city in the same period was 100,000, it appears that 96 per cent of Portland's net increase has come on tho railroads and 4 per cent on the birth returns. But even so, the youngsters have made themselves felt more than any other class of citizens. Fifty new schoolrooms must be added every year to hold the increase and soon the an nual enlargement must be 70 rooms and then -not long thereafter; probably 100 rooms. For new buildings and grounds the School Board has estimated that $400,000 is needed this year anil for maintenance, 11,142,400, of which $700, 000 will go to teachers in salaries. Tho total estimated revenue of the clty schools this year is $1,553,000 and this does not include the bond sale of $350. 000 Just authorized for a new high school. The following figures compare the expenses of 1909 with those of 1899: 191)9. 1899. New l.lldgs. and grounds r.14.S7r. $ 37.0411 Teachers '?4 l i?.? Junitors i-i'- 1V', Officers Total disbursements. .. $1, 484, &77 $507,060 Bourne Buncombe. The Dalles Optimist. Bourne's press agent is sending out a dispatch as follows: "In Lastern Oregon there are 20,0u0,0u0 acres of land that Is vacant and incapable of irrigation yet which, however, is .susceptible of cultiva tion under scientific methods in vosue through dry-farming. Senator Bourne proposes to reclaim all this vast area by a bill that he will place before Congress soon." Twenty millions of acres is some land. Almost one-third of the state, including our forests, or one-half, excluding the forests. The entire area, forests and all, of the counties of Malheur, Baker, Umatilla, Morrow, Giant and Harney amounts to only a little more than that. Indeed, it is not too much to say that, taking out the timber lands, swamp lands and worth less or desert lands of all the counties east of the Cascades, there are not 2'.0X, OuO acres of land left, good and bad. Yet Senator Bourne proposes "to re claim all of this vast area by a bill!" Does the foxy Senator think he can make the people believe any such guff as that? Will Reunite the Party. Hood River News. The action in calling the assembly reunites the organization throughout the state, establishing it on a basis that is representative and insuring to it its prestige and influence in the affairs of the Nation. Without at tempting to abrogate the provisions of the primary law Its tendency will be in suggest, provide and support can didates best fitted to assume the duties of political office. Mr. Cake's suggestions as to con stitution of the assembly were very fully carried out by the committee. The Republkan party can be united to success, or not at all. If this can not win, the case Is hopeless. "A mere scramble .'or office." said .Mr. Cake, "with as many platforms as there are candidates" and this is what the go-as-you-please primary brings forth "is the condition to which politics of the state have degenerated." Use of the representative system, in a broad and liberal way, is the only remedy. Primary Facts. New York Herald. New forma of taxation are constantly re Ins devised, but the higher they ao the louder the non-paying ones lift another cry aaainst the cost of thinps. Industry must make a profit over Its taxes. Just the same. Denver Kepubllcan. Those with no tangible property to tax are, as our Colorado contemporary says, usually anxious to tax all who have. Their folly In falling to recog nize that taxes are inevitably borne by the ultimate consumer is equalled only by their objections as consumers to paying when the time comes.