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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (March 30, 1910)
THE MORNING OREGONIAN, "WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30, 1910. 10 POKTLASD. OKEGON. Entered at Portland. Oregon. Postofflce aa econd-Claaa Matter. Subscription lUte Invariably in Advance. (BY M-AID Daily. Sunday Included, one year f8.00 raily, Sunday Included, six months... 4 Pally, Sunday Included, three months. . 2.25 Ially. Sunday included, one month.... -75 Ially. without Sunday, ens year..... 6.00 Dally, without Sunday, six months.... 3.25 Pally, without Sunday, three months 1-75 Dally, without Sunday, one month -,?!; Weekly, one year 2 Sunday, one year. ................. i 2.50 6ur.day and weekly, one year 3-60 (By Carrier. ra!ly. Sunday included, one year..... 8.00 "Daily. Sunday included, one month.... -7 How to Kernit Send Postofflce money order, express order or personal check on your local bank. Stamps, coin or currency are at the sender's risk. Give postofflce ad dress In full. Including oounty and state. Postage Kate 10 to 14 pages. 1 cent; 16 to 28 peges. 2 cents; 30 to 40 pages, 3 cents; 40 to 6U pages. 4 cents. Foreign postage double rate. Kastr.ro Business Office The S. C. Beck with Special Agency New York, rooms 48 B0 Tribune building. Chicago, rooms 51O-012 Tribune building. POKTLAXD, WTOXESDAT, MAR. 80, 1910. AX ENDLESS CONTROVERSY. There always will be a conflict be tween wage-earners and wage-payers. It is a conflict whose roots lie in the basis of human nature. Somewhere, in this endless conflict, justice resides. Justice, as to this conflict, depends on practical conditions. Wage-earners ought to have all the pay that reason can demand, no more. The question, then, is, what is reason In any par ticular case, for all cases are dissimi lar. The working-people and wage earners have a term which they keep in constant use. They say those who do not accede to their requirements, as to wages, and the hours which they demand, are "unfair." But the term "unfair" cannot be defined with strictness, with certainty, with justice, by either side or party in Interest. There must be compromise between them. , At Portland just now there is con troversy between employers and em-ploj-ed, in many lines of Industry. The controversy is as to wages and hours; and moreover as to "closed shop." The wageworkers desire to force acceptance of "the union," not only on all employers of labor, but on all who seek or expect employment for wages. It is resisted by many classes of employers, on the ground that they cannot -afford it, that their business will not justify the con cessions necessary to meet the several demands. Now it is clear that this Is an in soluble problem. It Is clear, too, that It Is subject to so many conditions of time and place and circumstance, and subject moreover to the element of human nature always present in it, that there can be no solution of it that will stand for any length of time. Again, what will do for one part of our country will not do for another. The struggle between, employers and employed has its seat almost wholly in our Northern States. In the states of our great Southern section it rarely is manifest. That is, there is greater variety of activity and industry in the North than in the South. There are few controversies of wages and hours of labor south of the Potomac and the Ohio. This means that there will be rapid transference of industry to the Southern section. It is going on now. Lines of least resistance are always followed. It means too that our Southern States, in the coming political era, will be less disturbed by these labor conflicts than our North and "West. It means, further, very radical changes in politics, and in sig nificance? of party designations. Labor, in special lines, will be able to enforce "closed shop." In general lines, never. The reason lies in the very basis and nature of human life. Labor organization seeks to include or embrace all sorts of workers, with out regard to their capacity or effi ciency, without regard to superiority or inferiority. It strives to make the man the unit, whether he can perform first-rate service or not. Now this Is an economic mistake. All men, in any calling, are not worth the same reward, though in the higher callings, which require special skill and intel ligence, there is less difficulty here. Again, the ablest men do not fall in with the uniform system. They are restive under it; they break away, from it; they can do better. The closed shop, as it is called, never, therefore, will be fully or generally possible. On one side men cannot come up to a high general or even average standard. On the other are men who will be restive under its rules and go beyond it: and these last are the independent men, to whom the progress of industrial society is mainly due. The contest, therefore, never will cease. With progress of individual human capacity on one side, and of general society on the other, it will be constantly accentuated. The re sult will be the steady elimination of the less efficient members. This may be- called a hard doctrine. So it is. Eut it is the only method of human progress. Tet the principle that individuals have the right to earn a living, whether they are below the average of efficiency or above it whether they belong to a union or not can not be eliminated; nor can the idea or principle as tc personal choice of oc cupation, or willingness to work, or even necessity to work for obtainable wages. Employers, in general, must have the right to decide what wages they can afford to pay. It is an equal right of wage-workers to decide for themselves whether they will accept the wages or not. There always will be ground for difference and contro versy here. The problem can be worked out only through experience and the general progress of society. Therefore it never will be worked out to a settled conclusion. The extent to which the Interstate Commerce Commission has eliminated all competition between railroads, and the Immense power now wielded by the Commission, are shown in a Washington dispatch in The Orego nian yesterday announcing a cut in flour rates between Minneapolis and the Atlantic seaboard. Every trans portation line between Duluth and Minneapolis and the Atlantic seaboard was ordered to cut the rate from 23 rents to 21 cents per hundred pounds. The milling interests of Min nesota, Wisconsin and the Dakotas were the complainants in the case, their plea being that the old rates dis criminated in favor of wheat, which had always taken a lower rate. What ever the merits or demerits of the case may' be, the order shows that the In terstate Commerce Commission has a power much greater than it is gener ally credited with. FREK COUNTRY, THIS IS. Republicans will hold -assembly to recommend candidates for nomi nation. These candidates may win at the primary; and then the nomina tions will go to the general election, for approval or rejection. What harm, or wrong, or impropri ety, in this course? None whatever. The political action of every citizen will still be open and free. Every man can do just as he pleases. He can vote for the assembly candidates at the primary or at the election, or against them. The assembly in a method of or ganization and concentration without which no political party can exist. Democrats as well as Republicans will hold assemblies to recommend candi dates. -Democrats have done it here tofore, and will again; but their as semblies have been composed of small cliques, whose candidates have been nominated, as heretofore shown right down the line, and for the most important offices elected, by help of Republican votes. Republican assembly Is to be an effort to make the Republican party in Oregon stand for something and give it a chance to win. The assembly will suggest candidates that only1; and they who don't want to vote for these candidates can't be made to do so. Nobody, moreover, will try to compel them. Then what's the use to scream? Free country, this is. They who want no assembly or its candidates, who want no party organization, or effort to concentrate for effective party action, needn't have it. But just as soon as any of this description may obtain nomination from a plural ity faction, by denunciation of party organization and assembly, they will claim the support of all party men and think organization In their behalf, a fine thing. VENERABLE OKEXiONIANS. There have been three notable birthday anniversaries celebrated in this city within the week those of Judge George H. Williams, who at tained his eighty-seventh. Rev. John Flynn, who completed his ninety-third, and General Ben- Simpson, who com pleted his ninety-second year. Each of these names has a place pe culiarly its own in the history of the state, and each represents a man of still unclouded mentality and of re markably well-preserved physical frame. - The avenues of their endeavor have led these men through varied and widely variant experiences, and by the unanimous verdict of those who have known them long and well, each has done his part acceptably in the line of effort which he chose to follow, or to which opportunity beckoned. Each 1s honored and remembered by what he has done. Whether viewed singly or by contrast, the part that tjiese aged men have played in the commonwealth is that of earnest, untiring usefulness. The Oregonian is glad to Join in the popular expression of good will and appreciation for these venerable men and the work for which their names and years stand, and wishes them as many returns of this birthday week as they are able to enjoy in bodily health and with cheerfulness of spirit. TKMPTATIOX TOO STRONG. Some of the names of citizens who were arrested last Sunday and fined upon their own plea of guilty for breaking the speed limit would create surprise, but for the fact that all men are mortal when assailed by the temp tation that appeals to them the most strongly. . Here are citizens, in no sense criminals or deliberate . law breakers, who nevertheless -broke the law. The thing is inexplicable except upon the hypothesis that they encoun ter their special temptation In the form of exhilarating speed, and fell. The fine imposed was probably too light to brace them upvfor the next encounter with this special form' of temptation. In the interest of public safety, it Is noted that the second of fense of speeding on the streets will be dealt with much more severely. JUSTICE BRHER. One of Justice" Brewer's most inter esting traits was his superiority to ju dicial etiquette. This means not that he neglected the' forms appropriate to the station he occupied, but that he did not permit those forms to over power his imagination and impose themselves upon him when he was not in the courtroom. To a surprising degree he was free from the monastic restraint which many judges find it impossible to overcome and which de prives them of much influence upon men and affairs outside the routine of the law. As it was said of Goethe that he was more a man than a poet, so Justice Brewer was more a citizen than a judge. He held opinions upon all current questions and seldom failed to express them. The fact that a sub ject was a matter of controversy did not seem to him a sufficient reason for suppressing his thoughts about it. Of course he never said anything which could bear upon a pending law BUit, but everything else he felt free to discuss and his contributions to current opinion were always valuable. It can hardly be doubted that his frequent association with men of vari ous callings on public occasions and his habit of delivering addresses en larged his intelligence and deepened his understanding of the law, which in reality is not a mere set of aca demic rules and theories, but a living organ of civilized society. Between I dead law and Injustice the distinction can never be clearly drawn. ir an Judges were as willing to mingle with the world as Justice Brewer was and develop that sympathy with human affairs In the concrete which never failed in him, perhaps the gulf which now yawns between the courts ' and the realities of life would not have opened. There would have been less occasion to complain, as most of our enlightened jurists and statesmen do, of the tendency of the courts to em phasize technicalities and neglect the kernel of justice. In this light Justice Brewer's varied experience of life was a distinct advantage to him. No doubt he derived from his missionary parents a view of the world and of human affairs which comes to very few young lawyers. To the mission ary the crowning ideals of life are not money, fame and enjoyment, but serv ice and sacrifice. If Justice Brewer's career did not involve any tragic sac rifice, still it was essentially one of service. His conspicuous ambition was to make the world better. His early experiences in Kansas were also deeply educative to him. One cannot question the wholesome influence upon the future judge of his connection with the common schools. He. was county superintend ent for a time, and often lectured the teachers upon their duties. . This brought him very near to primitive humanity and opened his mind to the problems which the common man has to solve. No judge could exhibit less of the spirit of the demagogue than Justice Brewer did, but on the other hand, he never forgot that money is not the sole object of the law's solicitude and that human hap piness is well worth the consideration of the Supreme Court. The great Judges of the Anglo-Saxon race have been humane men rather than schol astic technicians. They have paid more regard to the practical conse quences of their decisions than to the niceties of precedent. ' They have searched for righteousness rather than legal exactitude. Justice Brewer was a great lawyer and a master of legal dialectics, but he was greater as a Christian citizen and an abler mas ter of the ethics of common life. He was broader than his profession. ' He belonged to the aristocracy of intelli gence and kindly effort which is the salt of the earth. THE WATER-MAIN IXECISIOX. The decision of the Oregon Su preme Court, affirming the authority of Portland's city government to as sess cost of water mains to benefited lots, is an important step toward so lution of a troublesome municipal dis pute. It establishes the manifestly just principle that individuals, whose land is served by new water mains, can be required to pay for the cost thereof, just as for sewers and streets, although the charter enactment on the subject is "obscure in certain par ticulars." To carry out this principle it is now necessary to adopt some equitable ar rangement of determining and assess ing benefits, for without such arrange ment, one' from which landowners will desire to make no appeal, the opinion of the Supreme Court will afford the city little relief from its hitherto troublesome situation. The decision does not cure the physical difficulties of determining benefits. The Oregonian again urges the Se attle plan of assessing benefited lots as for a 6-lnch main and of charging the water department with whatever excess cost may result from laying mains of larger sizes. This paper is pleased to note that R. B. Lamson, formerly of the Water Board, who carried the test to the Supreme Court, advocates the Seattle method, which he -avers can be applied by the City Council without further charter legis lation by the electors. The Council has power under the charter to order mains, of ten Inches or larger laid at public expense that is, free of cost to lots abutting but is required by. the charter to assess mains of smaller sizes to the land. These laws are clearly unjust as be tween landowners served by large mains and those served by mains of lesser size. Further, while some lot owners may be assessed for an eight inch main, others for a six-Inch and still others for a four-inch, yet all get the same water service from wide dis parity of charges'. It may be, as Mr. Lamson says, that the Council has power under the charter and the decision of the Su preme Court to adjust these difficul ties. If so, the city lawmakers should proceed to their duty at once. In the Ultimate, however, a new enactment is needed to establish a clearly-denned policy, that will not be subject to the whim or notion of the Council. The charter amendments of several initia tive elections are "obscure In certain particulars," and should be clarified. FASHIONS IN BURIAL,. Captain Henry Kenitzer and his wife, of San Francisco, chose a sin gular method of burial, but perhaps it was as desirable as any other. Their cremated remains were cast overboard on the open sea and will rest beneath the tides of the ocean until the day of judgment. No doubt Gabriel's trumpet will be fully as audible to them there as anywhere else. The practice of cremation is growing in favor, and the reasons for its vogue are numerous. For one thing, it is cleanly and thorough. .Once reduced to ashes, human remains are in offensive. They can never become a nuisance. They cannot propagate disease. This last consideration increases frt weight as intelligence spreads. Pas teur found that the germs of com municable diseases are often brought to the surface of the ground by earth worms from considerable depths. No doubt when corpses are consigned to the grave they may continue to be sources of infection from this cause. The virulent germs are brought to the surface by earthworms. Visitors among the tombs come in contact with them and presently death reaps another harvest. As civilization pen etrates farther and farther beneath the surface of human affairs very likely cremation will become more and more popular, though perhaps it will never become fashionable to seek burial for our ashes in the deep sea. OHEXTXG NEW ITELDR Confirmation of the report that James J. Hill is interested in the big deal by which the land grant of the Willamette Valley & Cascade Moun tain Road Company changes hands would be most agreeable to Portland, as well as to other portions of the state. Aside from this evidence of the faith which Mr. Hill would be showing in the possibilities of the new country, it is a matter of small con cern who buys the immense tract of land so long as there is assurance that it will be opened up for settlement and development. Whoever the new purchasrs may be, it is a certainty that the vast tract will not be permitted to remain in idleness much longer. In changing hands opportunity will be given hundreds of new settlers to se cure cheap homes. New homebuild ers are rushing Into Oregon in such numbers that they are, through neces sity, gradually working back from the beaten paths, and from lands easily available to those now comparatively inaccessible. . All of ; these isolated districts, whether in the hands, of private cor porations, individuals or in Govern ment reserves, will soon be. brought into, touch with the world's markets. The demand, which is now stronger than ever before, on completion of the railroads now heading for Central Oregon will break all records. Ore gon, despite the fact that it still holds a larger area of unoccupied farming land than any other state in the West, must still meet the cheap land competition of Canada, where the government and the railroads are of fering extraordinary inducements to settlers. In the Willamette Valley and the older-settled and best-developed portions of the region east of the Cas cade Mountains we are securing a con siderable number of comparatively well-to-do people who are buying up well-tilled farms and fruit orchards, and by - subdivision and intensified farming are making one of the old time farms support from ten to twenty times as many people as it did in the old days when wheat was king. As an example of the great propor tions which this class of immigration has attained, it was noted in The Ore gonian yesterday that fifty-one settlers arrived at McMinnville in a single day last week. The Willamette Valley -and other portions of the state styi have room for a vastly greater population of this class of settlers, who make from two to twenty farms prosper where only one was producing a few years ago; but there is also coming into the state a large number of peo ple who are ready and willing to begin at the beginning and hew out a home In the now remote regions not "yet reached by railroads, or even by set tlers. Oregon, especially the central and southeastern part of the state, has many vast tracts of this "raw" land. When it is made accessible by rail roads, the population of the state will double in a very short time. A LESSON IN MATRIMONY. Persons who are interested in the "divorce evil" may discover upon re flection that the history of the Butler family is not without its lesson. But ler and his wife are more or less emi nent members of the social circles of Seattle. The pair quarreled over the possession of their "girl baby," and in the course of their differences the husband found it advisable to chastise his spouse;' In the perform ance' of this duty he went beyond the limit set by Blackstone, who intimates that the husband ought not to use a club larger than his thumb. Butler, it seems, used any club he could get hold of, large or small, and did not entirely abstain from employing his fists. In three weeks of such marital attentions he reduced his wife's weight by thirty pounds. Since she had not been exorbitantly fat to be gin with, his efforts were, from one point of view, at least superfluous. It was then discovered that, although Butler and his supposed wife had been living together for four years, still they were not legally married, and she was a free woman if she chose to assert her liberty. The circumstances being as they were, what was the woman's duty? What would she have done if she had obeyed her common sense? What ever the answer may be to these ques tions, Mrs. Butler seems not to have hesitated a moment. As soon as she found that she was not married to Butler, she hurried him to the City Hall for a license and without delay a binding ceremony will be performed. What will be the outcome of it? Will the pair live together any more prof itably than in the past? Will Butler cease to beat his wife because of the new ceremony? Will the children which they may bring Into the world be reared in decency? What possible advantage to Mrs. Butler, to the world at large, or to her family, can be hoped for from this ill-omened union? The chances are a hundred to one that before a year has elapsed she will appear in the divorce court to ask for a legal release from her marriage. That is the only thing to be expected from such a union. Perhaps half of our too numerous di vorces could be predicted on the wed ding day by a person of average in telligence from the evident character of the parties. Eight men killed by a premature explosion on the United States cruiser Charleston is the latest disaster In our Navy. These accidents are so numer ous that it is not Improbable that since the I Civil War our sea-fighting equipment has cost the lives of more of our own men than the combined losses of all the enemies that we have encountered In the past forty years. Thus far the blame for these accidents has always been placed on the men who were so unfortunate as to get killed. There is, of course, a possibil ity, if some one on whom the blame were to be fixed should escape death, that he might offer some suggestions by which these frequent disasters might be avoided. If our Navy costs so many lives in time of peace, the carnage during an actual war would be fearful to contemplate. Modern invention and wise precau tion have greatly minimized the ter rors of old Jack Frost. A few years ago a hard frost after the fruit buds began swelling meant ruin for the fruit crop. But the men who grow fruit on thousand-dollar-an-acre land cannot afford to have the Investment lying idle, and are now warding off frost. An Asotin dispatch in The Ore gonian states that by the" use of fire pots and smudges Saturday night the orchards escaped damage by a heavy frost which lay over the entire fruit district. With nrepots to ward off the frost and irrigating canals to supply the necessary moisture. Dame Nature seems to require considerable assist ance in the production of a crop in the twentieth century. Systematic and intelligent effort will soon be made by the street-cleaning department to keep the hard-surface streets of Portland free from debris of various kinds and to flush such streets as are on a grade that will permit this work to be done effectively. There is in this a promise for the first time in the history of Portland of a street cleaning ssytem that Is practical in keeping the streets clean. Colonist rates are in effect and the people on the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains can escape all those ills by coming to Portland. Weather yesterday, fair; temperature, 55. Irrigation is becoming a fad In the Valley. Seventy-five barrels of "booze" were unloaded at Salem yesterday. Aviation is another source of fam ily discord. Few wives have mourn ing garb in the wardrobe. Harney Valley is under water. That means lots of grass and fat cattle. . SETTLERS MAY NOW GET JUSTICE Possible to Get Title to Lands in the Forest Rrurrn. Tacoma Tribune. One of the beneficial effects of the raid made on the forest department has been a more fair attitude toward bona fide settlers on the public lands. Secretary Wilson ha3 Just Issued an order providing for a more liberal treat ment of bona fide squatters upon unsur veyed land which has been Included with in National forests since the time of ac tual occupancy of the land by the squatter. Under the homestead law it is impos sible for1 anyone to secure legal title to unsurveyed public land, but occupancy pending survey Is recognized as giving prior claim to the land after survey, under what is krfown as "squatters" rights." A squatter who had, in good faith, taken possession of a piece of National forest land before the National forests were created Is not dispossessed of his claim by the forest service, and if he lives upon it and cultivates it until the land has been surveyed he is able to get his homestead Just as though he had set tled on any part of the unreserved pub lic domain. But since the passage of the act of June 11. 1906, which permits the Secretary of Agriculture to list for settlement land which he finds chiefly valuable for agri culture, it has been possible for squatters to apply for the listing of their lands under this act and thus obtain title prior to the Government survey. The object of the new order of the Secretary is to pro vide for the listing of the full amount of land which the occupant would receive If he exercised his option of awaiting the Government survey, irrespective of whether or not the entire area Is culti vable provided the claim is bona fide and the land Is not more valuable for its timber than for agriculture. TREES DOST SAVE WATER. Dams Offer Only Sensible Means of Conservation. Union (Or.) Scout. Preserving the timber on the foothills of the Blue Mountains will not conserve the water, except in the Spring of the year and at a time when it is not needed. When the season is hot and dry, the foothills are likewise dry. Nature does not furnish irrigation without artificial helpers. When this country was new, water was as necessary to raise good crops as it is now, the only difference being that there was less land in cultiva tion. If the Government really wants to do anything, let it make a reasonable appro priation to save the water in the proper way. This talk of conserving timber to conserve water is ail bosh. Holding snow on the mountains, by conserving the for ests, has one effect, however it brings on the late frost and destroys much val uable vegetation, without diminishing the drouth later on. The surest, best and safest way is to build dams and reser voirs, then the water can be conserved and used when it is needed. No other way is quite so good-. During the dryest and hottest portions of the year the snow is gone from the foothills, the ground is dry and hot, and, owing to slnkage and evaporation, no water finds its way to the valleys below. If the water were conserved by dams and dykes as it should be, it could be poured out In sufficient quantities when it is needed. There is plenty of water going to waste out of Catherine Creek to irrigate every acre of the Grande Ronde Valley. This water cannot all be saved, but much of it can, and enough to irri gate thousands of acres that will never reach a proper state of productiveness without it. SAYS WATER ISSUE SETTLED. Mr. Lamm Avers City Council Needs No Charter Amendments. PORTLAND, March 23. (To the Edi tor.) The Supreme Court has today de cided that under, the present law the cost of water mains can be assessed against and collected from benefited property. All that now remains is for the city to adopt a method of assessment under which the charge to property shall be reasonable and equitable, and above all, uniform. This can be accomplished by levy ing an assessment against abutting prop erty for the estimated cost of laying a six-inch main in an unimproved street, making the assessment the same in every ease, without any reference whatever to the actual size or cost of the main, and charging the deficiency to the water fund. The present law authorizes this method, without question, and if adopted It will provide a -moderate and uniform charge to be paid by the property bene fited, against which there can be no complaint, and will at the same time avoid the necessity of increasing the water fund, by higher rates, which would be the result of charging the entire cost of construction to such fund. R. B. LAMSON. Woman Lawyer to Defend the Poor. New York Evening Mail. Aiming only to defend the poor people of the East Side, Miss Jeannette Good man, 22 years old, recently began the practice of law. She was graduated re cently from the Brooklyn Law School, where since she has been instructor. Miss Goodman is an ardent suffragette, but says this will not interfere with her practice. She was born on the East Side. "Hundreds of poor people in my neigh borhood," said Miss Goodman, "are not properly treated In the courts. I propose to defend as many as I can, and see that they get justice. "I have lived on the East Side all my life and know the vicissitudes of the people there. They have been clamoring long for good lawyers, and many have come to thank me for taking up active practice." Only One PnpIIi Mother Teacher. Middletown, N. Y., Dispatch. At a section known as Mormon Hollow, In the town of Masonvllle, Delaware County, there Is the strangest school in the state. It is composed of only one pupil, who is the child of the teacher, Mrs. Baxter. The teacher receives $9 a week for her services, and the school is as regularly maintained as though there were dozens of pupils. Many people were connected with the school once, but they have either died, grown to manhood and womanhood or moved away. The old schoolhouse, which did duty as the seat of learning for many years, is now such a dilapidated structure as to be unfit for school purposes, and the school is held in a dwelling, the abode of the teacher and the pupil. Rebuke to LaFollette. McMinnville News-Reporter. The candidates for Senator in the State of Wisconsin have been severely censured for questionable methods In the conduct of their campaign in the Senatorial pri mary, in a report to Governor Davidson. "Expenditures of so large a sum of money in a political campaign Is of itself degrading, both to the candidate and to the electorate." Senator LaFollette was severely criti cised for the alleged use of state em ployes for political purposes during his administration as Governor. Evidently Senator LaFollette must not live in a glass house if he is going to throw stones. Fine Joke In Tacoma. Tacoma Ledger. One of the Seattle newspapers last week told of a woman who had been searching the continent for a place where she could sleep and had decided on Seattle. This comes very near being a joke on the Elliott Bay city. BRITISH WAGES AND COST OF FOOD Some Figures From the Union Scale and the Cost of Living. Weekly Consular and Trade Reports. Special Agent Henry Sludniczka, who has been making an Investigation of wages, cost of living and the general condition of the laboring population in the London district, submits the follow ing report, in part: Following are the scales of the wages paid the various trades and classes of labor in the London district, the number of working hours per week without over time also being given: Building Trades Working hours per week, 60 in Summer and 44 in Winter. Wages per hour: Stone masons, 21 cents; bricklayers, 21 cents; plasterers, 22 cents; bricklayers' and plasterers' assistants, 14 cents; carpenters, 21 cents; plumbers, 22 cents; painters, 18 cents. Furniture Trades Working hours per week, 52. Wages per hour: Cabinetmak ers, 21 cents; polishers, 18 cents; uphol sterers, 20 to 24 cents; machinists. 20 ro 28 cents; carvers, 19 to 22 cents; chairmak ers, 20 cents. Boilermakers and Steel Shipbuilding Trades Working hours per week in shop, 64; for repair work outside, 45. Wages per week in shop: Boilermakers, sheet iron workers and angle-iron smiths, $10.94; riveters. $6.32: calkers. $8.49; hold ersup, $6.56. For outside work wages are about $1.21 more. Compositors Working hours per week, 62. Wages per week in Jobbing trade and on weekly newspapers, $9.49. Electrical Workers Working hours per week, 64. Wages per hotfr: Fitters and wiremen, 19 cents; armature winders, 18 cents; cable Joiners, 19 cents. Bakers Working hours per week. 65. Wages per week: Foremen, $8.51; first class hands, $7.29; second-class hands. $6.81; helpers, $6.56. Engineering Trades Working hours per week, 54. Wages per week: Turners, fitters, coppersmiths, brass finishers, bor ers. Blotters, millers, die sinkers and press tool makers, $7.73; smiths, $9.73 to $11.92; millwrights. $10.33; iron founders, $9.73 to $10.46; patternmakers, $10.70. Ship Service Wages per month, with board: Chief steamship engineer, $68 to $N3; second engineer, $48 to $58; third en gineer, $36.49 to $43.79; fourth engineer. $30.40 to $36.49; firemen. $21.89 to $24.33; trimmers, $19.46 to $21.89; able seamen, $19.46 to $21. 89; able seamen (sailing ves sels), $14.60. Dock stevedores receive 16 to 24 cents per hour for loading and un loading vessels. London City Police These policemen work in the heart of the city on exacting duty and their pay is $6.56 (minimum) to $10.33 (maximum) per week. Motor Omnibus Drivers and Conduct ors There are about 2000 motor omni buses in London and the motormen re ceive from $1.70 to $1.94 per day of 15 to 16 hours. Conductors who collect the fares receive from $1.46 to $1.70 per day. Horse Omnibus Drivers and Conduct ors The drivers and conductbrs of the 2500 horse omnibuses receive from $1.46 to $1.70 per day of 15 hours. Length of service for the company Is a factor in determining the wages. Coal Porters Almost all houses in London are heated by grate fires. The daily coal delivery therefore takes a large force of men. Coal is delivered in 112 and 56-pound sacks, each wagon having a driver and a helper. They re ceive 14 to 16 cents per ton for load ing the coal on the wagons, delivering and unloading at the houses. On ex ceptionally thickly settled routes they can make about $7 a week each. City Street Cleaners Each streat cleaning wagon has one driver and one loader, each of whom receives $1.13 per day, 56 hours constituting a week. London Letter Carriers This Is a part of the government civil service. The apprentice letter carrier starts at $;j.10 per week. When old soldiers are employed they start at $5.83 and are gradually advanced to $8.51 per week, according to time of service and record. This is the maximum pay. , Common Laborers Common day la borers receive for various work from 10 to 14 cents an hour. Gas works stokers get $1.39 to $1.46 for 8 hours' work, double time being given for Sun day work. A trip was made to Godalmlng in the county of Surrey, tSwanley, county of Kent, and Haslemior In the county of Surrey. The wages paid in these counties are almost the same and have been averaged to one general figure for each class of workmen. None of these places is over 30 miles distance from London. Common laborers receive $4.38 week ly, or estimating the value of supplies furnished by the land-owner, $4.98 per week. Hostlers and cattlemen receive $4.50 cash weekly, or with the addition of cash value supplies, $5.46. From all my Interviews I am con strained to arrive at one conclusion, that the unskilled laborer In this dis trict cannot make over 20 shillings ($4.86) per week at steady employment and that even some of the mechanical workers, such as those in the building trades, are not earning over 25 shillings ($6.07) weekly on a general average the year round. The prices of living supplies fur nished in this statement were obtained in the three most prominent laboring districts in the city, Islington, Hackney and Whltechapel. From 10 to 15 stores in each distrit t were visited and from two to three of the articles were priced in each store; and the figures given he low are the average obtained In the three districts on each article named. Following is a list of prices asked for various articles in the three districts visited: , Price, Articles. Centa. Apples, second and third quaJity, pound. 4 to 6 Bread, four pounds 12 Butter, dairy, pound 24 to 32 Cheese, Canadian, pound ............. 14 to 16 Coffee, pound 16 to 36 Currants, pound ........... 4 to 8 EBf. 12 to 16 - 24 Fish Cod. pound . 8 to 12 Palmon. pound 6 to S Various kinds, pound 4 to 12 Flour, second quality, 3V4 pounds..... 9 to 10 Bacon, pound 16 to 24 Beef Frozen, pound - 10 to 14 Fresh, pound ...16 to 21 Pork, srteak and ribs, pound 12 to 16 Milk, fresh, pint 4 Oatmeal, pound 4 to 6 Oranges, 2 to 3 2 Potatoes, pound - lto 2 Potatoes, hundredweight ......... .....72 to 96 Prune, pound 8 to 12 Raisins, pound 6 to 10 Rice, lowest quality, pound . 4 Sugar White, pound 5 Yellow, pound .......... ...... 4 Tea. pound 20 to 60 Tomatoes, pound - 8 Vegetables, general, pound 3 to 4 Not less than 75 families were visited, and from all the information gathered from these Interviews a family of mat: and wife and possibly two small cm dren may subsist on the following food per week: Quantity, Articles. Pounds. Cost Bacon - 90.48 Bread 30 - Butter - - J --4 Cheese , ) Coffee V -6 Currants ' -Of Meat, frozen - W Milk J' ' Potatoes J - Rice, or equivalent I .12 Sugar & -2 Tea -12 Vegetable o ,10 Total $3.66 To this must be added the cost of rental, which amounts in the poorest districts for one room to not less than two shillings (48 cents) per week, and for a three-room flat from 8s to 10s ($1.04 to $2.43) per week. The only real cheap article I found is the work ingman's clothing. One of the union secretaries stated. "No workman with wife and two children In London, in my opinion, can subsist and be housed for less than 22s ($5.34) per week." LIFE'S SUNNY SIDE Rear-Admiral Rogers of the Navy tells the following story of a conversation he heard between two old sailors: "It was a rat ship I was sallin in that trip," said one of the shellbacks. "One of the dingdest rat ships I ever knew. They was rats in it from bow to stem, rats in the hold. In the galley, in the steerage, in the forecastle, in the old man's room everywhere. Rats. Nofhln' but. "Bimeby it got so bad we had to put In an' get thern off. So we hooked up to dock and fumigated. I was on deck an' saw them rats leavin'. I counted 'em. They was fifteen million of 'em. "Fifteen million?" asked the other. "Ain't that a lot o' rats! Are you sure?" VSure? Yes I'm sure. They was iif teen million rats, and I counted 'em. More than that, every rat weighed a half pound. They was big, fat, sassy ones, I'm tellln'." "Fifteen million rats, and every one weighed a half pound, and they all came off your ship. That's seven million and a half pounds of rats. Say, Jim, what was the tonnage of that ship?" "Oil, about a hundred and fifty tons." Judge. The Sunday school lesson had been on the efficacy of prayer, and the teacher had done her best to instill into the youthful mind the belief that our prayers are answered. There was one doubting Thomas, however, who insisted that he knew better. "Why, Tommy, I am surprised to hear you say you don't believe our prayers are answered!" expostulated the teacher. "I know they ain't," persisted Tommy doggedly. "What makes you think so?" asked the teacher. "I don't think it: I know it," replied Tommy. "You know the angels brought a new baby to our house last week." "Yes. I heard about that," said thn teacher. "Now, surely, that was an answer to prayer, wasn't it?" "It was. nit!" replied Tommy, disgust edly. "Why, for six months I've been praying for a goat!" Philadelphia Bul letin. Ellis H. Parker, detective, of Burling ton county. New Jersey, is a great gun ner. He often goes shooting in Salem county, where he knows all the men in public life and likes them. "The sheriff of Salem county is a fina man," he said yesterday, "as fine a man as you will find anywhere. But once upon a time the sheriffs of Salem county were known to be mighty drinkers. "I remember once," continued Parker, "that a farmer down in Salem county had a calf which he wanted to teach to drink. He tried . to get the animal to drink, but all his efforts were unavail ing. " 'What do you think of this, Mandy?' he asked his wife. 'This calf won't drink.' " 'Wall, Jake, said Mandy. 'that's too bad. But If you really want to learn that calf to drtnk you better elect him sheriff of Salem county.' "Which says a lot for the good old days." added Parker. Philadelphia Tel egraph. Lord Aberdeen, who is resigning his position of Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, tells the following amusing story against himself: He arrived at a certain country railway station, where he was expecting a telegram to await him. "So I went up to the nearest porter," says his lordship, "and asked him if he would mind Inquir ing at the station master's office whether there was a telegram for me. "There's none for you, sir, replied the porter, I've just come out of the office, and there's only one telegram there, and that's for Lord Aberdeen.' "Just then another porter who knew me approached, and I explained the posi tion to him. remarking jocularly that the first porter evidently did not think I looked the part. "By way of consoling me." concludes Lord Aberdeen, "he promptly replied: 'Never mind, my lord, if you don't look it, you feel it!" -Kansas City Indepen dent. Vanlnblng Slums of Bowery. New York Press. The cleaning up by Captain "Mike" Galvin and his heavy-fisted legions of that besotted territory bordering on the Bowery will elicit the applause of every citizen on friendly terms with his bath tub. Nothing in the slums of London, Constantinople, Naples and other notori ously unwashed communities can pro duce anything quite so filthy as the "Inferno," the "Plague," the "Dump" and kindred resorts of the Cherry Hill section. Yet to him who would know New York not only for the splendor of its Fifth ave nue and the glitter of its Broadway, there is a. tiny pang in this destruction of the less superficial but more picturesque dis trict so fe v of us know from within, so many from without. What would the lover of adventure do without his Bow ery, his Chinatown, his "San Juan Hill," his "Hell's Kitchen?" Of these even Chinatown Is commercialized that its theater is operated by a Broadway actor and a Fourteenth-Street sporting man. The Hell and the Kitchen are strangely quiescent under the iron arm of the po lice. Only the collection of dirty domi ciles and gin mills that recurs to our minds when the Bowery is mentioned has remained in all its artistic squalor. If Captain Galvin really does drive into retreat the ragged army of panhandlers, done fiends, gate-slammers, dipt, decayed second-story men. lit-throwers and other petty crooks, the Bowery eventually may evolve Into a staid thoroughfare as sweet smelling, morally and materially, as Mor risania or Canansie. Our reason does not quite rid us, however, of the haunting sentiment so often aroused by the words of that low-brow air: The Bowery! The Bowery! They say such things, and they do such things In the Bowery, the Bowery. Afrulnaldo A He Is Today. Washington, D. C. Cor. Brooklyn Eagle. Aguinaldo is living the life of a country gentleman on a small estate just outside of Cavite. He takes no part whatever in the politics of his country. From the moment of his cap ture Aguinaldo took the position that it would be improper for him to ex press any opinion whatsoever regard ing the rule of his country by Ameri cans. So far as is known he has hot commented in any way, either favor ably or adversely, upon the adminis tration of the white man. "For a couple of years," said Manuel L. Quezon, the Philippine Commissioner to Congress, "I lived with Aguinaldo in his home. We were on the most intimate terms. Remarkable as It may seem, I have not heard him make any comment whatever about the change In the government of the Islands. No one has been able to trap him into any kind of an admission. If he is asked whether he thinks conditions in the islands have Improved under the ad ministration of the American, he will reply: 'I am very busy with my farm ing." Whether he approves or con demns the new order of things nobody knows." Csn't Quite Tell. Minneapolis Journal. The Hotel Vanderbilt, planned for New York City, will be a nice, smart place of 21 stories. The article telling about it mentions the sum of $4,000. 000. Whether this is the cost of the hotel or the expense of putting up in it overnight is not quite clfcar.